Weekend Happenings, The Shortest Beach Trip EVER - Part Three, Blog Linkage

Good Friday morning!

RANDOMNESS #1 - The Chick is still gone. In case you've forgotten, she left Sunday night, and she's not due home until this coming Sunday.

I haven't been very whiny on the blog, but I've been excessively whiny in person.

It's probably a good thing I haven't seen many people this week.


This is a picture of Roxie two years ago when she was just a Freshman.

Did I mention she officially became a Junior this week?

And I'm about to get whiny... again.

It's going to be a long weekend.

RANDOMNESS #2 - Mike and I attended the Third Annual Taste of Birmingham last night.

Many different Birmingham restaurants prepare a small dish to serve at the event.

Basically, the wife (in this story, ME) saves a seat at a large round table in the middle of the room, and the husband (in this story, Mikie), goes from vendor to vendor and fetches small portions of food... over and over and over again.

It can be anything from coffee to yogurt to tenderloin to gumbo to sushi to desserts to orange rolls. The list goes on and on.

After you have sampled everything, you vote on your favorite. Mike and I agreed the best culinary offering was the warm white chocolate and raspberry bread pudding.

Oh... my... goodness. It just melted in your mouth and made you happy all over.

We also loved the crab beignets. It was a like a tiny crab cake wrapped in the lightest, crispiest, most delicious little pastry. So, so good.

Even though we were so sure everyone at the gathering would agree with our choices, the winner was a pork dish which was unbelievably good.

The Taste of Birmingham is an annual fundraiser benefiting the Birmingham Boys' Choir, so the Choir performed two separate times during the evening. Let me just say, we have some major talent in the Magic City.

When the evening was over and everyone was starting to go home, they started a fireworks show that was spectacular... and loud... and good.

It was a fun and different date night for us, and we went home with a new favorite dessert and a new appreciation for crab cakes.

I hope this becomes an annual event for us.

In fact, I'm going to put it on my calendar NOW.

RANDOMNESS #3 - Since Mike and I never know when we're going to have a night alone...

And since we are having them more frequently (maybe once or twice a week)...

I decided we need to start getting into our Empty Nesters mode.

I don't really look forward to being an Empty Nester, but at the same time, I don't want to be unprepared for what is eventually going to become a reality.

I told Mike to sit down with Netflix and pick a show we've never watched together, and after much discussion, we agreed on West Wing.

But here's the thing...

Mike doesn't want to watch an episode of West Wing every night. Just every now and again.

The Brothers and I pick a show and stay up until the wee hours eight days in a row until we finish ten seasons.

That's the fun way to watch a series.

That's the RIGHT way to watch a series.

No cliffhangers.

No commercials.

Just eight to ten hours of uninterrupted drama, drama, drama...

Eight to ten nights in a row.

Not only does Mikie not want to watch an episode of West Wing every night, but he also wants to play cards, backgammon and some other games on some of our Empty Nester nights.

Okay. Okay.

That sounded good to me.

We watched our first episode after church Wednesday night.

When it was over, I asked, "I bet you want to watch another one, don't you?"

"No. That was good. I think we've picked a good show, but I'm ready to call it a day."

We took the dogs for a walk, said goodnight to The Brothers (since they had gotten home during the dog walk), and went to bed.

Last night, after Taste of Birmingham, we once again found ourselves alone in our home.

"You set up Netflix. I'll make a quick phone call and meet you on the couch in five."

"I'm not really feeling like West Wing tonight. Maybe tomorrow night."

Houston... We have a problem.

The next time the opportunity arises, I'm almost positive he's going to want to play backgammon instead of watching West Wing... and I'm almost positive I'm going to be unhappy with his choice.

See. It's good we're working the kinks out of Empty Nesting now, and not waiting until it's a reality.

Hello, everyone. My name is Belinda... and I'm a TWEAKER!

