Happy Birthday, Olivia!

Twenty-one years ago today, we welcomed my sister, Olivia, into the family.  My mom loves to tell the story of how I predicted her birth:

My parents had decided to stop after my brother and I were born.  No more babies.  They had a girl and a boy, and that was good enough for them.  Well, I wasn't quite as satisfied.  When I was four, I attended a pre-k program a few days a week.  Right before Thanksgiving, we were working on a craft. I have no clue what the craft was, but, apparently, our teachers asked us to list the things we were thankful for.  Of course, we all gave the typical answers...my family, my dog, my food, my house, my friends.  You get the picture.  I gave the same usual answers, but I also listed one not quite so usual.  I said that I was thankful for my "future baby sister."  My parents were shocked when the craft went home, cracking up about it, rolling their eyes behind my back, and showing it off to other family members.  Less than a year later, my mom was pregnant.  Surprise!!

I can still remember being totally, 100% sure that my mom was having a girl the entire pregnancy.  My parents are some of those who decided NOT to find out the sex of the baby and leave it a delivery room surprise.  I'll never forget riding up the elevator with my grandparents, walking down the corridor of the hospital, and my grandma stopping the nurse as she wheeled a tiny baby girl down the hallway asking, "Is this Olivia?"  It was love at first sight!

Sweet, sappy story.  How long did that lovey-dovey stuff last?  Pretty much until she could talk.  Or, was it when she started biting?  Doesn't really matter.  But, I do know that no matter how much we disagree or argue, no matter what measure of distance we have between us, I am so very grateful to have been blessed with such an amazing sister.

Source: images.search.yahoo.com via Kiri on Pinterest

I am so excited to see the beautiful things that God is making out of her life.  

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for my precious baby sister.  No matter how much she grows and changes, she will always be my baby sister.  Lord, I have been so blessed to have be given the opportunity to watch her grow over these past twenty-one years.  I am grateful that You sent her into our lives because they have been so enriched with her presence.  She is beautiful, she is kind, she is smart, and she loves YOU.  More than anything, I thank You for her salvation.  I thank You for growing in her a genuine heart that loves You.  I pray earnestly that as she continues to mature, You would further develop and deepen her commitment and relationship with You.  I pray that the decisions she makes and relationships she has would reflect Your perfect will for her life.  I pray that You would place people in her path that would help to grow and guide her in her walk with You.  Let her be blessed by friends and let her be a blessing to others.  

Father, may I always set an example for her that exemplifies a woman of grace and integrity and alone brings You glory.

In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Happy birthday, Olivia!

Travel Tuesdays: Apalachicola Style

Lately, I've been gushing over my recent travels, all while giving away basically no details.  Sorry, y'all!  It has really been a whirlwind two weeks.  Great weeks, but oh-so-crazy.  I live in Florida...the Florida panhandle, to be exact.  And, while I don't live at the beach, I live very near the beach.  Panama City Beach, just so we're clear.  So, when spring break rolls around, the locals find any and every reason to hightail it out of here.  Not that we don't love all of our visitors.  Truly, we love y'all.  Does wonders for the economy.  But let's be real:  things get kind of weird.  Which is why I've been a little MIA lately.  However, I have no travel plans for the next several weeks, which will give me plenty of time to get you all caught up!

When my sister, Olivia, had spring break a couple of weeks ago, she headed in town to spend it with family and a few friends.  My mom and I both decided to take a mid-week day off from work to head over to Apalachicola to shop and sightsee with her.

Apalachicola is a pint-sized town, located on the Apalachicola Bay and at the mouth of the Apalachicola River.  It is famous for the Apalachicola Bay oyster.  I know...oysters are a love 'em or leave 'em kind of item, but, around here, we are a love them family.  We've been scarfing them down regularly, thank you very much.

We destroyed these this past Friday night.

Apalachicola has relied on its prime location along the Gulf for a long time.  In fact, it was once the third largest cotton port in the United States.  Today, it's fishing and shrimping industry keep it on the map, along with the many historical homes and buildings that line the waterfront and are scattered throughout the town.  Many of these buildings have been or are in the process of being restored, and it was so fun to walk around and visit the little shops in the area.

