Summer Vacation- part 2

We left Amelia Island and headed to Bluffton, South Carolina to spend a few days at the Inn at Palmetto Bluff. It was unbelievable and a trip we will never forget. Ben gets all the credit for this trip because this was definitely his idea. I'm so glad I let him convince me that we should go!

The Inn is located on the May River and the low country is a beautiful backdrop 

We stayed in one of the guest cottages, which was tastefully decorated. It felt so homey...which I loved.

The first day we were there, I spent the afternoon at the Spa while Ben played golf. I was in heaven. This was without question the best Spa experience I have ever had. 

I had the women's facilities to myself that afternoon, so I snapped a picture of the whirlpool tub with my phone. Total relaxation....

One morning we ventured out for a 7 mile bike to the far end of the property to see a treehouse

I am not a big fan of biking but it was hard to complain with views like this.

Clearly this was not just any treehouse...the views from the top were incredible

After all that hard work, it was time to cool off by taking a canoe ride

Or so we thought. We didn't last 15 minutes on the canoe before we started heading back. It was unbelievably hot and required way more energy/effort than we had to give at that time.

So, we headed to one of my favorite places to cool off.

I loved that they would bring you a bucket of ice water!

My favorite summer cocktail = Miami Vice

One evening we went on a sunset wine cruise on the river. It was so fun and we ended up meeting a sweet family from Birmingham who vacations here every year.

We saw several dolphins but, unfortunately, weren't able to capture any on camera. You can see Harbour Town on Hilton Head. 

Inside the little place we ate breakfast at every morning 

 The precious chapel 

 Fire pits where we roasted s'mores at night...a palmetto bluff tradition 

 The gorgeous main lodge. The wrap around porches and gas lanterns....perfect! 

 We enjoyed dinner at the main lodge one night 

 Eating dinner outside at the Canoe Club

Complimentary snacks and wine which we devoured

I cannot think of a more perfect way to celebrate our 3rd anniversary! We were both so sad to leave and cannot wait to go back.

Recipe Organization

It is no secret that I love Pinterest. Ben is quick to call me out on it when I become glued to my phone-- "Are  you over there pinning again?" Which of course my response is, "No, I'm reading a very important e-mail." He knows me too well. 

There is no shortage of recipes to be pinned and I have done my fair share of contributing to this growing number. When my "recipe" board was getting seriously out of control, I decided to create more boards (appetizers, sides, etc) in an attempt to make it more manageable. It helped, but was still not as functional as I was hoping. Have you ever been in a grocery store, scrolling through hundreds of pictures on your iphone trying to find "the pin" which will lead you to a webpage that you then have to navigate to find "the recipe"? I quickly decided this was not working. See, I am usually not organized enough to go through my pinterest page prior to going to the grocery store.  

Enter Dropbox- a cloud service that allows you to save your personal files. I have it on my computer and now on my iphone. It is amazing. This article describes how you can use it to organize your recipes. By using google chrome you can save a website as a PDF. It is so simple and you can specify which page numbers you want to save, which means you don't have to scroll through 10 pages before you get to the recipe! This is huge. Now it's just the time consuming process of going through the pinterest page to decide which recipes are "keepers" and which ones were probably pinned in haste when I was very hungry...which happens often. 

Not only is this a solution for my Pinterest recipes, this is also huge in helping with the paper clutter. I have so many recipes printed out from websites, like cooking light. I have written little notes to myself on different modifications I made. Does anyone else have a recipe book that looks like this? 

You can imagine being at the grocery store, deciding you want to make a certain recipe and then having to place a phone call to the hubby asking him to rummage through the above mess. Do not recommend it.

Enter GeniusScan . A way to scan my recipes by simply taking a picture with my phone. 

And are you ready for this---genius scan will "send" to your dropbox account. Wow. All of my recipes, included handwritten ones, on my phone in a neat little folder that is alphabetized. Complete life changer. 

Happy Organizing! 

Summer Vacation- part 1

I realized that there is a blogger app. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. So, I decided there were no more excuses. If this app is as easy as it claims to be, then I can commit to a few minutes a week to start blogging again. Most pictures I take are with my phone anyways!

Truth is life in Atlanta is really good, but life is crazy. Both of our jobs are more time consuming and our "free" time is much more precious! Blogging has truly fallen very far down the ever growing "to do" list. So here's to a new start!

More on everyday life at a later time. We were blessed to be able to take a week off in May for some needed rest and relaxation.

Our week started off in Amelia island at the Ritz carlton. Neither of us had ever been to Amelia, so it was fun to go somewhere new and different. Growing up going to the gulf, I am not use to the hard sea shells! Per Ben, it's great for running but I wouldn't know anything about that :)

We enjoyed tasty chocolate covered strawberries as an early anniversary treat.

