Ending 2011 At The Beach

Ben and I, followed by Clay and his girlfriend, Chloe, left around lunchtime on Wednesday for the beach. The beach was still decorated for Christmas so it was quite neat to see the ocean and lights at the same time!

We settled in and headed to the outlets and then Margaritas for dinner. On Thursday, after a morning walk on the beach we went to Broadway at the Beach for lunch at Hard Rock and browsing around. After a rest for me and mini golf for Ben, Clay and Chloe, we all went to Coastal Grand where we shopped, had dinner in the food court and I got a foot massage....best thing EVER.

On Friday, Clay and Chloe left after lunch at Flip Flops and Glenn arrived later in the afternoon. He and I enjoyed dinner at one of my favorite places, Collector' Cafe, on Friday night. Saturday was a relaxing day as we rested up for our big NYE plans!

I lost count at 20 dead jellyfish littering the beach.
smallest seagull I have ever seen

Ben, Clay and Chloe after lunch

the boys with the Christmas Dolphin!

everywhere was decorated!

Time for a Change

Right after our honeymoon in June we headed to an unnamed store in Columbia (I'm choosing not to name because although I'm fine with the furniture now, the couch arrived in slip cover when we expressely requested upholstery --and our paperwork documents this---and when I called the store response was that they told us the couch didn't come in upholstery....but they put it on the paperwork? Anyone else see the failed logic there? It was not a good parting and very sad because I really wanted some items from this store for home, too!) to purchase living room furniture for the condo. Really, we were going for just a couch, but the matching ottoman, end table, coffee table, TV console and mirror were too cute to pass up and my husband is the best (!!) he said to "get it all"!

It finally arrived in August and despite the above mentioned snafu, we are very pleased with our new condo look. So much so that now I think the house needs to be updated....hmmmm....I hope that best husband has his wallet ready! :)

4th of July Fun at the Beach

This year we spent a long July 4th weekend at the beach with our friends, Scottie and Kat. Kat and I headed down on Thursday afternoon loaded with coolers of food, supplies, beach chairs, clothes, books and more. On Friday she and I spent the entire day by the pool and waiting for the guys to arrive that evening.

Saturday was a special treat....Glenn's parents took us to Grand Dunes Ocean Club for lunch and to use the pool for the day. What fun! Sunday, I opted to stay in out of the sun and read while everyone else spent time at the condo pool. (Even with sunscreen my skin can only take so much sun!) Each night we cooked in and enjoyed the ocean breeze from our balcony.

The Fourth was the actual first day we headed to the beach and it was PACKED. Glenn and I got out there just in time to be a part of "Salute From the Shore". At 1 p.m. four F-16 jets took off from the NC border and flew the length of the SC shoreline as beach goers waved, flew flags and sported red, white and blue salutes! It was actually quite an amazing event and fueled pride in our military on this patriotic holiday. After pool time and dinner, as soon as it got dark, we headed back to the beach to join thousands of people for thousands of fireworks all up and down the coastline.

It was a fabulous Fourth of July holiday!

Salute from the Shore....in the last picture you can just see the jets in our first glimpse as they come over the Apache pier!

End of May

In addition to finishing up the end of school, we spent some time the last two weekends of May at the beach. Mainly, we were trying to get our A/C fixed before summer (it went out over spring break). That required firing our first company after weeks of waiting, wrong parts and general run around. Finding a new company who had us up and running in less than an hour after showing up. Finally, we could enjoy the day and cool off at home!

We also spent one day driving down to Garden City to visit our friends, Connie and Judah and Justin and Julie, who were, with kids and two other couples renting a house for the week.

It was a great start to our summer beach fun and a terrific ending to the school year!

Spring Break!

Spring Break 2011 started EARLY on Friday morning for me as I had to be at school by 6 a.m. We were headed to Myrtle Beach on a field trip to the Ripley's Aquarium and Imax. As soon as we got back to school I jumped in my car and drove all the way BACK to the beach to meet Glenn and Ben who were about half an hour ahead of me. Getting in about 8:30, I stopped at The Office to pick up pizza and Glenn's dad and Belinda stopped by to see the condo.

On Saturday we joined them for lunch at Carolina Roadhouse, shopping at the outlets and later, dinner at Prime Steakhouse. Sunday was a fairly quiet "play" day for the three of us. We headed to the mall, where we "detoxed" with an ionic foot detox, had dinner at El Burro Loco (or The Crazy Donkey if you don't speak Spanish) and Glenn returned to Columbia that evening.

Monday, Ben and I ran errands (mailing off my passport name change paperwork for Costa Rica!) and relaxed while waiting on my parents to arrive from Spartanburg. They spent the next three days with us going to the mall, cooking dinner at the condo, walking at the beach, having lunch at El Burro Loco and spending time together. They left on Thursday, taking Ben with them to drop off in Columbia so he could play ball and leave for Confirmation Camp on Friday.

I had Thursday and most of Friday to read, walk on the beach, and relax! Glenn came back Friday night and we had a blast just the two of us. We moved in our new table for the dining room and it looked wonderful. On Friday night, however, we had our first new condo snafu....the a/c went out. It was the fan belt and they will be fixing it on the next trip down. We enjoyed lunch at Mr. Fish (a great "dive"), bought Sketcher tone ups, Glenn exterminated the bees that had bothered me all week, and we took a long walk around our "neighborhood".

It was the best spring break that I ever remember!

Aquarium field trip

Pink Panthers at the outlets

quick, cold dip in the pool

ready for dinner at Prime (Ben wearing his new duds from the Matthews)

The crazy donkey! (restaurant, not Ben!)

exterminating the bees

new tone ups!

Boom Boom shrimp at Mr. Fish

new table arrangement

new dining room table

Beach Weekend!

Last weekend we left late on Thursday night to head to MB for our first full weekend in our new condo! We got in late and headed to bed. On Friday, we saw the condo Glenn owned when he was a CCU student, visited an "antique" (read --- junk) mall, Market Common and then walked all over Coastal's campus. One of the football players even let us on the field and in the locker room! That evening we ate at Flip Flops a little grille near us.

Saturday morning, after sleeping in, we took a long walk on the beach. We stopped at a campground we saw and ate breakfast before walking back. We spent the rest of the day running errands and going to the mall (for napkin rings and pillows from Belk and new shoes for Ben). For dinner we went to Rockafella's --- a local place G and I ate the first time we came down to look at the place and then drove up to Calabash, NC...which was very pretty on the water. We stopped at this HUGE store in Calabash that had a bit of everything and then home to watch basketball and Back to the Future!

Unfortunately on Sunday we had to go back to our "other" house. It was cold and rainy, but we stopped at a local Italian place called The Office. Very intersting, very different, very, very good! We know this is one of many weekends (and weeks) that we'll spend at our place and its such a great, relaxing getaway.

Our Little Place at the Beach - The View

We are fortunate that our balcony is very large --- enough to accomodate a table for four, two lounging chairs and a sizeable outside storage room. It also looks out over two of the community pools and has an ocean view to the right. I know this is where we'll be spending a lot of our time!

Our Little Place at the Beach - Before

The kitchen.....
Ben/Guest bath and bedroom....

Master bath and bedroom,.,

Living and dining area...