The highlight of the day was, of course, lunch!  We ate at the Owl Cafe, a very well-known, prominent spot in the middle of downtown.  The lunch hour fills up quickly, and we had to wait a while to be seated.  Always a good sign when looking for a great place to eat!  I ordered gator and pork sausage served over grit cake, which is basically just pan-fried, block-style grits.  I cannot even begin to describe how delicious it was!  If you're ever in town, I highly recommend it!!

We spent the rest of the day wandering through town, shopping and chatting.  It was perfect.  We ended the day by driving over to St. George Island, which is a few miles down the road from Apalachicola.

Summer is only a short nine work weeks away, and I'm counting down like crazy!  I'm hoping to get more great day trips like this under my belt!

This is just trip number one.  More to come!!

Trips Down 30A

I'm always torn on the weekends between my love of sleep and my desire to get out and have some fun.  This weekend was not a sleeping weekend, which is all well and good, since spring break is only a week away, and I know I'll get plenty caught up then.  Fingers crossed...

With my little sis in town this weekend, my family decided to load up the bikes on Saturday morning and head over to Seaside/Watercolor to do a little scenic riding.  If you've never heard of Seaside before, you don't know what you're missing.  It's funny because I've lived about 45 minutes away from there my whole life but never knew how popular it really was until the past few years.  Since I started blogging, I've found post after post from others sharing about their love for Seaside, and it just really hit me that it's a paradise destination for so many people, and I'm blessed enough to go whenever I want!  The older I get, the more and more I appreciate where I'm from.  I never did growing up, but I'm glad it's finally sinking in now.  Maturity?  Yikes!  That's a scary thought...

Anywho, we all loaded up and headed there bright and early (and by bright and early, I mean 10:30).  By the time we got there, it was time to eat, so we tried out The Great Southern Cafe.  Holy moly.  It was uhh-mazing.  Seriously, so good.  I had the Grits A Ya Ya, which is basically gouda cheese grits with shrimp, shallots, mushroom cream sauce, and sweet potato straws.  It's the house specialty, and it did not disappoint.

Ok, I'll shut up and just let the pictures do the talking...

GRITS A YA YA

SEASIDE BALCONY VIEW

RIDING THROUGH SEASIDE

BIKE TRAIL IN WATERCOLOR

GELATO BACK IN SEASIDE

FYI, we did most of our actual riding in Watercolor, where there were awesome bikes paths and less traffic.  Seaside is a great place to bike, too, but we pretty much fell in love with biking in Watercolor.  So much fun!


Linking up with Leeann for Join the Gossip!

What I'm Love, Love, Loving...

It's Wednesday (insert happy dance)!  And no, I'm not being sarcastic.  Wednesdays are, once again, one of my favorite days of the week.  Yes, I know.  Mid-week slump.  I usually feel it, too.  But...as of last week, my favorite t.v. show is officially back on the air, which makes this slump day sooo much easier.

I'm pretty sure everybody and their Mama has seen this by now, but, if by some sad circumstance you haven't, you've got to tune in tonight.  Good, clean fun.

There are a few things other than Duck Dynasty that I'm loving today, so I thought I'd link up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday.


I'm loving my Daisy Eau So Fresh by Marc Jacobs perfume.  It went into hiding during winter, but I'm finally breaking it back out a few weeks early.  I've missed you, my friend.

I'm loving this recipe for guilt-free "ice cream."  Did you know that frozen bananas could be blended into a nearly perfect ice cream consistency?  Want a little more "cream?"  Add fat-free milk, like me.  Ahh-mazing!  I just keep chopped bananas in the freezer for when I need something to satisfy my sweet tooth.  This always does the trick and doesn't put a dent in my Weight Watchers points for the day.  (Of course, the whipped cream and caramel add a bit...)

I'm loving that I found this old picture of a 4th grade student's favorite holiday essay from a friend's class last year.  See if you can spot the funny....

I'm loving that spring break is just a few weeks away!!  I'll be one of the few that leaves the beach this time of year. :)

Panama City Beach a few weeks ago...pre-Spring Breakers

I'm loving that my sister will be in town on her spring break starting tomorrow!!  Woohoo!  

Short and sweet, my friends... I hope everyone is having a lovely Hump Day!!