TWTW - the one with the end of vacation

Thursday MFD left to head home before 7. Dad, Carol, Debbie, and I went to two Bert's Surf Shops and Beaufort Olive Oil. They continued on but dropped me back at home. I did a little blogging and a little work and hit the beach around noon. We were out there until close to 7 and did the old pull all the leftovers out and eat dinner, plus the addition of chocolate lasagna by Debbie for dessert. After a Lola original concert on guitar, I went to bed and started a new book. 

Friday Last day of vacation! Morning rain produced awesome skies. I was on the beach by 10, finished a book from beginning to end and started a new one by noon, and done with the beach for the day by 3. Packing up and cleaning up, pizza, ice cream, seeing Stephen & Aubrey and the kids off, saying goodbye to Aubrey's family, and a last magic hour. I almost didn't go down because I was so tired but my Dad was like I think you should see this and I did. It was another great vacation with us on one side and Aubrey's family on the other. We all had a lot of fun and relaxed and the kids were a riot. 

Saturday The long ride home began at 4 am. Dad and Carol brought Debbie and I home since MFD left Thursday. I was trying to rest for the first two hours since I can't sleep in cars and somehow pinched a nerve in my right shoulder. I finished the book I started Friday, we stopped at a roadside farm market in Delaware, and after just a little bit of traffic we made it home by 2. 

I hugged the dogs repeatedly, unpacked what I could since my right arm and hand were pretty useless; had my first tomato sandwich of the season with tomato and bread from the farm market; ordered groceries from Wegman's via InstaCart since my arm hurt so fucking badly I couldn't imagine heaving the supplies I needed into a cart, out of a cart, and into the house; fell asleep for two hours, and started a new book. MFD was at the shore to do turnover and ended up staying the night. After over eight days of always being around people, it was so nice to be all alone. 

Sunday I was up by 7, showered by 8, and was watering the flowers before 9 when Instacart dropped off my groceries two hours early. Holler. I did five loads of laundry, changed the sheets, did more unpacking, and read some before heading over to my mom's for dinner. 

It was hot but a little breeze kicked in so we ate outside under some cool clouds. Rich's grilled pork chops were awesome and I ate both the cupcake and trifle desserts with no regrets until I got home and had to lay like a beached whale on the couch until I was less full and could complete my chores.

Weekly food prep: I made broiled chicken with artichokes for lunches and dinners (will put over rice or pasta) to start, since I had all the stuff and didn't make it on vacation last week. I also made a lot of veggie meat sauce to freeze. Breakfasts are hard boiled eggs and clementines. Snacks are zucchini slices with hummus and bananas. I didn't get to making power breakfast muffins but I'll do that this week. 

Happy happy birthday to my longtime friend Gena Ho!

Back at it. Let's go. 

TWTW - the one with the Fourth and the start of vacation

Thursday, July 4 MFD was gone early for Fourth of July mummery parades. I lingered over coffee with a book, packed my stuff for vacation, made and froze breakfast burritos, slow roasted ribs and served with corn and baked beans, cleaned out the fridge, picked up around the house, and when MFD got home we lay around with the dogs and watched five episodes of Stranger Things. 

Friday My company rocks so we had an extra free holiday on Friday. I did some more packing, changed the sheets and washed them and towels, ran over to my Dad's to pick something up and stopped to get mulch on the way back. I weeded and mulched and planted a new plant and nearly died of humidity and heat. Debbie arrived around 1. She finished working and I painted my nails. We got pedicures before coming home to order Lee's and the three of us watched most of the rest of Stranger Things (I tapped out on the second to last episode to go to bed). 

Saturday The car was packed and we were on the road by 5:30 am. We stopped five times and it took 8.5 hours to get to Emerald Isle. Most exciting part of the drive was a high speed car chase we saw as we were entering North Carolina. Least exciting part of the drive was MFD's incessant crepe myrtle talk. Everyone else was there when we got there. We unloaded and hit the pool, checked out the beach, had pizza for dinner, called the realtor for 20934802 problems at the house, and later my brother and I did the first round of grocery shopping at the new Publix. I fell into bed deliriously tired around 11. 

Sunday We were up for the sunrise and had coffee on the beach with Dad, Carol, and Cathy. Dad, Debbie, MFD, and I made a quick grocery run and picked up our bikes. We read books, hit the beach, watched the US Women win the World Cup, read more, had hotdogs and hamburgers, and a tiny bit of a magic hour. 

Vacation week. 

Vacation: Picture Pages

Believe it or not, I did not take a tremendous amount of photos when we were in Emerald Isle. I typically would have 200+ and I barely hit 90. It was a good and restful week with my family on one side of the house and Aubrey's on the other. I was deep into the languid southern way by the time we hit Emerald Isle after our time in Ocracoke. Most of our time was spent just being - on the beach morning noon and night, watching the sky and chasing the light, rocking on the porch, reading, enjoying the quiet and the shrieks of Lola Jean as she followed her cousins around. And fishing 24 hours a day for MFD except the day the guys all golfed.

Now that I think about it, I don't think I ever fully shared photos from the last time we were in Emerald Isle two years ago, aside from on my weekend posts. It must be a just be place.

Happy 40th to our BFF Evan today. Love you! And we need a new photo together. Also, if you yourself need photos, Evan is your man. Check out Evan Leslie Images on facebook and follow him on Instagram.

