Leave Your Shoes At The Door

This week Mamasita and I decided to go on a little roadtrip with E Squared. We ended up in a quaint little seaside town out on Cape Cod. While exploring we happened upon a magnificant beach and decided we had to check it out. There were many stairs to face before reaching the sand, but we happily began the trek down. Here's what faced us at the bottom:
Shoes all over the place! All kinds, sizes and colors. I myself was quite perplexed, having never seen anything quite like this. Wouldn't you just leave them by your blanket? Immediately I began questioning why there were hundreds of pairs of shoes just lying at the bottom of the stairs. Mamasita's response was, "I guess you can't wear shoes on the beach. We better leave ours." Oh no sista....I've seen the episode of Sex and The City where Carrie leaves her shoes at the door, and they weren't there when she went to leave! So this beachgoer happily carried hers so she could feel the sand beneath her toes...

A Scene Out Of Baywatch

Okay kids, you need to listen when the beach manager is making announcements that request you swim only ankle or waist deep. I assure you, he's doing it for a legitimate reason! When you don't listen, I can't relax and enjoy the sand beneath my toes at my favorite beach. I keep getting interrupted by the sound of the 3 shrill whistle blows from the lifeguard at chair #7.(Three whistle blows signals swimmer in distress.) Today it happened FOUR times within a half hour. Know your limits and respect the ocean...

Life Lessons From Mayer

Who knew I'd leave a John Mayer concert with a new perspective on things.....

You see, I dread Sundays with an anxiety that begins somewhere around mid-afternoon on Saturday. I just don't like that day before Monday. That day that I feel like is consumed with uncomfortable anticipation of all that goes on in a work week. Even during the summer, when I don't have to work, I occasionally get those pangs of uneasiness. So when Mr. Mayer made specific mention of Sundays while bantering between songs, my ears perked up. I don't remember what his exact words were, but it went something like this: You need to live life to the fullest every day. Living moment to moment and getting joy out of even the smallest things should be a priority. And that can be enough. If you're always trying to find happiness in the infinite there's a pretty good chance it won't happen. The infinite is just too big.

So here I go...off to embrace a Sunday.

Island Religion

Lissfull recently did a blog about having the perfect thing to say at the perfect time, and then actually saying it. I agree that this does not happen very often, but when it does there can be some doozies! I've got one to share and unfortunately I can't take credit for saying it. It happened yesterday while enjoying a fabulous day on Block Island. The group I was with got invited back to a rental house for dinner, which is a very rare occurrence in itself. Our hostess brought out some treats for us to snack on. Here is just some of what appeared.

At the smell of food, Mamasita's 10 year old son appears on the porch and very matter of factly spits out "Holy hummus." It may just be the catholic school upbringing in me, but I thought that was classic. And in case you are wondering, that's 30 ounces of hummus in that tub...

Sea Vultures

Meet Bird. He shall just be called Bird simply because we never got around to appropriately naming him. He was the extra houseguest while vacationing with Mamasita and family in Jamestown. We met him upon waking up our first morning there. We sat on the couch and watched in astonishment as he suddenly appeared on the table out on the deck. He would look at us through the sliding glass door and he kept flexing his beak. It also appeared that he was staking something out. It wasn't until we went out on the deck that we noticed the evidence of Bird's wrath. You see, Mamasita had brought with her the Hibiscus plant she had purchased before leaving. It was full of blooms and she didn't want to miss seeing the blossoming of flowers. Apparantly Bird didn't want her to see them either, because out on the deck we found the aftermath of a Hibiscus feast! Mamasita was devastated. She brought the plant inside, but Bird never went away. He hung out on the deck, the railings, and most nights perched on our chimney.

It wasn't until maybe the second day that we caught on to why Bird was sticking around. The cityslicker two decks away was feeding Bird! It became painfully obvious that this man did not know the golden rule about these birds I refer to as sea vultures....

Embrace The Venus

I don't want to sound like a commercial or anything, but I believe in giving credit where credit is due. Ladies, I have found the goddess of all razors! It is Gillette's Venus Embrace and you must run out right now and purchase it. I got it after reading about it in a magazine. An editor who had tried it out claimed that she didn't have to shave her legs for three days after using it. That right there had me jetting off to Target in search of it. I ended up getting the promotional package Target was featuring - it came with lotion, shaving cream, razor, replacement blade and a pod like thing to house it in the shower. All for a little over $9. While the replacement blades do seem a little pricey, I will attest that I think it will be worth every penny. My legs are sparkling with smoothness in the sunshine!!

RSVP Please....

Respondez s'il vous plait translated in English is "Reply, if you please." I've always understood it to be customary to reply to an RSVP request whether you are confirming or declining an invite. It simply means that the invited guest must tell the host whether or not they plan to attend the party. It doesn't mean to respond only if you're coming, and it doesn't mean to respond only if you're not coming - it would say "regrets only" for that. It means the host needs a definite head count for the planned event, and it needs to be by the date specified on the invitation!

So, what do I do with these 60+ family members who have not done this simple task a week after the specified date?? Planning a family reunion that involves 96 people is no small task, and this is the part that I thought would be the easiest! What else is in store?