RANDOMNESS #4 - The Shortest Beach Trip EVER - Part Three - Okay. We'll get right to it, and talk about Restaurants We Visited.


We did something a little different. We stopped at Durbin Farms in Clanton on the way DOWN to the beach. We have NEVER stopped at Durbin Farms. We have ALWAYS stopped at Peach Park.

But Durbin Farms was very good, and we ate a quick lunch there before continuing our journey.


We ate lunch late Friday at Cheeseburger in Paradise. It's a chain, but we had never eaten there before. It was beachy, Jimmy Buffet-y and fun.

We had a waiter named Bob-E. He was super cool.

I now refer to Mike as Mike-E. It's just a matter of time before he, too, will become super cool.


Since we had such a late lunch, we decided to have an equally late dinner. We hoped to miss the 90 minute wait on Friday night at a restaurant on the beach.

Pompano Joe's at 9:15 on a Friday night is an easy restaurant to get into, and Mike and I enjoyed a table for two overlooking the ocean.

It was dark, breezy and beautiful.

I had my obligatory plate of beach crab claws, and I was happy.


On the way home, Mike and I stopped at Priester's Pecans. I am sad to say, I had never been there.

After two (or three) laps around the pecan tasting table, the pretzel/dip tasting counter and the fudge tasting counter, we were ready to stop at Peach Park to right a wrong made two days earlier.

Durbin Farms was a great place, but it was not Peach Park.

And we are definitely Peach Park people.

And we felt like we would be cheating a little if we drove past Peach Park TWICE in as many days.

And it felt so good and so right to rock a little in the rocking chairs, and check out the peaches and other fresh produce and rock a little more.

(Some things don't need tweaking.)

One more thing. I didn't take a picture, but Mike and I ate at Mitchell's Seafood Market Thursday night. It was wonderful, wonderful.

At the end, the entire table ordered ONE slice of key lime pie, ONE slice of carrot cake and ONE slice of shark fin pie to share.

I would ride all the way to Mitchell's once a month, eat a piece of shark fin pie and drive straight home again if gas prices weren't an issue.

It was that good.

Okay. Let's move on to Things That Caught My Eye, shall we?


I'm always looking for sea oats when we go to the beach, and these were right outside our condo.


I always like to find a perfect palm tree. Again... right outside our condo.


It may be wrong, but when I get a new pedicure, I look at my toes all day long for over a week.

I'm not kidding.

And seeing it in print, I realize now, that's kind of sad.



I LOVED this huge Wall of Whales mural painted on the side of a marina on the way into Destin.

It definitely caught my eye.

And that's our little trip in a little nutshell.

I stretched it out for three days.

Aren't you glad we didn't stay longer?

Blog Linkage - Go to Six Sisters' Stuff under My Blog List and check out their list of "50 of the Best Comfort Rood Recipes." I dare you not to find one you like.

Weekend Happenings

1. Saturday morning, bright and early, Austin will be leaving to go with Melia and family on a week-long beach vacation.

Which means I'll be whiny this time next week, too.

2. I'm hitting the yard sales as soon as I say good-bye to The Man/The Boy. Josh needs a few things before moving day in a couple of weeks, and before I break down and buy the stuff at a store, we're going to see what the neighbors have to offer.

3. Mike is working sometime this weekend, and I'm hoping it will be Saturday afternoon. Since Josh is working Saturday evening, Mike and I could do something fun. (Like watch eight episodes of West Wing... in a row!)

4. We have church Sunday. We'll have Sunday lunch with Josh, and while he goes to a Sunday School cookout Sunday evening, Mike and I will probably be sitting on the front porch waiting for The Chick to finally come home.

I ask you, could a weekend BE more uneventful?

I hope you and yours have a memorable weekend. I'll be back Monday morning with Farewell Pics (The Man/The Boy), Homecoming Pics (The Chick), yard sale finds (Josh) and more, more, more.

Take care, and I'll talk to you next week.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda