Gasparilla!

Jose Gaspar- pirate ship

     Gasparilla is a pirate festival that takes place in downtown Tampa every year in honor of the legend of the great pirate Jose Gaspar, aka Gasparilla. According to wikipedia Jose Gaspar was one of the "last Buccaneers" who went up and down the west coast of florida as a pirate raiding and invading during the late 18'th and early 19'th century.

   Since 1904 Tampa has been celebrating this festival which is often compared to Mardi Gras, in that beads are thrown out from the parade floats and drinking is legal on the streets. The festival begins with an "invasion" by the pirate ship into the tampa harbor, followed by a massive street parade that last for approx 3 hours. Unfortunately, I worked the night prior so we didn't make it to the invasion, but we arrived in time to see the parade. The parade is full of different pirate themed floats- from captain morgan to medieval and greek pirates! The parade can be a little rowdy with everyone drinking and trying to catch beads, as you can imagine the value of beads goes way up for the day! lol.  Below are a few pics from the parade.  Have you ever been to Gasparilla?

Captain Morgan

My art collection

     I decided to start collecting art a few years ago when I was traveling. I first started traveling when I was a teenager and I was big on buying souvenirs, but then the more I started to travel I realized that I was collecting useless junk that I didn't use or need and spending extra money on things unnecessary. So instead of buying things I just started taking more photos. I have well over 15,000 photos on my computer! (i know its a little ridiculous ), but I do like to go back and reminisce and see where all my money has gone! lol. Last year I decided I would start collecting smaller pieces of art that I found intriguing. I haven't bought much art in the past because I wasn't ready to seattle down and now that I'm planning on staying in one place for a while, (Chicago) I decided it was time to start collecting.

     My favorite art is bright, colorful, scenic, with a modern or cartoonist twist. Some of my favorite artists of today are Heather Brown, Grant Pecoff, and Spencer Reynolds. As you will see in the pictures below, what exactly I'm talking about. I also wanted artwork that is representative of where I have been and that is a conversation piece. 

This painting is done by one of my favorite artist- Heather Brown. I love the colors and the simplicity of the painting. One could easily see this as a stained glass. I love that you don't have to guess or question which ocean or where this was done, as Diamond Head is easily recognizable. I picked this piece up in an art gallery in Waikiki in May of last year. 

the artist- David Totten and I

This next piece of art I picked up near Talkeetna, Alaska. Eric and I had just left Talkeetna and I happened to see a sign off the road marked art gallery. We pulled in and we were lucky enough to meet the artist and see his awesome work. David Totten, originally from California, uses his local surroundings for his inspiration, which are nothing less than amazing. The picture that I chose is titled "sockeyes are in", which as you can see below is a drawing of a bear attempting to catch dinner (the salmon) as they swim upstream. 

The next piece of art I also picked up from Alaska. The artist is Katie Sevigny who studied in Chicago, but now makes Anchorage, Alaska her home. The picture below gives a colorful twist on the skyline of Anchorage, and is simple and clean.

Katie Sevigny

The last piece of art I picked up last March on my trip to Bhutan. This is a really unique piece of art in that it is a prayer flag that has been painted over. The symbol in the middle is the Om and the painted stripes represent prayer flags. I am not sure who the artist is for this painting.

Bhutanese prayer flag 

So that is my small art collection. As I continue to travel and also move into a more permanent housing situation, I plan on collecting more pieces of colorful, meaning artwork. What type of art inspires you? Which artist do you admire? Do you have a collection? 

     www.davidtotten.com

www.katiesevignyart.org

www.pecoff.com

www.heatherbrownart.com

My Dream Destinations

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Can you guess my top 12? 

This list was difficult to bring together because honestly I want to go everywhere, but these destinations in particular I really want to see! What are your top 5, 10, or 12 destinations?

a week of adventure and RV's!

sunrise over lake Ned-right behind my apartment complex

     Another week has passed and the month of January is halfway over. I had to make a few big decisions the past week but thankfully it wasn't too difficult. I received a phone call last Friday from my travel recruiter asking if I wanted to extend my contract. As most of you know I am living in Winter Haven, FL and I can't say that I love or really even like it here- well except the weather. The good is I do like my job, I enjoy the weather, and its not too far from Tampa and Orlando- the bad is that is it kinda far from a city, there is no target, no nightlife, and no shopping nearby. Originally when I wanted to move to Florida I had Miami in mind, but at the time when I wanted to move there were no travel jobs available, except here in Winter Haven.

