Gaining 20 lbs.

So when we headed to Georgia I was expecting nothing but good old southern cooking.  Well, that is one aspect of Savannah that I had entirely wrong.  Savannah is a college town, home to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).  The town is full of unique and amazing little places to grab a bite to eat.  I never expected to find French, South African, BBQ and ice cream that were all out of this world.  

 Zunzi's was a little hole in the wall that only did take out.  Steve and I ate there twice throughout the week and the other couple with us ate there 3 times.  Let's just say it was yummy.  The sandwiches were so original.  Steve had a salmon sandwich while Ava and I went for the chicken pictured above.  Ah.May.Zing.

Mrs. Wilkes' Boarding House was the traditional southern food I had been thinking of.  We waited for almost an hour to eat at a table full of people we didn't know but we had a great time.  There was fried chicken, meat loaf, pulled pork and every kind of side you could possibly want.  It was served family style on the table and they just kept the food coming.  We needed to be rolled out of that place we all ate so much!

Wiley's Championship BBQ definitely delivered as well.  I had a brisket sandwich that didn't even need sauce which I think is a sign of great BBQ.  Steve had one of their specials that day which was a smoked corned beef Reuben.  Since we got home he's been trying to figure out how to recreate that sandwich.  Ava had a little pulled pork slider that she porked down too :o)

River Street Sweets and Leopold's Ice Cream was our go to for something sweet.  River Street Sweets had pralines and caramels and brittles and anything else sweet you could possibly want.  Leopold's was an old fashioned ice cream parlor that had the creamiest ice cream I've had in a long time.

If you ever make it to the Savannah area I would recommend any and all of these great food spots.  

Next week will be back to normal as far as posts go.  I have a few recipes of my own to share as well.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.  We're hanging out with friends and family and playing our own Minute to Win It game.  Should be fun or very very entertaining at the least!

Hilton Head

We spent 2 sunny filled days on the beaches of Hilton Head and it was a perfect break from the walking of Savannah.  We have never been to Atlantic beaches only the Gulf so I was anxious to see the difference.  

I was pleasantly surprised by how nice and compact the sand was which made it super easy to walk on.  Ava loved sitting on the edge of the water and building drippy castles.  She sat for hours playing and building things in the sand.  Steve and I took turns playing with her in the sun and then relaxing under the shade of the umbrella.  There were plenty of things to discover and one day her friend Carter was there to play with her as well.  

We can't get enough of the beach.  Love. It.

Sunny Savannah

We traveled to Savannah for a week with our friends and their little one.  Savannah's a place I've wanted to visit for a while now and I somehow convinced the rest of the crew to come along too.  Steve kept asking me the weeks leading up to the trip, "So why are we going there anyway?"  I tried explaining that it's a city with a lot of history and it's really pretty but that didn't sound like a reason for us to drive 14 hours to get there in his mind.  He was game though and for that I was very appreciative.  I still don't think he knew what to expect until we got there.  

We stayed in a nice little apartment in the historic district which was right in the heart of everything.  We did lots of walking (in 90+ degree weather), had a great tour by Savannah Dan whose wearing the stylish suit and hat above, ate a ton of great food which will have it's own post later and relaxed.  Some of the highlights of Savannah were visiting the creepy yet beautiful Bonaventure Cemetery, touring the Owens-Thomas House, walking the riverfront, strolling the many streets and squares of this beautiful city and visiting Old Fort Jackson.  There were fountains for the kiddos to run through and lots of friendly people sitting out enjoying all that Savannah has to offer.  If you've ever thought of visiting, I can say that you definitely should.  Beautiful, southern city with lots of personality.

Vegas, Baby!

Our girls trip was a blast.  Relaxing and busy all at the same time.  None of us are gamblers, (I think I lost a total of $3 in the penny slots) but there was plenty for us to see and do. 

We saw almost every major hotel.

We stayed at the Paris Hotel, and it was perfect for us.  Very cute and great restaurants.  Not to mention the Eiffel Tower, too!

We ate a ton of food but ironically this was the only picture I had of all our eating.  This was a pretzel from Serendipity 3 at Ceasars Palace.  We also had the frozen hot chocolate...yum!!!

The Cirque Du Soleil show was in a word, AMAZING!!  All 4 of us agreed we would see it again.  It was unlike any show I have ever seen before.   

The Bellagio fountains were across the street and gorgeous to see especially at night.  If only George Clooney would have shown up...

Lots of art to take in...

and lots of beauty to soak up.

Each day, my mom and I hit the pool for a few hours to relax.  Great weather and people watching.  (The book I read was really good too, in case you were wondering :o)

I had a great time with Amy and our moms.  It might be something that we do every other year or so.  New York was talked about for our next trip.  I'm glad to be home and back in a routine though too.  It's good to be a mommy again.  I've got that itch to create and my new sewing machine arrived while we were gone.  I've got just the project to break it in, too.

