Warning: This post is very long, but I wanted to provide a good amount of detail for those thinking of traveling to Nevis! Enjoy! :)

From this Marvelous Money post, you know that John and I highly prioritize travel and new experiences when thinking about how we’ll spend our money. It probably comes as no surprise, then, that we were very excited about our honeymoon!

John is an excellent trip planner; he really enjoys digging into new places, and often serves as an informal travel agent for our friends and family. For our first trip as a married couple he took the lead as usual, but we discussed many options together. After we crossed off France and Italy (flights were too expensive combined with a bad exchange rate), he spent weeks considering possibilities in the Caribbean. In no particular order, our priorities were: unspoiled physical beauty; safety; amazing hotels; both beaches and rainforest; relaxed atmosphere but things to do; and vibrant native instead of tourist culture. St. Lucia, the US and British Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico were in the running, but Nevis eventually won out. (With no small thanks to our friends Meredith and Michael, whose glowing review of the island definitely influenced our decision!)

I wasn’t immediately onboard — after all, John was suggesting a destination that neither of us could pronounce (for the record: KNEE-viss), that no one we talked to had ever heard of, and that frankly I thought sounded a bit like a skin condition. Despite this somewhat inauspicious beginning, the end result was clear: Best. Decision. Ever.

Because we took the week before our wedding off (highly recommended!!), neither of us had the vacation time to take the following week off, as well. So, we took a “minimoon” through Virginia on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday following our wedding as we drove from Connecticut to North Carolina, then planned our big adventure for several months later. This really worked out well for us — the minimoon meant we didn’t have to jump right back into daily life, and the honeymoon gave us something to look forward to as life went back to normal.

And look forward to it we did! When April finally rolled around, the first leg of our journey was a flight to St. Kitts (we left and returned on a Saturday). It was the first time either of us had used our passports!

The St. Kitts airport is pretty small; we disembarked onto the tarmac in a light drizzle. We made it through customs in about a half an hour, then found a taxi driver holding the name of our first resort, Montpelier. Hilariously, before setting off across the island, we made a quick stop in Basseterre (the main city) to drop off our taxi driver’s boss at his house (definitely less formal than the US!).

The roads in St. Kitts are terrible!! But, we made it; after about 25 minutes, we transferred to a water taxi for the five-minute hop to Nevis. Once we’d pulled up to the beach, we transferred to another (land) taxi for another 25-minute ride to Montpelier (the roads are much better on Nevis!).

On both islands, it was neat to see so much of the local environment, thanks to our taxi rides. Neither island is very built up (Nevis much less so than St. Kitts), so it’s not like you’re driving through the tourism district, since there really isn’t such a thing. It’s quite rural, and there are goats everywhere :) Happily, there are not a lot of stray dogs or cats, and no snakes, thanks to mongooses!

We arrived at Montpelier around 6pm and were given a brief tour of the property. Montpelier is in the mountains, so it has a lush, jungle-y, slightly Asian feel – lots of palms, and beautiful flowers everywhere! This massive tree is a cornerstone of the property — right at the entrance, in front of the main house (the building you can see is reception).

After settling into our cottage (made up of a main room and bathroom, as well as a front and back porch), we headed to the main house. The property’s custom is to hold a cocktail hour (with complimentary appetizers!) from around 7 to 7:30. After a little bit, you’re shown to your table for the night.

From Montpelier’s website

The first night we dined in the Mill Privee, which was certainly an experience worthy of a honeymoon! It’s an actual reclaimed sugar mill, and only had three tables set the night we dined there — sometimes I think it’s even less. The Mill serves a prix fixe menu, with an amuse bouche, a palette cleanser, and four courses. John and I agreed our favorite course was the fish – a pan-seared salmon filled with spinach, with shitake mushrooms and a cilantro foam. Sounds crazy, but it was so good!

From Montpelier’s website

The next morning, we woke up to this beautiful view from our back porch:

We then followed this beautiful path to breakfast…

…which was a continental spread served outside on the patio, including delicious housemade butter!

Our main activity for our first day in Nevis was hiking Saddle Hill. This involved walking on the road for awhile, then hiking up past fort ruins to expansive views of the entire island and surrounding ocean. We were accompanied by Ziggy, the dog of one of Montpelier’s owners, and he was a lovely companion!

Round trip from Montpelier was about three miles, with no intensely steep inclines. It took us about two and a half hours.

There are wild goats everywhere on Nevis, and Ziggy couldn’t resist giving one a little chase on our way back. I love this action shot John captured!

Post-hike we spent a lazy afternoon by the pool and on the property, taking in the glorious surroundings and weather.

