Anyway, to celebrate our one year anniversary, David and I took a vacation over the 4th of July. Being the new guy at work means that you don't get to take time off for awhile. {I'm happy to report we are about to experience our first experience with "vacation" days from work for David}. So since he had ZERO days off, we used the two days off that his company generously gave him for the fourth to enjoy our second "honeymoon." And boy did we honeymoon again! It's just like I remember it. The beach! The sand! The sun! The FOOD! And hanging out with my hubby. Of course, it was minus the long flight, passports, curvy awful road up, down, and around a mountain {if you're going to St. Lucia, ask me why you should pack Dramamine!}. And we had the addition of our newest family member, Lacey. Wish we could have made it 9 days like our actual honeymoon, but I'll take what I can get!
My hubby of one year and I traveled to Seaside, Florida to spend time away relaxing! We left Friday after he got off of work and drove all night. At around 12:30am, we pulled into our condo. You may recognize where we stayed as the same place we stayed at for my friend Laura's bachelorette party! As soon as I saw what a great location and deal it was, we booked it!
So after arriving super late {or early}, we played with Lacey for a bit because we were wired and wide awake!
But then she got sleepy and CRASHED!
So we did too! And the next morning, we awoke to the perfect sunny day for laying on the beach. It was MUCH warmer than when we came for Laura's party. However, before our trip to the beach, we drove into Seaside for the Farmer's Market. There were vendors from all over the area with things such as fruits, vegies, jewelry, breads, cakes, cookies, and lots more. Of course, I didn't take photos here because a lady saw that my tshirt said Mississippi State and she proceeded to tell us that her daughter goes to school there. And so began a discussion about Mississippi State. So no photos. I did, however, get some yummy tea. I love hot tea. I don't know why. Yes, I'm still Southern! This tea is Mango tea and it is really good. I'll save my tea obsession for another day!
After a full day on the beach with some icky, murky, algae/seaweed water, we came up to get clean and head to dinner. I was adamant I was going to get a feather in my hair before we went to dinner. You know, the Steven Tyler-esque version. But when the time came to make the decision, I caved. There were too many decisions. And all of the ones that would have shown up in my hair were bright magenta and electric blue. I'm sorry, but I'm not a teeny bopper and I do not want to look like Miley Cyrus. Maybe next time.
We ate dinner at a place called The Great Southern. We didn't have to wait long and the food was good. Food is a major theme from our time together! Haha! There is a redundant theme to this post. Sleep, beach, food, food. Haha.
Yummy shrimp and cheese grits!
After dinner, we had time to go play on the beach before the sun went away. The beach at Seaside was MUCH prettier than our beach at Seagrove. There was no algae in it. Which was nice for pictures and playing in it!
One thing I regret not doing on our honeymoon is writing our names in the sand. I'm not sure why I think this is so romantic. Maybe it's because I never had a guy to do this for me. Maybe it's because growing up when my family would go to the beach every summer, we'd always see these "love notes" in the sand. I wasn't jealous at all!!!!
He still humors me even after a year of marriage! :)
I decided to get my feet wet, and David decided he would randomly shoot photographs of me.
When I walked back to the camera to see what he'd been shooting, he said, "I went all Tanner Cade on some of those!" Oh how I love my husband. And I love the fact that I knew exactly what he was referring to. TC, you have a photography style of your own apparently! {Happy Belated Bday by the way!--very belated!}
And of course, in true David fashion, he had to get one of me reaching for the camera. And I put it on the blog to humor him.
Then it was my turn to TC it up. Have to have my time attempting to recreate Tanner originals. And if you read the post from the other day, you've seen all of these pictures. If you didn't read it, you should definitely read all of the reasons that I love this man. There are many!
Next, we walked around some of the shops at Seaside. There were many, but one of my favorites was filled with owls. Here are some of the cute things that I DIDN'T buy!
Little baby girl bloomers:
Owl baby blankies:
Stuffed matching owls:
Let it be water bottle:
Night Owl eye masks:
Owl Coin purses:
I know, David was surprised too that I didn't buy any of the owl goodness in this store. But I held off and used restraint. I had no need for any of those things!
We headed back to our condo and went to get Lacey. Since Seagrove is a pet friendly beach, Lacey could come out and play. We had purposefully waited until there weren't as many people out so that we could take her off of her leash.
It looks like David is pinching her but here. I think he was just chasing her!
I love this picture! It's of my two loves!
You can see her reaction in this video below. It's very funny. She acts like a 2 year old and not a 7 year old dog!
With the tide out, you could see the nasty green stuff. Thankfully, it got better while we were there. Not great, but better! We didn't get in the water at all this day!
