right now | september 2013

Obsessed with chocolate butter.
Eating way too many carbs because of the aforementioned chocolate butter.
Loving our new bed and sheets.
Watching Season 2 of Scandal every night.
Embarrassed that the show sometimes gets too intense for me and I have to turn it off halfway through and watch the rest of the episode in the daylight.
Reading The Executioner's Song and loving being absorbed in a thick and intriguing book.
Admiring the blue skies and perfect September weather we've been having.
Planning a fall road trip with friends.
Listing all the projects I want to finish by the end of the year.
Hoping I can keep my 2x/week swimming schedule throughout the fall and winter.
Eating guacamole for dinner while Larry is away on business.
Staying up way too late when Larry is out of town.
Sleeping in the king bed by myself for the first time.
Enjoying the simple life on Smith Island.
Editing way too many photos.
Cooking with guava paste and nectar.
Laughing my face off at end of summer BBQs with friends.
Overwhelmed by the backlog of e-mails I can't seem to catch up with.
Thinking about what I want to do this fall, but feeling uninspired by everyone's usual obsessions with pumpkins, apple-picking, and sweaters. Didn't we just do this?
Applying to holiday art markets.
Dreading that cold weather and the holidays are just around the corner.
Wearing flip-flops for as long as I can.
Considering hosting a series of dinner parties this winter.
Relieved that we finally finished painting the master bedroom walls.
Discouraged that we still have to paint the skylight, trim, baseboards, dog nooks, hallway, closet, bathroom, and office before the master suite is complete.
Wishing our budget allowed us to finish furnishing this house.
Feeling both intimidated and inspired by the prospect of decorating our new crisp white walls.
Documenting our life with Week in the Life.
Shivering in the cool fall mornings.
Snuggling up with a heating pad at night.
Yearning for more scenic mountain views.
Trying to figure out how to squeeze in a trip to visit my dad at the beach.
Contemplating getting into biking after enjoying our rides around Smith Island.
Inspired to make photo books to document my Week in the Life series.
Dismayed that it's football season again.
Discussing how to make my days more productive.

#booksandbeverages | summer recap

Well, that was a fun project. And while I'll keep sharing the books I read (and the drinks that go with them) on Instagram, there's something fun about gathering everything I read over the summer into a pretty little collage.

So many good books here (and a few cheats: magazines, cookbooks, travel guides). I've got a big stack of books ready for reading this fall, but I always seem to read the most during summer.

Read ALL the books!

the smiths go to smith island

So what do you do when you're vacationing on an island with 200 residents, one road, no cell service, almost no cars, and a restaurant that doesn't serve breakfast or dinner?

While on Smith Island, we biked, walked, talked, read, sat on the porch of our rented cottage, attempted to kayak, watched birds, stuffed our faces with crabcakes and Smith Island cake, sat on the dock, petted the cat who adopted us, drank boxed wine, and watched the sun set over the Bay. That was it and it was perfect.

A look at the most relaxing trip we've ever taken:















































A few details:

+ We stayed in an adorable two bedroom cottage called The Petite Maerin. It was decorated with mermaids - I think Larry was quite pleased we were staying in a house full of topless women! With the cottage came two beach cruisers for us to ride, a dock to sit on, and a cat. (I called the cat Banjo Cat because it was loud and always asking for belly rubs, just like our Banjo...who happens to hate cats).

+ I'm newly in love with biking. Before this trip, it had been seven years since I'd ridden a bike...and before that, not since I was a teenager. I always loved riding a bike as a kid, but circumstances such as living in a non-bike friendly area (too much traffic) and hip surgery at age 28 led to biking not being a part of my adult life. But we rode those rusty beach cruisers all over Smith Island and it was glorious. No cars, completely flat roads, no helmets necessary, and a nice breeze from the Bay certainly made it an especially enjoyable experience, but a flat path on the mainland shouldn't be hard to find. First I need to buy a bike and a bike rack (or preferably a bigger car)... And I'm definitely gonna need a bike basket to carry my Nikon!

+ We did take the kayak out on the Bay, but the pic of Larry dragging it down the road is the only proof that I have. It was not our best plan. Too much wind, too many big boats, too small of muscles. My past kayaking experience has only been on rivers, so paddling a small boat on a large body of water was a little intimidating, especially when it was our first attempt in a tandem. Our other mistake was failing to realize how freaking heavy a kayak is...moving it from our cottage to the boat ramp down the road was quite a feat. Thankfully, Larry has bigger muscles than I do.

+ I wanted to get up early to see the watermen go out on the Bay at 4 am, but seeing that this was vacation (and I'm not a morning person), it didn't happen. I did enjoy eating the crabs they brought back, though.

+ Speaking of food, we brought a cooler with booze and snacks (the cottage's fridge was broken) for satisfying our bellies when the restaurant wasn't open. Between 11-4, we rode our bikes down to Ruke's for a meal or two (Brunch? Linner?). We didn't cook at all, and there's nowhere else to buy food, so you're forced to keep it simple.

+ We saw the most gorgeous sunset I've ever seen. We were sitting down on the dock with a box of wine and some chips and salsa (AKA dinner) as we watched the bright pink sun get lower and lower in the purple sky and finally disappear into the horizon. Amazing.

Our weekend on Smith Island was the closest I've come to reliving the childhood days of summer and I'm thinking this place might become an end of summer tradition for the Smiths. Such a great place to unwind, unplug, and escape from it all...and feel like a carefree kid again!