Travel Tuesday no. 2 _ Orlando/Oviedo, FL (MY HOMETOWN! YAY!)

This week I am so excited to have my best bud give us a little '411' on a place that is

sacred

cherished

charming

and

SO

dear

to me!!!!

He's my best friend from home and he moved back to the NE side of Orlando (Oviedo) when he was done doing the tomahawk and being a Seminole in Tallahassee!!! He's married to his high school sweetheart, who I am fortunate is another gem in my life as well.

I truly can't describe how special this place is to me or how treasured these newlywed friends are, but I think they have an idea of just how groovy I think they are.

So, meet Justin... and maybe sometime soon we can get a little one-on-one from the Mrs. (She's a doctor in training, though, so she keeps busy! Giving us a tour around Orlando/Oviedo was a little more convenient for the Realtor in the marriage!)

Name: Justin Core (and his wife, Megan Bevis Core)

Occupation: Realtor

Blog: CoreRealEstateGroup.blogspot.com (click to link)


Location: Oviedo, FL (Orlando)

Connect with me:

scan your SmartPhone here to be connected to the best Realtor on the block!!! To DOWNLOAD the app click here  -bjj

What major cities or landmarks are your city close to? Anytime I'm asked this question, Disney is the obvious answer and out-of-towners assume I venture there on a weekly basis. Truthfully, I could not recall the last time I made it to the "happiest place on earth" until we decided to go last weekend for my wife's birthday. After a morning full of the classic rides at the Magic Kingdom with surprisingly reasonable wait times, we hopped on the monorail for a quick trip over to Epcot to drink around the world. We began in the UK with a beer sampler, stopped in Germany for a Flight of Wines, and ended gracefully with Margaritas in Mexico. Disney is a good 45 minute drive from Oviedo and well worth the drive but expect it to be an all day adventure.

The University of Central Florida is also minutes from downtown Oviedo but somehow the 50,000 students who flock to the campus every fall and their brand new stadium do not spoil the quaint feel of small town Oviedo.

downtown Orlando from across the beautiful Lake Eola

How long have you lived there? I've lived in Oviedo since 1994, with the exception of my 4 year stint for college in Tallahassee (FSU).

If you moved here after living in a different city, where did you move from? I was born in Huntsville, Alabama and moved to Florida when my dad was transferred for work. All of our family is still in Huntsville so we have always visited regularly. Although Huntsville is not a small town, it has many small town tendencies and aspects. We found the same thing in Oviedo when we came here and it is really what has kept us here for so long. Although Oviedo doesn't have a lot to offer, in the way that a town like Orlando does, it does have a very quaint atmosphere.


For instance, Oviedo is known for chickens that roam freely throughout the downtown. There are bumper stickers all throughout Central Florida that say "I brake for Oviedo Chickens," and that's how our town is known. Growing up in a town like Oviedo, you do everything you can to find your way out. I did find my way out for four years and at some point during that time began to fall back in love with the town for all new reasons. I did move back and began to see it in an all new light. It has something for everybody because it is a small town that is so close to a major city and all of the tourist attractions that go along with that.

What's the climate like? Hot, humid, and muggy. Winter is cool and dry but short, and fall is nice but hurricanes are frequent. Spring is the time of year to come if you are going to the parks and summer is the time of year if you are coming for the beach.


Personally, I find cold weather miserable unless I'm in the Rockies skiing and to me. There are a few weeks in late January and February that are bitter cold, but it is not uncommon to venture over to the beach New Year's Day to enjoy the occasional warm sunshine. When it is cold however, I dream of the days of the scorching summer heat, but I seem to remember once again how HOT it can really get once summer rolls back around. Late summer, around July and August, we have temperatures over 100 degrees with 100% humidity. That's hot!

What are some of your favorite weekend things to do in your town? The best thing about this area is that there truly is something for everyone. For a relaxing Saturday morning, the Winter Park Farmers Market is a must. Just off Park Avenue there is a farmers market that draws vendors from all over Central Florida on a weekly basis. The streets get crowded so make sure to get there bright and early to beat the crowds and the heat.

Winter Park Farmer's Market

New Smyrna Beach is a local favorite and still remains a hidden treasure, unspoiled by the heavy tourist population that invades the Florida coastline every summer. New Smyrna's Flagler Avenue is just two short blocks from the beach and is truly a relaxed beach town. You can drive on the beach and stop on your way out of town to visit a long-time local favorite Frozen Gold for a sweet ice cream treat. You're guaranteed to enjoy yourself at the beach, the food, and the atmosphere.

For the sports fans (or those just looking for a good time), an Orlando Magic game (during season) is a must. The Magic have always had a great fan base, atmosphere, and venue, but all of that has increased as of late. The Magic have played in two straight Eastern Conference Championships and are putting their final touches on their new state-of-the-art Amway Center. The intensity is higher than it has ever been and the entire City of Orlando is ecstatic about the outlook of the team.

What is your town known for?

Free Roaming Chickens! And we love it.

What are some of your favorite restaurants in your city?

Oviedo:

Breakfast - Big John's Country Cookin' & Townhouse Restaurant (in a close second)


Lunch - Tijuana Flats


Dinner - Gino's Pizzeria, Froggers

Winter Park/Orlando:


Breakfast - Uncle Henry's Country Grill, First Watch


Lunch - Four Rivers Smokehouse


Dinner - Dexter's, Boston Fish House, & anything on Park Avenue in Winter Park

Tell us why you love your city? Oviedo is everything you could want from a small town within minutes of a larger city. It is close enough to the tourist attractions to venture often but not so close that it feels like one itself. Oviedo loves it's high school football team, sweet barbecue, quiet backroads, pick-your-own strawberries, and you'll never forget the smell of orange blossoms in bloom. On any given day you eat a $3 breakfast at Big John's and spend a bundle on dinner at one of the top tourist destinations in the world [Disney] or walk on the most famous beach in the planet [Daytona Beach]. Oviedo is a great place to live and vacation.