Montpelier, though it is up the mountain a bit, has a private beach about a 20-minute drive away on the Caribbean side of the island, and that’s where we spent the next day! The hotel arranged for a complimentary taxi, and they’ll also pack a lunch for you if you wish.

We explored the shore a bit, waded and snorkeled, and read in the shade. We were the only ones on the beach the whole time! Along our walk we saw literally dozens of large conch shells, and lots of diving pelicans.

Our final Montpelier adventure was venturing down the hill to the Botanical Gardens of Nevis. Like most places on the island, we encountered some goats on the way! Cuteness overload.

I think the tickets were about $13 per person, which seemed a bit expensive to me, but we were on our honeymoon, after all :)

We strolled around the gardens for an hour or so, then headed back to Montpelier to catch our taxi to the second resort we stayed at, Nisbet! I leave you with a last photo of Montpelier’s majestic signature tree:

Our final thoughts on Montpelier? It’s an amazing European-style getaway, very much unlike the Caribbean stereotype. It’s small, so there’s no “blending into the crowd,” but there is the chance for lots of one-on-one conversations with other guests and the property staff (who were all very welcoming and knowledgeable). The grounds and rooms are beautiful and perfectly designed for rest and relaxation in style and with sophistication.

Feel free to leave questions in the comments! Back with more from the second half of our week soon!

On Sunday afternoon, John and I took a beautiful country drive to the rural town of Saxapahaw, walked along the Haw River exploring old dams, split a BLT at the Saxapahaw General Store, and finished our afternoon with ice cream at Maple View Farm. We call little excursions like this “everyday adventures,” and they are one of our most favorite things in life.

Three years ago I posted a few of our favorite tips for finding fun and free (or almost free) things to do, and I thought the unofficial start to summer would be the perfect time to update that list. Our methodology isn’t rocket science, but I’m hoping it might reignite your spark for discovering the adventure that’s all around!

Tip One: Watch the News
John watches the news every night (he really, really loves the weather, but usually tunes in for the whole shebang). News stations will often sponsor or have a presence at interesting community events, giving them incentive to promote them beforehand.

Success Story: A few years ago we heard about a massive azalea garden in Raleigh while watching the evening news, and it’s been a must-visit in our household every spring since. SO Pretty! Cost: FREE

Tip Two: Listen to the Radio
I find that the best stations to tune in to are NPR and the oldies station. You’re looking for the advertisements here, so don’t change the station once the music stops!

Success Story: The Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary shows recently released feature films almost every Friday in the summer. The Amphitheater itself is beautiful, and the surroundings are equally so. The back deck hosts a variety of independent vendors, and you’re also welcome to bring your own food and drink. Heard about this while driving home on NPR! Cost: $6 for two tickets

Tip Three: Read the NY Times Travel Section
They have entries for an astonishing array of locales across the US (and beyond!), and they always unearth some fun choices. Check the main page out here. John also wanted me to recommend looking at TripAdvisor for your locale, instead of just when you’re traveling!

Success Story: The nearby NC Museum of Art has an awesome sculpture garden. We first read about it here, and have since walked and biked its path many times, and even took our engagement photos there! Cost: FREE (A few years ago we also found out they show outdoor movies in the summer – so fun!)

Garden & Gun

Tip Four: Read Grace’s Guides
I’ve talked about this a bit way back when, but Design*Sponge has amassed an excellent collection of City Guides, similar to the Times’ write-ups but with a longer list of options and more of an indie-crafty bent. Click here to see if there’s one for your area!

Success Story: Though it’s hard NOT to run across the cheerful Locopops logo after spending a short while in the Triangle, I believe we read about them first on Design*Sponge. Think flavors like raspberry hibiscus, cucumber chili, banana pudding, and Thin Mint. COST: $5 for two pops

Tip Five: Use Your Resources
This could mean a variety of things, but for us, it primarily means the universities: Duke, UNC, and NC State are all within a half hour’s drive. About twice a year I make a point to stop by each school’s website (specifically, their calendar) to see what lectures, performances, or events might be on tap. I’d also recommend checking out your town or region’s website and/or Parks & Rec publication for notice of festivals (which are often free) and classes (which are often inexpensive), as well as your local library.

Success Story: One of our favorite NC traditions is attending the Duke Chorale’s annual Christmas concert. The singing is wonderful, every pew in the breathtaking Duke Chapel is filled, and it really puts you in the Christmas spirit (and y’all know I love Christmas). Cost: a can of food each for the local food bank.

