Renewal

It has only been a week but I am missing my life at the beach house. The time I spent on Folly Beach was really a celebration of summertime: fresh food, feeling the sunshine on your bare shoulders, family, windblown hair, the smell of sunscreen, bare feet, ice cream, sunshine until 9 pm, afternoon thunderstorms, driving with the windows down, freckles on my sister’s nose, sleeping with the windows open, talking into fans, sand castles, sweat, staying up late, saltwater kisses from a little boy, bright pink toenail polish, birthday cake, big sun hats, wildflowers, sun tea, lazy days, road trips. I am trying to find a way to get back there....permanently.

On the drive back to Kansas the mister and I pulled out the atlas to search for a place on the East coast that would fit our needs. Our list:

1. Somewhere that has weather that allows us to spend some time outside every day.
2. Somewhere that has options for recreation that are things we want to do and are within 15 minutes from our house.
3. Somewhere close to the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean is like truth serum for me. If I feel sad, it makes me cry. If I feel happy, the joy bubbles up in my stomach and makes me want to sing. It is like being drunk or a really good song, it just exaggerates my feelings. I love it.
4. Somewhere that is relatively close to my family. I miss my sisters and can't imagine life too far away from my parents.
5. Somewhere with dynamic, diverse, open minded, progressive, creative people.
6. Somewhere with great restaurants.
7. Somewhere that needs a cupcake shop :)

8. Somewhere with a university

9. Somewhere with coffee shops that aren't Starbucks and a downtown area that is not a mall. No mall at all would be fine with us.

10. Somewhere with good surfing (more for the mister than me on that one, but I do think he is dead sexy on a surf board so I am keeping it on the list)

11. Somewhere that isn't too touristy

12. Somewhere with good schools, preferably Montessori.

13. Somewhere that we could afford a little house. I don't need a crazy 3 million dollar beach house (although I wouldn't turn it down) but a little 3 bedroom bungalow is right up our alley.

So far Wilmington NC fits the bill. We are planning a vacation...eh, I mean a trip to do research on that area...in the fall.

Hey. Guess what. On our vacation I was able to cross #2, #5, a little bit of #27 and #28 with a slight adjustment off of the list. So far I am doing okay on #6 but failing miserably on #’s 4, 7, 8, 14 and 18. Oh and #30 is much harder than you think. Less than 2 months to finish the other 25 or so left on the list. I am thinking a few of them might make it on to my 31 In my 31st Year list. I guess it is good that I get an extra "thing" each year. And just so you know, #31 on the list is "Get back to the beach".