Palm Beach Playland

Sis & me on Worth Avenue today at 1:30 p.m.

Note the beautiful bougainvillea.

Ta-boo Restaurant has been a star-studded favorite since 1941. [JFK ate here.]
Pretty wicker chairs and glam ceiling lights! The Bloody Mary was said to be invented here.

The public beach, a glorious gift,
all wrapped up in clouds and rolling blue waves.

Please forgive my formatting on this hotel biz center computer!
Oh, Palm Beach. Quite the opposite of my beloved, rustic Cape Cod, with its
 scrubby pines,
towering dunes and lighthouses that dot the shifting, hook-shaped coast.

No, Palm Beach is privileged, polished and very, very pretty. Birthplace
of fresh-squeezed
 Lilly Pulitzer colors, still visible on the women passing on the sidewalks
and on the mannequins in the shop windows.
The melons, lime greens, true sailor blues.

My Sis--who was in the Peace Corps for two years in Western Samoa and
does not tend toward the frivolous--agreed to spend our Sunday there.
I had been there only once, on an afternoon with Dan a few years ago,
and never forgot the beauty, the tall,
sculpted privacy hedges, the stunning beach, the hot pink bougainvillea.

I drove our little silver Thrifty rental car 1 hour and 15 minutes from the
Miami Airport area....and felt like I was on a raceway. These Miami drivers
don't fool around. But as I learned on long drives with Dad, these
 times in the car
are important, golden hours to talk and reminisce.

First stop [after nabbing free street parking up to 2 hours on Worth Avenue]
was a
 luxe restaurant I will be writing about for the
ASPIRE DESIGN AND HOME website.
We sat and sipped and sampled and talked. It was lovely.

Then we walked around...most stores were closed, it being Sunday
 afternoon and off-season, but not Stubbs and Wootton. We admired
embroidered slippers that started at about $500 a pair for women, $525
 for men.
We did not buy them.

We liked the vias, the quiet courtyards, the window shopping.

Then we headed for the public beach. Siri helped us find it. It was
 so lovely.
We are so lucky to have ocean water in our veins, along with blood.
Our parents took their 1951 honeymoon road trip to Cape Cod,
New Hampshire
 and Maine, and then took their four kids in the white Ford Falcon
to summer
 weeks on the Cape or days in the Rockaways. They loved the water.
 So do we.

You can't help but be moved when your eyes settle on that sea, that rolling,
 moving beauty.

Well, I've been down in this hotel business center for a while.
The most time-consuming part was downloading the photos from my
 iPhone--and now this disastrous formatting and ragged line breaks!
That's not Palm Beach perfect!
Sis is upstairs in the room, and I will go up now.

Signing off thankful for the beauty we saw today and for my
 generous sister,
 who treated me to this four-day, three-night trip!!!! She leaves from
 Miami
Wednesday for a weeklong tour of Cuba.

Good night to you.

Palm (Beach) Sunday

H. and I loved Palm Beach today,
 with its towering palms, beautiful shoreline
and tall, carefully manicured hedges.

Had to work today for a few hours--first story deadline for a new magazine client, and I wanted to get it in on time [due tomorrow] and get it right. I hope I did. You never know for sure until you hear back. Very helpful that this Marriott Residence Inn has a good little workspace, with desk, comfy chair and internet connection.

Figgy's cousin Marissa zipped her over to the beach. Later, H. and I drove to Palm Beach. So beautiful. Clean, fresh, quiet. Worth Avenue, with a big Tory Burch store [closed Sundays, sadly, so could only press nose to window]. A Starbucks on "The Esplanade"--but much fancier than our Montclair coffee central. This one had a kind of flat waterfall built into one wall.

H. took a run and a swim, and I walked 40 minutes on the beach [free public access]. I loved it. The water was so pretty, the sand so soft. I could have walked forever. The trees swayed gently, and the calming breeze was just what the doctor ordered. There were pretty pink flowers, fancy cars and well-kept people.

Breathe in the Goodness
When I looked at the fuchsia flowers on the bougainvillea flanking the entrance to the Neiman Marcus Building, I stood still and stared, thinking, Study those. Take them in. See that color, that style, that vibrancy? That beauty and confidence, that positive thinking? Carry that back to your regular life.

Then we went to Delray Beach with the girls and others to hear newlywed Patrick Farinas's band play at Johnnie Brown's on Atlantic Avenue--young bride Lauren sang, too. Patrick's dad, Tony, is also in the band. They're really good. Someone made a sign about Patrick to go on the stage, since they play there often: SORRY GIRLS, HE'S MARRIED.

