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Winner will be announced this afternoon on instagram & facebook :) Get excited!!! 

Hello hello there, and Happy Monday!!!!Chris and I got home from Florida yesterday afternoon, and after a week on the beach with plenty of time to relax & recharge, I am looking forward to getting down to business with school just around the corner! Today is seeing a lot of organizing & planning (oh, and I should probably finish unpacking our new place..eep!!), and while it’s sad to see summer ending, I can’t wait to see what this year holds :)

But before that, here are some things I’m loving this Monday, with a bit of a vacay twist :)

• Bacardi Coconut Rum. With lemonade most of the time, or when I was feeling really fancy, with ice/strawberries/lemonade/popsicles in a blender! And yes, I put popsicles in my grownup slushee drink, but they were 100% fruit with no added sugar, so basically healthy still, right?!?! It was the perfect beachy drink addition :)
• The Wild, The Silver Linings Playbook, I’ve Got Your Number, A Dog’s Purpose, & The Good Luck of Right Now. 6 days of beach time, 5 books read, 1 happy girl :) My favorites were The Wild & A Dog’s Purpose — both new to me and SO great! You’ve probably heard of The Silver Linings Playbook from my fav Jen/Bradley combo movie, but if you haven’t read the book yet, I HIGHLY encourage it — even better than the movie!!! This was my second time reading it, and I still loved every second of it :) The Good Luck of Right Now was a little odd & not necessarily my favorite book in the world…but still an interesting read!

• The Nesting Place.  I picked up this book at my favorite shop in Seaside, Sundog Books! I’d seen it on Taylor’s instagram (the girlie who hand-lettered my logo!!), and when I saw it in the shop with its cute little cover & fun squiggles & large quotes, I KNEW it would be a keeper :) It’s a home-design meets wait-this-is-real-life-and-people-live-here-so-lets-not-be-perfect-design book, and I love it!! I actually just started reading it last night…but I’m already hooked. Favorite line so far: “The key to creating a beautiful home isn’t knowing what you’re doing; it’s taking a risk even if you don’t know what you’re doing. There is no wrong way to create beauty. So go do something now and hope that it’s less than perfect so you can figure out right away that less than perfect won’t kill you, unless you are measuring out lye to make soap or creating the atom bomb. Go forth and take a risk”(85). That one, or “We treat our homes like checklists instead of canvases” (75). Wait, or I also really loved “The purpose of a home is less about stuff and more about people. The people who live there. The people who come there […] A homes greatest purpose is to serve people, not the other way around“(75). Basically I love it. (hence why I’m giving it a shout-out here :P )

• Beach umbrellas. Even if they’re rentals & they end up costing more money than one costs to buy & we are dumb and forgot to bring one of our own & we had to pay for it on those days after the days we accidentally got fried & then we had to buy $6.99 pizza for dinner & it was gross. Probably because it was from the gas station. Oops. :) But at least we got to enjoy the beach & all of it’s AWESOMENESS from the shade of our rental umbrella :) :) #happygirl
• Chick-fil-a Breakfast Chicken Biscuits. Best. Roadtrip. Food. Ever. :) Especially when my crazy hubs likes starting our drives at 4am every time! But speaking of that crazy man, I also love that he loves to drive & I get to sit and be in control of the playlist. Hellooooo Pitch Perfect, Les Mis, Wicked, & pretty much all of my other favorite musicals!!! Also, Chris does a killer impression of The Treblemakers. I sort of love that too :)

Basically, it was a really great time away with my favorite guy in the world & I am so so thankful we were able to take the time & money to do it! No it wasn’t a crazy destination trip and no we didn’t have any special activities or “excursions”, but I wouldn’t trade the past 7 days for anything in the world!

For those of you who don’t follow along, here are some more #insties to wrap the week up :)

Happy Monday!!!