TALES OF THE TRAVELING TOTE AND A GIVEAWAY ~BEACH BOUND

Traveling Tote Adventures and a Giveaway
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Beach Bound

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Tales of the Traveling Tote and a Giveaway

Welcome to another adventure of Tales of the Traveling Tote. This is where my fellow Tales of the Traveling Tote friends and I share our latest travels, projects and our most current events. You will have an opportunity to visit other members at the end of this post and learn about our giveaway.

Beach Bound

Miss Molly enjoying lunch out and shopping

In the spring we look forward to our annual trip to the beach. Early May we packed and our bags and  approximately three hundred miles south and five and half hours later we arrive at our favorite sugar sands beach. 


My favorite place to be beachside is 

somewhere, anywhere along scenic Highway 30A in the panhandle of Florida's emerald gulf coast. This year we enjoyed a weather perfect week with mild temperatures and lots of sunshine. 

 Trips here in the past find us in a beach house, townhouse or condo. This trip we were beachfront in a condo. We love to sit on the balcony and enjoy the view while sipping coffee in the morning or enjoying a drink in the early evening before going to dinner.  Come along while I share some of my favorite places along this Florida coastal hideaway.

My sweet sister did a fun drawing of me, knowing how I still love my beach time!

I love the feel of feet in the sand 

Breathtaking sunsets 

And sunrise

Our favorite food to enjoy beachside is blackened grouper. 

Served up at one of my favorite restaurants in
Seaside. Always a favorite!

And known for their key lime pie

Red Bar in Grayton Beach and 

Louis Louis, Santa Rosa Beach. Same owners and same menu, always delicious....

And right next to Great Southern Cafe is my favorite beach bookstore
Sundog Books

I chose a few books from the shelves for beachside 

Seaside

Rosemary Beach and a little shopping

Alys Beach

The striking architectural features of this town are traditional, Bermuda brilliant-white homes. Featured with pathways and courtyards only a short walk to the beach 

Lunch

A break from seafood, pizza hit the spot for lunch

Miss Courtney enjoys walks on the beach

jSweet Beach Treats

And, a favorite nursery to find a few gifts and plants to take home

Clay Gardens and Gifts in Seagrove

Thank you for your visit. I hope you will leave a comment, it's the only way I know you stopped in.

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Now for the Giveaway!

Rita at "Panoply" will be hosting the giveaway for a chance to win this luggage tag from MacKenzie-Childs. Just leave a comment on Rita's blog post.

Tales of the Traveling Tote members would love for you to visit.

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

 

Remember to join the TTT on Sept 1 for more fun adventures and another giveaway

 

TALES OF THE TRAVELING TOTE, A GIVEAWAY AND MY PANTRY REVEAL

Tales of the Traveling Tote and giveaway

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 Welcome to another adventure of The Tales of the Traveling Tote. This is where my fellow Tales of the Traveling Tote friends and I share our latest travels, projects and our most current events. You will have an opportunity to visit other members at the end of this post and learn about our giveaway. 

Food Pantry to Dish Nook

 Reveal 

With no travels here other than weekend visits with family and a few day trips for shopping, we've been on an ongoing "staycation" which has allowed us to finish up the "dish nook" and finally unpack most of our dishes.  The nook is a small space, only 9'1" X 4'5" overall.

Everyone knows I love dishes, and I've collected a few! Some are from friends and family, some from travels brought back as souvenirs. My dream was to have space to store and display my special pieces and collections and make it easy to collect what I need to use. I 

wanted shelves from ceiling to floor. I put pen to paper and drew up my custom design plans along with ideas to give to my cabinet man. He is in high demand so it's been a long wait, but definitely worth it. He custom built all cabinets in our previous home, did the kitchen renovations there and built all the cabinets in this house. He's the only craftsman I trust to do the work. Another trusted helper for me was Miss Courtney. Here she is ready with the first of many dishes we unpacked to store in our new nook!

Miss Courtney brings dishes from storage to place in new Dish Nook

Pantry Before

Jim removed the wire shelving to use in storage. Next, we called the electrician to wire for lighting. I haven't decided if I will use the chandelier I purchased, we measured and now what was once centered, it is now not! The cabinets are different in size so it threw the center off. 

A little bit of a tight squeeze!

Dwayne in pic above and below, our cabinet man. He is so gifted, he can do anything with wood! His employee top pic above

After the stained solid oak countertop was installed, we hired the same man who did the tile in our last house and all the tile work in this house to do the ceramic tile backsplash. This is the same tile used in the kitchen, keeping a uniform flow throughout. 

Food Pantry to "Dish Nook"

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Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace for walls and shelves and Sherwin Williams Tobacco stain for oak counter top

Tile is Roca-Flow White 3"X 12"

Miss Courtney back with another collection for the Dish Nook

Benjamin Moore Blue Hydrangea

for a pop of my favorite French Blue

Miss Courtney helped with a decision, which runner to add to the Dish Nook. I loved her suggestion...

This was one of those projects that just seemed to never end. Just little things holding up work, ordering materials that took forever to come in. I am very pleased with how it turned out. I would have liked to have a little more space but not possible with this footprint. Now, I would imagine you are asking, where is she storing her food!  I'll share that with you next time. 

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Now for the Giveaway

As always, The Traveling Tote girls want to thank you for following along with our adventures. For a chance to win this fabulous MacKenzie-Childs eyeglass case just leave a comment with 

Patti @ Pandora's box

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 I hope you will visit my Tale of the Traveling Tote friends for more fun adventures!

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch   

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Bookish Dilettante  

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Please join us for our next 

Tales of the Traveling Tote post and giveaway

Coming

June 1, 2025

 

Thanks so much for your visit. If you have any questions I'm happy to answer them, just leave your question in comments.  

The French Hutch 

Dish Nook