Beaufort 2018 | Part One.

This year's trip* was maybe the most fun ... the place we stayed was perfect for the four of us, the weather was cool and breezy but dry, the food and drink were amazing (as always) and I won the weekend-long dice tournament 😉. I'm not sure if it was the fun factor, or having 1SE (movie!), or just that we are all so comfortable with each other and the place, but I have a record 70+ photos (that's the edited down number) and a video mashup #funproblems.

We love looking back on these blog posts as we plan our visits - and of course as we look back on the high (and low) lights of past years. All of this is a long way of saying that I'm going to share this year's trip in multiple posts. I decided to start with an overview - the video, my favorite "all of us" photos and a little bit more.

Here's the video

Cheers!-ing is a favorite subject (you know that if you follow my 1SE monthly mashups on Instagram), as are walking and wind chimes, but I don't often get to peek into a wedding (just as Shout! comes on) or a beautiful old church with a massive pipe organ.

One thing that I'm sure contributed to this year's trip being so fun is that we all drove together! We did have to rent a car to be sure we had enough space for everyone's luggage and knitting (and that big bottle of wine :-), but it was well-worth it.

(I promise Lydia is there in the backseat behind my big hair!)

Friday morning, we went to visit my dad. Beaufort was evacuated last September for Hurricane Irma and Charlie assured us the Memorial Garden made it through unscathed.

We thought it looked even better - there was a big (overgrown) oak tree in the middle of garden and it has been replaced with flowers and flowering shrubs.

We had lunch on Friday at Lowcountry Produce - and we found a very nice woman to take our photo.  We also had a very nice waitress who didn't seem to mind that we were there for almost two hours.

Friday night we ate at Emily's (tapas!). Here we are just before leaving.

Saturday lunch was at Wren's. We had "our table" in the back corner.

We walked from there to the Pat Conroy Literary Center. I wasn't thinking we'd have a good photo op there, but we did!

Karen is sitting in Pat's desk chair and that's his writing table. Apparently, he wrote in a similar setup on those yellow legal pads. I didn't think to ask then, but I wonder just how many yellow legal pages South of Broad was in manuscript ...

Saturday dinner was at Old Bull Tavern and we did not get a photo. Sunday night we were at Saltus. As we were leaving, I approached a group of strangers at the bar and asked if anyone would be willing to take our photo. One woman enthusiastically agreed - phew!

My last photo is one I took Sunday morning, just after sunrise, on a walk by myself.

The low country at its best!

Next week, I'll share more about the food and drink. and who knows what might come after that.

Happy Friday, y'all!

*Katie shared this article with me last weekend and I read it out loud to my housemates. We all agreed that it was a trip (family, in-laws, packing the car, groceries, dishwasher, ...) but in a most acceptable way. Maybe we're all at the age when a getaway with family is just more special.

Watercolor Wednesday | Scenes from the Orchard.

We've had a delightful time visiting and catching up. Even the weather was smiling yesterday.

We walked outside in the morning to get Martha a few photos to share on Facebook.

Martha and Mother 

Later in the afternoon, Holly and I ventured out for a long walk through the orchards. so beautiful and peaceful.

We're headed home later this morning (thankfully, not through snow!) - it's been a short, but wonderful, change of scenery.

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Sometimes Mondays.

...bring a change of scenery.

for the record, my mom (riding shotgun 😉) took this photo

the view from our living room

Her friend Martha should be here any minute ... we decided not to wait!

Cheers!

Looking Back | February.

Yep, one more catching up post before I'm ready to move on to March! 

Today, I'm looking back at February through the lens of my daily photos:

I've already shared most of these photos here or on Instagram, but I'm still surprised by the story all 28 photos tell together - what a month! The trip to Mexico over the last week was planned, but I had no idea Marc would be such a willing participant in the photos! Then there were the little boys - breakfast on the 11th, followed by two whole days with little Sam on the 14th and 15th. First signs of spring ... and an amaryllis that looks just as lovely when the blooms fade (the 5th) as when they're just beginning (the 10th). 

That "just beginning" bud managed to hold off blooming until we were home and I've enjoyed watching it unfold over the past few days. Its first blossom was a most welcome sight this morning.

One photo I haven't shared here is from the 8th - my mom at her new front door:

We had a mini photoshoot that afternoon so she had a "new home" photo to share with her friends. I'm delighted with the photo (smiles, sunshine, forsythia wreath!), but mostly having my mom so close ... and getting settled. I fully expect her to be a regular feature in these monthly collages going forward - what a blessing!

There was also one part of my February that I purposely omitted from the collage. The 10 day #tblmindbodypilates challenge was something I wanted to accomplish, but I knew it would mostly happen while we were away. and of course I knew I'd want to have vacation photos fill those daily spots. I did take a daily photo to mark each workout (doubling up on days 5 & 6 when we were traveling) and made a mini-collage. 

Pilates with a beach view is definitely more fun than pilates in my living room - but The Balanced Life works great in both places! (although I'm not sure Holly would agree 😉)

And that's a wrap!

