Home

I always get tripped up in the airport when someone asks me (sweetly and politely!), "Are you heading home?"   Well, yes....and no....I live here....but I'm from there....and uhh....  They always think they are asking a simple question like "Is the weather nice outside?" so they usually don't understand my difficulty answering.  To make it even more confusing, Rob and I went back to Pensacola this weekend and I told him multiple times, both excitedly on the drive down and in the middle of busy parties, I feel like I'm home for the weekend.  Seeing old friends, falling back into our old routines, having people at your favorite restaurants ask where you've been...it's definitely bittersweet.  Maybe this is how it's just going to be from now on...leaving a little piece of myself everywhere we live and feeling that nostalgic "home" feeling every time we return.

Enough with all of this sappiness...we had an AWESOME weekend!  We managed to squeeze in seeing a bunch of friends and eating at some of our favorite places in those 2.5 days!  Rob had a SIM on Friday so as soon as he was done, we hopped in the car and made the drive to Pensacola.  I was completely antsy but the drive flew by because of my new roadtrip essential---SERIAL!  If you have not listened to this podcast, stop what you are doing and download it now for your holiday travels.  (I'm in the heart of it on episode 8 so please don't spoil anything for me!)  Rob and I were totally hooked and kept talking about how excited we were for the drive home to keep listening!  When we got into town, we checked into the hotel quick and ran inside to change.  We were actually coming to Pensacola for my friend Lauren's bridal tea on Sunday but we happened to be invited to fellow Junior Leaguer Megan's Christmas party the same weekend so we were able to do both!

Simply put, Megan's "NYC Under Pcola Stars" party was amazing and she was such a gracious hostess.  From the Hummer limo that drove you from an off-site parking lot to the food truck (Mimi's Bistro!) parked in the backyard, every detail was so well thought out and wonderful.  We spent the night drinking champagne, eating a ridiculous amount of BBQ chicken crepes and raspberry macarons, and catching up with friends around the fire pit.  It was perfect!  To top it off, Megan asked everyone to bring an unwrapped gift to donate and there ended up being over 200 gifts donated to Toys for Tots!


Saturday we slept in and then of course hit our usual routine of Bodacious Brew and the farmers market.  We also did a little shopping at my friend Lauren's new little boutique, The Sequined Magnolia, inside of Angel's Garden.  Saturday night was the Christmas parade downtown so we grabbed a couple ciders from WOB and watched a little of the parade before heading to Nom for dinner.  I'm a little biased because Nom Sushi Izakaya is the dream child of my friend Elizabeth and her husband but OMG!  Every single thing was beyond amazing.  Rob and I couldn't decide on anything...so we split everything!  Pork gyoza, handmade ramen, sushi, sake---everything is amazing!  Rob was feeling so nostalgic of his time living in Okinawa and I just couldn't stop saying "omg! this is so good!"  Since they haven't officially had their grand opening yet (but are hoping to have some desserts by then which I'm sure will be awesome), we took this as an excuse to head to, where else, but The Magnolia for some kitchen sink cheesecake.  It did not disappoint (does it ever?!) and we spent some time reminiscing about our antics there on the 4th of July.

We had all intentions of getting brunch on Sunday morning but ended up sleeping in late and grabbing bagel sandwiches at Bagelheads.  I dropped Rob off to golf and headed to my friend Lauren's bridal tea at her future sister in law Melissa's gorgeous house.  Lauren, Melissa, and I all met at our Junior League new member orientation and immediately hit it off.  She is getting married summer 2015 and I know she will be a stunning bride.  The bridal tea was beautiful and so nice to meet her friends and family before making the drive back to Meridian.

It was such a wonderful weekend and I know I need to simply feel blessed that Pensacola is such a short drive away and that we made such wonderful friends there in such a short amount of time.