Vacation: Part 2!

I forgot to share some other pictures from the first part of our trip. I was so focused on the food! These are from the day we rented an electric car and drove around downtown. We used Tropical Rent a Car for this as well as when we rented our scooters. They are really nice to work with and have great rates.

Abbey's face in the picture above is so funny! She hates the heat and it was really hot that day. She's too cute!

Moving on...

After our awesome week in Key West, we headed back north to celebrate New Year's Eve at our cousin's house! Nothing is more fun that hanging out with family :)

On our drive up we stopped in Ft. Lauderdale to see the house and area where Chris spent most of his early childhood until his family moved to Rhode Island when he was 12. I had fun seeing where he grew up and of course, Chris loved the walk down memory lane.

We spent a couple of days in Melbourne and had a great time as usual. On New Year's Eve the group of us (it's a big group!) went to eat lunch at The Burger Place. 2 words: HOLY YUM! The burgers here are for real awesome! They even make the buns!!! Hello, they make the buns!!! And they are fluffy, pillowy bites of heaven. Go there if you are ever in the area!

We had our New Year's Eve party at the house. I don't know how, but I actually made it to midnight. I think I've only done that once or twice in my life!

Abbey loves her GranDanny!

 

She's thrilled...obviously.

With my father-in-law! He only made it until 10:00 :)

Our little family!

Midnight kiss!

We headed home on New Year's Day. Once we got back, we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family. This is only the 2nd time I haven't been with my parents on Christmas day so it was a little weird. My mom and I went Christmas shopping when I got back and I have to say, the money we saved buying our Christmas presents AFTER Christmas was worth it! We've actually kind of decided to do it this way from now on. I'm willing to wait a few days to open presents if it means saving a bunch of money!

My big present this year from my parents was a set of Beats Solo headphones! I've said for at least 2 years that I've wanted these! They are pretty awesome - the sound is so clear and when you have them on, you can't hear anything else! Chris bought me a new Coach purse while we were in Key West and I love it!

Once we got back, I still had 5 days off before I had to go back to work. It was nice to actually relax because we all know that after a vacation, you need a vacation! After 17 days off, I was ready to head back to work and see all my little kiddos!

Vacation Photos

Hi friends! I've been gone longer than I expected! Chris and I have been really busy the last couple of months and blogging hasn't been at the top of my list of priorities. But I'm back now to share pictures from our recent trip to Rhode Island for Chris' annual family reunion (see 2011 recaps here). We had a really great time, especially since we were able to arrive a couple of days ahead of the rest of the family to spend quality time with Chris' parents, Jeff and Danny.


We went to see the qualifying rounds for America's Cup, which was being held at Fort Adams in Newport. It was a beautiful and breezy day, perfect for sitting by the water and watching the catamarans race around the harbor.

That night, we had fresh lobster for dinner! It was my first experience eating an actual whole lobster and it was SOOOOOOO good! Jeff grilled them and man, they came out perfectly!

Chris and his dad usually take one day to go shotgun shooting up in the "country" part of Rhode Island. They decided it would be fun to take me. I'm not so sure I would agree, but I did end up having a lot of fun and I didn't accidentally shoot anyone so that's a plus. I only hit 2 clays all day, but one was really hard and neither Chris or his dad hit that (and they're really good!). They were pretty impressed!

Then the rest of the family arrived! From then on it was a full house, and we had a good time with everyone. One day we had breakfast at Sweet Berry Farm, we went to Little Compton for a picnic, we went to a collegiate baseball game (that was so much fun!), watched an awesome polo game, and we did a lot of sitting/relaxing/talking on the back porch. I think that's what everyone enjoys most!!

One day, Chris and I walked along Cliff Walk and it was so pretty. I've never lived near water, but I can see why people would want to. It's just so gorgeous.

Chris, AJ, and I drove to Patriot Place to visit the Patriots Museum and have lunch. We really didn't know what to expect, but it was AWESOME. I may or may not have pushed a kid over in order to get to Tom Brady's uniform...(just kidding, I wouldn't do that.)

July 4th was a fun day. We played a lot of Bocce and had a yummy dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs. Lizzie was so cute in her holiday attire!

The day before we left, a bunch of us went to Cape Cod to go bike riding. Once again, it was perfect weather and we had a great time. We had a nice lunch on the water and spent a little time shopping in Falmouth.

We had such a fun time and were really sad to leave! I guess there is always next year to look forward to!

PS - I realize that I wore the same gray shirt A LOT (and in black) over the course of this vacation. Best shirt I've ever bought and I now have 6 of the colors. They fit great, don't shrink too much in the dryer, and go with everything! And they're only $8 (but online they are $6!). I highly recommend this shirt!!

Road Trip, Part 2

On the second half of our trip, we stopped in Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Memphis, and Nashville. We had two days of extremely long drives, and with no air conditioning, the majority of it was pretty miserable. The only thing we had to look forward to by the end of the night was a good meal and a hot shower! 

The only good thing I have to say about New Mexico involves our meal and in particular, this dessert, from Chama River Brewing Company. 

