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My husband truly is the man of 1,000 hobbies. He is driven, likes to be productive, loves a challenge, and doesn’t enjoy sitting around “doing nothing.” (Thankfully, he still happily takes beach vacations because, even though we often “do nothing,” we still technically accomplish something–fun family togetherness.)

With all the COVID and flu germs floating around, we have been quarantining since a couple weeks before our baby was born. I have really missed socializing with friends, but I am also enjoying being at home and relaxing. And I haven’t felt the least bit guilty about not accomplishing much.

Mr. Handsome, on the other hand, has fought to stay busy. Even though he is working plenty hard at the office (while taking precautions to minimize germ exposure), he still feels the drive to accomplish things while at home. This has actually been wonderful because he and Little Buddy have cleaned our garage and done tons of yard work. Mr. H also made a beautiful handcrafted gift for his brother and sister-in-law, which I will post about soon. And he sold a painting.

With all of those tasks completed, Mr. Handsome was again left with nothing to do, so last week, out of a desire to be productive and make memories with our son, he picked up yet another hobby. Can you guess what it is? The picture above is a hint.

As some of you guessed from the picture I posted of myself assembling a Christmas toy for Little Buddy, our baby has arrived! He was early but still very sizeable. Large babies with large heads run in my family, so I was grateful to deliver him early.

We had to spend a couple days in the NICU, but we are home now and enjoying our time as a family of four.

Christmastime is here! Mr. Handsome and I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. What’s on your schedule for this weekend? How are you celebrating? We are having a quiet Christmas at home. It’s gorgeous outside, and the weather report is calling for highs in the 60s and 70s for the next week. Not exactly the most “Christmassy” weather, but it’s lovely, nonetheless.

Happy Friday! Hope your week has been wonderful. Do you have any fun plans for the weekend, now that the Christmas season is in full swing?

One of my readers asked how Mr. Handsome and I approach finances and whether I have to ask my husband for spending money. I thought I would share a quick answer and then invite you to do the same.

In our house, I do most of the bill paying and “finances.” I did a business concentration in college, and I really enjoy keeping all of that organized. Mr. Handsome would tell you that I’m better at multitasking (because who has time to sit down and focus on one thing when you have a toddler?) and keeping bills in order.

Any purchase that isn’t an everyday necessity, or anything that is more that about $50, we always talk about before purchasing. For the most part, we generally agree on what to spend our money on. Like many millennials, we value experiences, such as vacations and fun family outings, more than physical items.

When I tell you what category of items I am most tempted to spend money on, you’re probably going to laugh. I like to say that I have a “soft spot” for children’s toys. I just really enjoy buying fun, and especially educational, things for Little Buddy. For my birthday this year, I bought him a sandbox because I couldn’t come up with something that I wanted. But the vast majority of toys, I purchase used.

How do you approach finances? What do you like to spend money on?

I thought I would introduce a conversation topic that is near and dear to most people’s hearts: Coffee. I read in the news that there is a coffee shortage brewing (see what I did there?), which is really unfortunate. It’s scary to consider what might happen if we have a bunch of un-caffeinated people driving on our roads and attempting to function in society. The tea companies might just receive an influx of desperate customers!

Here are my questions: Do you drink coffee? How much? Decaf or fully caffeinated? What brand? Will you settle for any type of coffee, just to get your caffeine, or are you particular?

In case you missed our pregnancy announcement, Mr. Handsome and I are indeed expecting a baby! We are beyond thrilled and are incredibly grateful to God for this gift. After experiencing two miscarriages in 2020, we do not take this little life for granted.

Losing two babies has brought us closer to the Lord and has clearly shown us that the only way to make it through the uncertainties of life is to lean on Him. We have always loved and cherished Little Buddy, but after two miscarriages, we see him as even more of a miracle than we did before.

Our baby is due in a few months, and we look forward to announcing the gender soon!

Here it is! Our big announcement! Watch the video to find out what we’ve been hiding.

I love vacations where I can visit unique historic sites and blog about them for you, but between our travel distances being limited by the pandemic and the fact that we have a busy toddler who does not seem to enjoy history at all, this has been put on hold. There is a growing trend among bloggers to take vacations that involve unique culinary experiences, so I will follow that trend and share where we ate in Santa Rosa Beach. 

