How to Pack for the Beach

It's no secret that I love spending time at the beach, especially during the summer months. One of the perks to being a teacher is having the summer months "off".  Not many teachers I know are ever actually off the entire summer. Most of us stay busy whether we like it or not between working part time (maybe even full time for some), planning for the upcoming year, taking classes, teaching extended school year during July, doing curriculum development days, etc.  As for me, this summer I am not working full time, but I am staying busy thanks to nannying, catching up with friends, curriculum development, reading some books to stay current with my students, during June I took a class, and I am prepping to coach high school field hockey.  With all that is going on I do have some free time, but it never comes two days in a row.  This upcoming week is actually the only time that I have seven full days in a row with absolutely nothing on my calendar. I am taking full advantage of this by heading down to the beach for ten whole days. I could not be happier heading down for some much needed rest, relaxation, and fun!

With any trip comes the need to pack.  I don't know about you, but I am definitely an over packer. I always like to be prepared. Going to the beach you never know exactly what you are going to encounter as far as weather or festivities go.   I think this provides a reasonable explanation for overpacking, but regardless of the excuses I make,I'm really trying to pack more efficiently. Realistically, I know that I am going to spend the most time in my bathing suit/cover up, so I am taking very few dressed up looks. I plan to spend my mornings working out followed by blogging at a local coffee shop, and then I hope to spend most afternoons/ early evenings soaking up the sun on the beach. 

One: Think about your itinerary

It's important to think about what you will actually be doing on your trip before you begin packing. This ensures that you have the right types of clothing for whatever you may be doing, and it helps you make sure nothing is forgotten. 

Two: Create your essentials list

It's important to make a list of the essentials you will need because these won't change. When I make an essentials list it usually includes items like under garments, pajamas, sneakers, sandals, bathing suits, and toiletries. 

Three: Mix and match

This is my favorite and most difficult part of the whole packing experience. I like to do this once all of my laundry is clean and put away. I begin to think about what I will be doing and take out possible outfits I could wear. I then begin to narrow it down based on what my favorites are. I try to pick items that can be worn several different ways. This gives me more options when I'm away. 

Four: Lay it all out to view

This is a very important step to making sure nothing is forgotten. It also serves as a check point to see if you have over packed. Ask yourself what do I have duplicates of and what am I forgetting.  Seeing everything laid out also helps to visualize what luggage is best to use for your trip.  

Five: Pack it Up

Put it all in your luggage and enjoy the trip!

 

Images from Evelyn Henson

What's in your bag for your next beach trip?

XOXO

What's in My Beach Bag

What's in my bag blog posts are one of my favorite to both read and write.  I always find it fun to explore what people take with them for different occasions. It's neat to learn about different products, habits, and what people consider to be their essential items. This weekend is the last weekend in July. There are so many people I know who are planning to head to the beach, are away on vacation this week, or are packing to head out for a vacation in the next few weeks. I thought this would be the perfect time to share this post with you all! 

I have loved going to the beach ever since I was young. According to my mom, even when I was a baby I loved hanging out and playing in the sand.  Growing up, my summers were always filled with day trips, weekend getaways, and an occasional full week spent at the beach.  We are lucky enough to live about two hours away from Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey beaches, which makes short trips more than doable.  It's pretty easy to wake up, pack up, and head out for a two hour car ride to spend a day on the beach.  

Last week I was lucky enough to do a girls' weekend at the beach with several of my friends from college.  Spending time at the beach with three other people made me realize how different each person's beach routine is. Everyone seems to have a different beach philosophy when it comes to how  they spend their day at the beach...

Getting there early and leaving early vs. Getting there later and staying later vs. Getting there early and staying later

 Bring snacks with you vs. buy something from the snack shack or boardwalk

Spend the day laying out on a towel vs. hanging out on a beach chair

 Bringing water in plastic bottles vs. a swell bottle

Applying sunscreen vs. tanning oil

Spending the day on the sand vs. in the water

Lounging around all day vs. being up and active

Umbrella vs. no umbrella

Beach blanket vs. beach towel

Beach naps vs. staying awake all day

I think you are starting to get the point. Anyways, I feel like what people pack in their beach bag is pretty reflective of their beach philosophy. 

 My beach philosophy includes a long day whether it's going early and staying later or going later and staying later, a beach chair, a beach towel, bringing snacks, bringing a reusable water bottle, applying and reapplying sunscreen, spending most of the day on the sand and dipping my toes in the water, spending most of the day in the sun with maybe an hour under the umbrella. and definitely a few short beach naps throughout the day. So how does my beach bag reflect my beach philosophy?



