4th of July Weekend

How was your 4th of July weekend? Ours was fantastic. I loved that the holiday fell on a weekend this year! The weather was unbelievably gorgeous and unusually not humid, so we got to spend most of it outside and I have to say I loved it. I can't remember a 4th of July with such amazing weather!

Girls Weekend in New York City

Back in April, my mom, sisters, and I got to realize a dream that we've had for awhile - spend a weekend together in New York. And it was everything we'd hoped it would be! It was a quick trip, but we had two full days to eat and tour our way around the city, and that was enough to do a lot. I flew in from North Carolina, and they drove up from DC and we met at our hotel on Saturday morning to drop off our things and get started on our day! We had the best time just being together, having girl talk and seeing bits of the big city. I think we need to make this happen more than once in our lifetime.

I am a warm weather person.

This weekend we are heading to Beech Mountain like we do every year with Michael's family. We get to stay at a beautiful mountain house overlooking a (usually) snowy valley, play in the snow, sometimes go skiing. And every year I have to convince myself that it's going to be fun. I have to "gear myself up" for it, in a sense. I don't like cold weather. I hate being bundled from head to toe to the point where I can't breathe or walk. This is probably due to the fact that I feel like I never have the right gear for it and always end up with cold, wet extremities. I don't like driving up the mountain in our little Prius when the roads are slick. I had a bad experience skiing once, and while I've had some good ones since then, it's still not my favorite thing. I'd rather sit by the fire drinking coffee and reading a book.

Weekend update

This past weekend was low-key but pretty amazing. There's something so nice about cozying up on a cold and rainy January day, not feeling like you have to go anywhere or do anything fancy. We were able to catch up on some things around the house: putting up curtains in the dining room, adding some shelves in the garage and finishing up the workbench (Michael), and re-organizing the kitchen pantry (me). There are several other cosmetic changes I still want to make to the decor of our house, but sometimes you just need to do the things that no one will notice but you. It feels so good to have all of my food organized with everything in its place and a clean kitchen to start the week off with.

A long weekend

Camping in a cloud

A Wedding in Maryland

We have had quite a few weddings to attend this year. This one was probably the most unique wedding I had been to, mainly because of the people involved. One of my good friends from college fell in love with a British boy, and they have dated transcontinentally for the past 3 years, to finally get married this past weekend. I was honored to be asked to do a reading in the wedding ceremony, so I got to participate in all of the weekend festivities. It was such a blast meeting all of the groom's British family members and friends! I think I pictured them being a bit stand-offish because everyone always says that Americans are so much nicer and friendlier than Europeans. But honestly, these people were some of the nicest people I've ever met. It was also a wonderful treat to hear them speak - loved their accents. They were so sweet and fun to get to know, and I'm so glad that my friend is so blessed to marry into such a wonderful family. She is moving to England after they sort through all of the legal red tape (which unfortunately may take a few months), and it is going to be weird not having her in the same country. As I've written about before, my college friends and I try to get together a couple times a year, and even though we are all spread out in different areas, we have been able to keep up that tradition for the past 3 years. It is going to be different not having Sarah be a part of those get togethers. But it is so nice knowing that she will be taken care of by her husband and his family. All I can say is I cannot wait to visit her in England!

Graduation

This past weekend my baby brother graduated high school. He is the last of our family to finish high school and move into adulthood, and all of us were so proud! You can tell by the smile on his face that he is, too. He is going away to college in August and will be doing the ROTC program. He's got a lot of life stretched out in front of him and I may be a tad jealous. Not that I'm old or anything (I know I still have a LOT to look forward to myself), but that summer before college is one of the most exciting times. So much lies ahead in those next few years and it's amazing to discover how it all plays out. What you learn. What you choose to do and what you choose not to do. The friendships you build. The places you go. I'm really excited for him to experience all of that!

It also worked out that I was in town the weekend of my college friend's bridal shower. She is marrying a Brit this summer and moving to England so I am trying to see her as much as I can now! I have hopes to pay her a visit overseas in the next couple years. It was so fun to be there on her special day and shower her with love. I'm looking forward to her wedding in July that will be another college reunion!

Baby Molly + Family Time

The weekend before last, we finally went to Charlotte to see my new baby niece, Molly Claire. She was born on Easter weekend and I had to wait two whole weeks to see her! She is precious in every way, and it was a dream to hold her - she is so cuddly and just melted into my arms. Two-week-old newborns are the best! I held her for a few hours on Saturday while my sister-in-law took a much needed nap, and she literally slept on my stomach the entire time. Such a sweetie. We also got to see my other sister-in-law run a half marathon! She had a terrible cold but still pushed on through and ran the entire thing. It was so cute to watch her little boy clap for her when he saw her running! We had a great weekend, and I'm so thankful to have married into such an amazing family. Michael's parents love me as their own daughter, and I couldn't have asked for better.

