Rompin' Around

 I have been on a huge romper kick this summer. Something about the one-and-done-ness of it is so incredibly appealing. I've always been more of a jeans and t-shirt kinda girl, but between the pandemic and working from home, I've fallen into the less is more mindset as far as effort goes. I like the rompers (and dresses) because they look cute while also being comfortable and easy. 

I've decided to share a few of my favorite ones I found while browsing online (most of which are on sale), because as much as I'd love to be past the 98* days, it's still summer for a little while, so we might as well be comfortable. 

The Romper Round-Up:

1) Old Navy Linen Blend V-Neck Cami Jumpsuit 

2) Old Navy Sleeveless Surplice-Back Romper (this has been one of my go-tos all summer)

3) AE Eyelet Tube Romper 

4) AE Floral Wrap -Front Romper 

5) AE Plush Henley Romper (I wear this one ALL the time!)

6) UO Billabong Girl on the Run Romper 

7) UO Out from Under Rosie Romper 

8) Target Universal Thread French Terry Sleeveless Romper ( I love this kind of pumpkin-y fall color.)

9) Target Universal Thread Short Sleeve Boilersuit (This one reminds me of one my mum had as a kid and my sister and I used to try and steal it all the time.)

That's it! Hope you can find a cute one on sale to wear on repeat through these last scorching days of summer!

Things to Do as the Weather Cools

August rushed in fairly quickly, bringing with it the cicadas and slightly cooler temperatures that make the end of summer seem inevitable and had me yearning for sweaters and flannel-scented candles-- especially after the last two days of scorching heat.

Shelley and I spent the first week of August enjoying the rain with a few of our favorite things to do once the weather cools-- not cold enough to necessarily warrant autumnal activities, but definitely things we couldn't bring ourselves to do during the incessant 90+ degree days. Here's a list of some end of summer favorites!

1) Go for a hike. Find a new trail and go for it!

2) Have a bonfire-- a nice way to social distance among friends; plus, s'mores. Always s'mores. 

3) Have a movie marathon (good for rainy days). 

4) Have a game night (ditto).

5) Cook a meal and eat it on the porch. 

6) Go to the greenhouse and pick out some plants. By the end of summer, my garden is either exploding or pretty sad, and I like to have some greenery inside with us too. 

7) Ride bikes-- infinitely more fun sans humidity. 

8) Watch a movie outside-- projector, laptop, whatever works. 

9) Go stargazing-- you probably don't need to leave your yard for this one. 

10) Catch a summer sunset together-- those colors are unreal. Grab a blanket, find a spot, and go!

Yesterday, we went on a two hour hike and explored among the wildflowers. It was a little warm in the sun, but the shade of the trees made it worth it! There were so many butterflies, bees, and beautiful colors. Summer is hurrying away, and even though I can't wait to break into the goodness of fall, I am still looking forward to doing the activities on our list before that happens!

Connecting with My Inner Child

"Childhood is not from birth to a certain age, and at a certain age the child is grown, and puts away childish things." ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

I was a very imaginative child. In the midst of clapping out tales of Miss Susie and her steamboat, chasing neighbors around at dusk during Ghosts in the Graveyard, or making life-altering decisions using odds/evens or bubble gum in a dish, I was making barrettes talk, using my bed as an airplane, and gathering the giant leaves from the cigar tree in my grandparents' yard to build a "flying machine" that would take me, Elizabeth, and our cousins to destinations on the dusty maps we found in the garage. We blew bubbles, fought over the "good" bicycle in the shed, and pretended we were cool riding our scooters from one end of the driveway to the other with chocolate ice cream running down our arms.

I feel like I am regressing in quarantine. Anxiety can only take so much. I don't mean this in a negative way. I mean this more in that quarantine brings out my inner child. Somewhere along the way, for some of us sooner than others, we lose touch with the part of us that laughs freely, wears mismatched socks, and lays in the grass making pictures out of clouds. We stop playing, become jaded, and live to work, eat, and sleep. Maybe we meet friends for a drink or we watch a movie, but overall there is a lot of time staring at phones or televisions or indulgences that blur the edges, but it is not quite as freeing. We live for the few days a year we can take a vacation somewhere foreign and acceptable to "play", to take a break from the monotony of paying bills and working to afford a sanctuary.

