Further Adventures In Travel And Retail...

I saw both this and a manatee mailbox!

A week after my North Carolina trip, I took a week long trip down to Florida with my dad to see my sister's beach cabin in Ormond Beach. She's been spending week-long vacations rehabbing the house for when she and her boyfriend eventually move down there for good. Before the trip, I realized I didn't really have clothing for the trip, my summer stuff from before no longer fit so I had to supplement what I did have with a pair of sandals and some linen drawstring pants from Target for the trip.

I've been to Florida once before but I flew to Miami then, this time we would be traveling by Amtrak Auto Train, a seventeen-hour ride so that we could also transport the car and avoid the 900 miles of driving. But still, seventeen hours is not easy, especially when you have to sleep in your seat and even though the seats are similar to a recliner with a raised foot bed, the backs only recline about 25%.

What can I say, but it wasn't until the last day of the trip that I actually bought anything. First, we stopped at a Sports Authority since they were going out of business. My dad stocked up on fleece lounge wear and I purchased a unique fleece top from Capezio with a cowl large enough to be worn as a hood and front side tucks that double for shallow pockets much like the tucks on the StyleArc Daphne Duo top.

Later, I was able to get my family to visit the St. Augustine Premium Outlets because my sister wanted to go to the Clarks outlet too and I was able to buy a pair of Brynn Ivy pumps. However, the family became quickly bored so we left to check out my second suggestion, the Daytona Flea Market. Now, it seems I was sadly mistaken on what a flea is. I was expecting something akin to the Antique Fleas I've attended in Northern Virginia. Instead, this was full of items like, novelty t-shirts, used romance and thriller paperbacks, discount or hot electronics, purses, backpacks, tattoo artists, and pretty much anything else you would find available on late night infomercials.


As we were about the leave, I stumbled upon a booth selling loose gems, jewelry findings and some finished jewelry items for amazingly cheap prices, like $5 each for the pieces pictured. I ended up purchasing three items, a pair of earrings composed of  amethyst, labradorite, and black tourmaline; a carnelian teardrop pendant, and a polished disc of Brazilian agate, the last two are to be made into necklaces. I found a YouTube tutorial for creating an adjustable necklace by using a slide-knot  mechanism. I can use that or mount the necklace in a more traditional way like this example:

 

After this, the next project is pants.