You'll Never Guess

You guys.

I found a bathing suit in Arizona. And I love it. More than the one I lost.

I even bought two. Similar style, different colors.

And they were on sale. Crazy cheap.

Am very happy camper.

I clearly should go on vacation more often.

I am a Big Fat Liar

I truly am. And it's a good thing.

My mom thought I was shooting an elaborate Indian wedding in Manhattan today.

I was not.

Instead, I was getting on a plane from JFK to Bangor, Maine last night so that my brother and I could be on a 730am ferry from Bass Harbor to Swans Island in order to sneak up to her house at 8:10am and surprise her for her birthday while she was having her coffee and watching the Today Show.

It was amazing. She was stunned. She still is a little. And I took so many pictures of our day together. Walking to the Top of the World, touring the old lighthouse, a hike at Blue Rock Trail, steaks on the grill and blueberry pie and giving her her Birthday gift, which at first she refused to look at because she knew it would make her cry. Won't really be able to post pics until at least mid week, once I get to vacation. But I think I got some great ones.

But it was awesome. I had a great day. I'm so blessed to have the family I have and my mom is the heart and soul of it. Her actual birthday is not until Monday, but Happy Birthday anyway, Mama. I love you SO much. You are one of the greatest gifts I have been given. And also, I might be moving in soon because there is little better than the view from your front yard. I need it for my soul.

I love you!

Much much more to come...

OMG

There are SO many bathing suits for sale on jcrew.com!!

Why did no one tell me?!! But now there's no time to order one!

(and also, who am I kidding, I never could order a suit online, let alone one that is marked FINAL SALE, NO RETURNS).

Dang it. Back at square one.

Curses.

Well...

I think its gone for good.

Or hiding in a really really secret place. (this is what I'm hoping)

I tore apart both closets last night. No dice. Looked behind my dresser drawers to see if it had fallen. Nada. Looked in my "under-the-bed-out-of-season-clothing" box to see if I just hadn't removed it this summer when I put my winter sweaters in there. Nope. Looked in several weekend bags & suitcases incase it was hiding in a inner pocket somewhere. Looked in a freshly laundered bag of items Geoff brought from Al & Liz's house last time we were there. Nothing.

I really don't know where it could be. Maybe I'm just not looking very thoroughly. OR, maybe I can blame Geoff for not looking very thoroughly in CT. Oooooo, maybe that. Who am I kidding, I'm much more of a mess than he is when it comes to losing things.

Well, maybe I will just live with the ugly mismatched one. It's certainly not the end of the world. And as Alison pointed out, I am headed to warm weather central. Maybe I can find one there. Maybe they will have more on their sale racks than Bloomingdales, Macys, The Gap, Old Navy and Talbots did, as I have already tried and failed to find a substitute at all those places.

And maybe, just maybe, someday my suit will come out of hiding and come back home where it belongs.

Today I am...

...Thinking about vacation

...Mentally packing for vacation

...Deciding which books to bring on vacation

...Wondering if I really will find my bathing suit to take with me on vacation.


It's been lost for at least 6 months or maybe more (aka, since the last time I wore it. Which would have been over a year ago). I've convinced myself that really it probably just fell down behind a drawer in my dresser and I'll find it in time to pack this weekend. Or that it is just crushed underneath something in my closet and will show itself clearly when the time is right to put it in my suitcase.

The truth is, it's not at my in-laws (who have a pool and therefore that's usually where I use it). And I've kind of already moved some things around in my closet in my first feeble attempt to allow it to reveal itself to me. I've already pulled out one of the dresser drawers that it could have been hiding behind. No dice. (And I had quite the time getting the drawer back in.) I think I'm afraid to REALLY look for it (and haven't had time, honestly) for fear of discovering that it is actually nowhere to be found. Just in time for me to go on vacation where I will primarily be sitting by a pool. Awesome.

And yes, I do only have one bathing suit. I'm amazed at all the fabulous skinny people who have a different bathing suit for every day of their vacation. And who cannot understand that I only have one. For those of us who are...."curvier", (which is my nice way of saying "not a size 6"), finding a bathing suit that is remotely decent and not ugly as sin is a task within itself. So add that on top of the normal female anxiety comes with bathing suit shopping, and you have the potential for shopping trips that end in tears of frustration on the floor of a department store dressing room.

