2. many nights when wil’s closing and i’m home, i eat cereal for dinner.

3. i used to not be able to drink coffee without the flavored creamers (that don’t actually contain real cream, gross!). now i’m down to [...]]]> 1. wil’s & my favorite show on tv right now is castle. silly, but we’re hooked.

2. many nights when wil’s closing and i’m home, i eat cereal for dinner.

3. i used to not be able to drink coffee without the flavored creamers (that don’t actually contain real cream, gross!). now i’m down to a cup with just a teeny bit of sugar…almost to black!

4. i usually let my luggage sit packed at least a few days after arriving back home after a trip. i HATE unpacking. sometimes that mentality slips over into the laundry category too.

5. i want to take classes about botany and flower arranging; or work at a flower shop.

6. i love seeing into people’s homes while driving by at night. i’m not a stalker or creepy…i actually don’t care to see a person, i just love seeing the glow of light and the decorations on the walls and seeing the way people live. ok, i’m weird, i get it.

7. i have about 10 unfinished sewing or furniture projects floating around in our house and in my mind.

8. i saw 17 different family members over the course of 4 days this weekend and 12 total hours of driving, and it was GREAT!

9. i’ve attempted to start a one-year bible more times than i can count. i’ve tried to start again a few days ago…let’s see if it sticks this time!

10. even though wil’s knife skills are killer, his wife continually fails at holding the knife correctly. whoops.

i once had a fleeting moment where i felt like confessing to you before! you can find it here.

but i enjoyed our trip so much i wanted to share it with you.

let’s just start off by saying this [...]]]> warning: this post is VERY picture heavy! i told myself i wanted to take lots of pictures while we were there, and i did not let myself down!

but i enjoyed our trip so much i wanted to share it with you.

let’s just start off by saying this did not begin on the right foot. sunday afternoon rolled around, and wil got home around 4. i had everything packed, ready to leave within the next half hour, but it was just a matter of wil hooking the trailer up, getting the big things loaded, etc. as he prepared to hook the bikes up, he asked me to take a look at the park online to see if they list bike trails.

ok honey! well when i went to go look up the park, the map automatically came up and showed NO spots available. now, we knew we were risking it by choosing to not make a reservation, but we thought we’d rather take a chance so that we can see the spot before choosing it versus blindly reserving something online. we thought, it’s a sunday-tuesday, most of the weekend crowd should be gone! within a matter of minutes wil was calling parks all over the coast, still within our driving range, hearing ‘no vacancy’ over and over. boo hoo. we just weren’t willing to give up…the trailer was packed and ready! we didn’t want to settle for a campground near us either…we wanted the beach.

it’s only about an hour and a half to the water at minimum, so our plan transitioned into taking another risk, leaving in the morning on the chance that people will have left and worst case we spend the day there and come back. we lucked out beyond measure…the first campground we tried was the one we wanted to go to all along and sure enough they had more than one spot available- we got to pick just like we had initially wanted to!

once there it was the perfect camping trip. the weather was the usual coastal cloudiness with breaks of sun, but that didn’t matter as we snacked on peanuts, built fires, watched the dogs see the ocean for the first time and go on walks around the loops to check out everyone else’s ‘rigs’.

look mom, the beach!!!!

it was pretty hilarious watching them run in the soft sand. well, it would probably be hilarious to watch me too…i was huffing and puffing in no time around the dunes.

they weren’t afraid of the water, but gracie definitely preferred to avoid the waves… and instead stick her nose in the sand and then immediately sneeze.

jungle dog loved watching from the grass on the edge of our campsite. (gracie was probably next to me right now, making a dopey face. ava’s a bit more photogenic…)

i enjoy smoking a cigar here and there, but this time around, wil taught me the art of packing and smoking a pipe. so i gave it a try, with a bit of wine.

at one point a deer randomly decided to waltz into our campsite! that’s the dog’s rope and bed in the foreground, maybe about 10 feet away. the girls happened to be relaxing in the back of the car at the time, and gracie was just trembling with excitement! that was one courageous deer. we came upon it again on an evening walk and wil got pretty close to it.

evening walk to the beach, just the two of us, marveling at god’s creation and the interesting things that take place on this lovely coast.

tuesday night we planned on going into the little nearby town for some fish and chips. smelled some dill (above), stepped into some shops, and bought some salt water taffy.

ava wanted to get nice and close to the fire…

where’s your favorite place to camp?

one of my favorite summer days so far!

wordless wed & welcome wed

ok, raiding her cabinets was not my motive, but just a perk after we were sitting at [...]]]> this weekend allowed me to be in my hometown, stay with my parents, visit a dear friend and also see my grandparents for lunch and to raid my grandma’s cabinets.

ok, raiding her cabinets was not my motive, but just a perk after we were sitting at her house! my grandma (nana) is very encouraging to my sewing, and while i don’t get to see her a ton, she is supportive and eager to see what i am doing. she has sewn since she was seven and even my sewing machine is a vintage elna that was her mother’s. without me realizing it, i picked up a hobby that runs strong in my blood! there’s a domestic creativity that has been carried down through my mom, her mom, and even her mom…women who can cook, decorate, sew and even do unique things like decorate wedding cakes, work with flowers, and even make incredibly detailed and delicate girl figurines out of porcelain dipped laces and fabrics.

after coming back from lunch we stepped into her craft room and first got distracted by boxes of kitchen stuff that came out of their camping trailer that they are selling. she freely gave away anything as it would soon be going to a garage sale so wil and i lucked out on gaining a few more things for our trailer. it soon transitioned to her fabrics and notions, and before i knew it she was just handing me tubs of scraps, many that were adorable vintage floral prints. she opened her closet doors and revealed bins of trims, buttons, lace acquired over the years. my mom came across the lace from the blouse she made and wore on her first date with my dad over 26 years ago! i loved finding an unopened package of buttons from 1976.

that little afternoon will stick in my memory and she ended the day with an offer for whenever i need anything to come back. it got my little brain going and now i am just trying to think of what i could make with all these special treasures! i cherish my grandma’s generosity in the fact that she just wants to gift and help me along the way. with each fabric i pull out of there, or each trim and button i look through, i can wonder how she used them first and continue on her legacy within our family.