Red Daisy

Whenever we're in the Jacksonville, Florida area, my daughter insists that I take her to Al's Pizza in Atlantic Beach. On the way, we called friends to meet us and while we waited for them we took a walk around the shops around the Atlantic Boulevard and First Street intersections. We stumbled on a couple of nice little shops but one in particular stood out. 

Tracy Raymond's Red Daisy Shop in Neptune Beach, FL is a sweet find. She has some whimsical and lovely items all reasonably priced. We loved her store. She had a wide selection from vintage cottage interiors items and garden accessories to unique jewelry, purses and scarves. That's Tracy standing by the Red Daisy sign. If you're in the Jacksonville Beach area, take a ride up to the north end of 1st Street and pay her a visit. And don't forget to try the legendary pizza at Al's Pizza while you're there.

Tracey Raymond of Red Daisy

Vintage cottage interiors 

Love the old-fashioned lockers

Courtyard features eclectic array of planters and adirondacks for kids!

Candles and wall art and tableware

Local Book Stores - Part 2

An area that draws us back year after year is the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Generally, our trips involve a weekly rental in Duck or Corolla with side trips out for two of our favorite things: books and coffee. If you're dedicated to patronizing local businesses, there are a few great choices for books where you know your money supports the local community.


Take a drive down below Kill Devil Hills and cross the sound to Manteo on the eastern shore of Roanoke Island. The little historic district of Manteo is reminiscent of 16th century England that offers something for everyone - from a walk back in time at Roanoke Island Festival Park, or the George Washington Creef Boathouse and Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse, part of the North Carolina Maritime Museum, to outdoor water adventures such as fishing and kayaking, to shopping and dining. Manteo Booksellers is a lovely store with a fabulous childrens section and showcases local authors. Don't let the facade fool you - there are literally thousands of titles tucked in. One of my favorite memories of Manteo Booksellers is my daughter playing with the house labrador who was more than happy to let a little girl use him as a pillow to lean against while she read. During that same visit, an old woman parked her car right in the middle of the street to pop in and drop off some leftover bones for the dog!  

Manteo Booksellers

Duck's Cottage at the waterfront shops in Duck is both a book store and a coffee shop - my favorite combo! Not just a book store that sells coffee, owner Allen LeHew went to great lengths to educate himself about coffee and determine the right blend for his customers at Duck's Cottage, a signature blend from a small company in Lexington, VA that ships weekly for the highest level of freshness. LeHew offers many different options of specialty coffee drinks, but a nice drip house blend is just as satisfying. I like to browse through the books with a special "Nutty Duck Latte" that includes hazelnut syrup. The Duck's Cottage serves up an eclectic assortment of reading along with its coffee. From their website, "Books for cooks, books for kids, books for sports fans, travel buffs, book clubs and beach bums," and they even find the room for a few magazines, newspapers, notecards and stationary, and a few lovely gift items. Enjoy your new book purchase and your coffee out on the front porch of the cottage.

Duck's Cottage

Although they have several locations throughout the Outer Banks, my favorite Island Bookstore location is in the old Corolla Village. Here you'll find a two-story house, every inch packed with books. The sections are laid out nicely with a lovely and rather large children's section in the back complete with a few chairs for the little ones. Island Bookstore in Corolla has a nice section of Pirate and Outer Banks tales, including several books on the subject of the Lost Colony of Roanoke that I have enjoyed. Lots of employee recommendation cards located throughout the store to help you make your decision. This location is located in the old town section of Corolla behind the Currituck Lighthouse area. 


You can probably guess that I've purchased quite a few books over the course of my annual Outer Banks trips for the last 7 years. I'll be posting my book reviews to this site as time allows. You might even be able to guess which ones were purchased locally at these stores.  

Never-Ending pursuit of Beach Life

It's not just the beach house or even the beach itself, although those things count in a thousand different ways. It is the never-ending pursuit of beach life which must always include taking moments to appreciate what you've already been able to achieve in your pursuit. I believe there will never come a time in my life when I say, "This is it, I've finally achieved the ultimate in beach living and there is nothing left to do." There will always be another shell, another trip planned, another bottle to be filled with sand from a beach we are visiting for the first time. And although I have been a lover of the beach and beach life for all of my life, the real acknowledgement of my pursuit has come with my insatiable desire to impart this love to my child. 

