Family Fun

The family took a week long trip to Ocracoke Island last week. We vacationed here in 2009 and the parents decided it was time to go back. We had plans to offshore fish but the weather did not agree with those plans. Although we missed out on recreating this memory, we still had a wonderful trip! The North Carolina coast is beautiful and unspoiled. All development is around the bay on Ocracoke because the beach and sand dunes are protected. It is truly wonderful to walk on the beach at night, among the ghost crabs, with zero lighting. Y'all, the ghost crabs were in the hundreds (maybe thousands)! It was the craziest thing we had ever seen. They swarmed the beach at night. This is not great news for sea turtles eggs but we did enjoy watching them overtake the sand as we walked.


Ocracoke Island is a two hour ferry boat ride from the main land at Cedar Island. The ferry ride to and from Ocracoke was a little rough. The waves rolled us and our vehicles for quite a while on both trips. Our vehicle was covered with salt spray after the trip home. I now understand why there were cars on the ferry with rusted back bumpers. We saw shrimp boats and passed many other ferry boats on the way. The Outer Banks ferry system is a well oiled machine! There are six ferry boats alone that travel between Ocracoke and Cape Hatteras as a free shuttle service. We also took this hour long trip to and from Cape Hatteras to see the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the Bodie Lighthouse. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in North America! We climbed that thing! It definitely felt like the tallest lighthouse in that humidity. I was drenched in sweat about half way up. The fiancé was even brave enough to come out on the lighthouse landing and walked all the way around! I was so proud of him. Mom loves a good lighthouse so this was her big exciting day. We love them as well but I think they were the highlight of her trip. She celebrated her 55th birthday on this trip with a big pan of brownies (complete with candles)! I hope brownies grant a birthday wish just as well as cake and cupcakes.

Ocracoke has a small village filled with bicycles and golf carts. They are actually a much more preferred way of transportation due to the narrow roads and many pedestrians. We decided to try out both on this trip. Our golf cart rental was really nice because we were able to see new parts of the island. Plus, it was pretty fun to zip around with everyone. We went to the Ocracoke Lighthouse and enjoyed some North Carolina classics; Cheerwine and Sun Drop. I have to admit, the Cheerwine was pretty phenomenal. We agreed that it tasted like cherry Dr. Pepper. The lighthouse is about half the height of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It is closed to the public so we were unable to climb the little guy. We also took the path to Springer's Point. It is closed to all except foot traffic and leads to the highest point on the island.  It was another hot day but the view from the beach was beautiful. I wish we had known to wear our bathing suits. The Ocracoke Museum held a journal entry from an 1899 resident of the island. The entry spoke about a hurricane and the potential plan to go to Springer's Point as a high point and safe haven. Only six houses still stood on the island after the hurricane passed and hundreds of people left on the ferry the next morning. I can only imagine what it must have been like to live on an island during this time. 

We ate so much great food on this trip. Literally, we stuffed ourselves. My favorite meal came from Eduardo's Taco Stand! We spotted this truck on the first day and did not make it there until our last day. I ordered crab meat tacos without knowing there would be three. I underestimated myself and inhaled all of them! The taco truck was definitely a hit. The line out front should have been a dead give away.

Some other random things we liked about our trip:
*The colony of 40-50 ducks that congregated in the yards
*The Cheerwine float that my sister got from the ice cream shop
*The small little stores scattered throughout the village area
*Our BINGO game- We played for scratch off tickets and it got competitive! Mom knows how to get us involved!
*The Flying Melon Restaurant
*The ring toss game we played on the beach- It was pretty intense at the end.
*Watching Daddy roll around in the sand/surf for 10-15 minutes
*Our golf cart driving difficulties
*The military Osprey aircraft that flew over us while on the beach- It was pretty awesome to see! 

The Question

 

We're ENGAGED!! It has been 10 wonderful days since our engagement. "We are now one step closer to being our own little two person family." 

This post will be some sort of video explanation of our most wonderful and life changing weekend on Sanibel Island.

My fiancé's favorite place in Florida is Sanibel Island. It is "now our favorite place in Florida."

Warning: This post is overwhelmingly about food.

We got a late start on dinner the first night. We ended up at Island Cow because we'd both been there before a knew it would be good. As usual, we had a wait a while to get our food. It was absolutely worth it though. We started with some insanely good chocolate chip muffins (complimentary) and ended with that massive slice of chocolate cake on the right.

