TTFN...

The definition is posted at the very top of my blog...

Summer - verb (used without object)

To spend or pass the summer.

my brother Keith, second from left, OCBP circa '93

And, that is precisely what I plan to do; spend the summer wearing out my welcome at my parent's beach house. Spend warm, June mornings cracking the Insanity whip with the bff. Spend quality family time dining al fresco or playing tennis without being tied to my computer...

I want to pass this glorious summer reading stacks of books and needlepointing at the beach or pool. Pass the evenings taking one of Babe's legendary long walks fine tuning our hopes and dreams while the sky's ablaze with the setting sun...  

I want to pass these next three months breathing in the salty air and letting my mind shift towards future goals...

While this is not farewell for good, 'tis farewell for the moment. Sooo, to the night shift nurses in Brooklyn who look forward to my 12:01am postings, to my father-in-law who now uses a Mason Pearson brush and can recognize a Reva at 5 paces, to the plastics doc who loves our Lolly and reads posts between surgeries, to my mom, when in Mexico, and Em and Hilbils, when in school, who like feeling connected to the family while miles away, to my most unprep, polar opposite pop-alternative bass player in AZ, to the West Coast gal who asked for the RSS feed I never got around to embedding, annnd, most especially to moi, who will not wake up to a bunch of compliments under the guise of "comments" waiting in her inbox each morn, I'm sorry to leave y'all hanging...

But, what a fruitful three years of posting this has been. Old friends, new friends, and, for the rest of my lifetime friends. Thank you to everyone mentioned above, thank you to dear friends who encouraged me, thank you to Mel for inspiring me, PVE for guiding me, and everyone for reading me, thank you to family who waived privacy, thank you to the other bloggers who regularly commented when I couldn't find time to reciprocate and, muchos, MUCHOS gracias to Babe and the Ti-Babes for fronting the whole gig...

So, ttfn. I'm off to summer...

Kindness of everyone for not completely abandoning ship with my hiatus. I'll still be lurking around Facebook, flooding Twitter with the Ti-Babe's mugs and coveting per usual on Pinterest. And, who knows, I may go through major attention withdrawal and be back for a fix. But, for the time being, I've got some other fish that need fryin'...XXOO

Remembering...

It's flags-in at Arlington National for Memorial Day...

And, just how fortunate am I that I'll be beaching or pooling it here in G'wich this weekend only reading of war thanks to those who have fought it for me?

So, instead of pouting cuz I don't have that beach manse yet...

Where I could be executing any of the nifty, patriotic ideas I have tucked away...

Sulking cuz we didn't make the trip home to the beach where I could be celebrating with my family, scarfing down crabs and hitting up my beloved Sea Shell City for the mini starfish needed for crafting this beauty... 

Or, grumbling about lack of time in my days to exercise my creative outlet...

I'll be cognisant that all those things are possibilities for us...

 In thanks to our fallen heroes...

 In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders Fields.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD

Kindness of those who have and are still fighting to preserve our freedom...XXOO

Fiver Du Jour

Hilbil's custom PVE header for her on the cusp on launching blog chronicling her education and jouRNey raising $5000 towards a cure in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, October 27-28. Since this such a noble cause, and her Nursing Honors College thesis, Pilgie and Lolly did their part and anted up here...

Ricky Lauren's new book The Hamptons Food, Family, and Fun. Includes the recipe for her signature, dark chocolate brownies that are supposedly so yummy Ralph wanted to put them in his stores til her mother laid down the for family only law...

Duck Head?! Talk about a blast from the past. Oh, fer sure there are some Duck Head khakis in Babe's foreseeable future...

How darling are these Tipsy Skipper Captain Morgan clutches? Already planning on imbibing a couple rounds myself starting with Shellacked in conch. Or, Fiji Fizz in bicoastal. Oh what the hay, A ROUND FOR THE HOUSE!

My fav flower, and Lolly's fav Scooby snack, is in bloom and my Whole Foods Peony habit is dangerously close to setting off a Mint.com alarm. Thank god we're not far off from hydrangea robbing season...

Kindness of PVE for making her pretty blog headers a family affair. Also, anyone who happens to spy me, come June, scooting around the beach on my bike at dusk with scissors in my Nantucket basket, for just looking the other way...XXOO

Long Tail Alley

It all started benignly enough...

Enter Green Tail, courtesy of Santa...


And, things started to get intense. Lolly spent hours, and I mean hooouuurs, perfecting her salchow and double axel much to every one's delight. Or, so we thought...