I would love the opportunity to answer any questions on Central Florida, and I want to thank my beautiful wife for her input and creativity on the post. Check out her blog as well describing her journey and tribulations as a third year medical student meganandjustinc.blogspot.com

Thanks Baily for the opportunity.

 --------------☮☮☮☮---------------

I have mad love for that guy and his wonderful wife.  It truly has been a wonderful journey together and the best part of about it is that it continues to bloom - I'm sure if you have been a reader this summer then you have witness me give my hats off and salute to them for being a true example of friendship, true love, and a well-balanced life. 

I hope they know how much they mean to me, and I am so glad that I got to feature him on my blog as part of TRAVEL TUESDAY!  The Core's are one of my favorite things about my quaint and charming little town in Oviedo and they are like me - they went away for school and found that pull of the ole heartstring that comes from the old stomping grounds.

I tease them that I am their friend that will be an "Old Maid" while they are the happy little newlywed couple.  They take care of me, though... and I know who to go to when I need to buy that hometown one-bedroom house ;)

THANKS JUSTIN!

And Megan, I hear you were "Editor In Chief" so thanks to you too!

Follow them both :)

peace and love

baily jordan jones

I love my hometown! :)

my trip with the boys

I've always had such a strong friendship with all my guy friends.

There has always been a 'catch 22' to it, though

because at some point we all realized we had

G R O W N  U P

They started falling in love with the girls...

I began these 384735897 seasons as 'The Bachelorette'.

But every once in a while, we all find ourselves  S I N G L E  again.

And lucky for me - the boys don't mind it if "Bear" is a part of man time.

A bunch of lazy boys with a hyper and excited kid-sister type to fetch beers?

Plus the beach! 

Don't mind if I do, they say!

I picked up Frank from his house in Oviedo and we hopped on I-4 West bound from Orlando to Tampa.  Frank and I always had a close friendship.  His main love was one of my best friends and he was best friends with my main love.  The four of us were best known as 'the Rat Pack' and that's just a whole other story in itself!  Those were some funny times!

Frank just relocated from Boston where he was in school and the starting center-fielder for Northeastern.  We were headed to Tampa Bay/Clearwater Beach area to visit Steven and Ryan.  We had plans to get up with Dana, who had just relocated to Tampa, but were unable to!  Word on the street is that she may be a little less single than us! ;)

Ryan and I grew up together and our families stayed close through soccer and community.  After we graduated he moved to Tampa to attend USF and now he's loving the big world from over on Florida's West coast - I don't blame him!

Steven also went to USF.  His dad was the Methodist minister in my hometown and Steven and I have known each other since middle school.  All of these boys and I have been a part of one another's life for quite some time.  Pastor Powers and Mrs. Powers relocated to Clearwater/Tampa area a couple of years ago.  So, now all of them are over there instead of at the homefront that we all knew for ourselves growing up!

We got to Steven's house and I changed into my bikini and we hit the beach.

There really is no way to describe how amazing it was to be sitting with those 3 boys on that beach.  Life has been hard for me lately, but I find a reason to smile and laugh everyday even if it takes all my strength to do so.  With this, though, I needed no other reason.

I looked up from my verrry relaxed state in my 'low-rider' beach chair and told Frank:

I'm genuinely HAPPY!

After lots of sun, and getting the wind knocked out of me in the water by the unusually powerful waves, we stopped for supplies to make vodka tonics back at Steven's house.

Then we played pool-basketball and I lost a record number of "H-O-R-S-E" games, and then the boys cooked Chilean Sea Bass and rice for dinner.  Apparently they were still hungry though because my fast-pace to get ready was still too long in man time!

We made it out the door and were off to see a jamband showcse in St. Pete Beach at this trendy little theater.  We were all pretty beat from the beach, Bud Lights, and sea bass!

We jammed out in the car ride back to Steven's to Widespread Panic and I was finally in a place where I was enjoying good friends, familiar faces, and good music all at once!

It's funny how much music connects you with people and then re-connects you with people.

I probably wouldn't have been on that trip if I hadn't started talking 'music' with Ryan when we got to spend a lot of time together at JC's wedding in June.  For the past several months, I had been spending all of my time with someone who didn't have a very passionate love for music.  It really has played a major role in defining a lot of my friendships.

Like Lauren.

And Kathleen.

And Travis.

and I like all of those people, a lot.  And I like that their playlist don't make me want to vom.

I had some pretty awesome chats with Frank, Steven, and Ryan all together and each separately.  It's funny, too, how much everything kinda stays the same once it's all done changing so drastically.  They kept me smiling and they made me realize that I'm loved unconditionally by them and they respect me for my individuality. 

Steven was one of the founders of the infamous "Bear" nickname. 

I absolutely DO NOT get called Baily by these boys, it's hilarious...

I think Ryan and Steven are glad that I am a little Grateful Dead dancing bear these days!

I hope they know how special they are to me.

Here's to you, boys! Y'all have always made me believe that my wings were made to fly :)

peace and love

-your "Bear"

a song called lochloosa and lochloosa sounds like my home.. for florida...

Lauren and Whitney bought me some suprises when they were in Seaside, Florida over the 4th of July Weekend. Supposedly there's this new record store there that I hear I would "just looove!" and they brought me a couple teases home. They bought me the Michael Jackson 'Thriller' album, Janis Joplin's *ORIGINAL PRESSED* 'I Got Them Ol' Kozmic Blues Again, Mama!' album, and the JJ Grey & Mofro 'The Choice Cuts' album.

The JJ Grey & Mofro album was one I had never heard before (the Michael Jackson and Janis Joplin albums came out obviously several decades ago so I've given my ears a listen a few times on each of those). But the 'The Choice Cuts' vinyl is already well-loved by me.

