42

Monday morning I got up to run but it was raining so I did an upper body weight workout. It's hard getting back into the swing of things since I've been out of town.

Monday night we had a Disney planning dinner at Cindy's. 

We were so excited to get our Magic Bands! This will be my first trip to Disney since they started using the bands.

Tuesday morning I got up to run & it was raining again. I sucked it up & ran a mile on the treadmill. That was about all I could take so I checked to see if it was still raining & it was just sprinkling so I headed out. My Garmin wasn't cooperating & wouldn't locate a satellite so I was running "blind". I got at least 3 miles done outside. It wasn't ideal but at least I didn't just quit.  

Thursday was my birthday. 42. Where did all that time go? I started the day with a 6 mile run.

I was a little worried about how I'd do since I haven't ran regularly the last couple of weeks but it was fine.

At work we get a cake of our choosing & I had just a regular cake from Ambrosia. White almond cake with butter cream icing & filling. It was phenomenal!

So pretty!

Since Kate Spade was having such a fabulous sale last weekend I treated myself.

Toiletry bags were something I actually needed. I've been using ziploc bags for a long time. Nothing wrong with ziplocs but I was ready for something cute!

I've also been looking for a goldish color clutch. For whatever reason I hadn't been able to find one. As luck would have it Kate had the perfect one.

It's rose gold, small & perfect!

I also bought a couple of things for gifts. Glad to get a couple of things off the list.

When we were in Fort Lauderdale I bought my birthday gifts.THANKS DEAN!!!

The Tory Burch bag I've been wanting. I went ahead & got the wallet too. It has a wristlet strap & I can fit my phone in it if I take out some things in case I don't want to carry the bag somewhere. The color is Dark Walnut. It looks darker in the picture than it really is. 

Last night Dean & I went to dinner at Roberto's. We haven't been in awhile & it's one of our favorites. 

Trick or Treat is tonight for our city because of all the bad rain we're supposed to get tomorrow. It's always fun to see all the kids in their costumes. Have a great Halloween weekend!

Toodles!

Girls Weekend!

Thursday after work I headed to Orange Beach for a girls weekend. We had such a good time.

We spent the entire day at the beach Friday.

The water was rough but we got in for a bit. It was cold but not unbearable. October is my favorite time to be at the beach.

I read, napped & ate on the beach & it was fabulous!

The sunset was really pretty.

This guy kept getting closer & closer. 

Then Cindy gave him a chip. He got really close. Y'all know I'm not a bird fan. I was ready to kill her! He must have thought Cindy was trying to kill him because when he was having problems swallowing the chip he moved away. A little while later he was back but close on his heels was a little boy. It was the funniest thing. He must have been about 3 & he only had a floaty on one arm & he chased that bird half way down the beach. He got really close a few times. 

Friday night after we all got ready we went to dinner at a place down the street from the condo called The Gulf.

It was so cute! You could eat out under the palm trees or on the patio.  It's really casual. On one side they have burgers & sandwiches & on the other side a taco bar! Guess what side I chose. I had grouper & grilled shrimp tacos & they were delicious!!! Pretty soon I'm going to turn into a fish taco I've eaten so many lately.

When we got up Saturday morning it was really cloudy so we decided to go to the outlet mall & shop & we had lunch at Lulu's, which I love.

We did this in record time! 

The sale at Kate Spade was too good to pass up. It's really a shame that none of us actually went shopping with anything in mind that we needed. LOL. Let me be clear - these are not all my bags. By this time the sun was out so back to the beach we went but it was cooler Saturday so we didn't get in the water.

 It was really windy all weekend!

Friday was a red flag day. 

The sunset as seen from the balcony!

It's been a busy few weeks. I have a break this weekend if you want to call it that. I have a race Sat. & a race Sun. but they're both 5K's & Saturday night is Halloween but at least I'll be in town. We leave on the 5th for Disney!

Toodles!

Key West Part 2

Friday at lunch we found a cute place to eat. It's called Dante's.

You could actually swim if you wanted to.

It's an outdoor restaurant but we were under the pavilion part. There was good people watching here too. I had a shrimp poboy that was del! It was along the wharf area where all the boats were docked.

I wouldn't mind being on a boat like this one!

We stopped at Sloppy Joe's for a drink & to listen to the live music and then went in Kevin's Irish Pub. We stayed there awhile listening to the live music. The guy was really funny & he was a good singer. Plus it was raining harder so it was the perfect place to hang out for awhile.

Later we had dinner at Red Fish Blue Fish. I had a blackened shrimp salad that was really good. We did a lot of eating.

At one of our stops we started talking to some locals & the guy told us he retired from the NFL. Dean didn't believe him but I overheard him talking to someone else & spell his last name so I googled him.

Everything he told us was true & we also discovered he's Dick Vermeil's nephew. He could hardly walk because his knees are so bad. His retirement job is to drive the golf cart of the hotel we stayed at around town dropping off & picking up guests at different places.

