Florida Trip Part 2

Today I'm recapping the second half of our Florida trip (you can see the first half here)!  This was my view each morning!  Gorgeous :)  Do you spy that lazy river?!  We did a lot of relaxing in there!

Watching the sun rise over the ocean.

Give me some sunglasses & a floppy hat and I'm beach ready :)

So much fun playing on the beach and in the pool with this guy!

Are they seriously not the cutest?  I have always traveled and done pretty much everything with my grandparents.  They are the best!

My grandparents took us to our favorite restaurant in Daytona this night, Aunt Catfish!  They have the best food.  I think Jared thought I was exaggerating about how good it was until we went and then he fell in love too!  We are still craving it a week later.

Enjoying the last few summer outfits before we return to fall weather!! (I was totally fine with this, bring on sweaters, booties & scarves!)

Happy times with my sweet husband :)  We needed and enjoyed this time away together so much.

Cuties. 

YUM.  Aunt Catfish has an amazing salad bar with all the toppings you can imagine and a "camp fixin's" bar with cornbread, grits, baked beans, etc. that you eat before your meal even comes (this is why I wore a stretchy dress on this night).  Their dinners are delicious too and come with an amazing cinnamon roll.  It had been 5 years since we had been and I'm not kidding I talk about craving their food all the time and it was just as good as I remembered. 

After dinner, we went back to the condo and watched some of this craziness!  I wouldn't say I love everything about DJT but I am most definitely NOT with her. 

Quick & easy breakfast on the balcony before everyone woke up!  I love poptarts but won't allow myself to have them at home (heavy on WW points) but they were a nice vacation treat!

Walks on the beach with my grandmother are a tradition and so fun!

Love these 3 so much!!!

So on our last night we decided we wanted to have a nice dinner together and Jared and I both were hinting about Aunt Catfish again until we finally admitted we both wanted it and decided to go back.  It was even better this night and we were able to get back to the condo before the rain hit (we had perfect weather every day but a little rain on this night)!  If you go there, repeat after me "I will order the parmesan crusted chicken."  I ordered it to try it for the first time and could kick myself for not eating it over the years!

On the morning of our flight, we ate breakfast and hung out with my grandparents before taking one last walk on the beach.  This cutie!  Love him so much.

How being at the beach makes me feel : )

One last look.  I wish we could have stayed longer but 5 days was a treat for sure :) 

Leaving my favorite resort!

Home bound!! 

As soon as we landed, we drove home, unpacked, ate dinner, repacked my bags and the next morning I popped in the office for a couple of hours before hitting the road for Cincinnati because one of my best friends was getting married!!!!

I'm so thankful my grandparents invited us to sneak away for a few days.  We had so much fun!

See you back here tomorrow for Friday Favorites and I will recap the wedding weekend for you next week :)

Florida Trip Part 1

Sorry I've been a little MIA around here this week but whew!! Between vacation, my best friend's wedding and catching up at work and at home, I'm exhausted!!  I have lots of recapping for you all and I'm going to start with part 1 of our Florida trip!  My grandparents go to Florida each fall and it's been 5 years since I was able to go with them.  We originally weren't going to go on any vacations this year but couldn't pass up the opportunity to sneak away for a few days now that our crazy summer is over.  It was much needed.  It has been a trying summer in a lot of ways (I'm sure I'll share why one day but just trust me, we needed a break).  Some time in the sun, quiet time with my husband and some quality time with my grandparents couldn't be passed up!  We are so thankful they invited us to come along and had such a great time!!

Florida bound!  Please excuse my no-makeup look.  Our flight left at 7:15 in the morning so we were up early!  We flew Southwest each way and had great flights!

We flew into Orlando & drove to Daytona Beach so we rented a car to use while we were down there.  They told us to pick any car we wanted in the row and of course we decided to have fun with it and got this truck!  It was a Nissan Frontier and I now officially want one.  It was so nice and had a much smoother ride than my SUV! 

The Steak 'n Shake in our town closed years ago and Jared and I had just been talking about how we wanted to try one again.  We were starving after our flight so when we saw an exit with one I suggested it and we gave it a try!  So delicious and cheap!  That's a win-win :)

Ahh :)  We haven't been on the beach since our honeymoon and it was instantly relaxing.  Does anyone else feel like some quiet time away observing God's creation just heals your soul?

We flew down a day earlier than my grandparents and spent our first night at the Hilton.  Our room was super nice, the pool was great and all the food we ate there was delicious!!

Love this guy so much!

The view from our room.

After several hours on the beach, we cleaned up and had dinner at Bubba Gump!  We love Forrest Gump and the food there is always delicious.  The decorations and trivia inside are super fun too :)

After dinner, we went to the sports bar restaurant at our hotel to watch the Louisville game.  True fans find a way even on vacation :)

The next morning was Sunday so we took full advantage of the hotel restaurant, Doc Bales Grill, to indulge in their delicious breakfast.  It was so good and we were able to look out on the ocean while eating which is always a plus in my book.

Beach necessities :)  So excited for another beautiful day on the beach!

I finished my first book and started on this new one!  I will be sharing a book review soon with my thoughts on these and a few others!

My grandparents arrived later that afternoon and we checked into our new room at their resort.

We gave Ocean Deck a try for dinner and it was great!  My fried shrimp was some of the best I've ever had and my non-seafood eating husband found a great sandwich to eat!

Looking down at the pool area on our first night!  My family has been staying at Ocean Walk for 15 years and we love it there :)  If you are going to the Daytona area, I highly recommend it.  Multiple pools, a lazy river, water slide and a shopping center next door with movies and restaurants have always kept us happy and entertained.  Not to mention it's very private & clean.  We LOVE it there!

So that's our first two days of vacation :)  I'll be recapping the next 2 1/2 days next and then we'll cover the wedding whirlwind!! 

Friday Favorites

If you're reading this I am currently in wedding mode with one of my best friends!! We're probably either up getting ready, doing nails or eating some yummy food preparing for tomorrow. 

Some quick favorites for you all before we get the day's festivities started:

My sweet husband! We had the best time on vacation & I can't wait to recap our trip for you. 5 days of uninterrupted time with this guy is definitely a favorite this week!!

This dress. The rehearsal dinner last night was on a rooftop overlooking Cincinnati and the wedding is pretty formal in general. I scored this dress for $24 (!!!) at Macy's a month or so ago and absolutely love it. It's definitely one I'll be wearing again!

I will be doing a book review soon but wanted to go ahead and share this gem with you all! I am about a third of the way through this book and love it already. If you're looking for a good Christian women's book to read this one is for you! I'm literally nodding my head as I go along thinking was this book literally written for me? 

It's officially fall weather! When we got on our plane in Florida it was perfect summer weather and when we landed at home we walked out to official fall weather. It's been rainy and cloudy and cooling down finally. I'm pumped to officially switch my closets out this week & to make a big batch of soup!

We had the best time at the beach this week!  Full recaps to come on the blog next week.  I even did some video blogging for you all too :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!