It got me through a pretty treturous week of studying for that killer Social Psychology exam. But I just got home from it, and I rocked it's gypsy soul. I really do like this lecture, and the material is enough basic theory that I can apply my previous knowledge to it, but it goes into depth in the social and cognitive domains of psychology and there's always a bold-fonted key term in the textbook that I don't know, so it's been pleasantly challenging. I stop there, and go no further, because the last thing I need is to say that and then completely _beep!_ myself when the next two exams are the pit-fall of ever being both pleasant and challenging and becomes HELL.

But I love this album because there is a lot of Florida heritage that are written in the lyrical component of this different style of music. It's swamp-folk and country-rock and a little bit of jazziness mixed with mountainy bluegrass strings. I can put it simpler, into two words: I DIG. (I have even facebook-statused some of the lyrics about my beloved swampy sunhine state!)

Here are some of the lyrics I just love and this new band of interest for me definitely gets a high five for singing some good tunes about the very misunderstood nature of my homestate...

FLORIDA!

Homesick but it's alright / Lochloosa is on my mind / She's on my mind /

I swear its 10,000 degrees in the shade / Lord have mercy knows - how much I love it /

Every mosquito every rattlesnake / Every cane break - everything //

Every alligator / Every black water swamp / Every freshwater spring - everything //

All we need is one more damn developer taking her heart out //

All we need is one more Mickey Mouse / Another golf course another country club /

 Another gated community // Lord I need her /

Lord I need her // And she's slipping away /

Homesick but it's alright / Lochloosa is on my mind /

She's on my mind / She's on my mind

-JJ Grey & Mofro 'Lochloosa'

guess what I DID recently that caused me to miss the good ol' days?? 

i t . i s . w h a t 

 m y . f r i e n d s . d i d

a l l . s u m m e r . l o n g 

w h i l e . g r o w i n g . up 

a couple weeks ago Chaceface and I went N a little ways up the interstate to Smith Lake and enjoyed a day of laying in the water on a raft. Not just any raft. The kind of raft that is considered some prime real-estate on Jones family vacations. A couple cold beers, my boyfran, and a weeks worth of stresses being deferred so that I could

.e n j o y.

.m y.

.S U N D A Y.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was really quite amazing and much, much, much needed!

I wigged.. and I mean WIGGED out when I jumped off that dock into dark and unknown waters and let me anxieties get the best of me as I splashed and cyclopzed around and up that ladder back onto the dock. Chace got quite the kick out of it and intead of saying,

"No, Baily... we're not in Florida - you can swim in lakes, no alligators!"

like a good and compassionate boyfriend would and instead said,

"I bet you someone bought a pet alligator like a dumbass and has let it go in this lake once it got too big and now it's breeding out of control and bringing alligators to my lake!"

Seriously? What.the.heck....???

Could he have not let the fact that I am the MOST-GULLABLE girl he's ever met in his entire life refrain him from saying anything, because by the time I could get me and my not-so-nineteen-year-old-body (complete w/my newest version of big-woman-curves) out of the water, I had already convinced myself that this lake-neighborhood is made up of a bunch of imbeciles with stray pet alligators, which are in a breeding frenzy right below me in

 my very unfamiliar and horribly uncomfortable area of unbeknownst dark lakewater.

I finally warmed up and we enjoyed our day hanging out on the

S H O R E L I N E

o f . a

f r e s h - w a t e r

L  A  K  E

a n d . n o t . h a v i n g

t o . w o r r y . a b o u t . a n y

A L L I G A T O R S

l i k e . w e . h a v e . t o

w o r r y . a b o u t . i n 

t H e . S u N s H i N e . s T a T e

Come see us in Alabama and Florida!

We've got pretty lakes, but it is our beaches that really need your everyone's help!!

The Gulf Oil Spill is staining our very beautiful and much-loved white sandy coastlines.

Our tourism is bruised.Our wildlife are in danger.

And the spirit of those perfect Southern summers still linger,

but it's hard to feel the free-spirited charm of 

O L D  - F L O R I D A  

because of the brutal reality that there is a spilled and spewing detrimental disaster sittingvery unwelcomed in her panhandle's harbors. Just above

the Land of Sunshine and in the Heart of Dixie is the

S T A T E   of   A L A B A M A

where all the well-mannered and good-souled folks are breaking their backs to help out their country, their state, and their fellow Southerner, despite the bitter reality of the unwanted spill of darkness that masks our waters and plagues our shorelines.

message me and tell me how you have contributed to the relief efforts in wake of the BP Oil Spill

i may (or may not) have a personalized

Expressive Journal: starter-kit that i put together to give-away

to ((someone)) who appreciates the things that I appreciate, like:

advocacy, peace, love,

unity & community-service

THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT A TYPICAL BLOGGER "GiVe AwAy" THAT YOU MAY SUSPECT

NOPE - NOT WHATSOEVER

BUT I THINK IT WOULD BE COOL TO HEAR OTHER'S STORIES OF

NATIONAL//or// STATE//or//COMMUNITY//  VOLUNTEER WORK!!!

*if no one wants to share their story by leaving me a comment, then I will use this time to be up on my soap-box  advocating service oriented and volunteer work  EVERYWHERE, especially with the Gulf Relief Efforts

BUT I THINK YOU WILL LIKE SOME OF MY  IDEAS FOR MY OWN LITTLE WAY TO (INEXPENSIVELY) GIVE BACK TO THE SOUTHERN-COASTAL ECOSYSTEM, THE LOVE AND COMFORT THAT THOSE SaLtY SHORES AND CrYsTaL cLeAr WATERS

 GAVE ME OVER THE YEARS ON THOSE CHERISHED FAMILY VACATIONS

AND ON ALL OF  THE PREPPY, COLLEGE, SPRING-BREAK WEEKS THAT  I SPENT IN

destin, florida . gulf shores, alabama . panama city beach, florida

and

 orange beach, alabama . pensacole, florida . marco island, florida

"at the Bama Breeze, you're one of our own down here, you never drink alone down here, good God I feel at home down here." -Jimmy Buffett's ode to The FloraBama

Oh ya, P.S. I think everyone should go see "GROWN UPS"

because it reminds me of how awesome those summer weeks were when my family

(along with any other family or families we were summer-vacay-ing with)

w o u l d . p u t . t h e . w o r d

F  U  N

☮

i  n t o . t h e . w o r d 

d  y  s  F  U  N  c  t  i  o  n  a  l

will write more on my next study-break!

it helps me vent... thank God!

