iphone does - amelia's birthday weekend

Well, you know what they say. While the husbands are away, the wives will play. They don't actually say that, but they should. We've known for about 6 months that Amelia's husband would be in England for his fellowship over the summer/her July 3rd birthday, & with Jared being up in DC, the obvious solution was a good ol' fashioned girls weekend at the beach. I think we mostly just wanted an excuse for a girls weekend in our husbandless states of being, but also BIRTHDAY! 

I managed to forget my real camera at home every time we left the house this weekend (which is sometimes a relief when you have an excuse to not be that girl in the restaurant taking pictures of her plate with a giant Canon), so iphone photos, FTW.

Thursday evening :: I was at work when Amelia arrived in from Richmond, 

but her husby had macarons delivered to my apartment 

& I made sure to deck the halls with birthday balloons & garlands.

Yes, that says "wifey."

We promptly headed out for upscale Mexican at the local Luna Maya restaurant. 

Jalepeno tequila & deconstructed tamales? Oh, yes.

From there, we enjoyed a concert in the park & some 3rd of July fireworks, 

which they definitely set off JUST for Melie's birthday. Obvi.

Teaching ginger niece about the finer things in life. 

She gets her cupcake eating skills from her aunt.

Proud to be an Americaaaaaaaan! 

+ 1.5 yr old experiencing fireworks for the first time

& fireworks.

& niece! & fireworks.

aaaaaaand fireworks. Can't help ourselves but to take pictures of these guys. 

Friday morning :: It sort of hurricaned-ish overnight, 

but strong winds couldn't keep us from donuts on Friday morning.

Just some sugar. My recently whole30'd body is still angry at me. 

Lesson learned.

Friday afternoon :: Cookout at my parents with boozy strawberry basil lemonade 

+ golden doodles who just do not understand the principles of Instagram photo staging.

We met while we were both GMU Patriots & her birthday is on July 3rd, 

so we're pretty good at this American thing.

Saturday morning :: This gets a full frame 

because I have never seen the Virginia Beach oceanfront so packed.

However, that may be because I was last at the boardwalk on a summer Saturday in 2006 

when I hung out with a one Mister Jared Bethune for the first time.

(locals pride ourselves on our secret beaches, of course), 

But! Amelia & I wanted a classic boardwalk experience & we sure got it.

Really proud of ourselves for packing a picnic lunch, 

buying beer & carrying a cooler all the way out to the beach sans boys. 

It was all DELICIOUS.

Mexican blankets + beach neighbor's music & sunshine for dayzzz

Saturday evening :: In between making the best black bean burgers ever created, 

we walked to the docks around the corner from our apartment for 

the postponed 4th of July fireworks show.

Sunday morning :: Brunch at 328 Tequila!

It's been almost 48 hours & truly...
I'm still not ready to talk about how incredible this food was. 

We were mildly blown away. 

It even inspired me to throw up not one but TWO peace signs. 

Talk about nirvana.

It has been so essential to surround myself with my family & friends like Amelia during this wacky summer without my Jared. This girl somehow becomes dearer to me with every year that passes, so birthdays -- while scary & ughhhh -- are just a sign that life is getting sweeter. & maybe one of these years, we'll actually all live in the same city? Soon, SO SOON, the husbands will be in their respective homes (in their respective cities) & the Bethulombs (yep, we also have a hybrid last name) will be reunited.  In the meantime, Amelia & I may just eat ourselves into comas. Which is fine. Or something. Actually, it's a really good thing we don't live in the same city, probz.