Whiskey Beach

The lawn was mowed,
the pool was cleaned,
the garden was weeded,
the dishes were done
{well, done by my stanards anyways}
...so we made a day of it last Sunday at our favorite beach.
Whiskey Beach






Little did we know we were sitting on the nations 2nd cleanest beach!
Just the other day the Delaware's Cape Henlopen State Park was given this rating by the National Resources Defense Council! The name 'Whiskey Beach' was coined back in the 1920's because it was a drop off point for illegal bootleg liquor! It sit's at the south end of Cape Henlopen.

Locals know it as Gordon's Pond...which is a small pond (seen below in the back) created by the Atlantic Ocean waters and wind. It is now a wonderful place to see the local wildlife. The observation towers on the beach were built by the Army during WWII. You can climb up and get the most gorgeous view of the park!
The above photo is by Kevin Fleming, a fabulous photographer with awesome shots of Delaware like this one below....' crop duster and sunflowers' ...

you can see more of Kevin's photography here....but, I digress, back to Whiskey Beach....
one of our favorite things about this beach (besides the fact that it is sorta hidden from tourists~always far less crowded!) is this neat pavillion .....

where we can grill and get a little relief from the scorching sun....


or, on this day...shelter from the approaching storm!






The sunbathers & swimmers began coming over the hill in droves...they told us they heard we were in a tornado watch and when the thunder, lightning and wind began...I believed them!
But we decided to stay...we weren't done eating our burgers!!! It was awesome to watch the storm go over... a little scary but still awesome.
~~I had tried to post this blog post earlier this week but my computer has been infected with a terrible virus all week! After days of working on it with the greatest people at bleepingcomputer.com
I think we've fixed it. If you have any computer issues at all you should visit them...they are brilliant, friendly and free!!!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone...I'm hoping for another day at Whiskey Beach!!

It's gone...and, I gotta tell ya...

I. AM. LOVING. IT.

It's been four days and for me...it feels like a whole new sense of freedom. No more commercials screaming at me...'buy this now, buy that now'...no more endless surfing only to find there's nothing good enough to capture my attention...no more MTV or '16 and Pregnant' corrupting my daughters brain...

no more of all the things

I will never miss!

I am praying my family sees it too...this complete sense of freedom I have.

So far, they have not complained...they are reading more and watching movies when they want to lounge. Keeping my fingers crossed!!

Getting To Know You Sunday...

a little fun is in order so I'm joining up in mannland5's party...
'getting to know you'
where she poses the questions...and you pose the answers.....fun! ok...here we go....

1. Thong or Granny Panties?
Always has been, always will be...granny panties.

2. If you see a guy with his fly down, do you tell him?
Probably not. He'll be less embarrassed to find out on his own.

3. Spanx or no Spanx?
I have no idea what spanx is, but since it rhymes with spanks,
I'm inclined to decline...'no spanx'.
{uh, feel free to inform me-I'm reserving the right to change my mind}

4. Do you sleep in your sheets?
Yes, per order of my husband, who cannot sleep without them.

5. What is your favorite Disney character?
I don't think I have one, but if forced to choose I'll go with all seven dwarfs.

6. Dream vacation spot?
ahhh... let me show you....


Cote d'Azur, France

7. What is your dream job?
A Peace Corp organizer, one who gets to see the good that is done on a daily basis.

8. Who is your hero and why?
Katharine Hepburn.

for her strength as a woman and her unshakable independence.

thanks mannland5...this was fun!

They're here....

the dog days of summer.

The first tell tale sign is the


oppresive heat...


then it's the singing of the cicada's....


last, but far from least,


the back to school supplies showing up in every store, everywhere.





A few nights ago after dinner I handed my boys the bug spray and invited them to a

garden party....

they accepted!

There were weeds to pull and beans to pick,

that older guy in the chair was so fast he became a blur!

The cucumbers are just loving my Eiffel Tower!

I took the liberty of renaming them

'Parisian Burpless'

think Burpee will mind?

and the winner is....

We have a winner..comment number 25!
Lori from Katies Rose Cottage!
Congrats Lori & have fun shopping! A big thanks to all who entered!Oh...and THANKYOU for all your tidbits on the cable/fios issue. I'm still working on Fios but today is the day, this house is going tv free and I can't wait...I can almost feel the freedom! I'll let you know how it goes for everyone else, so far they are just curious and think I'm a bit crazy!

I also wanted to show you more kitten photos, a couple of times I've seen them open their eyes & the one light gray kitten has blue eyes! I did some research and found out that they may change, or, may not. Anyways, I couldn't get them to pose for me cuz all they want to do is....



sleep!
Shhhh...don't wake them...Mom's gone and if they find out they'll start crying!

O so big!