☮Peace ☮

and

Love

 - bjj -

the one about how excited i am to go home

I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am about this week.
On Thursday, I get to go H O M E !!!!!
On top of that, Chace gets to meet "the Oviedians."
I fly out on Thursday night from Birmingham and arrive in Orlando around 11pm. The reason I'm going home is for my very best friend's wedding weekend. (Think My Best Friend's Wedding with Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz, except I have no unspoken love for Justin Core. But we're buds, and I'm Julia Roberts). I wish...
Anyway, I arrive sorta late (and hopefully not too fatigued) and then I head to downtown Orlando to meet up with the 'party bus' and a bunch of bachelorette party-goers. I feel so honored that Megan wanted me to be a part of her bachelorette party! I hate that I am missing the lingerie shower part of the party, but as I like to quote, I had to do the best with what God gave me and God doesn't give out too many 'free ticket seats' on Orlando-bound Southwest Airlines flights this time of year. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry in America goes to Disney World during the month of June. I get it, "schools out" but my kids will be skipping school sometime in February or November to go to Orlando to walk around the Disney parks because momma ain't melting just because it's summer vacay. Anyway, I have to deal with being late because of school/flight scheduling. But it's all good... I'll arrive in good spirit and ready to celebrate the last lingering days of Megan's singlehood.
Then she marries my BFF!!! Woo hoo!!! Chace gets in at 6:30pm on Friday from his flight out of Atlanta. I'll already be downtown at a tappas lounge for the rehearsal dinner, so he'll just taxi on over to downtown O-town and meet up with me and my parents and dun! dun! dun! dun!..... "the Oviedians."
Oh but don't worry, he'll be fine. He eats this shit up. And if things go badly, there will be plenty of "Alabamians" there to pinch his cheeks and remind him of how perfectly Southern he is. (Justin is originally from Huntsville.)
I just hope he gets there in time to see my "toast" go down. I've got some skeletons I may pull out of the closet on Justin. JK! For real, just kidding. I hate "that person" at a wedding that just absolutely kills everyone's buzz from the toasts before because they had to put on a circus act and say obnoxious stuff about the bride and groom. Not cool, people.
Well, I'm just so excited I can't even stand it. I told Chace the other night that I am so ready for that moment when I open the front door of my house and the scent of "home" hits me like a freight train. It's the best feeling in the world, and there's only one place you can get it. Home, duh.
I need to start packing... it's right around the corner! I'll get my blog on more later, it's time for class and internship and errands! 

PeaceANDLove

Bjj 

oviedolove

I'm hardcore missing Oviedo right now.

I think it hit me today that my visits have become very few and far between this semester.

I'm really excited about going home for my best friends wedding, just wish I could make it down there soon for a relaxing weekend.

The one's where I get to ride to the beach in the Jeep with the top down.

Grill a steak with Daddy on the lanai on Sunday nights.

Meet a friend at The Black Hammock for some Coors Lights.

Watch  the chickens cross the road. (Literally)

Listen to the swamp music.

Smell the orangeblossoms and citrus blooms.

Don't mind me, I just saw the music video to ":08 Ride" by Luke Bryan and I saw my favorite little fish camp getaway. Where summer nights turn into summer mornings when I'm with the best friends in the world and sitting by an "airboat only" lake that is alligator haven. It's an Oviedo thing.

photos found @ Black Hammock Facebook page

Peace&Love

Bai

disney epiphany

I got an email from my roommate Elena yesterday, and it really got me thinking about something that my mind has never really toyed with before. She had proposed to me the idea of a few of us going to Orlando sometime in the next couple of weeks. As you all know, I LOVE my home with extra X's and O's. Of course I want to go down there soon, and after spending a month cooped up and alone at the Fairfield Inn, I think the more the merrier! I'm sure we'll arrange the details later... but right now I am smiling at the thoughts that are racing through my head.

E is one of those girls that I never got to be. Well, I guess I got to be like her when I lived in Asheville before we moved to Orlando when I was 5. These girls, like E, go to sleep and dream in brilliant cartoons. They marvel at Cinderella's castle, and they'd do anything to be spinning in a giant tea cup. Elena is a Disney obsessor. See, she has lived all over the nation. She comes from a military family and has never lived in any one place for more than 5 years. The fact that I not only have a solid "home-base" but an Orlando home, is fascinating to E. I think I am guilty of taking that for granted from time to time. The fact that fascinates me, on the other hand, is that so many people who I have come to know over the past few years weren't as fortunate as I was to grow up miles away from our favorite princess's enchanted castle. So maybe E takes it to the extreme when she goes out in public with me wearing a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. But you know what? I'd probably do the same thing if I were like most of my college friends who didn't go to middle school and high school with girls that held Summer jobs being Jasmine, Sleeping Beauty, and Pochahontas. I told E that and her instant response was, "I'd make a damn good Pochahontas." Since she's half-Korean I joked with her that she'd have to be Mulan - everyone's favorite asian princess.

I could only imagine the look on Elena's face when she first stepped through the entry gates at The Magic Kingdom - when she was a 20 year old sophomore in college.  No matter what else was going on in the world that day, she would have had to be (by far) the happiest girl in the whole wide world. It's funny how every so often you can truly see the difference in lifestyle that sets me apart from most of my friends. A dream vaca for some, a field trip (or 10) for me. I'd love to lie and say I remember my first trip to Disney when I was a terrible adorable toddler, but I can't recall all that much. I'm just glad I got to experience the first-time magic of it all as a tourist.

