CARE TO LOOK

a lifestyle, travel, and photography blog

it started with french toast

This morning I was woken up by a husband holding a plate of french toast topped with strawberries, blueberries, and bananas AND coffee just the way I like it AND I got to stay in bed to enjoy it all. What more could I possibly ask for?!  Apparently I have expressed my feelings towards french toast a lot recently and Ben decided to surprise me with one of my favorite breakfasts. Any day started with breakfast in bed is off to a good start.

Another gift we received at our wedding was a gift certificate to go paddle boarding and we decided today was finally the day. The weather has been kind of bizarre recently and made us change our minds each time we thought about going, but today was the perfect summer day. Ben chased ducks and I did everything in my power not to fall when boats went by, and that about sums up our paddle boarding experience.

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After paddle boarding, we headed back to the abode to make some dinner before heading back to City Dock to try out a new eno spot we have had our eye on. We can’t take full credit for this gem of a location though. Last week we saw a few people using the docks to hang their enos and they are geniuses. We decided this is going to be a reoccurring thing.enu enu-2 enu-3 enu-4 enu-6 enu-10 enu-11

a glimpse

 

This past week has been filled with so much. Here are some pictures to show our week at a glimpse.

Attempting to soak up the sun when it actually showed up.

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Walks after dinner to the docks and stumbling upon some music.

Tuesday night Music

The view I have come to love.

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Hooray for two months of being married to him!

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Sunsets over city dock.

Annapolis City Dock sunset

Wandering to East port to look at the boats.

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Bidding farewell to my first car, Theodore. So long, bud.

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Flat shopping for a home in London. Lots and lots of flat shopping.

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An evening spent at the batting cages.

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Learning I can actually hit a baseball. [Who knew this was something I was actually decent at?!]

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This week has been full of little adventures and a whole lot of planning. Another wonderful week of summer in the books.

 

 

Vineyards and DC trips

Whenever I walk home from work I pass by Annebeth’s, a little shop that has become a favorite of Ben and I’s. Sometimes we are even given the extra homemade bread at night they didn’t sell during the day, which is an absolute treat. I’ve noticed a brand of wine they sell called Great Frogs and recently learned they are located just minutes away from downtown Annapolis. Last night Ben and I bought tickets to go to their Vine Yard Bash with wine tastings, music, food, and a projected movie on the screen. It was perfect weather and we arrived at the vineyard right around sunset. vineyardvineyard-2

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After sampling a few of their wines we chose our favorites (which always seem to be different) and headed on over to the popcorn station. I truly forgot how much I love popcorn! Especially when it comes in those red and white striped bags. 
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We found a spot right in front of barn to enjoy the music while they set the movie up and even got to try some of their new dessert wine they are releasing. The vineyard was beautiful and quaint and I loved seeing everyone who came out to enjoy the evening. Blankets, chairs, dogs running around, and friends covered the field and it seemed as though everyone knew everyone. I loved the feel of it all, a true summer night. vineyard-10 vineyard-13 vineyard-12 vineyard-15 vineyard-14

This morning was spent at the gym together (after Ben came to the rescue when I locked the keys in the car, oops) and then by city dock for lunch. Like I said before, the weather has really been treating us so well. We hung out all day before heading to DC for a meet and greet for those who attended and are attending LSE. Meeting some new faces and talking about travel and school made this whole moving to London for a year thing start to feel a little bit more tangible. Next is flat shopping and booking flights! Goodness, I am excited!falafel-3 falafel-2 falafel falafel-4

We then headed to a restaurant called Busboys and Poets which served as a bookstore, coffee shop, and really good restaurant. I loved the atmosphere and the food hit the spot. We ended our day with the drive home listening to the Totally 2000s Spotify playlist which I highly recommend. And by highly, I mean go look it up now. Ben and I have developed quite the duets.

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  • Ben sure knows how to kill the flower game when I’m in Nashville (he’s 3 for 3)! Now I just can’t wait for him and the roommates to fly in tonight!!
  • I sure lucked out in the Valentine department! 😍 Happy Valentine’s Day!
  • Just a little over a month away from getting to be back in this magical city for a few weeks and I can hardly wait!! If you have any favorite spots in the city let me know!!
  • Back to the beach with our guy, but we sure are missing the mountains!
  • Six whole days of snowboarding, aprés ski, peanut butter banana sandwiches, hot tub nights, four resorts, night skiing, a lot of queso, a few tumbles down the mountain, and the four best pals and roommates. This week was one for the books! We are four happy campers.
  • The flu struck our household this weekend, which wasn’t exactly the start to the new year we were hoping for. But, in between medicine breaks and movie watching on our makeshift bed in the living room we snuck in a few walks on the beach and sunset views over the sound.
  • I realize it’s only the second day of 2019 but this is how I’m feeling about this year. Ben and I were chatting about goals and looking at our calendar for the year and I’m just so excited for all that’s in store! I’m choosing to expect big things from 2019 👏🏼✨
  • 2018 was full of surprises, twists and turns, ups and downs. I'm learning that will be the case at the end of every single year, but it never ceases to catch me by surprise. I lived the vanlife with @katielentile for a month, explored Vietnam for two weeks with @benwradford , spent several weekends third wheeling with some pretty incredibly couples as they said 'I do', finally got to go back to my favorite place in the world, London, for a week and trained up to Scotland for the weekend, packed up our home of two years in New Bern to move to the coast with our best friends, unexpectedly added a furry fellow to our family (and thank God we did), evacuated from a hurricane, traveled back and forth to Nashville, and soaked up a lot of time with family in Roanoke. It was a wild year filled with a lot of crazy plot twists but I am so incredibly thankful for all Ben and I learned, experienced, saw, and dreamed up this year. On January 1 I had a "new year's resolution" to capture a second a day and I DID IT. Through this little project I learned that it is quite alright that some days, my most exciting second is that we are cruising on Halong Bay in Vietnam, and others it's just that we made dinner on a Wednesday night. Both are just as wonderful. So, enjoy a brief snippet of every single day of my 2018 and shout out to everyone who probably has no idea I captured them 😉