Tampa Birthday Surprise

Chrissy and Mike moved to Tampa this summer and we've been talking about getting down there to visit them ever since.

It started with a conversation between Sara and I on when we could visit and turned into "would it be crazy if we flew down for Chrissy's birthday and tried to surprise her?" Mike loved the idea and we convinced Steph to join us as well (with her flying in from Charlotte).

Mike managed to keep our secret (it was easy for Sara, Steph and I since we only talk to Chrissy every few weeks, but Mike had to live with the secret for two months!) and although she knew Mike had something up his sleeve I think she was truly surprised.

We flew in Friday morning and Mike picked us up at the airport while Chrissy was at work. We hit up the grocery store for some snacks, birthday cake ingredients and booze and then set to work making their living room a bit festive.

(Notice Ali in her banana Halloween costume):

Steph preparing the cake:

When Chrissy walked in, Sara greeted her as Steph and I hid in the kitchen. Lots of screaming and hugging ensued.

I came out next and stood behind Chrissy while she was talking to Sara and overcoming her shock. I finally had to tap her on the shoulder, and she whirled around and the screaming started all over again.

We all chatted a bit and then took her over to look at her cake, where Steph was hiding behind the counter. It's safe to say she officially lost it at this point. It took us all a good 10 minutes to stop shaking, we were so wound up. I've never done anything quite like that before and it was so exciting! The anticipation, the planning and then actually pulling it off -- pure awesomeness.

We popped some bubbly, devoured some homemade guac and cheese and crackers and spent the afternoon catching up.

Then we got ready for dinner and hit up Ella's, an awesome restaurant Chrissy and Mike have found that was absolutely delicious and had a really fun atmosphere.

Before dinner:

And a silly shot:

Saturday was spent exploring Tampa, seeing Chrissy's hospital and the beautiful Davis Islands:

Then mimosas and yummy salads at Cafe Dufrain on the waterfront:

Followed by wings and nachos at PJ Dolan's while watching the UNC/NSCU football game.

The game didn't go our way but birthday shots made it better!

And finally, grilling out at Chrissy and Mike's (yes, we ate about ten different times on Saturday), a rousing game of Cranium and birthday cake.

It was an awesome weekend full of talking, eating, drinking, exploring, more talking and enjoying the gorgeous weather of the Sunshine State. I so enjoyed being able to spend the weekend gabbing with my girls and can't wait to do it again.

Thanks Mike for helping us pull it off (and for being a devoted blog reader!) and Chrissy for being such a good host and allowing us to crash your birthday. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

P.S. - I've changed the commenting system on the blog, so hopefully it will be easier for you to leave me some bloggy love. I know it was a bit confusing before if you didn't have a Google account, but now you should be able to sign in using Twitter, Facebook or just put in your email address and name. Try it out and let me know what you think. If it still sucks, I'll change it up again. Because y'all, comments really make my skirt fly up.

Excellence Playa Mujeres

We celebrated our three year anniversary last week in Playa Mujeres, Mexico.

We spent our honeymoon at Excellence Resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico (about 30 minutes south of Cancun) and absolutely loved it. As soon as we left, we knew we wanted to get back one day. So we planned our three-year anniversary trip at another Excellence resort. This time we decided to try out their Playa Mujeres location, which is about 30 minutes north of Cancun.

Although we didn't think it was possible, we loved Excellence even more this time around. The two resorts were remarkably similar (same restaurants, bars, and general setup) but this location was just a bit newer and nicer.

Excellence is an all-inclusive resort, so the only thing we had to worry about was what drink we were ordering next and what restaurant we were eating at that night. We couldn't even be bothered to leave the resort, because we were too busy sunning by the pool, swimming in the ocean, lounging on our outdoor bed and eating and drinking obscene amounts.

Oh, and did I mention that we got upgraded to a "swim-up" room for free? (Meaning you can actually walk out your door and into the pool.) And as return guests, we were gifted with some Excellence swag (polo shirt, hat and beach bag).

But by far the best thing about Excellence is the service. You are literally waited on hand and foot. Maria, our poolside waitress, knew our drink orders by heart. We didn't go to a single restaurant without being greeted as Mr. and Mrs. Wade and having our chair pulled out for us and our napkins placed in our laps. Our room was cleaned twice a day, including turndown service and restocking the free minibar daily. Needless to say, it was not an easy transition back into the real world.

So let's dive into the pictures shall we? But first, a little tour of our room:

If only every day could be started with mimosas:

My favorite drink is the "Excellence martini." I had waited three years for this drink and was so excited to finally have it in my hands:

Lee's ceviche at Agave, the Mexican restaurant:

Best nap spot ever:

These iguanas decided to oversee our nap:

One night, we stumbled upon the "1001 Nights" themed dinner on the beach. Middle Eastern food served right on the beach, complete with hookah lounge and fire show.

Chef at the beach grill showing off for Lee:

Anniversary dinner at Spice, the Asian restaurant, on our last night:

We LOVE the Excellence toiletries, so we may have hoarded them a bit. Our loot all lined up when we got back home:

We were sad to see our trip end, but glad to see Sugar and get somewhat back to normal. Hopefully we'll be able to make it back to Excellence for a third time someday.

(If you're looking for a fabulous vacation, be sure to check Excellence out. And no, they are not paying or perking me to say all these nice things about them. I just love them that much.)

Topsail Island Beach Vacation

We're getting back into the swing of things after our family beach vacay at Topsail Island last week.

My mom rented this ocean-front townhouse -- it was the perfect size for the five of us (Mom, Dad, me, Lee & Erin) and the ocean views were amazing. We've never stayed in an actual "ocean front" house before, and I think we might be forever spoiled now.

To say we took it easy would be an understatement. In fact, I couldn't be bothered to even take out my camera the first half of the week. Every day we went out on the beach and swam, read, and caught some rays.

Of course, Lee and Dad did some fishing.

And we also did LOTS of cooking, and even more eating.

One fun thing about Topsail is the turtles. They are SERIOUS about their turtles around there. The beach is dotted with nests and we had fun researching and learning about them (from the sea turtle hospital website).

One night Lee and I were walking on the beach and happened upon a group of people standing around a nest. They said the turtles had hatched (the sea turtle hospital lady said you could tell by the way the sand looked) and they were waiting for them to come out. Thinking that we were in for a long night of standing around waiting for the turtles, I went back to try and find mom and dad.

By the time I got almost back to the nest, Lee called to say they had already hatched and the show was over.

WHAT?? I thought once it started they would trickle out one by one? No. Apparently all 100 of the little turtles made a beeline for the ocean in under 2 minutes.

Lee said it was one of the coolest things he's ever seen. I'm still bitter that I missed it, but at least he got to see it.

This is the nest that hatched (taken on the following day). See the little path they created for the turtles so they wouldn't go astray?

On Wednesday, Katie and Ann drove from Emerald Isle to come and hang with us for the day. We did some kite-flying and of course had to get an italian ice from the Bada Bing italian ice cart that was wheeled up and down the beach each day (it was always Dad's favorite part of the day).

We had more visitors on Thursday and Friday, including this little tater tot:

There is nothing like seeing the beach from the eyes of a one-year-old.

And of course I had to try out my new lens by taking 8 million pictures of my adorable subject.

Britt wanted to get some 15-month pictures of Brevyn so we did a little photo shoot on the beach.

All in all it was a fabulous, relaxing trip with some great quality time with the fam.

Too bad it's back to the real world (and diet!) for now. It was good while it lasted.