As much as I love the Orlando area, (especially little/big Oviedo) I do have to admit that the glitz and glam are quickly stripped from the idea of Disney World when you're a local. My driveway is a good 40 minutes to Disney World, with the help of a toll road expressway. Ha - even the toll road issue is another thing that clearly shows whether you are a local or a tourist. They bitch about having to pay to use the roads, we dig the fact that there's no state income tax. What tickles me the most though, is that the tourist population has a conniption fit over a $0.50 fare to truck along the expressway but they gladly drop $300 at the gift shop on a "Goofy" hat with dog ears, a princess tiara with mouse ears and a red polka-dotted bow, and matching Disney logo t-shirts for all 16 family members. Don't forget the fanny pack and rain ponchos. $325.

So even though being an "Orlando girl" takes a little bit more of Tinker Bell's pixie dust to get in the Disney spirit, I am humbled by how fortunate I was. Because there are girls, girls like E, who aren't neighbors to the Disney family and never copied The Little Mermaid's math homework before the bell rang for school.

But if we're lucky, we meet a girl like E. And even though it's fun to tease her for her Mickey Mouse shirts and her 92 Disney VHS tapes (yes VHS, not DVD) it's also important that us "Orlando girls" not take our life for granted. We could have lived somewhere really lame, or never have gotten to experience the mouth-watering glory that comes in the shape of the ever-so-famous Disney turkey leg. Our tourist industry would be all of, what, GatorLand? Our list of concerts we've been to would be cut in half because the tourist industry brought Hard Rock Live to our city, we'd probably never bar-hop around Disney's Pleasure Island, and there's no telling what our prom committee would come up with when choosing a place for the big dance if it weren't for the plethora of 5-star resorts that popped up all over the place and are in large part due to ole Walt and his fantasia-genius.

Home, vacation, fantasy world, tourist-haven... whatever it might be, it won't be taken for granted.

Peace&Love

Baily

the one about home being where the heart is

You know how we grow up under the impression that "home is where the heart is?"  Well, I always thought it meant that home is actually where our heart is.  Like, the day I decided I was going to go to Tuscaloosa for school, I thought that Alabama would, in fact, become my home.  Temporary, permanent, that part didn't matter at the time.  I was leaving little old Oviedo and broadening my horizons, spreading my wings, chasing my dreams... you know, what all my Hallmark Graduation cards said I was doing.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to leave those roots, that Floridianized southern upbringing, and all those wild and crazy friends... but, I knew that in my heart I was Dixie bound. 

To be honest, my idea of "home is where the heart is" was completely wrong.  This jaded little heart of mine might have a certain love for this university and the Crimson Tide and those that I met during my journey here.  But, my real love is a home grown town that raises good-hearted people along with it's groves of oranges and stalks of celery.  See, my heart might not hold dreams of returning to that little town like it holds my dreams of places like Austin and Nashville and San Francisco, but it's not where my heart is that makes an ordinary place my home.  That's where I was wrong! It's the heart and soul of all the other people that make me proud to call that Florida town my home.

Maybe for some this isn't neccessarily the case.  But I know, for me, it's as true as the sun coming up each morning.  I've always known it, but let me just tell you why I decided to bring it up today.

I received some mail today.  One item was a box.  I opened it up to find a card from two of my best girlfriends from high school, Susan Abascal and Justine Positano. I barely got through a single sentence and on to the next one before big, raindrop tears poured down my face.  They praised me for being so strong, they blessed me with their thoughts and prayer, and they encouraged me to continue on.  It wasn't the card's printed words, it was their words, their honest to goodness words.  In the box was a blanket, monogrammed with a message saying "Home Is Where The Heart Is", a box of chocolates quoting my favorite movie - "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get", a journal like the ones I adored so much that went down in the flames that said "Live for Today, Learn from the Past, and Hope for Tomorrow", and inside was a collage of pictures from my beautiful group of girl friends and the words "cheers to new beginnings", and last but not least - a bag of dog biscuits for their other favorite fire victim, my little Millie girl.  The tears just poured.  How wonderful it felt to know that I had a support system hundreds of miles away.  I had a hometown crowd cheering on one of their hometown girls.  I instantly felt as if I had wrapped that blanket they sent around me, but it was just the warmth of knowing that I may have lost a lot, but I've never lost them.

The other item in the mail was a card from our friend Jennifer.  She considered my love for music and sent me a pack of gift cards to the iTunes store.  She wanted to help me rebuild my music, something that might seem childish of me to be upset about considering the masses of destruction the fire left, but only a true friend would understand this yearning of mine. True friend, she is. They all are; and I'm nothing less than incredibly blessed. I grew up down the road from Jennifer and went to school with her my whole life.  Our families were friends, we were friends, and we stuck by one another through some of life's hardest battles.  That group of girls gave me a support system when I battled the emotions that came with my dad's cancer diagnosis and treatment, they sent me off to college, and welcomed me back home with open arms when I would visit. I always had only the utmost respect for them because they not only loved me during the good times but they did even more during the bad times.  I don't think I can say that about my college friends with 100% honesty.  If anyone agrees with me about the steadfast support of my Oviedo friends, then it would be Jennifer.  She lost her dad to an unexpected heart-attack on Christmas morning this past year.  Mr. Burns was nothing short of an amazing father to her and her brother, but he was also a genuine friend to our group of friends.  On the day of her father's funeral, I stepped back and took in everything I saw, for what it was worth.  It was nothing I didn't expect, I knew how this group of girls united during times of triumph as well as tribulation, but to see it from a 22-year old's point of view was far more meaningful than what I remembered as a teenager.  These girls, each unique and beautiful in her own way, never fail to come together and be the kind of friends that most people spend their entire lives searching for.  Like searching for a soulmate, only God gave me a handful of soulmates and brought us all together in that place we like to simply call - home.  It's riveting.  To feel it now, during this personally difficult time, is even more fascinating and defeats all wonder. 

