Espace Mukti - Été

 When writing the previous post about summer, I remembered this illustration I did a couple months ago for Espace Mukti. Karine is one of my favorite clients, it is always so much fun to work with her. (I know I've said that before, but it's true!) Working on this made me crave a beach vacation so bad, since we did not plan our annual trip to Chincoteague, VA this year. Turns out, we did pay a short visit to the Atlantic after all.. ;) 

Even though I did not do any yoga at the beach.. and my boat pose is nowhere near being that tight!

I'm thinking of maybe taking some classes at Espace Mukti this fall. I love doing yoga at home, in the comfort of my pj and privacy. But sometimes attending class is an amazing motivation. 

L'été

 I really have some mixed feelings going on with summer.. I know, most people just luurve summer. It's warm, you get to eat outside and enjoy the terraces, and festivals and stuff. I'll admit I do love some things about this season... It's my birthday in July, and I do love to swim, and I love fresh berries and veggies, and to eat al-fresco. But..but I feel like it can become complain-season. We find it too warm, we complain when it's raining, when it's too cold, then the allergies roll in and it just plain sucks. So.. yeah I'm kind of dreaming about autumn already. It's really my favorite season each year, and I just can't wait. The weather has been pretty perfect these last days and I am trying to enjoy summer while it's still around. 

 I also find it harder to balance work and play during the summer too... Especially this year. We took on the kitchen reno at the end of June, and honestly, that was a much bigger bite to chew then we thought. Things are finally starting to get back to normal. Last week, we got our counter tops and sink installed... (like hell-yeah-hallelujah after nearly 50 days of washing the dishes in the bathroom) It's hard to feel efficient when your life feels so disorganized at times. I feel bad about blogging less.. but truth is, I was just not inspired. It's like this summer dragged on and on, and also flew by like crazy... Like I said, mixed feelings!! 

 We did take a mini vacation to Hampton Beach last week. And it was exactly what we needed. We got away, got a change of pace : Constance woke up at 6am everyday there, I blame the ocean air. Still, walking a dog on a board walk by the sea is not a bad thing at all, even at 6am. I even out-lawed it and snuck her on the beach when it was really early. She had the best time ever and I'm glad I did it. While we loved our stay (even our swims, at 58F the water was pretty icy but still felt amazing) I don't know if I'd return to Hampton Beach per se. We did not click with the Jersey Shore vibe (as in the program, not the place) and things were pricy and very tourist-trap-y. We drove around and really loved Rye, NH.. and North Hampton, NH, maybe those places are better options? Anybody ever stayed in New Hampshire outside of Hampton Beach? 

 I don't have any pics of our vaca to share since we took this weekend to really disconnect with the Internet and our Iphones and social media and all. It feels great to just put it away and LIVE. Maybe one day I'll buy a camera and take actual pictures, I used to love it, you know, back in the days with my Nikon and some film! 

 So yeah.. back to almost normal, we will put the final touches around here and I can't wait to share our new kitchen. It's looking better and better as we get closer to being finally done. 

Calendar : July*

In my opinion, July always represent the most-much-better month of summer. But if you are in Québec like me, you're probably wondering where summer's been hiding.. It's been pretty cold, and we keep having a lots and lots of rain. Sadly, for some cities and areas that also means floods and water damage. :( 

Maybe this drawing can bring back some warmth and sun our way? We could all use a bit more sunlight! 

*My family updated me on the fact that I wrote June twice into the blog post title. Mistake fixed ;)

We had an amazing week in Maine.. And the wedding was just.. perfect. We cannot really wrap our brains around just how perfect everything was, and everything went. 

I'll share some pictures as soon as we have them. 

In the meantime, back to normal life and work schedules! 

xo

Back

 And... We're back. This was an amazing week.. Finding ourselves disconnected from... Well pretty much everything (who lives without internet connection now days!?) felt very good. We knew we could have had wifi at the island's McDonalds.. but really, that was just out of the plan. The weather was cloudy for most of the week, which had me bummed out a bit at first, but it did not actually rain. We have been able to swim-swim-swim in the ocean without worrying too much about sunburns, or sun-excaustion. Just making small plans for each day, one day at the time, was very relaxing. Spending quality time with my family is always so much fun, and makes me realize how lucky I am. :) We ate SO MUCH seafood. The price is really reasonable, and the produce also was cheap and so good. (Hello fresh ripe peaches!?) 

 The long drive is so, so worth it. We decided to cut the drive back in two, and stayed in Cape May NJ on sunday. Cape May is beautiful. It always strikes me. When I was 5, 7, 25.. now. And even though it was a super fun afternoon and night; the waves were very strong (even bigger - taller then the ones in Chincoteague, that can still flip a grown man upside down!), we swam for almost 2 hours straight, then enjoyed a restaurant me and my parents loved from our vacations 20 or so years ago (The Lobster House, on the marina - was hectic but worth it!)... We realized just how much we love our small beach town. It's so much more quiet... There is just less people. And the vacationers are more laid back, they really all seam to be tuned to the same relax beat. Cape May kept making us think... Jersey, in a negative connotation way. (not in the awesome lush nature beautiful state kind of way.) So yes, it's still worth it to go all the way south to our tranquil - less urban getaway. The refuge is so... untouched. And it feels much better to the soul.

 I feel there is so many things I could say about this awesome vacation... Swimming in the crushing waves and feeling all salty, seeing groups of dolphins having fun in the waves too in the distance . Feeling like rockstars on the beach with our new Hudson Bay Company towels, cooking live blue crab! Tasting Virginia wines, enjoying out favorite beach food at Woody's Eatery, scratching mosquito bites... I could go on and on. I still have some more photos, taken on roll (!!) That I'll get, and share, later this week. I'm thinking that maybe next year I'll have to work on a vacation city guide, to show my appreciation to this area. Until then... 

I'll be by the beach, if you need me.

The things I cherish the most about beach vacations: 

+ Family time, 

+ Collecting many more freckles,

+ Catching up on a good book(s),

+ The week goes by with mostly leggings and sun dresses over bathing suits,

+ You kind of don't need to wash your hair, ever,

+ The incredible amount of sea food and white wine,

+ Still finding tiny grains of sand in your house weeks later.

I'll be spending the week in Chincoteague, VA, one of my favorite places on earth. 

Take care, and I'll see you next week!