SHORT BUT SWEET

I’ve not felt in the mood to blog lately, but I’m back with a vengeance! Here’s a post dedicated to the man’s and my trip to my hometown, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

It was the perfect getaway to see my parents, to do improv with my best friend, to walk on the beach, and to show Nick where I grew up!

RUN, PICKLEBALL, & POOL

We got in late Friday night and were up early Saturday morning to have breakfast with my parents. After digesting, we set out for a 5-mile run around my neighborhood, while my mom rode her bike (and snuck pictures of us!).

It was so nice to show Nick the intricacies of the development I grew up in! We basically took every right turn and toured almost the entire thing.

Afterwards, we set out to play Pickleball, my parents’ new obsession. It’s basically tennis but with slightly different rules and a ball that’s quite similar to a wiffle ball.

It was a lot of fun! (Those are my cute parents.)

After running 5 miles in the Florida humidity, followed by a few rounds of Pickleball, we jumped in the pool to cool off before the most important part of the day…

CRUISERS GRILL

The hallmark of visiting my family in Ponte Vedra is a belly-aching trip to Cruisers Grill in Jax Beach. This place has the fries of the heavens, the greasy burger of your dreams, and homemade ranch that goes uncontested.

I ordered for Nick and me: cheese fries, jalapeño poppers, and a cheeseburger to split. Of course, all of this was covered in ranch. SO GOOD!

Nick was also very excited to see Yuengling on the menu! My mom decided to partake. I have to tell you, for as much as we gorged, I felt so happy afterwards and not uncomfortably full. I have no idea how this happened.

A VISIT TO SAN MARCO

After the Cruisers feast, I took Nick on a driving tour of my adolescent and teenage years, both in Ponte Vedra and Jacksonville. We stopped by my elementary and middle schools, as well as Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, where I went to high school.

A typical post-school pit stop was San Marco, where my friends and I would eat at The Loop or Firehouse Subs and then peruse the shops. I can’t believe I never truly discovered San Marco Books until now, but I could spend hours in that store.

It lit a fire in me to make time to read more—something I used to do voraciously and have since let fall by the wayside. I’m currently almost finished with The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson (recommended to me by the man). It’s been the perfect sum of my interests: reading, humor, and linguistics. Score!

After our tour, we went back home and helped my parents prepare dinner. My dad smoked salmon on planks over the grill. My parents have perfect a delicious marinade for their salmon, which I’ll have to steal soon.

Above, you can see Nick chopping the veggie sides as I enthusiastically mix the brownie dessert (to be served over homemade vanilla ice cream made by my dad). The salmon and veggies was perfectly by a side of delicious mashed potatoes made by Mom, and potato rolls from Publix (which I promptly covered in butter). YUM! Wish I had taken pictures, but I was too enthralled in the moment.

My best friend Emily joined us for dinner and spent the night. I was in heaven.

The next morning, we had a delicious eggs-and-toast breakfast prepared by the man, before my mom, Nick, Emily, and I went to the beach for a nice, long walk.

CARPROV

After showering, Emily and I snuck away to do some of our infamous Carprov—improv skits we record on an iPhone from the dashboard of a car (usually parked, sometimes not).

It’s hilariously fun. We have a recurring series about the lives of two New York characters, Dana and Carmella. You can see a little snippet of it here. I need to upload all the videos in order so things make a tad more sense!

A TASTE OF ITALY!

After that we came home to relax with the whole group, and then Nick and I made homemade pizzas for dinner, of course: our specialty! Here I am wearing an Italy-flag apron and photographing the beauty.

We made three pizzas on homemade crust. All three had a homemade sauce topped with mozzarella, mushrooms, basil, and parmesan cheese. One of them had chopped figs, too. Yum!

Here we are setting the table.

And here we are with Emily, eagerly awaiting the feast.

It was a short but very sweet trip! Hopefully I’ll be going back again soon. 🙂

HOW DID YOU SPEND LABOR DAY WEEKEND?

This post is a part of the Weekend Snapshots link-up with HerHeartlandSoul.