surprise vacay!

this is the beach by my sister's place.

earlier this week sarah (sister in question) sent me a text about cheap plane tickets to san diego and ba-da-bing ba-da-boom i just got my vacation days approved and booked the flight!  sadly steve and i won't both be able to go together (he's still a noobie on the job with very limited time off) but since the plan for the trip is trying on wedding and bridesmaid dresses for my sister's wedding, i think he'll be able to cope with staying home.

so right now i am doing a little internal happy-dance about going on this quick little getaway and getting to see my sister and dave!  it's been a couple years since i've been west of the mississippi!

i've also never flown 100% by myself on a plane before.  it sounds kind of boring... maybe i'll actually get to dive a little further into that reading list of mine.

in less related news: steve and i started watching the new netflix original series orange is the new black.  i'd recommend checking it out.  it's not perfect (some episodes get a bit slow, and the whole "everyone in prison is having lesbian sex" thing gets pretty redundant after a while) but it's definitely worth viewing for the unique grittiness, the exceptional acting, and the enjoyably flawed characters.  If none of that does it for you the regina spektor theme song alone should.

hope everyone has a spectacular thursday!  anyone else watching OITNB?  anyone else going on a fun vacation soon?

don't forget there is still plenty of time to enter my giveaway!!

word count:  4,066

more vacation photos

similar to our first day in charleston, we decided to just try and wing it, and see what the city had in store for us.  we stuffed our bellies with an enormous breakfast and figured we would first try to find the famous "rainbow row." we found a perfect place to street park (one perk of going in the off-season) and trekked along the water of one of charleston's most famous and exclusive waterfront neighborhoods.

check out our new summer home (i wish)!

we found some canons and statues and decided to have a photoshoot.

canon baller.

it was the perfect weather for lots of awkward selfies.

steve made a friend (unfortunately she's an inanimate object).

rainbow row!  porgy and bess anyone?

after we perused the fancy pirate bait homes we made the quick drive out to folly beach.  steve, or at least steve's feet, braved the ocean.  i passed.  despite the lovely sunshine in these pictures it really wasn't THAT warm.  and besides, the last time steve and i went in the ocean together i got blasted in the leg with a nice painful jellyfish.  actually i think technically it was a portuguese man-of-war, but either way it was poopbutts and i wanted nothing to do with that.

\

folly beach was such a funny little resort town.  it reminded me a bit of my favorite place in the world (maybe), the florida keys.  it officially felt like spring break, though, once we played by the ocean!

at the end of the day we drove out to the national monument of fort sumpter.  we didn't take the boat all the way out to the island, but the view from the little peninsula at the national monument was incredible.  we got a great vantage point for a picture in front of the john c. ravenal bridge.  unfortunately we both look constipated because the sun was pretty extreme in our eyes.  ah well c'est la vie!

in an unpictured highlight we also saw a dolphin bobbing up for air out by the national monument.  i couldn't get a snapshot of him, sadly, but it was a great cherry on top of a perfect day!