S☼UTHERN FL☼RIDA
Hi! Here to share the happiest lil spontaneous trip I just got back from with the sweetest lil gypsy souls that inspire me so much — my friend Natalie and I drove to visit our friend Olivia in South Florida where she lives. This trip was seriously full of the lightest and brightest, spunkiest vibes and I feel so grateful and ready to move back into my sorority house and start the craziness that will be this years recruitment process as the Director of Recruitment Events for my chapter.
Full disclosure — we were super super careful with COVID concerns during and while traveling through this trip! I take it very seriously as my dad is at high risk, and we visited low key locations as well as stayed at Olivia’s home rather than a resort of some sort. Natalie and I also finished our summer classes and took our finals at night while in Florida, and I made a couple of orders with my position due to recruitment nearing — all this being said we are and were super busy but still made life fun and exciting and worth living and made this little journey and I am just so glad we made it work! Natalie and Olivia are two of the kindest, hippiest and happiest inside and out people around and so grateful for the talks and laughs and even the vegan meals we ate together (I am soo not vegan or much of a healthy eater).
1st— Our drive there! I had friends staying at my house Friday evening, so I said bye to them and hi to Natalie as she picked me up at 3 AM Saturday morning to start our drive. We drove all the way to Truett’s Luau, the original Chick-Fil-A that has a special Hawaiian menu. Natalie got the fish tacos and sweet potato fries, I was boring and got nuggets, but we both got strawberry boba tea and pineapple shakes. We got to Liv’s house around midnight that night — a fullll trek— and opened our SheIn orders that we had shipped to her house lol.
Sunday! On Sunday we went around Orlando— it’s not just Disney! We started with Craft & Common coffee (maybe the best coffee I’ve ever had, amazing), and then hit. the. stores. With masks on, of course. We hit the mall and the outlets (our first stop of a couple to the outlets during our stay) and we got the best açaí at Purple Ocean Superfood Bar and another coffee at Lineage. A few more stores and then we were back home to eat cauliflower pizza, do homework, watch Euphoria, and squeezed in a mini photoshoot before it got dark.
I wore one of my SheIn pieces, the giraffe print bikini top that comes in with a matching sheer tie top to go over it with BDG jean shorts & Gianni Binini neon flip flops. I later changed into the Urban Outfitters yellow overall jumpsuit that matched my flip flops perfectly, and with my new Forever 21 chenille material hat.
On Monday, we got up super early, stopped at Dunkin, and headed to the East Coast, Cocoa Beach, to surf! It was only about an hour and a half drive to the beach, rented a couple of boards, and stayed out in the water attempting to surf for 3 or 4 hours. We then refueled at Surfinista, a cute surfer cafe. I got a coffee and açaí bowl— I order pitaya over açaí because bright pink and dragon fruit is so so good. We then hurried back to get some more homework done, and ended our 24 hours of vegan with Baskin Robbins haha.
My swimsuit was my fav of all my SheIn order! It’s a ruched material and hits right below my belly button, which is higher than my usual swimsuits. It’s a super secure fit though, perfect for trying to surf in the harsh east coast waves, and I wore my pink and white high top Vans!
Tuesday, we went to Tampa! We stopped at Concord Coffee in Lakeland before heading there, and met our new friend Lizzie there in Tampa. We brunched at Oxford Exchange, shopped at a few places, and headed to Sweet Soul to get açaí and smoothies, and to take pics at their smiley face “Hey You Should Come Over” mural. We then drove to Clearwater Beach, picked up some snacks at Publix, and had a dinner picnic on the beach and swam as the sun was going down. And recreated the Mamma Mia Lay All Your Love On Me Tiktok, too of course.
Natalie made my orange wrap top (talent) & I paired it with the checkered blue and white Forever 21 pants I found on sale for $12. I wore handmade beaded jewelry and gold Tkee flip flops with it, and my little crocheted shoulder bag I found at Urban Outfitters I wore through out the trip. My blue swimsuit is from Amazon, and my genie pants I found at an Indian Boutique in the outlets in Orlando— I luuuv these pants.
Wednesday, we got a late start but first visited Unfiltered, the cutest coffee place I have ever seen. The murals on the walls, the levy elevator, the beautiful interior as well as we got to see upstairs where the local artists that sale their goods there keep their supplies, and beautiful rugs and velvet chairs and art galore. I was in love. Anyways, then we headed to downtown Lakeland and ate toast and coffee at Black & Brew — so good. We then visited one of Olivia’s friends pool and pooled for a couple of hours. We then got a snack at Greenbrier; açaí, and headed to Concord coffee to meet another one of Olivia’s friends. We then went to Publix and got some snacks for our road trip as well as for our vegan black bean burgers for dinner.
I started the day wearing this white three tie tube top from SheIn — you have to tie it just right or it’s literally not a top at all ha- and paired it with white Levi shorts and black bandana as a belt and my Chenille hat. Natalie and I twinned in our matching pink loofah bikinis from SheIn which were sooo fun and for so cheap we couldn’t resist. The bottoms run a little big.
We left at 2 AM Thursday morning to start our drive back and hit up a WaWa gas station for their acclaimed coffee. We went a couple hours out of the way to the Final Cut, the outlet for Anthropologie, Free People, Urban Outfitters, etc, in Martinez, Georgia. It soooo did not disappoint. We pulled up right at 10:01 AM, a minute after they opened. We accidentally spent a little too long in there, not sure where the time went, but got back on the road and jammed alllll the folk, chill, girly, and sad girl music until we got home to NorthWest Arkansas a little after midnight.
PSA these boy styled drawstring grey shorts are my new favorite thing ever. They’re longer than my other shorts and perfect with a tight work out top or crop top. Love them and so cheap from SheIn.
These were some of my finds at Final Cut. I didn’t get everything, I kinda wish I got more, but I walked away with the Bali Tank from a Free People, the Free People crochet ruffle skirt, the Free People patchwork coat, a rainbow top for my mom originally from Anthro, an Anthro sham, and Free People snow boots with orange laces (all for a little over $100).
