Beach Day.

This weekend marked the first beach day of the year for the Owens household. Stuart and I decided to pack up the car and make the trip to St. George Island to spend the afternoon laying by the water, working on our "base tan" and doing absolutely nothing.

St. George Island is about 1 1/2 hours away from our house in Southwood, but the drive along the coast makes it completely worth it. Stuart is a veteran of the "Forgotten Coast" and likes to point out his favorite stops and memories along the way. There is nothing like a forgotten coast history lesson from Stu to make the drive go by. Once the history lesson was over, we proceeded to chat about what our future beach house will look like. Stuart was more focused on what kind of boat we should get. What can I say? We're dreamers.

We finally arrived and scouted out the perfect spot by the water. 

Once we finished our picnic lunch we relaxed in the sand and looked out at this beautiful view for about three hours.

After a few stressful weeks at work, this relaxing beach day definitely brought warmth to my soul.

Quality Time.

Last weekend was absolute bliss because I got to spend an entire weekend with my mom! Stuart and I were fortunate enough to see my mom pretty frequently last year with all of our wedding planning but now that our nuptials have come and gone we look forward to seeing my family over the holidays and occasional long weekends.

Needless to say I was excited about my quality time with my mom and of course planned our entire weekend with all the necessary stops. First, we met in Thomasville for lunch at Liam's. I had wanted to try Liam's ever since my first stop in Thomasville for my birthday and this seemed like the perfect occasion.

I was hoping to try their brunch but sadly they only serve it over the weekend so we just tried their lunch menu. It was delicious! The food and the atmosphere were so great that we sat there chatting for maybe 3 hours.

Then we proceeded to browse in all the shops and soak up all the charm there is to see in downtown Thomasville. Including a stop for gelato at Sparkle Goat Cafe. We loved how artsy it looked and course had to take some pictures.

That evening we spent on the patio at Chez Pierre where we sat for another 3 hours chatting. It was the perfect spring evening!

There is nothing better than spending quality time with your mom! My only wish is that she lived a little closer so this could happen more often.

Fruit.

I apologize again for my blogging hiatus. The past two weekends have been pretty eventful and I am finally getting around to sharing it with you all.

At the end of February I spent the weekend in Panama City Beach with Stuart and hundreds of high school kiddies for CRosSWilD's annual spring retreat.

I always love getting a chance to hear Stuart teach and was really looking forward to a weekend filled with time for reflection and worship.

One of the greatest things about getting all of the churches within CRosSWilD together is that I get to see some of the kids from Wakulla and Crawfordville who use to go to the church where I interned with Stuart many moons ago. The girls in that youth group were my first small group ever and I always affectionately refer to them as my "babies."

At the time when I interned with them they were hyper little middle schoolers and now they have grown into beautiful high schoolers who have developed such a mature faith and love for God. It was the greatest joy to sit with these young women and just hear their stories. I was beaming with pride and tearing with joy. It was such a testimony to me of how God has continued to grow them even in our time apart.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5

Taylor Lately.

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. Life has been keeping me very busy lately and does not look like it will be letting up soon. Let's hope my blogging can continue to keep up with the pace.

Here are the latest happenings in my life...

The weekend before last, Stuart and I decided to go spend the day with some of his family who were camping in Mexico Beach. It was so nice to be able to get away, relax and spend time with family.

Last week we received a visit from Governor Rick Scott which made things pretty exciting to say the least. Work became pretty hectic leading up to his visit. And since then, things have not really slowed down...

I had the opportunity to shake his hand and let him know about my role at the Florida Lottery. It was great to interact with some of the media and hear from the Governor regarding his thoughts and plans for the Lottery.

Last weekend the weather was gorgeous. So Stuart and I enjoyed all things Spring...

Such as FSU baseball. Stuart literally had to save me from being hit by a foul ball. He covered me while I ducked for cover as I narrowly missed being hit by the 80 mph (?) baseball. The ball ricocheted off the seat in front of me and then a girl next to me ran to snatch my prized foul ball before my very eyes. Rude much? yea... maybe. I felt I had earned that ball... ah well, I'm over it!

Stuart and I also enjoyed our first dinner out on our beloved patio. Courtesy of Earthfare's spend $10 and get a free dinner for four.... or in our case two {Delicious!}

And I think that about wraps up all the news from the Owens household!

THIS IS HOW WE CHANGE THE WORLD.

For those of you who do not know, Elevation Church is a church plant in Charlotte, NC that started in 2006 and has exploded to become one of the fastest growing churches in America with more than 5,000 attending each week.

They recently opened a new campus in Blakeney which is right by my parent's neighborhood and I have been so impressed by how far they will go to share the love of Christ with others. My parents recently bought a new car and the salesman happened to also be a pastor who was involved with Elevation. My parents were so touched by their encounter with him; how gracious he was and how he took the time to pray for their safety and adventures in their new car.

Last night I watched the documentary Elevation Church created to commemorate their 5 year anniversary. Its an hour long, but I encourage you to find time to watch it. It is such an incredible story. It gave me chills. It gave me tears. It gave me laughter and encouragement.

It will only be available on this Web site for a few more days. So watch it soon. Get ready to be inspired.

http://www.elevationexperience.com/

Happy Birthday, Dad!

This is just a quick shout out to my wonderful father who is celebrating his Birthday today! In honor of his big day I thought I would share a throwback photo of my dad and I from my Senior year of College at ADPi.

Happy Birthday dad! I love you.

A La Provence.

For Valentine's Day, Stuart and I had a wonderful night out at A La Provence. It was my first time there, but I had heard such wonderful things that we had been anticipating this night out for weeks.

A La Provence is located in Market Square and is a fine dining restaurant that offers French Classics and Euro-American cuisine.

To start out our dinner they served us an "Amuse Bouche" to cleanse the palate, which consisted of a strawberry with cheese served on top of a rose petal. They said the petal was edible, but Stuart and I decided we were content without it. The presentation was beautiful. [Please forgive the lighting].

The service was excellent, however it did take forever to get our entrees. But what can you really expect on a night like Valentine's day? We really didn't notice the time because we were enjoying each other's company, and well, their focaccia bread was so delicious that it served as a nice distraction.

Stuart ordered the N.Y. Strip and I had the Pork Tenderloin. Both were served with asparagus and twice baked yukon potatoes which were out of this world! I wish I had taken more pictures of our food, but by the time our entrees arrived I was so hungry that my plate was pretty much devoured before I had thought to snap a pic.

We had a fabulous dining experience at A La Provence and would definitely love to return. But diners beware, this restaurant is pricey- but you definitely get what you pay for. Hope you all enjoyed your evening with your loved ones. Bonne journee mes amis!