Moving Day!

No, no, I'm still at the beach.

But my little home on the web is moving!

If not automatically redirected, you can catch me over at my own place at http://dailypursuitsofhappiness.com!

One reason to have a kid

Amazing.

The best Tweet I've ever gotten

Things I'll miss when the season changes

I'll miss sitting on my bench watching the surfers as I wake up with the sunshine.
And a big mug of coffee.
I've found that mornings on the beach are the best.
Between 7 and 9, a whole different crowd is out.
The runners, joggers, bikers, dog walkers, surfers, and people like me who are stuck working 9-5.
It's quiet and peaceful and the sun is just amazing and the perfect way to start a work day.

Missoni for Target

Missoni for Target is apparently a big deal.

I must live under a rock. I don't know designers. I had no idea why Target.com was down or why "fights at Target" was headline news.

Or why this is the only thing left when my friend and her mom went to Target last night.

But ya know what? I think I like it.

Mainly the accessories, anyway. Some of the clothing is a little tacky, but there are more pieces I would wear (if I could get my hands on them, it seems) than I thought.

Adorable. Sold out, of course.

Dumb and ugly. I would laugh at someone who wore this.
In stock, of course.

Woof.
In stock, too.


In stock.

Proves that being super tiny can make almost anything cute.

Cool accent. Wish I knew where to put it because it's the only thing I like that's in stock.


Love the luggage. I would love a nice, unique set to find easily at airports.
Ya know, with all the traveling I do.

Love love love. Anything that makes a bike even cooler, I'm in.
I would love to rock this around the beach.
Too bad it's a little above my budget.
And is sold out.
And would get stolen.
Again.

Check out the line (and pictures) for yourself here

Another great Etsy find

I love Etsy. You can find the coolest, most unique things there.

Like this awesome beach gnome makeup bag from Ocean Patch Creations.
And it was wrapped so nicely- simple yet protective (not to mention beachy!)

US Postal Service

So one of the news stories I've heard all week is how the US Postal Service is going to be bankrupt in a year.

Maybe it's because my package is out taking a joy ride across New Jersey.

Happy Local's Summer!

By Monday night, all of the Jersey Shore's summer visitors - both good and bad - will be gone.

And my first real local's summer will begin.

Hello, parking in front of my apartment. Goodbye, lines at the coffee (and ice cream) shops and beach badges.

Can we pick the days I have off?

Lucking Out

I am, by nature, not a lucky person. What can go wrong typically will go wrong and I'm still learning to roll with it.

So with that big ole hurricane aimed for my beloved Jersey Shore, you bet I was worried.

I thought that this would be "the big one" for two big reasons:

1. Since February, I've called the top floor of a Victorian home built in 1890 home
2. My mom has been lusting for an outdoor shower at our family's beach house for at least 1o years. It was installed Wednesday

But I am SO glad that if this is "the big one", we are well-prepared.

Riddle me this, though: All over Facebook and Twitter, I'm seeing updates expressing that people are upset and disappointed with the strength of the storm and the lack of damage.

Um, hello? It's called being grateful that my apartment still has a roof. Thankful that the bay across the street from my beach house didn't flood. Happy that my childhood home isn't near a river and is now under seven feet of water.

It's called luck: we lucked out. The big one will come and I hope that we are as prepared for a storm as this one.

Photos from the Jersey Shore Hurricane News Facebook page, the best source of news and pictures of the hurricane and proof that social media rules.

Hurricane Play List

It's 5 o'Clock Somewhere - Jimmy Buffet and Alan Jackson
Water - Brad Paisley
Like a Hurricane - Neil Young
Rain Is a Good Thing - Luke Byran
The Thunder Rolls - Garth Brooks
The Tide Is High - Blondie

And I have to add Come On, Eileen, due to the fact that I am an asshole.

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to make a "Come On, Irene!" crack.

And you know why no one has.

THAT'S NOT THE NAME IN THE SONG.

In a Path of Destruction

Now, I love myself a good weather story to follow.

Snow storm? I'll track it. Thunder in the background? My BlackBerry's weather tracker is up.

But this one is heading a little bit too close for comfort.



New Jersey has already declared a state of emergency and many towns are ordering evacuations. My town hasn't made it mandatory yet, but I'm peacing out tomorrow.

Beer and Wings

I am most comfortable in a restaurant with a bar.

Not a prissy bar where you order wine or a cosmo, but a bar where there are peanuts on the table and shells on the ground.

Dressing me up in heels and a dress is good and fine, but if you want to make me really comfortable, let me where cute jeans, a top and flip flops and I'll love you forever.