Cover Up
I have a slight cover up obsession. I am a huge fan of sporting a cute cover up to the beach and on the beach rather than a pair of shorts or an oversized tee. Cover ups are great because they are airy, easy to throw on, and they are adorable.  If it gets chilly, then I throw it on top of my bathing suit, or if I feel like I'm burning up I will put it on to prevent my skin from getting burnt. My favorite cover ups have come from JCrew Factory. You can usually find them during a sale for $30 or less!

Sun Glasses
What's a day on the beach without a pair of sunglasses. I'm sure they are a must in your beach bag too! My current go to shades have been these Ray Ban Classic Clubmasters that I got last Christmas as a gift.

Snacks
Whenever I go to the beach, I spend a long time actually on the beach. Part of the reason I'm able to do this is because I pack so many snacks. Some of my go to beach snacks include cheese and crackers, fruit, chips and salsa, chicken salad and lettuce, popcorn, trail mix, chips/ veggies with hummus, and pretzels.  Last weekend my go to snacks were grapes, cantaloupe, and popcorn.

Sun hat
This summer my sun hat has been a new addition to my beach bag.  I have pretty fair skin, so I burn rather easily.  I have tons of freckles, and I'm not trying to get too many more if I can prevent it.  Since my mom had cancer, my awareness of sun protection has increased. Wearing a hat is a great way to keep the sun off your face while looking fashionable.  This year we found adorable hats that have UPF 50 in them.  They come in a wide range of colors and are very flexible, which makes them easy to pack in any tote.  You can check out my hat here.

Water bottle
This is such a beach essential.  Spending all day in the hot sun puts you at risk for dehydration.  It's so important to stay hydrated while basking in the sun on the beach. I always bring my 32 oz. Hydro Flask to the beach. I fill it half full with ice and the rest with water. It stays cold all day regardless of how hot it is.

Book
One of my favorite things to do is read on the beach. I never spend a day on the beach without a book. Sometimes I can read an entire novel while other days I read a few pages before dozing off. Regardless, I always have a book with me. If you're looking for your next beach read, then check out my summer reading list. 

Wet Suit Clutch
I found this little bag at the outlets this spring. It is lined, so you could put your wet swim suit in it or it could protect your belongings you don't want to get wet at the pool or beach. This pouch holds all the random things I don't want free floating in my bag.  I usually keep bobby pins, hair ties, sun screen, lip balm, headphones, money, my ID, hand wipes, tylenol, and face mist.

The hair accessories are great because you never know what kind of hair day you're going to have with the humidity at the beach.  As far as sun screen goes, I usually bring two types- a face cream and a spray. I always apply sunscreen before heading to the beach, so the spray allows me to reapply without getting too messy. I recently discovered a tinted lip balm that has SPF 35 in it. It smells great and adds a little color.  I like to bring essential oil lemon hand wipes to the beach. They are useful for wiping sand off, washing your hands, or just freshening up. Face mist is an essential for me because it cools me off without having to go in the water.

Other Random Items
Some other random items that I always have at the beach include a hair brush, a beach chair, and a beach towel. I like to bring a brush to tame my messy hair.  I pretty much spend all day in my beach chair, so I couldn't imagine not having one. I use a cheap backpack chair, but I'm thinking about splurging on a Tommy Bahama chair for next summer. This year another new discovery of mine was a beach blanket that doubled as a towel. One side is terrycloth and the other is cotton. It's perfect for the beach or the pool. I found mine at Nordstrom Rack but this is a similar one.

I'd love to hear what your beach day essentials are. Be sure to share with me by adding a comment.
Have a fabulous weekend!

XOXO

A Guide to Rehoboth Beach & Dewey Beach

The summertime is the perfect time to head to the beach. There are so many beaches out there to go to, and each beach has its own personality.  Everyone has their favorite go to beach, whether it be where they went as a child, a place where they love the food, or somewhere with lots of activity.  Regardless when we hear the word beach, we each picture somewhere a little different.  For me when  somebody says the word beach, I immediately think of Rehoboth and Dewey Beach located along the Atlantic Coast in Delaware. 

I have been going to these beaches since I was a small child. I have collected so many memories here from over the years and I'm sure there are still many more to create. We are fortunate enough to have close family friends with a house who let us come down and stay pretty much whenever. After spending the holiday weekend here I thought it would be fun to share a little travel guide with y'all.  Below you will find some of my places to eat, drink, shop, hangout, and have fun. 

Enjoy!

