Beach Vacation Recap

Last Sunday after church, M and I headed down to North Myrtle Beach to spend the week with his parents. The vacation was very much needed and anticipated!

Highlights: 

• Finishing four books in 6 days! I never have a chance to just sit and read anymore so this was such a pleasure. 
• Not getting badly sunburned. Yes, I got some sun...but mostly it was just freckling and not a lot of burn. 
• Outlet shopping (specifically Kate Spade outlet shopping!).
• Eating lots of ice cream. 
• Catching some pretty sunrise/sunset shots from the condo balcony.
• Spending time with M's family. 
• Relaxing in the pool. 
• Riding the "Skywheel" Ferris wheel type thing. This was definitely out of my comfort zone but I survived! 

Here are a few shots from the week! 

 

And on this neon coverup...I'm kind of obsessed with neon colors now. I feel like it makes me look tan...well tanner than I normally am. And I love it. Commence searching The Internets for all things neon for summer. 

And finally, I'm feeling pulled to stop blogging for a while. Or at least as frequently. I still enjoy reading blog posts but have found I've grown tired of creating my own. I'm not really sure where this leaves me...but for now, I'll keep my blog up and blog whenever the itch hits...but not nearly as frequently as I used to. I just think between work and family stuff my creative juices have dried up. I've been doing this bloggy thing for almost 10 years now. That's a long time in blog land.

Maybe this will change but for now, I won't be bringing you riveting recap posts like this (HAHA) quite as often...but will still read other people's posts daily. 

Have a wonderful week! 

A Long Weekend Getaway

For the last two years part of my family has convened at a cute little island bungalow on the Isle of Palms (near Charleston), South Carolina. M, Hewitt and I just got back this afternoon. Below are some highlights of the weekend in photos. Basically the weekend consisted of alternating fishing on the tidal creek, eating, sunset watching, playing music, mosquito biting, eating, fishing, playing games, applying sunscreen and more eating.

It was nice to get away and relax for a few days, but there's truly nothing like getting back home into your own bed. AHHHHH.

Summer Goals

image via

I can't believe the beginning of summer is right around the corner! This is an unusual summer for us because we aren't taking a typical beach vacation. With that, our goals might be a little different, but here they are.

one. Save extra money for our Banff vacation in August.

two. Go to 9Round at least 3x per week. I took like 2 sets of 6-7 days off while I was traveling in May and it is KICKING MY BUTT right now. I don't want to miss so many days again.

three. Cook brussel sprouts. I always thought I was anti-brussel sprouts but I had some sweet chili lime roasted ones at a restaurant and they were DELICIOUS. I'll be on the hunt for a similar recipe and trying them this summer.

four. Get away to the beach even if just for a short weekend trip. I'm hoping that we can find a good hotel deal and do a 2 day, one night thing just to get to the beach.

five. Get my passport renewed.

six. Kayak the Catawba river.

seven. Try a new dessert recipe that's non-chocolate. Basically my life revolves around chocolate so I'd like to find and try a new dessert recipe that is not chocolate. Maybe strawberry something?

eight. Learn all the words to "Guns and Ships" from the Hamilton soundtrack. I love the LaFayette rap so I think I should learn it to impress my friends.

nine. Host a get together at least once this summer.

Thursday Thoughts Vacation Edition

It's been...well, it's been a week since I've blogged. So why not bless this week with some vacay pics? As I mentioned last week, I took a short vacation to the Isle of Palms with some of my family. Here are a few of the pics I took.

The house was on the back side of the island overlooking the Intracoastal waterway and Hamlin Creek. It's brackish water that makes for some great fishing!

This little guy tagged along. He is a bonafide dock dog now...assisting with the fish watching.

The weather was a little weird the first couple of days, but the humidity was low and there was a glorious breeze. Then the sun came out the last few days and the humidity soared back in!

My sister and I hanging out on the dock. :) 

Growing up visiting Charleston, you kind of get used to the scenery...but sometimes it catches me off guard. These beautiful lowcountry oaks were in the front yard of the house we stayed in. 

Foggy, rainy weather does make for some awesome photos. 

Another upshot of the live oaks. BEAUTIFUL! 

Now that you've seen a few of my vacay photos, tell me what's been going on in your world.

Over the Vacay: Things I've Learned About Myself

This year, M's parents invited us to stay with them at a beach for the week. We went down Sunday and came back later on Friday (so almost a week!). Though I go on vacations (even if just for a few days) every year, I've begun to realize that there is a pattern of behavior that emerges every vacation I go on, no matter where I go or how long I stay.