Scotland

My final blog of the UK...yay!! Scotland was a a great way to end our trip. We arrived in the city around 5 and made our way to the B&B. It rained that night, so we took a cab there and by the time we unpacked our bags and chatted with our hosts it stopped raining. Steve and I packed our umbrellas and headed out to explore a little. We didn't stay in the old town where all the touristy things are so we just explored new town a little. We ate at a great little Italian restaurant near our B&B. The crazy thing about Scotland during the time we were there was that it didn't get dark until around 10:30 which was great for us. The down side was it got light there around 2:30AM!! The first morning I woke up thinking it was around 7AM only to find our it was 2:30. It took a little getting used to but after all our walking we crashed pretty easily each night. Anyways, the first night we saw the Sir Walter Scott Monument. We didn't venture up the 200 something stairs but it was a stunning monument. The next day we walked over to the Edinburgh castle at the top of the Royal Mile. We had a very lively tour guide who took us around the castle as he told interesting stories that we never would have known wondering around on our own. It is really amazing to think about people building this castle on the side of a cliff. While we were visiting there was also a small parade that had bagpipers. We were so excited to hear the bagpipes but by day 4 we had had enough!! Every place we went had someone playing the bagpipes and more often than not they were not good. In order to see more of Scotland, we took an all day trip into the highlands. Our driver was a young guy who was very interesting himself. We stopped to see Hamish the Hairy "Coo." (aka cow) He was quite cute. In the highlands, the cows have adapted to the harsh weather. The long hair protects their eyes and keeps them warm during the long winters. The highlands are also covered with sheep. These are a few of the friends we made along the way ;o) There little black faces were so adorable. Our farthest stop on the highlands tour was the infamous Loch Ness. We ate lunch next to the loch keeping our eyes peeled for Nessie and even took the boat tour to hear all the Nessie stories. We left a little disappointed but the Loch is truly beautiful. Our last day, we decided to take a tour of the Underground City. A little creepy but still fun to explore. The only way to see the underground is to pay to go on a tour...a haunted tour. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate scary things. Well, our tour guide did her job well because she scared my silly. The underground is not well lit and the stories she told led my imagination to wonder a bit. I was happy to see daylight although it wasn't much daylight because it was raining.

We spent the rest of our last day wondering the Royal Mile and picking up a few souvenirs. We had a long and very busy vacation. We are very fortunate to travel as much as we do. I know these are memories that will last a lifetime. I'm already trying to figure out where to go next but the little one will be going with us. Two weeks was too long without her. We also want to travel with friends. I love traveling with Steve because we do travel so well together but it was so nice to have Hart and Valerie with us for a bit. Friends will only add the to memories and the stories.

Off to fix dinner for the family and stop reminiscing about our travels!

Peaceful York, England

I have had so much time away from the computer that I didn't get a chance to finish up our UK pics. We took so many pictures on our trip that are truly stunning. I just never know what to do with them. They just end up sitting on my hard drive waiting for something creative and fantastic to be done with them. If you have any ideas I would be more than happy to hear them!

Anyway...Our 3rd stop on our trip was the small town of York. We stayed at a great B&B called the St. Raphael Guesthouse. Dom and Zoe were our age and super friendly and helpful. I would highly recommend staying there if you are in the area. The nice thing about York was that everything was within walking distance so there was no need for taxis or buses which is very nice.

The first thing you notice when walking through this town in of course the Minster. At this point you should know that every town has a Minster (and an Abbey for that matter!) We ventured up the tower at the Minster and were very impressed by the views. The shot below if from the halfway point of the almost 700 stairs. The trek is not for the weak hearted but so worth it.

There is a very cute pedestrian street called the Shambles which has tearooms, candy shops and any other shop you can imagine. There was a great yarn shop there too but I didn't indulge. The street looked liked a set from a Harry Potter movie. I kept looking for Hagrid to no avail...

I mentioned the Abbey earlier but this was a little different from the other Abbeys we had seen on our trip because this was only the ruins of the Abbey. It was gorgeous though. I could see having a wedding there if I were to do it over again. You can see in the picture below just how perfect that would be.

The last 2 shots are of an amazing dinner we ate at Cafe No8. Bistro and the city wall. It was so perfect. And talk about romantic! We ate out back in the garden and the food was to die for. If I knew I only had one meal left I would be on my way to York in a heartbeat. I'm drooling just thinking about it! From the bistro you could see the city walls that surround York. After dinner we climbed the stairs to the wall and wondered around York to work off some of our food and take in the city from a different point of view. York was a dream...

One day we hope to go back and take some friends with us...anybody game????