Good morning! I hope you all had a great weekend! Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to over the past week or so.
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Home Projects & Updates
With guests in town the past two and a half weeks, and after wrapping up the carriage house bedroom and freshening up our backyard space, I didn’t get to many home projects this past week.
However, I finally washed the seashells I had collected over the past three months. I’m trying to be much more selective in the ones I keep now. I have a really fun (hopefully) project I plan to work on this week to put a lot of my shells to use! All of these are from 30A with the exception of the five on the bottom right which were from our two recent trips to the Bahamas earlier this year. I typically use a bleach/water mix, but these had been in bags for while (some a few months) and there weren’t any smells so I just used some Dawn and hot water this time around.
Man, I just love seashells! I can’t wait to share how I plan to display some of them!
In Case You Missed It
Following are the posts I shared over the past week, in case you missed some days!
Around Town & For Fun
As I mentioned in last week’s Weekend Recap, Kurtis’ middle sister and her husband flew into town the Saturday prior. So we spent most of the week with them!
We took several golf cart rides around the neighborhood and to get gelato at Nigel’s.There were a lot of incredible sunsets while they were here!
After dinner one evening at Amici, we headed to Inlet Beach to watch the sunset. Here are Todd and Teresa. They are Kate’s parents (our niece that was here the week prior, and stayed with us twice last year)!
Funny enough, we ran into Rachel and Chris and their kids so we got a quick (and windy) photo! I’m wearing this sweater (on sale today!) and these jeans (also on sale). They both run a bit big, so I’d size down if you’re between sizes.
I’ll never tire of the sun setting over the water!
Kurtis had to work late that night to prep for a few presentations at work that week. He found a little stowaway hiding in one of his cabinets 😉
One of my favorite activities of the week was the airboat tour we took on Wednesday afternoon. It was quite the adventure and a fun way to see the bay side of our area rather than the gulf side. Here’s a pic of our group our captain took. It was part of a panoramic image so it’s a little distorted.
The bay is fed by a bunch of rivers but ultimately meets the gulf, so the water is pretty brackish. Definitely very swamp-like once you start heading up some of the tributaries.
We spotted several baby gators, and out in the bay we actually saw two dolphins!
That evening, we had dinner at Old Florida Fish House and had such an enjoyable evening!
The stars were really clear that evening when we stood out on their dock.
Throughout the week, we kept seeing four or five turtles across the street at our pond. But every time I’d take a step towards them from the driveway they’d bolt into the water. I was so far away! But one afternoon, I was able to sneak out onto our porch to watch them and get a quick picture. They’re so cute!
The frogs are coming back around (or out of hibernation?) Not sure what frogs do in the winter. Ha! But, we’ve been hearing them quite a bit lately, and I have a new friend on the porch already.
Todd and Teresa flew out Thursday afternoon and we really enjoyed our time with them while they were here!
Friday evening, we had our traditional Friday night dinner at Amigos. This time we were joined by a new neighbor and it was such a great night! We tried 15 photos and every single one my face was so dark from Kurtis’ arm shadow. So here’s the one you can actually see that I was there 😉 I wore this top.
That night I saw an Instagram Story that Amigos reshared of two girls dancing. But my eagle eyes spotted this back in the distance!
Saturday and Sunday were pretty dreary out. After two weeks of back to back guests, the weather was a good excuse for us to be pretty lazy. But by Sunday, we knew we needed to get our house back in order, get back to prepping meals, and had lots of laundry and cleaning to do.
With guests here, we tend to eat out a lot so we were eager to get back to eating more healthy. I tried to meal prep a bunch of stuff for the week including Kurtis favorite quinoa salad, this tomato soup, and I washed and cut all of our fruit. It always feels great to start a Monday with lunches prepared for the first half of the week.
As part of our veg session, we started (and ultimately finished) Queen’s Gambit. We really enjoyed it so much more than expected! If you look closely below, you’ll see Henley crashed under the fire.
It will be good to get back to a routine again for the next few weeks!
Recent Buys & Sales
Following are some sales from the weekend that have carried over and are still going strong! You can see my top picks here.
