7 Quick Takes

ONE

If you're a regular reader you might have noticed that I've been a bit MIA this week--the long and the short of it is that things got busy and I'm at the beach.  (Also, if you aren't a regular reader you should be!  I'd LOVE if you followed me via RSS, email, or even Facebook, or Pinterest.)

TWO

I love that its October and I'm swimming outside.  Catherine and I got sick for the last week of PG Pool's season, so its nice to get a little extra swim time.

THREE

A jogging stroller at the beach is a must.  I love taking long walks along the water's edge and there is simply no way that I'd be able to that without this awesome stroller.  We are able to cover so much distance!

FOUR

Post dinner walks are so peaceful!

FIVE

The clouds at sunset last night were amazing.  This picture really doesn't do it justice.  The colors were much more vibrant--there were deep reds and purples.  It was absolutely one of the most gorgeous things I've seen in my life.     

SIX

The dunes at sunset are so pretty!

SEVEN

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Wordless Wednesday

My very talented photographer sister took this action shot of me with a simple point and shoot camera (while in the waves herself, I might add).  Very nice picture, Sarah!

7 Quick Takes Friday

ONE

We are back from two glorious weeks at the beach.  I miss it already.  The house was great--large, well equipped, and super close to the beach!  We had so much fun with family and friends.  If you're interested I did post a few pictures!

TWO

Catherine and I have been able to take the edge off of our sad-to-end-a-vacation blues by hanging out at the pool.  I've swam early morning laps four days this week and we've been to the toddler swim time just as often.  Next week the pool begins its regular hours and I foresee us spending even more time there!

THREE

I am super excited that another season of Master Chef is beginning.  However, I am bummed that I will be a week "behind" because Hulu is delaying the show by eight days for non-paying subscribers.  

FOUR

I love entering giveaways in blogland--I do it fairly regularly.  I have decided that a great use of my Twitter account is to tweet about these giveaways.  Most giveaways award this with extra entries anyways, so it works out quite well.  If you also like entering giveaways you definitely should follow me--if not, I wouldn't bother. (@The_Phil_Wife)  

FIVE
Oh my gosh, speaking of giveaways, have you seen all the Shabby Apple giveaways?!?! I'd really really LOVE to win one of those because their dresses are absolutely adorable!

SIX
Last night I spent some time looking for a specific recipe.  When I was very little there was an incredibly kind older woman at our Church who made a very unique cookie.  It was a soft "blonde" cookie with white chocolate chips, coconut, and corn flakes in it.  I've never been fond of coconut but these cookies were amazing.  Sadly, none of the recipes that I found last night seemed right.  (So, dear readers, if you know this recipe, or see one that looks like it might be right, I'd love to know about it!)

SEVEN
I finally got started on my chevron afghan!  It is dark purple and grey.  I am using this pattern, which I found on Ravelry.

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Seashell Momentos (Part I)

We just returned from a lovely beach vacation.  Catherine carefully gathered a small collection of shells and pebbles.  So now the question is, what do we do with them?

Peter and I were thinking that a small display glass would be nice.  Maybe even something simple and cheap from the dollar store.  We have something similar with things we collected on our honeymoon.

Source

I have carefully saved the first shell that Catherine picked up on her first ever beach trip.  I've been (half-heartily) looking for a white shadow box where I will put of picture of her on said beach trip and also display the shell.  I do like this shadow box, but I was thinking a little bit smaller would be nice--maybe an 8x8.  Speaking of shells in shadow boxes, It's the Little Things has a great way to showcase lots of shells in a shadow box, you have to check it out! Maybe I should put Catherine's new collection in a shadow box and hang it next to her first shell in a shadow box . . . (Because I looked through a bunch of shadow box ideas here's another really neat one from The Long Thread!)

Shell pieces I saw in the OBX.

There were so many broken pieces of shell that I would love to make into jewelry.  I didn't gather any of these pieces this trip--but I think that I might next time we visit the OBX.  The tricky part will be drilling holes without cracking the shells.  (Anyone out there ever make seashell jewelry?  How did it go?)  I think all of the shell pieces to the right could make interesting pendant necklaces!

It is so much fun to scour the beach for beautiful and interesting shells, rocks, sea glass, drift wood, etc--but once you have them what do you do?  It seems a shame and a waste to have them stashed away in the dark recesses of some closet.

Part II will be along shortly . . .

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