Starting 2014 Off With A Win!

Somehow, I placed 1st for my category in a race I did over the weekend. I don’t know how it happened, I’m just excited that I got a medal.

The Dolphin Dash is a cute little race out on Anna Maria Island, with the proceeds going to the local elementary school. Around the halfway point, I ended up running next to a little girl who was by herself and seemed on the verge of giving up. She slowed down to a walk so I said, “Come on. You’re over halfway through. You can’t stop now!” And just like that, I had a new best friend. The second half of the race was spent talking about movies and music, instead of thinking about running and how much distance was left. It was a nice change. As hard as it is to talk while you’re running, it actually makes the time go by pretty quickly.

I learned two things from this race:

1) If you need a confidence boost, sign up for a small race. Even if your time isn’t any faster than normal, you might place, which is always fun.

2) If you’re considering saying something encouraging to someone, you should just go ahead and say it. You don’t know how much the person needs it, you might make a new best friend and, lastly, you might get an awesome finish line photo out of it. 🙂

So did anyone make any New Years resolutions? The Dolphin Dash was the start of mine. I’m hoping to run one 5k per month with the two friends who ran this race with me. They also placed! Great start for a resolution!

In other news:

23 Days to Austin

69 Days until Nashville

72 Days until the Music City Marathon

Happy New Year!!!

Things To Come…

I realize I have posted A LOT about the Keys lately, but my horizons will be expanding once again, shortly. Here is a list of a few things coming up over the next few months or so…

Travely things…

First, in November, I’ll be headed to London for the World Travel Market! This will be my first time at WTM and first time in London. I’m definitely excited for both! I know lots of adventures with new friends await, and that’s just the beginning. After London, I’ll be headed over to the Netherlands via a short stay Brussels. At least that’s the plan for now. After a couple weeks in the Netherlands, it’s back to London for (hoisting my inner nerd flag) the Doctor Who 50th Celebration! It took waking up at 5 AM and struggling for about 45 minutes to get through for tickets the day they went on sale, but my diligence was rewarded and I have a ticket to the (now sold out) event!

Since leaving Nashville in May, I have done almost nothing but think about how I can justify a trip back. *Enter the Music City Rock ‘n Roll Marathon* Granted, the race isn’t until April, but at least now the dates are set! I intended to only sign up for the half marathon, but my running buddy signed up for the full. I’m not sure if my competitive nature or peer pressure is to blame, but regardless of the reasoning behind it, I am officially signed up for my first marathon, 26.2 grueling miles. What have I gotten myself into?? Actually, as far as marathons (aka running over 26 miles, in one shot… on purpose) go, this seems to be a pretty cool one. There are supposed to be bands at every mile playing live music, and then a big free concert afterwards. The race benefits St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, so that’s pretty cool too. It also gets me back to Tennessee. What more could I want?

More fitnessy things..

In March, there’s another pretty awesome race happening in my area, and I’m really looking forward to this one. It’s only a 5k and it’s called the “Bad Prom Run.” You find one of your old prom dresses or something terrible from a thrift store, a group of your funnest friends, run/walk a couple miles and then have a big party after. Sounds like a good time to me!

DIYs..

I’m almost done with the interior of my Dome Top Steamer Trunk, I’m pretty excited to have that beast finished. I’ve also got a few other things thing in the works, but I don’t want to say too much. Spoilers! Between what I’ve got lined up for myself and friends, and all the estate sales/thrift stores that are calling my name There are plenty of project posts on the way.

Personals..

– turning 25 (since when am I a quarter of a century old?)

-finishing my undergraduate schooling

-applying for graduate school aka lots of stress

If you’re looking for live updates in real time on any of those events, I’m talking to you Doctor Who fans, be sure to follow me on any of the various social media platforms… facebook, instagram, vine, twitter… @CorneliaJoy! If you have any suggestions for London/Brussels I would really appreciate hearing them!