Icing on cake: Across from Johnnie Brown's, happened upon Cupcake Couture, a fun boutique with cupcakes named for fashion designers, from Jimmy Choo to Tory Burch. I got a full-size Jimmy [incredible chocolate on chocolate] and a mini Tory [stylish fluffy peak of vanilla buttercream frosting dipped in white chocolate]. OMG. Belly quite full, not so fashion-friendly that way. But I think these may be the best cupcakes I've ever had, and their chic names obviously help. Here's the link: http://www.cupcakecoutureusa.com/.

Tomorrow evening, we fly back home. But plan to fit in a dose of Miami first.

Sweet dreams in the land of milk and honey.

Soaking up Every Last Drop of Sunshine

Bougainvillea at Hermes Courtyard, Palm Beach.
Photo by Martha Smith.

We went back to Delray Beach today, and to Palm Beach. This time, the Tory Burch store was open and I went in to browse and touch. Very nice. Also browsed in Lilly Pulitzer store in Delray. No charge to drink in the cocktail of colors and styles--the happiness.

I hated to leave the sand, the water, the break from real life. The breeze--the beautiful breeze--and the sun on my face. The time to read, the housekeeping knock that meant someone was bringing us clean towels, and that someone wasn't me.

Our flight from Florida was delayed and we got back after midnight. Must go to sleep. But not without reporting three things I would like to remember.

Travel notes to self

• You and H. shared the world's best tropical dessert today at Ta-boo restaurant on tony Worth Avenue in Palm Beach. [That's a funny sentence construction, because here in Montclair, you know a Tony Worth.] It was called the Ta-boo Lust, and the waiter said it's their signature dessert. It's a giant, rich, impossibly decadent, slightly wobbly square of coconut cream pie on a cookie crust with a pile of whipped cream and toasted coconut on top. I have to learn to make this, H. said. No, you don't, you said, smiling at him across the high bar table. This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. [You just checked the website now, and the legendary restaurant first opened in 1941, and drew JFK, Frank Sinatra and other top names.]
• Remember the bougainvillea outside the restaurant--so gorgeous, sending up its stunning bright flowers against the pure blue sky. The woman who worked there said it pretty much blooms all year.
• You are not a good packer. God, no. You went to Florida forgetting the shorts you pulled out to bring, so you only had denim skirts, which worked out OK, since two were white. And you brought all kinds of things that weighed you down but were completely unnecessary, including white denim Gap jacket, silver Tory flats, yoga pants and yoga top, heavy crystal beaded belt, way too much jewelry that never saw the light of day. Next time, pack before the last minute!

Good night.

Miami Nice

How glamorous, how chic--the Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
 I will not be staying there,
but just the same, this photo makes me very happy. 

I've been in Miami for two days now.

No, not really. But I'm writing about it, so I've been entrenched in details about hikes, hotels, restaurants and beaches. Little cups of strong Cuban coffee, dinners made with local catches and produce, frozen margaritas with salt on the rim. Beautiful [that was the chef's word] ravioli with eggplant and ricotta in the filling and a sprinkle of fine Parmigiano on top--at a South Beach restaurant where Harrison Ford and Daryl Hannah have been spotted [not together]. Bicycles with baskets. Campfires, lighthouses, kayaking, sunrise bird watching. Spa treatments--1.5 hour massages and "stiletto-ready" pedicures.

It has put me in a better state of mind.

And: H.'s cousin Mary Jane's son Patrick is getting married to Lauren April 2 in Boynton Beach, Florida, and we're going. H. hasn't been jumping around about it, but Figgy and I can't wait. It's been a long hard winter.

I've been to Miami before, when we've visited MJ in Boca Raton a couple of times. But I am travel-hungry now, and really look forward to being together for this happy occasion, going to Miami Beach for a day, feeling the sun, checking out C. Orrico, a store with a big pink Lilly Pulitzer selection in Palm Beach and tucking into some good Cuban food [MJ's husband, Tony, is from Cuba].

Of course, I will have to coordinate a lot of timing on a short trip with many people--three of H.'s brothers are even coming, from Maine--but I am sure I can find a way.

Viva Miami. Good night.

Postcard from My Life

Dan and me last Monday in The Sunshine State. We flew down for five nights to attend the wedding of Florida Orange, our goddaughter. We stayed in Homestead, where the wedding took place. The drive to Miami was about 40 minutes. Photo by Punch.

I can't believe I haven't blogged since November.

On the other side of our Florida trip, I wanted to jot a few notes. We returned last Wednesday.

We packed not just our suitcases, with swimsuits, sunscreen, and wedding clothes, but also our complicated and wrinkly-crinkly personalities, of course. Dan booked on Travelocity and instead of the two lovely, chilled, carefully decorated and kitchen- and laundry-equipped Airbnb homes we splurged on the last two years (the first was steps from the beach), this was the Travelodge by Wyndham Florida City Homestead Everglades motel with a free hot breakfast. (Even so, it was about $1,000 total for five nights and every room was full, many with foreign tourists.) We also had to get plane tickets for three of us, etc. and not overspend. (Fig flew JetBlue and has rewards.)

