More from Grits & Gravy

Monday, March 21, 2016

Weekend Staycation

J and I have been married for almost 4 months (I promise to write about that soon!). How has the time flown so quickly?

Since the new year started, we've been busy bees at work and in life, making the transition to marriage and living together. We decided at the beginning of the year to take a day off in March to give us a long weekend together to celebrate our datingversary and reconnect after what we anticipated would be a busy few months. Two days off, no tasks, no lists, and adventures. They were so fun. And, so good for this girl's heart.

If you are in the Tampa Bay area, there are some good finds I suggest. Wherever you are, take a weekend to enjoy your city and get out to explore!

Welcome to our staycation!

We ended work on Thursday and took off in our already packed car to head to the sweet downtown streets of Dunedin for their St. Patrick's Day festival. I've married an Irish man so I anticipate this always being a big holiday in our home. The streets were packed with fellow celebrators. We made our way down to the Downtown Dunedin Deli for a burger (definitely give this spot a try). I know, not very Irish, but the festival surprisingly lacked Irish food so we opted for J's next favorite thing.


We spent the night in Dunedin and dashed out early in the morning for a quick breakfast at the famous Kelly's. A yummy breakfast with lots of pours of coffee is just the perfect start to the day, right?


We spent the rest of the day tucked away at the beach. It was surprisingly chilly for a March day in Florida but when you have your sweetheart and the waves are crashing, what could be wrong. Both of us enjoyed our newest books and soaked up the afternoon. 

Of course, no visit to the beach would be complete without a long walk and lunch picnic. For lunch, we picked up Publix sandwiches/wraps and enjoyed them waterside at a little park J discovered. My husband really likes to ask fun hypothetical questions to get your mind going. Sometimes I don't want to play along, admittedly, but I was glad I did on this day because it led to some sweet life conversations that you just miss out on having in your everyday normal life.

While in Treasure Island, we had to visit our favorite ice cream shop, The Candy Kitchen. Their vanilla ice cream with peanut butter is just unreal. I added a twist this time and also had their mocha chocolate chip. Yep, it was a great choice!


As if this day couldn't get better, we accepted a last minute invite from two of our friends to enjoy pizza and wine at their home. Talk about a great day and wonderful evening. It was a big ole' heart full kind of day. And this is all just Friday!

Saturday morning brought grey skies, late sleeps, movie watching, and pumpkin protein pancakes. When the skies cleared a little, we chanced it and took our bikes out to ride all over Tampa Bay, stopping at city events happening and Irish bars. Our final stop led us back to the place we first began flirting/finally admitting we flirt at The Dubliner. We also had THE best beer ever here.

Let me introduce you to The Cotton Candy: Half Angry Orchard + Half Seadog Blueberry + Fresh Blueberries = the best beer.


Two days of much needed quality time mixed with rest for us both = a pretty great staycation for us.

I anticipate more of these will be in our future so please share any ideas you have done or have come across - we love exploring and new adventures!

{We also learned on Saturday that I need a comfier bike seat for longer rides, insert soreness.}

Happy Monday! I hope you found rest this weekend as well.

2 comments:

Rosa said...

Sounds amazing and can't wait to hear your reflections on married life. Also with your hubby's Irish connection you might enjoy watching the BBC series Ballykissangel - the bar is Fitzgerald's. :) It's on DVD Netflix but also YouTube has poorer quality versions of it. Can't wait to hear of your adventures!

Jessica Fitzgerald said...

Thanks, Rosa! Yes, I'm hoping to share more reflections on married life soon! :)

And, that sounds great, I'll have to check it out.