Our Favorite Shorts that Double as Swim Trunks

Over on Instagram the other day, we posted a few stories and in them I was wearing these shorts from Vuori. They’re called the Kore Short and they’re technically athleisure but we also wear them as swimming trunks because they’re so comfortable and have a built in net for support.

Click here to see them and the rest of the colors they have. We have them in Chestnut.

Best part? You’ll get 20% off your first order!

What's For Dinner?

Happy Friday from the beach!

We’re in Florida for a few days to wrap things up on the beach cottage before the summer ends and school starts again. We didn’t get it finished in time for us to actually stay in it this summer, but the amount of work PJ has accomplished in just two months, largely by working on it by himself, is astounding. So much progress has happened in such a short time that it already looks like such a different house. In fact, he’s over there right now installing the rest of the floors while I watch the kids with PJ’s mom, sister, and grandma. I think I will be joining him tomorrow to start painting the kitchen. The cabinets and countertops are already installed, so I can’t wait to see the walls white!!

Meanwhile, school starts next week, which means summer is officially coming to an end!! I am sharing my feeling about it in tonight’s The Weekender newsletter. You can sign up to receive emails from us in the form below.

Lastly, what’s for dinner? PJ’s mom is making a chicken Alfredo for everyone tonight. A night where I don’t have to cook? Sign me up! So grateful for his family being here with us and helping to watch the kids. I love when we can all get together in any capacity, but everyone together at the beach is even sweeter.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends. xoxo

In Less Than 24 Hours, Two of Our Rugs Were Ruined

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES.

It all started the other night after dinner, when we were saying goodbye to Matt and Beau. We were in the front room seeing them off when PJ picked up a candle that was sitting on our mantle. It was a candle we had going all night and I had just blown it out. He didn’t know that.

He picked it up to smell it like he’s done a million times, because he has a thing with smelling candles pretty much everywhere he goes, and thought nothing of it. The only problem is, like I mentioned, it had been burning all night, so there was a lot of fresh, hot, liquid wax sitting in it. He picked it up so swiftly that the wax went everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere.

It splashed onto the side of his face and hair, creating a big gooey glob of a mess that trickled down onto his chest and finally onto his stomach. Besides all over PJ, the wax also made its way onto our green velvet chair and our sisal rug. Both the chair and PJ were able to be cleaned quite easily. The rug on the other hand, is most likely a goner. Matt sent us a trick to try and get it out and we’re going to do that and hope for the best, but at the end of the day we may just turn the rug around so that the wax is hidden underneath the couch.

Meanwhile, the next day, as PJ tells me he is so over all the rugs in our house and wants to declutter everything, he notices two huge piles of throw-up in our room on our white jute rug. Ugh. If you know anything about jute rugs, you know that you can’t scrub them or it will make it worse. When something stains them, that’s pretty much it. We always figured our bedroom would be safe because no one else really goes in there except us. We were wrong apparently. I’m not sure why Meryl, our dog, decided to make her way into our room to throw up, but it happened and now we’re in the process of taking that rug up.

What are the chances that both rugs, two of my favorites might I add, would be ruined in less than 24 hours? When it first all went down, I felt angry and like our life was spinning out of control. Why was this happening? Why is our house so disgusting? Does life have to be so hectic all the time with kids and animals and everything else going on? My mind was racing and trying to put it all together.

The next day, however, I gained some clarity. These things, all of these things, are just stuff. Stuff that can be replaced, and if they can’t, then they can’t. And it’s okay. It will all be okay. Life won’t feel hectic and overwhelming forever. It’s just the season of life we’re in right now and we have the power to change it and make it easier. And so we will.

Moral of the story: Don’t pick up a freshly blown-out candle with a bunch of hot wax in it too quickly. It most likely will never end well.

Fresh Apples From Getaway House for Ocoee Farm

Happy Friday night!!

We all felt somewhat decent today, so we took a ride out to Getaway House to bring a bed over there in preparation to rent it out as an Airbnb. The house itself is finished as of this week (!), so now it’s just up to us to stage it and get it ready to rent out, which is honestly the best part. The house looks SO good. I can’t wait to give you a proper tour.

While we were there, PJ had the kids collect all the fallen apples from the apple trees and put them in a bin while I was in the kitchen cleaning up the countertops from all the construction debris. I thought it was a cute little activity but didn’t think much of it.