Mini-vacation: Florida

I don't normally try to do "catch-up" posts, but we've had so many great weekends recently that I figured I should share a bit from each of them (and now that I finally have some time to catch a breath). This post is all about Florida!

Michael goes to Miami a couple times a year for work, so when we found out he was going down again in April we immediately started brainstorming how to make a trip out of it. Vacations are a lot cheaper when one of your plane tickets is already paid for! Michael's grandmother lives in Naples, so we figured out a way to spend a long weekend with her before his work commitment. We flew into Naples on Friday, rented a car to drive around for the weekend, and then on Monday drove across the state to Ft. Lauderdale, where we got some lunch on the water and then I flew out from there and Michael headed down to Miami to stay for the week. It worked out perfectly!

We had such a great weekend down there. I was seriously at my limit with the longest winter in the history of the world, and Florida was just the way to get me through it. Grandmom showed us around her neighborhood community (which was awesome by the way. Think a college campus with palm trees and golf carts, without the class part) and took us to Perkins for dinner. We spent our afternoons at the beach and soaked up that Florida sun we needed so much. We took Grandmom out for pizza and ice cream, and also to go see the sunset on the water. It was just a really great weekend.

Then I came home and it was finally spring! Thank you, Florida!

I had the BEST fish tacos at Casablanca in Ft. Lauderdale. If you're ever down in Florida and need a good lunch spot, this is where you should go! Not to mention the view was incredible!

Easter weekend

Oh spring, where are you? I keep thinking you're close by, and then winter comes charging in again with rain and wind in a mere 40 degrees (or sometimes 30!). Winter's been kind of a bully this year. I'm starting to get nervous that we'll miss spring completely, and that it will go from being freezing straight to hot and sticky.

The one thing getting me through this brutal spring - or lack thereof - is going to the beach. Where I can feel the sunshine on my face and take long walks outside, even if I have to wear more clothing than I'd prefer. Last weekend we met my family at Kill Devil Hills in the Outer Banks. It was so much fun to relax and get some quality time with my family, and also get that much needed vitamin D! We stayed in a funny little resort right on the water - the Star Wars pods, as we fondly called them. We also explored the dunes at Jockey's Ridge. I had no idea they would be that big! It literally felt like I went to the desert, except of course that there was water not too far away in any direction. We had fun jumping off the dunes and I got to try some new things with my camera. All in all it was a fantastic weekend! The only thing missing was going to church on Easter Sunday. That was a little strange to miss out on and it definitely wasn't the same listening to a sermon on the drive home. I am thankful to go to a church that I really miss when I'm not there.

You're going to hate me, but tonight I'm headed to Florida to visit Michael's grandma. I know... I am getting so spoiled with trips this spring! Michael has a work trip in Miami next week, and it just made sense to tack on a weekend getaway. It's supposed to be sunny and in the 80s all weekend. I am SO EXCITED. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

A weekend at the beach

I've been quiet here on the blog front lately. Not really sure why, but I felt like I needed the time off so I took it. And it was great. I'm excited to jump back on board!

This past weekend we spent down at Ocean Isle Beach. For the first time, Michael and I had his parents' condo all to ourselves, and it was incredible. Just what we needed, in fact. I certainly do wish that weekends were longer than 2 days! Friday night started off a little rough. First with not knowing where we put our keys to the condo, and then my little Prius had some car trouble just after we had really gotten going on our drive. So we turned around, drove home, re-packed all of our stuff into Michael's car and set out a little bit later than we intended. We decided to make the best of it and not let it ruin our weekend. It didn't really. We missed out on maybe a couple hours of hanging out at the condo on Friday night, since we didn't arrive until 1 am (!!) but we were so glad we decided to go anyway. We spent the weekend sleeping in, eating delicious brunch, walking on the beach, bike riding around the island, reading, eating pizza on the couch and watching a movie, and of course more beach walking. The weather was GORGEOUS - 70s and sunny, with some strong gusts of wind here and there. It was relaxing, refreshing, and I got some much needed quality time with my man. Seriously, the perfect weekend. We finished it off with lunch in Wilmington on our drive back, at the cutest ever cafe right on the water. Sometimes weekends are packed full of fun activities, sometimes they are simple and relaxing, and sometimes we get lucky and they are both. This weekend we got lucky!