Dear Summer, please stay – part 1

this post and all of our fun adventures through WA! It’s always a good time spent with him. 🙂 He was quite the southern host you’d expect him to be! Knowing how much we love (and are lacking) a good culinary experience, he took us to one of his favorite spots called Rumi’s Kitchen. It’s a hip little Persian restaurant with a loungy vibe and mid-eastern menu. The next day (and sadly our last there) we went to a place with a fresh twist on burgers called Flip. Now although I’ve been here once before, Geoff had not and he needed to experience it before we continued our way further South. Rumi’s Kitchen… tasty little app plate with fresh goat cheese and herbs with olives and naan topped off with my entree plate of rice pilaf and (jumbo!) sautéed shrimp skewers. Oh, and my ‘dessert’ some delicious martini!

Mmm…my mouth is watering just looking at this again!
Fried pickles and onion rings with their special ‘Srirancha’ sauce, one of their many delicious spins on a burger, and…wait for it…Dunkin’ Donuts milkshake with some dry ice special effects (insert: oooo’s and aaaaa’s)
Our next stop down the East Coast train was sweet lil’ Perry, GA to visit my middle sis and her family. We were immediately hit with this welcome wagon … I mean, seriously. My niece made us an array of art awaiting us in our bedroom, not to mention the ‘self portrait’ of Uncle Geoff. And my nephew, well he just showed up with an array of cuteness. We enjoyed some good ol’ southern cookin’, drinks by our personal mixologist (aka my bro-in-law), and sweet family time.

Candy Land is so exciting!

Dance class (self admiration not included).
‘Bye now, y’all come back!’ After a few days in Perry, we hitched a ride further south to my hometown Jacksonville, FL. (wahoo!) We had a wonderful few days there visiting with family and friends, catching up, and relaxing…and soaking in the Florida sunshine (and rain).
Com’on in, the water’s just fine!
Marco! (Polo!)
My mom’s growing garden 🙂



I made it! (and could finally shut up about it!) 🙂
The rain eventually won, but not without a fight …
His & Hers drinks helped ease my rainydayitis pains.
Later that night we came back with my parents for another post-wedding favorite, dozen oysters at Sliders (times twelve!).

We took a nice little nightly stroll down to my cousin’s cute manly-with-style condo, complete with this sign…how appropriate! Don’t mind if we do! Taking direction well, we headed down the street to an old stomping ground of mine, the Lemon Bar. (How does life come full-circle and you end up taking your parents to a bar you regularly hung out at?) I never …



Gatortail, lions, and bears…oh my!


Dinner and drinks to celebrate birthdays! Poses at One Ocean for my bro-in-law’s bday…
Followed by photo montage in the bathroom…
Followed by regret… (I’m getting too old for this)
To finish out the week in Jax with a bang we had dinner and drinks for my friend Steph’s bday…
There’s just nothin’ like the girls you grew up with 🙂 A trip to Florida wouldn’t be complete without a little R&R at the family lake house…
Dear Summer, please stay – part 2, coming soon! I hope you enjoyed reading part 1 of our summer vacation as much as we enjoyed having it. What are some of your favorite Summer highlights? Please share 🙂
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