I'm Back!

As you might have noticed things were quiet on the blog this past week, the reason being that I was on vacation with my family on the gorgeous Gulf coast of Florida! I had grand plans of scheduling posts for the week but those plans all went out the window before we left. Last Saturday was my younger sister's graduation open house and we were all scrambling to prepare not only for that but our trip as well. Craziness and last-minute rushing around ensued, meaning I had no time to plan any posts let alone write them. Sigh. But now that I'm home I promise to get back to blogging regularly!

I've only been back home for a day but I already miss Florida. It was wonderful! We arrived Monday night and spent the evening having dinner at the hotel's restaurant. It's right on the beach and the view was absolutely gorgeous.

The view from the restaurant during the day.

The view from our hotel room. Umm, can I just move here so I can look out onto this every morning?

On Tuesday morning I lugged my giant beach bag o' books down to the pool and started We Were Liars, which I finished in record time: all in one day! It was seriously addicting, you guys; if you haven't read it yet, you need to (and if that's not enough to convince you, I hope to have my review up soon, so keep your eyes peeled.) Sadly, Liars was the only book I finished this trip. After finishing it I went back and forth between reading What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick, These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, and Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi. I think I was having a hard time concentrating because I was still reeling from the end of Liars.

What would vacation be without a good book and a fruity drink? :)

All in all it was a great vacation but, sad as I was to leave Florida yesterday, I'm glad to be back home. Now it's time for me to buckle down and start prepping for my publishing course, which is quickly approaching. I'm slightly terrified but mostly excited--after all, it'll put me that much closer to getting my dream job (I hope). But, more details on that later. For now, I will leave you with some amusing pics from my trip. :)

For my family, it wouldn't be a real Florida vacation without stopping in at least one of the millions of beach shops on the island. When I was a kid, I used to love roaming these stores in search of the perfect souvenir to take home but now that I'm older I just like looking around at all the wacky stuff. Like the shell art in the first picture, for example. I mean, who wouldn't want a souvenir of shell people playing a game of poker? (Not pictured here: shell people mariachi bands.) Or, if you're wanting a simpler, more authentic souvenir, you could always pick a beautiful seashell from one of the many baskets of shells they have available. However, it appears that Florida is fresh out of seashells and has had to resort to importing all of theirs from the Philippines for the moment...