Wordless weekend, part II

More vacation, please

Back in June we went to Cabo San Lucas for a few days to celebrate our good friends Dan & Jeremy...and also just RELAX.  I mean, just look at that.  Sigh.  I want to go back to there.

Sewing...an actual garment...for me to WEAR...in public...

The last thing I attempted to sew that was actually meant to worn on my own body was a pair of pajama pants, circa sometime early 2000s...heck, let's call it a decade or so ago...and it was pretty much an epic fail.  Sorry to break it to you like that.  It did come together relatively smoothly - the legs ended up actually being about the length of my legs, my waist wasn't horribly constricted by some ridiculous elastic situation, the fabric was cute and everything.  I triumphantly pulled them on and went to curl up on the couch - and the entire crotch area riiiiiiiiiiipped apart because I did a horrible job of taking care of an important seam.  So much to learn about reinforcing and stitch length and so on and so forth.  I think I got frustrated and threw them in the trash.

Well, we've come a long way, people.  Skillz acquired and ready to go.  And when my dear friends Dan & Jeremy said "hey y'all, we're getting married in Mexico, you SO must be there, please wear white because it'll look awesome and beachy!!"...I thought big.  I mean, first I looked on ModCloth and scoped out my options, but then since I'm an insane crazy person I relish in at least starting craftastic projects, I thought about sewing a dress.  Yeah, let's go for it!  I can do this!!  I'm going to buy Rae's Washi Dress pattern and DO this thing!!!  So excited, LET'S BUY THE PERFECT FABRIC!!!!

There you go - March 9, 2013 - captured for posterity in a sad phone pic - found some great seersucker with a bronzey metallic thread running through it, super cute, tons of possibilities.  Let's do this thing, for reals.  I have approximately three months to make this dress happen, and I'm feeling dang good about things.

So excited that by MAY 27, two and half months into this three month window, I had done THIS with the fabric...

...yeah, that's right, I totally washed AND dried it.  And refolded it.  And let it sit.  Until Memorial Day weekend, about two and a half weeks before we were hopping on a plane to Cabo San Lucas.  I figured this holiday weekend better count for something, so I made some epic progress, like actually getting the pattern assembled (PDF patterns from online purchases...yup, you print those bad boys out on regular ol' paper, tape it together, and then cut it out - just putting the pattern together was a little tedious, yeeps)...

...and cutting out the pieces for this thing, where I gladly used whatever typical household tools were available to assist and was extremely grateful that we shelled out for the extra-long dining room table, which basically serves as a craft station far more frequently than it actually functions as a dining room table. 

Then I actually started sewing, and the piles of fabric started to come together in something remotely resembling a garment.  Holy hell, I'm feeling kinda good about this, even with the late start.

I mean, I have helpers and everything!

Craig helped by bringing me a glass of wine (a sewing machine doesn't count as heavy machinery, right?), and Harry and Zach are totally helpful when it comes to sewing.  Just look at all of that encouragement surrounding me.  And those shelves that still haven't made it onto a wall, but let's not think about that right now.

And then the dress really did start looking like a dress, which happens when you decide to line the dress (since it's white...I mean, come on, we need another layer of fabric in there), which means you're basically sewing two dresses instead of one and one of the dresses just happens to get sewn into the other dress.  Phew.  We're getting there.

Mission-critical pinning-together of the dress and the lining - fingers crossed!

So, at this point, I've basically exploded all over the dining room AND my office/craftastic room...

...and everyone's worried, even the dog, who is usually pretty laid-back about most things in life, so now I'm getting worried, too.

Mom, WHAT exactly are you doing??

And then it all went wrong when I botched the lining and basically sewed everything together backwards and cursed the day I decided to freaking sew a dress wondered what I had gotten myself into and spent more time than I would like to admit to picking out stitches and redoing hours of work.

Yes, I finished the dress the night before we left.  And it worked.  Thank goodness.

I'm going to call this one a craftastic win, even with my procrastination.  Because, I mean, just look how cute we are.  Phew.

