The Weekend Edit No. 20
5 fun things, including our favorite restaurant at the beach, a huge sale, and a thrilling podcast
Dear reader,
Happy Saturday morning! And hello from the beach! We drove down to our little beach shack last minute to celebrate my birthday and check out a few houses that we might be interested in (!).
We started a tradition years ago to always make it a point to go out of town for mine and PJ’s birthdays. Instead of getting each other gifts, we do trips. And for the last four or five years, those trips have been to our favorite beach in the world: Panama City Beach. Our little beach shack is small, only about 700 sq ft with two bedrooms and two baths, but it fits our family of five (plus two pups) comfortably, is only about a minute walk to the beach, and, after fixing it up for the last three years, is finally starting to feel like a home away from home.
There’s no place I’d rather be than here right now. The moment we pulled in last night, just after midnight, I let out a big exhale. We had made it. We are here, and it was the coziest feeling taking out the sheets, making the beds, sweeping the house, turning the air on, getting acclimated. Everything was just as we had left it nearly eight months ago. It felt like returning home, in a way.
Also, and this happens pretty much every Weekend Edit- this newsletter is too long for email, so you may want to click through to Substack see the whole thing.
Here’s what else went on this week:
Now that it’s getting a little warmer outside, I’ve been living in my favorite shirt, which is currently half off (!) and only $22. It’s so classic, and I love it so much that I have one in a navy stripe, too. Stripes are in this spring!
The weather has been so gorgeous this week, even though it’s been a tad chilly. Yesterday was so windy at the beach that I had to cover up with a towel because I was so cold, but in the sun, it’s nice. The water, however, was much too frigid for us to get in, though it didn’t stop the kids from running in and out all day and playing in the waves. We’re both excited to come back down in May when the weather is warmer.
We had friends over this week for an easy little dinner party (which you’ll actually get to see soon!), and had a big charcuterie board waiting on them when they walked in the front door to munch on before dinner. I always get a bit overwhelmed on how to style one of these, and then I remember, you literally just lay the food down in straight lines and it automatically looks put together. I didn’t do anything special to this one but group everything together, and it turned out great. The more colorful your food is, the better!
PJ’s favorite eye masks are currently on sale with Amazon’s Big Spring Sale. We’ve never seen them this low before! We linked more for you below.
Every time we come down here, we always make a point to go to one of our favorite local spots, Old Florida Fish House. The atmosphere is so dreamy and the food, like the Mardi Gras Pasta I got the other night (above), is always top notch. They also almost always have live music and the outdoor seating area is huge, with the best ambiance. Highly recommend if you’re in the 30A area.
Have a cozy weekend, friends.
Welcome Distractions
Something to Watch
“The Residence” on Netflix. "The Residence" is a new show on Netflix that is a murder mystery at the White House. During a fancy state dinner, the White House chief usher turns up dead, and Uzo Aduba plays a quirky detective, Cordelia Cupp, who’s brought in to crack the case. It's got that "Clue" vibe with a ton of suspects (157 to be exact) so you're constantly guessing. Plus, with Shondaland behind it, you know it's gonna be a fun ride. My mom binged all eight episodes while she was sick last week and has been raving about it ever since.
Something to Read
“The Age of Being 'Very Online' is Over” Basically, the whole idea of being very online doesn’t really exist anymore. Back in the day, it meant being deep in internet culture, but now that everyone spends hours on social media (especially Gen Z), online stuff is pop culture. Plus, with platforms like Twitter turning into X and TikTok facing bans, the internet just isn’t the same. It’s a really interesting read- highly recommend.
Something to Listen to
“Blink” Podcast. My mom sent me this to listen to on the drive down to the beach, and I am hooked. A true story told by the man it happened to, “Blink” is about Jake, a heroin addict who gets a super rare diagnosis that makes him lose the ability to use his hands on month one, walk on month two, sit on month three, and by months four and five, he becomes completely paralyzed and slips into a coma that no one on earth has ever woken up from. If he lives (which, spoiler alert because, again, he’s the one telling the story), he would be the first person ever to do so. But the thing is, the nurses think he’s braindead when he isn’t, so even though he’s paralyzed, he can hear every word they’re saying. And what’s worse, his wife starts confiding things in him thinking he can’t hear her, and there might be more to this whole story, and why he’s actually in a coma, than he realizes. It’s so good!
Feature Friday
We rounded up a bunch of our favorite items from Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, including PJ’s favorite eye masks. Seriously, we haven’t seen prices this low on some of these in forever, so take advantage of them while you can!
This Week’s Vlog
In this week’s video, we're showing you the two paint colors we're deciding on for our living room at home, because we're finally painting it! Meanwhile, at the farm, PJ is showing you the process of something that is finally happening after TWO YEARS of trying to make it work. Lastly, my family has a sleepover with us as we all brave the storm heading our way.
Hope you enjoy.
You May Have Missed…
Have a wonderful weekend. We’ll see you on Tuesday. If you feel up to it, please like this post and share it! It helps get the word out and lets others discover Okay McKay. Thank you, friend!
Thats amazing. Im like you and enjoy trips and experiences over things. Unless it’s something I need like a new vacuum haha. My fav place I was for my birthday was Windsor castle in the UK when I turned 20. Im glad your birthday is going amazingly!
Sounds like an enjoyable birthday weekend, Thomas! It's been one of your principles for a while now to focus on experiences vs things. Now that my hip replacement surgery has moved into the recovery and rehabilitation phase, I'm looking forward to going somewhere/ANYWHERE and making up for lost time. Time, a commodity you can't get back and appreciate even more as each birthday clicks off the calendar. Thanks for sharing a bit of your celebration with the Substackers, who all love you and yours very much!