We did relax, even though we shared one room with two queen beds. I tried to prepare myself mentally ahead of time for that togetherness. (Figgy spent three out of five nights with the bride in Boynton Beach.) We were busy a lot. A rental car means everything. We explored Key Largo a little; drove to South Beach, Miami and enjoyed the gorgeous blue water and the beauty of the breeze; attended the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. Three of Dan's four brothers and two of my sisters-in-law flew down from Maine, and it was fun catching up among palm trees, also with the parents and brothers of the bride!

Figgy, 28, and Punch, on the cusp of 17, at the wedding. 

Torrential rain in the botanic garden outside, so Punch put on a sweatshirt.

My sister-in-law Martha texted this, saying Figgy's look 

reminded her of  the Portrait of Madame X painting 

by John Singer Sargent, 1884. 

I checked out the Robert Is Here tropical fruit stand, colorful and fun. It was under "Things to Do" on the couple's Knot website. I got a fresh mango smoothie with Splenda and had them add raw kale. That was healthy but the green hue not nearly as nice as pure sunny mango would have been on a rainy Florida day. I drove 15 minutes to a Sprouts supermarket, which I hadn't been able to find at home.  They carry the California brand Sweet Laurel's baking mixes (healthy, no refined sugar, also vegan for Fig). They only had the scone mix, but I scooped it up and tucked the pretty pink box in my carry-on.

Punchy did some good things. Florida Orange and Figgy invited her to hang with them and sleep over one night, so she took the train from the Miami Airport to Boynton Beach, responsibly and safely. Dan got her on the train and FLO and Fig met her on the other end. She also went back and forth to the Travelodge pool, sporting her sunglasses and a nice black swimsuit I got her. 

That afternoon in South Beach was pricey, as New York City would be for out-of-towners who don't know the place well. But we had the most enormous slices of pizza I have ever seen, just positively giant. We watched volleyball games with the sea as a backdrop. Driving back to Homestead, Punch and I drifted off into peaceful late afternoon naps after breathing in that beach air. That was a gift.

FLO and Eric tie the knot. Sweet couple. 

They crushed on each other back when; Eric is a friend of FLO's older bro.

Figgy and FLO before.

Figgy and FLO day after wedding.

Dan and FLO.

************************************

I stopped blogging because I wanted to dig in more to writing for pay, and I have. I wanted to stop spending day after day focused on a teenager's life, fielding calls from the high school, swinging at a curve ball with a ping-pong paddle. My efforts seemed fruitless. I was and am a caring witness but no one is equipped to fully fix things, not the trained staffers at a huge public school, though they tried, and surely not Dan or me. Punchy's out-of-district school placement since last March has helped greatly. I have six hours without phone calls and worries, without requests to come get her. She is in a safer place. We also consider her over-one-year relationship with her supportive boyfriend (blog name Great Smile Deep Thinker) helpful.

Still, even with the uninterrupted time, it's a bit of a crawl to make meaningful money. Publications like Brain & Life (about living with neurological diagnoses, from Alzheimer's disease to Parkinson's) pay five times as much as my lifestyle writing--which is called content production now, for the website of the golden Seven Sisters* magazine I will always hold close to my heart. But after 100+ years, that magazine has cut back from 12 issues a year to six. It's sad. Advertisers want instant clicks and purchases. They can't wait around for glossy print ads to grab a reader's purse strings. Everything is #rightnow.

I'm happy to say I've enjoyed all of the assignments. New skills. Anyway, here are three of my most recent articles:

• 12 Best Laundry Detergents of 2024, According to Cleaning Pros Good Housekeeping website
• Young Romeo & Juliet, Neurodiverse Production Brain & Life website and print magazine (subscriptions are free, and bilingual)
• Behind The Design: 5 Creative Questions With Sarah Sherman Samuel aspire design and home website

I'm broadening my horizons and it's great to be working closely again with one of my GH colleagues. 

But a funny thing happened.....just as writing about fashion eventually pumped up my style wanting and spending, even writing about CLEANING PRODUCTS has affected my buying of those. 

It's always been the case, the whole point of lifestyle writing featuring products is to make people want to get stuff. Turns out this can also work with the writer. 

I've now purchased Diptyque (pronounced DIP-TEAK) made-in-Paris wood and leather polish; Dreft baby laundry detergent in the pink bottle (I had a $3 coupon and after all, wrote "The rest of the family will also like the beloved 'Baby Fresh' scent that Dreft delivers," which I have found to be true when I could finally nab a bottle at my store) and reconnected with Caldrea, a brand I met on a Hudson Valley weekend 10 years back but hadn't encountered since. I also bought Safely detergent in a pretty colored jug at Whole Foods on Madison Avenue one Saturday when I had the car in NYC. 

These four purchases racked up a lot of spending but I think it's productive spending, as in cleaning our old wood and making the laundry smell lovely if I can. As Moey's mother, Muriel, wisely told me when I was a newlywed, getting a cleaning product that smells good helps you do the chore.

Good night to you.

*Seven Sisters can refer to a climbing hybrid rose, a cluster of stars or the group of women's (or formerly women's) colleges in the eastern U.S. having high academic and social prestige. It includes Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, Vassar and Wellesley. 

For the magazine world, I like this Wikipedia definition:

The Seven Sisters is a group of magazines that has traditionally been aimed at married women who are homemakers with husbands and children, rather than single and working women.^[1] The name is derived from the Greek myth of the "seven sisters", also known as the Pleiades. A major force in 20th century American publishing, only three of the magazines are still published as physical magazines:

• Better Homes and Gardens (1922–)
• Family Circle (1932–2019)
• Good Housekeeping (1885–)
• Ladies' Home Journal (1883–2016)
• McCall's (1873–2002)
• Redbook (1903–2019)
• Woman's Day (1937–)

Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sisters_(magazines) for more details.

Article Archive: My First Pieces for CoastalLiving.com!

Mariah and Ian Lussier drove to Martha's Vineyard and spent the week in a rented cottage to save money on airfare and a five-star hotel. Please note: Mariah is my niece, and she and Ian had a gorgeous wedding on the beach!

Photo courtesy of Mad Max

Click to Enlarge

If you read my blog, you know I love the ocean...the Cape, Palm Beach, Greenwich Point. Put me near saltwater waves and warm sand, and I'm at peace with the world. So I'm really excited to have done my first few assignments for Coastal Living Magazine [I have an article in the June issue] and CoastalLiving.com:

1. Secrets to Saving for Amazing Trips
2. Top 10 Secrets for the Best Travel Deals
3. Bankroll Your Perfect Getaway

I hope I get to do a lot more. And I do think that writing for the web is the wave of the future.

The Energizer Bunny

Punch is visiting and sleeping over.  H. picked her up at 12:30, and we went to the Turtle Back Zoo with Figgy and her friend. It was a beautiful day and so much fun to see a leopard, panda, black bears, horses, sheep, snakes, goat, chickens, lizards, monkeys and llamas. Punch went on a pony ride and the carousel, with H. by her side, her little arm wrapped tightly around his neck while her glossy orange tiger went up and down, up and down.

She then went on and on and on from there, playing with the neighborhood kids on Patsy and Andy's swings, running around the block, showing up at a trampoline at the house behind us, where the three sweet young girls on it welcomed her with open arms. She pet four dogs other than Sug on our block today, and made her way into three different houses.

She's so crafty. She stole sips from my Starbucks iced coffee every chance she got. I had to wrestle it from her. But I had sent H. to get me a full-strength grande b/c I knew I needed the energy. Apparently, it gave Punch a little extra jolt too.

TCOY

1. Washed the sheets; nice clean feeling.
2. Short bike ride to town and back for Junior League shopping boutique [fun!].
3. At zoo, lots of walking and connecting with nature.
4. Lifting Punch and running after her--good workout.
5. Stepped back and saw myself eating too much of H.'s excellent homemade pizza; got up and wrapped the squares in foil and put in fridge, to stop myself.
6. Tooth care. 
7. Kept an eye on my spending, and recorded in my special journal. Would have been very easy to overspend at Junior League shopping boutique--great dresses, really chic jewelry. One necklace I loved was $285 plus tax, so no, though was absolutely gorgeous.

New York City Style Holds up in Thursday Downpour

Above: LoveShackFancy store on Madison Avenue--a street that is a living museum of style shops.

Sis is my museum mentor. (Dan is another.) She is a fan of The Frick Collection of art, temporarily relocated to the building that housed the Whitney Museum--at Madison Avenue and 75th Street. 

She got us two tickets to the Frick Madison. Enlightening. History, beauty, masterful skill. Ornate gold frames, blue and white urns, sculptures, marble-topped tables. Paintings of impressive height and width. You would need a mansion with big rooms to display them.

Above: We saw this painting....Rembrandt, Self-Portrait, 1658.