Job well done.

The next morning, July 4th, we took a ferry to Caya Costa State Park (on the left). This is another place my fiancé couldn't be quiet about. Now I know why. Just look at it! We felt like we were in another country. 1. The water was insanely clear and green. 2. There were almost no people on the beach! It was July 4th and there were probably only 3 other boats there when we arrived. 3. We found TONS of really great shells, a sea urchin and sand dollar.

We only stayed for a few hours but we could have stayed all day.

We spent the rest of the day at our hotel beach on Sanibel. We found lots of sea creatures here too! I was previously unaware but now I know that I am with a master sand dollar and sea star excavator. He probably found 50 sea stars and even more sand dollars in our two days on the beach. I love finding things like this so I repeatedly mentioned how "perfect" the day was. It was pretty often. "Today has been the perfect day." That was basically all I said for the rest of the afternoon and at dinner. Little did I know...

We ate dinner at Cip's on Sanibel. I actually chose this place the night before. I was later told that he did not plan to propose after this dinner but changed his mind after our wonderful time at Caya Costa and hearing me repeat endlessly about how perfect the day was.
Regardless, the ring was in his pocket at this dinner!
After eating every last bit of my crab stuffed salmon, he convinced me that we needed to go to the beach before the fireworks. I briefly fought it but gave in pretty quickly after his persuasive argument that we were going to look for baby sea turtles. What?! That doesn't even make sense. It may have been because I was so full.

Things that happened just prior:
*I made a slightly big deal about having to stop and take my shoes off, then put them in the car before we could go on the beach.
*I stabbed my big toe with a shell (because I took my shoes off), which made it bleed.
*I kept talking endlessly about all the sea turtle nests we passed. (This beach was covered in nest!)
We stopped in a spot that had zero people and the sunset right around the corner. He started telling me how much he loves me. He asked if I knew he would love me forever. He told me he was a better man since he had met me. He had been telling me how much he loved me ALL day so it did not occur to me until he started to slide away from me and get down on one knee. I immediately covered my face and something like, "oh my god!" came out. The tears came then as well. He then asked me if I would do him the greatest honor, make him the luckiest man in the world and become his wife. We are a little fuzzy on whether or not he actually said, will you marry me? I obviously said yes through lots of tears. He asked if I "even wanted to see the ring" before putting the ring on my finger. He then said, "You're not my girlfriend anymore- you're my fiancé. This is when the water works really kicked in. A sweet couple, who were celebrating their 46th wedding anniversary, took our picture and we then proceeded to try and find the fireworks while I called family. We spent the rest of the night calling family, friends and enjoying the sound of fiancé.

It was perfectly simple!

We spent our last day on the beach in engagement bliss! 

During what seemed like hurricane winds and rain, we pulled into il Tesoro Bistro for our celebratory dinner. We had not planned to go here but it was literally the only place still open after we watched the U.S. Women win the World Cup.

I ate the best ravioli of my life!

Since we weren't stuffed and feeling bad enough about ourselves, we also had tiramisu for dessert.




Pigs (sausage) in a blanket

Projects

 

 I am moving soon and decided to paint our furniture instead of buying new pieces. There are instructions ALL OVER Pinterest on how to paint furniture, which was a little overwhelming. We decided to use a stain and primer that doesn't require sanding that saved a ton of time. It has still been extremely time consuming though. There are 3 pieces and I, of course, decided to stain the tops and parts of the drawers. I will confess now: I am not good at painting or staining. I'm actually pretty horrible at staining. It seems pretty simple self explanatory but there is definitely a technique to it. They aren't perfect and I'm still working but everything seems to be coming along pretty well so far. I will be sure to post completed pictures! I'll just be happy when it's over.

I planted this impulse buy a few weeks ago and it now lives on the front porch. Succulents are pretty main stream and cliché right now but I still stand by them.
1. They are beautiful and come in so many different shapes, sizes and colors.
2. You only water them once every 2 weeks or something crazy like that. Low maintenance is my kind of plant. That's also why I do not have a dog yet.
3. They look great with all other plants/flowers.
Basically, I'm obsessed with succulents.

I have another turtle walk coming up this Thursday night. Cross your fingers that we see another mama turtle. It would also be nice not to stay on the beach until 1:00 a.m. so cross your fingers for that too. Georgia Sea Turtle Center

Happy 4th of July to everyone!!

