Showing posts with label florida. Show all posts
Showing posts with label florida. Show all posts

20 May 2019

Meanwhile, in Orlando | Travel Diary




It's the weirdest thing, when I'm away holiday, that moment in time really is the only thing that matters. I've got quite a bit of work that needs doing and a few deadlines creeping but they can wait, 'cos beers by the pool + planning what restaurant to eat at next is all I can think about.

We've been back from Orlando for about a month now, and a few days after getting home I found myself on a plane heading for Lisbon - for a fun work trip with my mate Jordan (more on that soon). There aren't that many other jobs that I can think of where these kind of last minute trips make sense - I tend to have a reality-check moment while I'm away and think to myself - or sometimes out loud - "oh know what, how cool is this job!?" It's very cool, and I think it pays to remind myself this, but also what it's taken to get to this point in my life too.

I'd never say it's a hard job, I mean, it comes with a lot of stress, anxiety and hard work, but then if I compare it to, say, hospital workers, the policeforce or even the pilot up front flying the plane, then it puts things into perspective. It's all relative though.

I like to use these trips with Hollie as a bit of a release from work, but I never really switch off my camera. I guess it's ingrained in me now, as a geezer who just loves to take photos. It makes me happy - and it's not just for sharing on social media sake, but for my own sense of purpose. Maybe it helps me look at life a little deeper; to notice more, see things that don't seem to matter but ultimately have a meaning, living day-to-day by being aware of how cool normal life actually is.

Mat.

1 May 2019

Deeply Coffee, Downtown Orlando

deeply coffee speciality coffee shop downtown orlando
deeply coffee speciality coffee shop downtown orlando
deeply coffee speciality coffee shop downtown orlando
deeply coffee speciality coffee shop downtown orlando
deeply coffee speciality coffee shop downtown orlando
deeply coffee speciality coffee shop downtown orlando



Well, I wasn't expecting to be visiting this place any time soon, but with some veeeeeery last minute booking provided by Hollie, we found ourselves stepping off the plane at Orlando airport just two days after we bought the tickets. Turns out she's way more spontaneous than I ever imagined. 

We've been visiting Orlando most years since we first got together (13 years ago, whoa), so anything too touristy doesn't really register on our radar anymore - other than the occasion visit to Universal Studios, cos we can never grow bored of that. The speciality coffee scene has slowly but surely becoming a pretty big deal in the city, and thanks to tools such as Instagram we've found ourselves sitting inside some absolutely stonking places.

Deeply Coffee has set the bar extremely high for the city, with a unique interior which featues a polish concrete floor, an impressive poured concrete shared bar + seating set-up, light natural wood cladded walls, hairpin leg tables and stools, mid-century seating and the odd fig plant dotted around. Due to the perfect positioning of Deeply, the whole plot takes advantage of the endless hazy natural light from Orlando's infamous long days. The kinda place you can imagine working away in for hours?

Coffee-wise, they were using beans from Stockholm roasters Drop when we visited; the filter came in a Kinto pouring jug, and for flat whites 'n' smaller these were served in tactile ceramic cups by San Diego-based Tiny Badger. Hollie grabbed silky and sweet cold brew, and the cakes came as big as your hand. The salted raspberry brownie and a banana muffin were both mega. Now this is the real side of Orlando that needs to be explored more often.

Deeply Coffee - 111 N Magnolia Ave #50, Orlando, Florida 32801

7 Apr 2017

Behind The Design | A Conversation with Jason Gregory of Makr




The Makr design studio, Winter Park, Florida

On our trip to Winter Park, Florida, back in June 2016, some really cool things happened; we bumped into a Zac + Azriel, a lovely couple from Nebraska who have been reading Buckets & Spades for as long as they can remember, and secondly, I got to visit the design studio + workshop of a brand I've been following since way before Instagram + Twitter even existed.

Around eight years ago I can remember stuffing my university research folder with grainy print-outs (my fault, not theirs!) of Florida-based design studio Makr's leather goods, for a project I was working on. On a boiling afternoon last Summer I found myself sitting in the passenger seat of Founder Jason Gregory's van, being shown around Winter Park, Fl, the town he calls home.

-----

Mat - First off, how did you get started with Makr, and has the concept and idea evolved over the years?

Jason Gregory of Mark - Makr started as an art project while I was working at an architecture firm. I was learning how to work with a CNC laser, experimenting with cutting and etching. It was a strange introduction to patterning and product development. I really loved the idea of cutting something flat and turning it into a three dimensional object. The precision of these machines and the ability to replicate a form without having to pay for tooling or dies really started the project. It was mostly small wallets at first and that led into finding factories and developing the soft goods.

I had always wanted a wood shop and was building furniture at my house so that was the next step after I had a sense of what Makr was starting to be. We are constantly evolving but the core of what we are doing has stayed the same.


- Did you always have a passion for craft or was it more of a case of discovering something you had found you were good at?

I’ve always made things and cared about the quality of what I was making. I would never call myself a craftsman, I am a designer first. The craft aspect of my work came after the design, it’s always been about the repetition or editions of objects. CNC (Computer Numerical Control) is crucial to our work, I would say almost every single product that we make is touched by some form of CNC machine. That being said, I don’t like it when something is so obviously made using a laser or milling machine, the goal – the art of it, is to blend the hand with the capabilities of the machine.






11 Jul 2015

Bartworks by Ken Kagami


We're just fresh back from our trip to Florida, and of course we had to make time to visit Springfield at Universal Studios. We spotted Sideshow Bob escaping from Prison, ate junk food at Krusty Burger and did our annual meet-up with Duffman. We didn't see any wacko Barts like in this zine by Japanese artist Ken Kagami. "Bartworks" is a 36-page exploration of just how weird you can make Bart Simpson look. 11/10 on the odd scale.

