Vacation Inspiration

So we just returned from a "9" day vacation (3 of those days were driving) and I feel inspired! Memorial Day Weekend was spent in Tuscaloosa Alabama at the Wingate Inn. Chris and I drove with Ouisie on Saturday to Alabama for the Regional Soccer Tournament only to play our Houston rivals. We lost on Sunday after a considerable rain delay 1-0 so we jumped back on the road and drove to Charlotte (arrival time: 11:30pm). We got to spend 3 days in Charlotte during which we celebrated Dad's 65th birthday, hung out with the fam (including Patrick who was recovering from a recent ACL repair), went shopping at Dicks, and ate at an awesome restaurant (Crepe place). On Thursday we drove down to Daufuskie but had to back track a bit to meet Mom at Carowinds with a backpack we had left on the bench in the garage (Thanks for meeting us Mom!). The Carowinds exit brought back fond memories of humid summer days riding the Vortex and Wayne's World. We continued down to the beach and arrived at 2:30pm thus missing the 2:30 boat so we got a smoothie at Planet Smoothie (used to be my favorite but this time tasted like sugar water) and put gas (BP - it was the only option) in the car. We caught the 3:30 boat and were on the island by 4pm! We were excited about Ouisie visiting Daufuskie because this would be her first trip to the beach. We took her out to it on Friday and she did great! It was awesome to watch. She was off leash chasing the waves playing in the water and listening to our every commands. She was an all-star. Friday evening on our way to play a short game of tennis - I rode in the back of the golf cart feeling very content and revived - exactly what a vacation should do! After establishing that Chris should become a professional tennis player and I his manager and trainer we got back in the car and headed back to Houston. 18 hours (including many rest stops for myself and Ouisie) later we were back in Houston.

We were able to make a Bucket List for the Summer of 2010. Here are some of the things that we decided we should accomplish by the end of the summer:

1. Go Paddle/Yolo Boarding

2. Watch 1 World Cup Soccer Game at a Bar

3. Try a new restaurant each month (June. July. August)

4. Go to the theatre -- Wicked, the obvious choice!

5. And have parties in our backyard for ourselves -- imagine paper lanterns, burgers on the grill, icy margaritas in hand and our kiddie pool filled with water

I was also inspired to go through all my recipes that I have pulled out over the many years...there are a lot. So I decided I would try and pull a modified Julia and Julia and blog about my cooking. Now there are no guarantees that I will be able to keep up or even make daily entries but that is the goal as of now. It will be called the Recipe Review and I will publish ever recipe I make, along with pictures, and comments (based on availability).