A day in Fairhope, Alabama

Hey, everybody. Let me just go ahead and set your minds at ease: nobody threw up in the van today.

To celebrate my friend Nichole's birthday, the girls and I picked her up and drove down to Fairhope, AL. If you enjoy the quaintness of a small town, but with plenty of unique shops and eateries, put this visit on your bucket list. It's a place that's rich with old town charm, friendly folks, aesthetic store fronts, and beautiful landscaping on every corner. Their boutiques are very up-to-the-minute, their art galleries range from foo-foo to kitchy, and their restaurants are anything but cookie-cutter.

Our first stop was Personally Yours, which carries a favorite candle of mine--buttered rum. It's one of those that wafts throughout your entire house. When I buy a candle, I want that sucker to give me my money's worth, you know?

After asking the sales girl about a great place to have lunch, we ended up walking around the corner to what's known as the French Quarter, to eat at the renouned Panini Pete's. Nikki told me she had seen Guy Fieri's show and that he's eaten there. What's good enough for Guy, right? The FQ has two alley entrances that intersect under a giant live oak, and is surrounded by cool leafy fans of banana trees and crepe myrtles. There is also a three-tiered water fountain splashing to add to the ambiance of this little 'secret retreat' from the sidewalk bustle. We drank the best sweet tea (mine with a little lemon) and devoured a couple of Panini Burgers. It was a burger on ciabatta bread, then pressed super flat and cut into triangles. The pile of super skinny shoestring fries didn't hurt either. And why does everything seem to taste so good served on wax paper in a basket? I swear I'm gonna go to World Market when I'm done typing this and get some of those.

I know we made it to several shops, including the Christmas shop, which is ALL Christmas, ALL the time. Of course, I was most drawn to any shop that had quirky little signs, purses, jewelry...you know the routine. There was one shop called Olivia's Serendipity that had the cutest little metal sign: "A.S.A.P. ...as Southern as possible." I also saw one that I may have to recreate for my Lifetime BFF, DMB, that read: "If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room."

By now, Ava & Marilyn have had it with Nikki and me and this Girls Day Shop-a-thon. I bribed them with the promise of a cool ice cream co, buying us just enough time to wrap up our trip. Once I pulled back into our sacred driveway, they were all too happy to bunker down for nap time. No arguments.

Hmmm. I may gas up the van for another trip tomorrow...

Y'all have a good day and go do something fun with someone fun!