Where in the world is the Parsons’ family this week?  It almost sounds like we’re off on some great adventure, but we’re really just bumming around staying with family and in homes that are open to us!  I suppose that is an adventure of sorts and we are trying to make it feel like that.  We had the opportunity to stay in my cousin’s lake house for about a week and it has been such a treat.  The house itself is cute and comfortable and I’ve enjoyed sitting on the dock watching the swans, people floating by on kayaks and the clouds.  It’s been peaceful, restful, and felt like a bit of a vacation from all of the car trips. We are now heading back to Raleigh, NC for a few days before we head back north to Pennsylvania, but before we leave, I thought I would show you our

Get ready for a lot of pictures of classic low-country southern architecture, because today I’m sharing about our little excursion with my mom to Charleston, SC. When we first started talking about things to do in the general area of Isle of Palms, Charleston rose to the number one thing I wanted to do.  We didn’t really want this vacation to be about running around and doing touristy things, but the beautiful old city of Charleston was too close to not visit.  The guys weren’t really interested, so we left them back at the beach house. The best way to cover the most ground in Charleston is to do a carriage tour, so we signed up for one shortly after we arrived.  There are several companies who offer the tours at a couple of different price points.  We went with Palmetto Carriage Works because they had the earliest opening and

As I’ve shared before, my favorite thing to do at the beach is to hunt for shells.  I’ve been shelling since I was a little girl, helping my Oma hunt for olive shells at Long Beach, NC.  When we cleaned out her attic, we found several five-gallon buckets filled to the brim with shells she had collected.  She definitely passed that along to me and combing a beach is the first thing I’ll do when my feet hit the sand.  As I was sharing about shelling in my Instagram stories, I was asked if I’d share some tips on shelling, so here they are… tips for shelling | make sure it’s permitted The first step to shelling is to make sure it’s okay to pick up and keep shells from that beach.  When I shared the shells I found on Instagram, I received some questions about that as well as