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meet hope →

Destination wedding & portrait photographer fascinated by stories & people. This blog is the home for some of my favorite things — from weddings, engagement sessions, branding & more personal things.

Grab your favorite cup of hot tea(or coffee), and stay a while.

Hi! I'm Hope!

Over the Labor Day weekend, my friend Ashley, and I set off on one last summer vacation! Her family usually takes this trip to Kure Beach, NC, & I’m so grateful they let me tag along.

As we headed off to the coast on Friday evening, the sun begin to set behind the white, fluffy clouds, & all I could do was breathe a sigh of relief.

You know that feeling?

The one where you are leaving all your cares & worries behind, even if it’s just for a couple of days?

Yeah. It was that kind of sigh.

As we made our way down, we had fun jamming out & singing! (My favorite part of a road trip anyway) We finally arrived at Kure Beach pier roughly around 9:00p.m. Too dark to see anything, but we still ventured out to the pier, & honestly, that was the best feeling I’ve had in a long time.

I could barely see the ocean, but I could hear it. I could hear the waves crashing on the shore. I could smell the fresh, salt air all around me. And that breeze. Oh my. We’ve had nothing, but humidity here in Mount Airy for the past 2 months, so to feel the cool breeze rolling off the water, HEAVEN. I was in heaven.

The next morning I got up super early so I could watch the sunrise over the ocean. It was the only time I saw the sunrise on our trip. Hurricane Dorian was forecasted to start coming up the coast line. (By the time we left, the waves had started making their way up to the boardwalk.)

After some amazing breakfast that Ashley’s step-mom cooked for us, we headed out to the beach!! That’s where we spent a majority of our time. We laid out on the beach, took a little nap, read on our books, and just had some quality girl time!

Uuuhhhh-MAE-Zing!!

Of course during the rest of our trip we made a stop by the Boardwalk, we had Britt’s Doughnuts (I had 6 within the first 24 hours of me being there, if you want to know how good they really are.), went back to the Game Room at the Pier, dined at the cutest little 50’s breakfast diner, & made our way into downtown Wilmington.

We had to leave early Monday(Labor Day) morning, so we could be back in town by that evening, & get ready for another work week. Leaving the beach is always a sad occasion, but my mindset feels refreshed.

And I am already looking forward to our next adventure. I’ll give you a hint as to where we will be the last week of December: Fixer Upper

Love,

Hope*