The best Tweet I've ever gotten

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.

¿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.

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

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.

Balsamic Vinegarette Chicken Pasta Salad

Pasta salad during the summer is my absolute favorite food. It can be made as healthfully or not as you want and a little bit goes a long way.

Earlier this year, my boyfriend asked me to to make Jessica Seinfeld's Balsamic Chicken Sandwiches (delish) and with its great flavors, I was looking forward to adapting it into a pasta salad.

My boyfriend, for whatever reason, believes that pasta shouldn't be cold, so this is a great dish I make during the week that works well for a dinner or two and lunch for the week, or until I finally get tired of it.

Balsamic Vinegarette Chicken Pasta Salad
For chicken:
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4cup balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp firmly packed dark-brown sugar

Season chicken with salt and pepper
Warm oil in the skillet Add chicken and garlic. Cook until chicken begins to brown. Add chicken broth, vinegar and brown sugar. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked all the way through.
For Dressing
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp pepper

Wisk all ingredients together

Pasta
Make one pound of pasta. Rinse with cold water and drain. I chose a spiral pasta. Why? Because it's pretty. Whole wheat pasta works well with this recipe, too.

Putting it together
Mix the pasta, chicken and dressing together.

Add:
(?)oz. grape tomatoes, halved (I can't remember how much I used. I bought a container and used a little more than half of it. I'm not a much tomato fan, but it goes so well with the chicken)
8 oz. fresh mozzarella, cubed (or more or less, depending on how much you like cheese ... does anyone NOT like cheese?)
1/4 cup fresh basil (optional, but oh-so good)

Mix it all together in a big bowl, let it chill a few hours and enjoy! Best served with a little bit of grated parmesan cheese on top.

Happy First Day of Summer

Ahh, after a looong winter, it's finally here.

I welcome and thrive upon, in no particular order:

• Bikinis
• Tan lines
• Beach days
  
• Concerts
• Flip flops
• Sun dresses
• Iced coffee
  
• Popsicles
  
• Water ice
• Watermelon
• Canonballs
• Bud Light Lime
• Landshark
• BBQs
• Fireworks
• Thunderstorms
• Baseball

And, with all these great things, I'll deal with:

• Humidity
• Mosquito bites
• Thunderstorms (yes, it goes under both)
  
• Bennies and shoobies
• New Yorkers
• Sunburn
  
• Beach badges

No shoes, no shirt, no problem

I LOVE summer concerts. Nothing says summer better than cold beer, good friends and great music.

Concert number uno: Zac Brown Band and Kenny Chesney. Hellooo country music super stage.

Too bad the arena- Lincoln Financial in Philly- well, sucked. Maybe great for the people who could afford the $300 seats, but for everyone else, well, the few 200-level fans who were not drunk or didn't know every single word to the songs, it sucked. A blast when I knew every word to every song, so ZBB was awesome, but besides the 10+ Kenny songs I knew, everything sounded the same.

Wah.

If only I had this view it would have been a whole lot more enjoyable.
Ah, not in my lifetime. (Photo compliments of Janelle's Facebook)

[And no, you don't even want to see a photo from where I was sitting. Good views of Uncle Kracker and Any Reid, the morbidly obese coach of the Eagles, though.]

BUT, as seen by Kenny in a Phillies shirt, it was a great night to be in my home city of Philly instead of New York for a change.

Happy National Flip Flop Day!

Anyone who knows me knows that one of my favorite things in the whole wide word are flip flops.

I love them and everything that they stand for. Summertime. Freedom. Relaxing.

I ache in the winter when my toes have to be covered. Sure, boots are stylish, but they're so suffocating. My toes being free is what it's all about. (Not to mention showing off my adorable bright pink nail polish.)

Being cheap, poor and a beach kid, I've never spent more than $30 on a pair of flip flips, but here are some cute ones out!

Reef, Brighton Orla, Vera Bradley, Diane Von Furstenberg, O’Neill, Lily Pulitzer, all available at http://www.zappos.com.

Forget purses. Flip flops are absolutely every outfit's best accessory.

