Archives for July 2009

Tomorrow we’ll be home (tonight we’re in Memphis at my brother and SIL’s house), but we had a grand ole time in sunny Florida. The boys have been so much fun, and may I just say? The appetizers-for-supper idea?

PERFECTION.

Now granted, if we had husbands with us, the appetizers idea wouldn’t have been nearly as successful because they would have been wondering when we were going to eat The Real Supper, aka The Supper With All The Meat. But for Janie and me (or, as your various and sundry reality television participants might say, “for her and I”), the appetizers worked beautifully. Can’t recommend them enough.

And as is the case on most trips, we had a few Favorite Things emerge. For instance.

These pickles are divine. And this was our second jar, because the first jar? ALL GONE.

We arrived at the beach armed with plenty-o-magazines (I also took two books, but for some reason I gravitate to magazines at the beach. Maybe it’s because I read two sentences of a book before I’m all Look! Pretty water! Shiny sun! Sand! SAND! SANNNNNNNNNNNNND!)

Anyway, we found a new favorite magazine on our trip. But please forgive the poor photo quality because my camera has decided it’s no longer interested in focusing consistently. It just focuses when it wants to. It’s very moody, my camera.

Great articles, incredible recipes, and if you watch Food Network as frequently as we do, you’ll love all the behind-the-scenes articles on the shows and the chefs.

And please let me show you my sassy, out-of-focus hat that is my new best friend forever and for always.

Got it at the Walmarts for ten bucks. Will wear it for years and perhaps bronze it at some point. It’s the first hat of my whole life that sits with authority on my abnormally large-yet-flat head.

It also works beautifully when I’m wrestling crocodiles in the outback.

Finally, I mentioned this on the Twitter earlier, but it bears repeating. There was a sweet, elderly woman who I saw in the pool (not at the pool – IN the pool) several times this week, and each time I marveled at her ability to keep her entire body submerged in the water while every single strand of her hair stayed completely dry. It was obvious that she’d been to the beauty shop before she got to the beach, and she was preserving that ‘do like nobody’s business. It was remarkable, really.

So yesterday I was gathering all of our noodles and towels and goggles and whathaveyou, and I saw the older lady on the other side of the pool. I figured she had just walked up because she wasn’t in the water yet and was still wearing a very cute cover-up. She was visiting with her family, making sure everybody had enough water and whathaveyou, and as we walked in her direction I found myself thinking how sweet it was that she’d made the trip to the beach. She had to have been in her mid-80s, at least, but Granny was turning it out with some sassy swimwear and appeared to be all manner of adorable. Just watching her made me smile.

And then – when we were just a couple of feet away from her and her family’s table – do you know what I noticed? DO YOU KNOW?

Granny was wearing support hose underneath her swimsuit. Not medical hose – just really nice, sturdy pantyhose. In sort of a Travel Buff shade. Sandalfoot, of course – no reinforced toe. She was poolside, after all. And y’all know that all I could think of was Dolly Parton in Steel Magnolias: “I haven’t left the house without lycra on these thighs since I was 14.”

I’m telling you: Granny and her poolside hose blessed my heart. She looked fabulous. Her legs had a lovely, even tone, and quite frankly she possessed an air of confidence that I can only hope to have when I’m in my mid-80s. Now granted, she was probably burning slap up, but as we all know, fashion often requires sacrifices.

And honestly, those sacrifices are so much easier to make when you have a really good control top.

The end.