Snippets of the weekend 9.6.2023

Friday was MFD's 46th! He was out boating and fishing all day while I took care of shit around the house. We went to dinner at the Tuckahoe Inn with my dad & Carol and Cindy and Jamie, froze out back having a nightcap, and went back home for ice cream cake with the fam. 

Saturday Dad & Carol made a big breakfast. Lunch was Farmstand on the beach. Frank and Amanda and Eva joined the crew and we had a grand old beach day. AJ and Kim came over later and we all hit the boards which were crowded AF. I expired early after several nights of shit sleep and nearly murdering MFD for his driveway music volume. 

Sunday was more fab weather. Drew joined the crew, and AJ and Kim and the kids in the afternoon. We stayed late on the beach and had our Fourth Annual Great American Smokeout with driveway party games from our Activities Coordinator Carol and her assistant, my Dad. We all had suggestions for next year as we'll do a Best Of for activities. Jared also did a blind taste test of six foods and he was a great sport about it. 

Monday was another burner with brutal sun, a land breeze, and absolutely ferocious blood sucking green heads even Deep Woods Off could not deter. We packed it in before 4 due to that but a great day for the water and boogie boarding! Everyone took off except Dad and Carol. I did a Target pickup, we got all the trash out, pizza delivery for dinner, and I was in bed by 8:30 pm. 

Tuesday I was off. Even the dogs were beat from the weekend. Dad and Carol and I did our new Tuesday after Labor Day tradition of lunch at Kessel's Corner. 

They headed out and I lay in a dark room all afternoon reading to escape the heat and land breeze, then we went to the beach at 5:30. 

weekending reels on Instagram - current favorite weekend look back mode.

I had planned to go home Wednesday or Thursday but got an email Tuesday night that sent me back earlier than planned, so I got back to Philly around 10 on Tuesday night and slept in the basement since the air was off throughout the heatwave and that was the coolest place once I turned it back on.

A few weeks of miscellaneous shit

So good to get an impromptu visit from Frank and Amanda last week!

Dad and Carol were here for a quick visit this week and they changed out the contact paper on the island for me. The befores are with the teal wooden stools - they show the old floors too. Now I want new kitchen counters and MFD was like no.

We're nearing the end of dogs on the regular beach season and we are not okay. Look at this unbridled joy.

It's been beautiful.

Pets pets pets. 

I think this is gorgeous. 

Button from Aubrey and coaster from my mom are both very me

Two trips to my office from the shore in the three plus weeks I've been down here made me extra happy for Old City office - ease of getting into the city from the Ben and the ability to park on the street

I saw this in a public bathroom and wondered if I was getting invited to the Matrix. First of all, I fucking hate the Matrix movies and secondly MFD says the red pill represents the alt-right and I certainly am not accepting an invitation to that missile ride to hell.

Some books I've added to my to read list recently:

I'm very thankful to John and Gisele Fetterman for talking openly about depression and mental health. No matter who you are or where you fall on the political spectrum, please recognize how this helps all of us talk about something that is still so stigmatized. It has been a topic in our house forever, one that was not always as openly spoken about as it is now - one that was self medicated for a long time, and brushed off as melancholic episodes like Fetterman's depression was when he was younger. It is so important for us to recognize the need in others to take a step back and address their mental health. Depression is not a weakness or a character defect. It is a matter of health to be talked about and dealt with like you'd deal with any physical health issue: with care, and with an eye on both how you feel now and how you want to feel in the future. 

I'm not getting into the abortion pill debacle, the people who have been shot doing regular mistake things like going to the wrong door or turning around in a driveway, the erasure of trans people, the rise in anti-Semitism, how anti-american and anti-democracy and morally bankrupt the christofascists are, the white supremacist war on democracy in the Tennessee state house, the absolute pittance Dominion settled for with Fox News in lieu of going through a public trial, or any of the other depravity happening across this country. It is exhausting out there right now. Hold tight to yourselves, stand up for each other and anyone in communities under attack, and find joy every day. Otherwise what is the point.

Happy birthday to Gail yesterday and Evil Stephanie #1 today!

I've got a personal and professional to do list that's a mile long like everyone else right now so I'm going to skedaddle. Peace in the east.

Snippets of the long weekend 9.7.2022

MFD turned 45 Thursday! We went out on a boat (his choice obvi) and I did not vomit in the bay. I did ask to get dropped off early though. 

I also got a manicure and pedicure and did some time-sensitive work organization there, picked a wine for a work event (Two Vintners), looked up drone info for a project (click here), and researched funding for start ups for a friend. We hit our beach for a little over an hour, then showered and went to dinner at the Tuckahoe Inn, a favorite of ours. 

Wedding Day for my brother Sean and Nicole on Friday, so we made a work errand for me pit stop in Margate then drove up to Philly. My vertigo was activated from the Thursday boat ride but thankfully I got it under control. We picked up Aub and headed to Malvern. We had a great time! Table 17! Hit the hotel for a bit after then back to Philly.

We were meant to leave for the shore at 8:30 but pharmacy hours were against us, then MFD mowed the lawn, and we hit ridiculous traffic. Finally got to the shore near 1 and did a late beach day - love lingering in that late light - and Aubrey ran the Boardwalk Blind Pizza Taste Test at night. Jared and Stephen were the pizza runners. This year's winner: NY Pizza at the OC Promenade. Roma was second and Manco third.