Emerald Isle

We spent last week nine hours down the coast in Emerald Isle, North Carolina. A quiet, pretty little beach town, the perfect place in which to relax. Picture heavy post ahead (apologies for duplicates from FB or Instagram), starting with my favorite thing about vacationing on the beach: the opportunity to see the sun rise and the light play off of the water. I got up at 5:30 every day except one to see it. I got dressed quickly, grabbed some iced coffee and a chair, and crept down to the beach as the light crept up. 

I also like the sunsets and Magic Hour in particular, but they were only good Sunday and Tuesday. There were some spectacular moonrises as well. 

There's nothing like staying beach front, something which is much more affordable down south rather than in Jersey. We had some sweet flyovers too due to the proximity of Camp Lejeune.

Emerald Isle has a cool pier, the Bogue Inlet pier. Carol and I walked down one morning and MFD and I went out on top of the pier Thursday night. It was swaying in the wind then and I beat feet off of that pier so fast. Panic at the disco. 

MFD and I joined my Dad & Carol on a tourist shopping excursion that included lunch at a roadside dive that was awesome.

We also checked out Swansboro one morning. I liked the cute little towns that were a quick drive off of the island.

You can't talk about vacation without talking about food. Monday - seafood feast (crab legs, steamers, scallops prepared two ways, shrimp prepared three ways); Tuesday - taco Tuesday, guacamole, salsa and cheese with chips; Wednesday  - pulled pork, sauteed green beans, roasted potatoes, cole slaw; Thursday - MFD and I went out to Kathryn's and split a soft shell crab. I had a great ribeye. Vacation cereal, I rarely eat it at home. Us northerners bring scrapple with us on vacation. An awesome berry tart in Swansboro. Reese's s'mores dessert. Fabulous ice cream from the Sweet Spot. If you're ever in the area, go to Big Oak in Salter Path and get the shrimp burger and fried pickles! Our friend Julie recommended it and it was awesome.

But of course the main attraction was the beach - and the company. It was great to spend the week with my family with Stephen's friends from college in town as well. We did a lot of swimming, no sharks in sight. Top two pics are MFD catching a wave and my Dad. Thanks to Carol for the bottom two pics of me on my float with Stephen assisting to keep me from being carried away.

I did a lot of reading (thanks to Carol for the standing pic), finishing 6.5 books and starting a seventh on the way home.

And of course we did a lot of relaxing and picture taking and laughing and talking. 

Beach scenes 

 I love the restorative and rejuvenating powers of being next to the sea. 

A little symmetry in the beginning and the end...

It's been five years since MFD and I spent a week at the beach mostly in relax mode. I mean, I was in total relax mode. I forgot how awesome it is to do that. If I was any more relaxed, I would be dead. MFD was in work mode except for the times I forced him to be in relax mode...I appreciate that his business is demanding but I will always push relaxation on him. We all need it, am I right? We loved it so much we already decided to go back to Emerald Isle with my family in 2017. See you then, sleepy seaside town. 

Linking up for Wanderlust Wednesdays with Kate, Emily, and Kerri

TWTW - the one where vacation started

Salutations from vacation, mon frers. Vacation started Friday when we left our house before 5 a.m., picked up DD and Stephen and Aubrey, and headed south. Stephen drove the whole way so nine hours seemed to fly for me. I forgot how freaking hot the south is in the summer. Like a freaking blanket of heat. Yes, we did take some roadside photos in tobacco fields.

We made great time, and met my parents at the house before official check-in. Stephen and I did an insane Supermarket Sweep type grocery and booze run then we ordered pizza, ate, and hit the beach.

We got some nice sun time before the storms - I love a great time on the beach but there's nothing like watching the ocean get angry and a storm come in. Lightening was branching across the sky. Nature is a bad ass bitch.

We all thought it was going to rain Saturday but we ended up with an awesome beach day. Sunday too.

Vacation scenes...

Sunday night magic hour was made even better by knowing that we don't leave until Saturday. I'm so happy we could check in a day early.

Is this where I talk about food? I think I usually talk about food during TWTW. Hotdogs/hamburgers/mac salad/corn on the cob & watermelon on Saturday, Italian and a strawberry trifle Sunday. We're all pitching in cooking breakfast, dinner, and dessert.

What else? Oh yes...how you know you're on vacation with MFD - he is a quirky labeler (that Sugar Ray contains no Mark McGrath but does contain actual sugar), leaves halved lemons he uses in his hair all over (there's one in one of the bathrooms on the soap dish, I forgot to photograph it), and he sets up an office because as long as he has internet access, he's working. Even when his office set up makes him look like Doctor Evil from behind. How you know you're on vacation with me: I'm a compulsive picker upper and organize like with like. Carol is calling the table in front of the TV Stephanie's Garage Sale. Everything is a dollar.

If you need me this week, I'll be here. You can't argue with being able to sit up in bed and see the ocean. I finished a book on the way down, read one Saturday and one Sunday, and started another on Sunday. My book nerd ass is on fire.

Speaking of reading, the next Show Us Your Books linkup is Tuesday, July 14. 

Toodleoo, mofos. Stay tuned on Instagram & Facebook for more vacation scenes.

p.s. Fuck yeah, SCOTUS. As you can imagine, my equality loving bleeding liberal heart is full of glee right now. To all the judgey judgers, may I advise you to leave that to God when the time comes? I'm pretty sure Jesus didn't want self righteous people crapping all over the choices of others in his name when he left the Earth. Just an educated guess giving his very loving and accepting personality. And can everyone now just call it marriage? Okay, thanks.

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending