beach essentials! Wish you were here :)

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If you ask me it just doesn't seem fair that summer only gets a pathetic three months out of an entire year. We work, we pay lame bills, we spend too much time not sleeping...so when those precious three months finally arrive life takes a turn for the better. The food tastes fresher, the sun feels hotter, and the music sounds sweeter, but the one thing that makes summertime all the more glorious is taking time off of life to go to the beach. And who doesn't love the beach?! Life is good with tan lines and sunglasses :)

So finally summer has arrived in my life and in about 5 days time, after months of toiling away in my studies and work, my family will be packing our bags and heading to the beach in North Carolina for a week long vacation and I can’t wait!

Here is a list of some of the most important things I am bringing with me:

My super awesome beach bag- I love mine and I was inspired to buy it by my older sister who has this awesome straw bag that she got from j crew (my sisters bag is pictured below)...

My Swimsuit- this year I decided to invest some money in a really good suit that is not only flattering but super adorable!

My floppy hat-you didn't expect me to go to the beach without the perfect floppy hat did you?! ...I didn't think so! What kind of fashionista hopeful would I be if i didn't wide brim things up Audrey Hepburn style?! So here is a link to some really cute and inexpensive hats from my favorite store, Target:
http://www.target.com/s?keywords=floppy+hats&searchNodeID=1038576|1287991011&ref=sr_bx_1_1&x=0&y=0
My sunglasses- over-sized and colorful no less! I have two pairs that I am bringing. One has black lenses for sun protection and the other are pink tinted for adorableness :)
www.forever21.com The perfect maxi-dress- I used to be very opposed to these dresses because they are SO long and usually very unflattering but in recent years they have become really beautiful, elegant, and sexy as far as beach apparel is concerned. I love that they cover up my not so favorite areas and still showcase my tan! Another fun plus to a good maxi dress is how versatile it is, just add a cool necklace and some fun dangling earrings and call it evening wear. I got mine at tj maxx LOVE IT!

Finally:My iPod-see one of my earlier posts "summer playlist" for details. I love music and for me its something that is not only fun but makes sense and makes my life feel more complete. Just don't ask me to play any instruments unless you want your ear drums to burst...
I hope you enjoyed my beachy keen post as much as I enjoyed writing it! Remember to follow me and pass it along! As always, your comments are always welcome! :)

...oh...the sunblock, can't forget the sunblock.

...festive favorites! Happy 4th of July, Y'all!

This fourth of July, my family celebrated our independence with a good ole fashioned grill out and a day long marathon of The Twilight Zone (courtesy of Syfy network). As with any good grill out we made hand-formed burgers, grilled veggies and a cake. Now, you may not think this seems like a very fussy celebration, and to be honest I didn't think so either! So I decided to jazz up our burgers Paula Deen style y'all and add a little (OK a lot of...) butter to the patties, stuffed 'em with some American Cheese and turned an OK American classic into a show-stopping, moist, and delicious super burger that would knock anyone's socks off from sea to shining sea...But don't think that's the end of my festive food frenzy, no ma'am! I fancied up our boring little cake and transformed it into a deliciously fresh and oh so sweet ode to Betsy Ross's finest work. So strike up a chorus of America The Beautiful, say a thanks to our troops and read along for a delicious and easy way to celebrate our nations independence!

For the burgers, don't you be thinking I was kidding when I say I added butter and stuffed those bad boys with cheese because I'm as serious as a heart attack (and if you're not careful, you may just get one from these burgers!)

What you'll need:

1 1/2 lbs ground chuck

4+ slices of American cheese (I prefer Boars Head brand but you can use what ever is available, after all, its still cheese)!

6 Tbs room temperature salted butter (cut into small cubes)

splash of garlic powder

pinch of onion powder

dash of Italian herb seasoning

Take your ground chuck in a large mixing bowl and add your spices to taste. I prefer to use the ground chuck because its a lot more lean than other ground beef so it doesn't shrivel up and lose as much size in the process of grilling. After you have incorporated the spices, add all of the room temperature butter into the ground beef and combine until most of the butter is incorporated. Form the mixture into large meatballs then make an indentation in the middle and put one slice of cheese in the indentation and close the cheese in the middle, flatten into desired thickness and shape for your patties, then grill. This should yield about 4 large patties. Put the burgers onto a nice soft bun and top with grilled veggies and enjoy the moist, buttery, and cheesy taste!

For the cake I just made a regular store-bought cake mix according to the instructions on the box and let cool on top of the oven for a good hour or more. While the batter was in the oven I took one package of fresh strawberries and sliced them and put them into a Tupperware container with fresh blueberries and sprinkled them with about 1/2-3/4 c. sugar and stirred the fruit to coat. I put this into the fridge for the remaining time of the baking and cooling process. Adding the sugar to the berries and cooling them will make a really sweet and fruity syrup because the juice from the strawberries will moisten the sugar and make some delicious magic happen. :) Once the cake is cool enough, I frost it in the pan with store brand vanilla frosting then add the berry and sugar mixture on top. This simple fix to an ordinary cake is perfect for a summertime celebration and perfect for being festive and fun and will always be a holiday favorite!

Hope you've enjoyed reading today's easy and festive twists on old favorites! I know you will enjoy trying them out for your next get together! As always thank you for reading and pass it along if you've had as much fun reading as I have writing. If you have any family favorites, classic crowd pleasers, or inventive solutions give me shout, I would love to try out and add some new recipes to my cookbook! :)

thank you food network for letting me steal your ideas! for full recipe go to

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/big-mike-burger-recipe/index.html

...summer playlist! turn up the iPod, put the windows down and let the wind blow through your hair!

They say music can impact your mood, and I believe that to be true in every way and I know I'm not alone. To me, summer is made up of the precious few (and annoyingly brief) 3 months of the year where I can finally kick back, relax, and enjoy myself so why not have fun dance-along music to make me enjoy that time all the more? Sit back, grab some sweet tea, a towel, and an iPod and head for the beach (or in my case my grassy front yard), and listen along with me as I divulge my top 40 (yes 40) newest must-haves, favorite oldie but goodies, and embarrassing go to's.

1. Wipe Out by Surfaris
2. Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles
3. California Girls by The Beach Boys
4. Rolling in the Deep by Adele
5. Dancing in the Streets by Martha & The Vandellas
6. Kiss the Girl from The Little Mermaid
7. I Gotta Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas
8. Tiny Dancer by Elton John
9. Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers
10. Yellow by Coldplay
11. California Girls (the other one) by Katy Perry
12. Kids by MGMT
13. My Girl by The Temptations
14. You Make Me Feel by Aretha Franklin
15. The Girl by City and Colour
16. Shark in the Water by V.V. Brown
17. Beautiful Day by U2
18. Man, I Feel Like a Woman by Shania Twain
19. I'm Gonna Be by The Proclaimers
20. Viva la Vida by Coldplay
21. Wouldn't it be Nice by The Beach Boys
22. Float On by Modest Mouse
23. Don't Go Breakin' My Heart by Elton John
24. I'm Yours by Jason Mraz
25. Rain on Your Parade by Duffy
26. Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood
27. Save the Last Dance for Me by Michael Buble
28. A Kiss to Build a Dream On by Louis Armstrong
29. Gimme That Girl by Joe Nichols
30. Wind it Up by Gwen Stephani
31. Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus-I know, I know... but its a fun one!
32. Boy With a Coin by Iron and Wine
33. Like a G6 by Far East Movement
34. Bennie and the Jets by Elton John
35. Glass of Water by Coldplay
36. We Found Each Other in the Dark by City and Colour
37. We're Young and Beautiful by Carrie Underwood
38. Short Skirt, Long Jacket by Cake
39. Vienna by Billy Joel
40. Don't Wanna Miss a Thing by Aerosmith

This list took a good amount of time to develop and I am sure I left out a few good ones, but thats what you're here for isn't it? If you think I need to add some or you have your own list you'd like to share let me know! As always, I enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you and if you feel like you are having fun reading my posts and want to share with your friends, please do! The more the merrier!