Really big things and funny things must be shared!!
first, the biggest sign I've ever painted!
This was a custom order for sweet Julie in Scotsdale AZ...she'll be sending a photo of it hung in her shop, I can't wait to see it!
It took a long time in the making...trying to adjust the size so it wouldn't be so costly to ship then there was alot of 'math' involved in the resizing of the design...but here it is!
this was taken before I added the silver german glass glitter & did a little more distressing...

When it was finished I wanted to get more photos of it and to capture just how large it was. I asked my darling
Hannah



to hold it for a little photo shoot...she huffed a bit but then agreed. I had no idea she was making these faces as I was clicking away, trying to get the best shot....
oooo, the little devil!



finally she gave me ONE good one!!!
Hannah, after two gigs (a first and a last!!) ...your modeling days are over!!! ps....Scroll down to my last post and get in on the CSN giveaway!!!

my new mission and...a GIVEAWAY!!!!!

Move over meat and potatoes, I got more to put on my plate~I know, I have enough on my plate but I'm an envelope pusher & for this one I'll need a little help from you! But I'll get to that in a minute...first let's talk about a great giveaway!!! This one is for a $60.00 gift certificate to any of CSN's more than 200 online stores! If you've never been to CSN you must check it out...they have everything from lighting to kitchen gadgets to baby items to dining room sets! ...just to tease you...here's just a few items I fell in love with...


Tommy Bahama!!! sweet, yes???

Cotton Tales Nursery...precious!
Martha Stewart pendant lighting....{sigh}

There is something for everyone at CSN! And they have free shipping on just about everything, woohoo! This is open to the US & Canada and the rules are simple...

just leave a comment on this post! If you'd like to blog about it & share it with your readers, come back and leave a second comment for a second chance...that's it~easy peasy! This will end Monday, July 19th at 7pm...I'll choose the winner via Random.org & CSN will email the gift certificate directly to you! Be sure I have a way to contact you, either through your blog or via email...ok onto my new mission...

I'm on sort of a quest...a quest for a better solution to the monopoly we call 'the cable company'. After years of paying them a small fortune in return for service that has gone down in quality and up in price, I'm done. I'm about an inch away from cancelling our tv and going without it {a total non-issue for me} and I've begun a quest to get Fios here in our town. There is no competition for the cable company and they know it~satellites are only an option for some (we'd have to remove trees in the yard) and DSL won't do for an online business.

We need Fios!

I've got our Mayor calling Verizon (he's pretty sure our cable franchise agreement isn't blocking them from coming, but if that's the case I'll be at the next town meeting!) and he is calling Verizon to see what we can do. We'll see...I may have to pound the pavement to drum up support, but, it wouldn't be the first time ~insert visual of my husband rolling his eyes.

I'd love to hear if any of you have Fios & if so...do you like it? Is it as great as they say? I don't know what will come of this but I'm a little determined...ok, more than a little.

Let me know your opinions, every little bit of info helps!

Ok girls...comment away & good luck!!

Home again, Home again jiggety-jig!

Home from an awesome week at the beach...I didn't want to leave, seriously. This was our 6th summer vacation here...it's always a fabulous week.

The Outer Banks is so beautiful...if you've never been I highly recommend it!

A few, (ok a bunch) of pictures to share...

We started with...

an old man's birthday.....took the party down to the beach too!

morning coffee on the beach...

it tastes soooo much better here!!

beautiful houses on (and some 'in') the water!

then there were the crabs...so much fun chasing these around the beach at night, this guys watching me drink coffee at sunrise...and I'm watching him!

They tell me this is a blast...running down Jockeys Ridge

( the largest natural sand dune on the East Coast)

or somersaulting down...I just took their word for it!

Our last night....group photo on the pier!

Mikes Mom & Dad, his brother Joel & wife Sandy, their kids, Kaylee, MacKenzie and Jay and my Hannah

me & the old man:)

....um, I'm in a sea of blondes!

I didn't even know this till I looked at the picture! lol!

Then we came home to this.....

Piff had 4 kittens!!

Oh my gosh they are soooo cute...what on earth am I going to do with them????

Happy July 5th & Bon Voyage!

OK....I've been totally missing in action, keyword...'ACTION'

just been crazy and it has left zero blogging time! I know you can all relate...we've had lot's of out of town company and that meant oodles of cleaning, shopping etc....but today I'm off to here...

that tiny little strip of land off the coast of NC

...and I plan to park my butt on the beach and barely move till it's time to leave on Saturday!

(well, except for a little tennis!)

I'm meeting my darling husband and his family (they've been there since Saturday)

and

today

July 5th, 2010

is his 50th birthday!

Bringing him presents, a big fat double layer German Chocolate cake, made my moi, his favorite Manhattan Clam Chowder and Stuffies (I was up till midnight cooking!) and the best present of all....ME!!!!

I'm told we'll have internet access so I can lolly around blogland, yay!

Oh yeah...did you happen to see who won Wimbledon????

Didn't I tell you he was awesome??!!

Hope you all had a happy & fun 4th of July!