Bucket List Recap

Happy Friday to YOU!

I am oh-so-glad Friday is FINALLY here.  I purposely planned a weekend with no plans last weekend so that I could recover from a week of vacation {does that sound weird?!}.  Because of my OCD tendencies, I KNEW I'd need time to straighten my house, do all of the laundry, grocery shop, sleep, and just relax.  I even set my alarm for the farmers market Saturday morning and just could NOT drag myself out of bed.  We didn't make it back to Fort Smith until about 9:00 last Friday night, but I had to take my mom to her house in Fort Smith and help her unpack all of her bags from my car before I could head home.  By that time, it was 10:00 before I made it home and I was EXHAUSTED!  You'd better believe that didn't stop me from unpacking some of my bags from the car, playing with my puppies for a while {I missed them so}, and doing some cleaning...  That's right, I said cleaning....  My dad was gracious enough to stay at my house with H&H while I was gone for vacation...  Bless his heart!  Have I mentioned I have OCD tendencies?!  This isn't the first time my dad has volunteered to stay at my house and keep the pups, so I knew the drill.  Y'all, dads just do NOT wipe the kitchen counters the way they should...  That also goes for tidying up the bathrooms, wiping down the microwave, wiping the sink down, taking out the trash, cleaning up the fridge, straightening the couch pillows...  Need I say more?!  So, I was the nut-job who was doing ALL of this at about 10:30 at night.  I mean, there's just NO way I'd be able to sleep with my messy house on my conscience! {It feels better just publicly admitting that I'm a tad bit OCD...  Admitting it is the first step, right?!}  And we digress....

So, bucket list recap!  Let me just start out by saying that I found myself discussing my vacation bucket list just this week, while recapping my vacation on a dinner date.  I laughed when said dinner date admitted that "when trying to be more spontaneous you often find yourself soon creating a spreadsheet on ways to be more spontaneous."  I DIED on the inside.  That.  Is.  SO.  Me.  It's almost pathetic, really.  I thoroughly enjoyed the vacation bucket list project!  It got fun, because my mom and I would find ourselves saying "Oh, let's not forget to take a picture of this for the blog!"  I'm sure all of those innocent bystanders at all of the restaurants whispered harsh criticisms at the two crazies constantly snapping pictures of their food before consumption.  FOR THE BLOG, people! ;)

Okay, here goes.......

1 - Eat at Lulu's
This one didn't exaccccctly happen.  If you've been to Gulf Shores and braved the trek to Lulu's, you feel me.  The wait can literally be 3+ hours.  No, I'm not kidding!  Let's just be honest, people...  While the atmosphere at Lulu's is totally poppin', the food's nothing to entirely brag about and is slightly over-priced (think Margaritaville with more seafood).  Mama and I decided early in the week that, instead of eating at Lulu's, we'd just stop by after dinner one evening to soak up the atmosphere, maybe have a drink, and grab a t-shirt.  We did just that!  When we got there, we considered settling down for a dessert or small appetizer, but the wait was like 3 hours!  No thank you.

2 - Patricipate in at least one CrossFit workout at CrossFit 1834
There is just one word for this bucket list item.  FAIL.  Utter and complete fail.  I packed enough workout clothes to be able to work out every day, if only just in the hotel fitness center.  However, that did NOT happen.  I decided about 2 days into the trip that my body was thoroughly enjoying the week of rest time.  Why disturb that?!  CrossFit is tough on the body..  All of the weight lifting tears down your muscles and recovery is essential.  I've never felt more refreshed and relaxed than I did on that week of vacation!  What's better is that when I started back to CrossFit Saturday {we had a team WOD}, I performed BETTER after that week of rest!  Who would've thunk it?!

3 - Have breakfast at Brick & Spoon
CHECK!  The meal was bomb.com.  Refer to the last post for pictures of my meal - King Creole omelet {with shrimp!} and grits and white chocolate bacon bread pudding for dessert.  HEAVENLY!

