Alexa Nicole: June 2016

Orange Beach

4:45 PM

We LOVE Sunday's just because its our fun day! It's the only day of the week that Taylor has off so we try to have as much fun as possible, and today we went to Orange Beach in Orange Beach, Florida.

Orange Beach is about an hour from Spanish Fort. But before we made our way over there, we hopped on a place and flew out to England to see the famous prehistoric Stonehenge!!!

Just kidding. We stopped in Elberta, Alabama to see Bamahenge, but basically the same thing, right?? Haha! Unlike the real stones that are made out of giant rock formations that mysteriously popped out of nowhere, these were conceived, designed and installed by a Virginian artist named Mark Cline. Although made of fiber glass, they are however, full-size, exact replicas of the real thing, right down to their orientation to the sun and the summer solstice. Pretty cool!

There were also a bunch of plastic dinosaurs hidden throughout the groves of trees surrounding the area near Barber Marina. How random!

Stegosaurus

Growing up near the west coast, all I've ever known are the California beaches, which I LOVE! (Newport is my faavveee) The Florida beaches are totally different but absolutely beautiful! The sand is as soft and as white as powdered sugar and the water is bright blue, and if you're like me and love collecting seashells, it's super convenient that the whole beach is covered in them! Makes the searching a whole lot easier!

When we were finally worn out from all the swimming and got done trying to get as much sand as possible out of our hair (and swim shorts), we headed back home and ended our trip with a quick Sonic trip.

For any die-hard peanut butter fans out there, try the Peanut Butter Cream Cookie shake- sooo good!

Now to take a nice hot shower, put in a Disney movie, and cuddle up with my favorite person in the whole wide world. Have a wonderful rest of your Sunday and have a great upcoming week!!

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Fairhope

12:13 PM

Happy Friday y'all! This morning was a little exciting for us because Taylor didn't have to start work until 1 o'clock today. That means I got an extra 2 HOURS to be with him! Eeekkk! (giddy wife moment). We were feeling brunch when we woke up so we scanned the internet and found a delicious little cafe over in Fairhope just about 20 minutes from Spanish Fort.

Panini Pete's is what it's called and is located on South Section Street. What's really neat is that it's hidden in Fairhope's miniature replica of the French Quarter found in New Orleans. You know what that means?? YES! BEIGNETS! So of course that started out our meal. A bit smaller sized and more doughy than the ones at Cafe Beignet, they add their own little twist by adding lemon juice on top. Yummy!

The French Quarter

Beignets with lemon- yum!

Pete's was actually featured on the Food Network not too long ago- whoa! As the waitress told us, their House Roasted Turkey panini was even approved by Guy Fieri, so I tried it out! Turkey, baby greens, peppers, dijon, balsamic vinaigrette, and mozzarella on focaccia bread- I'm no food critic by any means, but it was delicious! Taylor enjoyed his Muffaletta panini, and with all the biegnets and our sides of fruit and their freshly cut skinny fries, we had to box up our leftovers because we were so full!

Cute outdoor eating area

complete with fountain

House Roasted Turkey Panin

We did however have room for dessert (there's always enough room for that)! The French Quarter had a few little shops to walk around, one of which was a Neuhaus Chocolate Shop. The poster in the front window advertised "cup'ines" which are basically little bite sized chocolate cups filled with more chocolate (of course), fruit fillings depending on the flavor, and topped with little sprinkle-like candy bits. They were so cute, part of me wanted NOT to eat them! But unfortunately that desire only lasted for .2 seconds because I'm a chocoholic haha!

