a little piece of HEAVEN.

Ahh...this is where I've spent the past 5 days of my life...

....and THIS is what I did the WHOLE time I was there...

I'm a little disappointed because I made the CUTEST scrapbook page of my beach pictures using this site, but my computer has been completely ridiculous tonight, so I never really got it to do what I wanted. Maybe next time.

Here we go....

Heather was visiting her parents in Jackson for Memorial Day weekend, so I woke up Monday morning and drove to her parents' house and we left from there. Here we are about to leave Jackson and head for the beach!!

Now, before you jump to any conclusions about the next picture, I must throw in a little comment here. I have always been generally good at finding my way somewhere. I love Mapquest, I can read an atlas, and can follow written directions fairly well. I have very rarely gotten lost. So, when Heather's dad typed out perfect directions from his house to their condo, I thought it would be a piece of cake to get there. Plus, it was me AND Heather, and 2 heads are better than 1 right?

The weather was perfect for driving and the traffic was surprisingly good. We thought we were making good time and could possibly even have a couple of good hours on the beach once we got there. We're driving along, apparently not paying as much attention as we thought, when we both decide we need to use the restroom. I see a sign that says "Louisiana rest stop ahead." So I said (TOTALLY without realizing that it said 'LOUSIANA!'): "OK, there's a rest stop right up here, so we can stop. It was Heather that came to her senses first and said "UMMM...WHY are we in LOUSIANA?!"

I was the driver and I take complete responsibility of this stupid mistake. I will say that this was the first time I had driven from Jackson to the beach, so I guess I just assumed we were supposed to be going that way. Still....I shouldn't make excuses, I know. Heather started laughing immediately, but it took a good hour for me to find the humor. I was tired of driving. I wanted to be at the beach. I DIDN'T HAVE 60 EXTRA DOLLARS TO FILL MY GAS TANK. And did I mention I was ready to be at the beach?

Oh, and if you're at all geographically knowledgeable, you're probably able to figure out just HOW lost we got and HOW much time we lost. Needless to say, Heather and I have taken a lot of heat for our carelessness!! But hey--we were able to say that within a 7 hour period, we'd been to Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, AND Florida. Is that impressive or just plain idiotic? :)

Here's cute HEGS attempting to read an atlas and navigate our way to the beach!

We finally finally made it (nearly 2 1/2 hours AFTER the time we thought we'd be there!). Thankfully, we were able to swipe a couple of those handy carts at the condo, because CHECK OUT THE LUGGAGE! I can't believe Heather and I packed so much for a beach trip. Wow.
Although our first day was a bit hectic because of all of the extra driving we did, every other day was PERFECT. The weather could not have been any better. I truly felt like a queen. I had my own king sized bed, slept as late as I wanted, went jogging on the beach, laid out on the beautiful beach for as long as I wanted, ate fabulous seafood, sipped on frozen margaritas, etc. etc. IT WAS PERFECT.

Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Later in the week, Heather's husband Tom, his sister Jodie (L in the picture), her husband Bob, and their precious little girl Abigail, joined in on the fun!

Note: I have made fun of Heather for always putting her hand on her hip in pictures. I like to call it the "Heather pose." She claims that it makes her arm look smaller and guess what? I think she's right. You may notice that I'm doing the "Heather pose" in a couple of pictures and I think my arm does look slightly smaller! Thanks for the tip HEGS! And readers--you should give it a try!

Thanks again Heather, for such a perfect end of the school year-beginning of the summer celebration!!! Let's go ahead and start the countdown for next year's trip!