Tag: beach

Spring Break Back Home

by Olivia

My spring break wasn’t spent on an island or on some crazy vacation but back at home sweet home, New Jersey. Honestly, it was just what I needed. With my internship at WTNH News 8, ontop of classes and Q30 (Quinnipiac’s TV station) my days have been packed. Sometimes I just need a second to breathe. Being home and giving myself all the time in the world to lounge on the couch, catch up on all my favorite shows and eat my favorite home cooked meals was all I wanted and needed.

On my breaks from school my mom and I typically go out to eat together a lot. This usually means eating an absurd amount of sushi. This past spring break was no different. We also got massages, ooo la la. I never had one before!

Onto more exciting things my younger brother commited to run cross country at Loyola University Maryland. And, if you remeber from this post in 2017, I thought Loyola was going to be MY school. It was weird, I convinced myself after seeing the mascot, a greyhound, in the most obscure places. Like we went out to eat once and there were just random statues of greyhounds in the restaurant. So needless to say, at the time, I truly convinced myself I was being given signs from above that that’s where I was going to college. BUT, jokes on me, Ally is going to Loyola to run cross country and study engineering!!! Two things I have no interest in ever persuing.. ha ha ha. Now, I can’t help but think all of the greyhound signs I saw were a foreshadow to my brothers future as a greyhound. FYI, I’d love to post the picture he used when announcing his commitment, but I think he’d be embarrassed so if you want to see it go to my Instagram and go through the lifestyle highlight. 😉

We got pretty lucky with the weather over spring break in New Jersey. It started to warm up so my friends and I saw that as a beach day. We went to this cute cafe in Belmar called Stay Gold, got coffees and lattes and then walked alonged the boardwalk.

So that was pretty much my spring break. Lots of sushi, lots of late nights and movies, and lots of catching up with friends. Exactly what I needed.

After a nice quick break I’m feeling really good heading into second semester. I can’t believe another school year is almost in the books and I’ll be half way done with college in just 8 weeks.

I’m hoping I can be more way more consistent with posting on here too..talk soon!

Honey, I’m Home

by Olivia

When you come home from college there are two things you want to see. One being loved ones and two being good food on your plate. You come home exhausted from the frozen, fried and foul food you’ve been indulging in while at school. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is better than biting into freshly made food. Going out to eat is the most extravagent of occasions for me these days and oh have I missed the food by the Jersey Shore. I’m all for a home cooked meal, but I treasure a moment to put on an outfit not consisting of leggings and a pullover (my college uniform) to go out for a bite to eat. Going out to eat  and catching up with friends makes coming home for spring break so much sweeter.

With just a week home, I knew I had to take the 20 minute drive to Stay Gold. The coziest beach cafe found in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The smell of freshly made coffee fills the space and immediately I feel at home. They have everything from coffee to freshly squeezed juices, from burgers to acai bowls.

Now on nearly any day of the year you can find me on the beach, but when it hits 30 degrees and the wind is taking me like a kite, I just can’t get myself to step onto the sand. Thursday, Rosie and I drove up the beach from Belmar to Point Pleasent. For a moment I forgot it was the middle of winter. Thankfully, the beauty and charm of a New Jersey beach is not seasonal.

In just two days spring break has ended and I head back to my other happy place, Quinnipiac University.   I have about seven weeks left of that delicious college food. The countdown to summer and good Jersey Shore food is on.

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Travel Diary: Naples, Florida

by Olivia

Being a senior in high school, if an opportunity to travel with your friends comes along, you take it. I’m so happy we all got the chance to detox from school, life and just take a few days to breathe and live worry free. I think it’s safe to say we all want to go back to Naples.

The trip began in Atlantic City, New Jersey where we took off for Fort Myers, Florida. Our flight was delayed but we didn’t land too much later than expected. The minute we exited the airport and felt that warm winter air, we all were incredibly content and thankful to being missing the snow storm at home (or so we thought). We stayed at my friend Amanda’s grandparents home, there we were greeted with a ton of delicious baked goods, sandwiches and more. The next morning we went to a beach called Clams Pass and that’s when sunburn invaded most of my friends’ bodies. That night aloe was essential in order to calm and soothe our irritated, lobster-like skin. We headed to the beach again for the sunset which was beautiful and displayed a number of orange tones.

