Fervent Foodie

I’d like to rewind this past weekend, click the pause button, and live the life of an islander for the rest of eternity.  The island life.  Where your stresses melt away, your to-do lists disappear, and daily woes are forgotten.

OHH, PLEASE. I forgot to say please!

Ahhhh the island life.

Forget the fact that I missed out on first place in the 5th grade spelling bee because I misspelled the word “paradise.” As a wee 10 year old I hadn’t experienced paradice let alone PARADISE!

What’s this island I speak of?

Good old Bald Head Island, NC.

**sigh**

Bald Head Island. A beautiful harbor and beaches that stretch for miles. No cars—just golf carts. No stress—just cocktails.

Quite frankly, there’s not much to do there.  But that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?

They even have little trucks to smuggle you across the border:

Being the Frugalista I am (can I coin that??!?! … no pun intended ) the BF and I rented a TEENY TINY little studio right on the harbor (this one was called the Elements – Fire).

So cute and quaint and sassy all in one little shoebox!

We didn’t waste any time once on the island.  First stop—kayaking on the beautiful island marshes!

BF wasn’t exactly a natural…

Tootsie tanning:

Bird watching… (birds are so creepy).

After kayaking it was back to the harbor.

For a little dinner at Eb & Flo’s!

Dining out = happy Mary

We split some yummy jambalaya:

Reminds me of New Orleans!

Grey Goose and Tonic for the lady.  Blackened chicken Caesar wrap for the man.

My entre:

Shrimp AND potatoes?!  Sign me up!

The restaurant deck was prime for people watching across the harbor.

We took a stroll on the beach after dinner.  It was entirely empty and entirely peaceful.

Saturday we had one thing on the agenda:  BEACH TIME!  With chairs and umbrella in our cargo, we headed for the sand.

Never underestimate the luxury of a nice beach umbrella.

The beach was pretty uncrowded, but still provided quite the opportunity for man candy oogling

After a few hours in the sun (or sprawled out on a beach chair under the nice shade of a 6 foot beach umbrella as the case may be)…

we were in need of some serious fuel.  We headed to the Shoals Club where I feasted on an ENORMOUS burger complete with Swiss cheese, onions, and mushrooms.

After lunch, it was—you guessed it–back to the beach!  We were so full, that we both passed out under the umbrella for a good hour and a half.

R&R.

Good Ole Baldy:

For dinner, we headed to the River Pilot Café.

Cheesy appetizer goodness:

BF got the jambalaya pasta for dinner (apparently we were really missing New Orleans):

It was DELICIOUS.  Shrimp, sausage, country ham, and chicken over pasta?!?!

FABULOUS lobster bisque.

SALAD with EGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

After dinner I realized the sun was setting… on our mini vaca

I woke up bright and early Sunday morning and took a stroll along the harbor.

This is what I do to keep myself occupied when my travel buddy is STILL.FREAKING.SLEEPING… It’s 9am.  Get your butt in gear man.

Anyway….

For breakfast we headed to the Maritime Market Café to get our grub on.

I know this looks like a massacre, but it’s actually a bit o hot sauce heaven.

The breakfast burrito was delicious and so were the potatoes.

His face says “enough with the pictures already” but his plate says “I’m a breakfast burrito eating champion.” I’ll go with the latter.

Ooooooghahhhhhh yessssssssss cheesy bagel bliss:

Never have I ever seen a golf cart with a baby car seat strapped in…

Waiting for the ferry to take us back to the daily grind:

Farewell Bald Head!

(insert obligatory “I’m the King of the WORLDDDDDDDDDDD” titanic reference here)

We’re already planning our next beach retreat… hopefully priceline will be kind to me