PieBird pie via Southern Weddings (photo by Joey + Jessica)

Tip Six: Follow Local Media
Between Twitter, Facebook, blogs, mainstream newspapers, and local publications, there’s no shortage of insider knowledge out there for the plucking. I personally love Map & Menu (particularly great for Portland, ME and the Triangle!) and Indy Week’s “Best of” recommendations (lots of communities have something similar); I also love finding random bloggers’ suggestions for our area, like this post from The Fresh Exchange.

Success Story:
Before she moved to Boston, Dina from Honey & Fitz was one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter because she always seemed to know what was up before I did :) She was the first person to know a Container Store location was opening in Raleigh, she led me to an amazing charity tag sale, and she tipped me off about a new restaurant focused on pies (yum!). PieBird is a great spot for lunch or something sweet post-dinner. COST: $5.50 per slice

Tip Seven: Talk to the Locals
Fairly obvious, but worth mentioning. Once you start to meet people who’ve lived in the area, you can of course pick their brains about little-known landmarks and leisure activities, but I’d also suggest some innocent eavesdropping. (What?! You haven’t done this in, say, a coffee shop?) I also find asking people what their favorite local place or thing to do is a great conversation starter!

Success Story: A friend tipped us off to the opening of Rise in Durham. Their narrow focus on biscuits and donuts is right up my alley, and their flavor combinations are hard to beat: to name just a few, cardamom tea cake, Nutella, tiramisu, and orange and rose water donuts as well as BLT with chipotle mayo, French toast, and spinach and goat cheese biscuits. YUM! COST: From $.95 to $2.95 per donut, and $2.25 to $4.50 per biscuit

Tip Eight: Be Observant
Again, I know this is patently obvious, but stick with me here, because this is the single best tip I’ve got. Wherever John and I are, we keep our eyes peeled. We peruse flyer walls while waiting for restaurant tables, we notice roadside signs, we pick up brochures wherever they’re available. And then we remember to follow up once we’re back home.

Success Story: What do we keep our eyes peeled for? We never know, but it’s usually something good. We stumbled upon Backwoods OK while on an unrelated hike, found out about a massive used book sale from a poster at the library, and discovered the best family farm (with the most delicious pick-your-own strawberries) because we weren’t afraid to follow a sign onto a side road on the way home from the grocery store. A tip: If I see a sign or flyer that catches my eye while out and about, I’ll snap a quick photo with my phone so I can add the info to my planner later or look up the website when we get home.

So tell me — do you love everyday adventures, too? What’s your favorite one? Where do you find your best ideas? I’d love to hear!

Pinch me! We are leaving for the island of Nevis in less than two weeks!! With all of our house craziness, we haven’t been focusing on our upcoming trip too much, which is a shame, because it’s definitely deserving of some hype. It’s not too often that we get to go to a Caribbean paradise for a week of honeymoon relaxation!

In the last few days we have gotten around to making final reservations and prepping our packing lists, so I thought it would be fun to share a few of my must-takes here!

A. Jack Rogers Navajo sandals in platinum. Pretty much the only shoes I wear in the summer. Casual enough for the beach and stylish enough for dinner.

B. Boscia B.B. Cream. Just enough for beach days. I use this every day and really like it.

C. Josie Maran Argan Daily Moisturizer SPF 40. Joanna wrote about this sunscreen here and I’m intrigued. We haven’t purchased any sunscreen yet this year, and I’m considering picking this up.

D. Striped maxi dress. $15 – can’t beat it! I like that it’s not too precious to wear to the beach but is easy and acceptable to throw on for an inside dinner. A note: unlike the photo on the website, mine is wayyyy long, so I’m getting it hemmed!

E. Favorite sunglasses.

F. Monogram tote. I’ll just be bringing a tote I already own for the beach, but this one is so cute! And reasonably priced.

G. Bathing suits! I love this emerald one I picked up from Target last year (I wrote about it here!)

H. Cameras. In addition to our iPhones, we’ll be bringing our digital camera and our film camera. (Don’t worry, we won’t be lugging all three around all the time!) The digital is great for video, and you can’t beat the look of the film for nature + detail shots.

I. My passport! With how expensive it was to update this thing after my name change, I’m glad I get to use it so soon.

J. Madras shorts. I picked these up when everything was 50% off J.Crew Factory last weekend.

K. Essie Really Red. This is the only color I paint my toe nails. I’ve considered branching out, but it’s just so perfect!

L. Laura Mercier Lip Balm in Crimson. I picked this up last year on a recommendation from Jenny, and I love it!

M. I bought a wide-brimmed black sun hat a few years ago, and I never go to the beach without it. Perfect for reading, sun protecting, and being stylish! :)

N. Lots of reading material is a must for any beach vacation of mine. Considering bringing Heft and Gone Girl, but open to your recommendations!