Another wild idea

Friday: 2.01 miles
Saturday: 4.0 miles
Sunday: 2.51 miles
Monday: 2.51 miles

Oh heyy, looks like I can almost call myself a runner now!

Which is a good thing because I'm signed up for half marathon challenge number two: The Wild Half.
What could be more fun than running 13,1 miles around my home (beach) town?

(Besides not running 13,1 miles?)

My New Ride

To me, nothing says that I live at the beach more than my beach cruiser.

Once I'm at the beach, I'm there. My car is not moving-- especially when I'm at my mom's beach house and parked oh-so-sweetly in front of my neighbor's house- WIN! (Hell, that's what they get for parking in front of our place -- you bet it's on!)

Anyways, my present to myself for moving to the beach was my pretty little beach cruiser. Put together by hand and missing a few pieces, it's perfect.Sure, it's not the gorgeous green Kate Spade cruiser or the adorable Lilly printed bike, but hey, it gets my from point A to point B-- and I don't have to worry about parking (not to mention that I can burn a few more calories).

Well, that was a dumb idea.

I'm sure I'll look great in my strapless dress tonight.

My MDW on the Jersey Shore

What a perfect Memorial Day Weekend. Warm weather. Sunshine. Ocean. Cocktails. Seafood.

And, of course, pretty sunsets, puppies and games.

I really couldn't has asked for too much more.


Yup, no bars, no clubs. And absolutely no fist pumping.

MDW

Being a Jersey girl, I've learned that after Easter there is only one thing in mind: MDW.

Ah yes, Memorial Day Weekend. The unofficial kickoff of summer, the beach going months, the infiltration of shoobies, bennies and other ridiculous tourists who take up my parking spot. The people who turn my commute from a 15 minute drive to closer to a half hour, more on Fridays. The people who are going to make me wait in line for my morning iced coffee.

I'm allowed to say this now. I'm a local.

But I have to wonder -- I've only lived in Jersey, and it seems like MDW is such a big deal. Driving "down the shore," hitting the bars and clubs, bar-b-queing, drinking lots of alcohol ... yea, it's a blast and I'm always looking for a reason to have a day off of work, but is MDW such a big deal other places?

(Google searches of this are telling me that "MDW is big in NJ and Vegas..)

Regardless of where you're spending it -- I'll be on the beach, obviously, I hope everyone has a sun-filled, maragarita and sangria-full Memorial Day Weekend!

Seven Days of Rain and No Motivation

Ever have one of those days where you just can't get yourself to do anything when you're at home? When you're out, it's all good. But the second you walk through that door, the motivation is left outside? For some reason, I just could not bring myself to open up my laptop after I left the office.

Well, that some reason could have been the long week of rainy weather. The rain came in Saturday afternoon and didn't leave until Friday. Gross. April showers brings May monsoons.

BUT I'll admit that it was worth it. Saturday was, finally, the beach day I have been waiting for since I moved to the beach in February. Sunny skies, cool air made warm by the sun and no breeze. My present for surviving the week:

Winning. Finally.

I got to enjoy my sweet new ride (details to follow) and plop my ass on the beach. Which I did from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. With SPF 8. I know, I know. Far from the smartest idea, but, hell, if they world was coming to an end at 6 p.m., you bet I was gonna get that last tan.

So yeah, I'm still here. A little sunburnt. No regrets, though, because it's cold and cloudy again. I guess I'd be greedy to ask for two nice days in a row.

It's almost time..

... for bikini shopping!

I've been trying to hard to wait until May 2nd to order one (and by one, I mean many).

This is because I , 1. have a slightly obscene number of bikinis, 2. it's the day after the half-marathon so I'd better be down a few more pounds by then and 3. dear God, the season had better be changed by then.

But, it doesn't hurt to have a list all ready to just enter in the credit card number on May 2. Thus being said, I've started my research.

So far, American Eagle and Anthropologie has the best overall selection this season. But Anthropologie is just a dream. Since I can't afford both a $98 top and $98 bottom, AE is a better option for all (and there aren't any topless beaches around and don't want to end up in jail...). I can't remember the last time I shopped at American Eagle. but they have some adorable things right now.

At the top of my list:
Love.

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