Oh baby, let's go to the beach

Well everyone, I'm silly, but I only discovered about 10 minutes ago that when you add a picture on here they have different sizes and I can make all my pictures BIGGER haha. Which makes me sooo happy! I was totally annoyed that they were so small you couldn't see anything. But then I clicked on one, and lo and behold, different sizes! I should explore more often. I updated my last few posts so they're better now. =)

Second order of business: I don't get when people make fun of other people for taking pictures of food. A true cook and food lover knows that food is art. The colors, the textures...just looking at a picture can make your mouth water and your stomach rumble. Can you imagine a cookbook with no pictures? Do you think anyone ever says "ooh, this recipe calls for lemons, I'm going to make that!"? No! It's seeing the delicious-looking flaky powdered-sugary lemon bar in the picture (one of my faves, btw) that makes you want to try it immediately. So you see, you silly people, food is art, and when you cook or bake, you're creating something. And I like to take pictures of my creations!

I made a goal recently to try to cook one thing that I haven't tried before, once every week or 2. It always makes me feel happy (at least when it turns out good! haha) and let's face it, some days I need an extra little boost, especially when I'm in Philly and the bills are looming in front of me and I'm wondering if I'll ever have money again. Speaking of which, good news! I got my 2nd job officially, and the pay is most excellent! I'll be doing the same thing I was at New Story, starting in a couple weeks. I guess I need to remember to count my blessings. 

This was my most recent: home made bean and cheese burritos!

Annnyways, time for my real post. Chase and I got to spend a few days at Myrtle Beach with my fam this week and we had a blast! It was my one last summer hoorah before my fall semester classes really got started.

Between seeing gators and what we thought was Nessie and/or a seal at Barefoot Landing, 

longboarding on Chase's new board that he bought at Ron Jon, 

eating at Mexico Lindo and Benito's, 

getting a pair of sweet new running sneaks for half price while walking around Broadway, 

many a good chat sitting on the beach in the evening, 

and long walks down the beach in the mornings to look for shells and go exploring in tide pools...I can't tell you which was my favorite!

I must say the exploring might have a slight edge over the rest. We made some awesome discoveries! (Well, I thought they were awesome, Chase was more like "these things are in Oregon...everywhere" haha.) I found the first sand dollar, I was SO EXCITED! It's perfect. =) Chase found the pretty orange conch shell when he went out for a run the first day. Funny story, I went in his room to wake him up that morning, he was asleep again but I saw he had showered and changed so I say "were you up already?" and he kind of mumbled into his pillow "yeah, I went for a run...I found that shell over there" and gestured toward the dresser. I turned to look, expecting a medium-sized clam shell at best, certainly not a big honkin conch, so when I saw it I did a double take and said "you...you FOUND that?!" haha. I found the ugly gray barnacle filled conch shell our last morning there, and Chase found all those sand dollars, as well as the cool snail. We really liked his shell, but we didn't wanna kill him or keep him for a pet, so he went back in the ocean. We had a good time. And I had forgotten my love for that kind of thing. Fun fact about me: I almost majored in marine biology/ecology/oceanography in college because I love it SO much! Some of the most fun I've ever had was going on the ecology club oceanography trips to Delaware in high school. Even the smelly dirty mucky parts...I might not seem like the type of girl that likes to get my hands dirty and dig through mud and sand to find creepy crawly sea creatures, but I totally am! Not many people can say that they've waded and slid through the waste-deep thick gray stanky sulfury sludge of a salt marsh just for fun. Except for us ecology club kids haha.

I love the beach!

Oh, and I was so proud of myself! I'm kind of a little terrified of swimming in the ocean (swimming in general really, I'm not the best at it) because several times in my life I've gotten pounded and pummeled and beat by waves and felt close to drowning. So I haven't gotten in the water in...I can't even tell you how long. Years and years! But I braved the water and went for not one, but TWO swims with Chase, Keith, Daniel and Aubrey. =)

The 3 fishies of the family: Keith, Aubrey, and Daniel.

And the 3 fishies plus Chase the uber fish.

I wish we could have stayed there forever! Some day, I'll live near a beach.