Let's stay at the beach. Forever.

** Public service announcement...please pretend this post happened EXACTLY EIGHT MONTHS AGO as originally intended.  Thinking about where the gals and I should journey this summer, so I went back to read about last year's trip, and I thought my posts felt very unfinished...and I'd forgotten I had this one almost ready to go before life happened and I just forgot about it.  So let's just pretend, ok?  Thanks so much, and let's go back to Edisto... **

You know what's wonderful?  Easy beach lunches, all courtesy of King's Market, an adorable roadside establishment filled with loads of fresh flowers...

...and beautiful heirloom maters...

...and all kinds of crazy birdhouses...

...and Cheerwine, which has absolutely nothing to do with wine but is very much like Cherry Coke and is just darn tasty on a toasty afternoon...

...and a plethora of salads and dips and delightful homemade casseroles (granted, mayo was a key ingredient in many of these, but we weren't really complaining - that's what vacation is for!), and we made lunches out of fresh melons and crab dip and pimento cheese and chicken salad and it was just so good.  Best eaten on a porch overlooking the ocean.  Really, you can't beat it.

There's a lot to be said for relaxing beach afternoons.  We had quality time on our floats out in the ocean AND explored the reach of the beach in both directions AND enjoyed a delicious cooler full of sangria (and water - we hydrate!) AND just sat. And listened to the waves and were just there.  So wonderful. For two afternoons in a row. For hours. More, please.

We come prepared.

Sweet, blessed provider of shade for pale, pale me.

One night for dinner we headed to Dockside, where the service was a little questionable, the food was darn good, and we had a great view of the sunset over the water.

And where did I spend just a whole lot of time?  Oh, hello, fantastic rocking chair on wonderful screened-in deck. Come home with me. I love you.

Our other post-beach dinner was at The Old Post Office, which was just awesome - I mean, this is about as fancy as you can get down in Edisto.

Dessert Triumvirate #2 - so much deliciousness...and it's even by candlelight, awwww.

Oh, hi, Edisto sunset, you're pretty

We did some exploring and found crazy old churches...

...and dolphins!!!  Ok, so the sleeper in me kinda missed the early morning dolphin activity while Kami and Carolyn actually woke up and did things that are good for you, but on our last morning we made an Erin trip to see the dolphins...and it started to rain.  And we only kinda saw the dolphins.  But I know they're there.

Back to Charleston we go, with one more walk along the water, and then time to fly away home.  Why can't vacations just last forever?

To Edisto we go!

To the beach we go!  First fascination of mine along the way - boat parking.  Boat after boat after boat, all stacked up.  And they take them down with forklifts.  That's just fascinating to the West Texas gal in me.

Second fascination - you really can find everything in Wal-Mart, provided you can actually find the Wal-Mart that's hiding behind all these trees.  We scored floppy hats and awesome floats and beach chairs and all the supplies we could need that we figured would have a pretty steep uptick in price at our few Edisto shopping options.  Score one for Wally World!

We wound our way along the edge of South Carolina, keeping our eyes peeled for creepy Spanish moss and really old churches and maybe even a roadside gator or two (didn't actually come across those, thank goodness) as we made our way to Edisto.  After a quick call to Craig to figure out where the beach house actually is (I had the wrong address written down, oopsie), we hauled in all of our goodies and immediately headed for the water, just to splash our toes and know that, yes, we are really at the beach.

Sandy feet are happy feet

Piggly Wiggly (I have an irrational love for this store - I don't know why.  I bought a Piggly Wiggly coffee mug) adventures to stock up on supplies, dinner at The Waterfront (pimento cheese every day!) and we were ready for an early night.  Hit it, ocean waves.

Holidayapalooza 2010, Virginia Beach-style

Christmas season 2010 was a little all over the place.  Craig and I drove down to Virginia Beach on the 21st to spend some time with his parents, where I learned the following things...

The beach is always beautiful, even when it's freeeeeeeezing outside.

