Musical Beaches

Today begins musical beaches only everyone's a winner in this game...

My sister Julie is moving from the Fenwick Island beach house into the bff's Ocean City beach house. As soon as the coast is clear, I begin moving our stuff into her old Fenwick Island beach house...

Meanwhile, Emma is on a flight bound for the Gold Coast of Australia for a semester abroad. We have all spent days packing and stressing but, by this time next week, we should all be settled. Unfortunately, only one of us is headed into summer while the other two of us are headed out. Lucky girl...

Kindness of Hilbils for signing off on the release of her sweet goodbye note to Emma. And, for those who will allow me to finally cash in that posting latitude chip that I've been threatening to use. Two crazy weeks on deck but, I will do my darnedest to be here for you each morning. Just in a slightly abbreviated state...XXOO

Ushering In J. Crew Season

When Jessica from The Love List broke the news that the highly coveted Sequin Harem pants Jenna Lyons debuted on Oprah were now available at J. Crew she knew exactly where to start disseminating her scoop...

At $650 the problem isn't sticker shock Jess, but more the fact that those babies will become theee most expensive sweat pants in history, likely to be paired with Ugg slippers and my Nana's mink. Can you say Little Eddie Beale?

Ohhh how I love a buffalo check. And, I know just the Keishe pearl necklace for pairing with this black boy shirt...

Ahhh, yes...the requisite black riding pant of the season...along with my new picnic table button down and million dollar sweats, my uniform should be set for the upcoming months. Babe would like that last statement in writing please...

Also, in the fall Crew catalogue is a bit of modeling by the cast of The Romantics which debuts next month. Perfectly timed for that anti-climatic, mildly depressing weekend after summer ends...

Kindness of Jessica from The Love List for the heads up on the Sequined Harem pants and The Romantics trailer. I have BIIIG plans to be at the Sun and Surf theater on September 10th seated front and center. I'll be the girl in the pricey sweats covered in buttered popcorn with a smuggled in half gallon of Diet Coke concealed in a pink and green monogrammed Igloo cooler...XXOO

The Way To Future In-Laws Hearts Through Their Stomachs...

Alice,

You've been so helpful when I've had a few questions in the past, so I'm hoping you can help me with this problem of grand proportions! I am setting up my boyfriend's parents with a gift basket for their anniversary and I want to do a delightful little selection of upscale nibbles along with a copy of Midnight Feasts (already ordered). And, they don't necessarily have to all be food items. The problem is that I'm just stumped as to what to put in it! A little help...

Desperately Trying to Appease the Future In-Laws Stomachs,
Paige

Well Miss Monograms and Margaritas, one option would be to pull one of the recipes from Midnight Feasts and outfit the basket with the ingredients needed. Otherwise, I've conferred with the bff and we've culled together a list of our fav kitchen must haves. Hope this helps...

This task was enlightening even for moi cuz I had no idea Kimba swore by Fini Balsamic Vinegar...

I did however, get the memo on the Williams-Sonoma 5 Pepper Blend Peppercorns...

I have already placed a Cucina re-order for my fav Fig and Savory Flower kitchen hand soap...

And, dish soap for next week's move back to the beach house...

As well as loaded up on Williams-Sonoma khaki and cream dish towels...

We've been relying on the vanilla my mom smuggles brings across the border for years, but Emma, the fam's self-anointed mistress of cookie making, has decreed that vanilla sub-par. Sooo, Nielsen-Massey it is from now on, Miss Snooty Vanilla connoisseur...

The bff's numero uno pick for your basket...

But, we're both in agreement on Trader Jo's and WS's pop-up sponges. Love em...

Fleur de sel, or flower of the sea, salt is a staple...

And, I guess it's the smidge of Baltimore gal in me that's loyal to Honeycup Mustard. Fabulous in a vinaigrette and found at any Whole Foods...

While you're at Whole Foods getting your mustard be sure to grab a bottle of lavendar oil too. Every kitchen should have a some on hand for burns. Pilgie and his li'l healed mitts can attest to that!

Thank you to Amy Fahrenkopf for my newest obsession, Bengal Spice Herbal Tea...

