Where's the hard part?

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-6

I love Valentine's Day.

Now, if you would've asked me years ago when I was "helplessly" single, I honestly would've given you a bitter answer...but I've come to realize that I was only salty because I wanted to celebrate the holiday SO bad! I loved the romance - the flowers, the teddy bears, getting dolled up for date night - but I was just missing the one who I'd share the day with.

Well, let's just say that God made up for all of the lost time and blessed me with someone who makes everyday feels like Valentine's Day. That said, we still make it a point to make February 14th special! This year, we decided to take a road trip to explore Morehead City, NC and the Crystal Coast:

My Valentine's Day gift that my husband ordered from my Mommy (who makes cute baskets/gifts!)

I know you're probably thinking: why would y'all take a beach trip in the middle of winter?

Well. It's less expensive, for one.

Not to mention, there's a lot less crowds to compete with.

Even though this was probably the first beach trip that I've ever been on and didn't pack a swimsuit for, it was still beautiful to be near the ocean and explore the sites of all of the surrounding towns.

We took the drive down to Morehead City the day before Valentine's Day. As much as I thought that we'd be in the middle of nowhere, I was pleasantly surprised to see all of the choices of restaurants, shopping, etc. that were surrounding our hotel (Holiday Inn Express & Suites).

Ok, Morehead City!

After nearly 4 hours of traveling, my husband and I were both a little drained. So we went to grab some takeout from 2 local spots and hung out in our hotel room for the rest of the evening.

The next morning (Valentine's Day), we woke up and began some exploring:

My husband was really excited to try some of the desserts at Sugarloaf Island Bakery, so we made it our first trip that morning. The bakery was quaint and decorated with cutesy Valentine's Day decor. In the cases were a pretty good selection of desserts. I decided to try cream puffs for the first time. My husband didn't come to play though - he ended up purchasing a whole vanilla heart-shaped cake! (Perfect to celebrate Valentine's Day)

After the bakery, we decided to take a stroll on Atlantic Beach. Since there aren't any beaches in Greensboro, it's always a treat to just be near the ocean. Even though it was a little chilly, it felt good to be on a fairly private beach and take things easy with the man that I love.

Next, we decided to visit Fort Macon State Park. The fort was utilized during various wars, like the Civil War, by the confederacy. It was interesting for us to explore and learn more about what life was like for the soldiers living on the fort. The most interesting thing I learned? They would designate men for cooking duty for 10-day shifts with no regard for whether they could cook or not.

So you mean to tell me I gotta eat Johnny's nasty food who can't cook for 10 days?! LOL! That was all that I could think about when I read that.

For our Valentine's Day lunch, we ended up choosing a pretty down-to-earth local spot called Ioanni's Grill (based on Google, I think it's pronounced "Yoh-ah-nee's"). Babe tried their mango habanero wings and I tried their shrimp burger - sooo good!

The next morning, we took a ferry ride to Bird Shoal, an uninhabited island on the Crystal Coast. When my husband and I looked at the excursion, we saw that we could possibly find sand dollars and get to see wild horses. The ride over was so relaxing and comforting that I could've taken the perfect nap... Do they make nap boats?!

While on the boat, we spoke with a lady who'd taken several ferries out to Bird Shoal and was extremely passionate about shelling. She was a very sweet lady, but she definitely talked our ears off a bit.

We finally get to Bird Shoal and I realized just how private this island was: it was literally only the lady, my husband, and I there! The sweet lady was determined to tell us everything that she knew about seashells and how to find sand dollars. While we were grateful for her advice, we both wanted the thrill of finding sand dollars for ourselves (I also wanted privacy with my man, of course!).

She finally walked a good ways from us - on a mission to find nearly 100 sand dollars, apparently - and Babe and I were finally able to walk the beach alone. We ended up walking for a couple of miles, collecting unique seashells and hunting for sand dollars along the way. The lady ended up helping us find our first one but, by the end of our hour and a half on the island, we each found a sand dollar of our own!

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any wild horses in Bird Shoal, like I'd hoped; however, the driver of our ferry did pause for a little while to allow us to see some horses that he saw on another island.

Later that afternoon, we decided to take a trip to New Bern (about 40 mins away). While we were driving, I discovered that New Bern is actually where Pepsi was first created and sold and I was curious to visit "The Birthplace of Pepsi" (the museum is literally called that!).

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I can't say that I wasn't a tad underwhelmed when I walked. I was honestly expecting more of a museum with different antiques and stories about the creation of Pepsi. Instead, the small shop was divided into 2 parts: on one side, there was lots of Pepsi product merchandise and on the other side was a soda shop where you could purchase Pepsi products and popcorn (for cheap!). Even though it kinda felt secondary, there was some history wallpapered on the walls and a few cool antiques, like the original soda fountain that Pepsi was served from. Overall, it was a fun experience and my husband and I got cute sweaters and 2 "Pepsi-Colas" from the store!

Afterwards, we decided to explore downtown New Bern a little more and ended up taking a stroll through Union Point Park. At the park, there's a boardwalk sorta area that overlooks the Neuse and Trent River. If I could've packaged up that area and took it home to Greensboro, I definitely would've! We spent our time there walking, talking, watching the birds, and taking photos.

After 2 full days at the Crystal Coast, it was time to hit the road back home. Another adventure down for hubby and I. When we got married, we vowed to keep faith, love, and adventure at the center of our marriage - those were the things that brought us together in the first place. I'd say that we've done a pretty good job so far!

I know that this post has been lengthy but, before I go, I have to leave you with a quick thought (especially for the married folks!) -

When many people think about "love," they see the picture that I described earlier in the post: the romantic gestures, cute date nights, and pillow talk. Yes, all of those things should be in a relationship but, in the scope of things, that's the easy part of love. The icing on the cake.

Love, especially in regard to our spouses, is so much more than that. 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 pretty plainly states what God says that love is. None of it has anything to do with big romantic gestures. In fact, love is likely shown most is in the not-so-Instagrammable moments of a marriage.

While on vacation, I ran across an Instagram post that said the highest form of love is consideration.

When we make choices, do we consider how our partner would feel?

Are we attentive to our partner's needs/desires and willing to serve them?

Are we willing to stop and consider how things affect our partner, even when they don't affect us in the same way?

As two humans with different personalities, ambitions and experiences that are trying to build a harmonious life as one, this is not always easy...but it's God design for marriage.

Serving each other.

Picking each other up where we're weak.

Loving more like Jesus everyday.

If I learned (or re-learned) anything from this trip, this was it. As beautiful as I've described this trip, honestly, not every moment was picture perfect...but I'm grateful for what, even those moments taught and remind me (us) of.

Keep God at the center of your union and allow Him to give you the cake and the icing!