Even as a child, I knew the other kids who wanted to rush to grow up were falling for a ruse I didn't necessarily want to hurry to be a part of. Aging is a privilege I am incredibly grateful for, but I wish we were able to do so in a way where we weren't losing possibly the best parts of ourselves-- innocence, idealism, possibility, and sheer joy.

Cut to quarantine.

When this first started back in March, I felt like I blew a fuse. I had curated a routine in my adult life, and suddenly things did not compute. It doesn't take much more than my few college classes in psychologist to let me know that I, like so many others I'd read about in The New Yorker or Vogue, was regressing to a simpler time.

It started with coloring. A box of 120 Crayola crayons and some pictures Shelley printed off for me, while the news imploded in the background. Gardening-- so many plants there is barely room to sit on the porch, but I still do, and I've discovered something peaceful in the life outside. Our walks to get outside and get me out of the house for the first time in literally two months became hikes-- adventures where we saw snakes and rabbits and weird bugs and weasels. I ordered a kiddie pool from Target when this first started and spent the entirety of Independence Day basking in it.

I've built puzzles and eaten s'mores. We have gone biking almost every day-- something that I didn't even learn to do until the Easter I was 10 and haven't done much of since, but it's become a way for us to work out and be outside. I find myself gravitating towards colorful clothes (so much tie dye, and the bright marigold pants Shelley surprised me with) and favorite books (Twilight, Wuthering Heights, Harry Potter...).

I've lost track of things like cute clothes or wearing makeup in light of a good Hanes t-shirt and time spent with people I care about-- albeit virtually more often than not. I've finally talked Shelley into re-watching "Seinfeld" with me, from the Season 1 pilot through the finale, and I've laughed so much. We play Mario Kart with friends or my sister on FaceTime.

These are good things. This is my way of playing the hand the world's been dealt. And yes, there have been some days where I've lain in bed for an hour after I woke staring at my phone. There have been tears and frustrations and aggravation-- at the state of the world, and particularly our country. There has been so much insomnia. There have been days I've disconnected and not talked to anyone because I just didn't have anything to say. But overall, this time is truly a gift. We should not "go back to normal" because we didn't really have a normal. We were getting by, but it wasn't great. I've grown even more introspective during this time, and I want to use the optimism and freedom to be a better version of me-- the version of me I love best, the one who is young and open, because those are good things.

Recently, I bought a skateboard. I've never been brave enough to try that before. I think when we get to a certain point in life, we stop trying new things because we don't like to be novice at anything. It's awkward. It's messy. It's uncomfortable. It's embarrassing.

Yesterday, after seeing me try to balance on it in the living room a few times, Shelley found a parking lot for me to practice. Because I move through life in a series of flailing arms and legs, I was helmeted and padded up, but I did it! Shelley watched me, cautious, supportive, anxious-- the kind of love you need to feel when you're trying something new. And I encourage you to try something new with this time, whatever it is that you've always wanted to try but never did. Your 10-year-old self would love it.

Camping: The Beach Trip that Wasn't

It started with an email from Mellow Mushroom, the pizza shop in Myrtle Beach that Shelley and I visit each time we go down. I must have signed up for their mailing list to get a coupon or something, and this one made it through the spam filter.

I called out to Shelley, "Do you want to drive to South Carolina and get Mellow Mushroom pizza?"
"That sounds delicious."
"Great! Road trip!"

So I began clicking around, trying to plan a road trip through. We wanted to car camp and drive through Asheville Falls, and stop at some less traveled beaches, and hike some mountains.

Then reality set in. We are pretty spontaneous in our travels, but doing so in the midst of a pandemic (and especially through states that have been seeing a steady increase in recent weeks) was not a wise idea, no matter how badly we want to see the ocean or how good that pizza is. We shelved the idea.