Sunday a long hot beach day and driveway party with the annual charcoal Great American Smokeout and games a la our activities director Carol - marshmallow gun not included. We had a great time as usual, and it was great to have Amanda, Eva, and Frank come back from the beach for the driveway party too.

More beach Monday including a boat beached by the Music Pier and a drive by beeping and boating by the Commodore (MFD). Stephen, Aub, Jared, and the kids took off Monday, and we did Boyars and porch. There was a shitload of rain Tuesday, when I was also off. We thank it for waiting out the weekend. Dad and Carol and I went to Kessel's for lunch and had a good laugh over being submerged. I had some HVAC quotes and service come through then drove back to Philly.

In addition to snippets here, I've been doing weekending reels on Instagram if you are interested. 

I read a terrible book most of the weekend and my Kindle was back in Philly so no reads. I started one this morning that was infinitely better. 

Thursday Thoughts - If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine

Season winding down. We've entered August, the storied month where the crowds and our regular rental season wind down. We have two returning guests coming in in September, and a few family and friends coming through also that are not rentals although still have us occupied, but we are in the home stretch of rental season and are really looking forward to that and our great returning guests the next three weeks. Only one unknown to us guest left this summer. And a full list of fall house projects already. 

Happy birthday Evan! Happy to spend time with him, Jenny, and their kids on their vacation week. We made sure all the shades of blue and green were represented the other night.

Back at it. Zumba yesterday with all the 65+ crowd, which is mostly who attends community center classes in this shore town LOL. 

GenX forever. Also Wrestlemania coming to Philly!

Ivana in the grave reel. Have you seen this? It is hilarious in a macabre way, of course. Before anyone is like how is that funny your former grifter cult leader insurrectionist anti-America president buried his ex on a golf course to set himself up for business tax relief. Fuck off out of here. The nickname Don the Con didn't come out of nowhere.

Farmers Market stuff. Plus plums, peaches, cherries, and some amazing pizza from Tony's

My uncle died this week, and I'm still trying to process this. The best way for me to do that is writing, which I did in an IG caption. Continued love and support to my cousins and their families as well as my two aunts who have so much of their lives intertwined with his through shared history and children.

There is.

After work life. 7 pm swims. Coastal grandmother vibes. Soupy, sticky air.

A tale of two hobbies that coexist well. Reading and fishing.

Dog days of summer. 

PACT Act passes to help veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins, no thanks to a bunch of GOP Senators who are allegedly for the troops. Except Rand Paul, who is apparently just outwardly not anymore. He does not support paying for healthcare for vets because they cannot prove where their illnesses come from. It's weird that a man who has the very best healthcare coverage available does not want to pay for healthcare for people that put their lives on the line for this country. He has consistently voted for tax cuts for corporations and the 1%  without care for how much money that would cost us as a nation but draws the line at military veterans possibly gaming the system, just like he voted against sick 9/11 first responders. Hmm. Who is voting for this person and people like him? And why are you doing that?

Abortion. The people of Kansas overwhelmingly voted in favor of keeping abortion rights protected in their state Constitution. Atlanta gets an Abortion Fund. A 19 year old woman raises over $2M in response to disgusting misogynist pedophile underage sex trafficker rep from FL Matt Gaetz's anti-abortion remarks. The vast majority of Americans agree abortion should be legal. Stop electing people that go against majority opinion. That is not democracy when minority rule strangles all of us. Yellow backgrounds collected by DesignMom, periwinkle backgrounds collected by femislay

 
What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Ripple by The Grateful Dead

TWTW - friends make a life

Friday I know it's getting close to summer when I arrive back at the shore and the awnings are up. Friday I worked, picked up a bit in the house, ran some errands on Asbury, batch made wings in the air fryer, made onion dip, and browned meat for tacos. MFD arrived around 7 and Frank and Amanda around 8:30. We were up talking until close to midnight.

Saturday Amanda and I hit the historic district yard sales. I scored an awesome vintage candle jawn and recipe collection book - I have a few of these now, one that was my Gamma's from my great aunt's church and one I got in an antique store in VT and now this ladies club of OC one - plus a solid wood little table and a vintage lawn chair MFD loves. 

We joined MFD and Fronk in the driveway, then MFD went fishing and we hit the beach. Fishing sucked and the beach was cold so we moved up to the dunes for a while longer. Back at home we returned the the driveway sun, then had a late lunch. We ordered pizza and mozz sticks and I threw together a caesar salad for dinner after MFD got back from his showing. I made brownies and we did brownie sundaes and then were slumped on the couch like ogres. 

Sunday I made iced tea and iced coffee in the morning, then when Frank & Amanda got up threw Mimi's bacon breakfast muffins in the oven. MFD did some work and we strolled Asbury and hit a few stores, then came up the boardwalk and did the same. MFD met us up there. More chatting and talking back at the house, and Frank and Amanda left around 5. I lay down and read for the rest of the night, I was exhausted in a good way.

As I said in my Instagram post, friendship jackpot. So great to just hang out all weekend with no agenda and talk about nothing and everything and be together.