The city of Norfolk has mermaids everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.

Large, imposing battleships are much less scary when adorned with a wreath.

Water is alllllll around.  And it can come get you.  I'm still not totally comfortable with water.

I also learned that my future father-in-law is an exceptional board game player (especially one particular game involving military strategy), my future mother-in-law is a rather wonderful hostess, and some kitty cats actually do like Craig (ahem, Harrison).  Check out the pictures from the Virginia Beach adventures here.  More holidayapalooza to come...pretend I'm flying from Norfolk to DFW at this very moment...

Southern delights, part iii - assorted small bits of South Carolina and road trippin'

That air-conditioned bliss of a rental car I mentioned last time?  In order to obtain it, we had to make our past quite possibly the loneliest/chattiest rental car desk attendant in all of America.  He attempted to regale us with story after story, much of them focused on the mess that is South Carolina politics (and admittedly, they do have a lot of good story material), but finally we hopped in the car and went to the first place any sane person in the Charleston area would think of if they had wheels - the beach!

We did a little exploring on Sullivan's Island, winding our way out to Fort Moultrie on the tip of the island and admiring the houses along the way, dreaming of renting out beachfront homes for a week and not doing a darn thing but relaxing.  Ahhhhh.  Cue the sound of ocean waves...and a blue, blue sky with a loooong stretch of beach just inviting us to come play.

Kami made the insightful observation that all of our summer trips have put us on a beach somewhere - Stinson Beach north of San Francisco in 2007...

...the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago in 2008...

...biking along the beach in Provincetown last year...

...and a little more Atlantic Ocean action this year.  I think there's just something about getting sand between your toes.  You may not think the beach is the best place for me, what with (1) my Casper-like skin and its remarkable ability to not tan at all but rather freckle and fry, (2) a childhood spent nowhere near water of any kind (Lake Meredith does NOT count), and therefore no nostalgic memories of the family lake house or trips with beach floaties in tow, or (3) a small-ish fear of what could be lurking in the water, but...I love it.  I love the sand and the waves and the smell of salt in the air and the way it all whips your hair into a frizzy mess.  A happy, frizzy, sticky mess.  Thank you, beach.

This time around, we took plenty of time to do sand-art with our toes, poke at the strange creatures that floated onshore (ok, so that was just me, acting like a little kid...poking things with a stick, really?), gaze in awe at the crazy wind-surfers, admire the beach homes, and generally chill out to the sound of the waves.  It was lovely.

Of course, that ocean air makes you hungry (who am I kidding...I'm always hungry), so we headed into the cutesiness that is a beach town and parked ourselves on the front deck at Poe's Tavern for the night.  Their burgers came highly recommended from our Magnolia's waiter, and while burgers might not exactly sound like a light and healthy option, they did provide a categorical break from the world of FRIED chicken and FRIED green tomatoes that we'd been living in for a couple days.  Not that I need a break from fried deliciousness, and I realize that switching from fried to burger is not a healthy switch in any way...oh, fine, yes, I put pimento cheese on top AND had fries on the side.  Let the gut bombs continue!!

In their defense, Kami and Carolyn started with side salads and skipped the fries.  I'm just a glutton for punishment.  I'm sorry, heart and assorted internal organs - I'll get right on that workout program, promise.

Ok...and then we stopped for a Frosty at Wendy's.  And possibly some treats from Piggly Wiggly (BEST grocery store name EVER).  Couldn't help myself.  Yum.  Always room for sweet treats!

The next morning we set out to wind our way down to Savannah, and I can't even begin to tell you how many people suggested we stop in Beaufort along the way for lunch and a stroll through the historic area.  So...we did!  It is a cutesy little town, and we had a tasty lunch, some more time in giant swings along the waterfront...

...a little antiquing, a little wandering, a minor fascination (at least on my part) with the Spanish moss hanging from the trees, and of course a stop for dessert on our way out of town at an adorable little cafe.  Look out, Georgia, here we come!