Turns out nooot everyone was enjoying her one woman show especially all the squeals of delight and roses tossed the star's way. Diva, meet the Divo...

Enter Long Tail. A li'l bonus gift included in the Easter Bunny's leopard mouse order. Long Tail eventually became Split Tail from the workout he was being given trying to be equitable. Mummy and Daddy soon found themselves being summoned to long rehearsals. If the Diva and Divo are not napping they expect the stage hands to toss their growing collection of Long Tails up and down the length of the hall, or what has become known as Long Tail Alley....

Daddy says handling the growing egos is like managing a band; The Divo, Hanni Lee Roth, tossing on his white robe and refusing to perform cuz his rider stated he was to have two Long Tails in his dressing room and there's only one...

The Diva, Lolly Gaga, retreating to her trailer if the Divo thwarts one of her signature flips...

Wait til Daddy finds out that's the least of his worries. Seems the stars have purchased a ticket on the Mint.com express train to trouble and are currently giving Mama a run for her money in UPS Long Tail deliveries...

Kindness of Babe who has been picking up the Long Tail tossing slack after work and on weekends while Mama ices her Long Tail elbow...XXOO

Skinnygirl She Said Wistfully

People are always writing me asking what and how I eat to stay so thin. Um, I'm not and, I'm thee LAST person that should be dispensing dietary advice cuz my eating habits are atrocious. A T R O C I O U S. Unlike my three sisters, who eat whatever they want, have never dieted a day in their lives annnd each weigh 20+ pounds less than I, it's all or nuthin' pour moi so, it's either starve or binge. Without the side benefit of purge...

Which is why Bethenny Frankel's The Skinnygirl Rules For Getting and Staying Naturally Thin has been playing on a continuous loop on the whip's CD player. And, all I'm gonna preach say about it is, she makes great sense of old wisdom and delivers it in a very candid and practical way... 

I can also give the thumbs up on her Skinnygirl On-the-Go Bars in the Dark Chocolate Multi-Grain Pretzel...

And, plan to toss the Banana Oatmeal Dark Chocolate in with my next order...

Along, with The Skinnygirl Dish Easy Recipes For Your Naturally Thin Life...

Cuz, when left to my own devices...


Kindness of Babe who will have to retire his celiac patient skit when I no longer feel compelled to stuff my suitcase with Allie approved diet foods when travelling...XXOO

Shower Shavasana

Some of us don't have the luxury of quiet time during the day...

Nope. Some of us aren't afforded a buncha lounging around looking pretty time for stilling the mind and working on self...

But, since I'm such a firm believer in the power and importance of doing so through prayer, mediation, motivation, goal setting, breathing, wish list making...I bought myself a Lilly Pulitzer dry erase board and stuck it in the shower where I knew I'd be a captive audience...

It's the perf idea for setting your frame of mind for the rest of the day...

Ingraining wisdom...

Pondering scripture...

 Giving gratitude...

Or, just getting your butt in gear...

Of course, it's alwaaays helpful if your dry erase board is pretty to boot...

Kindness of Babe for teaching me the power of written words. Also, Pilgie and Lolly who drop their toy mice outside the shower doors then stare at me, with the sole intent of disrupting my reverie, for it's always my cue to switch gears and give thanks for our li'l family...XXOO

Paris In Spring

Nooot reallyyy...

But, a girl can pretend when she has the Saint James Galathée tee in a bevy of Spring colors like frosted aqua...

 Bright celery...

 Caribbean pink...

And, good ole navy paired with her capris...

Since it's, fingers crossed, on the verge of getting too warm for their nominally heavier weight Minquiers III tee...

I stopped myself at two. Annnd, here's hoping they stay folded til October...

Kindness of J. Crew for offering up the Saint James tees because, woman can not live in popovers alone...XXOO

The Endangered Two-Toned Varina

I was operating on two and a half hours of sleep, shins throbbing from my Concourse D to Concourse B in Jack Rogers sprint when I spied them walking past in the distance; navy Varina's with a red cap toe...

And, if I hadn't been tied up behind the velvet rope of Delta Customer Service trying to resolve my missed connection, there would've been, at the very least, a pic to go with this tweet. At most, a tackle...

Although I have searched Google high and low, the Red/Black Raffia and Patent... 

Along with the sighhh Black/Toast combo, are the closest I've come to finding the obviously endangered two-toned Varina. I think I could learn to make do...


Kindness of anyone who may have any intel on the navy and red cap toe Varina I think I saw through my haze of missed connection tears and rage for piping up before they're totally extinct...XXOO