Hey my friends!

Let me first put out this disclaimer, I am an island girl…born in St. Croix, USVI. Ok, so I’ve been living in NJ since I was three years old, so some would say I’m more of a Jersey girl (P.S. I completely disagree with that). Anyhow, I say all of that to say that I have spent most of my life so far living in Jersey. And believe or not, until this past week, I have never been to the beaches on the shore. Shocking right???

What was more shocking for me is how pleasantly surprised I was to see how beautiful it actually was. My friend goes to the beach all the time and since I didn’t get to go anywhere this summer due to my surgery and recovery process, she invited me to spend the day at the beach…sort of a staycation. I wasn’t too excited about going at first. For one, I just never had any interest in the jersey shore beaches. If I wanted to go to the beach, I would go to an island. And secondly, I’m just not beach ready. I still have my scar which is very visible and still not completely healed. So I decided, “what the heck, just go.” And I’m glad that I did…

My friend decided to take me to the beach in Long Branch at Pier Village. I’m telling you when I arrived, I did not feel like I was in New Jersey. I honestly felt like I was in Florida for a few hours. Of course it still doesn’t compare to being in the islands, but to get away from your everyday life when you don’t have the time or opportunity to travel, it definitely works.

There is Pier Village on the boardwalk, where you could shop and eat. We chose to eat at the ‘Simply Greek’ restaurant and we both had the shrimp gyros.

After we relaxed at the beach, we decided to walk around to take in the beautiful scenery before we went shopping.

There are two hotels: Ocean Place Resort & Spa and Wave Resort Hotel. I definitely plan on going back within the next few weeks before the weather gets cold here in New Jersey. I plan on staying at the ‘Wave Resort Hotel’, which has been opened for 3 months. That hotel looks amazing and I cannot wait to stay so I can give you my review on it.

If you live in New Jersey or the surrounding area with no place in mind to go for the Labor Day holiday, you should consider going to Pier Village in Long Branch. If you’re like me and just not beach ready…you can go shopping, eat at one of the many restaurants or book a spa appointment.

Until tomorrow my friends…enjoy the rest of your weekend 💋