ON THE HALF SHELL

 we're still getting all caught up here on a simple elegance, so I hope you'll bear with me while I share a fun little adventure mitch and I had whilst home for the holidays. it's not a very "festive holiday" post, mind you, so I don't feel too behind posting it for all the world to see. now, I know most of you will never visit my hometown of pensacola and maybe you've never even heard of it, but something I look forward to every time I go home is oysters. raw. fried. baked. if it's an oyster, I'm sure to love it. and there are lots of places to get them, but the best are from this little oyster bar right on pensacola beach. oh sure, if you're needing an oyster fix quick there are places a little closer to home, but believe me the 10ish mile drive down to the water is far more than worth it. mitch had only had oysters raw and he'd only had them one other time in his life, so when we ordered them in all of their different varieties he couldn't believe how versatile they were. by far, our favorites were the oysters rockefeller. though, I've always had a soft spot for eating them raw, too. everything was so tasty that we all but licked the plate clean. thank goodness we were able to leave with just a bit of our dignity. and we kept our pinkies up the entire time, you guys. don't you even worry.

after recounting how delicious our meal was several times over and snapping a few pictures for posterity (which means you guys, duh), we were headed out to the car until something caught our eye. now, let's pause for a second. have I mentioned that mitch is a little incredibly obsessed with boats? all kinds. row boats and speed boats and giant yachts and even paper boats and sure enough (unpause), it was boats that caught our eye. a whole dock of pretty boats of all different names and shapes and sizes just sitting there waiting to be appraised by my very-manly-though-sometimes-childlike husband. like any other boat encounter, the conversation veered toward the typical "how much do you think this one costs?" and "what do you think it's owner does for a living?" and then of course, "would you ever think of investing in a boat?" but what really struck me as interesting is that there was an entire waterway community back there. one where all of the people who own waterfront property nearby drive their boats around instead of their cars to get from restaurant to grocery to home and so on. and so I countered mitch's conversation points by rattling on about that for a good five minutes, or ten. and then, when we had exhausted all of our boat talk and walked off a fair bit of our lunch, we headed home. just in time to miss the rain. and we spent a perfectly pleasant rest of our afternoon reading books and sipping tea and loving life. 

and then it was wednesday! truthfully, I'm a little ready for this week to come to an end. not because it's going slowly or going badly or anything like that, but because it's test week and I'm really rather ready to have my husband back. how are your weeks going thus far? are you feeling those february blues or is the promise of paper hearts and an endless supply of chocolate keeping your dispositions afloat? I'd love to hear all about it below, in the comments.

love, arielle