I know that the road we take doesn't always lead us home.  But "home", to me, isn't a place or a dot on a map.  It's the love from those that care the most.  The ones that pack a blanket for comfort, dog snacks for thoughtful humor, and journals with pictures to show that they're with me, whether they're hundreds of miles away or not, as I take on this new beginning.  They send $30 worth of iTunes so that I can enjoy a song of hope or play a song from all of those days in the past, when we were so young and carefree and always together. 

It's funny how an envelope or a box of goodies can be so therapeutic.  Those "things" aren't just "things."  I can't replace them with a State Farm Insurance check nor would they mean as much to me coming from someone or somewhere else.  They put their heart - their comfort, love, and support, into those packages and sent it to me.  And I got a piece of "home" today in the mail, and I know for a fact that home is where the heart is.

Peace&Love

Baily "Bear" (that one's for them)

Day Seven - a photo that makes you happy

Honestly, what's better than...

Girl's Night?

Glam cocktail dresses?

and

Running up our guy friend's tabs at the bar?

This is...

Having Girl's Night at Jennifer Burns' house.

In our glam cocktail dresses.

Then going to Medici's to spend our guy friends' $$ because they let us.

And then going to our "old stomping grounds"

(A.K.A. Oviedo High School)

And taking a ridiculous amount of pictures that none of us remember taking.

So that's why this photo ALWAYS makes me happy!

And the fact that I have wonderful friends like Susan, Jennifer,

Kristin, Kinsey, and Kim. 

 (as well as the ones who are not pictured but were there for the FUN!)

pEaCe&LoVe

Bjj

Florida Girls

Although I was born in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, I spent the majority of my 'growing up' years in Florida. Only two months after I began kindergarten in Asheville, NC my father's promotion moved us to 'The Sunshine State.' Our family's vacations to Disney World in Orlando and to the charming Marco Island in the Gulf of Mexico had set the standard for what my imagination had created as I made my move from our shared hometown to our new beginning. Unable to comprehend it back then, I was unaware of the completely different lifestyle I would grow up knowing for the next seventeen years.

Oviedo, Florida (above)

Granted, I have been a year-round studen t at Alabama for four years now. My residency still h as the status of Florida citizen, however. This month marks seventeen years of Florida-hood for the Jones Family. My sister graduated from high school in 2003 and moved to Birmingham, Alabama to attend Samford University - the lovely, small, private school that sits atop rolling hills that are impressively and neatly defined with landscaping perfection. She said good-bye to her little sister, who still had two years of high school left, and set out into the wild blue yonder. Like most things about my sister's life -her college choice fit her perfectly. The perfect, 'to a tee' fit that Samford University provided for her was an impossible stretch of some people's imagination it seemed. To the three of us she left at home, no imagination was needed. Her acceptance to this school and decision to go there were easy for us. She was made for small and intimate places that gave opportunity to a challenging four years of education and a hard-earned and honored nursing degree. Wake Forrest, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Vanderbilt also seemed fitting but like I would experience two years later upon making my college decision - when you know, you know. For us, we knew Ashley and we knew when we were in Alabama visiting Samford that it would not be our last visit to neither the Southern state nor the school. Maybe the fact that a small, private, Christian affiliated college in Birmingham seemed undesirable to the typical student in central Florida. However, she was not typical. She stood out from the crowd of peers.

She swam up-river to a place that would provide a breath of fresh air at the first sign of Fall and Autumn. She didn't swim with the schools of fish that went to Tampa, Gainesville, and Tallahassee or with the one's that simply stayed put to attend community college or go to nearby University of Central Florida. Neither of us considered the Florida schools that were well-known and popular to attend by fellow graduates of our high school.

When I graduated from Oviedo High School in 2005, I had made my decision about where I would attend school that coming August. After debating whether to go back 'home' to a school in Carolina or to move near Ashley and attend Auburn University or The University of Alabama, I decided on The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. "Why?" people would ask instantaneously. The number of reasons far surpassed any reasons why I would want to stay in Florida. The fact that I would be attending a school in a place other than the beloved city of Chapel Hill if I chose to head back to my home state was too hard to grasp. A disappointment in Auburn that resulted in an instant hatred for the school that sat on the East side of the state made Tuscaloosa and The University of Alabama feel sacred to me and I developed an instant passion and love for my future school and future town. Only 50 miles down the interstate from the hill that perched Samford University, I have always been able to see my sister often and make it convenient for our parents and their weekend visits to the deep South's "Bible-belt."

Alligators in Lake Jessup, Oviedo, FL (below)

While we experience the change of seasons - Summer to Fall, Fall to Winter, Winter to Spring, and Spring back to Summer - our peers experience the dull but high-heat of Florida sunshine and the suffocating feeling of Central Florida humidity. While Ashley experienced close personal relationships with her professors at Samford where enrollment averaged 5,500 undergraduates; our peers went to mega-size universities such as UF and UCF where enrollment is 50,000 to 60,000 and only continuing to grow. From my window on the fourth floor of the fourteen in Tutwiler Hall, I could look a block away at the freshmen sorority pledges in cocktail dresses and high heels overflowing the lawns of the sorority mansions on Magnolia Drive and in to the student section of Bryant-Denny Stadium with a boy wearing a coat and tie on her arm. We left palm trees for giant oak trees and beautiful, blossoming dogwood trees. We made friends from Atlanta, Memphis, Mobile, and New Orleans. We went out on dates with boys who had their mother's maiden name and natural Southern charm. We pledged Chi Omega and Delta Delta Delta by fitting in at our respective schools and showing our own charm and well-mannered upbringing. We fit in but it didn't change the fact that we were the minority - being from Florida made us a minority group.

