Destin Days 2 & 3

Friday: Boat Day! Margaret and I, along with her brother and sister, took the family’s boat out to Crab Island. There were a ton of boats, but believe me when I say that we didn’t go unnoticed. How the heck would we wearing these ridiculous headbands? Oh, and matching bikinis. We didn’t purposely both pack them, but when we found out that we had, we couldn’t resist wearing them together! Dorks.

Look how clear the water is!

While on the water, we spotted quite the fancy party boat. We soooooooortaaaaaa kinda wanted to be sunbathing on the roof of that thing.

I also spotted a lime green boat!

And a pretty all white house.

After a couple hours in the sun, we met Mama Maclin at Dewey Destin’s, a seafood restaurant on the water. We shared the smoked tuna dip appetizer. It was surprisingly light on the mayo – thank goodness! It was delicious.

I had the grilled mahi basket with corn, potatoes, and coleslaw. I really liked how the seafood was simple but full of flavor. No nonsense in messing with fresh fish!

After such a light meal, we did something really naughty. We celebrated National Doughnut Day!! I still can’t believe we did this. Krispy Kreme was handing out free doughnuts all day long. Margaret’s little sister insisted that we get some and we didn’t argue. Mama Maclin even asked if we could have hats. As if we needed more crap to put on our heads…

Saturday: Pool Day! On our last day, we felt like being lazy by the pool. It was soso hot. The temperature raised to well over 100*. I liked it.

That afternoon, we four girls got pedicures. It had been too long since I had gotten one, and all the dancing at Trio had caught up with me…er, my feet? I got an orangey color that was strangely similar to that of a persimmon. I hate feet and I also hate that I’m putting a FOOT on my blog, but whatever, I hope you’ll love me anyway. Pretty please?

Next, we did a bit more shopping. I picked up this cute summer dress from Forever 21:

I also fell in L-O-V-E with one of Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Lovers perfumes at Sephora. Meet “G of the Sea.” This limited edition summer scent is “a citrusy woody floral with hints of crisp apple, magical water lily, and the sweet surge of crushed berries.” Mmmmmmmmmm. I might have to buy this.

Saturday evening, Margaret and I went to Baytown for dancing and drinks. We snapped a Blackberry photo and somehow a dude managed to creep in the back! Ha. 

We drove the 8 hours home today and I’ve been slowly settling in. I love vacations, but I always love coming back to my bed. Hope you all had a great weekend!!

Destin Day 1

This morning we awoke to heat. Heat and humidity. This was the weather before 9 a.m.

After breakfast, we got ready for the beach. We stopped at Wal-Mart (aka crazyland) for beer and fancy koozies.I think we got some good ones. Our koozies have two fine ladies on them – one with short hair doing some kind of awful dance, and another with long hair splashing in the water.

Hey, it’s like us on the koozie!

The beach here is so much prettier than the beaches in Charleston; the sand is white and doesn’t stick to you and the ocean is a pretty blue-green color. You can actually see your feet through the water.

Here we are with Margaret’s little sister on the beach. Yes, that is her little sister. I may or may not have been standing in a pit in the sand, but at 14 years old, she is still a few inches taller than me. Yet we have the same foot size. Um…

My goal is to leave Destin bronzer than ever – I think I’m doing okay.

After the beach we came home and made a little snack with some of my CSA veggies that I had brought with us. Here is a bowl of cucumber spears soaking in white balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Cucumbers are just immature pickles!

We lounged around a bit and I continued reading the book I had started while on the beach. Virginia recommended Little Bee and I snatched it up from the library before we left. I’m only on chapter 3, but so far it’s a great read.

Later in the afternoon, we ran over to the outlets. I picked up two pairs of shorts from Banana Republic. Dresses are fun, but I really love wearing shorts in the summertime.  

For dinner, we had some fresh snapper that Margaret’s dad caught this morning. Margaret’s little sister made a topping of sundried tomatoes, parmesan cheese, lemon, garlic, and cilantro – delicious. With the fish we had purple potatoes from my CSA box, green beans from Margaret’s garden, and sweet corn on the cob.

So far, we’ve had a great time and I’m looking forward to more sun tomorrow. It will be in the high 90s again.

Have you read any good books this summer?

What’s your preference: shorts or dresses?

The 9 Hour Drive to Destin, Florida

Margaret and I planned on leaving for Destin at about noon on Wednesday. Because we are both super frazzled, we ended up leaving at 1:15. Correction: I am super frazzled and she just took Dental school boards yesterday, so we both had to pack this morning.

Our first stop off the highway wasn’t until we were almost through Georgia, at exit 3. We stopped here because Daniel insisted that we go to Blue’s BBQ at this exit. Apparently it is a quality barbecue restaurant next to a gas station that he frequented while stationed at ….Georgia. Hmm..it sounded sketchy but we were hungry.

Unfortunately Blue’s was closed, even though they were supposed to be open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Oh, well! Maybe on the way back.

Lucky for us (mostly me), there was a Chick-fil-A at this exit! We stopped in and grabbed a sandwich, a fruit cup, and a strawberry milkshake. Out front there was a huge blow-up cow. You know I had to get a picture with it.

I also stole a flower from the bathroom. Sorry Chick-fil-A. I needed it for my hair.

Back on the highway we spotted an amazingly decorated vehicle belonging to a Marine Corps vet. I so badly wanted to take a picture of it, but we passed him too quickly. Almost an hour late, when we stopped for gas, he was at the same station! I snapped this pic before he could snipe us.

Next, we saw a beautiful billboard. Ok, let’s thing about this for a second. No needle? No scalpel? Wtc do they do? Laser the p-word? EW.

Almost 9 hours later, we were finally off the interstate with the windows down…91 degrees at 10 p.m. Holy cannoli. Suddenly, a “huge bug: flew into the window and right into Margaret’s lap. She freaked out a little until she could slow down. As she came to a stop, she actually drove like this…

Once she pulled over, she jumped out of the car, only to find that the “huge bug” was a fly. Yep. You can barely see it!

Today we are off to the beach!!