Birmingham, AL

Hello bloggers,

So I spent this past week in Birmingham, Alabama. I never thought I would find anything to do in Alabama, but we did! The first day we came in, our good friend Andy met up with us and we watched his softball game before he showed us around the city a little bit. We had dinner at a really delicious place called Newk's, similar to a Crisper's. It was really good! Then we walked around the Samford campus where Andy goes to school. It was a beautiful campus! So many gorgeous buildings and the grounds were kept up really nice. Unfortunately that night, I got super sick. TIP: don't let your fiance turn the air conditioning to "on" instead of "auto" or you will wake up freezing with an awful sore throat. Bleh. Anyways I basically spent the next three days in bed, watching ABC Family (thank God for cable) and old movies, eating soup, and sleeping. Except for Madi's 21st Birthday which we spent by trying out a local BBQ place (a must-do to when in Alabama) called Jim 'N' Nick's Bar-B-Q. It was delicious! A little pricey (about $15/person), but for his birthday it was so worth it! We both got the grilled chicken breast and corn on the cob, and I got mashed potatos and gravy. Yum!

This trip we did things a little differently. Since we stayed in one location for a majority of the time, Mrs. Franek suggested that we rented a house for the week through VRBO instead of staying in a pet friendly hotel. It was a great idea! Conveniently located less than ten minutes from the hospital Madi was working at this week, and in the historic district, the house we stayed in (pictured above) was so adorable! It was a great choice because I was able to have time to try out some really delicious crock pot meals, which I will post about later when I get to take pics of them! Madi even loved them! It helped save money on going out to eat frequently.

After finally feeling better, I actually got to do some exploring on our last day
in Birmingham with Madi and Nike! First we went to Railroad Park, which is a super modern park and has really cool recycling tips and energy savers posted throughout the park. It was a great place to go and read a book, go for a run, or walk with your family. Definitely a must see if you go to Birmingham! After that I really had
wanted to go see the Botanical Gardens, since that is something we do in a lot of places that we go. They were gorgeous! I loved the Rose Garden and took at lot of pictures there. They also had some really cool fountains. That night we went to the movie Neighbors with Zac Efron, Seth Rogen, and Dave Franco. It was hilarious. Totally inappropriate. But hilarious.

This morning we headed out and stopped by Chattanooga, TN so I could make a run to McKay's of course! If you haven't heard from me already, McKay's is a used bookstore in Tennessee that is AWESOME. Has so many books that are not printed anymore like Boxcar Children and Babysitter's Club. So amazing. We stopped by Lupi's for lunch, my favorite pizza of all time, and hit the road for Florida! After a long day of traveling, we made it home! All in time to do a 5K tomorrow morning, work a shift, and then go to a wedding tomorrow night! Bleh. My life is way too crazy.

So is there anything we missed that is a must do in Birmingham? Anyone else ever been to McKays and love it as much as I do? Let me know!

Thanks for keeping up,
-Olivia :)