Tropical storm beryl decided to join us. So, unfortunately the last 2 days were rainy but we made the best of it. The ritz provided us with some glow sticks, just in case we lost power. Which we did. But it was in the middle of the night so didn't cause too much inconvenience.

Overall, the first half of the trip was great! Check out the double rainbow-- one of the coolest things I have ever seen and such a good reminder of God's providence.

We're Back!

Ben and I just got back from 5 days in Charleston/Kiawah Island and had such an amazing time. It obviously inspired me to blog again...which I'll admit has been hard to find the time/motivation to do lately. And the fact that I should be unpacking right now makes blogging a much more attractive option.

I had never been to the Charleston area and I was really starting to wonder if I was the only person who hadn't experienced this beautiful city. It was everything I imagined it to be and more. We literally just walked around for hours taking pictures. The tree-lined streets were picturesque. More on Charleston later though.

The condo on Seabrook Island where we stayed

  I thought this kitchen was so fun- love the combination of green and the stainless steel

 The condo was located on the marina, so we got to sit on the deck and dream about what our boat will look like one day :)

Beautiful views from the back deck

The sunset every night was breathtaking

The resort on Kiawah, The Sanctuary, is like nothing I have ever been to before. As Ben likes to say, "it's rich mahogany and leather books"

 

 This is the "forbidden" pool. Admission is like trying to enter Fort Knox. Ben treated me to a Spa treatment at the Resort and I was still not allowed to enjoy their sacred pool. In their defense though, if I was actually paying the ridiculous price per night for a room there, I would expect to have a chair at the pool with my name on it and personal attention. But I was definitely bummed....I mean how comfortable do those chairs look?

 The hallway of shops located inside the resort. To be honest, I didn't even care what was in the shops. I was much more impressed with the decor and the light fixtures!

Beautiful staircase with a pretty impressive mural of the low country

A view of the beach access at the Resort. This trip was also my first time to see the Atlantic Ocean...crazy I know. While I loved everything about Kiawah and Charleston, there is just no comparison to the crystal blue water and pretty white beaches of the Gulf.

While we were on Kiawah, we went to the Ocean Course so Ben could go to their pro shop. I'm so glad I tagged along because this was like no other golf clubhouse I had ever seen. I was obsessed with the decor.

 I am quite sure we did not have the acceptable attire on but that didn't stop the paparazzi from entering the building :)

 Rolex- although I wouldn't expect anything less :)

This is the trophy that will be awarded at the 2012 PGA Championship which will be held at The Ocean Course and apparently this is a big deal.

And lastly, the mansions on Kiawah which appears that some people call their home

 So much more to share about our time in Charleston and many more pictures to come! 

One thousand gifts...

So much blogging to catch up on, so many e-mails that need to be written, so many phone calls that need to be made, and so little time. Hence the theme here....I am way behind! But we are adjusting to our new lives in Atlanta. More on that later I promise!

Really the intention of this post was to share this new book/website.

"Just like you, Ann Voskamp hungers to live her one life well. Forget the bucket lists that have us escaping our everyday lives for exotic experiences. “How,” Ann wondered, “do we find joy in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and daily duties? What does the Christ-life really look like when your days are gritty, long—and sometimes even dark? How is God even here?” In One Thousand Gifts, Ann invites you to embrace everyday blessings and embark on the transformative spiritual discipline of chronicling God’s gifts. It’s only in this expressing of gratitude for the life we already have, we discover the life we’ve always wanted … a life we can take, give thanks for, and break for others. We come to feel and know the impossible right down in our bones: we are wildly loved — by God. Let Ann’s beautiful, heart-aching stories of the everyday give you a way of seeing that opens your eyes to ordinary amazing grace, a way of being present to God that makes you deeply happy, and a way of living that is finally fully alive. Come live the best dare of all!"

With all of the changes going on in our lives right now, I find it so easy to focus on the things that aren't turning out the way we had "planned" and even at times questioning God's plan for us. It always seems so much easier to focus on the negatives, instead of stopping and counting all our blessings. So, that is what the author of this book did-- started naming daily blessings and counting them all the way to 1,000. And on the website it's an open forum of women sharing all of their daily blessings. How awesome is that? When I heard about this website/book, I stopped everything I was doing and was immediately hooked. I couldn't stop reading the first chapter on-line. I can't wait to get the book and read more and learn how to live life more fully.

First on my list of blessings today would be for coffee and my sweet husband who got up to make the coffee for us this morning :)

“I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among the throngs I will praise you.” Psalm 35:18