4 - Shop the J. Crew Factory Sale
Are y'all surprised that we made special arrangements to hit the store on Sunday afternoon after the beach, but before they closed?!  I'm  not..  I SCORED big time!  Can't wait to share the outfits with y'all in upcoming outfit posts :)

5 - Take LOTS of pictures
Did you SEE my last blog post?!  End of story.

6 - Get in the water every day / 7 - DON'T get a sunburn
Okay, I'm sure you're wondering why I combined these two.  Wonder no more.  We spent about 3 hours Sunday on the beach, and that evening I was introduced to a little thing we like to call "sun poisoning."  That's right...  That WOULD happen to me.  I literally LATHERED UP with SPF 50 sunscreen.  We're talking LATHER.  I was completely coated in the stuff.  We left the beach, I was totally fine.  Got back to the hotel, showered, got dressed and ready, left for the outlet malls...  I was still totally fine.  Then, like a ton of bricks, it HIT me in the J. Crew dressing room.  Every inch of my body was totally fine and sunburn-free.  That is, with the exception of my poor back.  Splotchy, red, swollen horribleness covered my back.  It was AWFUL and I was in PAIN.  We got through at J. Crew {y'all didn't think I was going to let a little sun poisoning stop me?!} and headed to dinner, and that's when the side effects struck.  I was nauseous and freezing and miserable.  After dinner we went to Publix for gelato {because that cures everything} and some Bullfrog sunscreen {because Mama Kidwell swears the stuff is miraculous} and went straight to the hotel.  There was a big rain storm that night AND the following day, so that actually ended up working out alright!  Luckily, I'd brought aloe vera and that stuff became my best friend over the next few days.  We made the educated guess that we'd better take the next day out of the sun, which totally demolished these two bucket list items.  However, "better safe than sorry"...  While I might have whined and complained about this, it was definitely the best decision!  We spent at least 2.5 hours evey single day following that day-off, just basking on the beach!  I lathered myself in the miracle Bullfrog and even wore a t-shirt over my bathing suit every day following, and I was just fine!  Thank you, smart Mama, for your genius.

8 - Healthy snackin'
I was so proud of myself with this one!  I made my pre-beach Walmart trip on Friday evening following CrossFit.  I grabbed lots of healthy items for the week!  We snacked on cheese sticks, oranges, rice cakes with nut butter, homemade pimento cheese with celery sticks for dippin', and my new love:  Blue Diamond Habanero BBQ almonds.  If you've not tried these, do yourself a favor and head to your nearest Blue Diamond distributor ASAP.  Thank me later!

9 - Read TWO whole books for enjoyment
While I had the noblest of plans to finish my Rich Froning book pre-vaca, that of course didn't happen.  I had about 100 pages left when we ventured to 'Bama on Saturday morning, and I actually finished the book in the car before we even made it!  So, I rightfully count that as book number one.  Then, I started the "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger" book I told y'all about.  I fininshed that one between about one night and 30-minutes the next morning worth of reading.  Next on my list was "A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet" - that book was one I just didn't want to end!  It lasted me for a few days on the beach before I was finished with it, too.  I made the declaration that we'd need to pop by the Books-A-Million that was located about 2 miles from our hotel so that I could get yet another book.  I decided on "Sparkly Green Earrings" which is a memoir to motherhood, and is written by a friend of the author of my "Salty to Cut the Sweet" book.  Great decision!  We returned from vacation Friday and I had about 60 pages of my book left, which I finished on Tuesday evening of this week.  That's FOUR..  Count 'em, FOUR, books that I read on vacation!  I'm STILL patting myself on the back {and will gladly give myself more pats on the back since I know y'all have also GOT to be proud!}  I picked up my next read from the library at lunch time yesterday - "Grace Awakening."  I got to read one chapter in bed last night before I was too exhausted for words.

10 - Don't pack a gajillion pairs of shoes
I think I packed 6 pairs {always come prepared}.  BUT, I only wore THREE!  Snaps for ME!

