we were intending to go to new york city for a shopping trip, but when the thermometer was to top out at 12 C, we reconsidered. gotta love airline family life! a quick itinerary change, a great deal on a hotel, and 12 hours later we were in the warmth of fort myers, florida.
my extended family seems to have some kind of irrisistable pull toward fort myers. my grandparents on both sides were snowbirds, but my mom's parents wintered every year at fort myers beach. apparently it's still the locale of choice for florida-bound ladies, all these years later. we stayed at the hyatt at coconut point - literally a hotel in the middle of an outdoor mall - i tell you it was pure genius!
our main reason for the trip was to improve my wardrobe going into marriage - basically i needed honeymoon clothes and since was down to (literally) one pair of work-appropriate trousers, something for work...so what did we do in florida? we shopped. and shopped. and shopped some more. the deals were fantastic, the clothes were lovely. when we weren't shopping we ate. panera and five guys and california pizza kitchen. it was heaven. and drastically improved by the HOT weather - we're talking 30 C!!!
our two days simply weren't enough. not enough time for shopping and definitely not enough time for talking. we talked and talked and talked! marvellous and i can go for hours without any interruption - really, it's a gift! we saved our last afternoon for a little pool time. and while the shopping was awesome, really what was greatest about it, was this very special 48 hours i got to spend with my mom. it was a bit of an homage to the quick trips we used to take when i was in university, and while i'm sure we'll travel together again, who knows if it will ever just be the two of us? so in some ways, it was also a really wonderful way to close out this chapter of my life - of our lives - we're heading toward a wedding people, and we all know that's going to shake things up a bit!
What a lovely girls trip! I so value the time I get alone with my mom. It doesn't happen all that often, but that actually makes it sweeter.
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