A Belgian chocolate cup filled with 
vanilla bean ice cream. Topped with bourbon butterscotch, chocolate sauce, and piñones

We also got in very late to Oklahoma City. Thanks to a twitter conversation with @mamaellesays we were led in the direction of a neighborhood called Bricktown. We ate bar food at TapWerks and it was pretty good!

Our drive from OKC to Memphis was pretty long, and we also arrived into town pretty late. Thanks to Yelp, I was excited to try the food at Double J Smokehouse & Saloon. It was so good! Barbecue is pretty much my favorite food EVER! 

As we were leaving Double J, we noticed this motel and it happens to be the one where MLK was shot. Pretty historical and a neat thing to see.

Our day in Nashville was our final day on the road and gave us something to look forward to. We wanted to have a "fun day" and since neither of us had ever been before, we decided it was as good a place as any to check out.

We went to Yazoo Brewing Company and they had pretty good beer. I loved their hefeweizen! And they served baskets of chips and salsa. So yummy!

We walked downtown to Broadway and loved all of the bright lights and honky-tonk bars. Eric Church was playing a show at the Bridgestone Arena so the area was PACKED!

Here is where I tell you about the most amazing meal of the entire trip, and perhaps my entire life. We were lucky enough to walk a little off of Broadway and we discovered a newly opened restaurant called The Southern Steak & Oyster. If you are ever in Nashville, please consider going here! I'm already planning on my next visit to the city so I can go back. I wrote a 2 page review on Yelp so go over there if you want to know my thoughts on my meal.

On Sunday morning, we left Nashville and drove the 4.5 hours home. When we got here, my brother and his family and my parents were waiting for us. We grilled out for dinner and just had a good time sitting around and talking. Oh, and we had a lot of extra help unpacking the UHaul, which was really awesome.

Once again, this post is completely food dominated. But hey, it's pretty much my favorite activity besides sleeping!

Next up, I will finally pick a winner to the earrings giveaway :)

Road Trip, Part 1

Hi friends! I want to first start off by letting everyone know how appreciative both Chris and I were when we read all of the positive comments on my recent moving post. I am excited to go back home (I moved from GA to CA in 2007) and I know we're both excited for this new adventure. Also, I haven't been able to read blogs for about 2 weeks (or watch any TV which is so devastating!) and probably won't get a chance to sit down and go through my Google Reader until after the road trip. I'm so sorry that I haven't been reading your blogs or leaving comments. I hope I haven't missed anything earth-shattering, and if you think I have, please let me know in the comments!

We left Los Angeles at 4:30 am on Monday morning. It was brutal, but I'm so glad that we got an early start. Driving with a 3,000 pound trailer attached to our SUV only allows us to travel at about 55 mph, and even slower climbing up all of those hills. We were on the road for about 10 hours and we made it to Flagstaff mid-afternoon. Instead of taking a nap, we decided to push through and went out for dinner at Beaver Street Brewery, tastings at Mother Road Brewing Co., and we may or may not have made a stop at Dairy Queen for a blizzard (they don't have these in CA!). I'll neither confirm nor deny.

On Tuesday, we had an early lunch at Diablo Burger. I had read so many good reviews about this place that I knew we couldn't pass up the opportunity to try it out. And it definitely lived up to the hype! I actually think it dethroned my #1 burger favorite - Le Burger Brasserie, I loved it that much. It's served on an english muffin!

Downtown Flagstaff was super cute and full of fun shops. We got some candy at The Sweet Shoppe & Nut House and walked around an awesome store called P.J. Chilcottage. I loved these decorative soaps! They had so many designs, but I think my favorites were the cupcake, ice cream, and cake ones.

We left Flagstaff after lunch and drove to Sedona, where we were spending our second night. It was so beautiful! The rock formations are so amazing, and I'm really glad we were able to stop here for a fun day. 

Our first stop was Bell Rock Vista, which was recommended as an "easy" bike trail. Um, no. Not easy. I have never ridden off road on my bike and this was really off road, dirt & rocks & cactus everywhere! Luckily, I didn't fall and it was actually really fun. I did have to walk my bike through quite a few areas of the trail. This is Courthouse Butte behind us in the pictures. The trail was a loop around this formation.

I got really dirty!

Chris treated me to a delicious belated birthday dinner at Oak Creek Brewery and Grill. I had the petite filet mignon with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Oh. My. Word. It was amazing. But please don't tell my doctor that I had red meat twice in one day. She would definitely not be happy with me!

And I also got my nails done after our bike ride. I went with a light pink gel, which I think is really pretty, and it matches my new earrings I bought in Flagstaff.

That's a lot of food I posted about, but did you really expect anything else? I live for food, after all.

We are driving to Albuquerque, NM today. I'll try to update soon! I'll also try to announce the winner to my Kendra Scott earrings giveaway by Friday. There is still time to enter if you haven't done so yet!

Also, I'm doing a much better job of keeping my Tumblr and Instagram up to date. If you'd like to know what I'm up to, check those out!