Hopefully This (Stay)cation Will THAI Me Over Until Disney In November.... Part 1

'Stay'cation-Vacation....

Ugh. What dreadful words. There are few things worse than a 'stay'cation. I liken it to a root canal or stubbing your toe on a coffee table or the foundation of your bed... Unless of course it means NO WORK and getting to spend time with your two best friends!!!

Miguel and Ace

Well sort of. Wednesday morning (7/31) we packed the car, to the point of bursting...I think we both thought we'd actually make it to Monday at the beach house....silly us. We had two suitcases, our bag of work out clothes & accessories, a bag of toiletry items and medications, of course a box of shoes and a bag of laundry that we thought we might want to wear so we would do a wash. Miguel's mother came and picked Ace up and we were off!!!

It's hard to explain the raccoon...but just know we are children and that Miguel is the love of my life because he always makes me laugh

After we got to the beach house we unpacked and relaxed. Even though I'm 26 (I KNOW RIGHT!!!) I still get car sick. So I usually need to lay down after car rides longer than 30 minutes. That usually ends up being okay with Miguel because usually that's when he works out. 

We had such big plans for this vacation but alas did not act up on all of them. One that we did was going to the Clinton Outlets. They aren't incredibly high-end but have some gems.

Entrance

The bag confirming the purchase of my new leopard print bag <3 . Love

I ended up falling in love with an 'affordable' bag and Miguel got it for me. Birthday present #1 [Happy]. I have more that a purse addiction by the way. It is totally a curse. But I have been good since running, I have actually almost considered selling some of my Coach bags just to finance races and gear! *GASP* It is true! I would rather spend my money on things I can actually use. While at the outlets we also visited the Finish Line store that was not an outlet with lower prices, and the Nike Outlet which had okay prices but the deals you get online during sales are better. After our car trip, mini nap, and shopping we got hungry. 

I will preface this by saying I am very hesitate about trying new foods as I am incredibly picky, that being said. I. Love. Crab. We decided to go to Johnny Ad's because Miguel heard that they had a soft-shell crab sandwich. He has been talking about trying soft-shell crab for at least 2, maybe 3 years. I'm so glad I let him talk me into trying it. I will say the idea of eating a crab AND it's shell after only eating it after I cracked it's shell threw me for a loop until I did eat it.

Sign from the road

Menu, sorry it's so hard to see

The inside has a ton of character.

We sat outside in the beautiful weather. You can see Miguel in the back.

Drum Roll Please! Here is the gorgeous sandwich!

One happy boy.

We ended up splitting the sandwich because I wasn't sure if I was going to eat it, plus it was like $12 for the thing. But I will say it was absolutely delicious. I am impressed with myself for trying something new and so happy I did!

We then went back to the beach house and relaxed and talked about what we wanted to do for dinner. I spent some much needed time on mapmyrun.com looking up routes of where we could run around the ocean and such....and maybe a nap happened too, who's to stop it?! We then got ready and excited to go into Old Saybrook and visit Touro Grill a Brazillian style Rodizio which is like 'Meat-Fest-[enter year here]'. Rodizio's are usually pricey but are worth the money. Waiters bring around different meats on skewers and you get to try sometimes 15 different things and always have a buffett of sides you can have too. Brazillian food is probably Miguel's and my guilty pleasure...

The car ride from Niantic to Old Saybrook is maybe about 15 minutes. I tried calling Tuoro Grill to see if we could get a reservation but no one picked up....We didn't think anything odd of it....until we got there and noticed no one was in the parking lot and that the lights were off inside. We realized maybe they didn't pick up because they were closed...like out-of-business-closed. After that heartbreaking discovery we traveled around for another hour looking for a place to eat and finally in a last resort attempt went back to Main Street in Niantic.

Best. Choice. Ever.

Restaurant sign

Food Menu

Drink Menu

Our complimentary appetizer, like pillows of delicious air

Miguel looking over the menu.

My meal. Drunken Noodles w/ chicken.

Miguel's Meal. Drunken (Jasmine) Rice with beef.

We got orange slices with our check.

Delicioso. Then we went back to the beach house, satisfied with our meal choice and very full and relaxed and watched movies.

The next day (8/1) I had planned on waking up and running but couldn't move. I don't know if it was the way I slept or the bed I slept on but I had not gotten a good sleep at all. We decided to go to this little bakery on Main Street we had been to one time before and gotten dessert for his parents. We hadn't eaten there though.

This bakery is like an Italian gem.

Menu on the wall

Cases filled with goodies

Miguel and I both got the Bacon, Egg and Cheese sandwich.

Can you SEE how much bacon!

It is officially my favorite breakfast sandwich ever! I was so happy we had another good meal! Afterwards we went back to the house and just hung out. Miguel as usual worked out and I spent time online and we decided to watch movies. It is so rare we just get to be lazy and relax. We definitely took full advantage of the no plans and doing nothing...but something didn't seem right...something, or rather...someone was missing....

ACE! We couldn't bare to be without him...so yes...our 6 day vacation was cut short. We came home. Once we got home and unpacked Miguel's mother dropped our baby back off. We could not have been happier to be with him. <3

Not only is Ace our 'dog' but he is our son, our best friend and the love of both of our lives.

August 1st is also the unofficial, made up anniversary date for Miguel and I. We never did the whole "Ohhh 4 months, 3 days, and 5 hours, love you bae!" thing, sorry if anyone does that but we aren't like it. We celebrate years, if we celebrate at all. This year...is 8! August technically is our anniversary month but I refuse to share my birthday with anything else. Yes, it is bratty.

These are some of my favorite photos over the years. Not in any particular chronological order...I'm genuinely sorry that I am gushing too. It's just after 8 years he still gives me butterflies (even if I want to stab him with a fork every now and then).

Ugh. He is my other half.

We spent the rest of the night relaxing with Ace and loving up on him for the night he spent without us.

QOTD: Have you ever cut a vacation short for any reason? This was my first time ever. I'm curious about you guys!