August Recap!

Happy September, Happy Labor Day and long time no talk, friends! 

As you can probably tell my blog plans for August kind of....never happened. 

August was one super crazy chaotic month. Instead of a super long written explanation of what I've been up to this month, I'd thought to do a much more exciting photo recap instead!

I've already recapped my Disney trip which you can read here! The best way to kick off one of the best months of my life is obviously Disney! 

Right after coming back from the happiest place on Earth, my family and I jumped on cruise! It was my grandmother's 80th birthday and her only birthday wish was for a family cruise. We went on the Carnival Ecstasy to the Bahamas. I hope to do a full recap of this amazing trip soon!  

CM and I made one last summer trip to Miami Beach to end off our amazing summer together. 

Another big project that took up much of August was painting my room! I definitely undermined how big of a project this was and not going to lie, was a little worried I wasn't going to finish in time, but by the grace of the painting gods, I finished! Now it is on to the fun part of picking decor and furnishing! 

I had my Nursing School orientation! 

With the start of school means the official start of recruitment! I will definitely be posting more about this very soon, but I cannot wait until recruitment week and to meet my Rho Gamma babies! 

Last but not least, with the start of September brings the start of a new chapter of my life and I could not be any more excited that it is here. This summer has been exactly what I needed to prepare myself in more ways than one for this challenging journey and I hope to bring this blog with me along the ride! 

I hope you are having a great start to your school year!

Disney Vacation Recap!

Happy Back-to-school Monday!

This has to be one of the most hectic Monday of all Mondays! 

Fortunately, I don't start until next Monday and I could not be more nervous excited!

I know I am getting this recap up a bit later than I would have liked to. This is partly because I've been so incredibly busy finishing up my room renovations, working, and enjoying the too few days left of my summer and partly because I knew that reliving the memories of this trip was going to make me go into major Disney Withdrawals. (Yes, they are very real)

Though going to Disney World never needs a real reason, CM and I made the trip in honor of our anniversary. We have been together since high school and are totally wanting to start traveling together! This was our first official road trip together, if you exclude our few day trips to Miami, so we were so excited! 

Our trip was originally consisting of 2 days at Disney and 2 days with his family at their beach condo about an hour from Disney property. Due to multiple changes we ended up doing one day at Downtown Disney and one day, our actual anniversary day, at Disney, more specifically Epcot.  The last day was spent relaxing on the beach. 

I never get tired of seeing this sight!

The iconic Downtown Disney is always a must-stop for me whenever I visit. I especially wanted to go this trip as I've read of all the new additions and soon-to-be additions to the area. I love the direction it is going in!

 I had 3 missions that day: 

1. Have my first Disney Starbucks Drink

2. Disney Quest

3. Find the Disney Alex and Ani bangle collection

And I am happy to report that I was successful in all 3 missions!

Disney Starbucks is so much more magical than regular Starbucks. 

 A DD store that was new to me was the Spice and Tea Exchange located near the corner of Mickey's Pantry. A fun little stop with a wide variety of spices and teas (well, duh) and salts and sugars and other fun Disney culinary tools.  

You best believe we smelled pretty much all of them! 

I had to contain my excitement when I came across this specific tea though. Hazelnut Cookie Tea?! Yes please! 

We ate lunch at a restaurant I've always wanted to dine at, the T-Rex. CM loves dinosaurs so choosing this restaurant was fairly easy. I loved the atmosphere and experience. We ate in the Ice Cavern that went from blue to red whenever there was a "meteor shower". So cool and so yummy!

Since CM and I were both not feeling too great from the start we pretty much took it easy the rest of the day, which included a trip to Disney Quest which was both of our's first time going there. 

After a good night's sleep we felt much better and ready to take on Epcot! 

Epcot is my second favorite park, behind Magic Kingdom of course, mainly because of the countries. They are my favorite and that is where we spent the entire day. 

It's funny how the pictures you snap the quickest end up being some of your favorites!

We ate "brunch" I guess you can call it in France at Les Halles Bakery. I was really craving a chocolate croissant which we split along with the Jambon Buerre sandwhich and the cappucino glacé. It hit the spot! 

We then spent the rest of the day exploring each country which was so much fun! If you can, I highly recommend you take a day to spend in just the countries. It'll allow you to take your time in each country exploring all that there is to see...and eat and drink xD. 

After a long day we decided to have dinner in China at the Nine Dragons restaurant. Something we said we would do for this anniversary for a long time now. 

I ordered the Honey Sesame chicken with an iced chai tea and it was the best way to end the long day!

And last but not least: souvenirs! 

Since we did not want to do traditional anniversary "gifts" this time around we treated Disney as our gift for each other and bought each other souvenirs along the way. Since neither of us had a pair of Mickey/Minnie ears that was first on the list. (I know I am totally ashamed to admit this) I love these sparkly Minnie ears and I will probably be wearing these a little more than I should! A Disney tradition I have is to buy a trading pin that symbolizes the overall trip. I started this when I was a kid and have now continued this with CM. We bought each other this Epcot World Showcase countries pin that spins! Another little unique purchase we made for each other was for a pair of chopsticks from Japan. This past year we have been all about sushi (shoutout to CM for getting me on this bandwagon!) so to symbolize this we bought real (and really beautiful) chopsticks! We cannot wait to use them! And finally we bought matching little Minnie/ Mickey picture frames to hold a picture from our little trip so we can remember it all year round! 

