Last weekend was the marking of Steven’s first official weekend at Cisco. Sadly, I was in Dallas for my annual “Girls Trip” with my Hizzies (girlfriends from high school) and visiting Benj’s family so we weren’t able to celebrate properly (post to come later…I left my camera in Dallas).

Our belated celebration began Friday evening with the “Grill Master.” Steven made a fantastic rub for our New York Stip Steaks. He grilled them to perfection, even achieving the sought after diamond grill marks. The flavor was superb and accompanied my gourmet, baked french fries and fresh spinach salad quite swimmingly.

Friday morning we packed our newly purchased necessity beach items into Sameshaun and headed down to Wrightsville Beach, which lies on the southeastern coastline of North Carolina. The short, two-hour drive was well worth it; I was expecting a beach much like Hilton Head: pretty nice sand but not very clear water like most beaches found along California. However, we were greeted with white sand and clear, aqua blue waters: we were standing chin deep and could still see our feet! It felt like our own little Cancun and word has it that this beach has nothing on the Outer Banks…aw, for another weekend.

We left our camera in the car, so I had to use a stock photo but hopefully this gives you an idea.

We were well equipped to enjoy the day relaxing and playing. We had our beach umbrella, chairs with feet rests, magazines, books, cooler with fruit and drinks galore, Speedminton…we were set. That is until after we soaked up all the rays we could manage and walked back to the car to discover the one quintessential item, especially with a red head, we hadn’t packed: SUNSCREEN. We’re paying for it now, but are ever so thankful for the powerful magic of Noxema.

Upon arriving home, we were greeted by this:

And just when I thought the weekend couldn’t get any better, we woke up to a rainstorm. Probably one of the most perfect weekends.

Now, have we enticed any of you to come visit us? I promise to try my hardest to recreate this splendid weekend for you!