Livin' La Vida Luxem: Edging ever closer...

Let me first thank my wonderful sister, my awesome brother, my amazing brother-in-law and marvelous sister-in-law for traveling across the mid-Atlantic and for missing out on all sorts of fun activities to create a Super Sunday Send-Off. Most of our fabulous east-coast nieces, Lauren, Hailey, Jane and Emmy along with our stellar nephew Chris – Derek and Lexi (both of whom are equally as tremendous) weren’t able to come due to work obligations - descended upon the home of my stupendous parents for a day of food, family time and general ‘filling-in-of-details’ regarding our pending move. We’re really grateful for all the well wishes. Their support means a great deal to us!

Whew...I was running out of adjectives

Now onto the beach:

‘Unbridled Joy’ best describes Jonas’ first foray to the beach.

Tob Man and The Sea

Toby is an old pro at the shore, but Jonas had never seen anything like it. On his first visit to the coast he made sure to let anyone within sprinting distance know how utterly amazing this wide-open stretch of sand, salt and smells truly was.

OMG OMG OMG OMG

We had a delightful time in Duck, North Carolina. Taking strolls twice a day with the boys along the beach was great, and the overall lack of stress was much appreciated before the penultimate purge ahead of moving day! Our vacation rental home was enormous…as most tend to be these days. With five bedrooms and three baths, we maintained our residence on the upper level only. Everything down there is super-sized nowadays (definitely not our rental unit by the way). Believe it or not, ours was the most cost-effective, dog friendly place we could find in our preferred location. What we love most about the Outer Banks is the slow pace. We only dined out a couple of times using the full kitchen to cook in most days. Duck has evolved tremendously since my first visits back in the 1980’s (don’t worry I won’t go back there). The town now has a great boardwalk that connects all of the shops (too numerous to detail).

Five years! See we really are a happy couple.

I must thank the folks at Elizabeth’s Café for a fabulous dining experience on our wedding anniversary. As you can imagine, most restaurants along the ocean concentrate on fresh seafood…and rightly so. Elizabeth’s Café is a French style fine dining restaurant specializing in a wine-pairing menu. When asked if they could accommodate our vegetarian diet, they didn’t hesitate. In fact they were most accommodating. They served up two (yes two) vegetarian options sized up to become proper entrees with great sides and wonderful wine. Don’t let me forget the Belgian Pot-au-crème for dessert! The laid-back beach life melded seamlessly with a ‘Maison’ experience. Fine dining in flip-flops…it just doesn’t get any better. No photos of the food, sorry. Popping a flash in the dim candlelight would have been a real Rube thing to do.