No sense in letting you wonder from the title of the post ... nothing that earth-shattering is going on!
First, I wanted to share my recent relaxing trip to Hilton Head with you. My college roommate and dear friend invited me to join her at her family's condo for several days a few weeks ago, and I couldn't say no. I left Birmingham after work on Friday and met Honor and two of her friends from Chattanooga in Atlanta around 9:30 that night, and we drove until the wee hours of the morning until we got there.
When we awoke on Saturday morning, it was to this glorious view:
NOT A THING WRONG WITH THAT.
Of course, by the time Honor and I rolled out of bed (we've always been champion sleepers), Michelle and Anne Marie had been awake for a while. I don't think we actually made it out of the condo until around 2:00 to go in search of lunch. Oops.
We made our way to Sea Pines, because Honor said the hush puppies, crabcakes and fish at the Salty Dog were good. SHE HAD ME AT HUSH PUPPIES.
The view from our table was terrible.
Our lunch was great, and afterward I made the prepubescent hostess -- well, okay, maybe she was 22, BUT SHE LOOKED SO YOUNG -- come outside and take a picture of us under the sign.
Look. If you don't want people kidnapping your teenage hostess, don't put a bench right under your sign. Common sense.
Guess what happened after that. We went and shopped in the little Salty Dog souvenir shop (spoiler alert: I didn't buy anything), and then we went back to the condo and took naps. Actually, Honor slept UNTIL THE NEXT DAY. The rest of us got back up for a couple of hours and went grocery shopping -- I of course stayed up for a while Internetting, too, but ultimately the drive down the night before had turned all of us old women into SAD SACKS.
Sunday was better, I'm happy to report. We awoke refreshed and ready to eat breakfast food. At 11 a.m. So we drove over to Stacks, which is a great breakfast/brunch spot, and I ordered their famous creme brulee French toast. It was good, but not as good as the CinnaStack French toast at IHOP, in my opinion.
After that meal, though, we really felt like we needed to burn off some of the calories we'd consumed. We rented bikes from Marriott (they had them right there on property), and we pedaled down to the beach. "This is so much fun!" Honor said. "It's so easy to pedal!" Honor said.
Famous last words.
As it turns out, Honor had only ever biked on the beach at low tide. We were biking at high tide. THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE IN THE EXPERIENCE, INTERNET.
Let me just tell you, those are not what one would call "ideal conditions."
We rode a few miles, but it was pretty tough. We walked about the last half mile, I think, pushing our bikes through the sand. The wind was not helpful.
Eventually we made it to the public beach access point, where we were able to cut through to the bike path. I don't know when I've ever been so happy to see pavement.
PAVEMENT!
We hopped on that path and RODE LIKE THE BIKE PROS WE ARE.
Those miles went SO much more quickly on paved paths. Especially pretty ones.
We passed one particularly pretty bridge and stopped to take a picture because it was just gorgeous. I was on the lookout for alligators but didn't see one there.
That night we enjoyed a delicious supper at Marley's, which kind of has a Caribbean vibe. I loved their guacamole. And their mojito.
Monday -- our last day on the island -- Honor, Michelle and Anne Marie decided to go shopping at the outlets. I opted out of that adventure, deciding to stay at the condo and work on some blog posts. It was supposed to rain all day, and I wanted to try to get ahead on a few things anyway.
One thing I got ahead on was trying out Reese's new spread with green apple slices. It was nothing short of magical.
It did indeed end up raining most of the day, but about an hour before sunset, it started to clear. And when I finally looked up from my laptop, I realized the sky was glowing, so I grabbed my phone to take a couple of pictures.
I hadn't been to Hilton Head with Honor since 1998 ... I did us all a favor and went through my scrapbook to pull a picture from that trip:
And then I made her stand in the condo kitchen again to recreate the picture in 2014. Because I'm obnoxious like that.
We got up really early on Tuesday morning to drive back north so we could beat the S*N*O*W -- if you can believe that -- that was supposed to fall in Chattanooga that evening, stopping in Atlanta again so I could pick up my car and split off for Birmingham.
I got a hug from my new friends Michelle ...
and then headed home to greet my family.
It was such a wonderful trip, full of fun and food and laughter. I'm so grateful to Honor for taking me!
Oh, and about that "news" I mentioned earlier ... two days after I got back from this trip, we made an offer on a house about a half a mile from our current house, and it was accepted! Actually, it's a longer story than that, but it will have to wait for another day.
I waited to tell you about it because I wanted to make sure the inspection would go okay, and we just had the inspection last Friday. For now, it looks like we're moving forward, and we're set to close on it on December 22.
If you're the praying sort, we could use your prayers that everything goes well and that we find buyers for our current home. Thanks!
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