Creative party bites

A friend at work is turning the big 40 on Wednesday, and since he loathes surprises we decided to spring a party on him a couple of days early. Some of the girls at work talked about making candy sushi, but Dana surprised everyone with her cookie hamburgers. They really looked like little tiny hamburgers!



I'm not the only dork who took a photo either. They were tasty but almost too cute to eat! There was candy sushi, too - two trays - complete with chopsticks for everyone.

Ready for School

That's what my sister-in-law told me when she sent this photo by phone. I'm still beside myself that Abby will be NINE in just over a month. But there's more to the photo and the haircut.

While we were at the beach this summer, I explained to Abby that Auntie's hair was straighter than straight until she hit puberty. Couldn't curl that hair to save anyone's life. Then all of a sudden - perm central. Auntie's hair went haywire. Crazy curly, frizzy and obnoxiously out of control.

Abby's response (VERY similar to what mine was): "But I don't want my hair to be curly! I want it to stay straight!"

Many people tell me I'm lucky to have my curly hair. I wish my curly hair upon ALL of them so I can then ask, "are you sure?!". I hope my sweet niece maintains her cute straight bob. I really do love her with short hair - the short hair I wish I could also wear, carefree!

Happy third grade to you, my sweet beautiful niece!

Sookie's story is dying out

I read Charlaine Harris' most recent "Sookie Stackhouse" novel and felt extremely disappointed. It's a good thing True Blood (a show I thoroughly enjoy watching) is WAY behind when it comes to the written Sookie tales. Harris should seriously stop now.

This book was so scattered. Characters were introduced (or re-introduced) that honestly had no bearing on the plot at hand. Actually, I should clarify that by saying that there was no clear plot at hand - another major problem with this book.

It was a rather short read (less than 400 pages) so I suffered through, but I am comfortable in saying that if Harris writes more Sookie books I will NOT be someone hanging on her next written word.

Having said that, I highly recommend the show True Blood (HBO) to everyone. Great show! Much better than Harris' books. Perhaps she should be credited with the idea, but it's clear that Alan Ball has perpetuated it with far more success.

Quote of the day

"Pioneers are special people. 'First' is always difficult. We don't know that things can be done until somebody takes the first step."

-Geraldine Neckiman

Magic Time

This book was a Christmas gift from my dad several years ago, and having heard nothing about it, it was shelved for future perusal. I tried to pawn it off on a friend whom I'm not sure tried to read the book at all, but she labeled it "unreadable." The book then landed on the "read only if nothing else is available list" until I sent it to my father.

Dad read it and really liked it. He said he struggled through the first 60 pages or so - but when he passed it on to my mom she said she was hooked from the beginning - as was I. (After my mom and I both voiced our inability to understand how someone could not be drawn into this book, my Dad said he thinks his reluctance was born by my warnings of an "unreadable" story).

I hesitate to compare the plot of this book to film, as it really isn't the same story, but I definitely kept thinking about "A Time to Kill" while I read this book.

The story takes place in more than one time-frame, and the root of the problem easily crosses over decades.

Class. Race. Religion. Belief. Integrity. Family.

Read more about Magic Time here. I LOVED this book.

Life is Good

It is, indeed for Bert and John Jacobs - two brothers who "lucked" upon the now booming Life is Good label. You can read their story here.

I received my first LIG t-shirt from my Aunt Susan many years ago and have since amassed a collection of 30+ shirts and sweatshirts/hoodies; close to half a dozen each hats and mugs; and a few bags.

I, along with my sister-in-law Maria, am a full-blown LIG junky. In fact, my vet even commented on my obsession during one of my visits to her office. She noted that she's never seen me in any other attire, and while I corrected her, it was true that I had only one clear memory of visiting her office without an LIG shirt on my back.

Bert and John's tagline is truly fitting. They went from near homelessness to success in an impressive blink of an eye. I admire that their products are of extremely high-quality - they're not peddling sh!t. And I love that they've created a foundation to help less fortunate children realize that life CAN be good.

Their shirts are cute - I don't know how anyone could deny it. LIG products are usually available at local REI or other sporting goods stores as well as the occasional TJ Maxx or similar store. (LIG dedicated stores exist, but unfortunately there is not one in my area).

LIG as a gift is a no-brainer - at least for me. I need to buy stock in those boys!