Nashville Downtown Hostel

There cannot possibly be a better place to stay if you’re visiting Nashville than the Nashville Downtown Hostel. First, and MOST importantly, the place is super clean and safe. You need a key card to get anywhere inside. It can seem annoying to swipe your card at 3 different doors before you get to your room, but I would much rather that than anyone being able to come and go as they please. The kitchen and bathrooms were also very tidy all the time. The common area is huge and the best part is they have a bunch of instruments lying around for everyone to use. I heard banjos, guitars, a harmonica and piano playing during my few nights there. Here’s a sample…

The video also shows a little bit of the kitchen and common areas. Pretty nice, huh? I didn’t really get any pictures of the bedrooms or bathrooms, so you’ll just have to take my word that they’re nice. I’m not sure if the hostel can really take credit for this, but we also met some great people while we were there. We had lovely roommates from West Virginia..

We are now Best Friends For Life and planning our next trip all together! Plus we met more people downstairs from Canada, Australia and the U.K.

The hostel couldn’t possibly have a better location. You are literally a 2 minute walk away from the main downtown area. Also around the corner is a soda shop where you can find almost any flavor of soda. This includes Buffalo Wing Soda and Bacon Soda. The Buffalo Wing Soda just tasted like weird orange soda, but the bacon soda tasted like… well watch the video to find out…

So, whether you’re traveling on your own or with friends, stay at the Nashville Downtown Hostel. You’ll have a great of time!

Nashville Farmers Market

We found the Nashville Farmers’ Market by accident while we were driving around the city and we were not disappointed by our decision to stop. They had plenty of BEAUTIFULLY ripe fruits and vegetables..

Local honey..

Jams and pickled things…

Inside, they had several small booths selling different beauty products and candles etc…

This candle booth had candles that smelled like everything from fresh linen to fruit loops to leather. I was boring and just went with “Breeze.”

There is also a nice cafeteria…

…with everything from Indian food…

… to BBQ..

You know you are in the south when there is an entire menu section dedicated to varieties of Grits!

My favorite was probably the kettle corn place.

I have never seen so many varieties of kettle corn! We sampled many of them, and they were all fantastic!

Of all the food we tried in Nashville, this was probably the best. I have to recommend that you go there and buy a couple of bags. I can’t believe I never noticed the White Cheddar Jalapeno and the Dill Pickle! That’s it! Time to go back!

Tennessee Thrifting: Part 2

I mentioned in my last post about the really cool mod clothing store where I couldn’t buy anything because I had already purchased too much. Here are a few of my favorites…

Anthropology Skirt- $10

Plaid Old Navy Shirt- $5

I have to admit, I wasn’t 100% sold on the skirt, until I found out that it was from Anthropology. Have you been to that store?? It is my absolute favorite place, but I can’t afford anything there. I first discovered Anthropology in the Chelsea Market and I’ve been dying for something from that place ever since.

Columbia shirt- $12

That’s normally more than I would pay for a shirt, but Columbia fishing shirts are pretty popular in Florida. I’ve been looking for one for a long time and you never find them in thrifties down here.

Brand new Tommy Hilfiger Bermuda Shorts- $5

These are nothing exciting, style-wise, but they are perfect for work. They were actually $10, but this particular thrift store was having a half-off sale and I needed some new work clothes.

Priceless V8 Sweater- $6

We also got this for half price. It was just so ridiculous, she couldn’t pass on it.

$75 pants from The Limited outlet store- $17

I know this isn’t technically a thrift store find, but they were such a great deal that I had to include them. The outlet store was having a 30% off sale AND these were already on the sale rack. So, just a re-cap, that’s 30% off jeans that were on the sale rack and already discounted by the outlet store. How ’bout them apples. I also got a few other shirts, but no pictures of those, unfortunately. I did so much shopping that week, but it was hard to pass these things up!

