Summertime. Summertime. Sum-Sum-Summertime.

Absolutely beautiful! That about sums up this past weekend. The weather was just unbelievably perfect. Everyone was in high spirits. And needless to say, the beaches were packed! Nonetheless, we ventured out to Wrightsville Beach with some friends at about 10:30am and didn't get home until 12 hours later. Our day consisted of a lot of people watching, our first sunburns of the year, and a bucket full of steamed oysters. It really doesn't get any better.

When Sunday rolled around, we were beach-bummed out. So Joe & I got to planting. We're not known for our green thumbs at all. Even though we've got two very healthy bamboo stalks that have lasted 4 years. (Holla?!) But we figured that maybe our fifth try around (yes, we've been together for five summers now!) would be the charm. Here's hoping!

Joe with our tomato plant and assortment of herbs.

Gerber Daisies. How sweet.

Pansies. Cheap and easy. But beautiful.
You have to have a Hibiscus when you live on Hibiscus Way!

April Update

I've officially finished all four books in the Twilight series. It was so sad to see it all end when I finished reading this amazing saga but I am so happily fortunate to have been introduced to Edward Cullen and all of his amazing attributes. So much so that I had to run out and buy this shirt. I think this pretty much sums it all up for me. I'm sure all you fellow Twilight-ers can totally relate!
And while I've been casually reading to my heart's content, Joe's been cramming hard. End of the semester finals are right around the corner and Joe is so looking forward to them being over. Cross your fingers for Joe that all goes well! And that his summer of relaxing and having fun can start ASAP.
Meanwhile off in Florida, Cooper D (my little brother) has been kicking some major karate butt. He has mastered the art of board breaking. And to Joe and I's surprise, signed an actual board he broke at competition and sent it on up to us. Cooper is so beyond cool. We love that kid.

Happy Easter! Sretan Uskrs!

Triathlon. Check.

I don't know why I hadn't guessed it before. Maybe it just slipped my mind. Maybe I trusted him too much. Who knows. Either way, several months ago Joe was signing himself up for a local sprint triathlon. Instead of stopping there, he decided to surprise me (I use the term 'surprise' very loosely here.) and sign me up as well. Without a general house consensus of this decision, I was a tad shocked but knew I should take the reigns and go. If not for myself, then to do it in honor of the best, most fit boyfriend on the planet. I knew he would be proud and that in turn would make me proud...of me. A 300 meter swim, 11.5 mile bike ride, and 5k run later, I was crossing the finish line with a time of just a hair over an hour and a half. Joe bettered his last year's time by five minutes and placed 2nd in his age group. He won a handy-dandy chair that doubles as a cooler (LOL) and I checked another thing off the bucket list. Not a bad day.