I attribute this to my father.

In my 18 years with him, I don't think we went to ONE restaurant in which the dress code was anything more than shirts and shoes.

And ya know what?

There's really nothing wrong with that.

It makes wine and dine date nights special.

And it makes going to bars for wings and beer special, too.

Another reason I love where I live

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE where I live?

Lizzie McGuire is Preggers?

How on earth can Lizzie McGuire be preggers?

Maybe Kate, the mean girl who was obviously a slut in high school could be, but Lizzie McGuire?! It was weird enough with the fact that she is my age and I grew up watching her grow up and she is now married, but pregnant?

And Hollywood is acting like it's so normal. Sorry, guys, there's nothing too normal with a 23 year old being married and pregnant. My friends and I are making fun of all the girls we graduated that are already in that phase of life.

¿De dónde ir el verano?

Holy crap.

Where have I been and what the heck have I been doing? August 12? Really?!

Where did summer go?

It's was 58 degrees when I woke up today. Delightful, yes. But I'm not quite ready for those crisp fall days yet.

Oh well. The biggest perk about being out of school is that summer isn't really over until it's too cold to put a bikini on.

Go-to Power Breakfast

When I was in California a few summers ago, my cousin introduced me as well, for no better way to word it, "stoner food". The egg quesadilla was apparently my cousin's solution to the munchies, but quickly became a weekend breakfast staple for me.

I love this because it's quick and easy, can be made really healthfully and keeps you full for awhile. And it's really good.

Ingredients
2 eggs or 3 eggs whites, scrambled
Tortilla Shell (I use whole wheat)
Shredded Cheese (I use 2% cheddar or taco blend)

1. Scramble eggs as desired. I like a little salt and pepper and a splash of milk.
2. Cover half of the tortilla shell with cheese. Place the scrambled eggs on top of the cheese and fold the tortilla.

3. Spray a cooking pan with non-stick spray. Cook the quesadilla until both sides are browned and cheese is melted.
4. Serve with salsa. Or ketchup. I swear the salsa is good with it!

@Problems

I am loving the Twitter accounts that post problems of my everyday life.

I use Twitter to find most of my news during the day and to keep in touch with current events, but there's nothing like a mid-day sorority girl problem to make to laugh.

Summer Beach Reads: The Help

This book was recommended to me awhile ago but once I saw the movie preview, I knew it was way past time to read it.

And it was time for me to take a break from reading standard chick-lit, so it arrived from Amazon at a great time.

The Help is set during the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. While the rest of the US is integrated and the hippie movement is starting in the north, young women in Jackson can't wear dresses above the knee or grow their hair long. And black women are still the help, performing the household chores, cooking, cleaning and raising the white children of wealthy families.

This novel tells the stories of three women- Skeeter, a white recent college grad looking to change the world with her writing, Aibileen, an older maid, and Minny, a mouthy younger maid.

It's a good, entertaining read that opens your mind and makes you think. How can one city in America have been so far behind? How was it just okay for that to happen?

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose

I don't have a new episode of Friday Night Lights on my DVR to watch this week.

Last summer, Matt got me hooked on this show. I've seen a couple episodes with him, but I didn't realize that he was fast forwarding through all the good parts of the show. I mean, parts that aren't about football.

So, during my unemployment, I watched all four seasons of Friday Night Lights in anticipation for the fifth and final season.

What a good show.

What made the show was the chemistry between Coach Taylor and his wife. Both during the show and during interviews, it's amazing and so believable.
Ignore the sneakers. But seriously. So good. Matt and I want to be them. Minus their two kids.
Is is appropriate to lust over a man with a daughter in the show a few years younger than me?
And she is beautiful. Matt loves her. I want to look like her when I'm 45. Hell, I want to look like her now.

The first four seasons can be streamed on Netflix and if you need something to watch with your significant other, this has something in it for both guys and gals and I highly recommend it.



Photos from here, here and here

Weather Report

Toasty

It's no secret that I wait all year for the dog days of summer.

Well, they're here.

Can we, um, turn it down a little bit now?

It's too damn hot to turn my oven on to cook something (popsicles and cold fruit diet, anyone?), but no worries, because it's hot enough to cook in the street.

Where did all the hicks come from?

I am, very obviously, from New Jersey. Even though it gets a bad rap, I can't imagine living anywhere else.

I swear, it's a completely different place than it's made out to be.

Last Friday, I went to a sold-out country concert in Holmdel, NJ. This town is located about an hour away from Snooki in Seaside Heights and an hour and a half from the Manzos and other crazy Italian housewives from Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Nor is it in South Jersey, where I was born and raised and, yes, there is a rodeo a half hour from my house.