Quote of the day

"For me a house or an apartment becomes a home when you add one set of four legs, a happy tail, and that indescribable measure of love that we call a dog."

-Roger Caras


Thanks LA and BD for the great quote!

Don't do that again hmph!

Not sure how this started out, but Sydney just loves to do this on command.

Happy Birthday Ansley!

I very much enjoyed celebrating Ansley's first birthday with her. I love the first picture - check out the kid in the lower right corner making a covert grab for a hunk of cake.


Sydney dutifully wearing her party hat. Eric is next to her and that shirt is fabulous, "too cute for time out."



Icing on the nose



Happy cupcake kids. Cooper, the child standing behind the others, is absolutely the sweetest kid. I left the party to go to the store and when I arrived back at Kerry's for dinner he was yelling, "TRACEY!" What an outgoing little man - and if he continues to grow at his current rate he's gonna end up being at least 6'3"! (He'll be two-years-old at the end of September).



Those Bolstad women sure do make good lookin' kids. Robin has another one in the oven and she's hoping for a girl!

The iron man

I'm sure my brother will kill me for this, but I just couldn't help it. He has been training his ass off for this race and that, so I felt the need to post a photo of him emerging from the ocean. I give you the real Iron Man:



Then there's Todd & Abby having fun in the waves. While not shown here, Maria managed to capture some pretty hilarious "dead man's float" pics.

Favorite beach read 2010

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.

This book was very hard to put down. Krakauer's accounting of the disaster on Mt Everest in 1996 was heartbreaking, frustrating, exhilirating and terrifying all at the same time. I nearly came to tears at least a half-dozen times.

The quote by People magazine on the back of my copy is pretty perfect, "A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism."

The book is so well-written that I felt like I was there. I could almost feel the hurricane-force winds, the windchill of one hundred degrees below zero, the climbers' exhaustion as well as their fear and determination. I didn't realize there were photos in the book until I reached them over half-way through, and I was surprised to find that I had already pictured each of the climbers in my mind almost exactly as they appear in their photographs.

What I could not understand was how anyone would willfully expose themselves to such a grueling experience, much less pay someone $65,000 to guide them to the summit of Mt. Everest. (Bear in mind that many people who pay for such guidance do not successfully reach the summit. Among Krakauer's five teammates who made it to the top of the world, four of them never made it back down).

My inability to conceive of any rational person attempting to summit Mt. Everest was strengthened by the photos of the actual climb.




The introduction and the postscript provide further details surrounding the disaster. The postscript especially reveals Krakauer's survivor's guilt. The candor with which he describes his own lack of judgment and responsibility for the anguish caused by the losses on that fateful day in May of 1996 is indeed selfless and refreshing. I sincerely applaud his bravery and honesty in exposing himself to ridicule, although I feel any ridicule he has faced or may still face is misplaced.

The photos above were copied from this site. I believe the photos were taken from the illustrated edition of the book. The section on Into Thin Air also provides further details about the book and the 1996 disaster.

Breaking bread with birdies

Our usual bird-feeding platform is the dock behind Drew's beach house, but our new digs this year had no dock so we took directly to the shore instead. We created a feeding frenzy! Abby pulled me aside later that evening and said, "Auntie, that was really fun earlier...feeding the sea gulls. Can we do it again tomorrow?"

Abby and I (Auntie) tossing bread crumbs:





Maria takes part with Abby:

Sand Crab

Someone built this impressive sand crab on Holden Beach. It was back just far enough that it escaped high tide and thus remained in tact, even after a rather heavy thunderstorm.

I am particularly fond of the photo of Abby's "crab claw pose." Nice pincers don't ya think?!



"Abby-crab"



Maria at crab front

Zoe at Chez Mason

As I mentioned in Saturday night's post, the change in our beach plans left Zoe off the guest list. I was so lucky that Caroline was willing to keep her for the week. As you can see, Zoe had no problem making herself comfortable in her temporary home.



In Caroline's words, "She loved laying on David's work pants every morning, hanging out in my closet and licking my legs after my shower. Oh and we can't forget the night I went to the gym and Winnie helped get the food and treats off the counter for dessert. They both came up to Ansley's room after the feast like nothing was wrong."

All of the above actions fall into Zoe's typical behavior, so I'm certain she was just fine without me for the week. It was good practice for her upcoming stay at Chez Mason in October! Thanks again Caro and David!