The Sunshine State

Much to my dismay California is not the Sunshine State - that nickname belongs to Florida where I spent almost the last two weeks eating seafood (including stone crab at Joe's Stone Crab),  sampling too much key lime pie, enjoying warm weather and getting my fix of Florida amusement parks. (There was also some interesting misadventures on a mini road trip between Miami and Orlando that involved New York style Chinese food, giant birds, a Publix grocery store and too little sleep which may not be suitable for sharing at this time.)  I have returned to temperatures in the 40s and 50s which is a bit unusual for a few days before Spring here in southern California and I'm not dealing well with it. 

In an effort to extend my vacation (and remember the warm weather) a tad longer I went trolling for a few reminders of my most recent vacation.

I've been a fan of Bird Ave and their skyline prints for some time now.  I was first drawn to the skyline print of my beloved San Francisco but they have some Florida cities that are also endearing as well and would be a nice reminder of the last few weeks.



Bird Ave Miami Print (Image via Bird Ave)

I would love to have one of these pinned on a bulletin board with some fun photo reminders and silly souvenirs from the trip - a sort of mini art installation that I could change out until I go on my next vacation.  
While I am not ready to fully exclaim my love for Florida yet (I was there in September as well and the humidity indirectly resulted in me almost losing a toe) I still find this necklace from Truche endearing. (Personally I would go for this one.)

Image via Truche

 While I am clearly a California girl I can appreciate the rest of the country (in small doses) now and then for vacationing and shopping and other amusements and I do hope to get back to Florida again soon.

Travel Goodies

I'm off to Florida tomorrow for almost two weeks.  A few days in Miami at work-related conference and board meetings and then off to Orlando for a week. I will be busy packing late into the night (for myself and also making sure the dog has what he needs for his staycation at the kennel) and wish I had the foresight to have ordered some of these goodies to make my life a little easier.

Flight 001 has almost anything you might need for traveling. Their website is organized by type of item or by when you need it - so you can browse pre-flight, in-flight or arrival.  I visited their store in San Francisco a few years ago and now there is one in Los Angeles that I might need to get to sooner rather than later.  Personally I never leave for a vacation without a luggage scale - the money spent on one is worth any stress that you can have about repacking your bags at the airport or having to mail your stuff back or worse pay the ridiculous fees (I came to this conclusion after a night spent being almost hysterical about the weight of my luggage when I was packing canned soup requested by my mother).  Flight 001 has one you can buy.

They also have a pretty good selection of brightly colored luggage which I think is a huge necessary.  I like having a pink or polka dot luggage so you know which one is yours. Nothing is worse then taking off 10 black suitcases before you find the one that belongs to you.  If you already have the black luggage though you might want to check out some of their fun luggage tags.

This Pez Girl Luggage Tag ($12) will make it easy to find your luggage (Image via Flight 001).

What I really want though is this carry-on bottle set.  I hate having creams and shampoos I don't like simply because that's the sample size that Target had that day.  This way you can have exactly what you want and with 15 bottles you probably will have enough and this is approved carry-on size so you don't show up wherever you are going looking like a wreck.


Carry-on bottle set $15 (Image via Flight 001)

But if you use of the brands carried by 3floz.com you won't need that. This company specializes in providing products that meet TSA guidelines!!!  The great thing about this is that even with the correctly sized bottles you sometimes get harassed if they can't identify the liquid (a security guard at Heathrow took my mini bottle of saline solution which meant I couldn't get my contacts in until hours later when I got to my hotel in Rome) but this eliminates that problem as they are all clearly marked.  They have even pre-packaged some of the products in themed kits to help you out.

Even if you're not traveling soon you can get the Gym Kit (Image via 3floz.com)


Maybe next time I travel I will have planned better and will be able to bring some of these goodies with me.  Either way I'm sure I will have fun!