Hello, friends!
This month was full of travel and fun. I went on trips 3 weekends in a row. When I wasn’t traveling, I worked a lot to make up for all the time I was taking off.
to create
Once again, I didn’t do any writing on my WWI novel, Entrenched, this month. I did a lot of brainstorming story ideas and some freewriting to keep the creativity churning.
One resource I’ve started using is Skillshare (#nonspon). I started a free 2 month trial, and I’ve been cramming in as many courses as I can. So far, my favorites have been Jenna Moreci’s “Digital Marketing for Writers” and Hannah Lee Kidder’s “Writing Flash Fiction.”
In other news, I’ve uploaded some new content:
Finally Freelancing: January 2020 Reflection: Catch up on my first month of the year.
Capstone Chronicles #6: The conclusion to my Capstone Chronicles! Hear about the end of my process drafting my novel and presenting it for my Honors Program.
Vampire Resurgence: Stories of January 2020: One of my new additions to this blog is monthly discussions of the stories I read and watched. In the January edition, I talk a lot about Twilight, among other things.
Adventures in Austin: Lindsey’s Bachelorette Party: One of my travels included a trip to Austin, Texas. Visuals in the video, details to follow below.
to work
This month, I did a bunch of freelance work for Flagler. I consistently have projects for a couple offices that keep me busy.
Perhaps more importantly, I’m in a personal battle with myself about motivation. I’m just really bad at getting out of bed in the morning. Morning-me will convince myself that nothing matters but sleep, and I will snooze my alarm for 3 hours unless I absolutely have to get up for a meeting. I still get work done, it just often starts at 2 pm. I’m working on this, as is part of my New Years resolution to value time, but God, is it hard.
to live
February 8: Lindsey’s bridal shower
The first of my travels this month was to my cousin’s bridal shower in Tallahassee. I went for one night only, which was the perfect amount of time to visit family and friends, without being gone from home for too long.
Lindsey’s bridal shower was full of fun bridal games and snacks. I’m so excited for her to get married in just a couple weeks. While I was visiting, my parents and I watched Zombieland 2, which was honestly on par with the first one. I also got brunch with one of my best friends, coffee with another, and stopped by my grandparents’ before heading back to St. Augustine. It was lovely to see so many people and squeeze in so much fun in one weekend.
February 14: Valentine’s Day
For our second Valentine’s Day, Ray and I upheld our tradition of dinner and a movie. We planned to go to Outback but neglected to get a reservation, and by the time she got home from work, we couldn’t get seated with enough time to make it to the movie we wanted to see. We ended up ordering pizza and enjoying dinner at home before heading out to see Birds of Prey, which was fantastic. Solid Valentine’s Day, as it always is with my love.
February 16: Family birthday celebration
On this day, I had brunch with one of my former professors to celebrate our birthdays, which are 4 days apart. We caught up over French toast and coffee and had a very nice morning.
That evening, I visited Sanford to see Ray’s family for a big birthday celebration. Her mom and I share a birthday, and her sister’s was a month prior, but had yet to be properly celebrated. We went to Olive Garden with the whole extended family and enjoyed presents and desserts afterward.
February 17: Universal Studios
One of the presents I received was a Universal Studios seasonal pass from Ray’s whole family. Ray had gotten one as a graduation gift but didn’t have anyone to go with. I was very surprised and grateful to receive this gift, so for our Monday off of work, we went to the parks and hung out.
It’s been a couple years since I’ve been to Universal so we did as much as we could. We started in Islands of Adventure with the Cat in the Hat ride, followed by Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure, which is the coolest ride I’ve ever been on and absolutely worth the wait. We got lunch in Jurassic Park, hopped over to the Studios on the Hogwarts Express, rode the Mummy and Simpsons, and ended the day on Escape from Gringotts.
Overall, a wicked day.
February 18: My birthday!
For as much celebrating as I’d done by now, you’d forget my birthday wasn’t actually until the 18th! I got a package from my mom with gift cards, new Fitbit bands, and a rice cooker. I’m lucky she pays attention to how much I complain about cheap bands and uncooked rice and gifts accordingly.
In the evening, I had a birthday dinner with some of my closest friends at my favorite local pizza/Italian place, Pizzalley’s Chianti Room, followed by a delightful trip to Ben and Jerry’s. It was a nice, peaceful way to end the birthday celebrations.
February 20-23: Austin, Texas
The biggest trip I took this month was to Austin, Texas for Lindsey’s bachelorette weekend. She wanted to do something more out-of-the-box than a typical party before the wedding, so we found some good deals on Frontier and flew to Austin to meet our other cousin, Thayer, and spent the weekend in her Texan world.
On the 20th, Lindsey and her maid of honor, Carli, drove from Tallahassee, picked me up in Sanford, and got to our gate at the Orlando Airport literally the minute it closed. Oh, and our flight left at 6 am. Once we defeated time, the rest of the trip was all smooth sailing from there.
In Austin, Thayer picked us up, took us to Kerbey Lane Cafe for life-changing queso, and checked into our hotel early. Since none of us Floridians had slept the night before, we took a fat nap and decided to just get dinner and groceries for a chill night in.
The next day, we got a late start and did a scavenger hunt around downtown Austin to get a look at the city. We lunched at P. Terry’s (supreme veggie burger, btw) then regrouped at the hotel. We visited the Austin Aquarium, which was so interactive and fun, and ordered pizza. To cap off the evening, we made cookies and sat out by the fire pit in the outdoor lounge.
Our last full day in Austin was jam packed. I personally was having caffeine headaches from not having coffee for the past couple days, so we started out at Starbucks. Then we went axe throwing, where Thayer was kind of a champ. We “hiked” up Mount Bonnell, which is absolutely perfect for getting that Instagrammable moment. For lunch, we had Thundercloud Subs (again, spectacular veggie chicken sandwich). Then we lounged on a riverboat in the afternoon. That evening, we attempted to stroll down Sixth Street but literally couldn’t even get in anywhere to use a bathroom because we had some under 21 folks in our party. Still, we got the experience of the Sixth scene, and I got a magnet at a local store while trying to find out if they had a bathroom we could use.
The 23rd was our depart day. We checked out of the hotel, got our Starbucks, tried In N Out, and headed to the airport. The airport’s South Terminal was so small that we got in with no trouble and sat there for an hour. They did have a taco truck though, excellent quesadilla. Then we flew back to Orlando. Ray picked me up, and I finally got to spend the night in my own bed again. Then I vegetated for the entire following day.
Austin was a really cool city, and this was a really fun trip. I was nervous about going all the way to Texas for the bachelorette party, but it was absolutely worth it. Go Lindsey for getting married soon.
And that’s February! Very full and very fun. How was your February? Anybody particularly thrilled by Leap Year? Let me know if I should be celebrating. Feel free to like and follow as you see fit.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!
Jayda Louise 
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