The Montclair-based Decamp bus line to NYC suspended its by-then-phantom buses in August. The #66 careen up and down Valley Road for months, empty--people were working from home, not commuting on buses that were previously packed at rush hour. And in the summer, they took (safe) vacations. The New Jersey Transit train line has been up and running, but since the pandemic hit, I have only gone into NYC by car:

• In the fall, when Dan and I drove in to meet our friends Celia and Greg for Saturday sushi dinner near Stuyvesant Town.
• In December 2020, when I drove Skippy in with two friends one evening to window shop and see holiday decor as only NYC can do it. (Skip’s two young friends are Jewish, and we even saw a donut menorah and, on the Upper East Side, the moving, mobile Mitzvah Tank.)
• In February, when Sis and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and got corned beef sandwiches and best pickles to go at Katz’s Deli.
• Today.

Sis and I sat outside in the street at Serafina--plastic tent, heat lamp above each table, plexiglass barriers, masked wait staff--and talked about our beloved city over ravioli with porcini mushroom sauce (me) and salad with steak (she). We talked and ate as the rain poured outside.

Our city isn’t the same, and that’s no surprise. We miss the passion, the pulse, the crowds, the hustle and bustle. I miss seeing people of all ages chasing the best of the best--writers, models, actors, hotdog vendors, artists, comedians, dancers, singers, editors, reporters, ballerinas, chefs, makeup artists, doctors, scientists, bookstore owners, tailors, designers, salespeople, baristas, fashionistas, coffee roasters, sandwich makers, cookie bakers--with a fire in their bellies and their hearts. 

I hope our beloved city comes back full swing.

Fun sightings today:

1. LOVESHACKFANCY store on Madison Avenue. I’ve seen the brand in collaborations on Aerin.com but was exited to see the shop. Wow. We walked in and a young man was styling the final details for a bridal shower in the store this evening. The tables looked so beautiful--with LoveShack pink floral linen tablecloths, pink china, exquisite flower bouquets and pink iced cookies. Glass jars filled with pretty pink candies and pink-foil-wrapped Hershey's Kisses. The other store locations are in Newport Beach, CA; Palm Beach, FL; Sag Harbor, NY, etc. So glad I went in here, and got less frivolous Sis to enter, too! The hand towels and the candle in a teacup--so lovely.
2. MEPHISTO. Stylish, comfortable shoes--flat or not, sneakers, Mary Jane styles, sandals--made in France. So pretty. Cork inside. Going back! Really nice. I'm behind the curve, not walking on Madison Avenue to window-shop and wish, as I used to. I am behind on knowing my fashion labels.
3. JOE COFFEE. Served in the Frick Madison cafe. But my parking meter was going to run out and I didn’t want to risk a ticket (I paid $10.75 twice, for two maximum two-hour blocks of time). It smelled very good; the large lattes/capps in cups and saucers looked great. I like the blue packaging/logo.
   
   
   
4. DIPTYQUE (pronounced DIP-TEEK). Luxury French fragrance and sensibility via Madison Avenue outposts, and several other NYC locations. Sis had been eyeing a scent for her bday--I paid for about a third of it. They gift-wrap beautifully. And we attended a virtual Sniffapalooza Diptyque event from our homes that entitled us to a solid perfume in pretty case with any purchase.

Eyes closing. I drove us back to Sis’s in Connecticut and I’m sleeping over tonight. Good night.

Signs of Miami

1. Left monsoon in NJ, wind whipping Hello Kitty umbrella at Newark Airport. Arrived after 3-hour flight to sunshine and 85 degrees.
2. Palm trees.
3. Many huge cruise ships in the water as we came in for a landing.
4. Tres Leches [Three Milk pudding] w a big dollop of swirly whipped cream/creme for sale at Cuban Cafe Versailles in the airport. Resisted.
5. A long, long, long way to schlep with luggage from baggage claim to big airport Rental Car Center.
6. I’m w organized Sis, who remembers everything and packs efficiently. She even had a little light blue tube of Estée Lauder Perfectly Clean cleanser. Smelled so good, felt so pampered.

Good night. Palm Beach for brunch tomorrow, then back to Miami. Xxoo

My J.Crew Shopping Report

This photo is from HERE. The pretty coat is the first item I mention in the J.Crew piece.

Excited to share this LINK to my first report for Apprecier.com, a style & shopping site. It's run by well-known fashionistas, and I am happy to be writing for it! If you read my blog, you know how much I love to shop at stores of every stripe in every place, but the more fashionable, the better, from my hometown [for 25 years] Montclair to Chatham on Cape Cod; Belfast, Maine; Greenwich, CT; Palm Beach, FL; Santa Monica; Short Hills Mall; Garden State Plaza; Ridgewood, NJ; and of course, NYC, the ultimate style playground.

I'm a funny mix of spiritual and materialistic. It's all about balance in life, right?

