A Random Beach Trip

My best friend randomly came to the east coast last week so, of course, I had to make a trip down to Bethany Beach where her parents live.   We had a pretty chill two days.  We spent the afternoon at the beach and then headed into Ocean City, MD to a restaurant Watermans where we got all you can eat crabs.
If you know anything about Maryland, you know we do crabs right!  I think we went through about 4 dozen that night plus they gave us shrimp, fried chicken and hushpuppies.  Pretty good deal if you ask me!

Our next day was spent shopping at the Tanger Outlets, yay for tax free shopping!!  We spent most of our time at Forever 21 and ended up getting some pretty awesome deals.  Before I left to come home we had dinner in Rehobeth at a place called Big Fish.  The food was great!  The lobster bisque soup was to die for!  Overall, it was a nice relaxing few days with my best friend and family, just hanging out and reminiscing about our summers down there when we were kids. 

Blogtober: Funny Childhood Memory

My best friend, Alex always says we had a "Hey Arnold" childhood, and that is pretty much true. I have so many hilarious memories from childhood that I couldn't write them all out if I tried.   But, one that sticks out is a night playing night tag.  

 We used to play night tag and capture the flag all the time after dark.   However, we had a rule that we had to stick in groups of two.  So, me and Alex were a team and this time we were "It".   We were walking between two houses, the one yard was fenced in and had a tree at the back corner of the fence.  Well, Alex's brother, Brandon and another friend, Steve were hiding in the tree.  As Alex and I walked by they jumped out of the tree right in front of us and scared the piss out of us ... Literally.  Alex actually pee'd her pants a bit and had to go home and change.  After we got over the near heart attack we just started cracking up, I mean what else could we do. 

Alex and I.  First day of school

Kris and I.  First day of Kindergarten 

Laurie, Me, Alex and Samantha. 

I sadly don't have many pictures of my childhood friends on my computer.  I'm going to have to change that!

Blogtober: Favorite Instagram Photo

I'm a few days off with Blogtober but I didn't have time to blog this weekend and I like the weekend prompt better than today's prompt.  So today I will be sharing my favorite instagram photo. 

I had a hard time narrowing it down but I think this is my favorite instaphoto.  It's actually one of my favorites period.  This was taken this past July at Nationals Stadium in DC right before a Jason Aldean concert. 

I love this photo because it's the first photo of the three of us together in over 8 years.  We met and went to Europe together in 2006 and hadn't all been together since then.  Britt and I (one on the right) have seen each other because we live in the same county but we haven't seen Meagan since we departed at the airport in Dulles.  We stayed in touch mostly via Facebook and were eventually able to set up this meeting when Meagan got an internship in DC.

This picture, to me, shows that traveling truly brings you together with some amazing lifelong friends. 

I am so glad to have these girls in my life!  I can't wait for our next trip together!

Blog Love: Volume 2

Since there was no way I could possibly fit all of my favorite blog posts into one post, today I am sharing the second installment of amazing blog posts and series by my favorite bloggers!

Found Love Now What?: All I Want for my Birthday is an Elephant!
I love this idea!  For her birthday, Belinda asked fellow readers to make a donation on her page which would go to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.  What an amazing thing to do for your birthday!  With the donations, Belinda announced that we were able to adopt 4 baby elephants!  Belinda's blog is the one I go to when I need a dose of positivity in my life and this is exactly why!

Stamp in My Passport: Tourist in Your Hometown
I love Jess's series about being a tourist in your hometown.  It's a great series and a good reminder that you don't have to go thousands of miles away to find an adventure!  Some of the places featured are actually really close to where I live and I definitely want to check them out!
(I actually loved this so much that I participated).

Unlocking Kiki: True Love
This is a great post about the love between dog and human.  As an obvious animal lover, I love this post.  Kaelene's story about the love between her and her beautiful Golden Retriever is definitely a reminder of why I love animals so much.  There is definitely a special bond between dogs and their owners and I absolutely love when people share that bond!  Plus, her dog is too freakin cute!