Below is proof that, well, there is much, much more to New Jersey than GTL.

(Jersey pride tattoo. Jersey Shore, Rt 35, Tillie, Jaws, a hoagie (or sub). Seen through overalls.)

BBQ, Blues and Beer

And just like that, my favorite weekends of summer have come and gone.

I love the Fourth of July and the weekend that it’s attached to. There’s nothing better than fireworks, backyard barbeques and beer.

Music, beer and competition-quality barbeque do a pretty good job, though.

The New Jersey State Barbeque Championship and Angelsea Blues Festival were held over the weekend in North Wildwood. This weekend has come to be a tradition among my family. Like almost every other year for the past ten or so years, I spent part of this weekend at the festival.

Let me tell you: I used to HATE this weekend. Growing up, my parents rented out our beach house for the summer. So yea, we had a beach house but we couldn't use it. So nice of them. But they would drive my sister and me an hour and fifteen minutes down to North Wildwood. We were too young to go to the beach alone so were forced to spend a hot, sticky afternoon surrounded by BBQ, beer, horrendous music and drunk people.

It's funny how just a few years later, this is now one of my favorite weekends of the summer. I love barbeque. And beer. And blues music is tolerable and a great memory of my dad.

So now, I look forward to this weekend. I get excited for spending the weekend with my mom, boyfriend and my sister when she's not too cool to come down. I love a good pulled pork sandwich with a beer.

BBQ= Very happy boyfriend

Summer Beach Reads: Opposite of Me

I'm starting my Reading List with one of my all-time favorites.

Since I read this book last year, I have compared every single book to it and nothing has come close to this one.
"The Opposite of Me" is an absolute must-read if you are a sister. You'll still enjoy it if you're not one, but if you have a sister, this will put things in perspective. Whether you're older or younger, you'll feel for the sisters in this book and find yourself going, "that is so me!"

The sisters in this book, twenty-nine year old twins Lindsey and Alex, have grown up in the shadows of each other. One is, of course, smart and successful but a little overweight and frumpy; the other beautiful and carefree. What sets this book apart from others with similar characters is what the sisters go through and how the characters change and develop throughout.

I don't want to give too much - or anything, really - away in this great beach read, but I promise you, this book is easy to devour. My friends and I have passed this around and around since last summer and no one has been disappointed. You'll want to pass is around so you can discuss it together. (Yeah, I'll admit I'm a nerd, but not all my friends are, and they wanted to discuss it, so I swear that you will too!)

If you pick this one up, let me know what you think!

Moving on up

The past week has been a whirlwind of perfection.

Girl's night. Boyfriend. Sunny mornings on the beach. Summer sales. Kayaking. Long runs. A promotion. A long Fourth of July weekend. Grilled lobster. Fireworks.

Ahh, I love summer. And positive things. Life is always so much better when things are on the upswing.

Maybe all my good luck needed was a little thing to get it started. Once one little thing hit, a lot of little things just started happening. It capped of with one big, exciting promotion, and it could not have come at a better time.

Stolen bike? Whatever.

For once, all is well that ends well.

My Holiday Playlist

What says 4th of July on the beach more than a playlist full of my country favorites?

Here's a little sample of what songs are going to be played over and over and over again the next three days!

Barefoot Blue Jean Night- Jake Owen

Country Girl (Shake It For Me)- Luke Bryan

Old Alabama- Brad Paisley ft Alabama

Honey Bee - Blake Shelton

Dirt Road Anthem – Jason Aldean

Live a Little - Kenny Chesney

Knee Deep- Zac Brown Band

Summer’s Little Angel- Steve Forde

Made In America Toby Keith

My Kinda Party- Jason Aldean

Chicken Fried- Zac Brown Band

Felt Good on My Lips- Tim McGraw

Don't Drink the Water- Brad Paisley (feat. Blake Shelton)

Hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July weekend!

Beach Etiquette at the Jersey Shore

The Jersey Shore is known for a lot of bad things.

Snooki. The Situation. Bamboo. Guidos. Urg.

I defend it on a daily basis. It's where I live. I love it.

Newest poke at the Jersey Shore? New Jerseyans have the second-worst beach etiquette. We're right behind New York, but since they come to our beaches, I think it's even worse.

Head on over to NJ.com to see my take on beach etiquette at the Jersey Shore.

Out of a Slump

Sometimes, all it takes is a mug of coffee on the beach,

an evening acting silly and catching up with friends,
and a 30% off coupon on shoes you've been lusting over to get you out of your funk.