Sunday, August 30, 2020

Hello "last" week of summer...

Oh Sunday how I love you so so so much.  Sundays are so strange for me - I love them and the slower pace they afford but I also loathe them as I am one of those folks who gets anxious over the start of another work week.  Why?  I haven't the slightest idea.  In the back of my brain from about afternoon I start getting that anxious feeling about how tomorrow will be Monday.

Of course once Monday rolls in I'm fine with it.  So strange.

Today though - this Sunday we're sitting upon - this Sunday is more.  This Sunday is the one I consider the last of summer.  Never mind our Carolina temperatures will continue to bask in the upper eighties and nineties for a few more weeks (I love it) and no worries over humidity levels increasing to the largest ones we feel through the year.  We still have that glorious sunshine even though it has started putting itself to bed around 8:30 PM here instead of nine or thereafter.

I am following the mainstream when I say that this is the last week of summer.  Though I don't care much for mainstream the idea that next weekend will culminate the summer 2020 is something that I fall susceptible to.  The kids in the north will return to school.  My kids have been in school three weeks.  Football season will attempt to kick off in a mere fourteen (?) days.  My garden is shriveled and has relaxed on production.  The pumpkins are being picked.  The pseudo pumpkins are swirled in beverages at Dunkin' and Starbucks.  And my babies are one year older.

That is really what it is for me.  My favorite season is closed each year by the beginning of a new age.  First, my son.  This year he moved from seven years to being two years short of two whole hands in years circling the sun.  On Friday my firstborn will walk into her first day of being a real teenager.  Thirteen.  I could say it feels like she was born just yesterday but it doesn't.  It feels right for her to be thirteen.  It didn't seem to come at the speed of light but more at the speed of sound.  It was fast but not so fast that I feel like I have lost precious time.  In five years I will write this differently.  

In five years...

That truly isn't very long at all.  She will be considered a legal adult who can do things like vote or serve alcohol as a waitress for a part time job.  Her brother will be entering his teen years.  Strange how that all works.

As the bathing suits are packed away the softball cleats come back out.  Another nod to the change of the seasons.  Fall ball - just softball this year no soccer due to the pandemic.  I looked at my calendar this morning - at all the glorious blank spaces and thought of how quickly they will be filled in with "practice" or "game" and "double header".  

By trying to be ahead of the game (pun kind of intended) I started making out the menu for September.  Chili, chili pie, roast...all those comfort foods coming back into play even though I know very well the house will have to freeze us out to make that food taste the way it should when you serve it on a day that hit eighty-nine degrees.

At the top of my staircase is a wagon filled with bags of fall decorations.  Mainly it is all for Halloween because eight year olds live for Halloween candy.  Over at Lowe's Home Improvements mums are 2/$10.  Next weekend on my planner I have a sticky note that reads:

  • *Clean out the summer garden
  • *Plant mums
  • *Put out the fall decorations
  • *MOW FIRST
Because I am a true Southern girl my summer dresses are preparing to go into the closet where they sleep until April of the next year while the booties and darker shades are preparing to take their spots.  New York may say you can wear all those whites year round but at nearing thirty-nine years old it was well embedded in my thick skull that after Labor Day you put the white away.  

And so it is time to start putting some things away like the summer of the pandemic.  But first - we must go get slushies one day after work, pluck the remaining fruit from the garden, burn our butts on the leather seat of the car, and wear all the tropical prints we can fit in seven days.

Here's to the last week of summer!

xo

Friday, August 7, 2020

Friday 5!

 Let’s just jump on this! I went shopping earlier in the week at Banana Republic. In case you weren’t aware, and I don’t think you would be, BR is my favorite of all places to shop. I have never been let down by quality when I opt for BR. 

Today I’m sharing my new loves from my recent shopping excursion.


Since it’s August I opted for their new arrivals which transition into fall ever so nicely. I bought this faux wrap dress in a petite small.