What do you bring on a beach vacation? Has anyone ever been to Nevis? Has anyone ever heard of it? :)

Hello, friends! Something different for you today.

We worship online with Church of the Resurrection every Sunday in addition to attending our local church. Both pastors are fantastic, but I particularly felt moved by Adam Hamilton’s message this past Sunday. It was about very specific ways we can prepare for the season of Advent, and I would highly encourage you to listen to it when you have a spare half hour! Click here to do so.

Well, John and I felt even more moved to shine a light outwards this season after listening, and we’ve been discussing lots of ways we might do that ever since. I wanted to share one approach with you. I’ve been brainstorming and collecting ideas over the past few weeks for it (like from this awesome Pinterest star!), and now that I have my favorites, I’m excited to unleash them on my community! :)

I wanted to share them with you here, in the hopes that you, too, might be moved to shine your light outward this season. To treat others as better than yourself. To love others as HE does. To focus outward on the joy of giving and the things we are able to do for others, rather than inward on ourselves. We ARE blessed to be a blessing, and if we are open to the possibilities all around us for blessing others, I think we will find that we are blessed beyond measure. There is great JOY in giving!!

SO here they are! My favorite 25 ideas for showing love and kindness to the people around me this Christmas. There seem to be a lot of resources floating around for those with kids (I think Courtney’s are particularly great!), but since it’s just John and I, and I don’t think a lot of y’all have children, I wanted to focus on acts that might be better suited to those in this stage of life!

1. Pay for the person behind you in line at the drive-through of your choice
2. Leave a present in the mailbox for your mail carrier (John wanted me to clarify that it should be left near or on top of the mailbox instead of inside it, and should be clearly marked, so as to avoid mail tampering concerns…)
3. Bake and deliver goodies to someone who would appreciate the pick me up (suggestions: firemen, police officers, garbarge collectors, apartment complex office workers, those guys at the oil change place who are really nice). Doesn’t have to be fancy – boxed brownies with added chocolate chips are delicious!!
4. Donate food to a food pantry (our church collects and delivers food every week, so we’ll be taking extra this month!)
5. Keep a stash of candy canes with notes tied on in your purse, and hand them out to anyone you see who might need a little treat — cashiers, deli workers, taxi drivers…
6. Leave quarters and a note at a laundromat
7. Leave a note and the correct amount of change on a vending machine
8. Ask the librarians if you can pay someone else’s past due fee.
9. Feed parking meters (unclear whether this is technically illegal or not…)
10. Buy a gift card for groceries then turn around and hand it to the next person in line
11. Leave an extra big tip at a restaurant
12. Pick up the bill for someone else at a restaurant
13. Keep a stash of granola bars and water bottles in your car and hand them out to the homeless at stop lights.
14. Leave an encouraging message in sidewalk chalk on a neighbor’s driveway*
15. Figure out something tiny, nice, and unexpected to do for your coworkers
16. Bake something for your significant other to share with his/her coworkers
17. Buy a toy for Toys for Tots or a similar program
18. Leave a comment on every blog you frequent this month. Trust me, it will make their day, especially the smaller ones :) *
19. If you live in a cold climate, scrape ice off your neighbor’s windshield in the morning*
20. Clean out your closet and donate gently-used items to appropriate organizations*
21. Collect all of the travel-size toiletries you have lying around and deliver them to a homeless/battered women’s shelter. I hear the travel-size is perfect because the people they serve are often on the move. Call to check before you go.*
22. Bring Christmas flowers (like a poinsettia!) to a nursing home and ask the front desk staff which resident would most appreciate them. Call to check before you go.
23. Volunteer to babysit for a particularly sleep-deprived friend or relative*
24. Do a chore for someone else in your household*
25. Bring a meal to a new family or someone you know who could use an extra lift.
(And a bonus) 26. Be open to the needs and opportunities that present themselves to you. Choose to leave room in your schedule and budget to seize those opportunities, and, if you’re kind of timid like me, pray for the courage to do so! :)

The asterisks mark free activities! Many more I’ve listed are super cheap. This is not about busting the budget, it’s about showing radical love to others. (Though I DO support the idea of consciously making the decision to spend extra on things like this as opposed to fulfilling another want of our own!)

I am excited to get to giving, and will surely report back closer to Christmas! If you would like to join me, I think that would be just marvelous!! Maybe I’ll even share some of your photos (if you take them?) in my wrap-up post. Feel free to email them to me or post them to the EFM Facebook page if you feel so inclined!

Be blessed this season, friends!