Amelia Island: take me to the beach

i was doing so well with blogging consistently for a little stretch, and then LIFE started piling up and i got insanely busy and was loving all the living…so the computer just didn’t get turned on. i’m not mad at about it all, except that i miss my little blog life and need to get back in the groove!

so, Tuesday night i got back to NYC from a full five wonderful days in Amelia Island, Florida. i never even knew this place existed until my cousin Tara announced that she was getting married there. it’s right off the coast of Jacksonville (another place i’d never been to), and was a lovely, quaint little beach town with Victorian charm and a sleepy, surf-y appeal. it was pretty, quiet, and a charming spot at which to have a beachy wedding.

(i created this the morning of their wedding after my early beach run. every beach wedding needs sand initials, no??)

there were so many amazing aspects of this wedding and trip that made it super special for me.

1. spending all this time with my cousin/getting to be her maid of honor.

we’re only 6 months apart in age, and although we’ve never lived near each other (unfortunately), we have an amazing relationship and friendship, and i was so thrilled to be able to play an integral role in her wedding.

she looked beautiful, the venue was lovely, the guests all had an amazing time, my speech went really well (yay!), and it was an overall wonderful wedding with such a good group of people. i wish we could do it all again. 🙂

2. the other girls. my cousin has wonderful friends, and hanging out with everyone was an absolute blast. from pre-wedding festivities to nights at the surf bar on the beach, we had non-stop fun and alllll the laughter. the other three bridesmaids were all fantastic girls, so our “girl time” prep all day on wedding day was sooooo much fun. i felt like i was away on a girls’ trip, and was bummed to have to say good-bye to everyone!

side note: we rented our wedding dresses from Little Borrowed Dress (who just changed their name to Union Station, actually) — such a seamless, easy process! definitely worth looking into if you want something affordable and easy.

3. surf town vibe. have i mentioned i belong in a surf town? right, probably 34252624 times.

while Amelia Island is probably a bit sleepier than i’d choose (to live), it definitely has that surf vibe: we had two surf shops across from my hotel, and the coolest little beach bar called Sliders, to which i went every single afternoon and night (and even worked on my last final there while sipping cocktails and listening to live music one day, which got me high-fives from the servers). the food was good, the drinks were good, the live music (every day and night) was good, the bartenders were cute…it was the perfect lil spot, with beautiful ocean views. AND they have swings as bar seats instead of stools!! i cannot tell you how happy that made me. #imfive

i took this (unfiltered) sunset pic the first night as i sat and had drinks with my family:

sooooo, that was tough to leave behind.

4. all the family time. after two back-to-back trips with my wonderful parents and brother, i’m feeling pretty spoiled and grateful for those awesome humans. we are the luckiest.

see you next sunset?! i wish! loved this sign.

5. running at the beach. i actually did amazingly with workouts on this trip: i ran right on the beach, along the ocean’s edge where the sand was hard, three of the mornings i was there, and took a spin class at a nearby gym with one of the other bridesmaids the other morning! we were on top of the cardio on this trip. i have to say, despite the overwhelming heat even early in the morning, running along the ocean is incredibleeee.

and to segue…

i’m supposedly running the Brooklyn Half tomorrow morning! this will be my first race in a loooooong time, if it happens. i say “if” because my recurring injury has unfortunately been driving me crazy lately. i took this whole week off from running and am praying i’m able to make it through the race tomorrow (and if you want to pray, that’d be much appreciated too, friends!), but i’m not stressing myself out. if i can’t run it, i’ll stop and go meet a girlfriend who is cheering her boyfriend on.

i’ve run this race the past 2 years and really enjoyed it — it’s been one of my fave half marathons — so i’d love to be able to have a third great experience, God-willing. but either way, it’s an awesome race: the expo was a blast, and the post-party is supposed to be fab as well, so i’m looking forward to that.

they had a sweet New York Road Runner both set up for runners to pose (if you see the little NYRR logo to the left behind me, i’m trying to pose like that runner…goof), and their race hashtag is #runforlife, so check it out on Instagram if you want to see how Brooklyn runs! 🙂

happy Friyayyyy, friends!

Runners: Any races this weekend? Anyone else doing Brooklyn?
Fave surf town? i’m always looking for ideas!

Advertisement