Anniversary Trip to Disney World

If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen all of these photos from my anniversary trip last week. If not, well it's all new content, hooray! Rhett and I went to Disney World for our honeymoon, and we decided to go back for our first anniversary. It's probably too expensive to do every year, but we'd like to keep going ever so often because we love it so much.

This time I signed up to do a 10 mile race while we were there! While the race itself was pretty fun, I was overall disappointed with the experience. I did it alone, so that probably didn't help. Between them not having women's shirts (seriously?! The run had to have been at least 50% women) and runners having to stand around for what felt like an eternity before starting off, I was just kind of blah about it. The trip was still fun though! We saw all the parks of course, and we even went to a few attractions that we missed last time. I tried to take a few photos each day with my phone since I forgot my point and shoot. I took my dSLR, but never used it. The idea of carrying it around all day, just didn't appeal to me. I didn't want to risk hurting it right before shooting a wedding this coming weekend!

Day 1: We got Magicbands when we arrived! They are testing them out right now. They work as your room key, dining plan and park tickets, and you can connect a credit card to them to charge things you want. Of course it makes buying stuff easier, which is good for Disney. We went to Magic Kingdom first, and we happened to be walking by the castle right as a parade came through! Last year we were ALWAYS peering over people to see the parades, so I was excited to be so close. Day 2: I got up and ran around our resort, which was nice and peaceful with a river. It was so hot, but I guess that's Florida for you. We went to Epcot for the day. Not many things are as mesmerizing as that ball! There's just something about it, I can't help but just stare at it.

Still day 2: We ate at the Germany section of Epcot at Biergarten! It was a buffet and everything was delicious. I tried schnitzel, which was yummy. The entertainment (pictured) was great there too. Day 3: We went to Hollywood Studios for the day. Rhett LOVES Tower of Terror, but I hate it. I honestly feel miserable on that ride, but don't tell him that (I don't think he reads this so...). I like to ride it with him because I know he loves it so much. I always look like I'm about to throw up in the photos from the ride. That top right photo is from when we were waiting in line for T of T. I just thought the mist was gorgeous! We also did the backlot tour, which we missed last year. Still haven't done Toy Story Mania! We don't care enough to rush to the park early enough to get in line. That ride is always a long wait. We went back to Epcot for dinner in the Canada section. Le Cellier was great! Rhett had the bone-in ribeye, which was so tasty.

Day 4: race day! We spent the morning at Animal Kingdom, which is probably my favorite park besides Magic Kingdom. I know most people like Epcot the best, and I really love it too, but I just love the animals so much! Since I was running that night, we went to see Gravity in Downtown Disney to give me a little rest. Of course there's a lot of walking involved getting around DD, so I still ended up feeling really tired by race time. Whatever, I survived, and I did halfway decent. My time was not what I wanted, but it was much hotter than I expected so I didn't push as much as I could have. I don't want to be carried away on a stretcher because I had a heat stroke! I did manage to run the entire thing though, which I never thought I could do. I walked for about 10 seconds at 2 water stops because trying to drink out of a cup while running is just a recipe for disaster/face planting/choking.

Day 5: Our last full day was our anniversary! I convinced Rhett to take this photo and one other one in front of the castle. He HATES getting his picture taken. I honestly think he does it just to aggravate me...and it works. Thankfully, I have at least two pictures of us on our anniversary. We spent the day at Magic Kingdom again, but we didn't do much. We got some floats at the Plaza ice cream place and just enjoyed the sunshine. For dinner we went to Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Those zebras you see are right outside people's windows! Life goal: stay in a savannah view room at AKL. How awesome would that be?! Jiko was pretty good. Our entree's were decent, but the appetizer we got was so delicious! It was 3 different African breads and 4 sauces. We didn't leave a single bite.

