Where's Abby (+ Dylan and dogs)

I got to have one of the busiest couple months maybe ever from August til October over here. So I figured I'd blog about it? August 27-30: fly to Jax, drive to Tampa the nexts day for cousin's lovely wedding. The weddings have certainly slowed down in this old age of ours, so it was nice to have theirs (and the next) this summer. Celebrating with the family including my Mimi was special too. August 31-September 3rd: back to working time! Rocking and rolling with all the scheduling, planning, nonsense of getting the year started. September 3-6: one freaking dreamy Orcas Island weekend to celebrate Tara and Avery's marriage. Bioluminecient kayking, whale watching, hiking with magical views... A celebratory dinner with giant windows with the water views... And this crew was quite entertaining with so many humors and characters in the mix. Very much enjoyed.  September 10-13: NYC for an epic girls weekend for Harry Styles dazzled in sparkles. We danced all night with the love o...

Captiva was a place I traveled to with the O'Connells and family several times as a teenager. It holds so many memories: swimming in the pool (for probably hours every single day), orange crunch cake (which Trudy, the master baker, replicated for years to come), sneaking out at 16 with Amy for my first kiss with that country boy from Missouri, Jordan Propst, skimboarding with Matt and Harris (and getting absolutely scraped up by shells), step bump bumping with Amy down the beach, and all sorts of other shenanigans. If Blogger had existed back then, I would've had plenty to say about those trips. After years of talking about revisiting this special place, Dad made it happen with a weekend trip with the fam. What a bizarre experience revisiting a place with so many distinct memories. The colorful restaurants were all still there, along with the gravel roads, seashell driveways, and palm trees galore... just as wonderfully tropical as I remembered. The first day (after my redeye f...

So I do work in July, but we still had lots of good summer fun.     Visitors   First up, we had a lovely time with Amanda and Stephen! This was their first time visiting us in Oregon (missed out on a Pacific City visit) and their first time coming to our home! So that was fun. I've known these two since middle/high school, so it was fun having them stay at our place like we're all adults or something. But we had a great visit with a bike ride to Gabbiano's, a Gorge trip for waterfalls, fruits, lavender ice cream, and guessing all the flavors at Stave and Stone Winery. We got to meet up with Amanda's West Coast fam too for a Japanese garden day ( after  a big breakfast at the house, walk to Alberta St. shopping, and a lunch at the Paper Bridge ). It was a full day by 3pm.      My parents came up for a week at the end of July. Months ago, I had called Crater Lake Lodge just throwing out a long shot to try to get even just a night over the summer and...