Summer has arrived!  

Posted by Rachel in , , , , , ,

This weekend was filled with Robin Hood, throwing a bridal shower for Kimberly (roomie picture to the left), two birthday parties - one for Mom/Dad and one for Jaclyn, church, introducing Ni and Zhenkai to pancakes and a few other things thrown in (a couple of good workouts, sleep, cleaning, etc). And I know that THIS weekend is over, but when a friend asked me what I did LAST weekend, her response was, "That sounds like the ultimate summer weekend!" I hadn't really thought about it, but it's kinda true!

What do you think? Here's the run-down of last weekend:

Clearwater Beach condo with 12 girlfriends Friday evening and all day Saturday (I mean, we can take out the part where I got super dehydrated and kinda blacked out and ran into a table...)
Outdoor concert/festival Saturday evening with the girls featuring Lonestar and Martina McBride in St. Pete right on the water

2 hour road trip home with lots of sing along music, Jaclyn, and Brandi Michelle

Sunday evening was the book-end, spent grilling up a FANTASTIC meal with Nick, David and Laura

And by a fantastic meal, I mean a FANTASTIC meal.
Goat cheese turkey burgers with an apricot glaze from my new favorite blog find, Iowa Girl Eats
Grilled sweet potatoes with lime and cilantro
Grilled corn on the cob with garlic butter, lime and cheese
And, for dessert, grilled fruit with nutella and marscapone topping

What a summer weekend! What about yours? Are you enjoying the summer weather?





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Memorial Day weekend in Texas  

Posted by Rachel

After just seeing the MAXI ladies for a weekend at Lake Oconee in early April (picture to the left - oops, never blogged about that), I got to visit Texas for Memorial Day weekend and see a couple of them again! I wanted to take Nick and introduce him not only to the great friends I have in Longview, but also to the great state that I love so much. The weekend was full of tours of LeTourneau, cruising Longview, cuddling with Emily, back scratches with Lolly, playing games, eating at my favorite restaurants, enjoying the backroads of Texas, LAUGHTER, spending time on the lake, and more. Clearly, it was a GREAT weekend.

We started out by spending some time with Crystal and Kenny around Dallas. We went to Central Market (YUM! Free samples!) and Half Price Books. I've decided that Florida should get those stores.

Emily and Lauren got there to pick us up and we joined Benny, Andy, and Tim at Campania Pizza, which was delicious. Topped it off with a *free* cupcake from Dimples - yum yum. Plus, who doesn't love free?? What was not so pleasant was the 2 hour drive back to Longview that became a 3.5 hour drive because of a wreck, and caused us to get home at 2:30am.



Saturday morning was not the time for slowing down though, so by 8:45, Nick and I were at Chad and Sherene's to spend time with that sweet sweet family that I love so much. Then we went STRAIGHT to cook out with Brenda, Robert, Ryan and Samantha. I love the back woods of Texas, and Robert lives a BIT out of town. Good to reunite with my bookstore family, too.

We might have been exhausted, but then we went to spend time with Em, Ben, Lolly and Kyle (and Boo stopped by too) for the rest of the afternoon/evening. Longview Bingo Hall was probably a bit annoyed by how loud we were, but we had a great time laughing at the things that go on at the Bingo Hall on Saturday night. Oh the fun to be had in Longview...endless possibilities.



Sunday morning, we headed to Macedonia Baptist for my first visit since graduating college, I think! It was good to walk in and still feel at home and as if I know so many people still there. Then, lunch at Papacita's (of course) before heading out to Caddo Lake for kayaking/canoeing and grilling out with Lolly, Em, Ben, Chase, Jason, Natalie and Jamin. So relaxing and beautiful outside. We took it easy that evening, playing games at the apartment.

Benny cooked breakfast on Monday morning, and then we just hung around until time to meet with Lolly and her parents for lunch at Bodacious before heading to Dallas to catch our flight.

It was sooo good to see everyone again, athough it is always a little hard to leave them all behind everytime I have to fly back to Florida. I know that was a season of life, and I'm totally happy in my current season too, but sometimes I just wish the two could coincide more often. I guess I just have to learn to enjoy what times that I do get to make the two intersect, and Memorial Day weekend was a perfect little getaway.










Until next time, Longview!

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