During the three days that we were there, one goal was to do a combination of home cooked meals and locally owned seafood restaurants. 

Local Catch

We discovered this restaurant a few years ago, and it quickly became our favorite. The atmosphere is very relaxed, but the food is presented by the hand of an artist. Our standard order is the grouper Lagniappe–sautéed grouper bathed in a citrus butter sauce–served with garlic mashed potatoes and perfectly cooked green beans.

I won’t even attempt to recreate their grouper at home because it’s just too wonderful, but I would like to know how they cook their green beans. They taste wonderful, are the perfect combination between soft and crunchy, and somehow don’t have any black marks. If any of you have a good green bean recipe, please share. 

Pizza By the Sea

This restaurant has no indoor dining. There is a small, open air seating area that hangs off the second story of another building and is supported by large wooden beams. I enjoy Pizza By the Sea because it has by far the best gluten-free pizza that I have ever eaten. It is rare to find a gluten-free pizza crust that isn’t made of cauliflower. This one tastes “normal” (not gluten free) which is what I go for. I ordered a decently “healthy” Hawaiian pizza (bacon and pineapple).

Mr. Handsome, on the other hand, chose the Quadruple Bypass. I kid you not, that’s what it’s called. With all the types of meat you can imagine for a pizza, it’s a meat lovers paradise. We ate at 8 o’clock and enjoyed a beautiful evening. 

Snacks

We discovered a locally owned store called For the Health of It, which makes fresh smoothies with no added sugar. Our favorite is the Santa Rosa Sunshine. I’m not sure if it’s actually amazing or if it just tastes amazing when you’re drinking it on vacation, but it really hits the spot after a day at the beach.

I was also pleased to find Blue Mountain Bakery, which has a wide variety of homemade, gluten-free treats that also do not taste like they are gluten-free. When Mr. Handsome sampled the cinnamon crumb cake, he said, “I don’t usually steal my wife’s gluten-free treats, but this is so delicious that I’m going to make an exception.” I didn’t mind because the piece was so big and tempting that it was good to have someone to share with. 

Cuisine de Mr. Handsome

To save money, we stopped by the grocery store to pick up ingredients for breakfasts and half our other meals. Mr. Handsome does most or all of the cooking on our trips, which is a nice break for me. 

BBQ on the Road

Last time we drove to the Florida Panhandle, we started the tradition of stopping at Rodney Scott’s BBQ in Birmingham. They use a vinegar-based sauce, which isn’t my favorite style of BBQ, but Mr. Handsome loves it.

Which of these meals looks and sounds the most scrumptious to you?

After we ate our weight in seafood for 2 1/2 days, Mr Handsome decided he needed to burn some calories, so he went on a 5 mile run. It was 83° and humid, and he came back exhausted.

Later that evening, while we were walking to the beach to watch one last sunset before returning home, Mr. Handsome complained that his legs were burning. Little Buddy gave me a horrified look and began walking in circles around Mr. Handsome, fixating on his legs. We couldn’t figure out what he was doing until he remarked, “Daddy, why you say your legs are on fire?”

We had a good chuckle and then explained to Little Buddy that sometimes adults say their legs are burning when they just mean they are tired after a long run. 

Have you ever confused your child or someone else’s child by using an expression that does not make literal sense? 

In Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, there is a restaurant called Stinky‘s, which serves Cajun style seafood. We have attempted to eat there multiple times, but the wait has always been one to two hours. It’s a very popular restaurant! This time, we were able to get a table by arriving at 4:30 on a Monday. Not a great time for most people to eat dinner, but it works pretty well when you have a toddler who goes to bed early.

Stinky‘s has a lot of unique seafood options, but the one that stuck out to Mr. Handsome was crawfish pie. He was in the mood to try something new, so he ordered it and found it to be delicious. Even I took a bite and liked it, although it was definitely on the spicy side for me.

For my meal, I went with a safer option–grilled grouper with potatoes sautéed in garlic. Little buddy had fried catfish, which he loved.

After dinner, we walked out on the pier behind the restaurant. In the brackish water, we saw a bunch of turtles, both soft shell and hard shell. Little Buddy enjoyed watching some other kids feed them.  

Are any of you blog readers brave enough to try crawfish pie?

Stay tuned for our big announcement, coming Friday at 7pm Central.