Hands down the best honey ever is Golden Angel's Raw and Unfiltered Tupelo. I had a local source when I lived in C'ville but, these days I'm not past making Babe drive me 45 minutes to find some when in the city. It's one of the three items he teases me about "choppering in". The other two being my Old Chatham Maple Sheep's yogurt and FEED granola...

Hot chocolate season is on the horizon and I'll need to start stocking up on MarieBelle's Dark and Aztec flavors soon. Where's that chopper when I need it?

Kindness of the bff Kimba for once again helping me to cobble together a post. When your up to your eyeballs in moving chores it pays to have friends with fabulous taste and culinary wits...XXOO

Sun Hasn't Set On Summer Items Quite Yet

A couple of weeks ago one of my favorite gals, Erin from Let the Tide Pull Your Dreams Ashore, posted this pic of her DIY très preppy water cooler...

You know me, I was quick outta the gate on that li'l project and ordered my 2 Preppy Girls 3 inch decal immediately...

While Babe took care of getting me the fuchsia Igloo cooler at Dicks Sporting Goods...

A couple of days later it was peel, place, press...

Et voilà!

Let the fading begin...

Kindness of Erin at Let the Tide Pull Your Dreams Ashore for her fantastic idea and tutorial. Also, Babe for including the pink Igloo cooler in my birthday loot pile. I know, I know...you wish I would get this excited about $6 items more often...XXOO

Many Thank You's To Go Around

Merci to all my readers for the overwhelming amount of birthday well wishes, cards, gifts and shout outs...

Merci to Babe for my shhhwanky and much coveted beach towel and, also for commissioning the Hermes fairy to make an additional deposit under my pillow...

That makes available TWO slots on my perpetual wish list...

Merci for my pretty pink and green cake birthday breakfast and for thinking ahead to how confusing it would be for my readers if it read "Happy Birthday Babe". Little do they know we are both "Babe", "Dil" and "Fil" (and all variations of the three)...

Merci for my Black Salt birthday dinz and for taking care of me once I was drunk off the combo of Bellinis and Tylenol Cough and Cold...

Merci to Amy and Alexandra for all the champers and goodies day two of the festivities...

And, last but not least, a belated merci to Jill Olson of Tickled Pink and Green and Kara Hagan for alerting me to Summer is a Verb's mention in Houston's social glossy Paper City. I've been hoarding the copies generously sent to me for a future powder room papering project...

Kindness of Southern Gent's friend who reported in with her sighting of me leaving G'town's Neyla restaurant Saturday night. Next time you just go right ahead and yell out your congratulations on the procurement of my much discussed beach towel. I would have been laid out on the sidewalk in laughter. Now, if you had approached our party to deliver your message more privately, it would have been YOU collapsed on the sidewalk. There was enough collective garlic breath in our group to drop an elephant...XXOO

I Got Some 'Splainin' To Do

Dear Allie,

Where are you moving to, and where are you moving from? I don’t understand why you do not just live with your husband? I am concerned about you. My husband is a doctor, and has a book published, also.

Anne

Well, Anne, while 'tis true that Babe has his Medical Degree he is actually a consultant with a white shoe firm which requires tons of travel. I promise, we do live together although, he is gone for most of the week. When I refer to his hotel du jour as his "home", it's done tongue in cheek. Sooo, in a nutshell for all those confused...

Displaced from our G'town condo suddenly last fall cuz landlord needed to move in.

Threw all belongings into a storage unit and headed to sisters beach house rental since Babe was working abroad for 4 months and not available to orchestrate finding us new real estate.

We didn't look for a new place in the city after Babe's return cuz he was seriously considering a professional move to Paris.

Babe pulls plug on move to Paris suspiciously soon after I announce plans to make Hermes my signature brand once landing in France.

As spring looms on the horizon I dig in heels not wanting to leave the beach this close to my season.

Sister decides to move outta rental so we our pack hobo sticks and kerchiefs and head back to the city to regroup.

Turns out "regrouping" involves Pips and me double teaming Babe and convincing him we should take over beach house lease.

So, an official, if short lived, move into the beach house, including all belongings from storage, is set for September 1. And, even though Maxminimus likes to tease me about the verticals, ya can't beat the million dollar view. Athough, I must admit, the thought of an ADG/Allie von SummersVerb Reality Show in the city was tempting...