The next morning Lacey and I slept in while David went to play golf. He traveled towards Santa Rosa beach to play and said he really enjoyed it. Lacey and I went for a walk and waited on him to get home so that we could relax all afternoon on the beach. After David got home and we'd eaten, we headed for the beach! There were actually people in the water when we got there! Great sign!
Someone got burned on day one! This was pretty much what we did all afternoon!
After the beach, we got ready for dinner. Again, a common theme with our vacation.
This night, we chose the Red Bar. I LOVE the Red Bar! I think I said that when we went with Laura. After a 45 minute wait {which was NOTHING compared to the people we were waiting with who had been there for 2 hours and still not been seated. Glad there were only 2 of us}.
The Red Bar has such neat decor that David made me photograph it. He thinks it looks like Graceland Too and wanted to see what you all thought!
Santa Claus was even there!
We were so hungry when we got our food, but the grouper was A-MAH-ZING! Yummy!
And of course, we couldn't skip dessert! We chose the bread pudding with ice cream. It was incredible.
This night was by far my favorite evening of food!
The next morning was the 4th of July. We woke up EARLY and rode our bikes that we had rented to Seaside for the 4th of July parade. It was really funny to see what all people came up with. There were locals there and people who were just vacationing. There were floats and golf carts. The typical beauty queens and cheerleaders. Of course it was kicked off with Firemen and Police Officers. There was a lot of red, white, and blue, candy, and Mardi Gras beads. Just to show you a little of what I mean:
David saw this golf cart and said, "wait..who invited Col Reb?" Haha. Silly boy!
This girl was the statue of liberty holding an ice cream cone! Very American.
Flags waving back and forth on the windshield wipers! How do they come up with this stuff?!
Then, Colonel Reb came by again. This became a joke between us every time he came by. Which was frequently.
This was by FAR the best thing people threw off of floats. They were those frozen popsicles. Everyone wanted one! It was HOT!
Col Reb with a birthday cake. We started wondering why the black bear wasn't invited!
After the parade, we were starving so we rode our bikes all the way into Seaside and went to eat at Modica Market. YUMMY! Modica is a little grocery/general store. They also make a bunch of bakery breakfast things. David ate a sausage biscuit and I had a berry muffin. It was definitely a from scratch muffin. We literally just sat out there and people watched for a little while. I enjoyed my first iced coffee. It was different. I like black coffee so it was weird to be drinking something cold that didn't have sugar in it. But it was FAR too hot for hot coffee!
After breakfast, we rode our bikes ALL the way back to Seagrove. It was a very refreshing bike ride, but I was ready to lay on the beach! But first, we had to check on our Lacey Pup! We let her wear all of our beads since she was unable to attend the parade!
Another day on the beach with a book and pandora radio. It was wonderful! I love the beach!
After the beach, we came back to get ready for dinner. We had made reservations for Bud and Alley's at Seaside. It was really good. I had grouper again, and David had steak. After dinner, things were beginning to pick up in the amphitheater.
David and I listened to the band for a little while. The guy's name was Will Hoge, and while I had never heard of him before, he was great! We headed to Sundog Bookstore and Central Square Records store. We browsed downstairs a little while and then headed upstairs.
And you're not prepared for what we found. Yep, a red and yellow owl. It was a silk screen print and I had it framed as SOON as we got home! I have no where to hang it right now, but I love it. I usually don't impulse buy, but seriously HOW could I pass this up!?
Do you not just LOVE it? Probably not. Because I have a unique love for owls. And always will. Forever. And Ever!
After our owl shopping {by the way, ONE owl from this trip is totally not overboard!}, we went on the balcony of Central Square records and listened to Will Hoge while waiting on the fireworks. There were tons of people there enjoying the music!
David was excited for the fireworks!
Still waiting to see the fireworks! Don't mind David's RED legs. He told me they "weren't that bad." No big deal. Someone please remind me of that when we have skin cancer one day.
And then it was time for the fireworks. It was by far the best fireworks show I've ever seen. It was actually more enjoyable then Disney World {I can't believe I'm saying that}. For someone who loves music, they REALLY did a good job of choosing music that would appeal to everyone! "Party in the U.S.A" by Miley Cyrus, "Little Pink Houses" and "This is Our Country" by John Mellencamp, the "Star Spangled Banner," "Born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen, all of the military songs, the pledge of allegiance, "It's America" by Rodney Adkins, "Independence Day" by Martina McBride, "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater, "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" by Toby Keith, "American Pie," "American Girl" by Tom Petty, "American Saturday Night" by Brad Paisley, and the list goes on and on and on.
Well, you get the idea. It was awesome! Enjoy some pics.
Well, that sums up our anniversary trip! It was so much fun! I'm so thankful that we got to spend some much needed time away from life and just enjoy one another. We had a blast and hope to go back at some point. Thankful for my husband and the joy he brings to my life!
LOVE the firework pictures! So fun!!
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