The Old Spanish Sugar Mill -- DeLeon Springs, FL

From the title of this post, it may seem like I am going to bore you with historical facts about an old Spanish sugar mill. Well, you are only slightly mistaken. Yes, it is located in a state park and the sugar mill was once a sugar mill, but a sugar mill it is no longer. It is now a restaurant. And not just for sugar, although there is plenty of that coming.

The restaurant serves lunch options and is open until 4 o'clock, but the only thing people really order is their pancakes. If you want to have a chance to actually eat in the restaurant, you have to get their early. By nine o'clock there is already a waiting list and you can expect to be waiting for some time. However, if you are a pancake lover, it is worth the wait.

I went with my family on a Thursday morning to get breakfast. We got to the park around 8:15 and were in the restaurant by 8:30. Thankfully we got there as they were just opening up. Normally they open around nine but in the summer, they open earlier because of all the summer camp groups that come to swim in the spring.

Anyway, when you walk into this restaurant, you will immediately realize that something is different. Look at the picture below and see if you can spot it:

Can you see it?

There are griddles in the middle of each table! Did you guess it? Yes! Good job! No! Let's pretend like you did!

The griddle-on-the-table experience is what most people love about this place. However, this restaurant is not the best for small children as the griddles heat up to high temperatures. We had to watch my little sister very closely. She did fine and she is four years old, so if you know your child can sit still and follow directions they should be fine.

You may be asking yourself, "Do they cook your food in front of you like those cool Japanese restaurants?"

The answer is no. What happens is, you sit, you look at the menu, your order what pancake batter you want and what toppings you would like and then the server will bring you a pitcher of the batter and your toppings in small bowls. You cook your own pancakes. So if you are a terrible pancake chef, this restaurant is not for you! I repeat, not for you! None of the other patrons want to smell your burnt pancake disaster.

Though it may seem odd at first, once you have gotten used to the idea this restaurant is one of the best breakfast places in the area. It has a lot of charm and the state park that it is located in is beautiful and has a lot of other things to offer.

Overall, I would give The Old Spanish Sugar Mill a 3 out of 5. The only reason for the lower score is because of the wait times and the fact that you have to pay a fee to get into the park in addition to paying for your food.

                                                                                                                          Bye-Bye
                                                                                                                          XOXO Avery

It's a rainy day so....

It's a rainy day so.... by avery-tyler featuring a purple long sleeve shirt

VILA purple long sleeve shirt
$28 - vila.com

Topshop black pants
$34 - topshop.com

Wet Seal cognac boots
wetseal.com

Black purse
$230 - oliverbonas.com

Topshop purple jewelry
topshop.com

Club Manhattan collar necklace
$34 - welikefashion.com

Ray-ban glasses
revolveclothing.com

4th of July 2014

Fireworks! Boom!

 

Yes I know that as I am writing this it is actually the 6th of July but I do have an excuse. I was busy the 5th of July. Okay, yes, that was a very lame excuse but I still had one.

 

 

I do not live in St. Augustine but my grandparents have a house by the beach and we visit very often. Every year my family and I stay with them for the fourth. As beautiful as St. Augustine is, when a holiday like this comes around a lot of weirdos show up. Not total weirdos, but still very weird. The type of weird they were, was "'Murica" weird. They didn't seem like the people that just enjoy this holiday to be with family and have some fun in the summer weather. These people go all out. I saw many guys without shirts and girls who weren't wearing normal shirts. One girl was wearing a red bandana as a shirt. Let me just say this: Bandanas are not shirts!

 



View down St. George street

 

We went shopping down St. George street before the fireworks display. There are so many cute stores and I really wanted to buy everything. My brothers also really like the copious amounts of pirate stores down there as well. Out of all the shopping, though, there is one place that takes the cake, or should I say ice-cream. Kilwin's ice-cream is the best there is. I could eat there every day.

Sunset from the Bridge of Lions

 

After shopping and walking around downtown St. Augustine, we found a spot on the Bridge of Lions for the fireworks display. Since the best view was from the bridge, that was were everyone was. This was the time when I was around the previously mentioned weirdos. However, out of all the weirdos, there were two that rose above the others. Two guys were running the length of the bridge back and forth wearing American flags as capes and letters painted on their chests. One guys had a U and the other had an S. There was no A, so sadly it was just them, or as they would say, just us. Get it. Us. US. The two letters. Pretty good right. Maybe not. Okay I'll stop now. 

