Weekending for the 4th

Hello, July!

For the 5th year in a row, I was lucky enough to spend my 4th of July weekend down in Kiawah. I used to think that being out on the lake was my favorite way to celebrate Independence Day but y'all, I think it might be the beach... especially when Patrick and our friends Laurel & Steven all are able to come down to celebrate.

July 1 and 4th of July weekend always means one thing {other than the beach}: Kiawah Half training begins.

Let's just say that at 7am it was 82 degrees with a heat index of 98 degrees and 96% humidity. Patrick and I went out Saturday morning and it was like we were trying to run through a hot tub. Running was miserable. It seems like I always pick the hottest, most humid day to pick running back up.

We spent the day recuperating on the beach.

Saturday night, we went out to the Ryder Cup Bar at The Ocean Course. I love that they only have local craft beers on tap at the bar - I think this time there was a Westbrook, a Low Tide, a Palmetto, and a Coast beer. I snapped up the Coast 32/50 Kölsch.

Aren't the sunsets gorgeous out there?

Sunday and Monday were more of the same. Sleep, beach, sunset drinks, repeat.

Yeah, don't let that picture above fool you. The beach was crazy crowded and looked more like this the rest of the time:

{That crazy storm above? It never reached us and our race of packing up and sprinting back to the house to beat the storm was a complete wasted effort...}

At least it was pretty again for sunset drinks later that night!

Patrick and I packed up early Tuesday morning, headed back to Columbia, and stopped by our friends' 4th of July pool party.

We might have been at home, showered, and asleep on the couch by 7pm that night. We party hard on the 4th y'all. Seriously though, we both need a vacation from our vacation. Good thing it's a short week, right?

Next up? Birthday week!

I'm in complete denial that the summer is halfway over and that my birthday is a week from today. What happened to June? And the first week of July?