Honeymoon Island, FL

It was 2000, the summer after Maddie turned five, I took her to Disney World. Friends of ours from church offered us a week at a timeshare in Indian Rocks Beach, FL on the Gulf Coast which I readily accepted. One day I took her to Honeymoon Island, a lovely state park with pearly sand and very few visitors on the edges. The rest of the week, we enjoyed the lovely blue-green waters of the Gulf Coast and the incomparable sunsets. 

Playing on the beach - Honeymoon Island, FL

Sunset Indian Rocks Beach, FL

Local Book Stores - Part One

Maddie with her toes in the sand - Coronado, CA

My Beach House is an advocate of local book stores. Not only do we live at the beach, but we do our best to travel at least 2-3 times a year either to check out a new beach location or return to tried and true favorites. Regardless of where we go, I make it a point to seek out and spend money at a local book store.

Beach lovers everywhere can attest that one of life's great satisfactions is reading a book while sunning on the beach or by the pool. I can not remember a time when I packed for a vacation and took less than two books - even though I know that I will purchase more when I get where I'm going. Maybe the media is right and soon everyone will be reading electronically, but I intend to do my part to keep the book business alive and along with it, the local bookstore.

As I usually have several books "on deck" to read, I don't always get to my new purchase right away. Recently, I read The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton. When I opened it, a bookmark from Bay Books on Coronado Island, CA fell into my lap and I was instantly reminded of the lovely vacation we took last Christmas to San Diego. We stayed in a small condo on Mission Beach and visited with my niece's family in Escondido. One day, Maddie and I drove over to Coronado Island and explored the shops, the beautiful Hotel del Coronado, and walked in the sand on a late December afternoon.

Heart in the sand by the vast Pacific Ocean

Hotel del Coronado



A little LOVE in the sand





By the way - I enjoyed The Forgotten Garden. What did you think? 



Lt. Dan Band: For The Common Good - Official Movie Trailer

Actor Gary Sinise has been serving our country by serving our troops and their families. The Gary Sinise Foundation, seeks to serve our Nation by honoring our defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need by creating and supporting unique programs designed to entertain, educate, inspire, strengthen, and build communities. Please visit the foundation website and find out what you can do to help him continue to serve our military.

One of the ways that Gary serves our troops is through his tireless performance with the Lt. Dan Band, named after his character in the movie, Forrest Gump. You can watch a trailer of the movie that documents the efforts and impact of the Lt. Dan Band:

Lt. Dan Band: For The Common Good - Official Movie Trailer


and don't forget to visit the Gary Sinise Foundation's and the Lt. Dan Band's Facebook pages.

Vacation Finds

I was fortunate during our vacation to find several items that I just couldn't live without! I don't usually come home from vacation with so much loot, but I think the conditions were better for shopping than laying out by the pool or beach. We also drove quite a distance and stayed in several different towns, so the opportunities to find unique items for the Beach House were greater!

Beautiful aqua beach bag - lined with plastic, from the Egret's Nest on Anna Maria Island, FL

This beautiful lantern was found at Joann Lefner's Bella By The Sea Boutique. Joann is kindly shipping it to me. I think it will look beautiful either on the mantle of My Beach House (pictured below) or on the hearth below. Maybe a large candle in it or filled with shells. 

The mantle at My Beach House. A work in progress.

Cozy Cottage

We stayed at the Cozy Cottage on Anna Maria Island, FL for the last week. The facade of the cottage does not give you any idea that this house is a very comfortable and spacious 3 bedroom/3 bath.

Nor does it provide any public view whatsoever of the lovely oasis awaiting us out back:

I didn't take any pictures inside, unfortunately, but the owner has done a lovely job of marrying beach house decorating with shabby chic. The third bedroom with two twins - where the girls stayed - was a very colorful patchwork beach theme. And the other two bedrooms with queen beds were painted very light green and gray and the beds had lovely shabby chic quilts in faded tiny floral patterns. It really made me think about my own room back at My Beach House which has been decorated for the last few years with a taupe shell print quilt as the center. With only one window getting any sun, my room is not very bright. On one of our cloudy day outings we found Beall's Department Store and I purchased this  lovely beachy quilt set for $52.00 - originally priced at $129.99. I'm sure there are better deals out there, but when I put the set on my bed, I instantly felt sunnier. My room is very tiny, but I don't think the color overwhelms at all. Do you?

I received an email from my BFF and vacation buddy, Betsy, that the new quilt would look better as pictured below. Hope she's happy!

I think she's right!