spring break part 1: st armands, anna maria donuts and the tree graveyard

i'm sure you are all wondering: what in the world is julie doing now?! so, i'll tell you!

so...i was a little worried on friday night, when i hadn't heard from nicolette, because she had agreed to take me to the airport for my spring break trip, but i'd not been able to touch base with her, because i had to leave early to drop the boys off with mom and dad...and then when i did text her (around 7:30pm), i didn't hear back; i was worried about a delayed messaging, or that she might have had something come up last minute...but at the same time, i didn't want to keep texting and drive her nuts--#nottheannoyingperson so instead, i thought of a couple of different possible scenarios just in case. you can imagine my relief when i got her text the next morning around 4:30, asking what time she should come over.

and then on the way to the airport, i (always the one to be too literal and mess up directions by actually looking at the finer details of the signage-and analyze them) steered us wrong..fortunately the airport toll-area has a u-turn station, because we definitely passed up the first entrance to AA terminal C- #mybad. beyond grateful for the ride.

the flight itself was nothing out of the ordinary-got in a little coloring, and everyone around me pretty much zonked out-love the early morning flights! (i may have started with a little snooze as well). then i watched a little bit of the movie a guy sitting kitty-corner (nic, it really is a variant defined in the dictionary!) from me, because it had sub-titles, and seemed to be an oldie.

upon arrival, i was greeted by my personal greeter/driver, with a sign, no less!

i even moved closer to try to get a good angle on the sign- JROB! she did a great job pretending not to know me #jobopportunities

 my vote was to come straight back to the house and see the new place, and get started on unloading and sorting through her items that were in a storage pod. i love the new place! what a beautiful home! so we got the kitchen supplies out and sorted through them-washed a couple of loads and shea hand-washed several pieces, but now everything is in its place, and she can figure out what else she needs! the best thing we found: the QUESADILLA MAKER!!

and we opened the patio pieces! 3 pieces of choice furniture-the LEGIT OUTDOOR HAMMOCK, the bench (until the couch arrives), and the fire-pit...life is good and the place is coming together! this thing is going to be great for sleeping outdoors at night...just sayin'.

it's big-which means it's just right!

 and of course, the first things that she ordered had already arrived-and some of her friends who live in the same neighborhood had come by to help get the pool floats ready and mount the t.v. before i got here-

are these two great, or what?! they still need names, but it's like a stinkin' amusement park! 

 when we finished doing most of this, we took the short trip to st. armands and walked the loop, grabbed a little dinner and mojitos at the columbia- beyond filling and delicious! we tried a new salad with artichoke hearts and avocado-yummers! i will need to be stocking up on some of those for my own salads! we found the spice store (not that it was ever lost, or we didn't plan on going there anyway, because we did!) and of course, we had to hit up the samples at the nut shop-i love all of the samples! shea may or may not have eaten 4 malt balls...but that's nothing, because she saw an old lady grab a handful; proud of that old lady, LIVIN' the LIFE!! and while we were there, we saw that crazy lady with too many dogs!

there were about 7 or 8 of them, and she drew a crowd. they were so well trained

DAY 2
we decided to go hammocking-to find the perfect hammock-set-up! but first, of course, we had to stop at the donut experiment on anna maria island! always a must. so we got our amazing donuts-fresh and light--again, the donut machine and process reminded me of the homer price story we read in elementary school-a classic!  omg, the raspberry, though... and just walking down to the pier was the most relaxing thing; i could do that often. bad day? walk the beach/pier, it changes everything! it changes the mindset, and without exception, soothes the soul.

i haven't craved donuts in awhile, but there they were-we will go again!

not an easy feat in flip flops-

shea, the animal whisperer-this pelican was a star

then we took a short drive to longboat key, a turn-off into a neighborhood where there was a beach access that led to a trail where, as shea said, the perfect setting for a movie! we made our way through the trail to the "tree graveyard" as shea dubbed it so perfectly. there are so many trees downed on their sides with the roots sticking up. we found one spot to set up, but it only fit one hammock.

excellent place to set up 

and then we found a place to hook up both hammocks! the second spot was a little more difficult, but we did it (and by we, mostly shea-she's become a hammocking expert) some tall boys came by to offer help-but by then, it was almost all done, so we used them to take pics the next time they swung by!

while the place was perfectly ideal, we really needed to get the hammocks up a little higher, as about every 7th or 8th wave was big enough to break against the bottom of the hammocks-they're nylon, no big deal, but the water is still a little cool! so after being beaten by the water for awhile, we pulled it in and went for a walk around the point to where the boaters were partying by the bridge/near the sandbar, until we stepped in some prickly spurs, and had to pull spikes out of our feet-not the most pleasant part of the walk! then we got back to our stuff and laid out to get some sun (as if we had not already gotten some).

we'll have to keep working to get the perfect beach pic, bummer.

traffic was backed up-good thing there wasn't an emergency evacuation! when we got back, we ran some errands and grabbed some grocery necessities. salmon and veggies for dinner! delish! and a movie!

yum! hard to find the veggies you like in the quantity you desire at a restaurant-sometimes it's just better to make them yourself!

 let's see what today will hold!

 julie