Trip to Pensacola.

We made a trip to Pensacola while Amy was here.

1st stop: Panera Bread of course - can't seem to get enough of that place.

2nd stop: Shopping - this was not planned, but inevitably, it happened.

3rd stop: National Naval Aviation Museum - it was awesome and free!

Check out this anchor:

Crazy how big it is, right?

We even got to go in the Presidential helicopter :)

It was a lot of work to get in and out of this thing in a dress...

4th stop of the day: Pensacola Beach

After checking out the beaches, we stopped for supper.

The above picture was our pretty view while we ate - I ♥ eating near the water.

5th stop: Downtown Pensacola for Gallery Night

Gallery Night allows you to experience local artists, musicians, and cuisine - they do it about seven times a year, so I think Dusty and I will have to hit it up again soon.

 I didn't get very good pictures, but just to give you a visual of the event...

They had legal graffiti for the kids - fun idea, right?!

6th stop: Orange Beach

"Trip to Pensacola" day was a big day...and a really fun one.

Amy was here :)

Two days after returning from New York, my sister Amy came to visit :)

It was so wonderful to have her here.

We had a fun, relaxing, bonding kind of week.

On her first day here, we spent the day shopping at the Tanger Outlets in Foley.

I normally am not a big fan of shopping, but I had a lot of fun...and we scored some great deals. 

We found those awesome sunglasses above for $1.

We were really liking them in the store, but then after seeing this picture, we started to second guess ourselves...spares they will be.

After shopping, we headed home...

 Gray was so drawn to Amy - he loved her instantly...he is still talking about her :)

The weather got warmer later on in the week, so more exciting pictures to come...

The big night.

Prairie Love premiered at the Friar's Comedy Club Festival on Saturday night, but the excitement began in the morning.

We stayed at Holly's (I may have mentioned that before) - she was the lead actress in the film.

Anyways, she was prepared.

She had champagne and orange juice on hand and suggested mimosas almost the instant we woke up.

And she made muffins for us...great way to start the day :)

After breakfast, we were off to find Dusty an outfit for the premiere.

It makes perfect sense to wait until the last minute, right?

We hit up lots of thrift stores and finally found what we thought would be the perfect jacket for the night.

We went back to Holly's to get ready and then we went to The Campbell Apartment in Grand Central Station to have a drink before the screening.

After some encouragement from the group, I decided to rock my natural, curly, frizzy, wavy hair.

Good decision?  still not sure...

The film played at the Lighthouse International Theater.

The screening went great.

The audience laughed when they were supposed to, there were questions during the q & a session after the film, and people were coming up to Dusty afterwards with words of praise - I love hearing the kind things people have to say to him.

I kind of feel like I have to toot Dusty's horn sometimes because he never does it himself, which is something I really admire about him :)

The above picture is Dusty with Eric who was the head programmer of the festival.

One of Dusty's friends from high school even made it to the screening :)

After the screening, we went to the after-party at the Friar's Club.

We had a great evening.

 I am so proud of Dusty.

Day 3 - Ellis Island & Central Park

On day three we took the ferry to Ellis Island.

Any opportunity to go on a boat and I'm there.

Some views from the boat - it was gorgeous:

This was both of our first times seeing the Statue of Liberty up close.

We arrived at Ellis Island...

It was such a neat place.

We learned so many things about Ellis Island and immigration.

We were able to watch a documentary while we were there about the history of it all...it was fascinating.

We really enjoyed our time at Ellis Island - definitely worth the $13 it cost to go there.  Isn't that cheap?  You get to explore Ellis Island, watch a documentary, learn so much information, AND go on a boat ride?

It's a great deal.

Next on our list was Central Park - another first for both of us.

It rained most of the time we were there, but I suppose it just added to the experience :)
We didn't get many pictures due to the downpour, but we got a couple.

 I love this picture (taken by Dusty):

The water view from the park trail was beautiful.

And I just wanted to show that there were a lot of tennis courts in the park...I miss tennis.

Anyways, we had an awesome day on day three.

Exploring NYC - Day 2

We started out the day with breakfast/lunch at Tom's restaurant in Brooklyn.

Fun fact about Tom's - it is so loved by the residents that in 1968 after Martin Luther King's assassination, people of all races linked arms around the restaurant to keep it from being torched during the riot. 

We learned so many interesting things about the places we visited.

We had a bit of a photo shoot on the walk to the restaurant.

I love these pictures and how pretty does it look?  I REALLY enjoyed the fall weather.

After lunch, we took the subway to Manhattan and walked for hours.

Here are some pictures from our day:

We came across the big protest against corporate greed that was happening in the city.

I was captivated - I had never seen anything like it.

There were police officers everywhere, the protesters were chanting and marching the streets, news reporters were there from ABC and NBC...

I even sat by a man on the plane to NYC who was flying from Pensacola to be a part of the protest - he couldn't wait to get there.

After hours of walking, we stopped for a little rest...

and then we were off walking again...

Day 3 was really eventful - will post about it tomorrow!