grey day wishes

Normally a series of dreary days

makes me want to curl up on the couch,

but for some reason I've been craving 

a quiet, grey day at the beach.

There's something appealing about

an almost empty beach - you get to enjoy

the moody, powerful waves in silence,

and I always feel like God is standing

right next to me pointing out the

beautiful things He's created that 

don't always grab my attention

on bright, sunny days.

Plus, is there really a better

combo than steaming coffee, an 

oversized soft sweatshirt, and cold 

sand between your toes?  :)

*image

last saturday...

 Last weekend we enjoyed a perfect day

on the Maine coast with my folks.  We visited

some of my favorite places, soaked up plenty 

of sunshine, and devoured lots of good food!

 

We walked the entire length of the breakwater

 in Rockland, which has been a summer tradition 

for my family for as long as I can remember...  

 

 

 ...then visited the always gorgeous

Children's Chapel, another family favorite!

It is the most peaceful little retreat, 

with stunning plants & trees everywhere.

 

Thanks, parentals, for treating us

 to such a wonderful weekend. 

Let's do it again soon!

*photo editing

get away

 The handsome man & I had an impromptu get 

away on Friday night.  It was lovely to run 

away together and be spontaneous.

We ended up in York, which was gorgeous.

I'd never been to the Nubble Lighthouse, 

and we had a great time climbing around on 

the rocks and being all touristy with our 

clunky but lovable Polaroid camera. 

We also spent a few hours being lazy on the beach, 

which was blissful.  The water was salty and 

warm(ish), which made the homemade ice cream 

afterwards seem perfectly sweet and cold.

All in all, it was incredible to get away

from reality for just a little while.  Being 

together without any distractions or demands

was perfect, and just what we needed!

summer saturday

 Tomorrow afternoon, this will be us!

I'm so thrilled to finally have a free Saturday,

and even more excited that the handsome

man suggested we make a beach day out of

it.  Hope your weekend is happy too!

*image

summertime

 We spent a perfectly lazy afternoon

at the coast this past weekend, and spent 

the better part of an hour sitting in front of the

most gorgeous sailboat, just chatting.  (We're talking 

the stuff that dreams are made of, kiddies.)  

 

Maybe it's because there's a mysterious 

romance to the idea of life on a boat - 

or perhaps it's my undying love of the ocean - 

but either way, there's nothing that says

summer quite like the idea of quiet,

sunny days out on a boat... 

*image

to the sea

 I love this - because it's so

true.  There's just no place quite

like the ocean.  I always feel 

wonderfully tiny beside the sea,

and love thinking about how a Creator

that big could love & care about

little old me!  And when I can

ponder those sorts of things, life never

seems quite so daunting!  

*via

sunshine

Running away for the afternoon
was everything I hoped for...

And then some.



I. love. the. ocean.

As dramatic as this sounds,
I feel like my soul comes alive
when I'm by the sea.

(I know, I know,
so corny...)



Plus, we might have had
the best ice cream
of the summer...

and that's no easy feat!

waves

Totally running away from the office
super early today and going to the beach...

My boy is officially on summer vacation
(yay for a teacher's schedule)
and we're going to celebrate with dinner,
some fun shopping & a little ocean time!

Hope your Monday is happy too :)


*via tumblr

um, wow.

Today I'm lusting after this house in
Mexico in the worst sort of way.



Overlooking the ocean?
Check.

Swimming pool on the roof?
Check.



Hammock on a cozy terrace?
Check.

Now if I only had the money to write
a check and make it mine...


*via DigsDigs

sittin' on the dock of the bay...

Doesn't this look like a good spot to spend a summer evening?

(eating ice cream perhaps?)

Oh summer, please come back soon.

You are missed...


*image via tumblr

we could play hookie...

I'm thinking that today would be a great day to run off to the beach and play.

It's crisp and cold, but it looks like the sun will come out and we could drink gallons of coffee and hot cocoa to stay warm.

Or we could run and dance, just to be silly.

Who's with me?


*image via le love

clouds

I can't stop taking pictures of clouds.

It doesn't seem to matter what kind of clouds, or what background the sky is providing - the clouds just get me.

These top two?

At the target down the street from our place. As we were putting the bags into the car, I had to stop and whip out my camera.



These are from a summer afternoon at the lake; something about that wonderful bright blue behind them was too perfect to pass up.

(And you get a little bonus in the second one with a special appearance from Twin.)




Here's another beautiful summer afternoon set.

These were at a local park, and I must have spent nearly half an hour laying on my back just shooting photo after photo.

Maybe it's a sickness? Should I seek aid?



Ocean clouds are somehow different.

These are particularly dreamy, I think.

I took these on one of our late afternoon ocean escapes this past summer.


And finally, a classic driving cloud photo.

These have a special angle and attitude, I think.

Don't you?

to the sea...

A large perk of running two businesses this summer has been the proximity of the ocean to our second location.


I'm a big fan of the ocean, and so having easy access to the sea has done a great deal to ease the stress of always running around from place to place.


These photos are from about a week ago, when I convinced Twin to spend a little extra time hanging around after work.


It was lovely, despite the fact that the sun didn't really make an appearance.


Spending any time at the ocean reminds me how small I am, and how very large my God is. And if He is so big - big enough to have created the sea, and I am so small compared to Him, of course He can take care of me...