The cutest souvenir...

I've been traveling quite a bit the past few years. I just love going new places and learning about other cultures and people. The food, the art, the hobbies, and best of all, the beaches. I am a total beach lover. I could spend the rest of my life on a sunny beach and feel pretty happy about it. 

I haven't been great about collecting treasures from all of my travels, but I began to notice that I had a collection of sandwich bags filled with cute souvenirs from some of my trips.  I always think that beaches are so interesting. They all have different shells, wood, seaweed, birds, and sand. I like to collect a thing or two to take home to remember my trip by. Don't be mad. 

I decided that I needed a cuter display than sandwich bags... so out came the bottles!

My Beach Bottle Collection

You can really use anything you want. I think small Ball jars could be cute. Or old baby jars (for all those Mama's out there).  A little string and a tag and you're on your way.

I lived in California for most of my life, and visited a lot of beaches. I wish I had collected a thing or two from some of my favs...Carmel, Pismo, and a bunch of southern CA spots. But we go back a few times a year (to see our families), so I am going to fix that in a few months! And funny enough, my family has a timeshare in Maui... we have gone every year since I was about 12 years old. And I haven't collected and sand from there either. What is wrong with me?! All my favorite spots have been forgotten. I guess I'll have to go back. 

I have SO many other beaches to visit to really feel like I've completed my collection... although, I don't really feel like it will ever been complete. 

-Nicola & the little pup

We're backkkkkk...

I feel like we've been MIA for a while.  Probably because we have been! Summer has been way too fun and busy around here.  We've been living it up as much as possible. I planned to post some of our pictures, but as I looked through them I realized that there are quite a few (and by a few, I mean thousands- I have a problem). So I thought I'd spare you the downward scrolling and post our adventures in parts.

We started out with a little trip to California for a little summer fun with family and friends (Part 1). From there, I was lucky enough to go to Phuket, Thailand with some friends (Part 2).
And we've been keeping busy here in NC with crafts, gardening, eating, and exploring (Part 3).

Part 1:

 C A L I F O R N I A  aka. H O M E

We've been visiting, eating, and beaching our way through the summer.  

I know that was probably a picture overload... We had the best time with our friends and family. I have so many pictures, I could hardly choose which ones to post. 

To Be Continued...  

-Nicola & the little pup

beach, please...

And I love everything about the beach! 

salt water

sand

sea shells

stripes

laughter

play

snacks

paddle boarding

Some of my latest and greatest beach loves:

paddle ball set  Seagull print  girl and dog photo  note set  cute shoes  bangle  beach bag sea salt hair spray

                                           and the papillon loves it too!

digging

running

swimming

fetching

shell collecting

sniffing

bird pouncing

 I just can't wait for summer!

- nicola & the little pup