XOXO

Oh The People You Will Meet & The Places You Will Go

If you told me this time one year ago that I would be spending a weekend at the beach with my roommate,jHg, and her best friend, aTm, I certainly would have been hesitant to agree with you.  It is insane how close you can become with someone in the matter of one year. This weekend I had the opportunity to go to the beach with jHg to stay with her and her friend, at her friend's beach house.  It was such a fun girls weekend! For those of you who follow me, mquiggles3, on instagram have seen the evidence of some of the fun we had. 

Saturday:

We got to the beach late in the morning and it was raining enough for us not to want to be on the beach so we grabbed lunch at the Greene Turtle.  We weren't super hungry, so we each got an appetizer and split them three ways.  We ended up with grilled chicken quesedillas, BBQ chicken flat bread, and buffalo chicken dip. All three dishes were tasty.After lunch the skies cleared up and we got a solid three to four hours of beach time in. 

It is nice to be able to relax on the beach and truly take note of the small things in life.As I was laying out after lunch, I noticed that the clouds looked really neat.  The one I was most fond of had a cute turtle shell-like pattern to it.  

Saturday night we went shopping. The beach we went to has some awesome outlets, and because we went at night they weren't crowded at all.  I have bought a decent amount of Summer clothes over the past month and I really should be saving my money, so I only allowed myself to buy things that I could wear in the Fall.

 I purchased with long sleeve navy and peach striped shirt at jcrew.  They were having a huge 40% off sale, so I couldn't resist.

 At American Eagle I bought this adorable brown three-quarter length flowing shirt with a criss cross back.  I love the color of this shirt, and the criss cross back just gives this shirt so much personality.

After shopping, we decided that we should go some place to eat seafood for dinner. Well at 8:30 on a Saturday night just about every good restaurant has a 45 minute wait for a table of three.

 Once we settled on the place worth waiting for, Big Fish Grille, we sat outside and enjoyed the nice cool weather.

 The restaurant we chose was such a good choice.  The ambiance, service, and food did not disappoint whatsoever.  The tables are covered with white paper, and when you are seated the hostess gives you a jar full of crayons, regardless of your age.  If you look around the nice restaurant it is comical to see that people of all ages are dressed up sitting around the table coloring and chatting with friends and family. I, for one, was not mad about coloring.  Of course, my doodles included our monograms. 

Shout out to jHg- You knew this would make it to the blog

The food is a little pricy, but it is high quality which makes it worth the money without a doubt. I ordered Steak and Shrimp.  My meal included lightly breaded onions on the steak plus two sides. I chose creamed spinach and Big Fish Grille's famous mashers. This meal was delicious! I have nothing but good things to say about this dinner and the restaurant we ate in!

Sunday:

We got up really early Sunday morning, so that we could get some quality beach time in before jHg and aTm would have to leave to beat the traffic home.  I think Sunday is the earliest that I have ever been on the beach, with all my things set up for the day, in my entire life.  We were there, on the beach, by 9:30 a.m.  We beat the lifeguards.

There is just something about the beach early in the morning that is so beautiful.

For lunch we went to Grotto's Pizza right off of the boardwalk.  It was delicious.  I love pizza. We each got our own personal pizza, mine was plain. 

After lunch, we stayed on the beach for another hour, and then it was time to say goodbye.  jHg and aTm headed back to the house to pack and go home, while I met up with my mom to do some shopping and spend some time with her and our family friends on the beach.

While shopping with my mom, she showed me the cutest boutique.  I love shopping with her because she always finds the cutest places, and we always have fun shopping together.  I ended up breaking my shopping rule of only buying Fall clothes.

 I bought navy dress with a cut out back, but it was on sale so that's how I justify it to myself.  

I told my mom, "When you find a cute dress, you just have to buy it!" 

And that is exactly what I did.

This weekend was tons of fun, I hope each of you had a fabulous weekend too!

Xoxo

-mQs-

Change of Plans

What was supposed to be a family day trip to the beach on Saturday turned into a nice weekend beach trip with my family and friends.  We ended up going down Friday night and staying with our family friends until Sunday night.  No complaints from this girl, I am a beach freak.  I have made it to the beach seven days so far this summer...not to bad considering its the first week in July and the beach is two hours from where I live.

Friday night we learned a new card game called Hand and Foot.  It is a little confusing at first, but after a few rounds it becomes quite simple.  It is a great game for a large group.  We played with eight people.  It kept us up late both Friday and Saturday night.  There are many variations to the game, if you Click here you can find the rules and figure out how to play. 

