Hallelujah Sunset

If I'm being honest, I should tell you that I've been dreading this post. Why? Because that means the glorious 4-day weekend spent with eight of my pledge sisters (and favorite gals on Earth) has come to an end. It was fun while it lasted, and even more fun to rehash! Every year one of us takes turns playing host to our group for a weekend. It's a tradition that was started by Anna Kate back in '06 when we invaded her condo in Birmingham for an overnight stay. Six years into it we've managed to stretch it out as much as possible and add as many nights onto it as we can. It was Ginny's year to host, and since she's due any minute with baby Jackson we decided to make it easy on her. To the beach we went. Seagrove to be exact. To a little slice of heaven by the name of Hallelujah Sunset that housed us for the long weekend...

I dropped the girls off with my mom on Thursday afternoon, and once I pulled out of her driveway it was windows down and OOC mix turned up. I was all but hoarse by the time I crossed the Florida line. It's a good thing I was alone, otherwise someone would have needed earplugs. We all arrived around the same time late that afternoon...just in time for dinner at The Red Bar. This was a staple of ours when we took beach trips in college. Going back reminded me of old times. Fun, fun! That meal kicked off a marathon of eating our way down 30-A. After a fabulous dinner, we headed back to the house where I passed out CDs and the official OOC '11 commemorative shirt...
Our jaws didn't catch a break until after 1 o'clock. That's well past our usual bedtimes, but we had so much to catch up on. The sun was shining Friday morning which was perfect for a long walk on the beach. It was rather chilly, but would soon warm up enough for us to venture to Seaside for an outdoor lunch and shopping around...
We snagged the absolute ideal table outdoors at the Great Southern Cafe.
Frankly, it was perfection...
Bellinis all around...
The only one missing from the group was Rigsby who was flying in from High Point, NC that morning. She hopped in a rental and put the pedal to the metal to meet us as quickly as she could...
Now we're complete! And ready to hit the shops...
I adore Seaside. The fact that it's where J and I got married might have a little to do with it. :) It really is the neatest little place...
After we'd made our purchases and done all the damage we could do, Sixty ordered us to huddle up to decide on our next move...
If anyone can get us moving in the right direction, it's her! The plan was to hit the beach for the rest of the afternoon, but our pregnant little mama needed a sun hat to shade her from the sun first. Jenn found one for her...
Ginny passed on it. We assured her we could keep her out of the sun with a home made tent like we made her at OOC '08 when she was pregnant with William. Flashback!

We stayed on the beach for .5 seconds before the wind picked us up and blew us all the way to the pool. It was brutal. With all of us settled in, we kicked off the FCOF.
61 and AK...
I sometimes forget that our nicknames can be quite confusing. As a general rule of thumb, most everyone is called by their last name. Like Rigsby and Blazer...
Then there's Tara there on the left below whom we call 61 or Miss Sixty. Since there were two of us with the same name she goes by the number of her home county...she represents Talladega county well!Group shot...
Ginny, Blazer, Rigsby, Jess, and Oakes on the back row - Anna Kate, me, Sixty and Jenn on the front.

After our session at the pool, we walked back to the house to find the door open and someone inside. We didn't know quite what to think about the situation. Look who we found...
None other than Sister Schubert herself! Some of us were a bit star struck, and she was kind enough to flatter us with a picture. I've got an autographed copy of one of her cookbooks displayed in our dining room. My sweet mother-in-law gave it to me for my birthday and it's a prized possession!

Did I mention that we had another little visitor? This might be the most precious thing I've ever seen in all my days...
That has Bobby and Diana Decker written all over it! They're always right on the money with their surprises and treats. And I love that everything comes with handwritten notes that are signed by both of them. The cake was as delish as it was cute!!

We got to celebrate Ginny and baby Jackson while we were together. Seems like the theme all around was owls...
Imagine that! Ginny was such a trooper all weekend considering the fact that she's just a few short weeks away from having the baby. Never fear, we had a partial plan in place just in case she went into labor. This ain't our first rodeo. Ha!

Friday night we hit La Cocina for a great, laid back meal. On the way there Anna Kate and Tara schemed up ideas of taking Smitten to the beach for the summer...which I'm totally feeling.

Saturday morning we were up and on the beach early. This was the scene all day long...
It was warm and sunny...a winning combination!

Our friend (and pledge sister) Erika had invited us to her house for pre-dinner festivities that night, so we were ready to roll early enough for pictures on the beach before we left...
Where would be without a tripod and a self-timing camera?!We saw a lot of this over the course of the weekend...Tara is such a professional...
We made the short drive to Erika's house where we met another pledge sister, Allyson...
Little Miss Sloane got in on the action, too. She's such a cutie! We traumatized her with our antics and she showed us her moves. It's was a good time! Afterwards, we set the caravan in motion towards Borago for dinner which was pretty tasty.
Somehow I only came home with one picture from that night...Blazer and Erika...such pretties!

Sunday morning brought more sunshine and warmer temperatures, but unfortunately for us it was going home day. Turns out going back to reality isn't all it's cracked up to be. I didn't want the weekend to end, but I was definitely looking forward to seeing the fam. My mom had taken my sister to a dance competition on Sunday which left Pappy with the little ones. I was quite impressed that he had them dressed, bows in their hair, and had taken on getting them all to church on his own. I met them at the Country Club for lunch where they begged and begged to try out the pool...
They settled for putting their fingers in...Uncle Max with his nieces...We were oh so excited to see J and Bebs later that afternoon. Seems like the five of us were spread all over Alabama and Florida all weekend!

Now that it's all said and done I've come to a couple of conclusions:
1. I will live at the beach one day. Thankfully, J is on board with it.
2. We'll have nine bedrooms...
Hot Press here we come!
Next year Blazer will play host on the lake in Florence and I'm already looking forward to it. Is it too early to start your countdown, Jess?!