This dress was originally bought to wear while here on vacation but it can really be a work dress, Saturday dress, or beach dress! I bought this one in petite medium since it’s a bit more fitted in the hip.

I love these linen blend pants! These won’t be a transition piece but I will definitely rock them the next two months! Petite 6.

My daughter and I we’re shopping together. She said this dress was “old lady” then I tried it on and she said, “Oh my gosh that’s so cute!” Yep! It is a super cute dress. Petite 6.

Click here for Banana Republic’s Factory Store!

Read it.

I finished it right before we came to SC. Probably one of the best books I have ever read.

OK! Back to the beach! We only have a day before we start the trek home. Totally bummed to have vacation wind down but it’s all good!


*b*

Thursday, August 6, 2020

Lazy Day!

Hello, friends! (From vacation!!!)

Ocean Isle Beach was hit by Hurricane Isaias. It did a lot of crappy damage. Flooding, fires, more fires...terrible. 

Thank goodness for my mom’s beach place. Her renters vacated the day the storm hit. We came on down! It’s been wonderful. 


We have had great beach time and today fabulous lazy time. Today brought rain and storms so after a stroll around Broadway At The Beach and lunch at Nacho Hippo we came back to the condo to be 100% lazy!

Now that I am all cozy in my hoodie and sleep shorts (that I may wear out since ya know...beach) I keep thinking about everything to come. Next week the kids have open house for the 20/21 school year and that means school supply shopping. 

Then my mind starts thinking about creating a new schedule. We have been on the same schedule for basically 5 months! Though, I am super excited my son will be in school four days a week I am slightly stressed at wondering how school will really go. I also feel like I should run to Walmart and buy a couple new planners to start planning every meal and movement from now until...

Wait! I am on vacation! I am sitting beside the Atlantic Ocean and I have like two more episodes of The Last Dance to watch. It’s August 2020! For the love of God have I not learned I’m not in control?!?!


Back to my lovely, lazy vacation!

Links:

Broadway At The Beach

Nacho Hippo

North Myrtle Beach

Ocean Isle Beach

The Last Dance


*B*

Monday, August 3, 2020

Weekend Recap

I guess...technically...my weekend is still going strong since I am off work this week.  Yay vacation...er.

Today is supposed to be rainy ridden and blah.  I have big plans of staying in my pajamas, making waffles, and watching loads of television.  Maybe later we will bust out for something "real" to eat and to bowl.  We shall see no rush on anything, folks.  No rush at all.

The weekend was fun though our plans were shifted.


Tee Ball season is over!
Saturday morning was the last game of the 2020 spring summer season.  This was my little guy's first time really playing anything baseball related and the verdict? He's ready to play soccer again and if he never picks up a bat and ball again he will be OK.  He did really improve his throwing and even caught a few catches made to him on first base!  But his thing is soccer.  I really hope there is a soccer season.
Coach Mikell (haha) enjoyed hearding his eleven kittens this season.  I think he preferred the little ones.

We made it to the pool!
Since we didn't get to leave for vacation after teeball we opted to go to the pool for the day.  This was my first trip to the YCP Pool this summer.  It was nice since it was pretty much empty with the exception of maybe twenty others in the baby pool.  There is nothing better than that gentle lull to sleep in the chair by the pool.  Ahhhh so good.  Since we are technically on vacation I'm refusing to cook so Saturday night we redeemed a giftcard at Cracker Barrel for dinner - it was so good.  But isn't the food you don't cook the yummiest?

Sunday Fun Day!
After two cups of coffee on Sunday morning I decided to paint the laundry room (only finished one wall) and then go pull weeds in my flower beds.  After that all I could think about was the need to be by the water.  So I rallied the troops and we loaded up to have a late lunch on Lake Norman.  The Blue Parrot is our favorite spot for fish tacos, pasta salad, and shrimp wraps.  It was so good and so nice to be by the water.  Our little guy picked out a boat that he thinks we should totally get...its only $78,000.00.