Speaking of which, it's after midnight, so it's now officially Black Friday. I received the $50 holiday gift card the Tory Burch company sends me every year--I gather they send it to all of their regular shoppers, even if we do buy items on sale--so I plan to catch Black Friday fever and drive to Garden State Plaza, which has a nice Tory store. Our funds are low, so I aim to spend just $50 over the value of the card. I have seen some great looking earrings and a sparkly bracelet at toryburch.com. Excited to go.

And young Punchy is spending the long weekend at her Mimi's! So H. and I are feeling our freedom a bit.

Good night.

TCOY

1. Our Thanksgiving day had its rough family moments somewhere along the Garden State Parkway. Please see my previous post. I sat in the car thinking "Kum Bay Ya" in silence as things were tanking. They rebounded some. But staying calm and eating and drinking in moderation were my TCOY steps.
2. I also actually made time to: Apply foundation, concealer, Bobbi Brown eye shadow, Chanel black mascara and Guerlain bronzing powder. Wore sparkly Wolford tights, my DVF skirt, a Kate Spade New York turquoise cardigan with jewel-trimmed pockets and my favorite vintage aqua earrings by Kenneth Jay Lane. Fashion is a good armor--or is it softener?--against rough spots. I rushed out without spritzing on fragrance, though. Meant to use my Miss Dior.
3. Brought my big Lilly Pulitzer tumbler of ice water for the long car ride, 5 hours round trip.

Airport Run--and Facing Down Vacation $$$ Bust

Punchy is at her friend’s for an overnight--they biked and swam in Brewster, and P also paddle-boarded today in a Brewster pond with her Wellfleet Audubon day camp squad.
I’m driving to Logan Airport in Boston tonight--I’ve been to many airports, but never there.
Figgy and Florida Orange 🍊 are flying from West Palm Beach shortly. Their flight was delayed a couple? of times and they couldn’t fly standby.
Figgy has been on her long-planned vacay to Florida and then this weekend on the Cape. Flo O 🍊 had to work this week. [Obviously, she lives in the Sunshine State.]
I do feel lonely this eve with Dan in Wisconsin and am grateful for my Sugar. I even locked the front screen door. I rarely lock the doors up here! I think I might take Sug with me on the estimated 1 hour and 40 minutes drive to Logan, to keep me company.
The delay might be til midnight now. Actually, make that 12:23 a.m.
On Monday, after we clean the house top to bottom and go to the garbage dump/"transfer station’ with all the trash and recycling, I will drop 🍊 off in Hyannis for bus to Logan.
The money is scaring me. I have intentionally avoided Chatham, where the Lilly Pulitzer shop is.
But let me add on Wednesday, Thursday and today. Not in order, just as I remember.

MONEY SPENT OUT OF POCKET/3 DAYS

• Starbucks inside Stop & Shop, 2 great Massachusetts mugs, one to leave Will here and one to take home, $27.71. Family memories.
• Starbucks, iced drink for Punch, $5.30.
• Commando.com, a black half-slip to help pull in tummy and tush, with $7 shipping and $10 rewards code, $65.
• Arnold’s seafood shack, not so healthy fried clam belly basket, w tax and jar tip, $30. Not in tandem w tucking in belly and bottom.
• Ice cream, with tip, $6. Not worth money or calories.
• This is the biggie. T.J. Maxx, all kinds of great finds, including work [in office or town] dresses...4 of them...Tommy Hilfiger, Nicole Miller, 2 Michael Kors. [The dresses prompted me to get the half-slip, above.]  Plus Adidas sneakers, shorts, pack of sneaker socks, earrings, Burberry knockoff scarf in lightweight fabric, Olga bra, bath salts, big bag flaxseeds for Fig, vegan chocolate, large body wash for outdoor shower here, bday card for 🍊, pink Vineyard Vines socks for Punch, pack of sneaker socks for her, Lauren pillow, Shabby Chic fabric-lined storage bin, gift for Sis, bag of good coffee, shirt for Punch, very high, $338. But the Lauren pillow alone, in a sweatery pumpkin-color fabric with plump removable insert, had its original price tag on--$170. 
• Sandwich place, Greek salad w grilled chicken plus tip, $11.
• Sparrow, iced coffee plus tip, $3.65.
• New CBD and natural home care store. I didn’t go in for CBD but loved the natural home care bar w glass bottles and essential oils, plus pineapple throw pillow case, so pretty, votive candles, seaweed/lavender bath sachets, $52.
• Donation box there for Cape Cod children, $5.
• Stop & Shop groceries, $28.87.
• Ditto, including some supplies for Cape house, like garbage bags, about $40.
• Red Biox DVD rentals, about $6.
• Cumberland Farms, camp lunch for Punch and sleepover snacks, $20.
• Wellfleet Bay T-shirt for Dan, $20.
• Cash for Punch and friend to get ice cream and get bike tires filled at shop, $17.
• Laundromat, $10 for 2 multi-load washers and $2.50 for dryer? $12.50.
• Bank ATM fees, $5.
• Lobster roll supper at Adams Lodge w Punch, $32.
• Wellfleet market, ravioli, $4.99.
• Tourist-trap pizza place, plus salad, artichoke dip, meatballs, Shirley Temple, coffee and 🍋 lemon 🍰 cake for P, $65 + $12 tip, so $77, crazy.. Dip was $13. We had been in pond til after 7 and Brunetti was starving.
• Sparrow, decaf iced coffee I’m getting now for airport ride, $3.65.
• McDonald’s, cheeseburger at 2 a.m., $1.55.