    So my choices were 1.) to extend and work here another 10 weeks, 2.) try to find another travel contract here in Florida, or 3.) move to chicago. Well, I don't really want to move to Chicago in the middle of February so that eliminates that choice and after having trouble finding a travel contract I figured it would just be a lot easier to stay put for a few more weeks then having to pack up the apartment, train for a new job , and etc. Also, my friend Sherry, who is a traveler with me extended too and that played into my decision.  So Eric, Dudley, and I will be living in Winter Haven, FL until April 21 and then it will be off to Chicago!

Chicago!

After April 21 the plan is to take a road trip up to Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, SC and then onto Indiana for moving to Chicago, but we shall see what happens. I've stated looking at apartments, but I'm not sure what area is best. I like using www.zillow.com because you can see the location and info of the apartment. I also have to figure out where I will be working. I'm thinking that I might do registry work first and see which hospital I like, but that might make it difficult to get an apartment since that is not considered steady income. In other news I did get my temporary IL nursing license this week! If anyone has suggestions or advice on the best Chicago neighborhoods or up and coming neighborhoods that is close to public transportation or info on hospitals and nursing opportunities I would greatly appreciate it!

Islands of Adventure!

     On Monday this past week we went to Islands of Adventure- Universal Studios. We didn't get there until later in the afternoon so we were not able to ride as much, but most of the lines were 5-10 minutes. I really like the Spiderman ride and the Hulk. Last time I tried the butterbeer in Hogsmeade, which is the Harry Potter section, and it tasted like butterscotch and cinnamon and this time I tried the pumpkin juice which was just ok- it taste like apple juice with pumpkin spice or some sort of pumpkin kick to it. Can't say that I am impressed with either of them.  Overall it was a fun day at Islands of Adventure!

the Retro by Riverside RV

   

     On Thursday I went to Tamp for the RV Supershow! They had hundreds of RV's- from multimillion dollar RV's to pop-ups! I think I was one of the few people under 30 there! I loved it! Above and below are a few pics that I took. My favorite (which is not shown) is the airstream for sure! I love the airstreams- the quality and the look is just awesome! Hopefully someday I will have one. The pictures below are of the metros made by Riverside RV in Indiana by Amish! They are super cute and cost around $10,000. They weigh around 1800 lb so they are very light and I would be able to pull one with my Kia Sportage! They can sleep up to 4 people and have a small kitchen with a gas stove, sink, and fridge, a tiny bathroom with shower, a dining table that seats 4 and converts to a bed, and another bed that sleeps 2! If I had a more stable living situation I would possibly get one, but maybe later I can get one of these until I can get my airstream!

 

     The other RV that I was really impressed with was the mobile suites. I can only imagine camping in Banff or Grand Teton and having a view of the mountains and sitting in that nice living room and enjoying the fireplace. Below are a few pics:)

Mobile Suites- kitchen

Mobile Suites-living room

    Now that I have extended my stay in Florida til April hopefully I will be able to complete my list of things that I want to see and do while I am here. One thing that I wanted to do was a cruise to the Bahamas which I just booked on Friday.We are going with Royal Caribbean to Nassau and Coco Cay- Bahamas!  I'm super excited as I have never been to the Bahamas and Eric has never been on a cruise so it should be a really good time. Does anyone have recommendations on excursions? Would any recommend paying $120 to go to the Atlantis waterpark? I also want to take a trip somewhere in the caribbean since I am so close! So far it is looking like Puerto Rico in March- I'm really hoping that it works out! Let me know if you have any suggestions or advice for the cruise or caribbean! Thanks!

PS. I didn't realize that I had the comment section restricted but now I fixed that so please leave comments and/or suggestions! 

getting my art on in tampa

    On my day off yesterday I decided to check out the museum/art scene in the Tampa bay area and I must say they do have a couple nice museums. First, I headed over to the Henry Plant Museum, which is on the campus of the University of Tampa- located in downtown Tampa. The museum itself is small and in my opinion rather cluttered but the history of the place is fascinating. The history is really that of Tampa and how Tampa became to be because of Henry Plant. Henry Plant is responsible for bringing the railway to Tampa, which in turn brought about the shipping industry, factories, and etc... 

Mr. Plant started to get into the hotel business and took on the Tampa Bay Hotel as a personal project. He traveled the globe with his wife looking for the finest furnishings for the hotel- even picking up a chair that was rumored to have been Marie Antoinette's. Below is a drawing of what the hotel looked like in its glory days- in the 1890's.  

