Back to life, back to reality...but not until I recount our holiday Floridian festivities!
I am excited to go over our weekend in my mind tonight, as real life always kinda smacks me in the face when I get home. Today it was with like 12 voicemail messages, tons of emails, all with reminders of "duties" for us to do. My ceilings still lack chandeliers, and I look around and try to control my feelings of panic at wanting to tear it all down and start fresh.

There's probably some sort of diagnosis for this recurring problem I have. Like post-vacation-anxiety-redecorating-disorder (PVARD for short) or something to that effect. When you have this disorder, you have a few consistently recognizable symptoms. I know these well, for I come from a long line of PVARD women.

1. Upon entering your home, you stare at it all like it's the first time you've ever stepped foot into this place.

2. It immediately disgusts you. Who could be living like such pigs?

3. Little details become excruciatingly painful, like the leftover breakfast crumbs that were dotting the ground under the breakfast stools, as we made our hasty escape to Florida last Thursday.

4. Even though I tried SO hard to make sure it was picked up and clean before we left, I still notice every thing as I get home, PLUS all the things I have been putting off for some time. Why have I STILL not painted my vanity? That is just unacceptable. I complain to myself. Where are my priorities?

I am convinced I probably need to seek some sort of counseling for this issue I have. Anyway... that's where my brain is today. Let's just hope it's half due to some serious PMS-ing.

BACK to the VA-CA! The first 2 adorable pics are from our first romantic dinner out. That restaurant was so fantastic! It was beautiful and yummy and such fantastic ambiance! I swear, that means as much or more to me than the food. I will state that Mark had the best chocolate dessert (a volcanic or dark chocolate cream filled cake) he has EVER had. He was like dying over it. It was all great. We followed that with wandering around the private yacht club that bordered the restaurant, holding hands and just quietly walking together in Coconut Grove. That just sounds romantic, right? SO SWEET.





We quickly established a little routine to our days. First- we sleep in to any desired time, then we'd go out and indulge in a big Jamba Juice for brunch. We'd then head out to the beach with favorite snacks- peanut butter pretzels, gushers, all natural Cheetos, organic fruit rolls, and some kettle cooked chips. And bottled water.

After several hours of getting baked, swimming, and walking up and down the beach, we'd go in, take a shower and get ready for our "dinner out" I LOVED having the free time to take a long time getting ready. I did my hair any way I pleased, (a luxury because I am usually running so late I have to always compromise on the hair- it's usually in a ponytail.) wore fake eyelashes, and had planned my cute outfits for every night.

One day we drove our convertible rental up A-1-A all the way to Palm Beach, which took a while- but seeing all the dramatic and beautiful homes was a great sight see, as well as following the beach most the way. We spent nearly that whole day wandering up and down Worth Avenue where it feels like you are in NYC for all the high end designers. We met Dave Thomas's grand-daughter working at GUCCI. She was married and sweet. We talked all about Columbus and the good things here in our humble hometown.

Another day we decided to do something fun- so we tried tandem para sailing. It was a blast! Very fun. We went up to 1000 Feet, or so they said. It was a tad scary- but I didn't let myself dwell. (At least, as Mark put it so comfortingly to me as we floated above, "If you did fall, you'd probably have time to look down and pick out the shark you'd like to have eat you." Just great.

As long as we've been married, Mark tends to take WAYYY too many pictures of me. It's unnecessary, but sweet cuz he's always ohhing and ahhing at how cute he thinks I am. This was on the way out into the water for the para sailing adventure. There was a HUGE Princess cruise ship in the background docked behind us.
This was just one of the gazillion mansions we took in.











My favorite night was our last. At a most fantabulistic place that was ranked as the #1 most romantic restaurant in Southwestern Florida, it shined like a European museum or castle, only it was cozier. It was cool in that the outside had no sign, nothing showing or stating what it was. Clearly it survives off reputation alone. It was ornately gorgeous and the food matched it perfectly. This time it was MY turn for a DESSERT-Attack! I had this thing that was called a Raspberry Douluettan-blah-blah-blah - all of which I completely couldn't pronounce- but the sweet powdered sugar dusted flaky pastry layers combined with loads of fat fresh raspberries, a heavy whipped cream, and an intense raspberry sauce made it a dream come true. I could eat it morning noon and night I SWEAR!












So that was a great end to our trip. We did a teensy tiny bit of roaming around Miami beach and a little was more than enough for both of us. It was WAY too hoochie mamma and icky for us. We left this morning at 6:30 am and ended our vacation and our summer with a bang.