last bit of paradise

thinking back to those last few days at the beach seems like a dream.

our vacation was so perfect,

but it flew by :(

you know you are on a real vacation when you don't wear make up

and you shower only at night to wash off the sunscreen,

right before eating a yummy dinner like this:

you also know you are on a real vacation

when you choose to eat supper late

and instead stay at the pool

{can you spot my swimming hubby?}

and then watch the sunset

i am overwhelmed by how blessed we are to have had this time together.

the calm before the storm.

and by storm i mean what our place looks like now...

did i tell you we were moving?

oh, because we are.

i am memorizing our 6th address together right now

{and we've only been married for two years}

just call us the vagabonds.

more on our other travels, soon.

an eventful evening

first, i want to apologize for no pictures in this post. i am a huge fan of pictures if you haven't noticed and i usually don't like writing much; however, this past monday evening calls for some writing. we have thoroughly enjoyed our adventures in san fran thus far. the adventure came to an entirely different level monday night, however. it all started after dinner when we joined one of tyler's childhood friends for an evening out on the town. his friend lived in the mission area, which i had read was really transitional and hipster. now i love really cool people who are completely different from me. they are really interesting and creative and artsy. and i've been to really cool hipster places before, but let me tell you this: hipster cool is a lot different out in san fran than anything i'd ever experienced in the good ole south.

after exiting the bart {aka marta/dart/subway}, we waited for tyler's friend at the mission stop. let's just say we stood out like sore thumbs. there was a lot of homeless people that were breaking my heart and a lot to be aware of. as we skimmed the surroundings for the friend i saw three guys start fighting. it look like they were just joking around at first, but it ended with a punch in the stomach, a kick in the face, a guy passing out, and people calling 911. seriously? did i just witness my first fight outside of the halls of middle school? yes. the police came and i even gave a statement. talk about crazy scary.

thankfully the friend arrived and i was excited to leave the uncomfortable bart station scene. next, we went to hang out at this hipster bar/coffee shop that had live music. oh this is going to be delightful. or so i thought.

i knew we were out of place when we walked up to the packed bar and i saw more dread locks than i have ever seen in one place before. i suddenly was wishing that i hadn't showered...maybe i would have fit in a little better. the music was wonderful, but i was completely distracted by all of the characters. the best was when a girl asked us if we had any paper for her to roll up her marijuana, which i'm pretty sure was not medicinal.

after taking in all the stares and smells, i was happy to take my clean self out of that incredibly hipster scene and return to our safe and quaint hotel.

more on the rest of our trip soon. oh, and the last bit of the beach. gosh, i will need a week just to catch up blogging! i promise there are no more crazy stories :)

two years

what a wonderful way to celebrate our 2nd anniversary, my love. looking forward to year three :)

travel research

as we prepare for our big trip to san fran,

i have been doing very important research.

research that led me to this

wonderful little youtube.

don't worry, i knew (almost) all the answers

to the trivia questions.

i don't think i will really believe

WE ARE GOING TO CALIFORNIA

until we land there.

eek!

life at the beach

just so you know, i started this post over a week ago! geeze! the internet was never strong enough for me to finish this post...so here it is, ten days later...

hello from paradise! living at the beach has been fabulous. just what we needed. we have been sleeping in, living at the pool in the afternoons, enjoying our books, and cooking late dinners. sad to say that i finished the swan house in about a week. it was like saying good bye to a best friend. it was such a fabulous book! i highly recommend.

the pool has been relatively quite, which is just how we like it. the most action the pool has seen is when these three families with like twenty kids show up for a little bit and then thankfully head to the beach. at first we thought we were watching an episode of sister wives {have you seen that show?!?}. three mammas and one daddy. fortunately the other two dads finally showed up and revealed to us that it was actually three separate families. anyways, we've also been riding around town and visiting some shops. oh, and getting ice cream, of course!