I'm very excited that we're headed to Sanibel, FL for the holiday! Hello, white sand beaches!

Charleston Chatter

Our friends tied that wedding knot into a nice little bow in Charleston this weekend! We had a great time celebrating their big day and also enjoyed our time in Charleston.

The ceremony and reception were held at the Charleston Maritime Center. The ceremony was held water side and, although scalding, it was beautiful! Our favorite parts about the reception: FOOD/drinks, BAND and CORNHOLE. Are there any other parts to a wedding? No if you're this couple. When I asked the boyfriend what he thought about the wedding his reply was, "It was totally them." It couldn't have been described any better. Their personalities truly came through on this day.
Side note: The bride came to meet her groom from the opposite direction as the wedding party and I was absolutely into that. It was a nice way to change up a traditional wedding ceremony. She also had her brother stand on her side instead of the groom's and I thought that was a great way to honor family.

We wish this couple all the best things in their marriage and hope to see them again very soon!

I had no idea there were so many rooftop bars in Charleston but apparently that's their thing. The night before the wedding we went to Vendue which is a great (and breezy) multi-level rooftop bar near our restaurant. We also went to Stars (a restaurant and rooftop bar) after the wedding. They both had a great atmosphere and it was a nice little treat to see the sky line at night.    

 We decided to stay in town most of the day Sunday since we had not been able to do the touristy thing too much during our first two days. We kicked off the morning/afternoon with brunch at Hominy Grill. We were initially pretty disappointed because we saw the long line waiting outside but they seated us in about 15 minutes and it was well worth the wait. A direct quote from our meal, "This is the best biscuit I've ever eaten." And it was. See that omelet to the left? It had spicy rice in it. That sounds a little weird but it was amazing! It's topped with a creamy shrimp sauce that gave it that extra flavor. I know the other is difficult to see but it was a duck hash with some kind of Portobello sauce. I did not taste it but I can attest to the fact that he LOVED it. Overall, go to Hominy Grill!

Next stop, Rainbow Row. We made the mistake of parking and getting out of the truck to walk around. The heat index was 102 degrees and we had no business being out of the air-conditioning. We promptly returned to the vehicle and proceeded to wipe our bodies off with fast food restaurant napkins. Hey, we used our resources wisely.

It probably goes without saying that Charleston has some of the most beautiful homes in the south. Many of them are now split into multiple units and rented out to tenants but there are still a few which are lived in by single families. Many of these homes also have wonderful gardens and big front porches. The typical Gone With the Wind antebellum homes. BUT I do want to point out that you would not catch me dead on the front porch in that heat. Well, maybe you would because I would literally be dead from a heat stroke. I'm thinking I could enjoy a nice glass of lemonade on these porches in mid to late October. No sooner please.
It was fun to walk the streets among these great old homes and think about how it was to live in them back in their hay day. They must have enjoyed the big thick curtains on the windows, silk fabric furniture, big skirts and HEAT...there was no AC! I can enjoy a night by candle light just as much as the next guy or gal but I think we can all agree that everyone must have been a little smelly back then.

"No Matter How Dark The Nights, The Day is Sure to Come."
"Mother Emmanuel, We Love You."
"Love...If Not US, Who? If Not Now, When?" -JFK

These are just a few of the banners we saw hanging from buildings around downtown Charleston. As everyone in the country knows, nine people were murdered in the Mother Emmanuel church Wednesday night. We arrived Friday afternoon to a busy and somber street filled with people showing their respect to those lost in this terrible act of racial violence. Our hotel was across the street from the church, which initially worried us. We were not sure how Charleston would react to the murders and whether or not we would be in any danger when we arrived. It was quite the opposite. News crews swarmed the street but people were otherwise simply there to mourn. For me, that speaks louder than words. Many cities have recently reacted in violence due to racially based killings but Charleston has been a light to follow through this dark time in our history.
I am not interested in voicing my opinion about the shooter on my blog so I will simply leave this post by saying that Charleston has proven to the nation that we are capable of reacting in a positive and uplifting way. It has shown others that violence is not the answer to violence. We must love our way through this tragedy and make CHANGE because of it.

Catching Up To Do

I am hoping this blog finds my friends and family as a way to keep up with me from afar.

As a school counselor, I have lots of summer time on my hands. Even with this summer freedom, the boyfriend and I still find ourselves in a whirlwind of weekend plans. This first post will be a catch up of sorts. We have celebrated, relaxed and discovered many things over the last couple of months and I'd like to share that!