Cheers, February - you were wonderful ... but I'm ready to welcome March!

Looking Back on Our Cabo Vacation.

Hello! We had a wonderful vacation, but it feels good to be back here (finally!). I shared a few photos on Instagram while we were there, but I didn't look at everything all together until this past weekend.

Here's a peek at my Top Ten (warning - lots of sunshine, beautiful food, ocean views and selfies 😊).

Hands down the best photo of the two of us, taken at the beginning of a sunset sailing cruise on Monday evening. This is at Land's End - the Pacific Ocean is on the other side of that rock behind us.

The best sunrise (with my favorite morning beverage - the cappuccino was perfect), Tuesday morning. 

My favorite evening spot. This bar looks out over the pools and the ocean and at night, they light the fires. The evenings there are around 60 degrees ... the fire felt good!

You can't swim in the ocean, so we spent our days at the pool. Just beyond the pool you can see the tops of the umbrellas on the beach and the ocean. Pretty much my favorite day spot!

I also read a lot ... and finally got to Louise Penny's latest - LOVED!

Here's the view from my balcony pilates studio. Coming back to my living room has been tough!

The sunset on our cruise was amazing.

We chose the resort (Le Blanc Spa) because the food was supposed to outstanding. It was. Every meal was beautifully presented and it all tasted delicious. Coming up with favorites was hard!

Prettiest dessert. A deconstructed Crème Brûlée, from the French restaurant.

Best new thing I tried. An egg white omelet filled with vegetables and goat cheese.

Best take on a favorite snack. Chips and guacamole.

Best take on a favorite cocktail. The Negroni XXI at the Fire Bar, made with hibiscus infused vermouth and pineapple infused Campari.

Coming back to salads and lean protein and "plain old wine" hasn't been easy!

We both took a lot of video, too - here are my favorite 48 seconds.

Sigh ... and now it's Monday (but at least it's not snowing!) ...

I'm looking forward to catching up with all of you over the next few days.  Here's to a great week!

FO Friday Two-fer.

First up, here's 2nd Avenue ... in the 2nd Avenue subway station (yep, Sara did acquiesce).

It was still hot the day we left the city, but I had the scarf with me on the train and it was a perfect layer with the sleeveless dress. It cooled off in New Haven, and I actually got to wear the scarf for the first time last Friday. with a chambray shirt (just like I envisioned when I bought those five crazy skeins). How cool that its first "in action" photo was with New Haven pizza!

I repeated that outfit yesterday (yay for October weather!) and know the scarf is going to be on heavy rotation for the next few months!

As is the Tapered Cowl, aka "Moving to NYC". This is today's outfit. Perfect for cool mornings/evenings (and grocery stores) when you need a little something around your neck (and shoulders) but not too much - and very easy to take off when the afternoon warms up.

I missed blogging about this piece in progress, but it was the stupid-simple-stockinette (in the round no less) project I planned for Sara's move. The pattern is part of Churchmouse's latest collection - perfectly written and very wearable. I used an alpaca/silk blend that was pretty close to what the pattern suggested, but major on sale at Webs (maybe it's been discontinued?) - the whole project cost me less than $30. 

I cast on the 200+ stitches on the way to the airport (way back on September 14), knitted a few rounds on the flight and then didn't pick it up again until well into the U-Haul drive (and then only for short bits). I made a little more progress once the apartment was setup. That's the piece on the floor (under the table) - a week after I started ... and still on the first ball! 

I joined the second ball on the train to New Haven and knit a little more late last week and on the plane ride home (since Marc sat next to Charlie and I sat in the row in front of them).

Then it was still a few more days to finish (I didn't join the third ball until Monday). and block. and oh boy, was the blocking key! Here's the before (left) and after (right). The "raw" knitting was not at all pretty but wow, I don't think it shows!

These two projects have a lot of memories tied into the making. Alaska, Sara's move, the 2nd Avenue subway, train rides and airplane flights, pizza and lots of sitting with family and friends. When I started writing this post I kept thinking about how little progress I had to show for almost two months. but now that I've written the story, I see. it wasn't really about the knitting....

Happy Friday my friends.

xo - M.

Back Home.

...but still a ways to go before things start feeling "settled" - at least on my part. Holly took all of about five minutes to find her happy place here again.

I did take a quick run to the lake yesterday; it was glorious.

This morning I sorted through a few of the photos from last week. The underlying reason we were all gathered was certainly sad, but it was wonderful to be together. This was the first time we'd met all the cousins as adults and everyone's first time meeting Charlie and Sam.

three generations, all together

the younger two generations

Sam & Justin

Friday night dinner

It was also Sara and Charlie's first time to try New Haven pizza. Needless to say, it was a huge hit!

(I'm honestly not sure if Charlie liked Snapchat or the pizza better - but his cousin Justin was a hands-down favorite)

I will say it's good to be back in this space and I look forward to catching up with all of you. As of yesterday afternoon, I still had 120+ blog posts to read, so please be patient with me!

Hope your week is off to a great start!