Week(end)s Recap: Birthdays & Beach Days.

These last ten days have been all about family. An ideal way to spend the end of summer, if you ask me.

Two weekends ago, we took a short trip up to New Jersey to celebrate my Bobchi's 90th birthday. We threw her a surprise party with all her friends. She was sure surprised. About an hour into the party, her (octogenarian) baby brother also showed up. I love her reaction to seeing him walk through the door.

My aunt made her an incredible topsy-turvy cake decorated with all the things she loves: flowers, cards, birds, baseballs, and the initials of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchild.

My niece was the life of the party and entertained my grandmother's friends all afternoon.

Right after our weekend in New Jersey, we caught a plane to Florida for some more family time, this time with my in-laws. It had been over nine months since we had last seen my husband's family, and these five days together were just what we needed.

We stayed in this beautiful beach-front house in Carillon Beach.

Drank our morning coffee while delighting in this view.

Spent plenty of time enjoying each others' company, eating family dinners, assembling puzzles, and battling undertow together.

At the end of every day, we would sit on our back porch, watch the sun set over the ocean, and think about how lucky we are to have each other

Favorite Beaches: Tybee Island, Georgia.

Two weeks after we started dating hubs and I took a weekend trip to Tybee Island. We spent one day touring Tybee and Little Tybee by kayak with Savannah Canoe and Kayak, found sand dollars on empty beaches and had dolphins swim next to us as we paddled through the marsh grass. It couldn't have been a better two-week-iversary.

So there you have it...my top five favorite beaches. Whether because of their natural beauty, exciting activities or company, these are five places that hold a special place in my heart: Oak Island, Fort Walton Beach, Cannon Beach, the beaches of St. Lucia, and Tybee Island.

Is it blasphemous for a Jersey girl to list her favorite beaches and not include the Jersey shore?

Favorite Beaches: St. Lucia Edition.

I can't narrow it down to one. We had a two-week trip of a lifetime to St. Lucia in February 2010. Hubs volunteered at the hospital in Vieux Fort (temporarily located in the Olympic cricket stadium after the hospital was destroyed in a fire the previous September) for 10 days, and then we spent a week traveling around the island. St. Lucia is beautiful and colorful and relaxing.

Sandy Beach, the beach in Vieux Fort where I spend all my time during the first week (while hubs was treating kiddos and delivering babies) was fantastic. It is a destination for kiteboarders and kitesurfers, but also has bright blue-green water and the perfect little beach-side restaurant, The Reef, where we ate breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

Our home base during the second half of the trip was La Haut Plantation. I cannot recommend this bed and breakfast enough. It was amazing, the location couldn't be beat, the food at the restaurant was the best we had during our entire trip and the staff were helpful and super sweet. Oh, and this was the view from our room.

Just down the hill from La Haut, before you enter the city of Soufriere, is a small road that leads to Anse Chastanet Beach. I think this may be my favorite beach we visited in St. Lucia, although it was more crowded than the others because of it's proximity to the Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain Resorts. The snorkeling was unbelievable.

One day we took a drive way down off the main road to visit Jalousie Beach. The amazing thing about this beach is that it is right between the two pitons. I snapped only a couple pictures before we decided to take shelter from the wind. This was a total exposure goof, and is one of my all-time favorite photographs.

Favorite Beaches: Cannon Beach, Oregon.

"Hey you guyyyyssss!"

Many scenes from The Goonies were filmed in this part of Oregon. You can see Cannon Beach in the background of these screengrabs (via), recognizable because of Haystack Rock, a 232-foot sea stack that is accessible during low tide.

The Oregon coast is one of the most naturally beautiful places I have ever been.

And look at these starfish!

The water is colder than a witch's (ahem) bosom, but there is plenty to do other than swim.

"Bye, Willy. Thanks."

Favorite Beaches: Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Hubs calls it the Redneck Riviera. No wonder he chose to propose to me on this beach.

This was the first time I had ever been to the beach in Florida. Actually, it's the first time I'd ever been to a non-Atlantic Ocean beach. Except in Greece. I couldn't believe how clear and blue the water was for a "domestic beach." Compared to NC and NJ, this was some beautiful water! If I had the option, I'd take the Aegean Sea, but for a beach within driving distance to where we were living...not too shabby.

Favorite Beaches: Oak Island, North Carolina.

Oak Island is the first beach I ever went to. From when I was in utero until I was 14 years old, my mom's family would rent the same beach-front house for one week each summer.

The week was all about spending time with family, playing board games and cards with cousins and aunts and uncles, swimming, taking long walks to the arcade at the pier, and playing putt-putt.

The smell of gasoline still sometimes reminds me of driving bumper boats.

Wearing: To the Beach!

Right after we get back from New Jersey, we are hopping on a plane to Florida for a little family time, sunshine and swimming. I'm not a huge swimmer. In fact, I'll be bringing the bathing suits that I bought two years ago when we went to Oregon. If you know anything about the Oregon coast, you are probably laughing your head off right now. The water is frigid. Short story long, this will be the first time I wear these suits.

My approach to packing is to keep it simple and to a minimum. So these are all the clothes I plan to bring with me to mix and match for the week.

Forever 21 sweater, Target t-shirt, Old Navy buttondown, J.Crew longsleeve

Target dress, Joe's Jeans, Old Navy pleated shorts, Old Navy khaki shorts

Old Navy black halter, Quicksilver striped string bikini, J.Crew bandeau,
French Connection print bikini bottom, Old Navy black bikini bottom

Target floppy hat, Target goldfish towel, Ray Ban Wayfarers, Threadless tote

But, really, don't think that's all I'm bringing. I will pack as much running stuff as regular clothes. Even though next week is a cut-back week, I'll still have about 20 miles to cover while we're in Florida. So for that I'll bring two pairs of running shorts, two shirts, two sports bras, two pairs of running socks, my visor, my handheld water bottle, two PowerBars, three gels, a wristband, GPS watch and iPod shuffle. And about 5,629 ounces of sunblock.

Living In: The Great Outdoor...Shower.

Ahead of our trip to the beach in a couple weeks, I have been pining for outdoor showers. My family rented a beach house in North Carolina when I was younger, and I always loved rinsing off in the outdoor shower below the deck. It wasn't anything fancy, just a pipe with a cheap showerhead. Cold water only. A spigot to rinse the sand off your feet.

Here are some outdoor showers that make me extra anxious to get to the beach again.

Source: remodelista.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: None via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: re-nest.com via Haley on Pinterest

Source: aquavitaedesign.com via Brandy on Pinterest