My husband and I were desperately needing some alone time.
Away from the ordinary, everyday, same-ole-life at home kind of time.
We decided to take a quick, spontaneous trip to Chattanooga for the weekend. Which is saying a lot for a girl who plans everything.
And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING! Ask my husband. I roll out of bed on a Saturday morning wanting to know what we will be doing every single hour of the day….What are we going to eat for breakfast, what will we do between breakfast and lunch, what will we do for lunch, what does the afternoon look like….you get my point.
It drives him crazy!
He is like, “Amy! It’s a Saturday! Let’s just do whatever.”
And I’m like, “But honey, you know I need to have a plan!”
I know myself, and him, well enough that if we don’t have a plan, then the day will usually go by with nothing to show for it. Every now and again I like to have lazy Saturdays. I even think they are needed. But I don’t want every Saturday to be a lazy day, or nothing would ever get done around here!
Then, there are vacations. Ok, ok, I like to plan the days on vacations, too. I just want to make sure that we get all the stuff in! I can’t help it!! It’s a curse!
But since this was a last minute trip, and a much needed one away from the ordinary, I wanted it to be spontaneous, relaxed, and fun. I knew there were a couple things that I would like to do there…but I promise I didn’t plan them out! If we got around to doing them, then great, if we didn’t, then it would be ok, too. I just wanted some alone time with my man.
We hadn’t been to downtown Chattanooga since the kids were younger to take them to the Aquarium. Which now that I think about it, has been 10 years. (Sniff. Sniff. They grow up too fast!!) Anyway, we just thought it would be something different.
When Rob called to get a hotel reservation, almost everything was booked. It was fall break, and there was some kind of outdoor competition going on there. So, we just had to cross our fingers that the hotel we ended up with would be up to our standards. I’m not a snob, I promise. But, when it comes to a hotel room, I am pretty darn picky. It scares me to think of some things about a hotel room! ((shiver))
When we got to Chattanooga, we checked in, got to our room, and new immediately that we were only going to stay one night and cancel the second. (Not up to our standards, but not terrible) But let’s just say we were a little iffy about sleeping in the bed. I will admit that we put bath towels over our pillows and I used a sweater and another towel for a blanket. Are you picturing this? It was hilarious!!! and pathetic. We couldn’t stop laughing at ourselves. It was much needed laughter. We haven’t laughed in a while. (I told you this was a much needed get-away)
The next morning we went to Milk and Honey for coffee and breakfast.
This is one of those places that I said I wanted to go to, but wasn’t going to plan it. Luckily it worked out! I loved it. The black and white honeycomb tile, the yellow barstools, the homemade goodies wrapped with baker’s twine, and treats under glass cloches. So cute!
And their Burnt Sugar Latte was awesome.
After breakfast, we headed to The Knitting Mill antique mall.
My husband was so excited (insert sarcasm)! But since he is so awesome…he didn’t complain one bit. He just found things to keep him occupied and make me laugh.
Like trying on vintage glasses, and finding the absolute worst stuff in there to point out that we needed. He made it fun.
The red booth was Rob’s favorite, of course.
After having to pull Rob out of the antique store,…
(just kidding. He hates shopping. But I think he entertained himself. He took lemons and made lemonade 🙂 Love you, honey!)
…we got in the car and decide our next adventure would be to go to IKEA in Atlanta. Another place that I really wanted to go to.
Heading to Atlanta, we didn’t know what we were going to do after that or where we were going to stay the night. It’s fun being spontaneous! But after several hours of walking thru IKEA and a hungry husband who wanted Mexican for dinner, we decided to head back to Chattanooga to eat dinner at Taco Mamacita. We both had wanted to try it, and Chattanooga is the halfway point between Atlanta and home, so we went with it.
(I forgot to take a picture of the restaurant so I got this one from chattanoogafun.com)
We ate outside on the porch and the weather was great. There were 15 different tacos to choose from. I tried the Caribbean Jerk and the Sloppy Jose. My favorite was the Carribbean Jerk. It had mango salsa on it. Yum! It was really good.
After all we had done in a 24 hour time period, and since we were dreaming of our own bed after the previous nights experience, we decided to head back and spend our last night of our mini vacation at home. I really enjoyed just spending some alone time with my husband. I’m so thankful and blessed that we were able to get away, just the two of us.
A lot of the time, I need to be reminded of how I am called to be a wife first, then a mom. All the responsibilities and demands of being a mom make my life so busy and involved with the kids, that I forget to take time to kiss my husband when he walks in the door from work. I forget that he is different than me, and his love language is different than mine. Marriage is hard. It takes work. It’s being patient. It’s being forgiving. It’s doing for them, without thinking what is in it for me. I have a wonderful husband who provides for our family and is so giving and generous to us. I need to make sure that I tell him and show him how much he is loved by his wife.
I leave you with 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. It’s a verse that even someone who is not a Christian may know, because it is recited a lot at weddings. It’s about love. A picture of true, perfect love. This kind of love, is what Jesus is. And this love is what we are called to model. To our husbands, to everyone.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It’s not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
The Regal Cottage 