I took all 4 of these photos

               

                                                                                                                  Bye-Bye

                                                                                                                          XOXO Avery

Polyvore Outfit #1

Summer  featuring a pink bracelet

Pink tee
ruum.com

Converse sneaker
$77 - office.co.uk

Pink bracelet
$15 - ginatricot.com

Floral headband
$12 - ark.co.uk

Hydrating lipstick
$6.77 - eyeslipsface.co.uk

So I really like the app Polyvore and I make at least one dream outfit a day. I'm going to post some of my favorite creations and hopefully you will like them as much as I do. The great thing about Polyvore is that each of the clothing items links to the website where the item can be found. I really wish most of the outfits I make didn't cost so much but at least I can pretend like I'm wearing them. So... yeah... I'll post one outfit/look a week that I put together and hopefully you'll enjoy!

                                                                                                                                  Bye-Bye

                                                                                                                                  XOXO Avery

I Don't Know What I Think About This...

So....... I have this mascara that I've been using every day for about a month and I can't decide if I love it or if it's just meh. This is it:

It is the Maybelline Great Lash mascara and the color is Brownish- Black.

Now first of all, I know I love the color if the tube. Pink is my favorite color and that's what made me buy it in the first place.

The other good thing about the mascara is the actual applicator brush. It is just the right size (for my eyes at least) and I haven't had a problem with it at all.

There really is only one drawback about this but it's a big one. Once I put the actual mascara on my eyelashes I can't close my eyes or open them all the way until the liquid dries. If I don't keep my eyelids halfway open then I get black lines of masacara on my face that are very hard to scrub off. My mom says that I really shouldn't be complaining that my eyelashes are so long that they touch my face when my eyes are open but it is a real problem for those afflicted. A first world problem, but still a problem none the less.

Now I want to know what you think. I probably should stick with this one until it runs out, but I'm probably going to get different ones when I go back to the store. Should I review the new ones I buy? Let me know!
                                                                                                                  Bye-Bye
                                                                                                                  XOXO Avery
                                              

Being a Camp Leader

So as a high schooler who doesn't have a job, I'm  stuck with the task of being a camp leader for a myriad of many different camps. Well... really only two types of camps but the same two multiple times.

Last week, I helped the owner of my dance studio with her 3-4 year-old dance camp. This involves dancing with small children, playing with small children, and cleaning up water spilled by... you guessed it... small children. I have to clean up at least three spilled drinks during a 15 minutes snack time. Although, by the end of the week, I know which child will spill their drink, because it is always the same ones who spill their drink every day. By Friday, I just stand behind them with a roll of paper towels ready to swoop in when the inevitable happens.

This week I'm a "crew leader" at my church's VBS camp. I don't have to deal with 3-4 year-olds though so that's a plus. I'm a leader of 1st and 2nd graders and they are pretty fun. I talked about Minecraft with one kid, sang "Let It Go" with another kid, and had a water fight with... you guessed it... some more kids. They say the funniest things also. For example, we were going into drama time and we were told that the bible story being covered was about when Jesus heeled the lepers. One of the kids didn't hear the story correctly and whispered in my ear:"Jesus killed the leopards?!"

I have many more dance camps that I'm helping with this summer and I'll probably get roped into helping with others. Even though it probably doesn't seem like I don't like kids, I do. I've been around small kids my whole life and since I want to become an elementary school teacher I'll be around them for even longer.
                                                                                                            Bye-Bye
                                                                                                            XOXO Avery

One of My Favorites

My favorite website of all time has got to be Pinterest and I think I may have a problem. I go on every day and right now have 1,280 pins, 854 likes, and 18 different boards. Sure there may be people that have more pins or likes or boards than I do but I  still have a lot. At least I think I have a lot.

My best friend is also sort of  addicted to Pinterest. That's one of the signs of true friendship. We both waste our time on websites instead of doing something productive. However, being on Pinterest is doing something productive. How else would I know that a crayon will burn for 30 minutes or that putting teabags in shoes will take away their stink.

Without Pinterest how would I have found these amazing tidbits:

If you want to check out my Pinterest page here you go:
http://www.pinterest.com/adhrt/
         
                                                                                                             Bye-Bye
                                                                                                             XOXO Avery