the beach has been nice too. the only problem is that the path that our street uses and the one that i have used since i was seven years old is "closed" do to some birds nesting. really? okay, a little hard for me to follow this rule, but we obliged. thankfully, there is another path about 50 yards over so it hasn't been that big of a deal.

we did enjoy watching the herons stalk the shores for some fish to eat. i wish you could have seen this guy when he finally got himself a fish! it was hilarious. he cocked his head to the side, got real close to the water, and BAM snatched a huge pin fish and guzzled it down his throat. my favorite part was when he washed it down with a little sea water. so funny!

the sunsets have been beautiful and the weather perfect. we will hopefully be making it out on the water soon for a little boat ride. more on that later!

travel, we will.

just in case you were wondering where we have been so far this june.

i've included our travel map.

and to think, the best it yet to come.

this looks like my traveling life in college far too much {minus the athens part}

you may or may not know that we dated long distance for 3 years.

you didn't?

oh. well maybe i will post a little about how we met soon.

on our anniversary maybe.

or at least around the same time.

atlanta to tampa.

tampa to texas.

texas to tampa.

far too familiar.

at least the good byes weren't heart wrenching!

more from the beach soon!

we made it.

to the beach that is.

after we packed up our little ellie, we had a delightful last supper with our small group including my favorite kabobs and twice baked potatoes!

we are going to miss our small group so much! thank goodness we aren't moving that far away.

the drive down to florida was so delightful in the new car! in case you didn't know, cruise control is an awesome invention. the entire trip down i kept thinking about my to do list and my packing list. packing for 100 degree and 50 degree weather in one bag was a challenge for me and i knew i was going to forget something.

after we unloaded and moved into the beach house i realized what i had forgotten: my favorite bathing suit that was hanging in the laundry room. no big deal right? i had packed two others. wrong. somehow in all of my packing and repacking one of my bathing suit bottoms had disappeared. so, i have 11 days at the beach with 1 1/2 bathing suits. every morning i get up and say to myself "gee, i wonder what suit i am going to wear today?" ha. i guess it could be worse... when i was probably in 2nd or 3rd grade my family and i came down to the beach house for a long weekend and somehow my parents forgot all of the luggage. i can remember my mom asking my dad "where is the suitcase?" and then my dad responding with "i thought you put it in the car". i'm sure it was really stressful for my parents, but my sister and i were very excited to get a new bathing suit and outfit from one of the shops downtown. funny how children perceive things!

so, what have i been up to? not much, which is just the way i like it. the weather has been perfect and we have enjoyed relaxing by the pool and dining on the porch. we have also been reading and eating a lot.

currently i cannot get enough of the swan house by elizabeth musser. i am a little over 1/3 of the way done and it is one of the best novels i have ever read. it is so good that i can't put it down, and i don't want it to end. thank goodness there is a sequel!

as for eating, i can't get enough of this dip! black bean and corn dip. we found it on darby's blog and it is the best snack ever. i am not a fan of black beans, but i love this dip. so don't let the black beans deter you.
you are going to want to make this dip, so here it goes.

ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed {15 oz size}
• 3 cans of shoepeg corn, drained and rinsed {15 oz size}
• 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped finely
• 1 bunch of scallions, chopped
• feta cheese {8 oz}

what to do:

1. whisk sugar, vinegar and oil in a large bowl
2. add everything else
3. mix well
4. chill for a few hours {the longer it sits, the better it is!}
5. serve with chips

hope you enjoy :)

the month of june has arrived

happy june to you! can you believe it is june? i cannot. may is over and it is time to travel! this is where i have spent much of my day:

folding laundry, packing, list making, and bag organizing. tomorrow begins our june journey:

11 days at the beach

6 days in texas

4 days in california

2 days in tampa

2 days on i-75

thankfully i will be able to do laundry a few times throughout that journey because i do not own enough underwear for this trip! i can't wait to see the look on hubby's face when all of my bags are lined up at the door tonight to be loaded into the car. yes, i need all of those bags and yes i know i am going to have to consolidate before we try to fly west.

hope you have a wonderful first day of june! see you soon, i promise.