Jenny Strozinsky

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Planning a Wedding During COVID-19

jennystrozinsky April 20, 2020

I grew up at my family lake house on Lake Rabun. There’s no place I love more on this entire planet. In fact, the other night we were asking each other crazy questions and “If you could see one last place before you die where would it be?” was asked. I didn’t even need to think about it. The porch at the lake house is the most special place in the world. Because of this, I have always known I wanted to get married there. In fact Tyler knew it was basically a requirement. No matter how hard, stressful, expensive, time-consuming it might be I was going to marry the person I love most in the place I love most. There was never another option.

When Tyler proposed he even took it one step further to propose on a waterfall 10 minutes from the lake house that my parents had taken my sister and I to since we were babies. After he proposed, we celebrated with gorgeous weather and our friends floating in the lake and getting pizza from right down the street. It was a magical weekend.

I won’t lie and say planning this wedding has been a walk in the park. In fact, it’s been one of the most time-consuming processes I’ve ever gone through. My parents got married on the porch of the lake house but I knew with the amount of friends and family we were going to need to accommodate we would need some sort of venue. I was adamant to keep the lake in sight and for our weekend to just be one big adventure for our guests. There is an open-air rock pavilion around the corner from our lake house, it’s gorgeous with open beams and stone covering the entire thing. They made it look like it was meant to be on the side of the mountain. The kicker to this space is it isn’t a wedding venue, it’s just an open structure. So everything from the flowers, food, cake, music has to be brought in from either Atlanta or Athens. We had some bumps in the road trying to find vendors and ended up hiring a planner to help- something I never in a million years thought I would do. This was the best decision I made during planning, she has been amazing and so helpful.

I’m not going to lie, I felt pretty on top of this whole wedding planning thing. I thrive off lists and organizational tasks so I loved checking things off my boxes, calling vendors and getting things done. Around Christmas I had pretty much wrapped up the majority of planning. I decided I wasn’t going to really look at any wedding stuff for at least a month so I took January off and decided to join a CrossFit gym (which is a story for another day because it completely changed my life.)

In February I went to my first dress fitting and fell in love with my dress all over again. I could see the finish line. We were getting excited for bachelor/bachelorette parties, showers and honeymoon plans. Our wedding bands came and Tyler tried to convince me to just go elope… but we didn’t.

We were so excited to celebrate with our friends and family, our vision finally coming to life and then… a pandemic hit and everything went to hell.

How do you wrap your mind around a global pandemic? A virus that is circulating and killing thousands of people around the world. All of a sudden everything you thought was important got put on the back burner and you’re just hoping that you have a job at the end of this, or that you can find toilet paper in a store. Florida goes through hurricanes. I’ve been through a massive flooding of my home during one. But I’ve never seen anything like this before. I’ve never seen people panic the way they are right now. It’s scary and heartbreaking and how in the world could we even be thinking about a wedding right now??

“Let’s just go get married on Forrest’s yard and be done with it”

“I mean it’s in July we still have time.. right?”

“We could just go up to the lake right now and get married”

“Our friends and family would be crushed if they couldn’t come”

“We might be having to stand 6 feet apart from our friends and family at our wedding”

“A social-distance wedding?? I can’t hug my Grandma???”

These are just a few conversations that have been thrown around in the last month. It’s hard because truly for Tyler and I the wedding has never been about us, it’s been about all the people we love getting to enjoy the place we love most in the world. There are much, much worse things going on in the world right now than having to cancel or postpone a wedding. The horror stories I’ve heard from vendors who are now friends about brides threatening to sue them for XY&Z makes me sick to my stomach. I get it girl, I really do, but have some compassion for people who are just trying to stay afloat through all this.

“So Jenny and Tyler what are you going to do?”

We’re going to wait and see. For a little while anyways. If we have to get married on the porch of the lake house that’s what we’ll do. I hate that this year will always go down as the corona year and not the year we got married. But, this crisis has definitely put a lot of things into perspective of what’s really important. We will keep everyone updated, hopefully with good news, a little bit closer to the wedding.

Stay safe friends and family. We love you. Jenny + Tyler

Hollywood With A Touch Of Twang

jennystrozinsky January 10, 2019

Your Guide to a Long Weekend in Nashville.

Nashville, Tennessee. The only place in the world where there’s a boot shop next door to a craft ramen restaurant. I love Nashville, it’s one of my favorite cities and it’s an easy flight from Jacksonville so it was the perfect spot to celebrate my graduation and birthday all in one trip. Tyler left a day before me so I flew in Sunday morning, which gave us 3 1/2 days in music city. We did rent a car and if you aren’t visiting friends or family in Nashville I highly recommend this, especially if you are traveling in the colder months and staying more than a night or two.

Where We Stayed.

We stayed at the SoBro Guest House a couple blocks from Broadway. I fell in love with this spot as soon as I saw it online and I will try to stay here every time we visit Nashville from now on. It was more of an Air BnB set-up and we had a virtual check-in where the door codes were texted to me when our room was ready on check-in day. Every unit is set up like a little apartment and has its own kitchen. It was full equipped with pots and pans, a french press coffee maker, plenty of tea bags (thank goodness because we both had sore throats) and a really cute record player with old country records. It was also right next door to the best BBQ in Nash and had lots of cute murals and wallpaper.

Day One.

Breakfast:

Biscuit Love – Hillsboro Village

I’ve wanted to try Biscuit Love since the first time I visited Nashville, but we were always in the Gulch and the line was always down the street. The day I landed in Nashville it was a cold, rainy Sunday so we decided to drive over to Hillsboro Village to try the famous restaurant. There was hardly a line when we got there and found a seat right away. We definitely weren’t disappointed. I got the Southern Benny with fried eggs instead of scrambled and Tyler got the East Nasty. We really enjoyed the restaurant and the food but it still isn’t a T-Rays biscuit… sorry not sorry.

Afternoon:

After breakfast we were freezing, wet from the rain and we couldn’t check into our hotel yet. We decided to go see a movie at AMC Bellvue, such a nice movie theater with reclining seats. We saw Bohemian Rhapsody it was amazing. We were also both starting to feel a little sick… so this was a nice chill afternoon but if you wanted to you could head straight to Broadway for a drink before checking into your hotel.

Dinner:

Martin’s BBQ – Downtown Nashville

Our hotel was 15 feet from the best barbecue in Nashville. Tyler had already been here before but he was very excited about visiting again. We got there early and sat at the bar. I got the smoked chicken wings tossed in Alabama white sauce and Tyler got the smoked turkey plate. This one probably my top two favorite meals of the whole trip. Even if you’re not a BBQ fan normally I promise you’ll fall in love with this place. Highly, highly recommend.

Dessert:

Five Daughters Bakery – 12 South

Five Daughters came highly recommended so we decided to swing by here after dinner for one of their 1000 layer croissant dough donuts. I got the gingerbread flavor and it was unreal. Since we came at night we didn’t have many options left to choose from but I would absolutely go back for breakfast the next time we’re in Nashville.

Day Two.

Breakfast:

Frothy Monkey – 12 South

The Frothy Monkey was another one of those places on the “must visit in Nashville” list. There’s a couple different locations but we headed down to 12 South. It was a cold, sunny day so I wanted to take full advantage of the sunshine and walk around a little bit. I got toast/eggs/bacon/avocado and a latte. For a coffee shop the food here was on point.

** P.S. The “Nashville Looks Good On You” mural is right behind Frothy Monkey.

Mid-Day Activities:

Murals. Sorry.

I made Tyler run around with me for about an hour looking for murals. This blog post: The Ultimate Insta-Worthy Guide to 20 Murals In Nashville is a great guide to finding all of the cute murals in Nash. Tons in 12 South.

After the murals head down to Broadway and start scouting out the spots you want to hit on your night(s) out. We jumped on Bird Scooters and scooted around downtown. These scooters are so fun!! Totally recommend them but just be careful because they go so fast.

You can also browse through some of the prestigious guitar shops all over Nashville. You might even see a famous country singer. I saw Chris Stapleton. Did I speak to him? No. Because I’m a big fat baby. But…. maybe you’ll be braver then I was.

Dinner:

The Flipside – 12 South

After all the fried food and barbecue we had eaten in the past couple days I was ready for a little bit of a healthier meal…. but not too healthy (we were on vacation after all.) Tyler found this really cool restaurant in 12 South called The Flipside. It’s hard to explain but you should just look at the menu. The majority of the menu is “Italian style chicken” but served a bunch of different ways. I got the JBBLT but instead of having the chicken pan-fried with breadcrumbs I got my chicken grilled. It was excellent and the restaurant is an old-school, 50’s theme.

Night-Out Activities:

Tyler had been wanting to go to “Whiskey Jam” in Nashville for months and they happened to be holding one while we were visiting. Whiskey Jam is basically a night for up and coming music stars to perform. In my eyes it was definitely a traditional Nashville night out. It’s free and held at “Winner’s Bar.” If you plan on going definitely arrive early and get started drinking because this place packs out fast. Here’s a link to the website with the schedule: Whiskey Jam

Before or after Whiskey Jam, walk next door to Kung Fu Saloon. This is a really cool bar that is loaded with old arcade games. It’s definitely a fun, off-broadway bar, if you want to miss some of the crowds of downtown.

Day Three.

Breakfast:

We went to breakfast on day three at Milk and Honey in the Gulch. (This is where the big, angel wing mural is.) I had Chicken and waffles and they were wonderful. We sat at the bar that overlooked the kitchen and I actually really enjoyed it. This place is always rocking so you might have to wait for a few minutes.

Coffee Shops & Shopping:

We went to Crema Coffee on the third day. I liked this place and it was very aesthetically pleasing buuuuuut it’s notas good as Barista Parlor. You’ll hear more about Barista Parlor later. Keep reading.

Two Old Hippies was one of my favorite shops we visited in Nashville. There’s so much fun stuff to look at in here. From really funny greeting cards, pretty art prints, upscale “hippie” clothes, this place has it all. Would definitely recommend walking through here even if you’re just window shopping.

Dinner:

So we had planned to go to Taco Mamacita for dinner this night but Tyler didn’t think about the time change when planning for the Predator’s game and we ended up not having time. I really want to try this place next time we go though, it came highly recommended. We went to a quick Mexican restaurant but I’m not going to talk about it because it was average @ best. Go to Taco Mamacita instead.

Predator’s Game & Night Activites:

If you are in Nashville when the Predators are playing you should definitely go. We had never been to an NHL game before and it is such an awesome experience. It’s more like a show than a sports event and this (stadium?) is absolutely beautiful. Plus theres a lot of good food. This is their schedule for the rest of the season: Nashville Predator’s Schedule.

After the game we went down to Broadway. I’m usually a huge fan of staying out until the crack of dawn in Nashville

<——— Last New Years …… but unfortunately we were all sick. So, we went down for a drink then Tyler and I went to The Diner for some late-night food. Sometimes you just need some eggs and bacon at midnight. This place is really cool and right off Broadway. I was kind of expecting a Waffle House but it’s actually a really beautiful restaurant filled with old black and white photos and drunk bachelorettes. The food was really good too for a 24 hour restaurant. Highly recommend it for some drunchies.

Last Day & Heading Home.

Coffee Shop:

Barista Parlor is my FAVORITE coffee shop I’ve ever been too. We always go at least one time while we’re in Nashville. Their bourbon vanilla and whiskey caramel lattes are the best coffees I’ve ever had. Their Gallatin Ave. location is my favorite because they have a bunch of old motorcycles inside in front of big garage doors. It is a pricey cup of coffee, but it’s worth it. Also great location for an instagram picture….

Lunch:

We saved the best for last (in my opinion) and went to Hattie B’s Hot Chicken for lunch. Worth every single minute spent in line. Worth all the people bumping into you trying to get into this place. Worth it, worth it, worth it. You will always have to wait in line here. Always. We happened to get here at a good time (early) like 11:30 and got a parking spot right out front. The food here is as amazing as all the Yelp reviews say and you definitely shouldn’t miss it on your next trip to Nashville. I got the “Original Hot Chicken Sandwich in Medium,” and it was SPICAAAAAY. I don’t know how you could get hotter than medium. I also tried the pimento mac and cheese and it was wonderful. Can’t recommend this place enough.

Mid-Day Activities:

We decided to go see the Christmas decorations at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. I’m probably going to get a lot of hate for this but I wouldn’t do this again. Yes, it was beautiful and all decorated for Christmas. But…. it was 20 minutes outside of the city and honestly just a hotel. It was neat to see and I’m glad we went but I’ll do something else next time and I would never go if it wasn’t Christmas. If I could go back I would’ve walked around Broadway during the day and gone into some of the boot shops.

After the Opry Hotel we headed to the airport and after a quick drink at “Tootsies” in the airport and a hundred “I don’t want to leaves,” we boarded our plane and headed home.

We love Nashville. It grows on us more and more every time we visit. I can’t say enough great things about this city and would recommend it to anyone, even if you don’t care for country music. I hope this helps you plan out your next vacation or gives you some ideas for next time you visit! Below are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

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Mural behind Frothy Monkey in 12 South.

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Mural on the side of Draper James in 12 South.

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Tyler in Lucchese – Daydreaming.

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The Flipside – 12 South.