     At that time the hotel had over 500 guests rooms and had a casino, horse racetrack, and a theatre as well. An overnight stay would cost you approx $5 a night for a single room or around $15 for a suite.  The hotel also has historical significance in that during the Spanish American War it was the headquarters for the US Army. Teddy Roosevelt and his rough riders even stayed for a week. Below is a picture of what the hotel/museum looks like today. The majority of the building is used by the University of Tampa for offices and classrooms and I would say about 10-12 rooms are used for the museum, which are filled with artifacts from that time. 

     After leaving the Henry Plant Museum I decided to walk along the river and across the way I saw the Tampa Museum of Art and decided to check it out. After inquiring I found out that they have "art on the house" on Fridays- meaning its free after 4 so I decided that I would come back after checking out the Dali Museum. So I jumped in my car and crossed the big bridge between Tampa and St. Petersburg and went to the Dali Museum. Below is a pic of the Dali Museum which was recently reopened on 1-11-11 at 11:11. The architecture of the building is amazing. The glass seems to ooze or flow off the building. 

I had a quick lunch in the Dali cafe then I joined a tour of the museum. Unfortunately I was unable to take pics but I did find some online- at the very top of my blog is the first Dali painting that we came across in the tour. I must admit I myself did not know a whole lot about Dali, but I found the tour to be very informative and learned quite a bit. Salvador Dali was born and raised in Spain and started painting at a young age. There is a self painting of Dali at age 17 at the museum. Walking through the museum you see how Dali's painting progresses from the impressionist paintings to the surreal painting.  After Dali read Sigmund Freud that is when his painting went more of the surrealism way. I enjoy looking at his work because of the fine details and meaning behind the paintings- there is a message if you pay close attention. Below are a few of Dali's paintings. 

     After getting inspired and enjoying the art work of Dali I decided to head back across the bridge to check out the Tampa Museum of Art.  The Tampa Museum of Art has a more modern take on art. The building itself is nice and new- the architecture is very clean and simple, but they have large rooms with only a few pieces of art. The museum opened in Feb. of 2010 so they have not been open very long and the collections on display is very limited. The special exhibit was that of Janet Biggs-No Limits. Janet used video to make art- I personally am not a fan of video art(unless its a movie. lol). For example, in one room there were 3 huge screens- on 2 of the screens it showed just the face of a horse as it was running and the video kept playing over, while the video in the middle showed an older lady sitting in a rocking chair and her going back and forth. I can't say that I was inspired. The one video that I did enjoy was from the arctic, which showed a guy kayaking through the ice- looked cold but adventurous. Overall, I enjoyed my day exploring the museums and art I found in Tampa. The highlight of the day was definitely the Dali Museum. So if you are ever in the area I would say it is a morning or afternoon well spent!

my blog inspiration

As I stated before I attempted to start a blog but for some reason I either didn't have the time or motivation.. more like the latter probably. Anyways, recently I was watching house hunters and watched a special episode where a young couple went searching for an RV. They happen to be the Wynns and have been traveling cross country for over a year and share their adventures at www.gonewiththewynns.com. Seeing what they have done and the adventures they have had and are having inspired me to try and document my travels and life better. Living in an RV and traveling cross country has been a dream of mine for a while. The time is not quite now, but hopefully someday I will be able to fulfill that dream.(maybe at my midlife crisis. lol)  The airstream I think would by my ideal travel trailer or for an a class the new holiday rambler trip. I've posted a few pics so you can see what I'm talking about. Can you not imagine driving cross country and seeing the USA from one of these home on wheels??

Happy New Year 2012!

Happy New Year!!! Hard to believe that 2012 is here! I had a nice time last night ringing in the new year at Epcot! I walked around the world and got something to eat or drink in almost every country. I had a glass of wine in France, a beer in Japan, a bratwurst in Germany, a glass of champagne in Norway, a chicken dinner in Morocco, and pizza in Italy!  If I had to pick a favorite country at Epcot I think it might be France or maybe its because I just watched midnight in Paris and I have France on the brain. Paris is one of my favorite cities. I love the architecture.. the atmosphere..  it's such a beautiful city.

 They had 2 fireworks shows last night- one at 7 which was more of the normal show they have at Epcot and another that started at 11:40 and ended with a huge countdown and finale! I have never seen so many fireworks at once! The show was really neat in that the announcer stated "at 10am this morning Japan celebrated the new year and now we will celebrate with them" and fireworks went off behind Japan... and they did that with each country represented at Epcot until it was time for our countdown. They also had DJ's and dancing in a few of the areas. Overall it was a fun and memorable way to ring in the new year! Now I'm getting ready for work, hopefully it won't be too busy tonight. I have 4 days off in a row this week! Not sure what to do with myself! Well I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Years!

Here is a link to the finale and countdown at Epcot! Enjoy!     http://youtu.be/zf9FW0UdYlU