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

Reese's peanut butter s'mores in the oven

I'll start with the unpopular opinion of not really liking s'mores. This was awesome though. MFD found the recipe and asked Carol to make it on vacation. It was really easy and good, and it didn't require fire, which is always a bonus.

Ingredients 

1 bag mini Reese's peanut butter cups
1 bag marshmallows
graham crackers, strawberries, or your dipper of choice

Directions

Preheat oven to 450.

Unwrap Reese's and line the bottom of a 9 inch pan with them (I'd use disposable in the future - not easy to clean up). Lay marshmallows on top of them with marshmallows on their sides.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. The chocolate is melty but not liquid, so eat it quickly. Enjoy!

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Haikuesday

I love dessert talk.
Uh, melty but not liquid... 
Scientific, right?

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TWTW - the one where vacation ended

A lovely vacation came to an end on Saturday morning. I got up before the sun to see it rise over the ocean one more time before we left. I am so grateful to have spent a week beachfront with my family in Emerald Isle. You can see the beginning of vacation in this post and pics I put up on Instagram here. The full vacation post will be up on Wednesday. We left Emerald Isle at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. Travelling on the Fourth sucks it.

Trip home happenings: I made my own DD iced coffee at some Hess gas station in Vanceboro, NC; we stopped to pee and happened to find ourselves in Dismal Swamp where the water was...dismal; and I had a toddler-like hanger episode and ate McDonald's for the first time in over a year. Otherwise it was nine hours in the car and by the end it was like Survivor up in that bitch.

MFD and I got home at 5. Geege was overjoyed, Mae growled at us for a while. Gus was so excited before he remembered he was supposed to be angry. So he puked dramatically and then ignored us all night. Home sweet home. I love being on vacation but I miss my dogs so much even though I know they're in good hands with my dog sitter.

The awesome thing about a vacation with a washer and dryer is that you come home and all of your clothes are clean. So you have time to wash sheets and towels and all that you left for yourself before vacation and go through all of your mail.

Other Saturday night things: Wawa hoagies, Orange is the New Black, and restraining Geege and Mae for hours while 1776 fireworks went off every minute. Fun times.

There's no way in hell I was going food shopping, and we were totally washed out of food. Peapod wasn't delivering on Sunday so I used Instacart and had my groceries by 10 a.m. Sunday morning. Weekly food prep: breakfast burritos from the freezer for breakfast; strawberries/peaches/plums and celery for snacks; greek orzo salad for lunches; grilled chicken thighs, steamed asparagus, and caprese salad for dinners.

I had to pay some attention to the flower beds too for the dead heading and all that crap.

Otherwise, I hung with the dogs, read, finished the third season of Orange is the New Black, and just enjoyed doing nothing before getting back into the swing of life.

Back to work for me today. Back to targeted exercise. Back to not eating a bunch of crap.

How was your Fourth? How have you been? 

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending

America is my favorite

And by Birthday Girl, I mean America. Not the flag. 

One of my favorite things about America is our flag. I love photographing it and seeing it wave when the Star Spangled Banner is played. I like to hear it snapping on windy days, resilient and alive.

One of the greatest things about this country is that you have the ability to burn the flag in protest of your government. While I consider it sacrilege to do that, you have to admit that living in a country where it is legal to do so is amazing. I also love that while you'll have your fringe flag burners here and there, you have eleventy billion people who would straight up punch someone in the face should they happen upon them desecrating the flag that represents, to them, the spirit of the American people.

God bless America, land that I love. Happy birthday, you grand old lady. Happy Fourth from me & my crew to you and yours. Be safe, don't drink and drive, and avoid setting off fireworks unsupervised.

See ya'll on Monday for TWTW.

Take me to the sea

The ocean has inspired many a book and poem, as well as artists from all mediums. There's something restorative about being beside the sea. Even though I dislike when people just post a shit ton of quotes all down their blog, today, that's exactly what I'm presenting to you made from my own photos Enjoy! I hope one speaks to you.

And then it was July.

 Linking up with Shanna for Random Wednesday