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The SoBro Guest House Hotel where we stayed.

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Barista Parlor – Golden Sound Location.

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Mural in the Gulch.

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Predator’s Game. (I look so sick and tired but I’m trying to be positive ok??)

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Hattie B’s Hot Chicken.

Lifestyle

Public School & Creative Kids

jennystrozinsky July 9, 2018

Growing up I was always a kid that struggled in school. Starting in middle school I really started having a tough time with my classes. I was the kid that would tell my mom everyday:

“I hate school.”

and she would always reply:

“Jenny, you don’t hate school. Don’t say that.”

What she didn’t understand, and what I didn’t understand at the time, was that it wasn’t “school” that I hated. It wasn’t learning that I hated. It wasn’t classes that I hated. It wasn’t the teachers that I hated, in fact I had some of the best teachers ever. It was the format of regular public school that just didn’t work for me. All kids learn differently. All kids learn better in different environments. I was not the kid that learned well in a 6 hour a day, class to class, typical school day.

I was always the kid that wanted to be doing something artistic. I love to draw, I love to write, I love to paint, I love to act. My mom jokes now and says:

“Who knew that all those notebooks full of doodles that Jenny would draw instead of doing her school work would actually help her in real life.”

THIS IS It. This is what people need to understand. I didn’t need A.P. biology, statistics or chemistry. I DID need A.P. literature and art class. I didn’t need economics or government class. I did need world history and english writing classes. I knew at a very young age what my strengths and weaknesses were. I knew at a very young age that I would never be a doctor or a lawyer. I knew at a very young age that I would use my creativity in a field of work that inspired me and kept me interested, which is what school didn’t do for me.

By senior year of high school I was done. I skipped more days of school than I can even count. Everyone around me was convinced I might not graduate, let alone thrive in college.

“If she can’t function in a high school setting with her parents watching her every move, how is she going to cope with the freedom of a college setting?”

My parents gave me one semester at Georgia Southern to prove that I could do it. Prove that I could go to class. Prove that I could make decent grades. I don’t know if they truly thought I would make it through that first semester or just wanted me the heck out of their house. The funniest thing happened when I transition into a college setting though. I thrived. I loved the freedom of scheduling my classes when I wanted to schedule them. I loved not having to take a class until the next semester if I didn’t want to. I loved taking classes that I was interested in. Yes, you still have to take a lot of B.S. classes in college that are a waste of money and time, but you can take those classes online and not sit for hours in lecture if you don’t want to, or you can mix the boring classes in with the classes you are excited about. I started really teaching myself how to paint, how to watercolor, how to draw. I began a blog and started writing on my OWN, because I WANTED to, not because I had too.

I chose a major I am passionate about.

I can truly say I’m graduating with a degree that I am proud of and that has taught me so much over the past four years. I’ve had professors that can relate to college kids and understand that these are the most stressful, exciting, tiring years of your life. I’ve been given more grace by college professors than I ever would’ve imagined and each one of my upper-level teachers have been impactful to my life in more ways than one.

So public high schools…..

Bring back the shop classes, bring back the art classes, bring back theater and acting classes, bring back the wood-working and welding classes. Maybe that kid that sits in class and doesn’t do anything would build beautiful furniture by hand. Maybe that girl that doesn’t want to go to school, a.k.a. me, would look forward to creative writing classes or art classes. Maybe that depressed 16 year old just needs an outlet to channel their sadness into, like theater.

I know this is ramble-y and a lot of people won’t agree with me, but my bottom line is don’t give up on your kid or student just because they don’t thrive in a typical school setting. It’s not always because they’re lazy or stoners, sometimes it’s because they truly can’t focus in a traditional high school. It’s the same with college, not everyone is meant to be a college student, or wants to be a college student. Some kids want to take time off before college and really think about what they want to do before they commit to all that money and dept. That’s perfectly fine and classes in high school that teach things other than math and science would help them find good jobs when they graduate.

My sister was the complete opposite of me, she loved school and thrived in a high school setting. Every kid is different, and every kid learns differently. I think if we understand that, and gave kids the option to learn differently, we would have a lot more successful people in this world.

And just for fun, here is a picture of me passed out in class senior year. Hey, it was a miracle I was even in attendance which is a win in my book.

Lifestyle

My Summer Essentials

jennystrozinsky June 29, 2018

“Burnin’ up, burnin’ up, for you baby.” – The Jonas Brothers.

