the weekend rundown - sun, surf & sand

All the sweetest winds they blow across the south

Oh my sweet Carolina
~Ryan Adams

We've been on vacay since last Thursday and it's been heavenly. 

We joined my family for the annual North Myrtle Beach trip, 
Cherry Grove to be exact. 
It was a fantastic couple of days spent bronzing, hanging out with family, listening to beach tunes, playing with sweet babies, and relaxing in the sweet Carolina sunshine. 












And of course, the Myrtle Beach family tradition of "circling up",
the best time of the day : )

Photos taken with the new cam were limited as a constant blast from the sand storm shown below attacked us for most of our time there!

A few days of ocean air and sand between your toes is so good for the soul. It always takes us back to our first few years together as 

carefree beach bums : )

Thanks to my awesome parents and aunts and uncles for allowing us the privilege of enjoying salty ocean breezes and breath taking views from the porch of an ocean front cottage! 

Come Saturday morning, everyone was packing up to go home, but Ant and I decided we weren't done vacationing yet and road tripped to lovely Beaufort, NC.


It was an amazing 24 hour trip!
We got in some more beach time at Atlantic Beach






before heading over to Beaufort and checking out the adorable town.

hehe had to do it babe : )

I don't know that the picture does it justice,
but the color of that water was amazing!


It was a gorgeous teal and there were tons of boats, kayakers and paddle boarders enjoying it.

We however, chose to gaze at it over drinks on the deck.

We stayed at the Beaufort Inn which was fabulous and in a great location, just a short picturesque walk down the picket fence lined street to the waterfront shops and restaurants. 

After showers back at the Inn, we strolled back to town for a night out that was so incredibly fun and  fantastic.




We had dinner at the Rhum Bar which is the open air waterfront
back deck of Front Street Grill.

There we enjoyed Allagashes and mojitos, and dined on rare tuna appetizers, fried okra with jalapeno citrus aioli, blackened tuna tacos, a mouth watering ribeye and one of the best bottles of Cabernet
I've ever tasted.

The weather was perfect, warm with a light breeze coming off the water, our bartender was fun and friendly, giving great recommendations and we stayed here for hours, talking and laughing in the flickering candlelight, enjoying this perfect night out.

Sunday morning we enjoyed the included sit down breakfast at the Inn, provided by the owner who was so warm and friendly she made us feel like we could have been sitting in one of our grandmothers' kitchens, before relaxing waterfront with coffees before heading back north.

we watched this guy fish for his breakfast right in front of us over coffee- he was quite the fisherman picking off minnows one by one off the dock!

 Whew! This was a long one!
But this trip was just too good to leave anything out!

Side note: My baby brother Jack left immediately after Myrtle Beach to traipse around London and Paris for 10 days!
Keep him and Leah in your thoughts for safe travels!

Gone to Carolina...

Ta ta for now... 

the weekend rundown - boats, beaches & besties

This weekend was sooooooo good. 

Some of our favorite best friends came to town for the first official Sand Island Saturday. 

I say the first because it has been unanimously decided that it will become an annual event. 

Saturday morning we loaded up the boat with coolers, games and beach towels and set out to spend a beautiful sunny June day on this little secret slice of paradise. 

Bernie and Jamie even took the liberty of creating a t-shirt in honor of 

the event which may or may not now be dubbed The Sandy Pinky
(you've gotta know the background to get that one: ) ha)

Our crew consisted of me and Ant

Jamie and Bernie

Ryan and Peyton

Whitney and Logan

and Jayson

It was such an awesome day.

Sand Island is literally just a little sliver of sand out in the middle of the Rappahannock River where you can anchor your boat in about 3 feet of water and wade to shore with your coolers and bags and set up camp for the day. 

On this particular day, there was only one other boat at our sand island and they occupied the farthest opposite end of the beach, so we pretty much had it to ourselves!

The day's activities included swimming, bocce, diaper floating, music, sunning and of course, eating and drinking. 

Rough day, huh? 

After a full day of Sand Island'ing, we headed back in, making a quick stop to let everyone dive off the boat tower in the middle of the river

 and the party continued back at our house for a cookout. 

Our sweet friends Sara and Taylor joined us for dinner, bringing with them a huge bowl of the biggest steamed shrimp I've ever seen-they were awesome! 

This fantastically fun and casual gathering was everything we'd hoped for when we got our new patio furniture a few weeks ago. It made me so incredibly happy to look at our back deck and see all of these people who we love so much just hanging out and having fun!

camera setting issues.. you get the idea though!

Just great friends sitting around eating, drinking and laughing- it was so perfect and we loved having all of you!!