The Episcopal Church was gorgeous.

Saturday for breakfast we ate at Two Friends Bar. The NFL guy & his wife recommended it.

I love mimosa's!

The crab cakes benedict was delicious &  those potatoes tasted like French fries. Loved it!

We went to a Blue Heaven for key lime pie. It was so good! We also found out later that we should've had breakfast there & that they have something like 13 different types of mimosa's.

After pie we went to Rick's to watch football. There was live music, football & a dog. Yes, a dog. 

He was so cute & so good. You would've never known he was there. He never made a sound, just laid in his owner's lap.

When it started getting close to time for LSU's game we moved to Durty Harry's.

Perfect spot to watch college football! There ended up being a lot of Florida fans here (LSU was playing Florida) but they were so nice. We talked with them all night. After awhile the band started. They were great! They played all kinds of music that I liked. A lot of songs from the 90's.

Waiting on the game to start.

LSU won a nail biter so that was good. I'm not sure how many of you follow college football but  Tom Cruise was at the game. In Baton Rouge. 3 mi. from my house. Same thing happened a few years ago with Matthew McConaughey. I know Tom's weird but I've loved him since Top Gun came out.

Once the game was over we went to eat a late dinner. I can't remember the name of it but it was so cute.

We ate outside & had a view of the Hard Rock. I love that all of the restaurants there have outdoor tables & they're not in the back. They're all out front so you can people watch everyone on Duval Street.

Our hotel was across the street from a little bakery. They had these big cookies in their window & I wanted one every time we passed. After dinner we had one.

Warm, out of the oven chocolate chip cookie with pistachio & coconut ice cream. It was delicious!!

Sunday came way too fast & it was time to go back to Ft. Lauderdale. We stopped in Marathon, FL for lunch at the Sunset Grille. I had lobster tacos.

Really, really good! They came with a side of black beans & rice.

It was on the water & they had a pool. There were several restaurants that had pools. I hadn't seen that before.

Once we got back to Fort Lauderdale I did a little shopping.

Happy  early birthday to me!!

We flew home Sunday morning & it was back to the real world. For a few days anyway.

Toodles!

Key West

We left Wednesday evening for Florida. We flew into Fort Lauderdale & stayed there Wednesday night before leaving Thursday for the drive to Key West.

We stopped for lunch at Jimmy Johnson's Big Chill - ex football coach Jimmy Johnson. I had my first cocktail of the weekend.

A really good margarita!!!

I ordered fish taco's & mango slaw.

It was really, really good!

We ate on the patio & had a great view. 

Several people told us the drive from Ft Lauderdale to Key West was really pretty. Maybe our expectations were too high because we weren't impressed. It was 35 mph driving on 2 lane roads through cities with some glimpses of water for over 3 hours. Live & learn. Next time we fly directly into Key West.

We checked into our hotel, the Crowne Plaza La Concha Key West . It was a nice hotel on Duval St. in the heart of the city. We had a nice balcony too. My only complaint is the room was really small. It wasn't a huge deal because we weren't in the room much but there was no unpacking & setting up your stuff. 

We had a sunset cruise booked for the first night. There was a live band, drinks & hors d'ouevres. While we were waiting to board is when I spotted the first chickens of the trip. 

They were everywhere. Not the least bit scared of people & as you walked by it wasn't unusual to be cock a doodled dood at. So weird. 

This was the first & only sunset of the trip. 

We didn't have the best weather but it didn't stop us from having fun. After the sunset it started raining so the band had to stop playing. 

I was not great at taking pictures this trip. After the cruise we had a late dinner at Johnny Rockets and watched the Saints game. 

There was a Starbuck's basically attached to our hotel. I thought that was going to be dangerous but we actually only made one stop! We had breakfast Friday morning.

We took a trolley tour Friday. I really liked it because basically you could use it like a taxi & get on & off but only pay one price & it was good for 2 days. Plus, you got some history while you rode around town.

It rained off and on Friday which is why I dressed the way I did. Not to mention it was hot & humid. Just like home!

We walked around by the water.

This was at the end of a pier that was further out than the Southernmost point.  

We went to the Butterfly & Nature Conservatory. It was voted the #1 attraction in Key West by all sorts of people so we went. 

There were some ugly frogs.

My favorite thing were the flamingos. 

There were two.

Love their names!

There were butterflies just flying everywhere. Just flitting around like nothing.

I've never thought about butterflies actually eating. I would've never guessed they like bananas & oranges. Kinda weird.

Most of the butterflies were a really pretty blue color.

You can't really tell but the turtle was looking up at me smiling for the camera. 

It was a pretty cool place but it was so HUMID! Thank goodness the place wasn't very big because I honestly thought I was going to die! 

More pics to come!

Toodles!