Three Little Riggs: March 2012

I’ve been pretty busy at work lately and a little preoccupied at night with searching for houses and as a result my posting frequency has suffered a little! On that note, I told Kevin a couple weeks ago that before we get a house and a dog and all the responsibilities that come along with that, we need to take a spontaneous little weekend beach trip. Kevin responded with “How about this weekend?!” So off we went! My mom’s friend Nancy has this adorable little place in an old Panama City Beach hotel and she was nice enough to let us stay there for a very reasonable rate :)

It was just perfect! I sounded like an old lady worrying if there would be high school and college spring breakers surrounding us, but as you can see, there weren’t! Nancy’s place is in a perfect little spot where there are no crowds but just enough activity to do some people watching :)

In my description of our trip it will probably sound like all we did was eat, but we did lots of relaxing and hanging out on the beach too! Food is just how I remember our travels – what we did that day, where we went. If I don’t eat some good food in a place I feel like I never went there.

So, we got there around noon on Saturday expecting there to be thunderstorms because that’s what the forecast said, but we were pleasantly surprised that it was nice and sunny! Maybe a little too sunny because I still have the sunburn to prove it.

We laid out on the beach for a while and then walked down to Sharky’s where we sat outside by the beach and had a delicious shrimp po’ boy and grouper. Then we walked back down to our spot on the beach and hung out until the sun set.

That night we rode around a little looking for a place to eat. The “strip” was a little crowded with spring breakers so we ended up at Pier Park – a fairly new development in Panama City where there are lots of restaurants and little shops across from the pier. It is super cute and nice to walk around, but it's full of chain restaurants and we typically try to avoid going to those when we travel. But we ended up going to The Back Porch there and it was pretty delicious! We split calamari and crab legs and it was just what I wanted.

The next morning we woke up and had some yogurt and mimosas and then took a long walk on the beach. Wish I could do that every morning! We spent a few hours on the beach (Kevin finished the last book of the Hunger Games and I read some magazines) and then we went to the bay area of Panama City to check out this place my parents and Nancy recommended, Hunt’s Oyster Bar. Well it’s closed on Sundays! So we ate at another place that was right on the bay, Uncle Ernie’s. It was really good! We got the smoked tuna dip and grilled seafood platter, yum!

Then we headed back to the beach and enjoyed some margaritas and another beautiful sunset.

We got a little hungry later that night so we walked to the arcade down the street and got hot dogs. We even played some of the games and it turned out to be a really fun night! After the arcade we walked down and got some ice cream from a little place Nancy recommended, Homemade. It was delicious and as you can guess, it was homemade.

On Monday morning we did a repeat of the previous morning and enjoyed our last few hours at the beach. We left around 2:00 and ate lunch at Hunt’s Oyster Bar on our way out. Perfect ending to our trip! We had a half dozen oysters of each: raw, baked w/ parmesan and butter, and three cheese. Then we had the fried grouper and shrimp platter, and a slice of key lime pie to eat on the way home.

And we are now on a strict diet :)

It was so nice to have a little weekend away. We resume our search for a house tomorrow! And Kevin has found a breeder he wants to buy a German Shepherd from; they’ll have a litter ready in July! Looking forward to this summer!

It's mine, I spend it.

We have officially begun the house searching process! Every time we ride around and look at houses we end up bouncing our shoulders and singing this ridiculous song. Pretty sure we should be listening to some gospel music so we aren't tempted to spend everything we have!

Anyway, we are looking in the Roswell area. Open to Alpharetta, Johns Creek, etc. but focusing on Roswell first. In addition to location there are so many things to consider! It's exciting but a bit overwhelming. How much do we want to spend? Three or four bedrooms? How much are we willing to update and how much of a premium are we willing to pay for updates that are already made? How big of a backyard do we need? Our lease is up on July 1st so hopefully in the next couple months we'll find something we want to put an offer on!

We have really enjoyed living in our apartment in Dunwoody, but we are looking forward to having a house! With a yard for dogs! a bigger kitchen for chef Kevin and baker Natalie! cell phone service because we won't be in a dungeon (I know our family and friends will be happy)! no neighbors fighting so loudly above us that we call the police on them! Ha...so yes we are ready for a house, but we have loved our apartment. It has been our first home. Many parties have been hosted in the clubhouse. Fun days by the pool. Nice strolls to Dunwoody restaurants. Wal-Mart conveniently placed in our back yard. Memories of loving each other and loving Little Floyd.

We gotta grow up a little before we get a house though. We joke with each other that we are like college roommates living together here. We don't feel like doing the laundry, cleaning the kitchen, making the bed (pshh that's for adults!). We invite people over so that we are motivated us to clean. So the next few months are going to be operation "Get Our Sh** Together". Excuse the language. We are going to clean, exercise, eat healthy, pray together, and love life. Oh yes, we have even made a poster. Here's to preparing for a house!

A little montage of fun memories at our first home together...