in my beach bag: island getaway.

Ah, did everyone have a good three days? I hope so. I have been buried in all thing happy - and most times, overwhelming - like learning a new trade, trying new recipes, eating good food (out) and downloading hundreds of photos from the past month. I know I was absent last week, so let's get right to it.

Before I started my new job, we made a quick escape to our happy place, which we've covered at length previously, and that is the garden isle of Kaua'i. For our little family of three, this was our first official vacation, if you don't count a couple of brief local weekend trips and a large family stay in Lake Tahoe.

As I was settling into our lovely, lovely home for the week, I got a little anxious on day one, thinking about how to cover this island differently than I had in years past, because I love sharing these kinds of things with you. And I quickly discovered that I wasn't going to have a choice: family vacationing is quite different than a breezy getaway for two, and I recognize that blogging about Mari discovering chickens, fish, tropical birds and flowers isn't as interesting to you as it is to me.

So, instead I have a couple of quick things to share, like what I packed in my beach bag and lived on for five days (really: why do I even pack a flat iron? It never, ever gets used). Perhaps it will inspire those who are already thinking about Spring Break. Because it's almost March. Yikes!

one // two // three // four // five // six // seven // eight // nine // ten*

*hands-down: my most favorite article of clothing for this spring/summer and worth every penny!

I hope to share some vacation photos with you, plus some new tips for anyone who might be Kaua'i-bound. I fell in love with the island, all over again, and we never left the North Shore.

Aloha. Or, as Mari says: A-lo-lo-lo.