4 Things to Do In Jacksonville This Weekend

Friends of the Library Book Sale. Buy books and media to support local Jacksonville libraries! You can get a whole bag of books for $10 if you go at the right time. Heck. Yes.

Whale of a Sale. So thrilled that Bethany Kline at Daily Billboards gave me VIP tickets to this! We had so much fun last year. This is essentially a giant garage sale fundraiser hosted by the Junior League of Jacksonville down at the fairgrounds. If you go at the end of the day, you can fill up a grocery bag and pay only $1 for the bag and everything in it. We got some great deals!

Monster Jam Monster Truck Racing. To be honest, this is so not my thing. Big trucks racing on a big muddy field, complete with loud noises. Ew. BUT I know this tickles a lot of people’s fancy – an estimated 70,000 people, in fact. If you plan on going, get there early! This always gets packed.

Northeast Florida Scottish Games & Festival. I won a family four-pack of tickets to this from Folio Weekly and could not be more stoked about going! Did you see Maid of Honor? Or did you see last season’s The Bachelorette? Yeah, we’re talking those Scottish games, people. (And no, I will not be eating any haggis.)

St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum

We’re big fans of St. Augustine. Pablo actually lived there when we first started dating, so it’s become a nostalgic place for us to visit as our relationship has progressed. For our 2 year anniversary, we visited a St. Augustine spot that had been on our radar for a while – the St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum.

The museum is relatively new. When they held their grand opening, Johnny Depp was in town. (Still sad I missed that. Johnny Depp, people!) I’ve had an infatuation with pirates since I was little – I’d go on The Pirates of the Caribbean ride over and over during our Disney visits and years later learned I’m related to Blackbeard. So, yeah, I like pirates.

We didn’t have very high expectations for the museum. We bought our passes from a group deal site and thought we’d be there no longer than a half an hour or so. Boy, were we wrong! A full hour and a half at the museum was barely enough time to cram it all into one visit.

The woman at the front desk gave us our treasure maps and told us that the museum had hidden artifacts. If we were able to find all of them, we’d get an official pirate stamp. We did the mature adult thing, of course, and scoured the museum to find all of the hidden artifacts. (We found all of them, so… I’M A PIRATE!) I thought this was a lot of fun. It kept us from glossing over the artifacts and gave us a reason to examine everything in the museum. I’m so glad they hid these – it’s a lot of fun finding them!

I won’t spoil the museum for you, but I will tell you that one of the highlights of my visit was taking the photo below. I grew up in love with the movie Hook and guess what they have on display at the museum? ONE OF THE MOVIE’S PROPS! So excited.

This museum is worth the money. It’s a great place to come with kids, but we had a blast with just the two of us adults.

Be sure to like my Facebook page! There are even more photos of our adventure on it.

Pizza Italian in Jacksonville, FL

It’s weird to write about Pizza Italian as a “find” because I’ve gone here for as long as I can remember. It’s the oldest restaurant in 5 Points and happens to be just a few doors down from Stoves & Fans, my favorite antique store in town. It’s a dive, but I’m telling you… it’s the best Italian food in town and their prices are amazing.

Whenever I take people here and they ask me what’s good, I say “everything”. I’ve never had anything here that a) I didn’t love and b) I couldn’t finish. I always leave Pizza Italian with leftovers. That’s a good thing – two meals for the price of one. The only thing I don’t recommend is their tea. It’s instant tea and I’m just not a fan. Pictured is the Pizza Burger, one of my favorite things on their menu. And this is only half of it!

Bottom line: if you haven’t been to Pizza Italian yet, you need to check it out. Make sure you bring cash! Credit cards aren’t accepted.

Rusted: A Vintage Market in Jacksonville, FL

I’ve kind of got a thing for the rustic look. It’s just so warm and inviting – I love that vibe. I learned about Rusted, a new vintage store here in Jacksonville, when some of my friends posted about it on Facebook. Pablo has been wanting to go antiquing for a while now, so we decided that was exactly how we were going to spend our Saturday.

We didn’t even walk in the door before we fell in love with it. There were gorgeous tables and oversized chests strewn about the front lawn. I really wish we were in the market for a coffee table – they had some that were only $25! Their prices were affordable and fair, which I find to be an admirable quality in an antique store.

We ran into my aunt when we were there, who we learned has a room full of goodies at Rusted. (There are two rooms in the back right of Rusted – her room is on the left.) My aunt’s taste is shabby chic – light pink, shades of green, white, and gold. This room was SO her! Every picture in this post comes from her room. Cute stuff, right?

Ultimately, we left with three finds: a set of 8 amber glasses, an amber cake stand to match those glasses, and a vintage projector. I like amber – it’s a welcoming color and is neutral enough to match just about anything. Pablo is still on cloud nine about the projector. It actually works, which makes it an even more awesome find.

If you like what you see, stop by and check Rusted out! They also have an awesome Pinterest account if you’re looking for some inspiration.

Lightner Museum in St. Augustine, FL

I haven’t had a chance to profess my love for St. Augustine yet, so let me just say: I’m in LOVE with that place! It’s in my top 5 favorite cities list, without a doubt.

For Pablo’s birthday, we decided to spend the day at one of the most popular attractions in the nation’s oldest city: The Lightner Museum. Life being what it is, we only ended up having about an hour to spend there. (But what a glorious hour it was!)

This place is straight up amazing. It’s been a house, a hotel, and now a museum. The architecture and details will leave you breathless.

The artwork and artifacts housed here are nothing to sneeze at either. From stained glass windows to hand chiseled marble statues, stuffed lions to shrunken heads, meteorites to glasswork, this place had it all.

I could see younger children being bored here (and potentially breaking things), but this is a great stop for adults and older children. If you love art, you’ll love this place. We’ll definitely be back for another trip!

Check out the full album of photos on my Facebook page.

(Major props to my friend, Megan Belcher, who gave us her Groupon to visit the Lightner!)

1 2 3 previous posts