February 2015: Let's start with my last trip to St. Catherine's Island (because these little guys live there)! My sister is currently one of the animal keepers on the private island off our coast. This little perk allows me to visit her and enjoy the ring tailed lemurs who live here. The island is nothing short of fabulously beautiful and I look forward to visiting her again soon.

 

 

April 2015: Jamaica!

Another nice little perk to working in the school system is getting a spring break each year. We decided to go on a bigger adventure this year. I had no idea how much I would enjoy this trip until we began to leave the runway on the last day. We stayed at a middle of the road all inclusive resort in Montego Bay. It was wonderful to be able to walk down to our private beach after enjoying a mound of french toast, fruit, hash browns, crepes, bacon, sausage and pretty much anything else you could think of BUT we wanted more. We wanted to explore a little. We enjoyed our day in Negril but our absolute favorite was the drive to YS Falls and the Black River.

Jamaica is a country of bargainers! We traveled back from Negril with lots of goodies because of this. We also enjoyed a "cheese burger in paradise" and waited out the rain while enjoying a Red Strip. True Tourists. We also visited Rick's Café in tourist fashion where the boyfriend jumped off the highest platform into the ocean. I may have instigated this. I stuck to the short platform.

The Black River opened our eyes to the beautiful mountains (They looked like the Blue Ridge Mountains.) of Jamaica and some damn good fried chicken! Our slightly crazy boat captain demonstrated his crocodile courting skills while hanging out the side of the boat. I on the other hand enjoyed from behind the boat railing. I had never seen a crocodile in person and I was truly impressed by their ferocious beauty as they swam through the mangroves. A snorkeling spear fisherman displayed his catch as we drove by and I thought to myself, "Should we inform him that there are crocodiles?!" In realty, he is probably more knowledgeable about fishing, snorkeling and river navigation than I could ever hope to be.

YS Falls was our next stop. I'll be honest that the horse planation was not expected. It's a beautiful plantation with silk cotton trees, pastures surrounded by mountains and WATERFALLS. It was pouring down rain when we got there but that did not stop us. Our bathing suits helped. We took another leap of faith and took the rope swing off the platform. I'm not nearly as brave so I took a little longer than necessary to take my leap. I felt a little bit like Jane. My screams were a little different though.

We ate good, explored, relaxed and felt sad on the plane ride home.

     

        

May and June 2015: Let's Talk Weddings!
While in Jamaica, my main squeeze (pictured left) informed me through the interwebs that she had gotten ENGAGED. Now, I myself have been waiting for this announcement from her for years so I was slightly bummed that it had to happen via an in and out Viber phone conversation due to our out of the country status. Although, she's top of the heap as bffs go so she knew she couldn't wait. I asked a million questions she did not have answers to (I think I broke some bff rules by requiring this much information within the first week.) and we decided that she would dress shop during my next visit. Look, she found the dress!! She looks pretty fabulous in it if you ask me. There are a zillion more things for her to do but I am beyond thankful that I was able to hop in on the dress shopping milestone. 

The boyfriends sister got married on beautiful Jekyll Island. We enjoyed some killer BBQ and loved every minute of the sunset over the ocean. I won't lie to you, I cried my eyes out when she and her daddy danced. I'm a sucker for a bride and her dad.

My sweet sweet friend also married the love of her life in Columbus a few weeks later. The venue was almost as beautiful as she was! We enjoys some great food with some really great people. I cannot wait to be back with all of these girls as soon as possible. I often miss being with them day to day but I love being able to celebrate the big events. Until our next big event...
                                              

 



June 2015: The Rolling Stones!
These oldies are still goodies. I loved every minute of this concert in the Georgia Tech football stadium where they have not been since 1989. I'm a lucky girl to have been able to see them in what may be their final performance at Bobby Dodd stadium. The Atlanta sky line was simply icing on the cake.




June 14 2015: Sea Turtle Sighting!
I guide summer night "Turtle Walks" with the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Last Sunday was my first walk of the season. To my surprise, we had 5 emerging loggerhead sea turtles that night and I was able to witness one mama lay her clutch (about 120 eggs) and return to the sea. She has previously nested on Jekyll Island and already laid 2 other nests this season. She was a slow lady though. We did not leave the beach until 1:00 a.m. It was well worth the wait and the 3 shooting stars were, again, icing on the cake.