In all the years that we’ve owned a home in the Outer Banks my husband and I have actually never gone out to dinner together. It’s actually pretty amusing, because a lot of our friends and family will ask us for restaurant recommendations and we have to tell them we honestly don’t know. We usually get puzzled looks from those we talk to, but it’s true, we’ve never gone out for dinner together. Every so often we eat out for lunch, but for dinner we either bring groceries from home or stop at the grocery store once we step onto the island.
In general I shop the store circular and clip coupons. I’m downright thrifty in the grocery store more often than not, but when I come down to the beach I love to buy steamed extra spicy shrimp. This weekend my husband surprised me with a pound of shrimp from a local seafood shop. My husband hates the smell of seafood, so the mere fact that he stepped into one of the fishiest smelling seafood spots demonstrates just how much he loves me.
Steamed shrimp is definitely my big splurge at the beach. It’s not ridiculously expensive, but it’s certainly more expensive than a large pack of chicken or a pound of ground beef. This weekend I split the pound in two and ate half on Friday night and the other half on Saturday. I sat outside at a picnic table on our screened-in porch and watched the sun set. As I watched the day come to a close, I listened to the wind whisper through the trees, counted my blessings and snacked on steamed shrimp.
I’m incredibly frugal when it comes to everything else in my life, but I’m a HUGE splurger when it comes to holidays and the like. I’ll happily drop 20% of my annual income on holidays and vacations each year…it’s not something I can continue to do when I start full-time work (I’m a postgrad student working part-time right now), but until I have to submit to the 9 to 5 grind, I’m going to stimulate the economy with my tourist dollars!
ick, you’re right–he MUST love you. i also hate the smell of fish/seafood/etc…it’s one of the most overpowering smells ever if you hate it!
your house sounds so peaceful!
We are the same as you. My parents rent a place on the OBX every summer and host the week for my family and my sister’s family. Each family is “on our own” for breakfast and lunch, although, my mom (Grandma) often makes pancakes for her young grandchildren for breakfast. We divide up dinners and each family is responsible for cooking and cleaning up two nights during the week. We have seafood every night – mostly shrimp or blue crabs. Meals out are usually for lunch, although we rarely do that (sister’s family goes out most days.) Just being at the beach is a luxury and I don’t want to miss a bit of it standing in line at some restraunt!
(Now back here at home I splurg on papercrafting supplies!)