TOTAL FOR 3 DAYS: $807.23.
TOTAL FOR MONTH AS OF AUGUST 9: $1,482.62.
Average daily spend so far: $164.74.

Fashion Fun: Meeting Hadley Pollet

Hadley Pollet and me. Note my new large navy makeup bag, 

which I had been eyeing on the website. It matches my denim dress.

In 2007, Dan and I did group training sessions to be foster parents, in our quest to add a second baby permanently to our family (hello, Punch in lavender fleece onesie, though a year later, your living situation would change and be on a long pause for years, years that affected hearts and souls). 

Our classes were taught by a mother-daughter pair, two pretty blondes from a nice pocket of New Jersey.

When I'm a student, I spend a lot of time studying my teacher's outfits. What else is there to look at in a state-mandated class? Back in high school, I studied my English teacher's nude pantyhose and ladylike heels, a male teacher's tweed blazers and gum-soled shoes. My college professors in Women's Studies varied, from scary well-known feminist (scary as in brisk and unfriendly, wearing business attire) to hippie from New York City, with long flowing hair and chunky, arty jewelry. 

The daughter in this mother-daughter pair of foster parenting teachers had a belt I loved. She was slim and wore it with her blue jeans. It had a tortoise tone buckle. I complimented her on it one week and then another. Finally, she said, "It's expensive, but you have to remember it's reversible, so it's like getting two belts for the price." I got a bee in my bonnet. I love feminine, and retro feminine, accessories. The floral patterns were just so pretty. Beautiful art as eye candy. I wanted one. The teacher told me they were made by a young woman named Hadley Pollet, and I started internet sleuthing.

I ordered a belt from the website (my waist was smaller then, but I hope to get back to that beauty, can't now close the size XL); a makeup bag with ribbon trim; a size XL top with rows of pretty ribbon forming fluted cuffs; a ribbon headband; a leopard print clutch; and fell in love in person with a large pink travel tote with brown ribbon trim at Thread, a Montclair boutique. That tote went on every road trip with me and even plane trips, until Sis got me a carry-on with wheels, far more practical at an airport than a heavy shoulder tote. I still love that tote. Then, on sale in 2018 with free shipping, the Pink Flutter Top (XL). Take a look. It's that gorgeous ribbon on the hem that I could not resist. I looked at it, looked away, looked back again.

I wore the Flutter Top with an open pink cardigan sweater over it in 

Palm Beach. (Link to photo here.)

But now that it’s getting hot, I will experiment a little. That ribbon against the black!!!

Thursday night, Sis and I met Hadley Pollet at an evening wine and hors d'oeuvres event in Greenwich, Connecticut, where the designer debuted her home line (pillows, table linens, lovely, especially the former). We enjoyed passed nibbles at The Country Table: Pea soup shooters with chile oil; fried chicken bites with housemade ranch dressing; prosciutto-wrapped asparagus; and stacked, squared "grown-up grilled cheese." Each waitress had a lemon half on the serving tray, for guests to put the toothpicks in after use. 

It was eye-opening, the pops of color, the flowers spilling over, the well-dressed, toned women and men, the lustrous gold leather on some purses, the always alluring belts, especially a pink plaid floral that reminded me of a 1950s picnic dress.

Hadley was warm and friendly and fun. Sis left with a peek-a-boo clutch she purchased and I bought a large navy makeup bag, so crisp and pretty. The company is women-run and supports causes for women and girls.

A note about how it all began, according to the Hadley website:

Hadley’s original signature belt designs sprung from inspiration while at Rhode Island School of Design. Her unique style caught the eyes of many when she wore a belt made of vintage ribbon and a tortoise buckle to a birthday party in Boston where several people asked where she got her belt. And with the blink of an eye, she started her business and never looked back. Since then, her line has expanded into a lifestyle brand for high-spirited, powerful women.

And here's a notice from the NY Times in 2002.

I'm happy Sis and I went! Good night.

The abundant flowers.

A former Hadley employee with a ribbon belt 

tied to the shoulder strap of her dress.

Sis surveying the event. She enjoyed it.

Good night to you.