11 - Be faithful to my devotional reading
While I can't say that I read my devotional every morning {because I was too busy reading the four books I read on vacation}, I caught up and am on track with my reading as we speak :)  I like to sometimes get behind and then read about 5 at a time - as weird as this sounds!  The author of my devotional writes in "series"...  So, there may be about 5 or 6 that are based off of the same lesson.  Since it's often difficult for me to remember my own name, I save these series to read all at the same time.  It seems to work better for me!

12 - Buy NO MORE THAN 3 t-shirts
I'll have y'all know that I came home with ZERO t-shirts!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am most proud of this accomplishment.  However, I think it's due in large part to the fact that I spent a small fortune at the J. Crew Factory Sale on our first full day of vacation, so I was naturally more conservative for the remainder of the trip.  I planned on getting a shirt at Lulu's, if nothing else, but I just couldn't find one that spoke to me.  So, I came home empty-handed and PROUD!  Lesson?!  Shop at J. Crew on the first day of vacation, go buckwild, and come home with no t-shirts;)

13 - Don't talk about/think about/text about work and don't check work e-mail
I wasn't going to let this bucket list item be demolished!  And let me just tell you how nice!  I came back from vacation with an overall new appreciation for everything in my life.  I wasn't even dreading walking in Monday morning to a bazillion e-mails!  And, you know what?  My entire outlook was better.  I was recharged, refueled, and ready to "do work."  I wouldn't have it any other way!

14 - Try a new food
I knocked this one off the first night!  We had a late dinner at Sea N' Suds, and I ordered the fried crab claws, which I'd never tried.  They were yummy!  Probably not something I'd order again, but a definite good first-seafood-of-this-vacation experience.

15 - Social media hiatus
I think this had a large part in the fact that I felt so refueled when I returned from vacation.  For one week, I really didn't care what was going on in Facebook-land.  I did post a few things {pictures, status} that pertained to vacation, but I did NOT have my phone constantly glued to my hand, constantly checking my Facebook and Instagram like my life depended on it.

16 - Don't miss RHONJ
Picture this.  Sunday night.  Sun poisoning on my back.  I'm laying on my belly, too sore to move, covered in aloe.  RHONJ comes on, and my mama tries encouraging me to turn around so I can watch...  I say "I'm listening instead."  Fifteen minutes into the show, I'm out cold.  Sad thing is, I didn't realize I'd passed out during RHONJ, until we watched this week's episode on Sunday evening.  It hit me that the last thing I remembered before falling into a coma was the sound of Teresa's voice.  Oops!

17 - Take pictures with the "state signs"
I TOTALLY did this!  I was "that" girl!  The only sign I didn't get a picture with was Arkansas.  We obviously didn't pass a "welcome to Arkansas" sign until we were on our trip home, and that sign was UGLY!  So, I settled with my Mississippi and Alabama signs - theirs are TOTALLY cuter than AR's!  We need to get with it.  I'm still tackling my post-vaca to do list {if we're being honest, I wasn't fully unpacked until Wednesday evening...} but I'm definitely planning to print the pictures, frame them, and add them to a collage I'm working on!  Pictures to follow.

18 - Spend lots of one-on-one time with The Lord
PERFECTION!  Again, largely accredited to the fact that I came back so recharged.  I needed this more than anything :)  Thank you Lord for my many blessings!  I'm undeserving.

19 - Have dinner at a few of the restaurants I {obsessively} scouted out
We ate at Sea N' Sunds, Cafe Beignet, and Shrimp Basket.  You can find pictures of my meals from all of these places in the last post :)



Overall, I'd call vacation 2013 a definite success!  I'm already excited to start talking about our 2014 destination, especially since it's the year my mama graduates as an OTA and Olivia {middle sister} graduates from Arkansas Tech.  Hopefully she will get to accompany us on vacation next year!

Have a great weekend, y'all!  I'll be back soon :)

xoxo
Katie