Proving that we were sisters despite our different styles and personalities was our common ground of standing up for your beliefs that was as strong as the argument that made up my great-grandfather's legal cases when he was a Wake Forrest Lawyer and an outspoken member of North Carolina's Public School System. The fire that would run through us when we would protect one another, was a hot temper controlled by poise and grace just like our Mom taught us in true spirit of women in the South.

We preferred different flavored ice cream from one another but loved all the cuisine that defined our upbringing. Pudding was meant to be banana, it's a Coke whether Classic, Diet, or called Sprite. We could spit our own watermelon seed out in a lady-like way in order to keep our favorite fruit in July as natural as we could. Our hometown knew Southern food, and made sure it was served with utmost hospitality. Tea was nothing short or sweet and rice, potatoes, biscuits, and meat were supposed to be served with gravy. All vegetables can taste good fried and we prefer a menu item we can actually pronounce and if truly a Southern dish, can give away just what area of the Southern region your from. Both of us being one part Carolina girl and one part Florida girl, we each know our seafood and we both enjoy good, homemade grits at any time of the day. Oviedo's famed 'Mom and Pop' restaurant, "The Townhouse", does breakfast just right and is probably why even our Yankee friends enjoy the small-town's "place to be" atmosphere. The 'Oviedo Chickens' that hang out on the street corners of downtown Oviedo underneath signage that warns drivers to yield and stop for our bird friends as they walk from the restaurant to the ironically enough Popeye's Chicken establishment next door and across the street to the First Baptist Church's sprawling campus.

The Town House Restaurant, Downtown Oviedo, FL (above)

Each of us being tagged a "Florida Girl" in our new Alabama home was something we didn't necessarily brag about but also did not mind admitting. Many of my new friends in Tuscaloosa have only Destin, Pensacola, Disney World, and Miami to think of when they picture life as a full-time resident rather than only one of the millions of Florida vacationers. I received a somewhat odd amount of sad looks on the day I confirmed their worst fear: the fact that NO, I DID NOT GO TO DISNEY WORLD EVERY DAY JUST BECAUSE I LIVED IN METRO-ORLANDO. AND NO, EVEN AS A KINDERGARDENER FROM NORTH CAROLINA I NEVER ACTUALLY THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO LIVE IN CINDERELLA'S CASTLE. As if I had just told them Santa Claus wasn't actually real but rather a childhood fantasy, they looked at me in astonishment were honestly appalled at my lack of taking advantage of my living so close to Walt Disney World. I lived in a real house in a country club community, not in a beach condo that was surrounded by cheesy beach-themed restaurants and mega surf shops. This, too, came as a surprise to my new sorority-girl friends. When we go home for holidays and visits, we meet our group of small-town twenty something year olds at a biker bar that shares a water-front view with our local fish camp sitting on our famous pool of fresh water - Lake Jessup. Sticking in your toes to feel the water is comparable to sticking your finger in an electric socket while dripping wet. The lake is recreational only to the large population of airboat owners in our town. You are guaranteed to see an alligator from your own table if you bring an Oviedian with you - we can spot those red eyes from a mile away. My friends from Memphis and New Orleans understand what I mean when I break the news that we don't party it up with the rich and famous in South Beach like some of them imagined a Florida upbringing would involve. Just as they have other realistic things they do rather than hanging out with the tourist on Beale Street and Bourbon Street. In my small hometown we prefer a rowdy get together with old friends at The Black Hammock, Froggers, or The Hitching Post. As patrons in downtown Orlando at high-end clubs, bars, and other establishments we don't look like a bunch of hillbilly bumpkins. With true small-town kid attitude we act like we run our town, we relax in denim, boots, and pearls. When we downtown or to the layed-brick of Park Avenue in Winter Park where the infamous Rollin's College yupsters and former prep-school trouble-makers and their entourage seem impressed by a group of sorority-clad girls from UF, Florida State, Alabama that show their own sophisticated style of the always loved, Southern girl. The number of similarities being up there with the number of differences in our Florida style and Alabama style, has always made the transition from school back home and from home back up to school and easy feat.

We did it well, however, because Alabama had called us there for a reason and no Florida school had ever really interested us. We were Southerners from North Carolina who came from a long line of hard-working and successful people on both the Redmon, Fox, Pless and Jones sides of our deeply rooted family tree. We grew up in a small-yet-booming town of Oviedo in the nature-loving county of Seminole County where swamps and lakes add charm to a town that for decades has revolved around the Oviedo High a class 6A school, which earns highest honors for academics, athletics, and arts year after year - seemingly equal and sometimes even higher than the preparatory schools that are found few and far between in the public-school dominated Seminole and Orange counties that make up the Orlando area.

When I pledged Tri-Delta at Alabama in August of 2005 I was the only pledge, out of fifty-eight girls in my pledge class, that hailed from Florida. The only other members of the sorority from Florida were 2003 private school graduates from Pensacola, FL. The panhandle, usually not even considered "true Florida" to the peninsula's residents, is definitely a different lifestyle than the Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, and Miami havens. So, my Orlando-area hometown and the age margin between the veteran Florida Tri-Delt's made my acceptance to the very tradition-oriented and very Southern group of women was considered a high honor and an impressive feat by my fellow pledge sisters and even by the one, two, and three year veterans. I had to remember that Florida was a vacation destination to my friends, not a home. They seemed to not comprehend, but be amazed by, Florida being someone's home state. My fear of sticking out like a sore thumb, despite my shared upbringing and values as the girls raised in the deep-South, I was intriguing to them. Girls from Mountain Brook and Mobile; from Brentwood, TN and Charleston, SC. Girls that grew up in the Kentucky bluegrass and in the muddy water of Memphis, TN. Girls who were raised in Buckhead and St. Simons Island but loved Alabama too much to go to Athens the same way I didn't go to a Florida school. New Orleans wild-childs and Montgomery prim-and-propers. I was one of them. The way I wanted to know what it was like growing up down the cobblestone street from the Battery Park in Charleston, they wanted to know what it was like growing up in Florida and what my town was like to have raised such a well-fit Alabama sorostitute.