Well OK, I do have an old mismatched bathing suit that I can use in a pinch. Which is what I inevitably will be in. The top is a black Speedo top that will give me horrendous tan lines and that I think I bought when I was in college. The bottoms are pink and I bought them on sale at The Gap 3 years ago for about $5. They are too big. Too big, as in, when I used to dive in the pool they liked to... slide down/off. However, there is a teeny tiny silver lining of this cloud: And that is that the only advantage of having put on a few pounds...perhaps they will now stay put and I will not inadvertently flash all of Arizona.

But, I really would rather have my real bathing suit. It's a pretty color blue. And I like it. So, everyone say some prayers and cross your fingers that the real bathing suit does emerge from a closet or drawer somewhere. Because then, technically, I can be one of those fabulous people who bring multiple bathing suits on vacation.

PS - God help me, what if I do find it and it and, thanks to the aforementioned pounds, it no longer fits. OMG, I can't even think about that. Well, that just won't happen. That's all there is to it.

PPS - Um. This post ended up being a lot more about a bathing suit than I originally intended.

Friday Night with the Bobo

Friday night I went with Alison to see the first preview of After Miss Julie, a play we cast with Sienna Miller and Johnny Lee Miller (who was the lead on that series Eli Stone, among other things). As we were sitting down just before it started, Alison informed me that my brother was in town, asking if we wanted to meet him for a drink afterwards. After much teasing that Alison knows his social schedule before I do, we agreed to meet after the show.

The show was fantastic, by the way. Sienna Miller was really really good. Pretty much everything about it was. Which I love.

Anyway, we headed over to meet Clay for a glass of wine. Then we learned his friend and college roommate Greg was joining us as well. As was their friend Ben, another West Point classmate. I hadn't seen Greg in...gosh...5 years or more I bet. He's married now and is about to be a dad for the 2nd time. Wild.

So everyone arrived and it was a great reunion. Great to see Greg, who has barely changed a bit, which is just what you want in a guy like Greg. And he and Alison bonded pretty quickly. Luckily for all of us, as the night unfolded, I had my point&shoot.

New BFFs


Within 15 minutes, Greg had spilled red wine all over Clay's Ted Baker shirt that he had borrowed for the evening.


Greg's general despair over ruining the shirt


Never fear. Tide stick to the rescue! (The second thing I pulled from my purse that proved instrumental to the evening.)


We had a great time. Somehow when we ordered our second round of drinks, Clay decided we should just go ahead and get 2 bottles. And so we did. We just talked and laughed and told stories.

The interesting part of being a grown up (as I now semi-think of my self) is getting to know things about your siblings that you never knew when you were in high school or college. Clay and I swapped some stories that we'd never heard about each other before. Alison happened to capture one of his confessions (& my reactions) in a montage of pictures that I think pretty much says it all. It was a blast.

Clay 'Fesses Up














A grand old time was had by all!

For Alison

I read this in my book. It made me think of Alison.

A young girl, newly arrived in Paris....

"I'll never be French, she thought. I don't really respect shoes."

- from Lost Geography, by Charlotte Bacon

It made me smile.

That is all.

Another Sunday, Another Brunch

Sunday we met Alison for brunch at Eatery, this great place on 53rd and 9th. It's always packed there, but the food is really good. I'd never been for brunch. But my new intern at work waits tables there and when he described a sweet potato hash pancake with eggwhites topped with a guacamole mango salsa I was intrigued. When he said it would change my life, I knew that was the place for us. He was not wrong. I loved it.

After a lovely brunch and two bloody marys (yum), we wandered up to Central Park to sit for a bit. Geoff was exhausted after a long wedding shoot the night before, but it was SO GORGEOUS outside, I couldn't imagine not being outside.

Things we saw on our walk up 9th Avenue:

This guy. Takin' a stroll. Makin' a statement.


Pretty colors


The bar of a cute restaurant called Bocca di Bacci (or something like that)


Passing some fruit


And flowers


Liked this sun-dappled sign...


This kid wanted to share his snack with me I think...


Columbus Circle


And in the park, sitting on a bench, we met the tiniest dog. Her name is Gabby. And even though I am not usually a small dog fan, I thought she was pretty stinkin' cute. Her owner was kind enough to let me have a mini-photo shoot.




Lots of sticking out of her tongue. Which was adorable. There were also a TON of shots when she was just a blur. She's fast!