On the way back from Getaway House, we stopped by Ocoee Farm and PJ said something along the lines of, “Free food for everyone!” Then it clicked: The apples were for the animals at the farm!! The kids took turns grabbing apples and feeding them to the pigs, which is just about the cutest damn thing I’ve ever seen. Lil Cutie is GINORMOUS on her own, but next to Anna she looks even bigger. She loved the apples, and so did the rest of the pigs.

The geese were a little more hesitant to come near me to eat the apples, so I threw them and they swarmed. The sheep weren’t interested in the apples in the least, sadly. They don’t know what they’re missing!!!

It feels so good to be back to normal (for the most part) after feeling like absolute shit the last week. Going out to the farm again and seeing the animals and feeling the fresh, albeit hot as hell air, felt nice. I can’t wait to be out there full time. So much progress is happening on Holiday House, and even though it’s still so far off, every day feels like it’s closer and closer to making it our home.

Matt and Beau are coming over tonight and making us dinner. How sweet is that? So excited to actually have a good meal and maybe even a glass of wine. Have a lovely weekend, friends!!

PS: click here to sign up for our newsletter. The next one goes out tonight!!

From Worst to Even Worst-er

It doesn’t matter that it’s not a real word!! Things just got even more intense here at the McKay house. PJ has what I had for the last week and my heart breaks for him. It’s almost ironic in a way, or a saving grace, however you choose to look at it. The very day that I feel 99% better is the same day he gets sick.

I woke up this morning feeling good. Great, even! After a week of feeling like I was going to die from the worst stomach bug I have ever had, I finally felt like myself again. I didn’t feel as nauseas and I had so much more energy than I had in so long. I took the kids to the friggin park!! Do you know how good it felt to walk on down to the park? The things we take for granted every day y’all. Each day that you can get up and breathe air and feel even a little bit good is a good day and the rest is downhill after that.

PJ, on the other hand, didn’t feel too hot. He woke up with a splitting migraine, so he took some medicine, wrapped a sheet around his eyes to block out all sunlight and took a few naps to try and get it to go away. None of it helped. His head was still throbbing by the middle of the day, only he now had other symptoms, too.

He felt achy, he had chills, and worst of all, he felt like he was going to throw up. Sure enough, by the evening, he was wrapped up in bed, throwing up, and running a fever. If I didn’t know any better I would say it might be a form of covid. My sister and her girlfriend both tested positive the other day and, though they’re handling it for the first time, I know how painful and awful it is, even if you are vaccinated. This thing that we both have/had is very comparable to the feeling of having covid.

So now we have another McKay sick and bedridden for the foreseeable future. I am so thankful I am feeling better to take care of the PJ and the kids. Can you imagine if we were both sick at the same time? What a shit show that would be. It’s time to get serious, though. There’s work to be done and a house to clean and children to parent and a sick husband to take care of.

Let’s do this.

PS: On the plus side, Matt stopped by today with homemade blackberry biscuits (how sweet is that?) and oh my goodness I’m so glad I feel well enough to eat them.

The Worst Stomach Bug of My Life

The last time I felt this sick was when I had covid last year, and even then, I don’t know if it felt like this.

For the last week, I have been in bed every day battling a stomach bug of some kind that, and I’m not exaggerating when I say this, felt like I was dying. I can confidently say that without fear of sounding overdramatic because my sister’s girlfriend had the same bug and said the exact same thing to me about how she felt.

It all started with our daughter, who got sick the night before we left the beach, and then our son threw up three times on the drive home the next day. A few days later, our daughter threw up again, this time in the middle of the night. Which then comes to me. I woke up last week and immediately felt sick to my stomach and ever since then, things went from bad to horribly bad. I was throwing up so violently that I was telling PJ I couldn’t do it anymore because of the pain. It hurt to keep throwing up, even though I knew that was the only way I was going to feel better.

Now that it’s been a week, I am probably 80% better. My stomach still feels nauseous, like if I just threw up again I would feel better, and for some reason I’m extremely fatigued and easily tired. Because of that last symptom, I took an at-home covid test to see if this was a weird form of covid, but it came back negative.

The only people in the house who haven’t gotten this horrible bug yet are PJ and our oldest son. I’m hoping they don’t get it because it’s pretty much awful in every way imaginable. PJ has been so sweet and making chicken noodle soup and taking over a lot of the family duties I usually handle. What would I do without him?

After a week of being in bed watching The Kardashians, I’m looking forward to feeling normal again and getting back to our regular routine. Hoping that starts today!!!

A Happy Accident

The other day, PJ accidentally spilt some diffuser oil over in our bathroom.

