tampa.

I think a trip home is the perfect reset button. Put down the phone and roll down a window instead. Sure it's hot, but the sun is on your face. Long walks and long drives. Grilling out and a trip to the beach. Homemade granola, cookie baking and an ambitious attempt at a rhubarb coffee cake (which wasn't half bad). Perfect way to spend the long Memorial Day weekend - feeling relaxed and thankful in my home town.

My hippie-chic sister in the Publix parking lot. This van was in great condition. And I went back to Publix 3 times after this. 

Poolside drinks before noon and a weird burn on my arm. That's what I get for using spray-on sunscreen under UV-index of 10.

Caught my eye in Anthropologie... Spot on.

Don't know why my mind automatically went to that scene in A Christmas Story (around the 1:17 mark) when Euphemia Haye brought out my leftovers in this aluminum structure. There was no way I could finish a whole duck, so I guess I should have expected this. I carried it around like a pet the rest of the evening and Dad was amused.

Some of the spread on Sunday night - the menu: grilled lobster tails, strawberry goat cheese quinoa salad w/ almonds and mint, grilled corn and fresh watermelon. Nellie doesn't like quinoa.

And no trip to Tampa (or anywhere south of the city) is complete without a drive by Chick-Fil-A. Dollar Ice Dreams: the perfect welcome home.