After dinner we headed back to Epcot to watch Illuminations, which we missed last year. It was so wonderful! I'm so glad we did that. It was the perfect end to our anniversary celebration. We packed up and headed back the next day (bye, Port Orleans!) I was sad to be leaving, but also pretty excited to get back home to Chipper. I missed that crazy little dog! I don't think he behaved for his sitters, so I feel really bad. Luckily they are family, so they still love us anyway.

I hope you all have had a great fall so far. I'm really enjoying this beautiful weather! I know it won't last long, so I'm going to soak it up for now.

Life Aquatic, Georgia Style

I mentioned in my last post that we visited the Georgia Aquarium while we were in Atlanta, so here are some of the pictures from that outing. I am one of THOSE people taking pictures off all the exhibits. Hey, at least I'm not trying to take fish pictures with the flash on! Right? But seriously this aquarium was OFF THE HOOK! I've only ever been to one other aquarium, the one in Gatlinburg, and this one blows that one out of the water (pun absolutely intended).

There was so much to look at! We got there about 30 minutes before they opened, so we didn't have to fight too much of a crowd. It was extremely crowded by the time we got ready to leave, so I was grateful for Rhett's insistence on getting there early! My absolute favorite exhibit was the observation room, where you get to watch the whale sharks swim around. They are absolutely stunning, and when you throw in all the rays and other fish, it is just a majestic view. I could have stood in that room all day, I think.

After we looked at all the exhibits in the aquarium, we went to the Dolphin Tales show. They have a "no photography" policy, but I still snuck in a shot. Slap my wrist...ok we're moving on. The show was amazing! The story and musical numbers were a little weird as an adult, but I think the idea was to make it cool for kids. Dolphins are just fascinating to watch! I am so jealous of the women who get to work and perform with them. I'm sure it's a really hard job, but how rewarding would that be?! I would love it.

Have any of you been to the Georgia Aquarium? If you haven't been, and you find yourself in Atlanta, I highly recommend it! It's spendy, but the money goes to further their research, and they are doing some great things for the aquatic world.

With the Sand in My Shoes

Here I present to you: Naples on foot! After breakfast one morning, I decided to go out for a jog and see what I could see. The road that our resort was on runs parallel to the beach with a walkway to the water practically every 10 feet. It was perfect for an out and back with half on the sidewalk and half on the beach!

There were so many cool houses on that strip! I pretty much ran with my head turned to the side the whole time. There was this one house with a gorgeous pond out front with a bridge and lots of little water fountain things. The landscaping around there was so beautiful! I would have taken more of the landscaping, but a lot of them were being worked on and I didn't want to creep on the gardeners.

And here is where the fun begins. I don't know if any of you have run on the sand before, but it ain't easy! It's supposed to be best at low tide, but I had to go while Rhett was in a meeting, which happened to be right after high tide. I was able to run on some mildly packed sand, but it was still pretty shifty. I think my beach running pace was about a 10:30 which is quite a bit slower than my road pace, if that tells you anything. I only ran about a mile of the beach part since it was so tiring! I just kind of fast walked the rest.

This is the pier that Rhett and I tried to walk to the day before. We never made it because it felt like it was never getting closer! Turns out it was about 1.75 miles from where we started. It only looked like about a mile! Isn't that crazy how things look way closer than they really are on the beach? Anyway, I was thrilled to get to run on the beach. Since I'm landlocked in Tennessee, vacation is the only time I'll ever get to do this! It's totally worth waiting for vacations though...it was so much fun. I know it makes no sense because it was actually a hard workout, but I found running on the beach to be very relaxing. I guess it was combination of the breeze, the sound of the water and all the adorable birds.

Have any of you ever run on the beach? How did you like it?

Naples in May

I just realized I haven't posted ANYTHING from my trip to Naples. It was sort of a business trip, so I didn't get to explore a ton, but it was a good trip! On the first day, we just enjoyed a little beach time, and attempted to watch the sunset. Unfortunately the sunset was blocked by clouds every night we were there. That didn't stop us from drinking in the beach air though!

