MY FAVORITE VACATION: BY JENN.

for the final installment of amazing guest bloggers, we have jenn. i met jenn through nashville prsa and she was one of the first bloggers i loved to read that i knew in real life. her tagline for her blog, happily ever faster, is "embracing life's extraordinarily ordinary adventures, one step at a time". deep, right?! plus, she has the most gorg hair color i have ever seen. take it away, pretty lady!

Hey bloggies!

I’m Jenn, from HappilyEverFaster.com and I am honored that Katelyn asked me to do a guest post on her awesome blog!

Katelyn and I met last year at a networking event about blogging – go figure. After that, we kept running into each other at various marketing and public relations functions and I became a big fan of her blog – and her sparkling personality! I have enjoyed following her adventures West and am a little bit jealous of her “seize the day” attitude.

Since she is trotting the globe once again this week, she asked me to tell you about my favorite vacation spot, which was a no-brainer.

My favorite vacation spot is definitely Destin, FL. I know, I know – it seems like everyone and their mother, particularly in the Southeast, vacations in Destin. But I was doing Destin before Destin was cool. Heck, I was doing Destin before I was cool.

How can you resist that water? Me in Destin last year.

My parents took me to Destin for the first time when I was 18 months old – and we went back every summer as a family since then, with the exception of one year when my Dad had a business trip to Denver (ironic, no?) and we tagged along there, instead. No offense to Denver, but we’d never make that mistake again. We missed our ocean!

In Destin rocking my first bikini – watch out, fellas.

Every year we’d rent a condo for a week and just relax. We aren’t the zip-lining, shopping, scuba diving, deep sea fishing kind of vacationers. We Wades are the type who just want to eat good seafood and lay around. It’s vacation, after all. Don’t wear yourself out. So, my memories of Destin are full of good food and good conversation with my favorite people.

I took this photo of an old Destin photo (me, my brother and Dad) last year when I was there. You can see my entire “Dear Photograph” post, here.

Once I graduated from college in 2005 and my brother was heading into his sophomore year at UT, we were all going different directions and the family vacations ceased for a while. Life got in the way. I missed them so much and managed to find my way down to Destin with friends and significant others a few times – but let’s be honest, nothing is the same as a family vacation.

Earlier this year in May, we all (my parents, brother, sister-in-law, me and my boyfriend) ventured back to Destin together. It.was.magical. Seriously. That sounds so cheesy, but the family togetherness in our favorite place with nothing to do but love each other’s company was so recharging. I think it will easily become an annual trip, once again.

Although Destin has boomed like you wouldn’t believe over the past almost 30 years or so since we discovered it, it will always be OUR little vacation spot. We love it – and feel like we’ve earned the right to curse the insane tourist crowds like we’re locals. ;)

On that note – if you visit Destin, go before Memorial Day or after Labor Day. Early May and late September are my favorite times to go. The crowds are thin and the weather is perfect. But don’t tell anyone – that’s our little secret.

Thanks again for letting me share my memories with you! Come on over and visit me at HappilyEverFaster.com.

XOXO,
Jenn 

you all - jump over to jenn's blog to see the other pics she turned into "dear photograph" shots. too cute. also, another florida lover, like amanda! i have got to get there soon. thank you so much jenn for sharing!