Oh! And I can't forget these adorable little Minnie bow sticky tabs so I can have Disney magic as my study inspiration!

I am absolutely head over heels over my new Disney Alex and Ani bangles. I have been dying to start a collection and I am so happy I did. These are so cute and create a beautiful, yet not annoying, jingle. Needless to say I have been stalking the website in search of my next addition. 

Disney couples are the happiest couples.

And that's all she wrote! It was an amazing little weekend getaway that was the perfect way to end a long summer of hard work and to start off a new year of long distance. 

Liebster Award! + I'm back!

Happy Tuesday!
Confession: it took me way to long to figure out what day it was today!
I guess that's what vacation does to ya!

I just got back from my (a little hectic) 2 week Disney/Cruise vacay  and I still refuse to believe that I am sitting at my desk at work right now.
I would give anything right now to be either in the happiest place on earth or the beautiful Bahamian beaches but alas I have to face the reality that vacation does not last forever and that I start Nursing school in T minus 2 weeks and that my to-do list of things I need to get done before then is longer than my right arm. [Insert mini panic attack here].

I'll have more about that and recap posts very soon, but in the meantime...

I am so very happy to announce that the lovely Shae from Confessions of a Post-Grad Coffee Addict has nominated me for the Liebster Award! Thanks so much Shae!

Source

What is the Liebster Blog Award?

Its an award given to bloggers by bloggers to those who usually have less than 200 followers.

The word Liebster has German origins and means dearest, sweetest, kindest, nicest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant.

Rules :

1. If you are tagged/nominated, you have to post 11 facts about yourself.

2. Answer the 11 questions the tagger has given you and make 11 questions for the

    people you are going to tag.

3. Tag 5-11 more bloggers.

4. Tell the people you tagged that you did (through comment, personal message, etc.)

5. No tagging back.

Here we go!  

11 Facts:

1. I have a HUGE sweet tooth. Mainly for chocolate.

2. I have a sister who is 10 years older than me.

3. I went to Catholic school all my life.
4. My first job was working in a candy store .
5. Although I am obsessed with pugs, I also have a beautiful 13 year old Papillion named Lilly.
6. I was a Girl Scout for 6 years.
7. My favorite TV channel is The Food Network.

8.  My favorite color is blue and I buy way too many blue things.

9. I am Italian and Honduran.
10. I must always drink out of a straw. 
11. I am currently listening to old Disney songs while writing this :) 

Shae's Questions: 

1. What's your  favorite ice cream flavor?

 Good ol' cookie dough for the win!

2. What is your favorite vacation destination?

You probably guessed it, Disney! Or anywhere with a relaxing beach and beautiful view.

3. If you could do anything (career wise), what would you do?

I would love to explore many of the different fields of nursing. The variety of areas the nursing career has is one of the main aspects that attracted me to pursing it.. My dream is to also include blogging in there as well ;)

4. Biggest fear?

Lizards. I cannot even describe my thoughts on those creepy, crawly things.

5. What song best describes your life at the moment?

Rather Be by Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne. I just love the vibe of this song right now! And it's very accurate as well ;)

6. Coffee or tea?

Oh that's so hard! I love both, but I'd have to go with coffee because a day without coffee is abnormal for me.

7. What's one thing you could not live without?

Aside from the obvious, and most important, family, friends, pets, etc. I could not live without my bed!

8. Favorite holiday?

Christmas. It is a holiday the lasts a whole month long (that happens to include my birthday!) and it is always such a happy time of the year.

9. What exotic animal would you want as a pet?

A whale, hands down. I have this weird obsession with whales and would be the first person in line to adopt one the day they somehow become acceptable to own as household pets.

10. Why you started blogging and meaning of your blog name?

I started blogging after spending a lot of time reading other peoples' blogs and just being fascinated by the blogging world itself. I wanted to start my own blog as a creative outlet (since my major is mainly science) and also as a way to document my life through college and, hopefully, beyond.

The meaning of The Brown Eyed Sunshine?

The sun, more specifically sunshine, is one of the things I am so grateful for everyday. There is just something so positive and uplifting when you look outside or out a window and see the sun shining down, lighting up the day. Florida is also the Sunshine State (though it fails to represent its name 50% of the time) so I figured it was a great place to start. And you probably guessed it, I have brown eyes. Brown Eyed... sunshine. It rhymed enough in my opinion  (I was never very good at poetry) and the rest is history!

11. Favorite season?

Since Florida only has two seasons, scorching hot and less hot, this question is a little hard to answer lol! I'd love to live in a place that experienced all four seasons independently so I could actually know what a 'Fall' and 'Spring" and 'Winter" too for that matter feel like.

I Nominate: 

Aly @ Love, Alysha

Jessica @ Seeking Individuality

Brie @ Lean, Clean, & Brie 

Sami @ Sparkle and Shine 

Nicole @ Sparkly Ever After

Ally @ The Preppy Little Lesbian 

My Questions!

1.  As a child, what did you wish to be when you grew up?
2. What is your favorite app that is currently on your phone?
3. Favorite candy?
4. If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?
5. What is your most recent accomplishment (big or small)?
6. Favorite quote?
7. What is one beauty product you cannot live without?
8. Hot or iced coffee?
9. What is your favorite Target department?
10. If you win the lotto tomorrow, what is the first thing you would do?
11. What is your favorite thing about blogging?


Well that was fun! I'm always glad to share a little bit more of myself on here.

And please don't forget to go check out Shae and send some bloggy love :)