Category Archives: Life

Down the Shore

Just like last year, my family took an autumn trip “down the shore” (Philly’s way of saying “to the beach”!). Last year was one day in Cape May with my parents and this year was a long weekend at a new-to-me beach, Ocean City, Maryland, with the addition of Greg and family friend, Sokol.

Thanks to my mom, we stayed in an ocean front condo with views that actually and literally took my breath away. Our days became pretty routine, pretty quickly. Morning started with bright sunshine, on our balcony, with coffee and views of boardwalk-goers below us and ocean waves in front of us. We rode bicycles to breakfast each morning and spent most of the day riding along the boardwalk, spending time at the few places that quickly became our favorites – snacking on popcorn (Fisher’s), french fries (Thrasher’s), ice cream (Dumser’s) and beer at what was undoubtedly my favorite find of the trip – Backshore Brewing Company. The five of us held a mini-golf tournament, playing one game per day and adding the total scores at the end (Dad was the victor), played oceanfront scrabble, and spent a lot of time just relaxing and enjoying the views.

As we often say, it was another great trip in the books. Just like my post from our trip to the Poconos, there are many photos (36!) ahead. Enjoy!

THE PLACE

THE PEOPLE

Happy Birthday Amanda

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I want to wish the happiest of days to my best friend. Happy birthday, Amanda! {Last year, I made Amanda pumpkin s’mores cupcakes for her birthday – to view that post, click here!} It’s hard to believe that in the last year, since your last birthday, we have gone wedding dress shopping, picked out your wedding flowers, celebrated your bridal shower, made wedding cupcakes, cookies and your wedding cake(!) and now, for this birthday, you’re Mrs. Nielsen! In the last year, we’ve discussed moving, jobs, apartments, missing our families, what we want to be when we grow up, all the details of your perfect wedding day(!) – I can’t wait to see where we are and what we are talking about in one more year. 🙂 To the bestest lifelong friend – who actually knows how to cheer me up when life’s got me down, who makes me feel not only good, but GREAT, about my life decisions, who is a beautiful example of a human full of love, hard work, loyalty and kindness, and who can even spend an entire evening, from 600 miles away, laughing at pictures of fat cats with me – have the greatest day! {Here are a few photos of us from her beautiful wedding day – all photographs by the wonderful Jessica Vogelsang Photography!}

Up the Mountains, Part Two

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More photos from our Pocono mountain getaway. For part one, click here.

Up the Mountains

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You will burn and
you will burn out,
you will be healed
and come back again.
-Fyodor Dostoyevsky
(found on Pinterest)

It’s been almost two weeks since we’ve been back in Philly after spending a long weekend in the Poconos with my family. Or, as we’ve learned they say in Philly, since we’ve been “up the mountains.” Some time has passed but I can still feel the sense of calm that came over me on that short getaway. I can still feel the air, if I try hard enough. Something about that trip brought me so much peace and I hope that some of that comes through my photos.

The quote above is one that I found floating around on Pinterest and that really resonates with me. I feel like we try and try and try hard for so long. And then we burn out. We all do. And we need a break. And I don’t know if it’s just the optimist in me, but I feel like life always gives us one. When it’s ready to and in the way that we need it. Isn’t that great? A weekend in the Poconos gave me just the healing I needed.

Our time was much enjoyed. We relaxed, we porch-sat, we cooked and ate good food and drank good drinks, we mountain-coastered, we celebrated birthdays, we brewery-hopped, we learned to lawn bowl, we hiked and drank coffee out of mugs on hikes, we took in beautiful views. We relaxed.

Just a warning – be prepared for lots of photos! Because I have so many, I am going to share some today and some tomorrow. Enjoy!