A few days later, Shelley said, "I think we should try camping somewhere local first" and I agreed. She said, "Great, we're leaving tomorrow afternoon to camp at Raccoon. I booked us a campsite, and we're staying two nights." (See? Spontaneous).

Our little campsite 

We had some camping supplies accumulated over the years, mostly the Ozark Trail line from Walmart (like our tent, our foldable couch, camp pillows, and pretty much all of Shelley's supplies) plus a few random Coleman/Marmot supplies, like lanterns, headlamps, my sleeping bag, and ground pad. We loaded a cooler with salad kits, hot dogs, sandwiches, and all the s'mores supplies and packed our trunk to its full capacity.

We did it!

When we first arrived, we spent a decent amount of time trying to figure out where we should put our tent. The ground was pretty uneven on our site. We were excited because we erected our tent by ourselves-- it was only the second time we had used it. We layered the bottom with our ground pads and about six blankets before rolling out our sleeping bags. We strung up a hammock Shelley found when she went that had little twinkle lights built in (I am such a sucker for string lights).

The life. 

Probably swatting a bug.

Feeble attempt to chop wood. 

The camp's website said you couldn't bring in outside wood, so we went gathering wood and fallen tree branches that Shelley cut into firewood. We watch a lot of survival shows, so we tried to start a fire with a fire starter, unsuccessfully, before pulling out the lighter and grilling ourselves hot dogs and baked beans for dinner. We played War (one of our favorite card games) by citronella candlelight until we went to bed.

The essentials.

Enjoying our campfire!

 

The coolest LED color changing citronella candle

A few words of advice if you're nascent to the camping scene:

1) Tent sleeping is not super comfortable. In the future, I'm either trading in my Coleman foam pad for the inflatable one Shelley got at Walmart, or we're bringing a blow up mattress.

2) Bug spray is your friend, and so are high socks, long sleeves, and even pants. Ticks are not a joke. We sprayed ourselves, and our tent. We lucked out with the weather being cool enough that long layers weren't insufferable, but if it would have been muggy and hot the way Pittsburgh summers can be, it would've been rough.

3) The worst part is having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Our site was pretty close to an actual restroom, but it was still a chore to wake up and crawl in and out of the tent, quickly zipping it before any unwanted guests could climb inside.

Hammock hangs 

The next day, we spent the morning in the hammock. The weather was beautiful, sunny, and cool, and we rocked back and forth just appreciating the peaceful solitude of nature.

We hiked down to the beach after lunch and saw a massive turkey walking through a campsite. We gathered some wood, and while Shelley broke it down and I read parts from Mary Oliver's Upstream to her. We talked and joked and finished our never-ending game of War.

The giant turkey 

Hiking down to the beach 

We learned that they sold firewood we could use near the beach, so Shelley went to get some while I tried to keep the fire alive-- and failed. I learned that I would likely die in the wilderness, because I cannot chop wood nor coax a fire to keep burning.

That night, we made s'mores and stargazed and told ghost stories. We were awakened a fair few times by coyote calls, but eventually they ceased and we went to sleep.

S'mores!

Toasting marshmallows

Perfect scene for spooky stories

The final morning, we woke up and were heading to the restroom and I saw a beautiful doe. I held my arm out to stop Shelley and we just all stood there, staring at each other. We had gotten so close without realizing-- maybe 8 feet away-- and when she moved to run away I froze thinking she was coming to us before she ran into the woods.

The most gorgeous doe

Packing up to head home was less exciting, obviously, minus the SIX! spiders we saw scuttling around the roof of our tent. It was definitely a fun experience, and I'm looking forward to going out again when the weather cools off and enjoying the fall foliage.

Adventuring in Cape May

I don't know what it is about the beach that I find so alluring. I can't really swim, Shelley and I get eaten alive by bugs, I am fair-skinned, and I get very angsty about all that is unseen in the Atlantic Ocean while we're all floating around in there. Sand gets EVERYWHERE. It's hot. It's crowded. And last summer I had jellyfish stings up and down both legs and around my entire left forearm because I must have wandered, unknowingly, into a bloom of them. Waves literally try to push us back to the shore, like, "Hey, we don't want you here!" and we all laugh and bob back in, pushing our wet hair out of our faces and spitting out seawater and seaweed.

