Settle down, this one might be long.
I went back to Michelle’s house on Christmas day and we exchanged gifts. I got a bunch of awesome stuff from her and her mom that I really like, including an Apple Wireless Keyboard from her and a bluetooth headset, two cool shirts, and a poster from her mom.
When it turned 12 that night, I wished her a happy anniversary and gave her a promise ring. I couldn’t wait to give it to her, and I surprised her because I think she was expecting for me to give her one on Valentine’s day from some things I’ve said in the past. 
On the 26th (after we went to sleep and woke up again) we hung around her house, went to Amanda’s so she and Shai could exchange presents with Michelle.
The 27th was when we left for Destin. We met Keith, Becca, Ashley and Nick at the Waffle House in Boutte and ate lunch, and then exchanged some gifts in the parking lot. Then we got gas and left for Florida. The drive there was pretty uneventful except for some awesome dancing and singing by Michelle 
. I could’ve easily found Destin without my GPS, but I used it anyway. The hotel was really nice (I mean, well, I hope it was since it was a Hilton). The beach was absolutely gorgeous and it was even warm enough to swim, even though we didn’t. So, before I get into what we did, here’s a quick convention overview:
-The con was small.
-I’m not even sure why I bought a convention badge since I didn’t do anything convention related besides go in the small dealer’s room to look around, and look at the costume contest, and I only did that because Keith and Becca and Ashley were in it.
-I met Michael Sprayberry from HGCX and talked to him for a while.
-Someone remind me not to go to conventions anymore next time I say I’m going, I just want vacations. ><
The day we got there we went to eat at TGI Friday’s, which Keith and Becca and I wanted pretty badly. The slushies weren’t as good as I remembered them looking when we last went to TGIF in Dallas for AKon, but the food was still delicious. I think we went to the beach that night, and it was so nice. I freaking love the beach.
The next day we did a little con stuff. Got our badges, some cosplayed (of course, I didn’t), and I think we went back to the beach (freaking yes, lawl). We ate at Fudpucker’s because we couldn’t find another restaurant we wanted to go to (though I wanted to go to Fudpucker’s anyway).
Saturday while everyone else was at the convention, Michelle and I went to the Silver Sands shopping outlet. It was a lot of fun. I bought her some stuff from the Disney Character Store and some gelato smoothies, which were good but didn’t taste like smoothies. She bought her dog some chocolate dipped dog treats and me a really nice sweater from Banana Republic. I bought a new beanie that I actually like better than my old one so far and a long sleeve undershirt. That Banana Republic outlet was freaking awesome. We went to some other places in the outlets but didn’t buy anything. We headed back towards the hotel and stopped at a little strip mall nearby. We had some chocolate dipped strawberries at a little candy store and then I bought Michelle a new cross necklace. Then we went back to the hotel and went and walked on the beach for the first time in daylight, since the other two times were at night. It was all sorts of awesome. We went in the water a little bit and took pictures (I might post some later ) and found some cool shells and stuff. After that we went to the costume contest to watch Keith and Becca and Ashley, and though they had really good costumes, they didn’t win anything (apparently the judges were known to be easily bribable). We again tried to go eat at the place we couldn’t find on Friday, but it was closed, so we went to Carrabba’s instead. It was pretty good, despite Keith Carroll saying pretty much everything there was bad. That night we just packed and talked and stuff.
Random observation: On the entire trip, I saw about 40 Ron Paul signs and only one thing endorsing another candidate, an Obama 08 bumper sticker.
The next morning we woke up, checked out, and sadly, left the Hilton for the last time. We went to eat at Cheeseburger in Paradise (which had a really nice men’s bathroom), and then left for Louisiana. I stayed at Michelle’s house until today (where her dad randomly decided to wash my car, lawl, FTW), when we went to go to my parents’ house for dinner and to visit. My new LCD panel for my phone came in, so we put that in, and now I can read my text messages again. And then, sadly, we left and I took her home, and then I left for Baton Rouge and I won’t see her again until Friday.
So. That’s the entirety of what I remember that was interesting since my last update. I had some other things I wanted to say but I can’t remember them right now, so perhaps I’ll update with that stuff later if I remember.
-Philip
We had delicious food (duck and deer, mmmm), and I have plenty of leftovers in my freezer right now. The rest of the holiday was spent with family and friends.
