A day (or two...or three...) at the beach (+OOTD)

Every year, my fiance's family spends the middle two weeks of June on Long Beach Island, in New Jersey.  His extended family also intermittently meanders onto the island through out the two weeks, and we all stay within the same block of each other. 

Even though we were getting married in, ohhh, 10 days, we didn't let that stop us from driving across two states to spend five days on LBI with the fam.  We only had about two and a half good "beach days," but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.  Even on the days when it was too chilly to actually sit on the beach, I made sure to spend some time walking on it:


Sweatshirt: J.Crew spindrift sweatshirt
Shorts: J.Crew anchor shorts
Necklace: Swarovski conch shell necklace (it was my grandmother's from many years ago)
Sunnies: Gap

LBI is a charming little island that's about 20 miles long, and only half a mile wide.  I love it, because it's almost trapped in the middle of the century.  There are lots of great old-school Italian restaurants, ice cream parlors, little beach shops and boutiques, and very few touristy-type spots.  One of the few tourist attractions is a teensy tiny amusement park called - what else? - Fantasy Island.  Every year, my fiance and I ride the ferris wheel, which is by far the biggest ride there:



The Fantasy Island Ferris Wheel, all instagram-ed up. 

Do you have a summer escape relatively close by?  Do you visit it regularly?

Busy busy bride

Hi all.  I hope some of you are still with me.  Thanks for the encouraging comments (I'm looking at you, AppGal and Tabitha :) )!  I am still reading all of your blogs and comments on my blog.  I've had some major computer (and life) issues that have kept me from blogging for the past few months.  I've also been trying to figure out what direction I want to go with this blog.  I'd love to make blogging more of a focus in my life, so I'm going to keep writing and reviewing and see where it takes me.

Since I last wrote in January, I've had some biiig changes in my life.  My future mother-in-law had a catastrophic health event in January (she's doing well now - with some major adjustments - thank God!), I started grad school, I *still* had no plan period during the school year, and I've been in wedding planning overdrive.  Oh, and, uh, I'm getting married a week from tomorrow (!!), so things have not slowed down.

 Because I can't do a blog post without some pictures and an OOTD, here are a few pics from my tea party bridal shower, which was held at my parents' house on Memorial Day weekend:

Dress: Sincerely Sweet dress from Modcloth, no longer available
Pumps: Wishing and Taupe-ing Heels, Jessica Simpson via Modcloth (super comfortable for 4 inch heels!)
Don't mind my underdressed dad in the background; this was just before he escaped the estrogen!



Decorations outside: my mother's groovy 1980 Victorian-style bridal veil/hat, and shoes and a clutch-turned planters

 

A place setting from the shower; because it was a tea party theme, everyone got their own antique tea cup to take home.

I adore this quirky teapot.  My matron of honor used several of her grandmother's teapots to make centerpieces.

Gorgeous bow in my color scheme!  If you look closely in the upper left-hand corner, you can see my mama's bridal portrait with that crazy hat.  Apparently, after she came down the aisle, the first thing my dad said to her was, "Nice lid!"  How romantic ;)

Alright, that's it for me tonight.  It's good to be back in the blogosphere!