spring break travel: florida gulf coast

spring break, did you really happen or were you just a dream? its hard to believe that this time last week, i was in florida with my mom and grandmother. not your typical college senior spring break, i opted for a few days spent in perdido key, florida, with my mom and grandmother over the usual collegiate trip. i have been going to perdido and staying at sandy key condos since i was in diapers and it was just the escape i needed. the past month and a half have been stressful and trying, and a beach trip with the two women i admire most was just what the doctor ordered. i have always loved period key, nestled right next to pensacola and sitting on the florida-alabama line. there is no better place to go for white sand and clear water on the gulf of mexico.

we hit a few of our favorite restaurants but also tried some new ones that i know we will go to again. the drive to florida wouldn't be complete without a stop at durbin farms and a scoop or two of homemade ice cream. if only it was peach season! lillian's pizza is a tradition on the night we get there and it was everything we had been dreaming about. i am a pretty simple pizza girl (thin crust, light cheese, extra sauce with pepperoni) but it was heavenly.

the next night we went to a favorite of just about everyone, mcguire's irish pub. we decided it was best not to attempt to get near it on actual st. patrick's day, so we celebrated our irish heritage early. their 18 cent navy bean soup was delicious and i had that with an iceberg salad and some filet tips. we all sampled each others meals and not one thing was disappointing, as usual! i do regret not getting a burger just a little bit, as they do grill up a delicious burger!

since i was finally old enough to get past the gift shop, a trip to the infamous flora-bama was in store. we decided to eat across the street at flora-bama yacht club before walking over to the actual flora-bama. the yacht club was delicious and offered a family friendly side of the venue that has pull-up boat space, live music, firepits and seating! i had the chicken pontchartrain and ate every bite of it!

one morning we had brunch at brick and spoon in orange beach, a restaurant that had been recommended to us by some friends. it was a cute little breakfast spot that was a great way to start the day. splurge and get the beignets and the bacon, along with some of the grits! a little bird (aka mom) said their bloody mary's were amazing and another bird (mawsie) said their mimosas were light on orange juice and heavy on champagne!

on our last day, me being too sunburned to even put on a swimsuit and mom and mawsie being the nice ladies they are, we went into downtown pensacola to do some shopping and try a new restaurant. we went into a store mom shopped in when she lived in pensacola for her residency and we also picked up some great jewelry and a dress at a cute store called bluetique. we had an early supper at the fish house, a pensacola tradition on the water. hands down, it was the best meal i had all week (and clearly i didn't have a bad one). if you go and don't want seafood, get the bacon-herb crusted chicken but sub smoked gouda grits for the risotto. you won't be sorry. i ate a good amount of it and just couldn't eat another bite but lord i tried. taking a slice of key lime pie made in-house by their pastry chef was the perfect way to end the trip.

i couldn't have asked for a better spring break. i realized how lucky i was to have my mom and grandmother in my life when i was in tears on the couch laughing at their stories. they don't know how much i appreciate them spoiling me rotten on my last ever college spring break.

it was certainly a tease and coming back to knoxville on sunday was a big reality check. but with six weeks to go until graduation, the real world will be here before i can turn around! i am so excited to say that i am the newest addition to the Logo Chairs Inc. team in franklin. ending spring break with a job offer and acceptance was the icing on the cake of a perfect spring break. i am still on cloud 9 from accepting their offer and am looking forward to the future and opportunities at and with logo!

i should probably stop rambling here (and reliving my spring break trip) and get to work on the 60+ pages of supply chain reading i have and the multiple group projects that are coming due soon! i promise to post something fun soon!

xoxo,
clp

asheville weekend getaway

we made a quick little getaway for the long weekend to asheville! i have been wanting to go back to asheville for a while now (last time i went i think i was about seven and didn't appreciate it) and this weekend was the perfect time! with it being just a couple hour drive from knoxville, mom, daddy and phillip stayed at my place on friday night and then we loaded up and came to asheville saturday morning!

saturday we spent at the biltmore estate and biltmore village! can you say dream house? i am fascinated by the architecture and interior design of the home and life of the vanderbilts. so full of opulence and grandeur, can't even imagine calling that place home! before our audio guided tour (touristy i know, but definitely worth it), we ate at antler village (on the biltmore grounds) at cedric's tavern, which was delish! i ordered the charcuterie board (cheese, sausage, mustard, picked veggies and housemade bread) and it was so good. we all were quite full when we left!

after touring the estate, we drove over to biltmore village to shop around some and eat supper. unfortunately, most of the shops were closing by the time we got there, but there are some cute little boutiques as well as some stores such as j. crew and williams-sonoma to browse in. daddy and phillip walked over to two breweries, french broad and catawba, while mom and i shop! i think they certainly had a good time! for supper, we went the mexican route and chose cantina biltmore and all four of us were part of the clean plate club. i ordered the veggie quesadilla (definitely a cheat weekend) with grilled veggies and ate every last bite. their salsa and guacamole were great. i also tried mom and dad's side of cayenne-honey roasted brussel sprouts and they may have been the best brussel sprouts i have ever had. definitely something i would order again and that i want to learn to make at home! dessert was a sampling of cookies from well bred bakery and those were no disappointment either!

sunday was no day of rest. we started the day at lexington avenue brewery (delicious food and good beer apparently), went back over to the biltmore for the winery and wine tasting, then stayed downtown for the remainder of the day. while phillip and daddy went to as many breweries as they possibily could, mom and i treated ourselves to coffee, hot chocolate and sweet treats at the chocolate lounge. what better place to pass the afternoon than a chocolate lounge?! we walked around downtown some, watch some football at wicked weed brewery and then had supper at the highly-recommended restaurant, rhubarb. i think mom ordered the best with her goat cheese gnudi, but there wasn't one thing on the southern menu that didn't look good. southern living definitely didn't lie when they named rhubarb as one of the south's best restaurants. and since we were splurging, we ended the night with ice cream from ultimate ice cream, which was the ultimate treat!

since we all needed to get back to the real world, monday we just woke up and breakfasted at early girl eatery, another place we were told was delicious! it was the perfect way to wrap up the weekend! clearly, we ate our way and the boys sipped their way around asheville, but it couldn't have been a better quick january getaway! i love that the four of us are able to travel together and really enjoy each other even as we get older (i think we may have more fun now than when we were younger).

lucky for this old senior, i only have a three-day school week! i could get used to the holiday on monday and no class friday thing! i have got some barre3 workouts in the planner, as well as some blog posts floating around in my head, some homework i may need to do, work on friday and a soup and chili night planned for the coming weekend! have a lovely short work week y'all!

xoxo,
clp