Seriously, so tiny and so cute! (hazelnut and almond flavored cup'ine)

We spent our last half hour walking the streets, looking at the cute shops that lined them, There was so much to see in so little time that we decided that we will for sure have to come back another day. I love getting to explore so many different cities, so close to me, and all of their hidden treasures! Have a fabulous Fri-YAY and a wonderful weekend!( I'm looking forward to eating the rest of my panini tonight hehe)

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New Orleans

8:41 PM

Some of you might be wondering why I am living in Alabama right now, I even wonder why I'm out here sometimes ha! In October of last year, Taylor joined the company Vivint, which is a door-to-door smart home/alarm system company, This company, along with most door-to-door companies, recruit people to create a team and usually travel to a different state for a couple months at a time, most often during the summer. His team was getting ready to head out to Ohio for the summer when he got offered a better opportunity,doing the exact same thing, with the company Alder that he ended up switching to in February, which is why we are out here in Spanish Fort! (if you or anyone you know is interested in setting up a home with security, or being a part of the team, seeing new parts of the country, and making some really good money in just 4 months, let me know!)

It took us about 30 hours to get here (a 3 day, miserably long drive), stopping along the way in New Mexico and Texas for the nights. It's a pretty neat little place out here! There is grass and dense groves of trees just about everywhere you look, frogs hopping around at night, tons of beaches nearly an hour away, the humidity can be a killer and a bit claustraphobic at times, but the best part is that Orlando, Florida is 7 hours away (We're coming for you, Disneyworld!!).

Every day except Sunday the team works from about 11 a.m. to anywhere from 9 to 10:30 p.m. depending on the day. It's a looonnnggg day for them, and even a long day for the wives that aren't working (or don't know how to drive their husband's stick shift car and are left to sit in the house most days) (ME), Me and the other wives get together a few times during the week and go see a movie (if you haven't seen Me Before You or Finding Dory yet, you need to!) or have beach days to keep us sane. (Also another reason for creating the blog). Bless those men for working all day in this heat!

This past Sunday, Taylor and I decided (more like I begged him) to take a trip out to New Orleans, Louisiana for the day since it's only two and a half hours away. We stopped along the way in Abita Springs, IL at the Abita Mystery House, a hidden roadside attraction that is basically full of an odd collection of random objects and hand made inventions. Not quite sure what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised at how interestingly entertaining it was. Not to mention a three dollar entrance fee- can't get any cheaper than that!

These are all handmade inventions and include push buttons that make certain objects move

As soon as we got to New Orleans, we stopped at a restaurant we had looked up prior to the trip called Coop's Place, found on Decatur St. of the French Quarter. We wanted to try some gumbo and jambalaya, and this place had it all! We really enjoyed the food, our waitress was very kind and had a lot of suggestions of other places to stop by while on our adventure, and the atmosphere was that of an old pirate pub, perhaps? Brick walls, dim lighting, loud, upbeat music, Super fun, to say the least.

jambalaya

gumbo

We walked around the French Quarter, stopping in multiple little gift shops looking for memorabilia (my super cliche goal is to collect magnets of places we visit throughout our lives so we can fill our fridge door with them and remember our adventures together). My little Mexican man LOVES spicy food and we happened to stumble upon Pepper Palace, a shop filled with different flavored hot sauces, BBQ sauces, salsa, jellies, jams, and butters. You can go in and not only buy the sauces, but there's a "bar" in the middle of the shop lined with multiple seasonings and tortilla chip-filled jars to sample any one you want! It was probably the highlight of Taylor's entire day haha!

So many sauces!

Before we left, we HAD to stop somewhere to try a beignet, of course! (ever since The Princess and The Frog, they've been on my food bucket list). Cafe Beignet was our final destination and let me tell you, it was ADORABLE. We were walking down the street and as soon as I laid eye upon it, I could feel my world start spinning in slow motion and as I got closer I could hear Lionel Richie's voice singing in my head- "hello..."(haha not really). But then we walked inside and heard Queen's "We Are The Champions" being romantically serenaded to us by a performing guitarist (really really). The inside looked like a french ice cream parlor, with those cute wired back chairs at all the tables and palm tree leaves painted on the short dome-like ceiling. I know they were only warm, puffy pastries covered in powdered sugar, but they were delicious, and I fell in love.

Isn't it just dreamy?

Powdery pillows of pure magic

So lovely ahh

Overall, New Orleans was such a success and so fun to explore! If you ever find your way down there, take the time to look around. And if you find a frog, kiss it! It might turn into a prince ;)