It is heating up down here in Florida, and when I say heating up I actually mean I’m surprised the whole state hasn’t burst into flames. We’ve had “real feels” of over 100 degrees everyday for the past two weeks, our pools feel like bath water and the ocean is not much of a relief from the heat either. When you live in the south in the summer months everyone has their own list of crucial items they need to survive. I’m going to share mine with you, plus a couple other fun things for summer just because they’re fun.

Skin Care & Hair Care

Skin care is so important when you are baking like a batch of cookies under the sun. Here are a couple of my favorites.

1. Solar Recovery Spray – This stuff is unreal. I’ve been using it since high school and I keep multiple bottles in my house at all times. Not only is it awesome for a bad sunburn, it’s great as an everyday moisturizer as well. ** Pro Tip: Keep it in the fridge. **

2. SunBum SPF 30 Spray Sunscreen – I love all SunBum products but this sunscreen is my O.G. sunscreen. I’ve been using it forever and it is awesome if you have sensitive skin like I do. I don’t burn too easily but sometimes I need a little protection and I feel like 30 SPF does the trick perfectly.

3. SunBum Pomegranate Lip Balm – Have to protect those lippies! This lip balm has SPF in it which I love, and this scent is my favorite.

4. Lush Ocean Salt Scrub – The best face exfoliator in the world. I use this all year round but it is especially nice in the summer months because it smells just like the ocean. It is a little bit of a splurge, but I have a really hard time finding an exfoliant that is gentle enough on my skin but does the job well. ** Pro Tip: Hide it from your brothers, fathers, boyfriends, husbands, roommates etc. because they WILL use it all – point being, this is a great gift for a guy in your life and something they’d never buy them self! **

5. Lush BIG Shampoo – Don’t be scared of this stuff just because of the chunky sea salt in it, it’s incredible. It gives your hair mermaid waves every time and tons of volume. It also smells SO GOOD.

Clothing

6. Birk Arizona Oiled Leather – My mom would kill me if she saw that I included my Birkenstocks in this post but I love them okay??? Seriously though, I’ve been living in these baby’s all summer long. Hardly ever take them off my feet.

7. Urban Outfitters Denim Shortall – I love these “shortalls” (overalls with shorts,) because they are so easy to throw on and go… usually with my Birks… sorry Mom. I love these with a little crop top underneath because it just shows a tiny bit of your stomach.

8. The Happy Sea Beach Tank – I love all my Happy Sea tanks but I’ve been wearing my yoga frog tank so much this summer. He just makes me happy every time I put it on. I love this company so much because they give back on every purchase to ocean conservation and the mom/daughter team is also pretty great too.

Fun (but useful) Stuff

8. Hydro Flask Water Bottle – These bottles are the best water bottles I’ve ever used. They keep your water (or margarita) cold for 24 hours. I’ve left mine in my boiling hot car while I was in class all day and it still had an entire bottles worth of ice when I got done. A miracle.

9. Stainless Straw – We are drinking so much more in the summer because we are dehydrated. Drink out of a reusable straw because the world throws away 500,000,000 straws a day. Save the oceans people.

10. CleverMade Cooler – If you’re cheap like me and don’t want to buy a Yeti this cooler is a great option. I’ve used it a ton in the last year because it’s the perfect size for the beach or pool. Plus it collapses for easy storage. Another cooler I love is the IceMule Cooler which keeps drinks cold for 24 hours and can also be used as a dry bag, which means it floats. **Pro Tip: If you are a lake person or a river person the IceMule is awesome because you can clip it to a float or inner tube and have your drinks accessible at all times.**

11. Avocado Float – I don’t own this item, but I need too. Fun floats in the summer are so FUN… plus they make the best pictures for the #gram.

So there you have it. My favorite items from about March to November in Florida. Below are a few of my favorite pictures from this summer so far. Stay cool friends!

Travels

Lake Rabun.

jennystrozinsky June 20, 2018

Long time, no blog post. Also, if you ever followed along to begin with, I changed platforms… again. I really like the new set-up and I hope you do too. I’ve decided that my first post on this new blog of mine would be to talk about a place very near and dear to my heart. Lake Rabun is a tiny piece of heaven in the north Georgia mountains that I have been lucky to vacation to for the last 22+ years. My grandmother owns a lake house there, and my parents both being teachers, took my sister and I there every summer, for the whole summer. I realize this is not a normal childhood, and I feel incredibly lucky that I got to spend 3 months surrounded by family in one of the most beautiful places on Earth…. in my opinion 😉

Our lake house was built in the 1920’s and is a gorgeous old farm house tucked into the mountainside overlooking Lake Rabun. Tyler and I decided to take a spur of the moment trip up there last week and we’re so glad we did. We didn’t get much sunshine but we did get to hike to Minnehaha, a really short, easy hike to a pretty waterfall only about 15 minutes from the house. Another hike we did was down Tallulah Gorge, with its 2,000+ steps down into the gorge it is quite the workout but well worth the view. My dad also came up for a few days while we were there and it was fun getting to hangout with him. Our water comes from a spring on the top of the mountain, so Tyler got the lovely job of helping my dad clean it out so it would be good to go for the rest of the year. I hiked up to the spring with them and it was cool getting to see where our water comes from, and the hard work it takes to keep it flowing.

