Beverages and More at the Beach

  A special thanks for your thoughts and comments last week. As you know, I mentioned going to the beach and did not have the time to reply personally to anyone. During my beach time I chose to be "unplugged" except for having my cell phone on. Photos to follow.

  I am linking this card I just made to the Simon Monday Challenge Blog whose theme is "Winged Things" this week. They offer a new theme each week along with a random drawing to win a $50 gift card to their shop! And the DT always has the most beautiful projects to share around the themes.

 Products: white card stock-the Paper Studio; patterned card stocks-Café Mediterranean Stack-DCWV; paper flower-Studiog; clear stamp-Think Big Favorites #3-Papertrey Ink; bird stamp set and punch-Stampin Up; Onyx black ink-Versafine-Tsukineko; die cut machine and dies-Spellbinders.

 Needless to say , the beach getaway was awesome!! We had wonderful weather. We worked HARD Spring cleaning our friend's beach house all together, top to bottom. But we also took some time to walk on the beach each day, and end our evening with a delicious healthy meal (mostly), conversation and wine :)

 Beverage of choice in the morning was Starbucks coffee and breakfast on the deck each morning-what a glorious view eh?

Our first walk down to the beach. I stopped, looked down for some shells and found this beautiful starfish with that small white shell attached! There were numerous small gatherings of reeds etc. that reminded me of nests so I staged the starfish on one for this photo.

 And we came across this vignette while walking:

  There were many horseshoe crab shells lying on the beach-many of them babies which we'd not seen before. There must have been some nasty storms that brought them too far on the sand to get back to the ocean. I did bring a shell of a little one home.

 Of course there were plenty of various Eastern shore birds sharing our walks with us:

 

  We took turns making dinners in the evenings. Here are two of the dinners.We ate VERY well.  I'll have more to share perhaps in a post on Friday-if I get to the editing.

  First night I made mustard Panko crusted salmon, green beans with lemon vinaigrette, and a warm quinoa salad with spinach and mushrooms. The second night Lynne made a spring mix salad with slices of roast chicken breast topped with walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette. Of course, after all our hours of cleaning we did reward ourselves each night with a bottle of wine for dinner. And did I mention-the oven wasn't working! The next two dinners we had were just as special but you'll have to check back another day for that.

 And there was nothing like watching the sun set on the bay side while preparing the dinners...

  We are blessed to be frequent guests in this beautiful, welcoming home with such spectacular surroundings and to consider the owners such very special, long time friends. It was a privilege for Trina and I to be a part of restoring this home to it's true sparkle and shine. To the power of three!

 You are welcome to join in any Tuesday at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's for T Stands For Tuesday. And don't forget to bring along a cuppa (anything).

     " The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul."  Wyland