Just me My Soldier and our 4 little chicks

exploring newport- our favorites.

hey y'all! so i know i've been pretty absent lately...

life's just really full and crazy right now. in a great way. :)

lots of company and getting ready for italy. i cannot BELIEVE that june is our last month in this house. i'm equal parts terrified and exhilarated.

i was sitting here drinking my coffee and thinking about how i really wanted to blog. but I couldn't figure out what to blog about.

looking back through my photos from the past few months, i realized i haven't talked much about our favorite places in newport.

so that's what i'm talking about today. is anyone interested in reading this? i have no idea. HA! but i thought it might be fun.

here are some of our favorite places to visit in and around newport.

 

1. The Cliff Walk - we almost always take visitors here. the ocean, 40 steps, walking by the most gorgeous houses in newport...you just can't beat it.

2. Ocean Drive.- breathtakingly beautiful. the beaches are lovely, the homes are amazing. it never gets old.

3.Easton's Beach- ride the carousel, drink some del's.

4. Anthony's- best seafood in town. hands down. i have had their lobster rolls 2918302840238 and i NEVER get tired of them. so so SO good.

 

 

5. Bowen's Wharf- sit and watch the boats, shop in the super cute boutiques, and eat at 22 bowen's

 

6. Purgatory Chasm- the best place to have a picnic.

 

7.Newport Creamery- i don't even want to begin to try to count the number of Awful Awfuls we've consumed this past year.

 

8.Fort Wetherill- can't even put this place into words. creepy, beautiful, decayed, amazing.

 

9. Sachuest Point Wildlife Refuge- peaceful and beautiful.

 

10. Favorite Restaurants

Best Seafood/Best Chowder- Anthony's (see above)

Best Bakery- The French Confection

Best Pad Thai- Siam Square

 

Best Date Night/Best Tacos- Tallulah on Thames . hint- you can find the food truck at the Farmer's Market!

 

Best New Restaurant- Muse by Jonathan Cartwright

Best Creme Brulee/Steak Frites: White Horse Tavern

 

Best Margarita (Blood Orange)- Diego's

 

Best Nachos- Brick Alley Pub

Best Burger- Boss Man

Whew!! There you have it. All of our favorites. We have LOVED living here. It was like a year long vacation and it has been an absolute New England dream!

Happy  Monday, y'all!

xo

Snowed In

It started like this (on Friday)...

And snowed all day and all night and all day the next day. At first it was magical and beautiful and soft.

But soon the soft snow became great, billowing gusts that caused the house to creak and the power to flicker off and on incessantly.

Snow was blowing sideways and up...it was crazy.

Snow covered the windows and we couldn't see out.It was LOUD! I peeked out the front window and saw this:

It was actually all very fun and cozy until the power went out. Then it got cold pretty fast.

We all bundled up for the night and woke up to this:

I couldn't open the doors to take photos because with no power we were trying desperately to keep things warm.

Our house has so many windows..it honestly got very cold very quickly. Luckily we have a master fire maker in the house.

The Howell girls spent the day like this:

The babies had to take a nap like this:

Have you ever tried to get two 2 year olds to keep hats on their heads? It's a losing battle.

Meanwhile, J spent the day like this,bless his heart:

We had dinner by candlelight and witnessed one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

I started to get really worried about the babies because it was so cold.

I prayed a little prayer, tucked the babies in, and went to the basement to find the Christmas footsies for the big girls.

And...just like that...the lights came on! We totally had a dance party. HA!

It was 40 degrees upstairs and it would have gotten so much colder. I was so grateful.

I woke up early the next morning (yesterday), put on my winter gear, and went out and took some photographs.

Pretty, huh?

We are still snowed in today. Roads are pretty bad and there's no parking. Schools are closed so looks like it's another pajama day.

I have to say that I am so so dang grateful that Jimmy was here for this. I mean...I know I can do anything myself, but it's so nice to have him here.

He makes me feel safe. And that's something I don't ever want to take for granted.

And I have to tell you...now that we have electricity I'm really loving it.

I actually really loved it when the power was off (minus the being really cold part). We spent all day together with no electronic diversions and it was lovely.

And being in a cozy and warm home with beautiful snow outside? TOGETHER? That is the loveliest thing I can imagine.

Happy Monday!

See y'all soon. xoxo

Christmas in Newport

I love living in New England this time of year.

It's just magical. Don't get me wrong...Christmas was magical when I lived in the South,too.

But there's just something about Rhode Island in December.

Autumn flew by in a windy,leaf-filled gust. I didn't get to do half of what I wanted to do.

It's a shame we only have one year here. I love it so and there's so much more I want to experience.

I feel like I'm trying to cram everything in and I'm missing so much!

Because of that I'm determined to really experience the holiday season here.

This is what Newport looks like in December:

a pretty little (and old) town by the sea...covered in twinkle lights. It's lovely to witness.

There are wonderful traditions here. Last week Santa came down our street on a float pulled by the Fire Department.

Down at the Yachting Center they make an ice skating rink for the season:

And we attended the Newport Christmas Tree Lighting there last night:

Afterwards we wandered down the street to look at lights and get some coffee/hot chocolate.

