Beach Week- Roadtrip to St. Augustine

When we arrived in Florida, Uncle Ken gave us one of his cars, and the keys to his condo in Daytona Beach. With a map of Florida, full tank of gas, and a week to kill, we decided to roadtrip along the coast to find new beaches. We made it about 6 hours north of our original destination.

Cousin James told us about a friend in St. Augustine, who lived right on the beach. So we packed up and spent two days at his place, and woke up in the morning carrying surfboards right out the door and stepping onto the sand. I could wake up to that, every morning.
Those two days we explored the oldest city in the nation, went to the most beautiful museum I've ever been to, and made the beaches of St. Augustine our home.
It was love at first beach stroll. While the boys surfed and played sand volleyball, I walked the beaches for hours. It was so quiet and peaceful, and we made some of my favorite memories there. I have been to over 100 beaches in my 27 years, and this one was high on my list.

I came home with a gallon zip lock bag full of treasures to spread around our house, fill jars with, and to turn into wind chimes.

Beach Week - Find the ways you have altered.

We change.

Time, stress, money, bad relationships, & negativity twist and shape us until we're shells of what we used to be.

The beach stays the same. The same sand, breeze, and sweet, predictable tide...pulling in and out, reminding me that I can always stay the same, too.

Beach Week - Life is really Simple....

At the beach, I remembered to slow down.

Life is not a race, contest, or rush to happiness.

Salt Life - Bits of the Beach.

No more excuses, distractions, or laziness.

We've been home from the beach for a month, and I still haven't posted pictures from our week at the Atlantic.

I love looking through people's vacation photos, and seeing the way the vacationer sees this new world through their eyes.
Most of the time I see the world through my viewfinder, and I have a handful of beach photos to show it. Finally, here they come. Here comes beach week.

Bringing the outdoors in - Summertime

Growing up, our house was always filled with little reminders of the outdoors.
In the Spring, I showed you guys how to bring the blooming branches into your home.

Here's the Summer edition. Please keep in mind that little ants adore sunflowers. I soaked these in a bowl of water before bringing them in, yet I'm still paranoid that they'll crawl out in the middle of the night and make a new nest in my hair.

Just make sure everything is bug free, and fill jars and containers around your little nest. My basil, crepe myrtle, & forsythia branches have all rooted, and the bottoms of the jars are filled with little white legs. This is also a good way to experiment and figure out what plants around your yard are able to survive clipping and re-homing. Purple heart is wonderful for this. Just last week I stepped out and snapped off 10 branches and took them to a friend's house, who just stuck them in the ground to let them do their thing. So many wonderful plants are incredibly self-sufficient without our help, and these make the absolute best when you're selecting ones to bring indoors.

Just give them a little light, clean water, and enjoy these pretty jars for weeks.