karaspeak

We spent this week in our favorite little spot of earth, Rosemary Beach. The past two years, this has been our anniversary vacation spot and we have grown to love the area, the locals, the architecture, the food...and just the way we leave feeling more relaxed than you can ever imagine. This trip was what most maternity books refer to as a Babymoon. Basically, our "last hoo-rah" before little BT comes along and our vacations have to be a lot more planned and life has to be slightly less spontaneous. None of these things are bad, life will just be different.  

After a stressful week in Charlotte, we were ready to get away for some one-on-one time and some time to rejuvenate before heading back to Nashville. Just our memories from last year's trip has us super-excited and our excitement was matched and exceeded with this year's trip. We stayed in this great loft right in town square and were close to everything - the gym, the ocean, the food, the sunsets. Like the silly people we are, we visited the gym 5 out of the 8 days we were there and got in some great workouts and met some fun locals. This trip was a test to my confidence in a bathing suit...seriously. If I thought I was self conscious NOT pregnant, I really had some thinking to do about how confident I was going to be at 31 weeks pregnant! It was an adventure, but I will say I did it and am proud to say I bore my belly every day but one (and only because it got too red!). BIG BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT in the self-esteem world. Seriously. 

We flew into Panama City from Charlotte, which is a new route just added in the past few months. It was a quick flight and we were only about 20 minutes away from the beach....so much nicer than driving!!  Since we arrived in the morning and couldn't check in until the afternoon, we picked up our rental car and then stopped off at a new shopping center to grab a few things at Target and eat a bite at Panera before heading in to check in. That day pretty much ended as quickly as it began due to the cloudy weather, getting settled, getting some groceries for the week, then grabbing dinner. But every day after that was beautiful, in the 80's and full of sun! Pretty much every day after that was spent like so:

1. Wake up early 

2. Go to the gym

3. Make coffee or hit Starbucks

4. Head to the beach

5. Bake, bake, bake

6. Grab some lunch either in our room or at one of the quick bite places in town

7. Bake, bake, bake some more

8. Head in for chill time and showers

9. Do dinner (we cooked and ate in 3 nights and went out the other nights)

10. Come back and relax with coffee, tea, dessert, stargazing, etc.

It was perfect. 

We also "celebrated" Cinco de Mayo down there at a local spot called Cowboy Kitchen where we had a great time with some local ladies who were enamored with us. They own a few of the shops there in town and are crazy fun. They helped us decide on names for the baby (one of our goals for this trip!) and let us bounce ideas off of them. We also met a couple (also pregnant) from Dallas and had a few fun days with them before we left. There were a few days we'd stroll down a few beaches and grab coffee and a snack from Fonville Press, which has the best iced soy mocha I have ever tasted. Still. To this day. 

And, of course, a trip to Florida's panhandle would not be complete without dinner at The Red Bar. This dinner even has become an annual tradition (or however often it is that we find ourselves in close proximity to Seaside). They have the best mashed potatoes I've ever tasted and the menu is guaranteed to have a great catch of fish for dinner...the menu changes daily, so you don't really know what you'll get when you go, but they always have the mashed potatoes! :) Nate's newest thing is trying the Key Lime Pie at whatever restaurant we go to. So far, he has a favorite and none has been able to match thus far. They had a good one, but it wasn't as cold as we would have preferred, so it didn't beat the current winner. So the search will go on. 

Unfortunately, the trip had to come to an end. Neither of us wanted to go back to reality. We enjoyed the lazy days on the beach lounging in our chairs, chilling under the umbrella, watching the families, walking down the beach and exploring the homes, and just laughing...which we did lots of. Luckily, we came away with a baby name, and that's fun. I'm excited about that "check" off the list. But we had to return to a house full of gifts and furniture we had to get back to Nashville...so that wasn't so exciting, but we did it. 

Our "feets" against the white sand beach and the Gulf in the background.