Tampa Fun
We had a successful trip to Tampa! It’s fun every year, but last year was, er, a little less fun due to a couple factors which we don’t really need to go into (there were some cranky people). This year, everything went smoothly! Our hotel gave us QUEEN BEDS (as opposed to full-size beds last year, shudder), my daughter’s rehearsal venue was within walking distance of our hotel, and, last but definitely not least, there was a Starbucks connected to our hotel. Yep, my daughter was living her best life. Instead of being at school, she was eating from the breakfast buffet while I got her morning Starbucks order. Happy kid=happy mom! Then she was off to her all-day rehearsals while I did my own thing. I had leisurely workouts, time to read my book and sit with my planner in the Starbucks, and on Friday I had my annual blogger meetup with Stephany!! Stephany named this adventure “Beers, Books, and Bloggers.” We started at the St. Pete Brewing Company. Now to be clear, I don’t usually have beer with my lunch. But this was a special occasion, and I couldn’t pass up the “Hazy Tampa Bay-ker”: Then it was on to the bookstores! We started at The Book Lounge. This was such a cute store. I wish I had taken a photo inside, but there were quite a few people there and I didn’t feel comfortable taking photos of strangers. We spent some time browsing and buying, and then walked over to Book and Bottle. At this store, we spotted this, which Elisabeth recently mentioned: After more browsing and buying, we went to Tombolo Books. I loved every store, but this was probably my favorite because they had the biggest selection. More browsing and buying. I LOVE buying books, but I don’t usually do it because, um, well the library is free. But if I go to a bookstore I always want to buy something, to support them. Here’s what I ended up with from the afternoon: This was fun! I got to see Stephany (we both bought one of the same books- can you guess which one?) and have a little tour of St. Pete. On Saturday my daughter had her concert. It was a situation where it was a huge venue, and I had the best view from the large screens at the sides of the stage. I got some good photos of her! She really enjoyed all state this year because she played piccolo, which she likes more than flute. And then on Saturday night we drove back home! I’m sad the trip is over, but VERY happy to see the cats. Of course. Do you buy books? Would you buy a book if you were at an indie bookstore?