That evening we also went to a meet and greet thing and I got to wear my new dress from Jennifer Lilly Designs on Etsy! Rhett took the picture with my ipod, so the quality is bad, but you can see how cute the dress is, right?

The next day (while Rhett was in meetings) I got to go on a "dolphin" cruise, which was mostly a "look at all these huge houses in Naples" cruise. I took pictures of some of the houses, and they were nuts! Not that I begrudge those people the money that they have, but I don't understand why people indulge in those huge houses that they only spend one week a year in. They also tear houses down to build bigger ones pretty regularly...like a competition or something. I don't want to get into all that, but I just think it's pitiful. They do happen to be pretty though, so here are a few that I saw!

 This is what a 50 million dollar bachelor pad looks like

We did actually see some dolphins! They were fun to watch. We saw several from our little perch on the beach as well, so they must be pretty active around there. The dolphin cruise was fun, and when we finally got back, we had a nice lunch and enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing.

My favorite part of the trip was probably sitting on the balcony and reading every morning. That's my favorite thing to do at the beach. We headed home a few days later, and spend a loooooong day in the car/plane. I was glad to be home, but I really enjoyed the break!

One day while we were there, I went for a run and took some pictures along the way. I'll do a post about that as well. You'll get to see some more houses (smaller, but with cooler details) and some beach running. I hope you all get to go on a vacation sometime this summer. Everyone needs a break now and then!

4th of July in South Carolina

Well, folks, this is my last South Caroline post. Are you bummed? Ok, I didn't think so. Our last day there was the 4th of July and also the day we happened to go to the beach. We ended up going to Foley beach, and I really loved it there! It wasn't terribly crowded because we drove pretty far down before we parked. The sand was nice and packed from the tide, so I didn't get a lot sand in my things, and it was just all around a great beach.

We spent about 3 hours on the beach and then decided to go get something to eat. We found a place on the corner called Crab Shack. Besides the extremely loud family at the next table, it was a great place!  I got some delicious grilled shrimp with veggies and potatoes. YUM! The shrimp also came with this interesting sauce. I don't really even know how to describe it, but trust me it was good.

Later we went to a huge fireworks show. It.was.amazing. I can't even...I don't...I don't even know how to describe it other than amazing. I'm from a pretty small area of Tennessee, so fireworks shows here are just people shooting roman candles and the occasional artillery shell. This show was like a million times more exciting and elaborate! I think my mouth was wide open during the entire thing.

Here are some pictures from the night, and make sure to watch the video at the bottom (if you enjoy fireworks). Be aware that I "woo hoo" quite loudly during the finale, so you might want to turn the volume down. ha!

I love this bridge. The fireworks were just across the bridge.

 we were red white and blue without even planning it!

 Ana and Mallory

getting dark...almost time!

what...a night

Check out more posts from my vacation here

Magnolia Plantation

On Sunday of our Charleston vacation, we journeyed out to Magnolia Plantation. It is an old rice plantation with gorgeous gardens and plenty to see. Here are some pictures from the day...

 Peacocks just walking around the plantation.. they make some terrifying sounds, like a dying cat baby.

 This is the plantation house that we toured

 me on the pretty white bridge

Sylvester. He was sitting outside the house, and I couldn't resist petting him.

 real life

 Me, Uncle James, Mallory

I realize we are hurting the bamboo...I'm sorry. There were literally thousands of names already carved here, so I figured we might as well.

 Mallory is a master photo-bomber

 a free refreshment from the nice folks at the plantation

"Come at me bro!"

It was a very nice day to be out and about. It was hot, but not sweltering like it has been lately. I love being outside, so this was a perfect thing to do for vacation. I feel like I should mention the ridiculous spiders that were around every corner. Banana spiders are these scary looking black and yellow things that apparently eat mosquitoes. I'm grateful, but seriously those things are flipping terrifying. I kept thinking they were on me whenever I saw one. Anyway, despite the big scary spiders everywhere, it was a gorgeous place to walk around. 

other Charleston posts