Summertime :)

Oh hey there! Long time no talk … I’ve been outside soaking up every single second of my favorite season! This is precisely why we need to go where it’s warm for good! There’s no reason every day of the year can’t be this way.

Summer is flying by! It’s hard to believe it’s already half over. Here’s a roundup of the awesomeness that’s ensued so far!

• A wonderful week in a gorgeous beach house with our family. It was so nice to have an extended amount of time with everyone.

• Mornings and evenings on the deck watching the birds with our dogs talking about anything, everything & sometimes nothing at all.

• Waterfront drinks at our local hangouts. There’s nothing more peaceful than being near the water. It’s where I do my best thinking, reflecting, strategizing & a bit of daydreaming.

• Playing in the ocean! Body boarding, paddle boarding, body surfing or simply swimming. We can’t get enough of the water.

• Enjoying veggies straight from the garden. Cucumbers with salt, caprese & fresh salsa!

• Bike rides in the woods. We’re lucky to have a gorgeous state park 10 minutes from our house. The bike loop goes through maritime forests, marshes and ends at a bay that eventually connects to the ocean. All of it is beautiful. It’s a great way to catch up on my favorite podcasts. I’m currently hooked on NPR’s “Ask Me Another.” If you haven’t heard it yet, do yourself a favor and download an episode, you won’t regret it! I laugh out loud and occasionally get funny looks from runners and bikers coming in the opposite direction.

From top left: – a snake in a tree! – the view from the trail – beach break complete with dolphins – fiddler crabs in the marsh

• Swimming laps at the pool and coming out to warm humid air. I love to swim but I don’t do it in the winter. Nothing excites me less than coming out to freezing air still wet from the pool.

• Beautiful hikes!

State park in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. The top left is water covered in algae.

• No real shoes! I love for my feet to be free! Barefoot or in flip flops if I have to go somewhere. Someday the only shoes I’ll own will be flip flops, sneakers for active times & my dive booties. Not sure the last one counts as a shoe but they are footwear.

• Long walks with the dogs. They love it, we love it, it’s a win-win. What can be better than 85 degrees at 9pm.

• Lazy afternoons spent on the beach reading, napping & watching the day go by.

• Stumbling across an old shipwreck during our vacation in the Outer Banks! We were paddle boarding on a very clear day when I saw a large dark spot in the water. I thought I’d find a school of fish but it was an old shipwreck! The pic below was taken with our gopro and there’s more info about the wreck here.

Here’s to the second half being just as good if not better than the first! I hope you’re all having a fantastic summer so far!

Till next time …

Warm thoughts to all!