10 things to do at the beach.

...life interfered with my plans yesterday, so I missed ten on tuesday. this, then, is ten on wednesday morning...and I'm hoping to be back on track with wordless wednesday before today is over. thanks for hanging in there with me!

thanks, carole, for yet another fun topic...and reminding me I must get a beach trip planned for 2013!!

click the photos to see more info in flickr

1. watch the sunrise. early morning is one of my favorite times. combining it with a gorgeous sky, a cup of coffee, my journal (and my camera) gets me in a good place to enjoy the rest of the day.

2. watch the sunset. while the sunrise is most often a solitary thing, sunset is the party to start the evening. best enjoyed with friends (and family!), a carafe of wine, on a blanket just by the water's edge.

3. read. a few of our summer trips coincided with the release of harry potter books. it was great fun to have the freedom to read, and read, and read...and then have others to discuss the story with. my sister and I would judge the success of our vacation by the height of the read pile of books. most years our piles were at least a foot high. of course now with the kindle, that doesn't work the same, does it?

4. walk.

5. ride bikes.

6. play in the waves.

7. knit.

8. watch people.

9. eat.

10. take photos!

click here to join the ten on tuesday fun!

first day of school.

...so much different without carpool or the bus. yup, sara got her parking pass and headed off by herself this morning. and no, I didn't cry taking this picture!
leaving me free to get those beach photos into an album (many thanks to ali edwards!). all I wanted to get done today. and I did it. barely. but it was too dark when I finished to get any really good photos. so here's a taste of what the 18 photos looked like. and the mess that was my kitchen table in the process.

rosemary beach.

...I am in love with all of it! complete set of photos is here.

so long.

...farewell, and another vacation is history. still thinking about what I want to do with the photos - and honestly, right now, I'm enjoying just having them off my camera and on the computer (the whole set is here)
1. (in the center) at starbucks, 2. last sunset, 3. bud & alleys, 4. another sunset, 5. headed into the water, 6. apres beach, 7. so long, 8. at the pool, 9. best sunset at the end, 10. footprints, 11. quiet, 12. playing in the waves, 13. leftovers

more of the same.

...and that's a very good thing!
1. lunch at george's, 2. waiting for the sunset, 3. sunset, rosemary beach, 4. headed to the beach for the sunset

the first day.

...probably a lot like all the others will be - up early to see the sunrise, a walk, the pool, reading, bikes, good food & wine, the beach, games and plenty of just being together, relaxing...
1.sunrise, 2.mary & sara, 3. beach lunch, 4. riding bikes, 5. puzzle success!, 6. ready for the sunset

here!

here!
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...and loving it!

just photos won't be all that bad.

...last summer before our beach trip, I had grand plans for a travel journal. and then of course my plans were crushed once we were there because we didn't really travel, as much as just sit back in one place and relax. so a great opportunity for photos, but not so much a journal about what we've seen, ephemera, etc. (just one more reason I was so darned excited about our new york trip this spring). I did make a wonderful album with all those photos and was totally planning on another one this year. until I saw this post - bless ali edwards for coming through ... and with perfect timing! (note she plans a weeklong series of posts about hybrid scrapping). off now to visit ali's collection at digital scrapbooking :-)

when pigs fly (and other news).

...it's been busy, and we have new news and other updates, and I decided not to split it into multiple posts - so bear with me!

first up - marc's pc laptop died a horrible death in the early hours of yesterday. and he's well on his way to being a mac user. (that's the title credit. I even had an email from him already tonight - I told him there was extra credit if he could send me a photo of himself, but I think he decided simply doing email was enough.)
then, not so much pigs flying as pigs all jumping up and down doing their happy dance (like me!) - sara is now a licensed driver. much thanks to marc for cramming lessons on parallel parking and finding the one reservation for a behind-the-wheel test in the state of georgia this week (yes, marc and sara drove to calhoun to take the test - like I said "much thanks to marc".)
and finally (gee - this is almost like reverse order), we had fun with karen and jillian figuring out the beach for this year. since there are only four of us, we get an extra half-foot, but I think we all thought packing lighter was really the right way to go. I am planning to bring my laptop (but not planning to spend too much time on-line). and surely not taking four copies of the latest harry potter book might even create another cubic foot! we all know this year will be much different - karen and I (that's the same), but just two of the girls (both driving!), a new place, and persistent thoughts that this could be the last year for them. karen and I already have a pact we're going to do this forever (and in some strange way, I think we're looking forward to what it might be like to share a small apartment for the week...when we're grandmothers).
we talked about the food (sara signed up for two meals and jillian is planning a yummy dessert for dinner thing), books (everyone has grand plans to read lots), bike rides and the zoo gallery. good times.