wine-less wednesday & the beach

Every other Wednesday for the past year and a half - Chris and I have gone out on date night.

What started out as a joke has become a long time "tradition" for us.

We love Carrabbas - and it quickly became our "Wednesday night place"...

There, Wednesdays are called Wine Wednesday - because ot the deals they offer on wine etc... we laughed and joked - even made fun of it a bit the first couple of times we went...but somehow Wine Wednesday, as an actual title for date night just stuck. I love that we make it a  priority to have that time together... to get out - to be alone - to connect.

We have a million memories and a ton of inside jokes from those nights...

We've tried EVERY bottle of wine they offer, most of the servers know us now & we even skip ahead of the line when certain hosts are at the door...it's pretty cool - one of my favorite things is that

each time we go I save the cork from our bottle of wine, date it and keep it in a giant glass jar displayed in my home as a memory of the night.

Ok, all of that to say...

last night was Wednesday.

It was a "wineless" Wednesday as

we decided to break from the "routine", pack a picnic & head out to the beach.

I have not been to the beach since we got back from FL and I was "itching" for it...

We attempted a beach trip on Saturday - even drove out - but the storms were rolling in and we didn't have a shot at beach time.

So at 5pm - after work - a stressful day & getting kids settled we headed out.

Let me just say it was perfect.

The beach was EMPTY... peaceful, calm.

I say all that time that I just feel more "me" when I am at the beach.

Clear headed thinking, the sun, the sand between my toes, that salty breeze, the slow pace walk...it's like every weight gets lifted off of my shoulders and I can breathe.

We walked slowly down the beach, hunted for shells & lost track of time...

I think we walked the entire time... just talking, and finding treasures...

3 hours later...

we found the most incredible shells I had ever found, the largest shells I've ever found - and every so often we would find a whole sand dollar ... I love that feeling... the excitement of spotting it - running over to it and grabbing it...

3 whole sand dollars total - a couple of perfect halves and various pieces...

Overall, it was an absolutely wonderful trip - and even though I didn't get to work on my tan, I am so glad we chose to do something different, step out of our "norm" and spend out night "time warping" at the beach.

those are the things that matter.

those are the moments that are important.