Next day, we woke up bright and early for a boat day in Bonita Springs. This had to be my favorite day of the trip. Spending all day sunbathing on a boat and docking up to an island is my image of a perfect day, and it was just that! After the relaxing boat day, at night we headed to downtown Naples which was the cutest place ever! It was a large, popular downtown area surrounded by shops and palm trees. It had nearly anything from ice cream shops to beach stores.

Our last day, we went to Vanderbilt beach which was yet another calm and serene day! Early morning we paddle boarded which was a ton of fun until I ended up in the ocean and I was unable to touch the sandy floor below me.  Lost my sunglasses, they’re probably floating around somewhere in the Atlantic as I type this. When we got back to Amanda’s grandparents home we packed, soaked in the hot tub and went for dinner at the Clubhouse in their development. Before we knew it, we were on our flight back home to New Jersey and just a day later the snow fell…

Thank you to the cutest grandparents for keeping seven crazy people with them, xoxo.

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Take A Trip With Me: Southport/Oak Island NC

by Olivia

It’s been awhile since I’ve been back to North Carolina to visit my family. This past trip has been the best, most memorable trip to North Carolina so far. Celebrating birthdays are always special but celebrating a 90th birthday is one of the most important, special birthdays there is. This past week was my grandmother’s 90th and she is still so sweet, quick-witted and loving. I am so fortunate to have a person like her apart of my life even being miles and miles away.

Our trip started a little bumpy to say the least… I almost missed my flight and let me explain just how this happened. My family and I got off to a late start waking up at 4 am for a 7:15 am flight. We accidentally mistook the directions to Atlantic City airport and took the turnpike instead of the parkway pushing us back 45 minutes behind schedule. Once we re-routed and got onto the parkway we noticed that the GPS said our arrival time was 6:50 am, meanwhile our boarding time was 6:30. Panic quickly emerged and we felt SCREWED. Once we finally arrived, my mom said, “I’m dropping you and your brother off, do whatever you can to get onto that flight.” We got there at 6:42 and sprinted to security (we had printed our boarding passes the night before). At security, the man noticed my printed ticket was missing a bar code. Every curse word known to man was running through my head, what now?! Luckily my brother had one so he continued through security and went to our gate just in time to meet up with some of our family. The security man told me to head to the kiosk to print a boarding pass with a bar code, I quickly went over to print it. A caution mark popped up saying “sorry it’s t0o late to check in, please go to the Spirit desk.” Thankfully there was no line so I went up to the desk and begged the women to help me. “I’m sorry you’re too late and you need to reschedule your flight.” At this time my Mom must have missed me and ran herself through security. As I’m waiting to reschedule (no flights until the next day) I get a phone call. “Liv where are you,” my brother sounded surprisingly calm. He continued and said to me, “Mom’s here.” My heart sank, what was I suppose to do? I ran back over to the women shaking and she quickly printed me a new boarding pass after I explained my situation. I then ran like never before through security and the airport finally getting to gate 8. It was like a movie scene. I finally got to my Mom and boarded the plane. Each passenger I passed looked at me funny and muttered under their breath, “there she is.” I have never been so nervous and scared but I will always remember that extremely eventful morning.

Other than that, our trip was very tranquil which was obviously very needed after the airport drama. I had the best time with family and enjoyed the peace of a small town in North Carolina. Sometimes all you need is family and serenity. Enjoy my favorite pictures from Southport/Oak Island North Carolina!

FYI: The town I was in was also where the movie “Safe Haven” was filmed. A local restaurant called Loco Jo’s (best food in Southport) has a picture of Josh Duhamel at the bar.

Thank you Spirit Airlines for getting me to NC!

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