- AMAZON is hosting their Big Spring Sale, with items up to 40% off. My favorite faux peonies are the lowest price I’ve ever seen. This already affordable scalloped chandelier has a coupon you can clip as of the time this post went live! You can shop their site here.
- ANN TAYLOR is offering 40% off spring-ready styles. You can shop their site here.
- ANTHROPOLOGIE has a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- BALLARD DESIGNS is offering 30% off for the Friends & Family Sale, as well as an additional 30% off clearance styles! You can shop their sale here.
- BIRCH LANE is offering up to 60% off during their Warehouse Sale. You can shop their site here.
- BODEN is offering 10% off new womenswear with code V9AQ. You can shop their site here.
- CRATE & BARREL is offering up to 70% off during their spring in-stock sale. You can shop their site here.
- GAP is offering 50% off your purchase, including sale styles. You can shop their sale here.
- J CREW is offering up to 30% off warm-weather styles as well as an extra 50% off sale styles with code SHOPNOW. You can shop their site here.
- J CREW FACTORY is offering 40% off everything and an extra 70% off clearance with code SAVE70. Plus get an extra 20% off $100+ with code BESTDRESSED. You can shop their sale here.
- LOFT is offering 50% off everything, as well as $20 must-have shirts. You can shop their sale here.
- LULULEMON has a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- MARK & GRAHAM is offering up to 50% off sale styles, and free shipping on orders $150+ with code FREESHIP. You can shop their site here.
- MARSHALLS is offering free shipping on orders of $89+ with code SHIP89. You can shop their site here.
- MCGEE & CO. is offering up to 25% off bedroom. You can shop their site here.
- NORDSTROM has up to 50% off their spring sale items! You can shop their site here.
- OLD NAVY is offering 50% off everything. You can shop their sale here.
- POTTERY BARN is offering up to 50% off furniture, bedding and more plus 10% off select outdoor furniture sets. You can shop their sale here.
- REJUVENATION is offering up to 50% off during their spring sale. You can shop their site here.
- SERENA & LILY is offering up to 30% off and free shipping on outdoor. You can shop their sale here.
- SOCIETY SOCIAL has some really beautiful new items added to their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- TARGET has multiple home deals like up to 40% off rugs, 50% off select outdoor furniture and greenery, up to 40% off lighting and wall decor, and more. You can shop their site here.
- TJ MAXX is offering free shipping on orders $89+ with code SHIP89! You can shop their site here.
- TORY BURCH is hosting their Spring Event with 25% off $200+ and 30% off $500+ and have added a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- TUCKERNUCK has a number of cute new items added to their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- WAYFAIR is offering up to 60% off during their 72-hour clearance sale. You can shop their site here.
- WEST ELM is offering up to 50% off sale styles. You can shop their site here.
- WILLIAMS SONOMA is offering up to 75% off clearance finds. You can shop their site here.
I hope you all have a great week!
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Hey! Ask Rachel where she got those linen pants. LOL
Haha! Here you go 🙂 https://rstyle.me/+YF4Moeh62i2UR4dHjjh47A
I’m very excited to see what your plan is for your shells!! I have many from the California coast and also a lot from 30 A.
Mine are mostly in glass bowls and jars.
You look so bright and pretty in the photo of the four of you on the beach. That shade of blue is really your color.
You’re so sweet! Thank you Carol!
Your shell collection is so pretty!! I cannot wait to see what you do with them.
Def looking forward to what you are going to do with shells!…so pretty
Fellow shell collector here. Wondering if when you use bleach if it bleaches the shells? I usually wash with dishwashing liquid and water. I’ve always wanted a glass topped coffee table with a built in draw and to place all the shells in the draw.
Hi! I haven’t had any issues with the bleach changing the colors but definitely dilute it with water (I use 1 part bleach to probably 5-10 parts water depending on how dirty they are). I don’t soak them long either (unless super dirty which is rare with the ones here) and rinse them shortly after. Maybe test it on a broken one or two in a similar colorway if you plan to try it!
Who was your airboat tour with?
Hi! We used 30A Airboat Adventures! They’re one of the few that leave from near the 30A area rather than driving to Destin. Here’s their website if that helps: https://www.30aairboatadventures.com/