Vacation Memories

This is about the time of year I am sick of the weather, sick of the dreary skies and bone chilling cold. It is the time of year I like to slip away to someplace balmy. I begin to envision white sandy beaches, beautiful sunrises and sunsets on the ocean's shores. Someplace like this. That my friends is Siesta Key, Florida beach. This beautiful beach is considered one of the most beautiful in the world and it is right in our own backyard (so to say). Walking on the sand is like walking on powdered sugar. When I think about this place, I think of my best friend Annette aka Annie, Fannie or Fannette. Some of these aliases are vacation names and perhaps should not be discussed in such a public venue. I'll think about that while I finish the story.

Anyways, Fannette and I decided to slip away a couple of years ago to this lovely beach. We stayed in a friend's gorgeous and well appointed condo that our hosts were gracious enough to loan to us.

We had saved enough on lodgings that we splurged on a sexy little convertible for this trip. We did girly things like manicures, pedicures, sunbathing and shopping. Every night we would go out to eat on little Siesta Key. After a few nights, we had exhausted the available restaurants on the key and ventured forth for an early dinner one afternoon to St. Armand's Circle. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had gotten to this spot with enough time to shop a bit before dinner. Even though we arrived kind of early at the restaurant that we were assured by friends that we would love, we still had to wait two hours for a table. We made our way to the bar which is where our downfall began. Sure you sit at the bar, have a cocktail or two and see what happens. We started with Mojitos. First one. Then another and yet one last one and finally our table was ready. Growing tired of the mint in our cocktails and lacking sound judgement by this point, we ordered the Sangria. By the time the pitcher was empty and dinner was done, it had turned quite dark but we ourselves were fairly lit.

After dinner, we hopped in the car (the waiter unfortunately didn't take our keys away) and with top down and the music blaring, drove the 30 minutes back to our condo. Unfortunately, neither one of us had brought our regular glasses-just our prescription sunglasses-and neither one of us can see without our prescriptions. We laughed our asses off all the way back-praying a bit that the Sarasota police were anywhere else but near us. There really isn't much of a point to this story; no evils of drinking and driving (we really do know better). Just a sweet memory of a fun night out with my best friend and a new vacation song: