Tampa for Thanksgiving

Ugh! I had the best the time in Tampa for Thanksgiving. It was extra hard to board the plane to return to Connecticut. This is my least favorite time of the year up here. Leaves are completely gone, it’s pitch black by 5 pm, and there’s no snow. Tampa is a welcome reprieve: everything is still warm, bright, and green. It’s a great perk to have my family living there!!!

I always book my trip based on ticket prices and to make sure I’m not traveling on Black Friday/Cyber Monday (#bloggerproblems). I was so happy that the cards were in my favor for a weeklong trip.

Wearing: Navy Blazer (c/o) // White Tee // Jeans // Sneakers // Suitcase

The worst part is figuring out how to pack. Florida is tricky, especially in November. The first half of the trip was cool (for Florida standards) and the second half was very warm. BUT, we spend so much time in air conditioning, haha. I had a few people ask about how to dress for Florida trips in the winter time and here are my tips. You have to look at the weather; you really have no idea what it’s going to be like. It can be 90 degrees in December, or you could have a comfortable 50. Even with a week, you can see both. I tend to wear one “long” and one “short” item to combat the air conditioning chill. So jeans and a t-shirt or a long-sleeved shirt and a skirt. I also bring sweaters for dinners as it does cool off a little bit when the sun goes down. Anyway, that’s my two cents!

Paper Source is knocking it out of the park yet again. Their wrapping paper gets me every time.

After a day of just running around errands with my mom on Wednesday, we were ready for Thanksgiving dinner. Sometimes I dream of a cozy Thanksgiving somewhere with snow, but then we set up the table out on the porch, and I take it all back. It’s dreamy.

Our local floral shop had winter peonies for a wedding, so we picked up a few, along with some bright greens, and mixed in magnolia leaves from the tree in the backyard. (My mom’s vision!) It came together so nicely.

After the stuffing (my favorite part), the next thing I was looking forward the most was setting up our outdoor movie theater. It has been a dream of mine to set up, and it went off without a hitch. This is the projector we used and here’s the post where I explain more about how to set it up.

I love my sister’s friends (twin sisters Taylor and Morgan), and it’s a tradition for their family to come over to our house after dinner. At some point, Morgan and I made a deal that I would go out to a bar with them Friday night in Tampa and Morgan would let me do her makeup (both something we had never done). I upheld my end of the bargain and had a lot of fun. And then we met up for brunch the next day before going to the mall to have Morgan’s makeup done.

If you find yourself in Tampa for brunch, you have to go to Pinky’s and get the blueberry oatmeal pancakes. Beyond delicious. I mean, look at that stack:

I love how festive our neighborhood gets. A lot of houses were just getting their decorations up over the weekend, and it was such a fun transformation before and after Thanksgiving.

One of my favorite parts of going back is seeing all my favorite babies grow up! 10-month-old Anna is on the go! I could pretty much just eat her up.

And my trip to Tampa wouldn’t be complete without daily stops at Oxford Exchange. I normally get an iced Buddy Brew vanilla coffee, but this time around I got hooked on the Peppermint Bark fog. No words. I got one every day. You don’t have to twist my arm to visit Oxford Exchange anyway, especially with all the holiday decorations up.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!