French...Cult...Sign Me Up S'il Vous Plait

I found it. I didn't know I was looking for it but, I found it...

The return of cult French label Equipment's Signature blouse is theee perfect shirt for my classic Parisienne prep haute hippie wannabe self...

It's that...Jacqueline Bisset meets Shelley Hack meets Babe Paley meets Bianca Jagger meets Lacey Underall effortless chic...

Khloe Kardashian's paired the correct belt with hers, butcept the leopard on my footsies will be of the Belgian sort...

I've got hangers reserved for one in every color...

Kindness of everyone for understanding I'm referring to Jacqueline Bisset in Class, li'l more home at the manse, li'l less tequila stands at the bar, and Shelley Hack more so Charlie perfume, less so Charlie's Angels...XXOO

All Masters Prepped

Being trapped in the house during Irene did allow me to tick off quite a few projects on my list...

Including, assembling my Swedish Goggles, or Sweds...

And, since I rec'd them to multiple readers who are gonna be a lit-tal confused when they open the plastic baggie to find parts, I thought I'd better follow-up with a "how-to"...

Right outta the gate I toss the string and plastic tube they supply for fashioning the nose piece...

I prefer to fashion my own by snipping a smidge of the elastic...

Btw, I suggest using tweezers to make your pushing elastic through a wee hole life easier...

After the nose piece is set and customized, thread the remaining elastic through the outside holes...

Then knot off the ends and trim according to comfort and fit on your head...

The end result should look like this...

Be sure not to trim the elastic too short since more adjusting is likely once you hit the water. But, that's the great thing about Sweds; a li'l elastic tuggin' here and there and you'll eventually find your custom sweet spot...

Sooo...got the new Sweds...got the new Dolfin Uglies practice suit...got nooo excuses for not joining Masters Swimming as soon as I hit G'wich...

*FYI...the Dolfin Uglies 2-piece practice suits run très small. I actually had to go up an entire size. They are not for the faint of skimp...

Kindness of Miss Garlic for the heads up on the Dolfin Uglies. These are so up my thin waisted bubble butt alley. And, Charlotte Goldfarb for forwarding along her hub's Kiefer swim source with the attached "summer is also a noun" comment. "Verb"..."noun"...Babe says, tomato tomahto, they both distill down to "expense"...XXOO

All Bark And No Bite

Fortunately for us, Irene was all bark and no bite...

She loomed big on Friday night...

And, by Saturday night she had taken our beach...

But, the water's receded, the sun's back out and Babe and I are going to try and salvage the remainder of our last weekend at the beach...

The only real damage incurred from Irene was to my tan and diet. Sooo, all's well that ends well, except for summer, natch...

Kindness of all who tweeted, texted, emailed and FB'd their concern and well wishes. Pshaw, I've seen Nor'esters pack a bigger punch. Off to eat the last crabs of summer. Take that Irene...XXOO

The Calm Before The Storm

The clouds have begun to gather and, in a perfect storm of bad luck, both the beach house and our new stones throw from the Long Island Sound G'wich digs are in Irene's direct path...

The bad news is, you can't get renter's insurance when you live on the ocean sooo, I get to spend tomorrow like Thomas Crown shuttling/sneaking artwork from here to my parent's insured home in the already evacuated Ocean City...

The good news is, we got renter's insurance out the wazoo for the new place so, Babe's king air mattress is covered. What a relief...

Kindness of General Babe who is, as I write this, en route from CT to the beach, for pleaseee making it here before the stroke of midnight when the State of Emergency prohibits anyone from getting on the Island. Don't you leave me and the Ti-Babes here to spell out H E L P on the rooftop in orange Hermès boxes alone...XXOO

House Guacamole

Guacamole is a house specialty that's a hybrid of the Barefoot Contessa and Rosa Mexicano recipes with a bit o' Gwynnie P technique thrown in for good measure...

House Guacamole

4 - 6 avocados, depending on size

juice of one lemon

8 or so generous dashes Tabasco sauce

1 small red onion, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped

4 Roma tomatoes, seeded, and diced (may also use cherry tomatoes, quartered)

1 teaspoon good sea salt

*I use organic ingredients whenever possible

My secret; the authentic el molcajete pronounced mohl-kah-HEH-teh (the mortar) ee tejolote, teh-hoh-LOH-teh (the pestle) my parents Sherpa'd home for me from Ixtapa. I find the grinding key to really releasing flavor...

Once I chop the onion and garlic and, depending on how much Veuve time I have, hand pluck the best Cilantro leaves being careful not to get any stem. Just like Gwynnie...

I put all the garlic and about a third each of the onion and Cilantro into the molcajete (or bowl) followed by the salt which acts as a grinder...

Thoroughly mash into a juicy paste using the tejolote (or back of a wooden spoon)...

Another GP trick I picked up is scoring the halved avocados into cross sections and gently squeezing the sides for easy release of the chunks...

Add the avocado chunks and lemon juice to paste...

Follow with the Tabasco and remaining onion and cilantro. Gently mix being careful not to break down the chunk of the avocado too much...

Fold in the diced tomato...

Adding more salt if needed. Usually is...

Pop in two avocado seeds to keep the browning at bay, per Gwynnie...

Then stand back and watch the lime chips fly...

*Please allow a li'l latitude with exact measurements as I have made this often enough I know just by looking what I need to add of each ingredient based on how many avocados I end up using. I did my best at approximating. And, yes, you may substitute fresh, chopped jalapeño chilies for the Tabasco as my mom does...

