subscribe to receive my posts, special offers, recipes, and workouts.
≡ Menu

A Long Weekend in Sunset Beach

I’m back from a quick but lovely visit to Sunset Beach!

As I’ve shared before, my close friend (and Core Desire Yoga business partner) Dorie rents a house for two weeks every summer with her family and this was the second summer that I’ve joined them for a few days. It’s a full house of adults and kids and it’s chaotic and extremely fun!

7.27pier

After two amazing visits to Sunset, it now holds a special place in my heart. I love this little beach town so much. It’s an easy drive from Charlotte…just a little over three hours. The majority of the vacation rentals are charming beach houses. You won’t find condo developments here and hardly any restaurants or bars.

7.27dunes

Also, the beaches are wide and flat…and dog friendly! I have plans to return in the fall with the girls for a long weekend. I can’t wait for Zoey to have her first beach experience! 🙂

Here are some pictures from this summer’s trip!

7.27granola

Breakfast. I showed up with wine, homemade granola, homemade chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter! Sounds about right, huh? My daily breakfast was yogurt, fruit, granola and peanut butter.

7.27book

I brought I’ll Give You the Sun for my beach reading. (My bracelets are Erin McDermott’s Beach House Bracelets.)

I am about half way through the book. It took a little while to get into it but I’m hooked now. It’s young adult fiction but the book is so creatively written.

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah’s story to tell. The later years are Jude’s. What the twins don’t realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

7.27popcorn

We had big bowls of homemade popcorn floating around every night after dinner. So impossible to keep your hand out of warm, buttery popcorn!

7.27fishsand

On my first day there I ventured over to Holden Beach to visit with my dad’s side of the family. Four of his cousins were there with their families for a week long vacation and I was so excited that my trip overlapped by a day and that they were so close. I hadn’t seen some of them in 10 years. It was so nice to reconnect. We went to lunch at Captain Pete’s where I ordered a grilled fish sandwich. It was really delicious!

7.27acro

Acro yoga with Dorie on the beach.

7.27acrofall

This is what it really looked like most of the time! 😉

7.27sandwich

There’s nothing like a sandwich at the beach for lunch. I alternated between peanut butter and jelly and homemade tuna salad.

7.27uno

We had a pretty epic Uno match one afternoon when it was overcast. I hadn’t played this game since I was a child and forgot how fun it was.

7.27taconight

Dorie’s daughter and I did a big taco dinner for everyone one night. We made fish tacos last year too so we’ve decided that our taco night is now an annual tradition.

7.27rice

I was totally spoiled because Dorie’s daughter loves to cook too so she did all of the recipe research. We made this amazing Thai Coconut Rice Salad and Sweet Thai Chicken Tacos.

7.27tacos

Everything was so flavorful and fresh. We received so many compliments on our dinner and there were zero leftovers so we knew it was a win!

7.27sunset

It was such a wonderful long weekend and I feel so grateful to Dorie for welcoming me into her family! I can’t wait to return to Sunset.

What is your favorite beach to visit? Have you made any summer beach trips this year?

{ 18 comments }

Recent Posts…

Breakfast + What I Bought at Trader Joe’s

Breakfast + What I Bought at Trader Joe’s

I am such a creature of habit when it comes to breakfast. 95% of the time I’m craving a breakfast that is on the sweet side. That mostly alternates between smoothies or yogurt bowls with overnight oats, chia pudding or oatmeal occasionally thrown in there. On the rare occasion I go savory – it’s scrambled [...]

{ 1 comment }
Life Lately: Summer So Far

Life Lately: Summer So Far

I want to bottle up this summer and make it last forever (well, maybe minus the wildly hot and humid weather that makes running a big thumbs down). I mentioned this in my last post…but I am really enjoying the slower pace and the days that feel like they have more space. While I’m trying [...]

{ 6 comments }
So Many Dinner Ideas

So Many Dinner Ideas

Happy Friday! I hope this post finds you well and enjoying the summer. We are in the dog days of it over here in Charlotte – the heat and humidity is off the charts – but it’s something I’ll embrace because I deeply appreciate the massive slow down that summer has brought. A lot of [...]

{ 4 comments }
Big Bear Peaks + Pines Race Recap (3-Day Stage Race, My First 50k)

Big Bear Peaks + Pines Race Recap (3-Day Stage Race, My First 50k)

I recently traveled to Big Bear Lake, California for the inaugural Big Bear Peaks + Pines three-day stage race hosted by TransRockies Running. This was my third TransRockies event in 12 months (see also Colorado + Moab) and I’m here to tell you that they can do no wrong when it comes to race organization [...]

{ 4 comments }
Reading, Watching, Listening (Spring 2026 Edition)

Reading, Watching, Listening (Spring 2026 Edition)

Happy weekend! Another week in the books! I got three runs in (6.5 miles, 5.5 miles, 5.5 miles) and I have a trail run planned for tomorrow. Total weekly mileage will end up around 30-35 miles depending on if I go for 13 or 17 tomorrow! I’m 16 weeks out from the Golden Ultra so [...]

{ 7 comments }
Life Lately: 8 Years Old, A New Piercing, Trail Training and More

Life Lately: 8 Years Old, A New Piercing, Trail Training and More

Happy Memorial Day Weekend. It’s a very rainy one here in Charlotte and while I am a little bummed not to be spending the weekend in Florida with the fam or by the pool at our swim club (just opened for the season!), I’m also welcoming a slower pace and time at home. It’s been [...]

{ 2 comments }
24 Things I’ve Made for Lunch Recently

24 Things I’ve Made for Lunch Recently

Hi and happy May! As we roll into the first full week of a new month, I have almost a month’s worth of lunch ideas for you. It’s a great mix of sandwiches, bowls, salads and wraps. I hope you enjoy and find some inspiration for your midday meal! Open-faced chickpea salad sandwich on toasted [...]

{ 4 comments }