It's a great day to be on Ocean Isle Beach!

Good news!
That little Tropical Storm is set to make "landfall" down at Myrtle Beach overnight.  It looks like rain and wind nothing much nothing crazy.  Ocean Isle Beach let us know that we will probably be able to come on down tomorrow.  We are all very happy but cautiously excited.



Sunday, August 2, 2020

Tacos & Beer Kinda Day

My vacation started on Friday at 5:30pm....

Tropical Storm watch, flash flood watch issued for parts of NC ...

The the NC coast shut down in spots due to a "hurricane" south of Florida.  Y'all - I cannot even.  I am beyond angry and frustrated.  I was so pissed I went to Walmart on Friday night at 8pm (they close at 8:30) and bought a vacuum cleaner.  If that's not pissed then I don't know what is.


Actually, I needed a new vacuum.  But it sounded like something I would do if I was out of my mind.

That stupid "hurricane" now a tropical storm is still sitting wayyyyyy down in the bottom of Florida and its a freaking tropical storm now.  It's not even a hurricane.  It's not even close to us.  But don't tell that to the weather channel who prays every single weather event is a mass catastrophe - sick bastards.


Woooo sahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I'm trying to be very positive about this batch of foul lemons and make lemonade with extra sugar.  

While we wait to see if we will be allowed to actually go on our vacation (which I paid for months ago...) I have decided we will have fun every day by doing something different.  Yesterday, the day we should have left, we ended up at the pool.  Then we laid around (except my husband, he doesn't do that) and then we used a Cracker Barrel gift card and got dinner.

Image may contain: ‎one or more people, sky, pool, cloud, closeup, outdoor and water, ‎text that says '‎Totally not 1-74 East but ya take what you can get. ن‎'‎‎

Mama don't cook on vacay.

I really didn't want to go to the food market (I'm not using any other term for a grocery store anymore other than food market because I like to say food market) but we ended up there anyway.  Our cart - I should have snapped a photo - all JUNK.  Cookies, ice cream, ice cream, cookies, and ok some fruit.

Anti Diet Club - Yes this one is for me.


Today I think we will go bowling.  I heard bowling allies are open again.  Of course knowing how this state rolls as well as our luck as soon as we pull in the parking lot the governor will decide they can only be open from 9am to 9:15am and you cannot use a ball.  For you out of staters - did you hear that our governor has stopped alcohol sales after 11pm?  I believe he has chlamydia and COVID confused.

politics roy cooper Memes & GIFs - Imgflip


Another nugget to add to this is that I decided since we're on a delay of sorts I would take this time to re-organize my house.  Ever doing that...last night I knocked out the kitchen but I feel the need to do it again.  I also am making a list of all the crap I need for the house....this staycation is becoming expensive.  

You know I have never been an excited for autumn kind of girl.  I hated going to school growing up, Halloween wasn't fun to me, the only perks of fall I could see were more bonfires, football, and my birthday.  But I'm not so sure I won't be pulling out pumpkins and planting mums as soon as possible. 

Alberta Ferretti Pre-Fall 2020 Collection - Vogue

Oh ish - that's the fall fashion picks from Vogue?  I change my mind. 

I haven't done too much in the way of bitching over 2020 but after the last oh I don't know five months I am kind of over everything.  And I mean every freaking thing.  Essential worker, fine ok I like to make my money the legit way.  Wear a mask and don't go close to people, sounds like a plan I'm a Scorpio.  Coin shortage, yeah ok whatever.  Your kids are kinda going to school kinda not and we will probably just pull them out of this new schedule all together within a few weeks of it starting, sounds like a normal government plan.  But when you close my damn beach down because of a reason that isn't quite logical....jump the gun much, folks?  

Maybe we should all just dance in a thunderstorm and lick the bottoms of our shoes.

I think I'm going to scratch all plans and find some water and have a taco and beer.

B

Mango Beer Chelada And Mango Beer Braised Tacos