Kindness of my parents for lugging the 11 lb. el molcajete ee tejolote through two countries, three airports, numerous security lines and customs for me. But, considering the regularity with which my parents expertly travel with a suitcases stuffed with 49.9999 pounds of cheeses and the likes of a full size vacuum, Simon Pearce handblown beer tankards, 4 months worth of Triscuits, a Bose sound dock, cases of wine annnd pretty much every appliance in their Ixtapa kitchen, that ole volcanic rock mortar and pestle was nuthin'...XXOO

East Coast Quake???

I thought I was having some sort of vasovagal episode. Either that or someone had slipped a psychedelic drug into the Diet Coke I was nursing...

Cuz it was not long after I tweeted this pic that the earthquake took my beach chair and stomach on a li'l ride. My sister, who had just walked off the beach, called to say the Ti-Babes had run for deep cover and the beach house had nearly shaken off it's stilts. Note to self: no more parking the whip under the house. I'd prefer a hot car over a smushed one...

My Hamptons mag, along with any thoughts of getting sun on my back, were shelved for the rest of the day as I launched into tsunami patrol trying to read the jumping blues for any signals of RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!

I left my post at 4pm with tan lines of demarcation down both my sides but, feeling secure in the coast's safety. And, fortunately, the only thing that suffered from the 5.9er was my increasingly pale backside...

Kindness of Hurricane Irene who will please divert out to sea and allow me one last week of good weather before I have to bid adieu to summer and the beach. I already lost one good beach day of even tanning thankyouverymuch...XXOO

Dear Lilly Pulitzer...

Dearest Lilly Pulitzer,

After nearly a decade and a half of faithful, fashionable service, my beloved bathrobe is starting to show it's age...

And, in bathrobe years, a decade and a half is ooold...

As in, ready to be put out to pasture old...

So dearest Lilly, would you please consider resurrecting the bathrobe? For my tattered and faded pink servant deserves to live out her remaining year(s) in a dignified retirement...

Hanging by a thread,

Allie von Summersverb

Kindness of the design team at Lilly Pulitzer who will also consider a terry lined option. This li'l Mid-Atlantic beach gal is about to face down her first New England winter...XXOO

Trombone Shorty To The Rescue

Cue the New Orleans funeral march cuz the death of summer is upon us. It's always a tell-tale sign when I start coming off the beach more Indian burned than tan. And, the nail in the coffin is inevitably marked by Emma and Hilbil's leaving for school tap tap...



screeeechhh...changing that N'awlins funeral record to some Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue to lift my spirits. 'Twas a smidge over 14 mins into this video when Trombone's insaaane display of talent flicked that li'l mood switch reminding me that in less than two months my parents open their Ixtapa home for the season. Always nice to know there's a life vest on board this sinkin' summer ship...

Kindness of Johnson's Produce for keeping it SC (seasonally correct) for us summer sensitive souls. The last thing I want to see when I run in to grab my lopes are shelves of Christmas ornaments...XXOO

Anatomy Of A Beach Bag

I could pack it in my sleep...

My très faded, but much beloved, pink and green L.L. Bean beach bag...

The reads; book du jour and whatever mags roll in that week. Always a li'l extra spring in my step when I'm toting a Hamptons and US...

Accoutrements bag containing:

• Glacier Tropical SPF 20 good for my skin and the environment
• Skinceuticals Physical Defense SPF 30 for heavy duty protection
• old school Coppertone SPF 8 for the smell
• Neutrogena and Mario Badescu sunscreen for lips
• bug spray from Whole Foods for those west wind days
• Lilly Pulitzer playing cards cuz Emma used to be a card shark
• Raval Page Flags and a pink highlighter for marking finds
• cash for Diet Coke emergencies

Damp, sandy, and smells like summer needlepoint project...

Lunch. While neither animal nor vegetable, I'm pretty certain Diet Coke qualifies as a miracle...

Impossible to see the screen in direct sun buuut, still can't be without it...

And, one of the most useful DIY projects EVERRRR! Merci beaucoup to EAS for the Igloo water cooler outfitted with a 2PreppyGirls monogram decal idea. Beach goin' geniussss...

Kindness of everyone for not raggin' on my Coppertone 8. I am very well aware of it's limitations but, my overwhelming desire to huff it overrides any protection deficiencies it may have...XXOO

Summer Is A Verbomercial

scene opens at 7am with a vacationing Babe groggily emerging from the bedroom to find me steam vac-ing the kitchen floor...

Moi: pppSSSHHHHHHhhhh... pppSSSHHHHHHhhhh...

Babe: WHAAAT. is that thing???

Moi: (très cheery) That's my new Shark! I looove it!

Moi: (still cheery in A Stepford kind of way) Kimba got one too!

Babe: Okaaayyy...

Moi: It's sooo much better for the Ti-Babes cuz you don't use any chemicals, just water

Babe: Mmmmhmmmm...how much?

Moi: NotthatmuchcuzIgotitatBedBath&Beyondusingmy20%offcoupon. (shifting back to my sales pitch mode) And it gets the floor so clean I could lick it!
Babe: Please don't

Kindness of Kimba for introducing me to the Shark. I wasn't the ooonly one enamored enough to wax on about licking her clean floor...XXOO

It's A Navy Blue Moon

When Kelly of Kelly Market said, "And I'm counting down the days to fall when I can wear my favorite navy schoolboy blazer", in reference to theee very same J. Crew number I've been waxing and waning over for several years, I found the pendulum swinging right back to wax...

Of course, the navy velvet version swung right along with it...

Annnd, since the Cailey cord blazer of the same hue hadn't yet left the wax gate, I find myself with a navy blue moon on my hands. And, ya know what they say about full moons; makes Babe people craaazyyy...

Kindness of Kelly Market Kelly for giving the Crew schoolboy blazer her good taste seal of approval. Considering my soon-to-be proximity to Yale, it may be a good idea to step up my collegiate look. When in Rome New Haven...XXOO