We also got to spend time downtown Clayton, the little town about 25 minutes down the mountain from the lake house. I haven’t been to Clayton in over 3 years and I was shocked over the amount of changes that have been made there. Where there used to be absolutely nothing downtown there are now cute boutiques, coffee shops, trendy restaurants and bars and really nice outdoor stores. We had dinner with my dad at Universal Joint, a really cool restaurant in an old gas station. They have an awesome selection of beer and really good burgers. Another place we loved was The Famhouse, a beautiful new donut shop downtown. Their miniature donuts are made to order and so good. The last restaurant I have to mention is Clarks on Main, an awesome sports bar that is currently getting a roof top bar built on top of the restaurant. I can’t wait to go back and hang out up there.Finally, our favorite spot downtown. Wander North Georgia, the COOLEST store, the website is worth checking out even if you don’t plan on making a trip to North Georgia. I could drop some big bucks in this place.

Lake Rabun is the most charming, beautiful place. I am happiest booze cruising in the old Ski Nautique, or having dinner at Louie’s on the Lake, the pizza place just a couple steps from our house. If you ever want a place to relax, to breathe some fresh air and to really get that old-school lake feel, Lake Rabun is your place. Lake Burton is also connected to Lake Rabun and seems to have better options when it comes to AirBnB’s, I would check both out if you want to plan a visit!

Sorry for the photo overload, it’s just hard to take a bad picture up there.

**Side Note** We went through Athens, GA on the way home and stopped by Mama’s Boy. OH. KAY. This was one of the best meals I’ve had in a LONG ASS TIME. The biscuits were perfect, the fried egg was perfect, the breakfast potatoes were THE BEST I’VE EVER HAD. If you are ever in Athens you HAVE to eat here. Hell, I’d detour off the highway for this meal. So. Good.

Travels

Palmettos, Peaches and Atlantic Beaches. A guide to a long weekend in Charleston, SC.

jennystrozinsky June 20, 2018

Tyler and I have been dreaming about a road trip to Charleston, SC since we started dating. The beautiful buildings, unparalleled shopping, and endless dining options were just a few reasons that Charleston was on the top of our list. My birthday is on December the 14th, and this year it happened to fall on a Thursday. Ironically, it also fell on the week in between my fall semester, and the start of my holiday hours at work, and during Tyler’s “long-off,” (his week off every month.) We threw a few different options around… Asheville… too far (still on the top of our list,) Disney…. too expensive for such a quick trip, and we finally landed on Charleston. Charleston is just a short three hour drive from Fernandina, so we dropped Olive off with Tyler’s wonderful parents and hit the road on Tuesday morning, the 12th. We stayed at the most adorable hotel in Mt. Pleasant, right across the harbor from downtown, and a short ten minute uber ride to King Street.

Our first night there was a wild one, one of Tyler’s best friends took us out for a night in Charleston. It just happened to be the end of finals for College of Charleston students, so downtown was crowded. We had a great time, and one too many Moscow mules later, we woke up a little hungover ready for our first real Charleston meal. Our first breakfast in Charleston was one of my favorite meals of the whole trip, however it is hard to have a bad meal in Charleston. Meal one was at Poogan’s Porch, in a beautiful old home with, you guessed it, an expansive wrap around porch which I am sure is enjoyed on warmer days. We had chillier temps, and loved the roaring fireplaces in every room. I was quick to get my hands on fried chicken and sweet potato waffles, while Tyler loved his pulled pork eggs Benedict. Yum, yum, yum. We headed out for shopping on King Street, and took an uber straight to Skinny Dip Charleston, an adorable shop that we have been dying to visit for a long time. Skinny Dip has lots of local goodies, as well as an adorable coffee and Frose (frozen Rose) on the top floor. After shopping, it was time for meal number two, lunch.

