Once there, the weather improved & the clouds magically parted – a good sign for fun to come, and an even better beginning to day 2 of our trip! After checking in at our hotel, we ventured to downtown Charleston to check out Fleet Landing for lunch, as recommended by our hotel concierge. Excellent recommendation – we LOVED our meal! Very cool location, too. The restuarant was situated right on the harbor, and was converted from an old Navy building into a very cute eatery after sitting dormant for 30+ years. Try the flounder sandwich if you go! Trust us.

After eating, we wondered around downtown taking photos, window shopping, browsing through the huge open air market, enjoying a small treat from Ben & Jerry’s (ok, that last part was all me), and relaxing in a swing on the pier that overlooked the water. After a short break back at the hotel, with ample admiration of the views from the glass-walled restuarant on the top floor, we made our way back downtown for dinner – another amazing meal, this time a seafood feast at world-famous Hyman’s Seafood. We were impressed by the recommendations of my friend Christy, of Southern Living’s high ratings, and of the multiple awards emblazoned all over the front of the restuarant, and we can now join in the hype – they earned it! So, so yummy…awesome atmosphere, great food, and great menu selections with daily specials. Are you hungry yet? After dinner, we had drinks before relaxing in the room, watching goofy stuff on TV, and chatting until we fell asleep after a day of adventures.

The next day we spent more time taking in the view from the tippy-top of our hotel – especially the marina & the panoramic expanse of the Ashley River – before gathering our bags and getting back on the road. On our way out of town we stopped in at a local coffee shop called Alchemy, and I am so glad we did! Not only was the coffee excellent – mexican mocha for me, dark roast for J – but they also had so many tasty-looking homemade treats to choose from! Homemade oatmeal cream pies, granola bars, muffins, you name it. We settled for everything bagels, and took our time at a table by the window in the cute little coffeeshop. Our drive home was a safe one, but a very long one due to more rainy weather and a detour due to damage on the interstate. However, we came home with heads full of happy memories and hearts that continue to beat together after 3 great years of marriage.

XO

We explored, shopped (I bought an amazing thing called a Kariza – I now want to start a collection!), and strolled a little more before settling in at Moon River for a couple of beers – yummy local brews! Then we posed for pictures in a lovely little park square before enjoying an amazing dinner of tapas & sushi at Tantra Lounge. Awesome atmosphere & amazing food! Go there if you’re in town…you won’t be disapointed. After dinner, we made one more stop at Molly MacPhersons for another beer & some Old Bay seasoned peel & eat shrimp that were to die for. We squeezed a lot of fun into one day, and we were just getting started. A very happy anniversary indeed, great memories were made, and good times were had with the one I love!

We spent Spring Break in Ft. Lauderdale and made plenty of time to relax, eat, drink, be merry, and bask beachside in the perfect weather.

More photos here, and a post to come soon!

Check out this article, and don’t miss the photos & video footage of funnel clouds someone submitted. Craziness. And, yes – there is something seriously wrong about a 70 degree day that gives way to severe storms and a 28 degree night just one short span of hours later…I am not sure how anyone with a brain can doubt global warming. I mean no one wants it to exist, but it can’t be denied or written off as myth. February tornadoes? They are least common in the winter, and there have been several counts in the past month or so. Eek…not a pretty scenario at all.

So, on a much sunnier note, I think you should check these guys out! They are one cute & talented couple!

Photo courtesy of Dave Marshall via 13WMAZ.

Photostrolling in the cold, from Plains to Americus to Andersonville, GA. And then back home for pizza!

Just as we were getting ready to go out, J in his cute new lime flops, and me all dressed up in a new top from Destin, flowers in my hair, a long white skirt, and strappy silver sandals, it started to rain. Really rain. It’s hard to complain, since we need it so badly, but it was just our luck to get wet, especially since we spent last night in and ordered pizza…while it was perfectly dry outside, of course. But, we didn’t let that cramp our style, and sloshed out anyway. We started the evening off with a few pints of Guinness at the Shamrock (good beer), before making our way to the theater to see Superman Returns (good movie). About 45 minutes into the flick, the lights came on and the screen turned gray…the first thing that came to my mind was bad weather, as in tornado weather. So, we looked around at all the other people looking around, and waited for a few minutes before Jerry went out to see what was going on outside (he’s such a brave man). Nothing. And no staff members to reassure us. Nice. Luckily, the movie restarted after a ten minute delay, and we continued watching Superman make up powers as he went along, doing all kinds of cool stuff. We both really liked it, but I think Kate Bosworth (Lois) is much prettier than she looks in the movie.

After the show, we braved the still steady rain and went to dinner. I suggested Taki, a brand new Japanese restuarant, and we were pleasantly surprised by the interior and the sushi. We even sat close together on the same side of the table…aww. On the way home, the evening ended with an all-out-all-80s iPod battle…which Jerry won, if you can believe that. Great night with my sweet hubby!

Autumn and I went to the Friends of the Library 39th Annual Old Book Sale today at the Center City Park in Macon. Mostly there was what you’d expect: a bunch of junk. However, there were some treasures, like Saul Bellow’s Henderson the Rain King, a novel I’ve been wanting to read for quite a while now. I also found a couple of Stanislaw Lem novels about his intrepid space explorer Ijon Tichy. The only Lem I’ve read so far is Solaris, but that novel blew me away. These should be fun, too. The other sf book I found was George Alec Effinger’s Irrational Numbers, a collection of short stories. I can’t say much more about this right now, other than I remember reading about him somewhere. The rest is non-fiction, like essays on Dryden and tragedy; Martin Buber’s I and Thou; William H. McNeill’s Plagues and Peoples; and Henry Mackenzie’s The Man of Feeling. Not a bad day. Thanks for taking me, A.

Last Sunday, Autumn and I went ice skating. Well, more accurately, Autumn skated while I watched and took pictures. I went with every intention of skating, but I was informed by this rude teenager, with much exasperated head-shaking: “no!” Translation: “I’m sorry, sir; we don’t have your size skates.” Well, we tried. I have to say, though, I’m sure I had much more fun watching Autumn zip around the arena than I would have doing it myself. I’m sure it would be fun — I do like to rollerblade, though I haven’t done it in years. When the weather gets better, we’ll have to dust off the rollerblades and try out the park by the river. Promise.