Back to normal shopping for moi ...

We got the kids school supplies and some back to school clothes yesterday.  We left at noon and returned about 4 pm.  We did squeeze in a quick trip for Mexican food because it always puts me in a good mood!  All in all ... minus a few times when I had to speak with gritted teeth ... they did well.  I however, returned home exhausted!

When we returned home I noticed the Tory Burch fall catalog in the mailbox.  Umm ... hello!

Perfect timing to made a back to normal wish list for me!  I will think about the total of the virtual shopping trip another day!

great top ... love it with dark jeans or black skinny pants!

I am sure I would wear the heck out of these!

amazing tunic ... nothing more to say!

This is a great sweater!  And the fact that the back is grey is even better!

Um ... you had me at tassel ...

Really ... I am thinking they are all great additions to my closet for fall!

Don't you?

xo,

MPM

Thinking ahead ...

Just finished reading my blog roll and now I am headed for my second cup of coffee and a little planning.  One of my favorite blogs and one I look forward to reading each morning is Summer is a Verb.  I love Alice.  She is fashionable, traditional and hysterical.  I adore her.  I am sure if we were neighbors we would be spending lots of PTHs together sharing diet cokes and trading magazines back and forth. 

She and her husband just celebrated six years of marriage.  Lawyer and I will be celebrating sixteen years on the 26th.  He has suggested that we spend the weekend at our favorite getaway Serenbe.  I have a back up plan in case Serenbe is booked and I am currently working on the nanny for that weekend. 

I checked the anniversary gift by year chart and discovered that year 16 is silver holloware.  According to ehow.com silver holloware is ...

The term silver holloware is used to define all items that are made by creating a hollow form; hollow vessels, such as bowls and teapots. It is a broad and general classification of silver, encompassing items made for tableware, and personal care. Silver is one of the most favored of all precious metals. It is actually lighter than gold, which makes it more suitable for making silver holloware.

Ehow.com states that in the 13th and 14th centuries the most common silver holloware were basins, ewers, ceremonial salts, chargers and drinking cups. I will not be buying Lawyer a basin and I have no idea what an ewer is so I am leaning toward the salts or cups.  The most traditional modern gift is a flask.  Also a great idea ... sounds like I need to look at Scotts this weekend.  I am sure I will be able to find the perfect option.  Thank goodness both Lawyer and I adore old things. 


I have requested an anniversary band.  I am thinking it is the perfect gift for sixteen years of marriage and five months as a single parent ... Don't you?

xo,
MPM

Party of five ... home and together once again

We (the kids, my parents and myself) arrived home from the beach last night around 6 pm.  Lawyer had been home for a week and greeted us upon our arrival.  We have spent a lazy day relaxing and hanging out.  The kids and I went out for pizza and now they are in bed and I am relaxing myself.  Lawyer has headed out for a business trip and will return tomorrow night.  All is back to normal.  Or whatever that should feel like ...

... but I am waiting for something.  I have no idea what ...

I am not sure when I will feel like me again ...

Or maybe this is the new me.  Stronger, more confident, less needy ...

I am truly just not sure ...

But I am extremely thankful to have all of us back under one roof.  It has been a long five months and I am thankful to have that phase OVER!!!

xo,
MPM

Creative time ...

We had to get a little creative once the doctor told Babycakes no water for two days ... and she finally stopped crying.

First it was a word search book ... which she loves!  Then it was game after game after game of Uno.  She is actually really, really good!

Then she decided she wanted to take photos ...

Some of which were really good ... some notsomuch!!!  Of course I would never tell her that I deleted a bunch few. 

And then it got unbearable ... everyone started to hide from her ... she was around every corner ... ready to snap a photo!

So then ... she improvised ...

And resolved to just taking photos of herself!!

Whatever passes the hours for her!!

xo,

MPM

Beach sickness

I have one very sad and sick little girl.  She fell asleep right after lunch and slept for two hours straight.  This is not that unusual for my little one however ... not normal so early in the day.  I was worried she was getting sick when she slept so hard and it turns out I was correct. 

One visit to the Amelia Island emergency clinic and two visits to CVS for drugs and she is back at the beach house once again.

Two middle ear infections and one case of swimmers ear and tons and tons of tears!!!  She is curled up in the chair waiting for ice cream and a book before heading off to bed ...

... or maybe just to be carried off to bed ...

My very sick and sad little girl!

xo,

MPM

Early morning shell hunting

My dad gets up at 5:30 am and walks on the beach.  After a few mornings of the kids seeing him when he returned with shells in hand they asked if they could go.  First to ask was Babycakes.  He told her she would have to go to bed early (an easy feat for a child who loves to sleep!) and get up very early.  She immediately agreed.  So she went to bed immediately after dinner and rose at 5:30.

(A very proud baby girl upon her return.  Her outfit of choice ... a bathingsuit and a hoodie!)

She came home around 7:30 am beaming from ear to ear.  She had seen a live starfish, a live conch in the shell and numerous live sand dollars.  She brought home a number of beautiful shells and one good size conch shell which she has been using to listen to the ocean.  The pride was oozing!  It did not take long for the middle child to decide he too would be going to bed early and participating in the early morning shell hunting.

This morning he too was up at crack thirty and out on the hunt.  They came home with sand dollars for days.  They were grey and partially still alive.  My dad cooked up a little sand dollar bleaching section on the patio and went to work making them white and georgous!

We will end up heading home with 12 perfect sand dollars.  And the kids will head home with amazing memories of early morning walks with their grandfather.

xo,

MPM

Beach = key lime pie!!!

I am not a baker.  I do not like to bake and no one likes to eat any of my baked goods.  

That is ... with the exception of Bubba's Key Lime Pie! 

I can rock this recipe ... and it is a prerequisite for any beach trip!!!

I have currently finished one pie and the second is on its way into the oven ...

It will be perfect after a long day of PTHs (thank you Summerisaverb for that acronym!).

Yum!!!

xo,

MPM

Is that a fin I see?

My children have my love of the beach. I can be spotted sitting in the surf for hours on end reading and relaxing. But ... I am not a lover of the ocean. There are too unknowns. Crabs, fish and seaweed. Ick!

Here at Amelia the water is fabulous. There is no algae ... No jellyfish and the kids do nothing but play in the ocean all day. They come out only to grab a quick snack and to wipe their faces after a huge wave has overturned their boogie boards.

Yesterday they were happily boarding about ten to twenty feet offshore. I was reading and making sure all was good. It was pure bliss. That is ... Until a group of older boys walked over and reported they had seen a fin about twenty feet behind the kids. Ummm ... Excuse me?

I made the kids exit the water for "adult swim" and tried to figure out how to proceed. I wish you could have overheard the two little kids discussing the fact that they neither heard a whistle nor spotted a life guard.  And had they ever had an adult swim on the beach before?  It was priceless! 

We sat and watched for about twenty minutes and then saw the animal resurface again down shore and convinced ourselves it was a dolphin. The kids reentered the water and I went back to bliss.

After dinner I was surfing my iphone news and came across a local story about two sharks feeding in the break in Ponte Vedra Beach.  Ummm ... excuse me?  Isn't that a mere twenty miles away?

Holy crap ... so maybe it was a shark! 

Reason #4213 why I prefer the surf!

xo,
MPM