1. I have a hard time "doing nothing".
I can't just relax. M is the King of Relaxation, ha. But I just can't. I feel guilty for sitting around doing nothing and feel like I should do more "beachy" things rather than just sit around and read. So if I read, I feel guilty for not going outside. If I go down to the beach or pool (or go shopping, etc.) I feel guilty for not reading more. It's cyclical and sick.

2. I have a hard time not having a plan.
I'm a planner. Even if it's just plans for the day, I like to talk over my plans with M for the day and it drives him crazy! He's one of those go-with-the-flow type people and for me to try and plan the day in chunks overwhelms him. For example, I said one morning, "I think we should go to the store this am, then have lunch, then come back and go to the beach when the sun isn't as strong. Then I'll come back in and start making dinner and we can do a movie or something later." He can't handle it. And I'm beginning to think that my vacation planning is actually causing me harm because when my plans don't go accordingly, I get anxious.

So, all that to say...vacations are hard. They are fun...but quite challenging to my OCD, Type A personality.

With that, I did a few things that are out of the norm for me this past week and ENJOYED them. First, I played miniature golf. I've literally not played in about 20 years. And guess what??? I smoked them with 2 hole-in-ones! Now, I came in second place overall because my father-in-law is the slow and steady tortoise. He would pretty much get straight 2s the whole time. Me? I'd get a hole-in-one and then 6 on the next one. It's always a production. :)

The other thing I did that isn't my norm is watched a ton of movies. I even went to the theater and saw a movie! (Inside Out - not that good though) I watched Minority Report, Get Smart, The Tourist and the first Harry Potter movie. (that was a re-watch)

Other than that my vacay consisted ocean side reading, playing in the sand with my niece and nephew, wave jumping, sleeping late, eating horribly unhealthy food and shopping my heart out. (hello outlet mall!!) Here are a few fun photos (sorry for the insta duplicates) of the week.

Beach Bag Essentials

By the time you read this...well, let's just pretend you're reading around 11:00 am EDT, M and I are on our way to the beautiful Wilmington, NC for the weekend. One of my friends and a former roommate is getting married and we decided to make a long weekend of it.

Wilmington is such an amazing city. I love the history and the beaches. I even lived there for awhile! M and I plan on spending some of our weekend soaking up the sun (through the filter of an SPF 50 sunblock) while we are there, so I thought I'd post some of my beach bag essentials. Over the next week or so, many of you will be venturing to your local beach, lake, river or the like. Here are some things you should consider bringing with you.

Top Row L-R:
1. A fun beach tote. Stop it with the straw/tan colors. BORING.
2. A beach towel. Duh.
3. A tumbler with a lid (and maybe straws). For those non-alcoholic drinks you're supposed to have on the beach. ;)
4. A coverup. Please do not be the person walking back to your car or domicile in your straight up bathing suit with nothing over it. This isn't a photo shoot.
5. A plastic sandwich baggy. As a former beach resident, I learned this trick fairly quickly. Putting your phone or makeup/chapstick/sunblock in these will prevent them from getting wet AND getting sandy. Sand is the bane of my existence.
Bottom Row L-R:
6. Coppertone Clearly Sheer sunblock. It's my new fave and it's non-greasy. I love the spray kind but if you're venturing in to a boat, get the lotion kind. Most boat owners don't appreciate you greasing up their ride. Or is that just my brother-in-law who bans spray anything on his boat? Hmmmm.
7. A book. Old school or new school...your preference.
8. Lipbalm WITH sunscreen. Believe me, I have made the mistake of wearing a shiny lipgloss that didn't contain sunscreen all day at the pool. BAD IDEA.
9. Hat. Maybe you choose a floppy hat to provide extra sunscreen. Or maybe that's just me.

Not pictured: Bathing Suit, Chair, Umbrella, Burka (just kidding) and Cheezits (a necessity).

Follow me on Instagram to keep up with my trip! (aprilanne147) Have a wonderful weekend!

Honeymoon Recap

I realize I'm doing this a little backward...doing a honeymoon recap before the wedding recap, but I'm waiting on the photos from the wedding photographer. So, I figured I'd go ahead and do the honeymoon recap now.

You can see my informal photograph wedding recap here. Prepare yourselves for a barrage of photos. I've included a break so it won't take my blog forever to load. :)

{Guest Post} Mylie's Beach Day

While I'm away on my honeymoon, I've invited a few friends to write some fun guest posts for you to read. Today's post is from Kim over at A Cuppa Kim. This lady not only has one of the cutest pups in the entire world, but has literally (almost) traveled the entire world. Seriously, her travel and pup blog posts are some of my absolute favorites. Read on to see why...

Hey There Striped Flamingo Readers!