 Rehoboth Beach, DE is such a cute town with great opportunities to do some shopping.  Saturday morning sQs and I headed into town to do some "browsing". First we stopped at the Pink Crab (Rehoboth's Lilly P store).

I finally got my new Lilly agenda.  Let me tell you how excited I am to actually start using this!  I had one of these last year and I couldn't resist getting another one for this year.  They are worth every penny of the $28 that you pay for it. 

 sQs also bought me a koozie.  This pattern is actually what my old agenda was, and I love it!

The last time I was down at the beach I saw this bag.  I decided to wait to buy it, so when we went into the store and it was the last one there I knew it was meant to be. I had to get it! It's a cute black bag, such a classic.

Next we headed into Browse About Books.  This is such a cute book store.  With the reading groove I have been in lately I couldn't resist buying a couple books.  I figured it is good to support a local store, and since I am going to the beach for a week next week I will be in need of a good beach read. 

I bought two books, which I am positive I will blog about sometime in the near future. 

For those of you who follow me on instagram (which I encourage you too) have already seen this picture! 

 Instagram: mquiggles3

Anyways, we ended our morning of shopping with a nice Iced chai from our favorite little coffee shop, The Coffee Mill.  It was in the 90s and really humid, so this was very refreshing!

We usually go on the beach in the afternoon and stay there past seven. Where we go to beach once the lifeguards leave at five you can bring your dog on the beach, so the beach transforms into a giant dog park/ happy hour around 5:15. 

sQt (my brother) is on the left, K (my oldest friend- we've known each other since we were three) is to the right of me, then his brother D, and his other brother R.  Our families are so close we are basically like cousins. 

It wouldn't be a complete day on the beach without some Strawberry lemonade and Mango Planet Ice water ice.  They have people who drive on golf carts up and down the beach selling the best water ice.  It is thirst quenching and incredibly refreshing after you have been sitting in the heat all day. 

Sunday was a gorgeous beach day! Hot with a nice cool breeze.

While we were walking in Dewey Beach to get lunch on Sunday we popped into a store and sQs bought me these earrings.  $12 such a steal! I love them!

 Last night I came home to flowers in my room.  tDn snuck in while we were gone and left them for me.   They were cherry topper to a great weekend.

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend!

Xoxo

-mQs-

What's In My Beach Bag

Awhile back I had a post on what Beach Bag to buy for this summer. I finally decided to get a monogrammed canvas tote from Invite Cottage.  It is black and has my initials in bright pink.  I actually ordered my mom this same bag for Mother's Day, she loves it. 

Okay so here are most of the items that I put in my bag to go to the beach.  

A book, hair brush, sun glasses, cards, Vera Bradley beach towel,small cosmetic case, large cosmetic case, a hat, and a tumbler for water (not pictured).

 In this small Vera Bradley cosmetic bag I usually put my ipod, headphones, and phone.  It is lined so it keeps my electronics safe from the salt air, dampness, and rain that can all happen while at the beach. 

 In this large Vera Bradley make up case is where I keep all of my essentials.  

Hawaiian Tropic 30 SPF sun screen- this is my absolute favorite sunscreen it smells so good and most importantly protects my skin from the sun

Cetaphil- I use this SPF 50 on my face. My skin is ultra sensitive so it is hard for m to find sun screen for my face that doesn't irritate it. 

Aloe- You can never go to the beach without this.  In case a long day at the beach leaves you with a sunburn

Chap stick- I am obsessed with this.

Orange eos- I always wear this.

Yellow eos- This has SPF 15 so it keeps my lips from burning

Having short hair makes life at the beach difficult for this girl.  There is no such thing as a good hair day for me when it comes to spending time on the beach.  This is why I have hair ties, claw clips, bobby pins, and head bands.. all of these help keep my hair under control.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I take to the beach!

xoxo

-mQs-

First Beach Day of Summer 2013

Yesterday sQt and I took a day trip to the beach.  It was the perfect beach day about 90 degrees with a slight breeze.  The only downside was that the water was extremely cold, but it is still May so I guess it makes sense that the water was rather chilly.  

 Here is a glimpse of my beach bag I decided on from my post in April. 

I can promise you there will be a "What's in my Beach Bag" post coming soon!

 Leaving the Beach to go home: sun burnt and hungry

Of course what is a trip to the beach without stopping at the outlets.  We spent a few hours shopping.  There was a lot of great clothing, but I was on a budget so I didn't get too much.

Vineyard Vines Flip Flops

 Two pairs of Nike running shorts

Bright pink shorts from American Eagle

Happy Friday, enjoy your last day of May!

xoxo

-mQs-