Tennessee Thrift: part 1

I bought so many clothes on this last trip to Tennessee that I had to buy a second bag to get them all home! There were many great thrift stores, so it was hard to resist! My favorite one BY FAR was called “Pre to Post Modern,” just outside of Nashville. They had so many adorable clothes from every era..

I didn’t actually buy anything here because I was already over spent, but there were such good finds. I LOVED this jacket, but leather jackets are far from optimal in Florida.. 😦

Bed Jacket anyone?

Hats? Yes, please.

I need this light…

I took mostly video (go watch it!) here, so my photos don’t do it justice. I promise if you’re in the area and you stop in, you won’t be disappointed. The address is..2110 8th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37204…

Tennessee Video 2013

This is just a glimpse into my trip from last week. It’s one of the best trips I have ever had! I can’t wait to go back to Nashville!

Also, if you haven’t seen my New York or Las Vegas videos, you should!

Makes Me Want To Take A Backroad

Hellooo writer’s block. I have to take my GRE this morning so of course my brain thought it would be an excellent idea to wake up at 5AM for absolutely no reason. Fantastic! There isn’t really a method to the madness of writing these posts. I just scroll through my pictures and the first thing that catches my eye gets a post. This morning, at 5AM, it was the things we saw on the back-roads of Tennessee.

We took the back-roads often, but we mostly only drove on the first and last days. The rest of the time, we were in Nashville. We arrived there and found it impossible to leave, so we did a lot less driving than we had originally planned.

Our first stop, once we were outside of Knoxville, was Oral’s Elegant Junk…

Who wouldn’t stop there?? Unfortunately, it was closed. That may or may not have kept us from being chopped into tiny pieces and thrown into a river. I guess we’ll never know. Then we stopped at a few smaller antique/thrift shops which were not what I would call exciting.. but then… we saw this beautifully promising sign..

Bargains AND MORE? What could you possibly want beyond bargains? We had to investigate. Upon driving up the long twisty driveway, this is what we found…

Why yes, that’s a 6′ by 10′ shed… I’m not sure how much “bargains and more” could fit in this place, but there was no turning back now…

Apparently, she’s a couponer and she sells her extras, using a deceptively large sign to lure people in. I only say deceptive because her sign was probably bigger than the whole shed. At least she “excepts” major credit cards…

The people were really very sweet, and I was able to buy some paper towels which definitely came in handy so I can’t really complain. It’s always an adventure.

Our best stop was probably on our way back home. We had just been to a park for some relaxation and river frolicking and we’d worked up a pretty good appetite. That’s when we saw this place…

The food is very southern, which means a lot of fried food and a lot of meat. For us vegetarians, there is a grilled cheese option that they make with Texas toast. Add some tomatoes and it’s perfection! The owners were there and so friendly! They gave us a lot of recommendations on things to do in the area like white water rafting, kayaking, parks etc. Too bad it was our last day!

The decor is very hunter chic..

One deer even gave the place two thumbs up…

Terrible joke. I apologize..

Here’s the address, 3292 STATE HWY 158 SOUTH, GEORGETOWN, TN 37336. If you’re driving from Chattanooga to Knoxville, I definitely recommend stopping for some lunch.

Beautiful.

I just left the memorial service for George Jones. The whole thing was completely overwhelming and full of beautiful music. Take a look at that lineup. A more complete post will follow but I wanted to give a little preview..

A Coronation, a Road Trip and Your Suggestions!

For all of us Dutchies out there, don’t forget to wear your orange today! There’s a new King in the Netherlands for the first time in over a century!

The shirt really is orange, I promise. Two Thumbs up for the House of Orange!

In other news, tomorrow I leave for Tennessee…

I’ll be staying within the triangle of Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga. I think we’ll be heading right to Nashville to catch the memorial service for George Jones on Thursday. For live updates, be sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram. Other than that, I want your suggestions! Where should I go? What should I see? Are there any good races happening? What things are purely Tennessee, that we definitely should not miss?? I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!