Smoky Mountains 2016

Okay so finally time for the recap I promised of the family vacay to North Carolina! We left the day after Christmas bright and early because it pretty much takes an entire day to drive to my Grandpa's house in Bakersville, NC aka the middle of nowhere... but middle of nowhere in a good way!

It was a pretty laid back trip and we spent most days just enjoying the warmer than usual weather and spending time with our sweet Nyla. I really think the trip was more of a vacation for Nyla than anyone else in the family! Since we didn't have a super organized itinerary aka we woke up every morning and decided what we wanted to do that day, this post is just going to be a bunch of photos which I'll try to explain. Warning: basically every one is of my sissy Toria or my beautiful Nyla #sorrynotsorry

Most days we spent just exploring around the mountain at my Grandpa's cabin with Nyla either on foot or by atv. Nyla loved it so much because we were able to let her off her leash... well at least until she got a little too adventurous and we found her half way up the mountain after looking away for about 2 minutes! 

Besides hanging around the house, we also went to a few parks for hiking. These photos are from the day we ventured to Linville Falls, which I highly recommend! The trails are very short and lead right to view points of some really awesome water falls. I will say though, it was super wet and muddy and I made the mistake of wearing sneakers. Waterproof shoes are a must for this one.

Escandell's take Blue Ridge Parkway with my new selfie stick, haha! I'm sure we looked pretty funny from the side of the road. The Blue Ridge Parkway is super iconic and so beautiful! I remember driving down the Parkway with the family as a kid when it was snowy, stopping at random points just to play in the snow or look at crazy icicles. We used to get so excited over icicles lol #floridakidprobs... Sadly no snow this time!

When we were feeling a bit squirrely in the house, the girls of the fam decided to make a day trip to Johnson City and Elizabethton, TN. We had an awesome southern breakfast at a little diner on the way and did some antiquing and shopping in downtown Elizabethton. My mom and I both bought a few vintage blue canning jars but those were our only purchases. We really could have bought them in an antique store anywhere, but I think getting them on vacation makes them special! Bruh, those coffee shop wood floors *heart eyes*

I think this is my only picture from New Years Eve or New Years Day, honestly can't remember, but it cracks me up! I was so so freezing, I could have sworn it was like 15 degrees!

Another great park we visited was Roan Mountain, which I believe is one of the tallest mountains in Appalachia. It was really cold that day so we didn't do much hiking, but enjoyed the top. It amazes me how different the trees are the higher in elevation you go on the same mountain.

The last two days were the coldest of the trip and we were really praying for snow but no luck. We had originally planned to try skiing or snowboarding on the trip, but none of the slopes were open. Beech Mountain is our favorite and I have such fond memories sledding there for hours on end as a kid while our big brother snowboarded. Those two last days in NC, we drove to Banner Elk and Beech Mountain anyway because they were making snow to open the slopes later that weekend. At least Nyla got to see snow for the first time and we got to eat our favorite brick oven pizza on Beech Mountain!

The first photo is too funny and I just had to include it, Nyla looks like a meme!


Overall, the trip was a lot of fun even though we had no snow. I hope you enjoyed my terrible quality photos and awful recollection of our adventures!

Miami Bucketlist

Ahhh today is my last first day of school (not counting the very likely possibility of grad school)!!!! Even though I've lived in Miami for the past two and a half years, there's a lot of the city I haven't explored and a few things I wish I had done more often. These are probably my last few months living in such a fast pace and exciting city since this is my final semester before I graduate in May and I want to make this semester count. So, here's a list of things I want to see and places I want to go before I leave Miami!

Wynwood Art Walk

Go to the beach more often (Key Biscayne, South Beach)

Day/Weekend trip to the Keys

Go snorkeling

Venetian Pool

South Beach shopping
Macaroons at Laduree Miami

Coconut Grove Art Festival

Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden
 Blackbird for my 21st birthday
Tortuga Music Festival

Restaurants: Green Street, Yard House, Raw South Juice, Whisk, Peacock Garden Cafe

2016 Resolutions and January Goals

Like I said in my last post, 2015 was a really great year for me. I had a lot of firsts this year: first real job, first internship which provided valuable experience in my career path, and learning to drive. Not only did I experience personal growth, but my family was brought joy with our new pup, my father's new business, my mother's new job, my sister's high school graduation and transition to college, and my brother's wedding. The Lord lead me to a path of growth and change and my prayer is that this goodness continues in the new year. So, here are my new year resolutions and my goals for January!

