Land and Sea Market

I have talked a lot in the past about mine and Jamie's love for grilling. It is so nice to get home from work and not have to stand over an oven for an hour. We just pack up our cooler bag and head to one of the many grills at the complex and enjoy the outdoors and the sunset while grilling dinner. It makes for a relaxing night and not to mention a healthier dinner. Our favorite place to purchase our meats from is this wonderful butcher and fish shop called Land and Sea Market. Everything there is very fresh and super cheap. This past week Land and Sea ran a pickin' chicken deal. We purchased three pounds of chicken breasts, two, one pound chicken meatloafs, three chicken kabobs, six buffalo chicken sausages, three cheddar chicken sausages, eight buffalo chicken burgers and four cheddar chicken burgers. And are you ready for this??? All of that cost us $25! I am still in shock about it and needed to share it with all of our readers! Some future posts will be about how we prepared all of these different foods.

Here is a picture from this past Saturday that I took while we were grilling with some friends after a day at the pool.

InjurKNees and Visitors!

So Jamie and I have had a busy week and a half! Last Tuesday Jamie injured his knee while playing basketball with his friends. After a trip to the ER that night and to the Orthopedist the next day it was determined that he had torn his meniscus. Jamie has been getting around pretty well on his crutches and we will go back to the doctor next week to find out if he needs surgery. So please cross your fingers that he does not! From the minute Jamie came home from the ER Bandit was at his side! Jamie spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week working from our couch and Bandit was snuggled up next to him all three days.

On Sunday I was able to persuade Jamie to take a trip to the grocery store with me, but only by promising he could ride around on one of the scooters that they have! It was quite funny and we had a great time while shopping. Although, somehow I got stuck carrying the crutches!

This week Jamie's brother, David, was in Tampa for work.On Monday we went to dinner at Manggiano's, it is family style Italian food and they keep bringing food until you ask them to stop. I have never seen so much food in my life, we literally had to expand our table to make it all fit! Tuesday night David stopped by our apartment for a visit. He is our first family member to see the apartment, so it was nice to show him around!

Exploring Tampa-Rainbow River

This past weekend Jamie and I tried something new! We ventured about two hours North of Tampa with four other couples to Rainbow River to go inner tubing. Rainbow River is formed by a natural spring, because it is spring water the river is 73 degrees year round. The water is also crystal clear and absolutely gorgeous. We packed our lunches and some cocktails and attached a raft to our tubes and floated down the river for four hours. It was really relaxing; like a lazy river for adults! I wasn't able to take any pictures of our trip because I didn't want to risk breaking my camera but I did 'borrow' a few pictures from the internet.

On Sunday we spent the day watching sports at the Brick House Tavern + Tap. This is one of mine and Jamie's favorite sports bars here in Tampa because of their beer selection, yummy food and 'man cave'. We arrived at the Brick House to watch the final of the Women's World cup and stayed through to the seventh inning of the Red Sox game. After the World Cup was over we were able to move into the 'man cave' section of the bar. This part of the bar is great! They have about 12 lazy boy recliners with cup holders and removable trays and 4 flat screen tvs set on coffee tables. It really felt like we were in someone's living room! Here are a few pictures of Jamie and his friend Pat enjoying the afternoon.

(Pat was so comfortable he even took off his shoes!)

 

Before and After-The Living Room

So for the past month I have really been trying to focus on decorating the apartment a bit more. Every time I make a small addition I am amazed at how much of a difference it makes! My latest project was to fill the big empty white wall over the couch in our living room. I found it to be no easy task since it is such a large space and I have been trying to do everything as thrifty as possible. My other goal while decorating has been to have mine (and Jamie's) personal touch on everything, which means having some part in creating it. Below is a picture of our couch and the big white wall.

One thing that Jamie and I love doing several nights a week is going for a walk at sunset. So we thought taking some pictures of the beautiful sunsets we have seen and hanging them on the wall would be a great idea and fit us perfectly. Here are the two pictures that we used.

Now once we picked the two pictures that we wanted to use I had to figure out a way to keep the prints and frames in our budget. We had explored many different options and ultimately got both pictures printed from Kodak in a 16x20 size (at 15% off). I then went to Michaels and purchased two frames (at 60% off). We were able to purchase and hang both prints and stay below our budget! Thanks to our friend Steve we were able to get the pictures hung beautifully! Below is a picture of the boys hanging the pictures and the finished wall. I don't believe taking a picture of a picture ever does it justice, but you can use your imagination!

Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Crystal, Jamie & Bandit

Jamie's Birthday Celebration

This weekend I had a birthday barbecue for Jamie. The celebration began out by one of our apartment complex's pools. We had about 30 guests come in and out throughout the day, they had a great time playing corn hole, swimming, and eating lots of food! Here are a few pictures from the pool side festivities.

These were koozie and straws for our guests

Jamie and his friend Steve playing corn hole

Jamie and his friend Rob

After a long day of fun in the sun it was time for dinner. I was very grateful to one of our friends that we met here at the apartment complex, Andrew, who helped me grill! Here is a picture of the grill and all the yummy food.

For dinner we had bacon cheddar, cheddar and blue cheese hamburgers from land and sea market, actual 'hot' dogs-hot dogs brushed with franks complete with a toppings bar, chicken teriyaki kabobs, feta pasta salad and chipolte grilled potatoes. There were literally no leftovers! After dinner we all headed back to our apartment for dessert and to get ready for our night out. 

Jamie and me at the bar across the street from our apartment, Whiskey Joe's

Jamie with his friends Carlos, Pat and Rob

Jamie's Birthday!

This past week we celebrated Jamie's 26th birthday! The week was very busy for us but a lot of fun! Our week began on Tuesday, Jamie's actual birthday, with lots of presents sent from our families in New York. Here are a few pictures of Jamie opening the New York Giant's corn hole set he received.

On Wednesday Jamie and I went across the street from our apartment complex to a restaurant called The Chart House for a birthday dinner. When we arrived the restaurant had made a personalized menu for the birthday boy (I had to sneak a picture of it).

The food was really good, definitely the best we have had since we have moved to Tampa. Jamie started with their chop house salad and then had their prime rib for dinner. I had their lobster bisque, which had large pieces of fresh lobster in it, and then I had their filet mignon with a blue cheese sauce for dinner. For dessert we shared their mud pie. We had a great time but left very full!