Look at that face. Please keep in mind that her torso is basically the same size as Geoff's hand. She's teeny!


After Gabby we headed home. A nap was in order for Geoff. And I took him out to dinner at Bliss, one of our neighborhood haunts. The owner and waiters all know us and are so nice. We had a lovely meal and great conversation. Can't wait to do that every day on vacation in 10 days!

Blech on you Blogger

I hate blogger right now. I realized a few days ago that there was an updated editor to use, so I updated to it (where I now have a "edit html" window and a "compose" window and the pictures show up as pictures in your compose window, not as html). But I can't move the pictures around as easily and all my photo captions are showing up on the right side of the previous photo instead of on top of the photo that they match with. And I hate it. I have a lovely post to share but I can't because the formatting as all BLECHY and I hate it and I can't fix it.

Poo on you, blogger!

Any advice???!

Photography 101/Cheating

So, you know how I love to take street photography. Snapping shots of interesting people as I pass them on the street, preferably without their knowledge. Well a few weeks ago I was killing time before meeting friends for drinks and only had my point and shoot with me. It was nearing sunset as I wandered up 9th Avenue. I snapped a bunch of photos of interesting people. Or thought I did. Since it was getting dark, my point&shoot had auto set a high ISO and slow shutter speed. So, my results were grainy and blurry. Mmmmm, my favorite.

BUT!

Never fear, I saved them by turning them black and white and dubbing them "Abstracts".









And that concludes our lesson in creativity/faking it for today. Class dismissed.

Yes Please

Dear NYC Girlfriends,

We will go to this place for cocktails.


It is in Soho and has an awesome Happy Hour special, according to the chalkboard outside. They also do a cheese plate. So. We are going.

I don't think this guy is always standing out front, but you never can tell. My guess is he was meeting someone here for a first date. Or at least that's what I hope was happening. I hope they had a great time.


Alison, if you get there early, you can browse in this place, which I'm sure you already know about, but it looks like a kitchen paradise. And it is French.


OK, who's in? Out of towners are also welcome.

Consignment Heaven

Went to this great consignment shop in Chatham with my mom called At Home Again. It was awesome. They stage everything in super fun ways. And according to Mom there is really high turnover, so they always have new things. And if you'll notice in the above picture, in the upper left - that is a decorative ball made entirely from pieces of driftwood. I almost bought it.

I liked this hutch.


Seashell wreath. Very Cape Cod-y.


Teeny, toddler sized Adirondack chairs. Please.


These are so pretty. I love all things that are blue. Or blue-ish. No, I really do. It's weird.


I liked this birdcage because it is old looking. And cool looking. Even though I never want a bird.


In the entryway. More Blue for me.


A "Fresh Peas" sign atop an old school desk. I wanted to buy the sign for my kitchen until I remembered I hate peas.


Love how they set things up. Things that totally don't go together but go together.


I'm not usually fond of pillows that say things. Or any kind of decorative thing that says things. But I liked this.


And I liked this "create" sign for some reason. Maybe because it is blue?


OK, Things I actually bought:

These prints. I just loved them. There is French newspaper print inside the purse opening and on the sole of the shoe. No idea where I'll put them, but will find a place for them somewhere/someday.


Also got this basket on the chair. Liked it for maybe the lower shelf of my coffee table, where we've been wanting some baskets for organization of all my items. Geoff pointed out I could only really have room to organize pens in there. But I love it anyway. Also love the chair-basket-pillow on the floor-dresser-piece of old fireplace combo in this picture.


Things I wanted to buy, but had to cut myself off:

This amazing old-school shaving mirror for Geoff. Or at least to decorate the top of his dresser.


These blue mugs. Clearly. I love them. But I already have too many mugs and no one uses them but me.


This lamp, which I loved for it's kind of oblong shade (which you can't really tell from the picture) and cool twisty base. But, as you can see, some smart chick named Audrey already called dibs on this and is coming to pick up the two table lamp set plus matching floor lamp. Durn you Audrey!


This is a hat box. It is French. I therefore wanted to buy it for Alison.


These AMAZING ladder bookends. I love them. Possibly the most. I want them. I might call and see if they are still there.


And so it is official. In addition to Marion's Pie shop, Upper Crust Pizza and plenty of deck time, a visit to At Home Again will become a tradition every time we're at The Cape.