Ready to go!

Cape May, New Jersey 

With all of that, it's actually hard for me to believe that I am so drawn to the siren song of those waves ebbing and flowing to the shore, but I love it. I love the vastness of dark blue meeting the lighter blue of the sky. I love the sand underfoot, and all the colors. I love the salty air and the sun and the way my hair just gets wavy and out of control. I love the kitschy boardwalk sweatshirts and shark tooth bracelets. I love the live music and smells of pizza and funnel cake, and I even the people drinking out of coconuts with little umbrellas in them.  

Shameless tourist (AKA me)

This year, as we're trying to save for our wedding, we aren't going on a big vacation like we usually try to do, but we did seize the opportunity for a weekend away at the Jersey shore. We decided to head to Cape May, where neither of us have ever been but a friend recommended. I was drawn in by the images of old Victorian homes, a lighthouse, and Cape May diamonds. 

Selfie with the lighthouse

Shells walking along the beach 

These colors are unreal!

We drove out late Saturday morning and got there around dinnertime. Our first stop was to ride past all of the enormous houses from the late 1800s and walk along the shore. I was admittedly a little wary, still, of jellyfish that may be lurking close to shore, so I didn't get in as deep as Shells did, but I enjoyed it just the same. We climbed along the rocks and watched people play in the surf and ride by in yachts before heading over to the lighthouse (I blame growing up watching "Murder She Wrote" and all the joys of Cabot Cove for my love of lighthouses) and checking it out, along with an abandoned bunker and a lookout from World War II.

V. excited 

Cape May lighthouse 

For dinner, we went for lobster rolls and local IPAs. Our plan was to spend the first night sleeping near the beach, as is our tradition. Luck was not on our side though-- the biggest heat wave in forever was rolling through and it was like 96 degrees. We got a fan, lots of water, and spent much of that night sitting down by the ocean watching people fish (and only catch copious amounts of trash) while we stared at constellations, talked about life, and watched the waves ripple along the shore.

car camping 

We made it to the car eventually and woke up with the sun changing the rainbow-sherbet-colored sky... and woke up to a flat tire. I didn't believe it when Shelley told me, but there it was, like a cartoon drawing. It was already so hot at 6:30am as she put on the spare and we rode out to Walmart when it opened at 7, already 6th in line, just to get a new tire. (Last year in Myrtle, we had to get new brakes-- my car, Arlandria, apparently does not like road trips.)

Up with the sun & this little guy

FOUR HOURS LATER we were back in the car, heading to the beach. We ended up on Sunset Beach after the other two we tried were packed and required pre-bought tags. We slathered ourselves with sunscreen and dragged our folding chairs down the beach to the surf, where we sat with the water washing around our ankles, just basking in having some beach time before we had to leave. The bugs were relentless, and at one point I decided to wade in up to my knees just to get away from them. I was about to take another step when I heard a kid yell out that he'd gotten stung by a jellyfish! I was outta there! Then it happened to a couple other people as well, so Shells and I busied ourselves sifting through sand on the edge of the water and looking for Cape May diamonds. The fish were jumping in and out of the water like crazy, and we even saw some sharks circling in the distance!!!

Cape May diamonds 

Literally covered in sunscreen :D 

On our way back up the coast, we stopped off at Ocean City because Shells wanted to see the boardwalk. We got Mac & Manco's pizza and toured the boardwalk-- mostly ducking in to the air conditioned shops to get away from the 104 degree sun beating on us. The beach was gorgeous though. It was my first beach I ever went to, and I'm happy I got to share it with Shells, even if it was brief!

At the boardwalk

Ocean City, NJ

Still smiling!

Overall, this trip was pretty eventful-- more than we would've liked, I think-- but I am happy that we were able to look on the bright side, smile, and enjoy our time together at the shore. 

Home sweet home!