It feels like a Monday, but it’s actually a Tuesday. Life is good.
Remember how I said that Tuesdays are shaping up to be my favorite day of the week – yep, that still stands.
A sunny 90 degrees, a day off, and plans to hit up the gym with my brother – it’s going to be a good day. 
Yesterday afternoon we ventured over to the Dunes National Lakeshore for our first beach hike of the year!
We are very fortunate to live so close to such a beautiful area – the beaches, the hiking trails, and the area itself are all gorgeous.
We can be outdoorsy and hit up the Dunes, or we can be citified and hit up Chicago. I love it!
I can’t wait until the water warms up so that we can have an all out beach day!
We made certain to point out the poison ivy so that Adam would steer clear!
Adam has the idea to take a shadow picture – it turned out pretty cute!
Climb those dunes!
It’s always exciting when we get our first view of Lake Michigan!
We hiked trail 9 – which is the longest trail. We also love trail 8 – which is shorter, but much harder terrain-wise!
After our lovely 4 mile hike, we headed to one of our favorite lakeshore restaurants – Bartlett’s. It’s a cute little restaurant with a welcoming feel.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had added a few new vegetarian options since the last time I had been there! It’s normally a very meat heavy menu – so I tend to fill up on appetizers and then just order a salad for my entrée.
Not so today! Adam and I decided to split the Grilled Seasonal Vegetables, Tofu, and Cous Cous.
Notice a little something missing?
It came out without the tofu! Apparently, the kitchen did not tell the waiter that they were out of tofu.
Despite the lack of tofu, the dish was still pretty tasty. Adam loved the cous cous and the roasted red peppers!
The waiter offered up desserts on the house for the tofu mishap – ah, of course!
We chose molten lava cake. As my Dad always says – this is so good it should be illegal.
With 5 people eating, we each only got a bite or two. A perfect little taste of dessert without feeling sugar sick.
The night was still young – so we headed over to the beach to watch the sun set and skip some rocks.
Being the smart girl that I am, I decided to write the date in the sand to remember the day when looking back.
Well, apparently I am not so smart because I later realized that I wrote the wrong date! LOL! That’s what a long weekend will do to ya – you lose track of the calendar days and you only know that you have the day off!
Have a wonderful day guys!
<3 Stefanie
Are you near a beach or any hiking trails?
Do you have those weekends where you have no idea what the actual date is? At least I was close! 
Which is fine by me, but only for a day or two. By day 3, I’m ready to get outside and get some fresh air!
