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?