To some people being "Southern" depends on a geographical location. To others being "Southern" is determined by social hierarchy, family history, and outward appearance. To some, however, being "Southern" is a state of mind and a way of life that is rooted somewhere below the Mason-Dixon but can be taken to any state, region, or university.

This state of mind can move with a family to a charming, Civil War town in Central Florida and does not have to be left behind in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. The promotion that moved a family of four from their roots was an example of true Southern-hood by being a reward for hard-work and determination - qualities that have been passed down in our region for generations. Well-dressed and well-mannered, a North Carolina family can fit in right away in their new town because Friday night they'll be at the football game and if you miss them then you know where to catch them on Sunday morning. If it's an emergency, you know you can call that family at any time of the night or just drive over to their house and go on in - being welcomed with twang in their voices and sweet-tea in their refrigerator. Their neighbors are wine conoisseurs from Virginia, a former University of Alabama football player and Athletics Director, fellow North Carolinian's but rivaled Duke fans, middle school teachers with deep accents from Jackson, Mississippi and Columbia, South Carolina, a family from Troy, Alabama, and Junior League mother's from New Orleans and Atlanta. The kids I grew up with are spread out across the nation from Georgia Tech to Wake Forrest to Alabama to LSU and to Kentucky. As Southern Baptist's we get baptized as a personal testimony when we find redemption in the Lord whether it be at Vacation Bible School when we're 5, during a visit to our house by the Senior Pastor when we were in middle school, and maybe not even until we're 56 and about to be a grandmother. We are taught how to make coconut pie despite the Florida heat ruining our meringue. We can cook like a Cajun, like a Cuban, like an Italian mobsters wife, and like our great-grandmother did when we'd go to potluck family gatherings.

Even though our climate is sub-tropical, we still know Oaks and Pines in addition to the many types of Palms. We know how to wear floppy hats on the beach with our sorority sisters no matter how old we are, even though we go skiing out West to make room on our beaches for our neighbors from Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia. We know how to shake a martini, we just prefer to blend daiquiris made with our world-reknown citrus. The celery factory down the road that sits underneath the water tower makes the celery stalks that garnish Bloody Mary's in New Orleans and Mobile. We embrace both college football and college basketball because our state is big enough for both ACC and SEC schools, and we are Tar Heel die-hards that come from basketball's finest state. The quarterback still marries the Homecoming Queen and high school sweethearts go to small schools in Alabama and Virginia but bring it on home for a high class Southern-style wedding that gives out R.C. Cola and a Moonpie as the favor at the reception. We raise our children to follow Jesus, to respect their Mother, and to mind their Daddies. Just because our country clubs sit on some of the world's finest golf courses and PGA and LPGA properties instead of in a downtown historic district does not mean we don't have tradition. We went to school with kids who came from minority backgrounds and we and were friends, teammates, and lab partners with dual-language students, but we made sure they taught us 'Roll Tide' and 'Bless Your Heart' before we left our little-but-big, big-but-little hometown.

The City of Oviedo, Seminole County, Florida (below)

Even though I came to Tuscaloosa a couple of weeks shy of my eighteenth birthday, I had been brought up and raised to have the same lady-like poise and elegance that my grandmothers portray through their golden years, just like a Southern lady should. I carried with me Christian values, good morals, and a strong sense of family and community. I appreciated history and 'what was' by having knowledge of the storied history of the Confederacy, but I looked ahead to 'what is' and how the Southern region is changing just like the rest of our nation. My sister and I hold on to every little piece of Southern charm that our hometown of Oviedo still has, and will never forget the many things that have already changed from the way it was in my own glory days. The town I call mine is small enough to keep it's old-Florida charm but big enough to stay in touch with the reality of the post-industrial, techno-savvy and almost futuristic world we live in. A town that used to survive in very large part by the family-owned celery and citrus farming companies named Nelson and Co. and Duda & Sons, Inc. can still find itself to be a cozy-yet-quickly-growing community made up of engineer's at near-by Kennedy Space Center and Lockhead Martin and home to college professors who help the nearly 60,000 students of UCF earn their college degree at the sprawling campus just a short, five-minute drive from our high school. The same August I started my college endeavors at Alabama, a second high school opened it's doors for the Oviedo community - a community that rocked on Friday Nights by coming together as one and making Florida high school football an equal to the always dominating high school football-crazed state of Texas. We smile when we see the flags of the Confederacy still flying in Oviedo's "little sister towns" of Chuluota and Geneva. We wake up and sip coffee in sorority t-shirts on a weekend back home to see Momma and Daddy but prove miracles exist when we make it to church on time in our Sunday best and sit beside our favorite Deacon and his offering plate.

Whether in pearls or pony-tails, the 'Florida Girl' twosome made up of my sister and I always dress ourselves in the correct state of mind. We proudly show our twenty-two and twenty-five year old Southern manners and we take good care of our Southern men in our life just like we do our favorite strand of pearls. We don't show up empty-handed and we would never buy it from a store when we've got the recipe for it memorized. The seventeen years in Florida falls short of the twenty-two years in 'the South.' Simply, our twosome may only be evidence to Alabamians that even in Florida your sister's your best friend and your strength in your moments of weakness. We may only be evidence that not all Florida residents spend their college years in Gainesville and we may only just be the most naturally tan out of our friends but we above our 'Florida Girl' status we are Southerners.

As sure as we are that the sun comes up in the East and sets in the West - thanks to our short drive to each Florida coast from our Spanish-moss decorated driveway - we are sure of our Southern-hood, proud of our style and grace, and Alabama Girls going on five years and running!!

-bjj

the 'other' sister