CuppaKim and Mylie here. Thanks to their mamas, Mylie and Hewitt have blog and instagram crushes on each other.  There is definitely some romance floating through the cyber air.
Mylie can't resist when April posts sassy shots of Mr. H. I'm pretty sure the feeling goes both ways, too.

The only problem is, Mylie and Hewitt are on opposite coasts. It's an East/West romance, that's for sure.

Mylie, or Smiles as she is often referred to, is a West Coast Schnoodle through and through (in fact, that was the name of her breeder). She is a born and bred California girl.

And like any good California girl, Mylie loves herself some beach time.

The other day, my sister and I decided that Mylie was long overdue for a beach adventure. We picked up sandwiches, and all hopped in the car and headed to the coast, for an extremely beautiful March day.

Mylie tugged on the leash all the way down the hill, where as soon as her paws hit the warm sand, she was jumping up trying to look in our hands and purses, for her beloved ball.

To Mylie, Beach = Fetch.

We know what the Smiles likes, so her ball was in fact in my sister's purse, but we needed to settle in before it was time to play. She could hardly contain herself. There were some serious whimpers while we set up our beach chairs.

  

This beach in particular is Mylie's favorite. And mine too. I've been going here since I was in high school. Plenty of space, gorgeous views, close to home, and most importantly, dog friendly.

This day was no exception, there were furry critters everywhere. 

So, we played fetch. 

And more fetch.

And then when we thought she was done, even more fetch.

  

And between fetches, Mylie crawls between our chairs, and finds the littlest pocket of shade to cool off in.

 

And girlfriend is covered in sand.

Head to toe. Up her nose, on her tongue, even in her eyes.

But she seems completely unphased.

She just loves the beach. Through and through.
The sights, the sounds. The seabreeze blowing through her dirty white fur.

As we drive home, and Mylie sits lazily in the back seat, you can tell she really enjoyed herself, by living up to her nickname, a big smile plastered on her face the whole drive back.

And after a beach day, everything else can seem like the worst.
Because sometimes it is.

Beach Day also = Bath day.
Smiles wont even look at me once I put her in the sink.

She is not a happy camper.

Until the bath is over.
And she gets all her shakes out.

And all is right in the world again, and we wait until the next beach adventure.

Thanks April and Hewitt for allowing me and Mylie to share one of our adventures with you and everyone over here! 

Isn't Mylie the CUTEST? Well, second cutest, of course. Hewitt loves this entire blog post so much...because it's full of pictures of his favorite West Coast girl. However, he's lacking thumbs...so he can't type any comments. Sigh. #dogproblems.

How NOT to Curl Your Hair: A Tutorial Gone Bad

We've all seen the hilarious hair-tutorial-gone-wrong on the Internets where the young girl attempts to do a video tutorial on how to curl your hair with a wand. And, well, the results are pretty devastating. The reaction is actually quite funny, though. Oh, you haven't seen it? Take a look...

                                   

To avoid a similar hair-tastrophe, I've included some tips/advice below on what may have gone wrong in this video and what you can do to avoid this. And these tips are from a licensed, bonafide cosmetologist (who just happens to be my sister) and not a well-intentioned young lady. :)

1. Make sure your hair is 100% dry. No damp hair with heat products. When moisture hits your hot styling tool, your hair will burn. Imagine cooking something in a hot, greased frying pan...whatever you put in there is gonna sizzle, regardless.

2. Check the temperature on your flat iron/curling iron. Don't ever just turn it all the way up, unless you are a professional using a professional styling tool. Maxing out the heat is recipe for disaster.

3. Use caution with the length of time you hold the styling product on your hair. Ideally, you don't hold the iron on your hair for longer than 5 seconds, counted slowly. You can always go back and re-curl, but you can't go back and glue on your burnt off hair. (I think our friend above left this on for like 20 seconds or something cray.)

4. If you use a styling product, make sure it's a heat protectant product and not something that is for detangling or split ends. Heat-protectant products are designed to provide a barrier from the heat to your hair. Other products may actually have ingredients that could make your hair more susceptible to burning.

5. Don't use the same heat tool everyday. Switch it up and let your hair go heat-free every once in awhile. This will ultimately help your hair to be healthier.

monday space: beachy and colorful

It's the time of the year when the beach becomes a huge vacation spot for many people. If you're anything like me and like coastal decor seen in beach houses, here is how one house brings the beach within reach...

source

Colorful accents (in pale shades) conjure up that beachy vibe with lots of white-washed furniture and cabinetry. Beachy decor doesn't HAVE to be blue and green, incorporating shades of pink, orange and yellow mimic the beautiful and often subtle sunrises over the ocean.

Would you incorporate a colorful and coastal look like this in your home?