VA Vacay

Since Maria moved out to Virginia in April, I’ve been excited about bringing Brad to see her and their new home.
Personally, I would go to Virginia every week if I could. This trip was, as they always are, super quick.
Still, it was so much fun (even though there were some setbacks)…

Brad and I left Friday evening. As expected, we hit traffic and got there about an hour and a half later than expected. The trip should be just shy of 6 hours, but with traffic and food/bathroom breaks, it always gets extended.

Artie had this bowtie on when we arrived. SO CUTE.

So, I took this photo on Saturday, as we headed to the beach. We were in the car for four hours without ever actually getting to the beach (that damn traffic) and I went MAD. If you follow me on IG, I had this up and deleted it. I never do stuff like that, but I was that angry. Also, it was a lie because we never ended up at the beach that day.

 

Saturday night got better. After naps and showers, we went to Norfolk to check out Field Guide for food and cocktails, and then The Birch for a variety of foreign beers. It definitely made up for the failure earlier in the day. Despite the fact that I wanted to go to the beach, I was also really nervous about the fact that we wouldn’t make it out to places like these, to see new things and try new restaurants. So it totally worked out.

 
 

On Sunday, it was a little rainy off and on, so we headed to Richmond instead of VA beach, and I love Carytown so much!
It’s such a fun place to shop. We started the day with Dixie Donuts and amazing Lamplighter coffee.
One of my favorite moments was at a book store called BBGB, a new shop that wasn’t there when I went last month.
It focuses on children’s books, but I saw some John Green in the window and had to stop and check out any YA.|
The woman who was working was amazing. She was helping a customer pick out another YA read (they were both older than me, proving yet again how important YA is to everyone!) and I fell in love. The customer had finished
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart and wanted something new! Brad ended up buying me a signed copy of
Grasshopper Jungle, which has been on my list since it came out. Honestly, guys. I would be so happy to just be surrounded by books all the gosh darn time. Books forever, right?

 

On Monday, we FINALLY MADE IT! We started at Zeke’s Bowls and Beans and had an awesome experience with great coffee. Then we headed to Virginia Beach and I read in the sand and swam in the ocean so much. Oh, to always be by the beach. I truly hope that, one day, I can spend a whole summer at a beach house. Or every summer for the rest of my gosh darn life. The dream, guys.

I can’t wait to go back. It probably won’t be for quite a while, but I’m sure it’ll be awesome whenever we do.

Greatest Hits of July (so far)

Tonight, Brad and I are hitting the road for Virginia. I am soooo excited to spend some more time down south with my favoritest people! My sister, Josh, and my boyfriend all in one place. UGH IT’S GONNA BE AWESOME!
We come back before the month is over, but I just know it’s going to fly, and that I’ll have tons of pictures to share from the trip in their own posts. So for now, here are some photos of things from this month that have been pretty great!

Awesome new mug alert! When I visited Catie last month, we stopped at the cutest shop and I grabbed some awesome items, this being one of them. I love when mugs have little surprises inside! Also, M. For Me! Michal Lynn!

So we only did this one night this month, but Brad and I are working on a joint 6x8 Project Life album. I’m excited about it because we are using the Plus One Mini Kit (which is amazing) plus my Studio Calico kits. The whole thing is going to be free-flowing, unlike my fairly structured 2014 book.I can’t wait until we have more time to work on it.

I’ve been doing this challenge on Instagram, #30DaysofBookstagram . It’s a lot of fun and more creative than you might think. One of the prompts was “Book Spine Poetry” and the pic above is my poem. I know it’s geeky, but I’m proud of it!

As you may know, I read Landline by Rainbow Rowell in less than 48 hours. I adore Rainbow Rowell.
I did some nail art inspired by the amazing colors of the cover and gave a shout out to the author, just for fun. SHE TWEETED AT ME AND FAVORITED IT. FANGIRL moment! (And yes, Fangirl is also one of her books!) I also got a little comment from one of my favorite bloggers. I love social media.

These ridiculous dogs! Mia has joined the crew at Lou and Brad’s and she is like 0 pounds and the funniest little thing.
I love that I caught both of them with their tongues out.

Jenna has been in PA for a while, but we only just got to hang out this past week.
I had to do a Party Party .gif with her! Which, by the way, Party Party is the best.
If you check out my IG feed, you will see a lot of #partypartyapp on there!

It’s been a fast month with lots going on. I can’t wait to enjoy some more summer fun!

On the way.

Last Friday, we drove Maria out to her new home in Virginia. I drove with Maria (so she could bring her car) and my dad drove behind us with Artie. Super cute. The drive was interesting…apparently we didn’t take the “typical” route there and had a couple of moments of worrying we were lost (we were not). What’s a road trip without all that craziness?
Here are some photos from our adventure.

 

Making sure we have everything!

 

Officially driving…a road trip cannot begin without coffee! I had my first iced coffee of the season! It probably sounds super geeky, but I was waiting for the right moment to reintroduce it. I can’t think of a better time!

 
 

After a moment of “where are we?” , we stopped at Wawa.
I got another iced coffee (you can’t stop me now!) and we checked on Artie.

“Nice bridge!” Maria said. “Oh yeah, that is nice.” “No…it’s Nice Bridge.” As in, that’s what it’s called.

 
 

Arriving in Virginia and getting close to our destination meant driving with the windows down and enjoying temps in the 70s. Crossed another bridge with this beautiful bridge. We may have gotten there an hour or so later than intended, but we wouldn’t have seen this view if we arrived earlier!

Welcome to the neighborhood!

I have some more photos from our time, mostly sight-seeing on Saturday. Initially, we planned to stay into Sunday, but we ended up coming home late Saturday. I can’t wait to visit as soon as possible…I already miss my sister.

Photo an Hour: 3/26/14

Just a random day off in photos.

10 am:

Not working means sleeping in for me. And, even if I don’t sleep, I love staying in bed.

11 am:

I had such a craving for a bagel, so I ran to Dunkin’ for an everything with cream cheese and Irish Cream coffee.

12 am:

More laziness on the bed, reading my blogs and brainstorming.

1 pm:

Artie did some hard nappin’ this afternoon, and this was around the time he woke up for a walk.

2pm:

A load of laundry while I exercise.

3pm:
 

Steamy shower mirror.

4pm:

So hungry, I ate an entire box of Kraft Mac & Cheese…oops!

5pm:

Settling on some polishes for nail art.

7pm:

Still light until almost 8.

A good relaxing day.

Maria’s 25th Birthday

Last Thursday, my sister Maria turned 25! For starters, wow. We are two years apart, me being the older sister, and I can’t help but feel that age. She will always be a little sister to me. Secondly, it’s another reminder of how things are changing and how quickly we are entering the “adult” world. The good thing is, being an age doesn’t always mean you have to act that age. Very important.

Each year, we have a dinner with the family. The birthday girl or boy picks a meal they want and what kind of birthday dessert they’d like (it’s very rarely the typical cake) and it gets done. This year, Maria requested Brinner (breakfast at dinner, a.k.a. the best meal ever) and we celebrated with mimosas, of course.

  
 
 
 

Love you so much, sis! I’m glad you had a great birthday!

Go-Pro Mexico

So, for work, Brad has access to a GoPro camera. His boss actually recommended that he bring it to Mexico with him so that he could test it out. Why he would need it in his particular line of videography and photography is beyond me, but he had so much fun playing with it, and he got some super cool photos of us when we went snorkeling.

 
 
 

To be honest, I don’t think snorkeling is for me. It’s crazy to have those fish literally swimming right past your face, but the apparatuses are intense. And yeah, I was a little scared of the fish.