long weekend

This weekend did not turn out as planned, but it did turn out to be quite spectacular. 

The original plan was to spend a long weekend in a cabin in the middle of the mountains, hosted by one of my best friends on the planet. When a family emergency prompted her to cancel the trip I was a little heartbroken (and concerned for her and her family of course), but the mister and I decided not to just sit around at the house and instead take full advantage of each day that we had off together. It so rarely happens, after all. 

To kick off the weekend, I had an unexpected Friday night off and the mister already had plans to see a movie with a friend so I decided to plan a girls night out! I don't even know the last time this happened. Yummy dinner, a little shopping, and a movie (The Help, actually quite cute) was such a treat and I'm glad we could make a night of it!

On Saturday we decided to head over to Great Falls, since I'm fairly certain I had never been there even having lived here for so long. I have to admit I was expecting something a little...greater. It was pretty and all, but it reminded me more of hiking alongside the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg than anything I would call Great Falls. To be fair there is some water spilling over some rocks. I guess you could call that Falls. I don't know. I generally think there should be a significant falling of water over several stories to constitute a Falls, but that could just be me. It was lovely nonetheless.

On Sunday we picked up a few odds and ends at Ikea, got some Orange Julius at the mall, got caught in a downpour, and did some relaxing. 

Monday was the big day. The one we had planned out. Monday we headed down to VA Beach. We headed out pretty early in the morning and got there before noon, and from the looks of things when we got there we were in for a relatively chilly, windy, overcast day.

Not exactly what you dream of for a day at the beach, but hey, I was prepared to take it. I was just happy to be at the beach. And the wind made for good kite flying (this was not planned, I just happened to still have the kite in my car from the last time we used it a couple of years ago) And then this happened.

It turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day at the beach. The clouds went along their merry way and left the sky bright blue. It warmed up, sent us in the water, and made for a lovely day. Until we realized I was getting burned. I had applied sunscreen, several times, because I know myself. But it was no match for the fury of the sun. And today I can barely walk it hurts so bad. I'm carrying my aloe lotion around with me like a baby with her bottle. Do I regret it? No. Am I going to trust spray sunscreen the next time I go to the beach? No.