Every year I bring a little bit of the beach back home with me

My absolute favorite place in the world is the beach.

I love the sand between my toes, the sun on my face and the sound of the waves washing ashore.

For the past 4 years we have been lucky enough to spend some time at St. Simons Island.  It's just off the coast of Georgia about 1 hour south of Savannah.

We just love it there.

Not only do we get a great beach to hang out at, they also have some great shops in what is known as the village.

The village is right next to the pier so we throw in some sightseeing.

I just love the idea of shopping with the ocean only a hundred yards from me.  Because we have been fortunate enough to return year after year, we have gotten familiar with several of the shops and the restaurants.  We know what we like, where we don't really want to go back again and the best stores to go to that will carry whatever we are looking for.

A couple of the stores carry Christmas ornaments and I have made it a tradition to get 1 ornament every year when we go.

I thought Beach Bum fit perfectly this year.

This sign fits me to a T!

Too bad reality is so darn far away.

I just love this bird.  I think he screams beach.

I had the frame in the basement and had hubby paint it for me.

It looks great on the mantle.

I found these glass starfish while I was looking for a spoon rest.

We found all the shells and the sand dollars while we were there.

This is my very small version of a shell lamp.  Until I can get a real one, that is.

Last year I got a photo album to put some of our favorite photos from our trip in.  I didn't see them this year until our last day.  They were hiding from me.

I just love this one and it's a little bigger, I can hold 4x6 photos in it.

The photos are held in with the string and each page has this thin paper keeping the photos safe.

In keeping with the beach theme throughtout the house, I added these shells to the kitchen table.  We didn't find them on the beach, I actually got them from WalMart (shhh... don't tell)

I think all of these things will help me stay in beach mode.  That is until it's time to decorate for fall.  I know it's approaching way too fast.