We saw a bar bouncer Santa on the sidewalk and thought he was HILARIOUS.

He was clearly wearing the worst costume ever, with the fakest beard ever known to man.

I told him "you sit on a throne of LIES" and he laughed himself into a coughing fit and told me "AWESOME reference".

side note: i am NOT wearing white hammer pants here. those are baby blankets.bahaha!

And then we climbed in the car and went to look at the Christmas house...it's famous for having a CRAZY amount of lights.

And MAN...though this time in our lives is full of diaper changes,

double fit throwing,

getting frustrated because it takes us SO LONG to leave the house (no matter how early we start),

so much dirty laundry,

a million papers to sign,lunches to make,messes to mop...

it's also full of so much magic.

trying hard to embrace more of the magic and less of the MESS.

xoxo

 

Exploring RI- Apple Picking at Rocky Brook Orchard

Exploring RI- Ocean Drive

a little bit of housekeeping first.

1. i have loved reading each BYH entry. thank you for the privilege. i have many left and i'm hoping for a little "catch up and comment time" today. please feel free to continue to link up. there's no cut off date.

2.i will pick the winners for last week's giveaway sometime in the next day or two. make sure to enter!

 

i want to share my favorite part of newport with you...ocean drive/10 mile drive.

the homes are amazing and the view is jaw dropping. what's not to love?

this was our second time to visit. the first time was pretty cool, there were some massive storm clouds rolling in. check out h's face and those muddy legs. bahahaha!

 

this time it was overcast again but we still really wanted to visit.

check out the shacks we saw on the way to the beach. okay, but seriously...the amount of money in newport is mind blowing.

note to self...invest in windbreakers STAT. holy windy.

a half family portrait. :)

lucy is on the left and cate is on the right. i love the tiny piggies. :)

the babies look angry and harper looks scared?!?!?

j took cate out to see the water. do you see all of those sailboats on the horizon? so beautiful.

the big girls brought ziplocs so they could explore and collect treasures. they found lots of shells and seaweed and snails.

the babies LOVED being there. they were so interested in everything. so curious.

the look on cate's face (to the right) makes me laugh so hard. can you tell how excited they were?

we picked up rocks and watched the crabs scurry into the water. the girls were fascinated. i was a little bit creeped out. i don't like things that scurry. shudder.

when i was bending over looking at one, jimmy goosed me and i swear to all that is holy that i have NEVER screamed that loud. i almost peed my pants. it goes without saying that he thought this was highly entertaining.

and as we were leaving, we saw this. seriously? i don't even know what to say.

all i could think of was gob bluth going to the banana stand. please tell me that someone gets this reference?!?!?

we also went apple picking! i'll share pictures soon.

happy monday y'all!

xoxo

lobster rolls

ahem...i'm sorry...LOBSTAH rolls. geez. :)

today we ate our 2nd set of lobster rolls this week.this time we tried the ones from here.

anyone want to take bets on how many we will eat this year? j says 50. i'm thinking that might be a tad conservative. :)

p.s. still working my way through responding to each comment on the last post. y'all are AMAZING.

p.p.s. still no household goods. found out today that all of our worldly posessions are crated and sitting in a warehouse...

 

 

in savannah.

so there's that.

but who cares, we've got lobstah rolls.

xoxo

heaven

i know four little girls that think their back yard is heaven.

and with a backyard like this...who needs household goods? ha!

yes...a riding lawnmower came with the house. :)

as for me, as much as i LOVE the yard. and the house...i miss crafty goodies. how sad is that? i had them right under my nose for 5 months and barely touched them. now i crave creating. makes no sense, i know. :)

have a beautiful and blessed friday!

xoxo

and the adventure begins

we are here!!! 

after many adventures along the way (can't WAIT to blog them!) we are now in the cutest house ever. we love it here. i have already become enchanted with RI and i know i will have lots and lots of photos and stories to share this year.

starting with this story. apparently there was a misunderstanding with transportation and our household goods won't be arriving for a week to 2 weeks.

yippee! luckily there are 5 targets in an hour radius. and i'm in the mood to accept this challenge. HA!

it's amazing here. 30 degrees cooler than GA and we live next door to a vineyard. TRUE STORY.

more pictures soon.

xoxo

S 

um are you guys good luck or something?

i think that admitting my weaknesses to the interwebs has some advantages.

1. no headache today

2.I FOUND US A HOME!
that's right. right after i blogged yesterday i found us a home in RI! and it is my dream house. it will be the perfect place to spend a year together.

the porch (es) scream "sit in rocking chairs and drink wine after the kids go to sleep".

the front door is perfect for j to walk in EVERY SINGLE DAY!

the yard is a dream yard for the girls.

and the public elementary school? is amazing.

the homeowners are kind,helpful,and encouraging. and they have a college aged daughter in the area who babysits!!

it is going to be a year long vacation for us. i mean that. that is how i am looking at it. this year is going to be a gift!

now wish me luck getting anything else done for the next few months. this is not going to help my daydreaming problems!

thanks to all of you for listening to me...i really do think y'all are good luck!!!

please forgive the overabundance of capital letters and exclamation points in this post. i'm a tad over-excited if you can't tell.

now who's coming to visit?? :)

xoxo