The same friend that took us out on the town, Blue, took us to lunch on Sullivan’s Island. Tyler’s two requests for Charleston was good drinks, and good barbecue. Home Team BBQ is another Charleston favorite, and man was it good. I had the dry-rub wings with white Alabama BBQ sauce. You also CAN NOT MISS THEIR QUESO DIP. I could eat that dip everyday until I die. After lunch, and a strong cocktail, we took a drive around Sullivan’s and Isle of Palms. One special thing about Charleston is that Tyler’s mom grew up on Isle of Palms, so we got to see the house she grew up in.

My only complaint about Charleston so far was WHERE IS THE STRONG COFFEE?? Plenty of strong cocktails, plenty of wonderful food, but this girl needs her caffeine in the morning (also my sweet boyfriend doesn’t play when it comes to his “large coffee. black.”) We tried Black Tap Coffee on our second day in Charleston, and even though I was informed by the hipster barista that the cups “ONLY come in ONE size,” (this size was a smidge larger than a Starbucks “tall,” *eye roll*) I at least started my morning off on the right foot with a delicious lavender latte. The adorable old purple and pink building that Black Tap is nestled in only added to my good mood.

After coffee, we set off in search of the infamous “Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit.” I am a HUGE biscuit girl and I’ve had some good ones in my day, but none of them have beaten “T-Rays Burger Station” on Fernandina Beach. So I had high expectations when we walked through the doors of the tiny little shop that supposedly pumps out the best biscuits in Charleston. In my opinion, they aren’t wrong. Now these biscuits aren’t a T-Rays biscuit, but they are pretty dang good. Let me put it this way, they forgot my Bacon on my Bacon, Egg, and Cheese and I didn’t even mind. The fried egg was perfect, the biscuit was fluffy and delicious. I was satisfied. Also, their fresh-pressed lemonade is nothing to scoff at either.

That day was mostly spent outside enjoying the sunshine, and ended at my most favorite restaurant of the whole trip. This one you absolutely can’t miss, no matter if you are only here for the day. Leon’s Oyster Shop. Holy. Freaking. Moly. This place is SO COOL. There’s no reservations so make sure you get there early especially in the warmer months. We were lucky and traveled to Charleston at a slower time of the year so we didn’t have to wait! Leon’s is in an old garage sort of building, I was told in the summer that they open up the huge doors that lead onto their sprawling patio. Leon’s is famous for their oysters, fried chicken, soft serve, and rose on tap. Sold. We stuffed our faces with baked oysters (me) and fried chicken (Tyler.) We were not disappointed. After dinner we headed down the street to Jeni’s Ice cream right on King Street. This place is another really cool stop in Charleston that you shouldn’t miss. I love that even their cups of ice cream come with a huge piece of waffle cone. This was my last night as a 21 year old!!
We were supposed to have a quick breakfast the day of my birthday and head home, but for some reason Charleston got the best of us and we decided to stay an extra night. We made it to “The Darling Little Oyster Bar,” on King Street for lunch which was on the top of my list. The Darling was adorable, and the oysters were wonderful as well. They give you an al la carte oyster menu where you can pick the exact style of oyster you want and from which region. I thought this was such a neat concept. We sat at the bar and the bartender brought us out raw oyster shooters for my birthday (cocktail sauce, vodka, and a raw oyster at the bottom.) Quite the experience. We traveled to Boone Hall Plantation that day, which is a beautiful old manor home with slave houses from so long ago still standing on the property. Boone Hall is also Ali’s summer home in “The Notebook,” one of my favorite movies. We explored the plantation and had dinner that night at a pretty restaurant near the hotel on the water.

After doughnuts and a little souvenir shopping in the morning we started the drive home. Charleston is such a magical city and clearly the food is something that should be talked about. We can’t wait to go back when it’s a little warmer.

Poogan’s Porch.

Leon’s Oyster Shop. Our favorite restaurant.

Boone Hall Plantation. Ali’s summer home in “The Notebook.”

Skinny Dip Charleston, King St.

The Darling Oyster Bar, King St.