Bartworks is limited to 500 editions worldwide. Available here. 

Thanks for sticking with us while we've been away, we appreciate your comments, emails + tweets. Now it's time for us to catch up!

8 Jul 2015

Car Spotting in Florida

Been keeping our eyes peeled for interesting motors while we've been here in Florida. It's a big mixture of old and new across the state, and while a lot of the modern designs do take my fancy - Ford Mustang, Dodge Challenger + Jeep Wrangler yes please - it's generally the vintage models that catch my eye.

We've only got another two more days left in America, and we'll be returning home Thursday evening. The downtime away from work has been totally needed. Hope everyone is doing just fine, and we look forward to catching up with your comments, emails + blogs!

Keep up-to-day with our travels on Instagram + Twitter!  

28 Jun 2015

Enjoying Kona Brewing Co. in Orlando




Very much enjoying Kona Brewing Co. this week. In fact, they're just what we look for in a good beer; variation, distinct flavours, colourful labels and an honest back story. We've been working our way through their range since we arrived in Orlando, and we even tried Kona beer battered fish + chips at the Tommy Bahamas restaurant, on our stay-over in Naples!

Have you tried any of Kona's beers? My personal favourite is Big Wave - it's big time! Aloha `oe.

Keep up-to-day with our travels on Instagram + Twitter!  

18 Jun 2015

We're Currently in Florida!

It's been a little quiet around these parts lately, I forgot to mention that we're currently out in Orlando for a few weeks on holiday! Things will be a little slow around here but we will be posting a few posts here and there - when we can pull ourselves away from a frosty 4-pack.

We're still sharing on the social scene, you can follow our holiday updates on Instagram + Twitter!   

Thanks for sticking with us,
Mat.

15 Jul 2014

Orlando Photo Diary Part 2



Even though we've been back from Orlando for three weeks now I've fully got my freelance work head back on. I've been in London for the past few days - if you've been following on Instagram you might have seen it's been all meetings, beer + cars. Just the way I like it. Our holiday seems pretty far gone now, so let's just say it's a good thing I have a bunch of photos to share with you guys; it's a memory refresher! Here's some shots from our time in Florida -







We'd been wanting to visit the town of Winter Park for a while now and received a bunch of nudges from Wendy of Local Shine (who's a Orlando local), so we headed there about half way through our trip. Hollie's parents had already been but this was our first trip - Winter Park is about a 20 minutes car ride from central Orlando and 30 minutes from Davenport, where we stayed.

Winter Park was an absolute treat - was great to get away from the typical scenes you come to expect from Orlando; huge neon signs, fast-food restaurants everywhere, outlet malls and Mickey Mouse was replaced with independent retailers, local cafes, tree-lined narrow streets, art installations, with the same easy-going attitude. Damn, this place was cool. Home to both Makr Carry Goods and Rifle Paper Co. no less!

We did have a plan for the day but it was so hot we just wondered around looking for the nearest cold drinks. Lunch at The Coop was immense - Southern home-style cooking; buttermilk fried everything and traditional side. The place had hearta, real community feel to it. If you're ever in the area then this is the place to eat!


Other than that we just tried to relax, which I find troublesome at the best of times. My mind starts to wonder and I just want to get out and explore - I ended up going for early morning jogs, which did me the world of good. There's something about exercising in a warm climate which is preferable to gloomy weather in Lancashire, you know?! 

I do love Orlando but I'm itching to explore the rest of America. An idea for the honeymoon maybe?
  
Hope you enjoyed part two, you can check out Orlando Photo Diary Part 1 here.
Mat

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4 Jul 2014

Orlando Photo Diary Part 1

celebration market street cafe, lifestyle blog uk

To cut to the chase I'd love to move to America; it's something I've said for a few years now and my goal is to find a decent job, pack our bags and leave. But for now I've got a few year's worth of photos to look back through if I ever start feeling nostalgic. Here's what we got up to this time -

celebration market street cafe, lifestyle blog uk, american diner
celebration market street cafe, lifestyle blog uk, american diner
celebration market street cafe, lifestyle blog uk, american diner, celebration orlando
downtown disney, orando, florida
swamp ape ipa florida beer company, celebration town tavern orlando florida

We spent a lot of time down at the local town of Celebration - days filled with relaxing by the lake, drinking the best filtered coffee and checking out the local shops. Evenings spent in similar fashion; working our way through the craft beer menu at the Town Tavern (immense Boston food too), at Market Street Cafe for shakes or drowning ourselves in salted cameral ice-cream at Kilwins.

universal studios orlando popeye
universal studios orlando florida the simpsons springfield
universal studios orlando florida the simpsons springfield
design, cubebot orlando florida, mall a millenia
universal studios orlando florida the simpsons springfield, bart simpson lego

No trip to Orlando would be complete without some G-Force action - we whizzed around both Universal Studios + Islands of Adventure in one day! The newish Harry Potter area is definitely the crowd pleaser at the moment but my personal highlight was visiting The Simpsons area; seriously guys Springfield looked incredible! Duff beer on tap, Lard Lad Donuts the size of your face...I just wish we had the brains to eat at Moe's and not a rushed hot dog earlier on!

As always I was trigger happy in the supermarkets + shops, looking for packaging to pique my interest, I'll leave that for part 2!

Hope you enjoyed this one, have a lovely weekend folks!
Mat

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