2016

 

Fit.

Exercise at least 4 days out of the week.

Incorporate strength training to get toned up.

Try new fitness activities: yoga and surfing.

Eat cleaner and healthier.

Be happy with my body.

Faith.

Get connected in a church or fellowship in whatever city I’m living.

Meaningful Sundays: no social media, get outside, and devote time to Jesus.

Use the Lord’s name in a vein less and curse less.

Devote time to Jesus daily.

Future.

Graduate from college summa cum laude.

Get a fulltime job.

Grow my blog.

Practice good financial habits and save money.

Fun.

Enjoy my last semester of college and explore new things in Miami.

Travel somewhere new.

Spend more time with true friends.

Read 12 books.

Learn photography skills.

Be grateful.

January Goals

Create my 2016 vision board

Start practicing meaningful Sundays

Give Miami CRU another chance

Read Scorch Trials

Purge my closet and possessions, deep clean room

Visit 3 places on my Miami Bucketlist

Attend Chili Cookoff 2016 with friends

Research post-grad jobs

Work towards my fitness goals

I hope to expand on a few of these things in future posts, but with that wishing you all a happy, healthy, and wonderful new year!

2015

This post is going to be really long and photo heavy, but y'all missed a lot during my blog break so maybe grab a cup of coffee and enjoy :)

New Years 2015!

 

Welcomed Nyla to our family!
I never had a dog growing up, so naturally my parents decided to rescue a German Shepherd my Junior year of college. Nevertheless, Nyla is such a sweet little girl and has brought so much happiness to my entire family!
 

 

 

Runaway Country 2015
So excited to go back this year even though it moved to Orlando!
 

Fun spring semester of making lifelong friends and memories

 

 

Turned 20!!!
 

Finally got my driver's license (yes at the ripe age of 20)!
I had always been afraid of driving so this was a really big step for me and I regret so much not biting the bullet and getting it sooner. Being able to drive has made my life so much easier and allowed me to be so much more independent.
 

 

 

My little sister Victoria graduated highschool #gowildcats
 

 

Completed a summer research internship at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estaurine Reasearch Reserve researching the effects of harvesting on oyster populations in North Florida #marinesciencegeek #playedinmudallsummer
 

 

 

Explored one of my new favorite cities, Jacksonville, by living there for the summer!
I can definitely see myself living there in the future!
 

 

 

Started my SENIOR YEAR of college
(dear life, slow down please!)
 

My big brother got married in September!
 

 

 

Road tripped to Tallahassee for the Miami vs FSU game!
At the beginning of October Miami's fall break fell on the same weekend as the FSU away game which provided the perfect girl's weekend for me to reunite with my forever besties from high school! Even though we lost, I had the most amazing time because I got to introduce my friends from home to a lot of my college friends that also headed up for the game. It's crazy how different FSU is from Miami! I could never wear a dress and boots on gameday in Miami haha!
 

 

Embraced my inner frat boy and Britney for Halloween!
My roommates and I did group costumes both nights we went out: frat boys because we wanted to be something scary (lol) and Britney's, circa 1998!
 

Rocked my last home canes football game as an undergrad in a tutu because why not!

Christmas including my first time in the Jingle Bell 2 Miler which has run past my house every year since as long as I can remember!

 

 

Family Vacation to North Carolina! 

We left the day after Christmas and will be here until Sunday. I'll have a whole post devoted to the trip in a week or so but until then, just a sneak peak! Praying we see snow this weekend 🙏🏼

I can truly say that 2015 has been one of the best years of my life! I grew quite a bit this year and accomplished a lot of adult-ing. For probably the first time ever, I can be proud of the fact I reached many of the goals I set for myself in the year and that feels amazing. I am so excited to see what God has in store for me in 2016!