Thursday, June 27, 2013

sweaty tourist logs

When I stay in my grandparent's town, I am really staying in a firefly kind of town. It is where nothing is brand new without feeling out of place, where the air isn't cloudy and your mind can breathe and run and enjoy itself. It is bicycles at night down the Main Street drag where the streetlights act like angels. You can look up after the sun goes down and see the stars without the whole world spinning, and when the sun comes up the doors to the shops are always swung open just a bit, like the shop owners' faces cracking a genial, welcoming grin. It is that lit-up Dairy Queen sign that looks somewhat different from year to year, but the retired seniors cannot tell (their eyes don't let them see the differences, anyways).

There is something about their small town that I cannot seem to escape- something in their eyes that tells me that they are not kept busy thinking life should be simpler, or that they need to achieve something greater than what they are in their souls. No; this small town is comfortable, it is lemonade, and it will forever try to stay that way.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

vacation, all i've ever wanted

why I love(d) my week at the beach:

Makeup is optional- I already have a healthy sunburn/tan going on, and my skin has never looked better (okay well now after I am back, my face has started to break out).
No one can judge anyone else for wet/gnarly beach hair.
There is salt/sand everywhere. Having little on you is impossible, and having a lot is not too "gross," just natural.
Ryan can actually smell things because of the saltwater! I love that. :)
The houses here are absolutely gorgeous.
The weather was almost always spectacular for enjoying the beach. The only day it was not superb was the day a tropical storm came through haha.
Hello? Swimsuits, all the time!
I love the smell of sunscreen (which is very serendipitous, as I had to apply it all the time).
I can actually boogie-board.
I felt like a badass (and a terrified meal) going into the ocean, with a warning of sharks, while on my period.
It ain't even expensive!
With lots of families, it is a happy place (if you can get past the children and the occasional screaming).
Running is so much more fun on the beach than anywhere else.
I love seeing my footprints in the sand.


what I love(d)/learned concerning my week with my boyfriend's family/friends:

I learned that I could spend a week straight just fine with my boyfriend and his family (I think I could even go a while longer haha). ;)
Kids kind of stress me out. Especially when there are four of them. EIYA.
I love my boyfriend. Like I feel like a good number of people question our relationship (and sometimes I honestly do too) because it is not conventional, but there are just these little moments that hit me and I am just reduced to damn, this is how it's supposed to be.
I learned that to correct Ryan's thundercloud phase all he needs is a good sweet tea and/or a tickling.
His family is not as crazy as I had thought haha. Like I remember in the beginning of our relationship thinking man, I will never fit in, and suddenly I feel like I am actually a part of this family- all of this in a deeper, more fateful sense than I had thought before. It is amazing, and I love it.
I need to be healthier. It is a lot more fun and I feel so much better.
I found out that I/things in general have changed a LOT since last year. I was so much a high-school, dramatic, shy, insecure girl when I came to Myrtle Beach last April, and now I am a "lady" (I dislike the word woman) who can stand fairly strong in her security and loves people. I am so much happier now.
I miss the mountains too! I know that that is a weird realization to have following a week at the beach, but driving back home through the mountains made me miss Gatlinburg and my family's trips there.
I need to go zip-lining, and soon-ish. I did not have the chance to go this trip, so maybe I will for my birthday or something. :)

And, possibly my most important realization: there will be more adventures in store for me- this summer, this year, and beyond! True, I have some growing up to do, too, but I can honestly say that I feel everything is how it is supposed to be at this point in my life.