hand me down honeymoon part one: getting there

For our honeymoon, Zack and I flew ourselves to the Bahamas and back, by way of Georgia and Florida. My parents also flew themselves on a similar tour of the southeast and the Bahamas. That's why I call it a hand me down honeymoon. Photos I posted on Instagram are tagged #handmedownhoneymoon.

 But first, doughnuts.

Zack's cousin works at Peace Love and Little Donuts. She brought us a variety in five boxes, including two whole boxes of maple bacon, to our wedding. Torri made sure they got in our car after the wedding, and I was SO happy when I got to eat them later. 

We started our journey to the Bahamas the day after our wedding. The first stop we'd planned was St. Simons Island, Georgia. 

We diverted to Savannah to wait out some weather. We got to see F-18s and other military aircraft, and we took the crew car to enjoy the river front. 

We switched seats for the hop from Savannah to SSI.

We finally ate our wedding food! I packed up a cooler, and we took it on our trip. We got to eat it in St. Simons Island. It was delicious! Unforgettable Food Affairs catered our wedding. It was perfect for a late night meal, before a walk on the beach. 

Up early the next morning, we headed down to the Bahamas. This is on final at Marsh Harbour airport. 

Only three more vehicles to get to our house! The woman who rented us the house coordinated a taxi for us, the taxi took us to meet the boat rental company on the water, and we rode with them back to the boat rental place, then took this boat to our house . . . almost. 

Once we parked in the cove, we unloaded all of our stuff. So the benefit of taking your own airplane (or your parents' ;) ) is that you can pack as many random bags, not real suitcases, as you want to, as long as you do a weight and balance, of course. It seems like an okay plan until you realize you have vague walking directions that take you an unknown distance, and you're not really sure you can carry all of it. I had been wearing my wedding shoes since our wedding, but I decided it was time to put on tennis shoes for this hike. Fortunately, as soon as I got them on, a man walked up and offered us a ride on his golf cart. He said that he had a family of five, but the rest of them took another way home. 

We were very thankful for the ride! Between our taxi from the hotel to the airport in SSI, the twin comanche, taxi from Marsh Harbour airport to the dock, boat to the cove, and golf cart to the house, we took five vehicles to get there just on Monday.

J. Crew chino shorts: red and blue

Last Wednesday, my mom and I went to the farmer's market to eat lunch and search for a plant like the one she had last year (seen here). I've looked a few times this summer, and we haven't been able to find one. 

We had an (always) delicious #notpaleo lunch at the NC Seafood Restaurant and picked up some peaches. 

Dan will eat anything. 

Ray-Ban Original Wayfarer Classic sunglasses // HMD earrings from Mom // Polo shirt // HMD scarf belt from Mom // J. Crew 3" chino shorts // Jack Rogers Napa Valley Navajo

patriotic walk to the lake

I hope there's nice weather wherever you are on Independence Day. Dan and I are learning to love walks and jogs together, usually in the early mornings since it's so hot. 

This outfit is entirely hand me down and yet another red, white, and blue ensemble to celebrate Independence Day. I am thankful that we have religious freedom in our country; I can gather with friends and pray and read my Bible. I can keep as many copies of the Bible as I want to, give them to anyone, and tell anyone about it. I am even more thankful that my true freedom is in Jesus. The Bible says, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians), and I grasp hold of that freedom whether or not my country gives me permission. 

hand me down scarf from Mom // HMD Brooks Brothers shirt from brother's closet // HMD Anne Cole bathing suit from Mom

waking up in red, white, and blue

Continuing my tradition of wearing red, white, and blue all week before July fourth, I jumped at the chance to buy these Sleepy Jones pajamas (Alex tank, Tauba short) on sale recently. My mug is a hand me down, stamped with the Carolina Aero Club logo. Three generations of my family have been involved in the club, which played a large part in my parents meeting. 

I'm so glad to have patriotic pajamas that are made in the USA! And below is what our mornings actually look like. 

Happy Independence Day!!!

Independence Day prep

The last few years, I've enjoyed wearing patriotic outfits for all of July 4th week. Blue and white is my favorite color combination for spring/summer, so it's easy to put together outfits that fit the week's theme. 

This blue floral printed scarf is my favorite hand me down scarf from my mom. Her hydrangeas have been gorgeous the last couple of weeks, and I decided to snap photos with them while I tried out a few looks with the scarf. I had a great outfit and hairstyle in mind (those ideas don't always turn out how I picture them) with a head scarf and my long hair, but I forgot to do it before I cut my hair! Oh well. It looked a little silly, so I tried the scarf some other ways and liked the big bow ponytail. 

What do you like to wear for Independence Day? Do you dress for the holiday all week? 

sweet potato biscuits

As a southerner, I'm ashamed to admit that I don't have a go-to biscuit recipe. I think I made biscuits in foods and nutrition class in high school, and since then, I've only made drop biscuits a handful of times to top chicken pot pie. So I'm taking a break from doughnuts to search for great biscuit recipes. 

Thumbing through a few hand me down cookbooks last week, I left some pages open with biscuit recipes. When we had extra baked sweet potatoes on hand, I decided to start my biscuit making with a recipe for sweet potato biscuits. 

The recipe is fairly quick and easy, but the dough was sticky, difficult to roll out, and more difficult to cut, pick up, and place on a baking stone. If I make this recipe again, I will roll out the dough a tad thicker, as the best biscuit in the batch was the biggest one I made by throwing together all of the scraps.

Do you have a good biscuit recipe or biscuit making tips? Please share!

winter light

Anthropologie headband (old, but other fun ones here) // HMD sweater from Granny // HMD bracelet from Granny // Loren Hope Clara bracelet // Handpicked bracelet // Forever 21 skirt // J. Crew tights // Kenneth Cole Reaction pumps

blue blocks

HMD sweater from Granny // Jenni K link bracelet // J. Crew Bennett Chino // Tory Burch Reva flats

cobalt cashmere

If you saw me last week, you saw this outfit already ;) It was on heavy rotation during snow week. I think I've worn my green Hunter boots 25+ times since early December, so I felt it was time to mix things up and bring out the Festival boots. It has been so wet and cold here that I've stopped even pretending that I'm going to switch to nicer shoes at work. No wet pant legs here--all smiles as I step in each and every puddle. 

hand me down earrings from Mom // HMD sweater from Granny // HMD bangle from Mom // Michael Kors small Layton watch // OPI You Don't Know Jacques! // J. Crew corduroys // Hunter wellies (these are from the Festival collection a few years ago)

precious puppy

My mom's friend has the most adorable puppy!  

I kind of wish she was mine, but she was a handful!

Kiel James Patrick Dashing Valerie headband // Premier faux pearl necklace (email amandabaileyjewels@gmail.com) // Ralph Lauren oxford // hand me down Ralph Lauren sweater vest from Mom // HMD Harris Tweed coat from Mom // Ralph Lauren khakis // Clarks Wallabees