Travels

The Scenic Route.

jennystrozinsky June 20, 2018

On June 25th, 2017 Tyler York and I packed up his (ex girlfriend) Miss Toyota Tacoma… which has been recently traded in for a Subaru (different story,) dropped our sweet pup off at Grandpa Stro’s house, plugged “Tomah, WI” into the GPS and took off on the 1,044 mile road trip to see ALL THE FAMILY. My dad has five sisters and two brothers and that means any excuse to get together, in this case a wedding, is one big party. Tyler and I originally planned to fly to Wisconsin but after calculating how expensive it was to rent a car being both under 25 we decided to put on our big boy pants and drive 22 hours. We left on a Sunday at 8:00 PM and arrived Monday afternoon at about 5:00 PM. We took shifts and drove in intervals of five hours each, zipping through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and finally arriving in Wisconsin (almost) a full day later. Thank you to all our family and friends that called and checked on us throughout the trip to make sure we hadn’t killed each other, fallen asleep at the wheel, or just flat out lost it (which I ended up doing driving through Chicago traffic.)

We arrived in Tomah to 72 degrees and about 2% humidity waiting for us and MAN was that a difference from the Florida heat. We spent three full days playing with my sweet Habelman family at one of my favorite places in the whole world “Hickory Hill,” which is my Aunt Kris and Uncle Ray’s “hunting cabin.” My cousin R.J. and his wife Staci just built a beautiful home right down the hill from the cabin so we got to spend a lot of time with their kids, as well as my cousin Holly’s family and of course my Aunt Kris and Uncle Ray. We spent a rainy afternoon in Lacrosse, Wisconsin visiting my Grandma Val who turned NINTY this summer, since I haven’t been to Wisconsin in four years it was really special to get to spend time with her and for Tyler to get to meet her.

After those days running around the cranberry marsh, riding fourweelers in the woods, cooking breakfast for my sweet cousins, watching fireworks set off by my family and eating way too much food, we got back in the car (reluctantly, I admit) and headed to Milwaukee for my cousin Anna’s wedding. We drove three-ish hours to our hotel on the river in Milwaukee, got ready and zipped off in an Uber (what the hell did we even do before Uber????) and headed to Miller Park for a Brewer game!!! Miller Park is so beautiful. I’ve never been to a MLB game and this was definitely a park everyone should try to go to at some point in their life. It’s so clean, breezy, organized and Miller Lite is the best light beer so that just about settles it in my book. The next day we woke up super early and took another Uber (surprise) and headed downtown Milwaukee for brunch at Cafe Benalux, which was suggested by a couple sitting next to us at the game. Oh…. my….. GOSH. Cafe freakin’ Benalux. First of all its has a beautiful rooftop deck overlooking the city where they serve you fantastic breakfast food and endless mimosas…. if I had to eat one meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner it would be brunch food. I had the “belt and a” which was a breakfast sandwich on sourdough with fried egg, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado and basil aioli, and Tyler had the “hodge podge” which was basically a big plate of everything breakfast. My God. If you’re ever in Milwaukee, please do yourself a favor and just go. I love a good souther brunch with chicken and waffles as much as the next girl but MAN the yankees know what they’re doing at this place. After brunch we walked around the little area of town we were in then headed to the Milwaukee Art Museum, which was absolutely stunning. We really enjoyed it, definitely a “must-see” if you ever find yourself in WI. Moving on we found ourself at City Lights Brewing Company where a full-on soul band was blessing the new beer of the month. Only in Wisconsin would they bless the beer, but a really cool thing to see none the less. Then jumped into another Uber and went back to our hotel to get ready for the wedding. After we got all spiffed up we met up with my Uncle Ray and Aunt Kris and drove to the really awesome wedding venue Anna picked for her big day. It was so much fun getting to see all my family and celebrate my sweet cousin and her new husband. I hope my wedding is half as fun one day.

After a long night of dancing, drinking and eating we woke up to a full day of driving on the horizon for us. Ten hours later we found ourselves in Naaaaaaaaashville, Tennessee. We stayed at The Hutton downtown Nashville and was immediately greeted with a vodka and sweet tea in the lobby. Yes please. We got ready and headed to broadway and partied the night away downtown Nash, Tyler sang karaoke at 3 AM, we rode in a tricked out Uber that had Mario Cart, we ate hotdogs from a cart on the side of the road, it was iconic. We ended up staying one more night with Tyler’s brother in Nashville and man was I ready to be home when we finally arrived back in Fernandina on the fourth of July. I’m so happy that we drove instead of flew to Wisconsin because we proved to ourselves that we could do it. It was such a wonderful roadtrip and I can’t wait for the next one. Tyler did such a great job keeping me sane while we were in the car together and we honestly do travel really well together. We ate a lot of food, drank a lot of beer and arrived home really achey and tired but we did it.

Tomah, WI.

Brewer Game, Miller Park. Milwaukee, WI.

Milwaukee Museum of Art.

Anna + Carlos Wedding. Milwaukee, WI.

Nashville, TN.