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a slice of life

Hilton Head Island | Shelling Tips

When we decided to go to Hilton Head Island for our anniversary trip, the first thing I looked into was the shelling.  It is one of my favorite things to do while at the beach, so I wanted to find out where the shelling hotspots were.  In my initial research online, most forum posts didn’t recommend Hilton Head Island for beachcombers.  As I shared in other posts, the island is a part of a chain of sandbars and that prevents a lot of shells from reaching the beach.  There were some shelling/fossil-hunting tours, but I wasn’t sure we would want to make that big of a time commitment to an excursion.  So, I looked into beaches that were considered the best in the area even if shells weren’t as abundant as other South Carolina beaches.  This led me to Fish Haul Beach Park on Hilton Head Island and Hunting Island

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a slice of life

Hilton Head Trip | Savannah & the Telfair Museum

For our third full day at Hilton Head, we decided to drive over to Savannah.  It seemed a shame to be so close and not visit.  We knew we would enjoy the architecture and just walking around, but we wanted to find something specific to do so we could wander with some intention.  After a bit of research, Jeff wanted to see John Wesley’s marker and statue (he’s a history buff and a pastor, so the Great Awakening hits a sweet spot with his interests) and I wanted to see the Telfair Museum which includes two art museums and a tour of an early 1800s house.  We also marked Forsyth Park in the historic district and the river walk as places to go. We found some paid public parking and decided to walk around first and finish the day with the museum and house tour. As I expected, I loved

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a slice of life

Hilton Head Trip | Hunting Island, Shelling, & Alfred’s

If you missed part one of our Hilton Head trip, you can find it HERE.  On day two, we decided to check out Hunting Island State Park, the self-proclaimed “best shelling beach in Beaufort.”  It was a little over an hour from Hilton Head, so it seemed reasonable.  I was tempted to go to Edisto Beach, which is renowned for its quality shelling, but it was over two hours away, and spending over four hours in the car for a day trip for shells seemed a bit excessive.   So, we had the breakfast buffet at the Westin Resort and headed out to Hunting Island. A few points of interest – Hunting Island has a historic lighthouse that I was looking forward to seeing.  There are several beach access points with parking and a few have bathrooms and places to shower and rinse your feet.  There is also a drive through

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a slice of life

Hilton Head Island | French Bakery & Fish Haul Beach

We spent last week at Hilton Head Island to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Our anniversary is actually in March, but we were already at the Isle of Palms with extended family, so we went to a nice dinner in Charleston and decided to plan a trip for the fall since this is a big milestone.  We were looking at a few different destinations, but when Jeff shared that we would be going on a trip soon to celebrate a quarter of a century together, a family from our church reached out and offered a week at a condo on Hilton Head Island.  They purchased it at a fund-raising auction but recently realized they had a conflict and couldn’t go.  They hoped to gift it to someone so the week wasn’t wasted and they offered it to us.  Of course, I was all on board.  The beach in late fall

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a slice of life

field trip | emporium antiques in Frederick, MD

Yesterday, I drove down to Frederick to meet Jodie of The Past Restored to drop off my oil paintings for the Lucketts Fall Market with her.  You can read about that spur-of-the-moment partnership HERE.  I had to pick Marshall up in a couple of hours, so instead of going home, I decided to poke around an antique store for a bit.  I shopped at Emporium Antiques years ago when I was an antique dealer, but I hadn’t been since moving back to the mid-Atlantic region.  I decided to spend my free time checking it out.  It was very much as I remember it, which was nice to see.  It always makes me sad when once wonderful antique stores fall into the decline of booths filled with NASCAR memorabilia, novelty candy, collectible shot glasses, and creepy dolls wearing a half-inch of dust.  Sometimes those stores can be awesome because you can

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a slice of life

Isle of Palms & Wild Dunes Shelling Guide

Back in 2022, I wrote a post sharing Shelling Tips on Isle of Palms, and a year prior to that, I wrote a post with general Tips on Shelling.  I’ve since been back to Isle of Palms two more times and have stayed in another location further up the island in the Wild Dunes resort area, so I thought I would share an updated post sharing more specific tips as well as some favorite shelling locations. In my 2022 post on shelling on Isle of Palms, I divulged our favorite beach access for shelling – Access 42.  We usually stay on 41st Street, so it’s an easy walk or golf cart ride to hit the beach.  We rented a larger house closer to the heart of town in 2022 and used Beach Access 9 but didn’t find it to be a good area for shelling.  We ended up driving down

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a slice of life

back to IOP for a creative retreat

The last time I met up with Shaunna for a creative retreat was in February 2020.  We met up in Panama City Beach, Florida to spend a few days at her parent’s amazing condo that overlooked the ocean.  We ate charcuterie boards and ordered DoorDash.  We painted, played, talked, took notes, dreamed, asked questions, listened to music, and rested.  It was such a wonderful time and I couldn’t wait to do it again. (You can read more about my past creative retreats HERE.) Well, we all know what was around the corner in March of that year.  We have talked about doing a creative retreat for years but the timing was always off for one or both of us.  In addition, her parents were weary of repairing the property after the hurricanes (including a contractor who started squatting in the place) and sold their condo.  We would look at the

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a slice of life

circa 1886

When I was in my mid-20s, I became a Food Network junkie.  We had just moved into the first home we owned, a 1,100 sq ft townhouse, and I had my own kitchen after living in my in-law’s basement for a couple of years while Jeff finished his undergrad degree.  I had a lot of pent-up creative energy and I was very excited about painting, decorating, cooking, and baking.  I had also left my corporate job and committed my days to being a stay-at-home wife and supporting Jeff in his first full-time ministry job as a Youth Pastor.  It was a rare season of life when I didn’t have to work and wasn’t yet occupied with caring for babies.  So, I relished in all things domestic!  Of course, I painted the walls, refinished furniture, installed trim, and wood floors, and worked on our small house, but I watched the Food

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I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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