But not just any diffuser oil, our favorite ever: White Cypress by Lauren Liess. She sent it to us over two years ago and it’s been in our bathroom ever since. It smells so good! It has notes of cedarwood, moss and cucumber, which might just be the most heavenly combination ever.

So he hit it and knocked it over by accident, not breaking it, but spilling quite a bit. He mopped it up with a spare towel that was in the dirty clothes and that was that.

Well, when it was time to do towels, I just threw them all in the washing machine, not thinking anything of it. But then when I got them out of the dryer, they all smelled like the diffuser and suddenly I’m wondering if I should put a little into every load? I washed them over a week ago and they all still smell so delicious. I never want the scent to go away. Every time I get out of the shower and bury my face into one of the towels, I instantly feel like I’m staying at a boutique hotel or a luxurious spa.

I love happy accidents like this. Thanks, PJ!!

Back to Work and Back to Reality

It’s Tuesday morning but it feels more like a Monday.

We just got back from our longer-than-expected beach trip and I don’t know if it’s ever felt better to be home. Last week was spent in 90 degree weather working on the Beach Shack while the kids entertained themselves, and then there were sprinkles of beach time in between all of that.

To clarify, PJ did all the work and I just threw all the demo and debris into the dumpster he rented. He genuinely loves the demo work; the ripping down walls and tearing apart rooms and floors. Me, on the other hand, not so much. Still, I enjoy helping and working along side him when I can.

Now that we’re home, though, it’s back to work and back to reality. We woke up at 4am with our oldest complaining of a stomach ache. After a little investigating on our part, we determined he was just nervous to return to his summer camp school after missing all last week. We sent him off this morning with no issues, thankfully. And instead of going back to bed like we normally would, we turned the coffee pot on and we’ve been going ever since. It feels so good to get an early start on the day, doesn’t it? I’m not saying I could do a 4am wakeup call every morning, but when it happens, I always feel so good about how the day begins.

Speaking of today, it’s is one of those days where we both have a million things to do but all I really feel like doing is sitting on the couch and watching TV. But there are emails to catch up on and collaborations to shoot and clothes to fold and an extremely messy car to (finally) clean out. There are two things in my life that, when clean, the world feels just about perfect for a little while: our kitchen and our car. When those two things are dirty, however, the end of times might as well be near.

Right now I am one for two but by the end of the day, everything will be checked off my to-do list.

The Best Donuts in the World

After hearing they are the best donuts in the world from just about every local, we finally made a stop by Thomas’ Donut & Snack Shop and discovered the rumors were true: They’re absolutely divine. Even PJ thought so, and he isn’t a big fan of donuts, so that’s how you know they’re really the best.

Great name, but even better donuts. That should be their new slogan, no?

It Doesn’t Get Better Than This

When PJ said he wanted to buy a beach property, I was initially a little hesitant.

Do we need another project? Would it be too overwhelming to work on a house out of state? PJ has never taken on a house in an entirely different state before, so I didn’t know what this would all entail, and I couldn’t help but wonder if we would be getting in over our heads.

Now, though, we’re in the thick of renovating the beach shack (as we’re lovingly calling it) and, while it’s a lot, it’s coming right along.

It’s hotter than hell working on it during the middle of June, and I hate that I can’t be as much help to PJ as he needs (he’s a one man crew right now, while I watch the kids and assist with demo clean up), but he’s already made so much progress on it in the week that we’ve been here. This man is a machine!!!

The best part of renovating a house by the beach? We can just walk to the ocean and jump in when we need to cool off, which is exactly what we’ve been doing the last few days. We’ve realized our favorite time of day to be at the beach is in the evening just before the sun sets.

It’s absolutely mesmerizing.

I’m thinking it doesn’t get better than this.

The Sandals Everyone Keeps Asking About

For the past two years, as the weather starts getting hotter and the days start getting longer, we’ve busted out our easiest sandals for the humid Tennessee summers: the No Flop Flip sandals from Eddie Bauer.

Every time we post a photo with one of us wearing them, our DMs get flooded with people asking where they came from. I can see why: They’re different and fun looking, and especially PJ’s canyon clay red color. I have the same pair, but in a gray color called sprig.

Bonus: They’re on sale for half off right now!!!

Charcuterie Love

In an unofficial ruling by our family, it’s been decided (by me) that we could have some form of charcuterie for every meal. Every time I bust out the crackers and salami and cheese, everyone gathers around the island and it’s one of the only “meals” that everyone in the entire house agrees on.

Remember this video when we turned our island into a giant charcuterie board?