From There to  Here: Thoughts on Ethical Travel
Jay's post on ethical travel definitely struck a chord with me.  There are definitely times when countries are under the microscope for different things that they do that we consider unethical and I like Jay's take on it.  Basically what it comes down to when traveling is choosing what you can overlook and what you can't.  For example, I have no interest in visiting China because I can't get past their laws that are causing people to kill their baby girl's and also because they require that products sold in their country be tested on animals. However, I could look past Amsterdam's legal prostitution if I decided to go there, even though I don't agree with it.

A Home Away From Home: Uganda & Rwanda
OK, so I couldn't just pick one post!  Uganda and Rwanda are areas of Africa that I really want to get to!  I get weird looks from people when I say this because of the histories of the countries, but seriously, look at Jenna's photos!  They are both such beautiful countries, I couldn't not have them on my list!  I also love the post about the non-profit she visited in Rwanda which is helping women to better their skills and earn an income!  Any organization that truly helps rather than just throwing money at people is great in my book!

These and the others I shared are just some of my favorite posts by bloggers I love!  This will definitely not be a weekly thing but I'll be saving posts I love and will post a Blog Love post at least every other month :) maybe more.  I love sharing posts by other bloggers!

Blog Love: Favorite Posts by My Favorite Bloggers

Today I am definitely short on inspiration and short on things to talk about. So, I want to share some of my favorite posts that my favorite bloggers have written.

The Daily Tay: Inside a Woman's Mind In Target

Seriously, it's like she was inside my mind when she wrote this post!  It's so funny and so true!  Taylor is definitely one of the funniest bloggers out there!

True Colours: The Truth About Traveling: The Hard Truths of Our World

This is hands down the best blog post I've ever read.  I was literally staring at my screen for five minutes after reading this.  Everything Casey mentioned is something that I've experienced while traveling and I also hope to one day see a change in this.

We Took the Road Less Traveled:  VLOGs

I love these vlogs that Casey did with her husband, David.   It's fun to watch vlogs and actually hear and see our favorite bloggers.  I think they did a great job and the vlogs are so fun to watch!  They cover some great topics including travel and relationships.

Oh, The Places We Will Go: Tell Me a Story

I loved this post!  This is a great post about the travel moments you will never forget.  It is also a great post about how amazing it is to experience a different culture. Memories like this are the best which is why I loved linking up with Selena for her travel moments link-up.

Bell Bliss: Riding Elephants in  Chiang Mai, Thailand

I love this post, not only because I think riding and elephant would be so cool, but because Mackenzie talks about how important it was for her to find a place where the elephants were treated humanely.   The place she found looks amazing!

OK, so this is definitely going to take more than one post!  When I started writing this I didn't realize how many amazing posts I would remember!   So, stay tuned next week for some more amazing blog posts!

Wedding Wednesday: Bridesmaids

Today I am going to introduce y'all to the girls in my wedding party.  I love these girls and can't wait to share this day with them!  Get ready for an extremely picture heavy post!

Maid of Honor: Amy (my sister)

The advantage to having a sister?  You have a built in MOH!  Seriously though, my sister and I fought like no other when we were younger.  If you had asked me 10 years ago if she would be my MOH I would have said Hell No, she's lucky if she is invited.  People always said that we would get closer as we got older, and we laughed at them.   But, as usual, we were wrong and grew much closer once I moved out of the house to JMU.   I couldn't imagine having anyone else as my Maid of Honor.

Bridesmaid: Alex 

Alex and I have literally been best friends our whole lives.  Having her in my wedding wasn't even a question.  I can't even remember a time when this girl wasn't in my life and all of my funniest memories involve her!  We have way to many jokes to even count and people often give us funny looks when we're together.  Our friendship has even survived a cross country move (her fam moved to AZ in 2007).

Bridesmaids: Kristin, Vicky and Heather

I met these girls in 8th/9th grade and we have all been best friends ever since (I can't believe its been 10 years!).   We did everything together in High School even after Heather ditched us for Harford Tech.   I could not imagine my life without these girls in it!  We have been through a lot together and I would not be who I am without these girls.

Vicky, Kristin, Heather, Me when they visited me at JMU

Bridesmaid: Laurie

Laurie is another friend who has been in my life for forever.  We were friends in elementary school but she moved to DE with her Dad after her Mom died then we lost touch.  A few years later I saw her step-dad, Bob and got her address and wrote her a letter, and we never lost touch again.

I love my friends <3