Playing Catch-Up

Where have I been for the past five months? That's an excellent question.

In April, Steven and I went completely off-list, and sadly, I let the blog fall to the wayside. On Good Friday, we were thrilled to find that we're expecting our first little kidlet this winter, and suddenly the items on my list were replaced with things like "Turn the spare bedroom into a nursery" and "Learn what the heck 'swaddling' a baby means."

I'm back now, and will try to be diligent. But frankly, a lot of my "in progress" items have unraveled. We'll just play this all by ear for the time being.

In the meantime, here are some fresh, new updates:

#9. Spend a day at the beach. I've done well on this one. Really, really well actually. Not only have I had one beach day this summer, I've had three. In June, Steven and I traveled to Fort Lauderdale to see two great friends tie the knot, and while we were there, we soaked up a lot of sun. (Probably too much, if we're being honest.)

Last month, Steven and I took a "babymoon" to Charleston, S.C. (more on that later) and made sure to schedule some quality time relaxing at Folly Beach.

And finally, we just got back from a great end-of-summer vacation to Ocean City with some of our favorite couple friends. It may have rained for 75% of our vacation, but we still got in a good amount of beach time on Friday, making the day off work totally worthwhile.

#37. Grow my own herbs. I should probably only give myself half credit for this, as I did grow my own herbs - and then promptly killed them. My herb experiment this summer included cilantro and basil neither of which ever quite flourished. Then one day, I looked outside and they were both 1) enormous and 2) crispy brown.We'll have to try this again next year. Perhaps I can even grown something long enough to use the herbs.

#48. Bake a loaf of bread from scratch. This one I did way back in March, I think I just failed to blog about it. I used this recipe and it turned out delicious, especially for morning toast with lots of butter. Between the fresh-bread smell and the yummy end product, this is definitely something I'll be doing again!

#59. Travel to three new cities for fun. This item dovetails so nicely with #9. Steven and I had a lovely time in Fort Lauderdale for Luke & Monica's wedding. We didn't explore much of Fort Lauderdale, but we did make ourselves very familiar with their beautiful beaches!

Here are a couple of shots from the beach wedding:

Last month, Steven and I ventured to Charleston, S.C. for one last "just the two of us" vacation.We kept joking that it's the most grown-up vacation either of us has ever taken, with visits to national parks, antebellum homes, and historic sites. It was also the most pampered I've ever felt on vacation, thanks to the wonderful staff and amenities at the Vendue Inn. Free made-to-order breakfast every morning, cheese (and wine for the non-preggo crowd) every afternoon, and homemade cookies washed down with milk every evening? I never wanted to leave! Seriously, I cannot say enough nice things about them.

A few highlights from our time in Charleston:

Yep, I'm leaving you with that gem of a picture. What can I say? We're clearly self-portrait professionals.