52 New Recipes | Welp, I flew to Florida this week.

(Alternately: Why I Did Not Try A New Recipe This Week)

So, Mr. FG’s birthday is this month.

And since he hates winter with a passion, I thought he’d like a birthday gift in the form of a quick little trip down to Florida. I managed to find him some super cheap tickets to Naples (I used Southwest points to pay for them too!) and got him all set up.

The only thing was, he was a little bit sad that I wasn’t coming along. And he said it would be 200% more fun if I went with him.

(Cue the heart-eyes emoji. It’s an awfully big compliment to hear that from your husband of nearly 20 years. He is the sweetest. And I’m glad he’s not tired of me!)

The problem was that I booked this rather last-minute, and it’s a little more difficult for me to get four days off than it is for him to get four days off (he has vacation time at work, but my life/work doesn’t exactly come with vacation time!)

BUT.

I realized I could join him halfway thru the trip, so I found places for my kids to stay, sneakily booked a set of Southwest tickets on my own Southwest account and tucked a note into his suitcase with directions to open it on Sunday morning (I was flying in Sunday night.)

And off I went!

(Remember what I wrote about how I changed in the last year? There were all sorts of rational, responsible reasons to not go on this spur-of-the-moment trip (I had to find people to take care of/ferry my kids, I had just come down with a cold, it would use up more airline points, I had appointments scheduled, I wouldn’t be able to stay long, etc., etc.), and Kristen 1.0 probably wouldn’t have gone.   But Kristen 2.0 was like, “Hmm. In the grand scheme of things, this is totally gonna be worth it. I’m gonna make it happen!”   And she booked the tickets.)

We spent my first day there (Monday) on Sanibel Island, where we rented bikes ($12 for four hours) and took a 16 mile ride around the island.

Sanibel Island is covered in bike trails, and they’re a great way to see the island without having to drive.

 

On Tuesday, we visited downtown Naples and the Naples pier, and then we visited several beaches where we took long walks.

We didn’t choose this because it was cheap, but it did end up being pretty inexpensive.   We just paid some small parking fees for the various places we stopped and that was that.

 

It was great to wear shorts in February and to see so much green too! It was a lovely break from the brown/gray that we currently have here at home.

(My shorts are not actually long denim shorts. And my legs are not 6 feet long. My phone just makes them look that way!)

And of course, it was fun to have my favorite person all to myself.

We flew back home on Tuesday night, and Joshua picked us up from the airport. It’s so handy to have a kid who drives!

So, it was a brief trip but Mr. FG and I had fun adventures together and he said this trip was his best birthday gift ever (yay!).

Anyhoo!

I’d planned to make my new recipe last night, but yesterday morning, I discovered that squirrels had chewed thru some essential wiring in my van, rendering my steering and braking systems useless. In fact, my van had to be towed to the shop.

!!

That meant I couldn’t go grocery shopping for the Arroz con Pollo ingredients, so instead we had a meal I scrounged up from pantry/freezer ingredients.

All of that is a very long way of saying: I didn’t try a new recipe this week!

Maybe if next week goes more smoothly, I’ll double up and do two new recipes.   But I will at least plan on making Arroz con Pollo one night.

(You know, if I don’t fly out of state and if my van doesn’t need to be towed. 😉 )

How about you?   Did your new-recipe-trying go better than mine? 😉

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