Eight days of relaxation and fellowship…ahhhhhh. Just what we needed to recharge before the holidays! We pulled into Florence on Monday afternoon and drove to the home where we would be parking our RV for several months. We were greeted with lots of love…and reunited with one of my sweetest friends, Becky…and her husband Rocky. Becky and I met on MySpace over 2 years ago…and a friendship formed. We started talking more and more…exchanging things in the mail, talking on the phone…etc. So when I decided to dread my hair, I immediately thought of Miss Becky (she has amazing dreads herself!) and asked if she would be interested in coming to Boulder when we were there visiting family and friends over Christmas. She had a friend in Boulder at that time too…and I was so excited when she said YES! Weeeeee! I was on my way to meeting one of my most favorite people! We had a wonderful time in Boulder getting to know each other IN PERSON. It was a blessed time of fellowship.
Fast forward one year…and here we are! Florence, SC Baby! We spent 8 days there before we drove the car back up to Raleigh to fly back to Minneapolis. And what a wonderful 8 days they were…here are some highlights:
We spent an amazing afternoon in Hartsville at The Midnight Rooster. Becky’s dear friend Jessie is the owner of this adorable establishment and we had a great time eating veggie delights and sipping lattes while the girls danced on the stage and entertained us all. This is the kind of coffee shop that you just want to stay and stay and stay some more. It’s eclectic, warm, funky, and fresh (I just like saying funky and fresh in the same sentence). Check out some of the other pics I took there and you’ll see what I mean. Lots of great ideas for decorating there :). I want to go back!
We went to Marianne and Kirk’s house. I wish I could truly explain with words what it means to be at their house…it’s an experience that you need to have in person. They have 6 kids. They have a huge open hearth fire. They have a ping pong table in their family room. They have a wood fired oven in their totally crazy amazing commercial kitchen. And the moment you walk in, you feel like you’ve been there 100 times. They were missionaries in Italy for 9 years. Marianne is like a mother to everyone near her…she’s Italian. She’s beautiful. She can cook like no one’s business. That night we had wood fired pizzas…on the most tasty crusts I’ve ever had. The olive oil they used for the meal that night had been pressed just 3 weeks prior in Italy (they order it direct!). They have the kind of house that you want to stay and stay and stay.
We met Tami. Beautiful, world-traveler, aspiring midwife, yogini Tami She holds a yoga night at her adorable home and we went over to say hello. Of course, once I was there, I had to capture it in photos. I loved looking around her home…you can tell so much about a person by what they choose to surround themselves with. It was so fun to see all of her treasured items…a necklace from Africa was my favorite. I also loved how she didn’t have a couch…but a soft futon on the floor, covered with pillows. I may have to steal that idea someday So inviting.
A few days before we left, we packed all the kiddos in the van and headed to Myrtle Beach. It was a beautiful 75 degree day, and we had so much soaking it all in. Lilli and Bella were CRAZY in the water (even though it was COLD!). They played in the sand all day. We saw a horseshoe crab and found lots of seashells. Rocky and Matt stayed at the water’s edge with the girls while Becky and I walked and chatted. There is just something so soothing about the sound of the waves. I could have stayed and stayed and stayed! Noticing a pattern here?
Becky and Rocky play in a band called Rosewater Faire…and I fell in love with their music the first time Becky sent me a CD 2 years ago. We had the other band members over on Sunday afternoon for lunch and we were treated to an impromptu concert in the living room. Yay! Becky sings lead…she has the most beautiful, smooth, haunting voice. Be sure to check out their music on their MySpace page. They haven’t been playing actively for awhile…but they still sound great!
We had a couple different families who have been following our tour stop by the RV to see it and say hello. Debbie brought her son and his friend and Hope brought her daughter Claudia to play with Bella.
The best part about spending time with this family is that it’s just “easy”. Everything feels so comfortable. Bella and Lilli had so much fun playing together every day in their cute little fenced in yard. Their house is so warm and wonderful…with music always playing, tea always brewing, original artwork adorning the colorful walls. Becky spoiled Matt with one too many pans of rice crispy bars…and he loved it They fixed us “grits”…which I promptly put butter and brown sugar on. Oh boy…you would think I was going to be kicked out of the South for that one Apparently they like to put cheese and salt on them. Ish! Rocky and Matt had “boy time”…and we had “mama time”. It was definitely hard to leave Florence…but we knew that we would be back! We are planning on spending more time there when we get back from the Midwest. It will be a welcome change to go from ZERO degree weather…back to warmth!
Florence photo album here.
Yoga photo album here.
Myrtle Beach photo album here.
What a fantastic trip report! I’m sending you guys lots of energy for more adventure. Thank you for sharing such beautiful photos.
Comment by Isle Dance — January 1, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
Grits and sugar? ewwww! Next time try it with butter and salt!
Comment by Andrea — January 2, 2008 @ 12:45 pm
Oh, Sara, brown sugar doesn’t go on grits. Butter & salt are the only way to do grits properly.
Comment by angela — January 7, 2008 @ 10:55 am
Ewwwww! I really didn’t like the grits at all anyway…they were too course. I would rather just eat malt o meal Maybe they are an acquired taste?
Comment by livelightly2 — January 7, 2008 @ 11:06 am
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