We Head South When it's Cold (& go GATOR HUNTIN')

This weekend Boyfriend Matt and I migrated down south to Naples, Florida to visit my Pops.  Fortunately the weather was pretty murk in New York when we left, but it was also quite rainy in Florida much of the time.  No matter, though; we still had a great time eating delicious foods, hunting for gators, watching the Pauly D Project, and spending quality time together :)  It was indeed a great escape.

Me and Fatha.

The first item on our agenda was to find a live gator. This was in fact Matt's one and only true wish of the trip.   Our original plan was to take an airboat ride in the Everglades, but since it was uber rainy on Sunday, we decided that gator-watching from the dry, air-conditioned comforts of my Dad's truck would suffice.  So we headed down Route 41 to see if we could spot any gators in the waterways alongside of the road.  My Dad pulled through on his promise to bring us gators, as he found us a spot in the Everglades that was brimming with the scaly creatures.  

Baby gator.

Creepy gator-eyes. Yowza. 

We got out of the truck and headed down to the water bank to get a closer look at some of the gators.  But unfortunately, since mosquitoes were eating us alive, we didn't stay in open-air long and we ran back to the vehicle for cover just as soon as Matt got his gator fix.

After all our gator huntin', we had worked up an appetite, so we headed to the only lunch-spot for miles: Joanie's Blue Crab Cafe.

Inside Joanie's.

Joanie's is an awesome hole-in-the-wall establishment literally in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by swamp. As soon as my Dad mentioned to Matt that they served gator and frog legs, Matt was all about it.  There were only a handful of customers at Joanie's, making it warm and relaxed, like we were having lunch at an old friend's house on the back porch.  We were even treated to live music performed by Beth Thompson of Marco Island (click on link to enjoy some footage we took of her singing "Bleeding Love"... really talented!).

Some memorabilia. 

Both Matt and I discovered some fantASStic signage and artwork in the restrooms...

Special treat in the ladies' room.

Wise advise for the gents in the men's room. 

After touring the bathrooms and checking out the cool memorabilia, we settled in for lunch.  I enjoyed delicious crab cakes, and Matt bravely ordered the Swamp Combo: gator nuggets, frog legs and crab cakes.  Mmmm Yummers!

The Swamp Combo.

Matt eatin' himself some gator and frog legs.

As tastey as the gator bites were (I was too afraid to try to the frog legs), I enjoyed the other home-cooked meals we enjoyed during the trip much better!

Delicious Monday night dinner (thanks Sherry!)

Even when we left the swamp and the Everglades, there were signs everywhere that ensured we were still in Gator Country :)

This is GATOR COUNTRY - @ Books A Million in Naples.

Overall, it was a great visit to (usually) Sunny Naples, Florida.  Now back to biz in NYC.

Me and Matteo out and about in Naples.

Do you have any vacations coming up? Summer is upon us so make sure you get some relaxing (and possibly gator huntin') in.  Xoxo!

J-E-T-S, Tim-Te-BOW!

"Chomp Chomp, Go Gators, Timmy Tebow, Heyyyyyyyy!" Such is the chant that echoes through my mind and spews forth from my mouth every time I think of Tim Tebow (in a Southern accent of course), thanks to boyfriend-Matt.  Tim Tebow becoming a New York Jet seems like old news at this point, so I'm a bit behind in jumping on this bandwagon.  I don't have much to add to the commentary of Tebow's Jet-setting since I'm no sports fan at all.  However, since I am a Florida grad who attended the University during some of Tebow's reign, and since I am a New York resident with a boyfriend who is one of the biggest Jet fans alive (proven by scientific studies, of course), I should probably offer up something on the topic.  So I'll come at it the only way I know best: telling you the story of my one and only encounter with this hotty for God-y. 

It was fall of 2007 when I was wrapping up my 5.5 years at the University of Florida. I was "flyering" in Turlington Plaza (best known for its crazy campus "preachers") for one of my dance group's fall showcases.  Basically this meant shamelessly distributing fliers to advertise our dance show with an unnecessary amount of uber-enthusiasm to students between classes.  Wouldn't you know that one of those hundreds of lucky students was the young Tebow?! Ever alert to celebs of any kind, I spotted Tim out of the corner of my eye.  Though I didn't (and don't) care much about football (I think I went to 5 games during my entire college career  -- blasphemy I know!), I knew that Tim was as famous as one could be in the Gator Nation, so naturally, I prepared myself to take advantage of this chance celeb-encounter. 

My adrenaline pumped wildly through my veins as I thought of how I could approach the nearing Tebow.  My breathing quickened as I stealthily peered at him through my peripheral vision.  Time was running short but Tim was drawing closer.  I had only seconds to plan my attack... err flier distribution. The moment came upon me and it happened. I lost all control, and any plan I had to remain cool and collected flew out the window.  Timmy was upon me.  I abruptly swung around to face him head-on and shouted "Come to the Floridance Fall Showcase!  It will be really good!  And you can bring canned food to donate!!" shoving the hot-pink flier at him with what felt like a crazed smile (I'm sure I didn't look as crazy as I felt -- or did I??).  My cheery abruptness caught ole Timmy boy off guard.  He stepped back a bit, and laughed.  "Ok" he said graciously, chuckling.  And that was that.  My encounter with the Tebow man himself. It ranked second only to Coach Billy Donovan once telling me I was awesome after I had unlocked a door for him to the O'Dome.  I never did see Tim at the dance showcase that night (though if you know me, you know that I was thinking something along the lines of, "Surely he thought I was beautiful and amazing and will come to the show just because of me!").  But alas, the memory remains strong.

To conclude, how do I feel about Timmy being in NYC, you ask? Well, as much as I was once annoyed by seeing every Facebook status update during my college years be about Tim Tebow (i.e., "Bow down to Tebow" and "Tebowism!"), which only got worse and expanded beyond just Florida fans when he played with the Broncos, I am actually quite happy and proud about it.  Being surrounded by Tim Tebow garb (jerseys are already out in Modell's and Champs), fans and hype makes me feel kind of at home. I suppose I am forever destined to read about Tim Tebow in the news and on Facebook updates.  But I don't too much mind anymore.  Now, don't expect me to be all in an uproar proclaiming the name of Tebow every Sunday, but deep down, I do have a soft spot for him -- even though he stood me up and didn't come to my dance show.  I will forgive, just as Tebow forgives (Matthew 6:14).

Article in April 2nd issue of "New York" magazine. Too much Tebow? Never.

Just a little something I dug up on Twitter. Gotta love support from Timmy's older brother Peter.

What do you think about Tim Tebow becoming a Jet? All thoughts welcome!