Kindness of Anne for bringing to my attention the fact that some readers may have just come on board and are slightly confused about why we live like hobos. Home is where the heart is Anne. The heart and close proximity to the beach...XXOO

On The Road Again

Welp. Pips has his hobo stick and Hermes kerchief stuffed full of peanuts and we're baaack on the road again. He and Mama were like fish outta salt water and wore poor Daddy down sooo, we're beach bound again...


Stay tuned for this weeks moving adventures...

Kindness of everyone for extending me some posting latitude these coming weeks as we deal with all the fun that comes with moving, NOT. And, Pilgie who will please be sure to shake all his peanut dust out of my Hermes pochette scarf before returning it...XXOO

And A Happy Bithday It Is!

I went back and counted. No less than 17 mentions on my blog is what it took...

And, voila!

The start of a collection is born...

Did I just hear a thud in some office off Park Avenue as a certain someone read the word "collection"? Don't worry Babe, ya gots a whooole year til my next birthday...

Kindness of Babe cuz what it really took was 17 mentions and one very generous husband. I luuuv it you sooo much Dil...XXOO

If The Mountain Won't Come To Mohammed, Mohammed Must Go To NYC

Babe has been working insane hours this month and as soon as I heard he would also be working through the past weekend and not coming home from NYC, I packed my lil T. Anthony and boarded a train to him...

I went from Penn Station directly to his office for a proper I'm heeere...kiss, kiss, and then I hightailed it over to Belgian Shoe where I was met with quite the disappointment seeing that it was 4:45pm on a Friday. And, does "Closed Sat June-Aug" mean June through Aug or June til Aug?

Apparently, it means June through Aug. Note to self: Maxminimus deserves a good thrashing for leaving out this minor detail in his Belgian taunts...

Welp, what's a gloomy gal to do other than man up and follow Babe down Glutton Lane and indulge in the Old Homestead's 20 ounce American Kobe burger. Good thing I got all my shopping in beforehand cuz we weren't up for much more than a nap after eating this beast...

We did manage to rally in the evening for cocktails with Meg Carter who was also in town working. Unfortunately, Babe was still in a slight burger coma and forgot to turn the flash back on. He swears, two days later, that he is still full from that thing...

Even though he didn't get back from the office til nearly 2am Friday night, made me walk miiiiles in Canfora sandals, and spent half the weekend in a burger coma, I still had a wonderful few days with Babe. And, besides, if he hadn't taken that burger coma nap, I would never have slipped back out to Roger Vivier unnoticed. Shhh...

Kindness of Babe for a great time at your home away from home du jour, the Palace. Next time I just may give into to temptation and take one of those Gossip Girl bus tours...XXOO

One Last Summer Death Rattle

My summer at the beach is ending a couple of weeks early. The tears have been shed...the tantrums thrown...and finally, sigh, my fate accepted. One last death rattle before I am stuffed into the car and forced inland...

If I'm going to spend my last days of summer at a condo pool then I deserve to do it in style...

One more Melissa Odabash for the road please...

I mean seriously, I just broke the seal on my Glacier Creme sunscreen mere days ago. I guess there's always that beastly Mexican sun to block in the coming months...

Yup. Time to shake the sand outta my current read and pack it back up in my beach pool bag...

Kindness of any friend's I have in the city whose parent's may or may not have a nice, private pool in McLean. Ohhh Amyyyy...XXOO

Introduction Into Society

Pilgie has been busy all day excitedly stuffing and sealing envelopes...

And, he has asked me to kindly make this most important delivery...

The proud uncle has bestowed a name on his lil niece...

And, is counting down the week and a half til Miss Lolly Rockefeller arrives...

Early reports indicate that Uncle George is going to have his hands full. Seems the Town Crier, as he is lovingly referred to these days, is getting a worthy intern. But, if any one's up for the job, it's our Pilgie...

Kindness of Emma's friend Sally Atwater for planting the Lolly "name" seed one weekend while chatting on the beach. I had originally tucked it away for a baby name but, the chances of manifesting those identical quintuplets are getting slimmer sooo, into the kitten name bin it went...XXOO