Feet of Clay [Mine, Not Aerin's]

That's Aerin, embodying a lifestyle.

I try hard but am so flawed. Just last night, I said I was moving my bedtime to 10:30, right? But Figgy didn't have to be @ school til 11 this morning due to a testing schedule, so she could sleep late and so could I. Therefore, I was up til 11:45. Still better than the usual 12:30, but....what?!

I get disappointed in myself, setting a goal and not keeping it. Will try again tonight.

And what did I do between end of presidential debate and 11:45 P.M.? I trolled the internet--or maybe I should start saying I beauty-queened the internet so I don't feel bad about myself, like I'm an ugly green creature living under a small, creepy bridge.

Candyland
I beauty-queened to find info about Aerin Lauder, Estée Lauder's granddaughter. Aerin is in the same class as Tory Burch, a pretty, polished, famous, chic style icon and a mom of boys--I'm pretty sure the two women are friends [no, really]. Aerin is understated and beautiful....

It started when I read about her new product line in Vogue. Then on Friday night @ Neiman Marcus, while waiting for Fig and pal, this nice beauty pro named Dealin LaValley [dealin_lavalley@neimanmarcusstores.com] helped me out, showing me the goodies. I didn't buy anything, but he kindly gave me a sample--a tiny, doll-sized pink tube--of Aerin ROSE LIP CONDITIONER, and I've been loving it.

So yesterday [while I should have been working, strictly] I ordered a tube--free shipping and returns at esteelauder.com, so cheaper than spending gas money to drive back to Garden State Plaza in Paramus. Then I landed at aerin.com. Soon started googling images of Aerin's mother, Jo Carole Lauder....to see if beauty is in the genes...and then came upon Aerin's sister, Jane, and their aunt, stunning Evelyn Lauder.....and so on. Then inevitably, the road from beauty to food: I read about Aerin serving her famous grandmother's favorites--roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, Bûche de Noël, chocolate-covered marshmallows from Hoffman's Chocolate in tony Palm Beach, FL. And then home decorating--you can check Aerin's lovely design eye @ aerin.com.

Here it is, another day. Let's have a good one. If only a magical pink lip slip could transform my world, make everything smooth and rose-colored, not a wrinkle in sight. In my dreams, baby, in my dreams. But I still believe in the power of pretty.

TCOY

1. Boot camp in the park.
2. Walked Sug around block once.

D.C. State of Mind

Ben and Kait's wedding. Lovely. Happy occasion. Streaks of sunlight. An outdoor fire on the deck. A million different stories in the room (or were many of them the same?) and scores of beautiful people. Sun-kissed bridesmaids from a tight-knit Virginia clan, younger blonde sisters of the pretty, gracious blonde bride, good-looking groomsmen, college friends of two generations (Ben's and Kait's, plus our friend Celia's, from Wesleyan in Connecticut). A dream NYC born-and-bred groom we watched grow from boy to man. Family who drove into Stuyvesant Town to read the Torah with Celia, her husband, Greg, Ben and her parents every Passover. Celia's grandmother's kiddush cup, the rabbi from New York City, a richly flowered chuppah symbolizing a new home for the bride and groom. The bride's godfather. Women my age, with daughters Figgy's age--every mother zipped into just the right dress, with a movie-star blowout, expensive but discreet jewelry. Handsome, fit, suntanned husbands on their arms. (Accessory note: Next wedding, I swear, I will have a pretty, organized purse, not one that is overstuffed and cannot close.)

It feels good to be just the two of us, Dan and I navigating the weekend (tho with many wedding guests, too). I would not have been able to leave comfortably without my sister staying back at home base in Montclair with Punchy. It's a freedom.

We visited the National Portrait Gallery today, got lost in that playground for about two hours. It was like following a candy trail, another and another goodie to make our eyes widen. Not just people, but also hibiscus blooms in Hawaii by Georgia O'Keefe (who was sent there by the Dole Pineapple Co. for an advertising campaign), a high Maine cliff over the sea by Winslow Homer, on and on and on. (I went to the Gallery with Kim, Nan and Liz, too--twice lucky.)

Among the Presidential Portraits, it was a treat to see Ike, George H.W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, Jimmy Carter, Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt, Nixon (the last by Norman Rockwell, who made him look more likable). I loved the 1963 painting above of JFK by Elaine de Kooning from sittings in Palm Beach, Lilly Pulitzer country. Note the beautiful Lilly colors. So in other words, you came to the National Portrait Gallery and found Lilly Pulitzer, Dan said. Exactamundo.

John F. Kennedy / Elaine de Kooning / Oil on canvas, 1963 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution / © 1963 Elaine de Kooning Trust. The following copy from https://npg.si.edu/blog/elaine-de-koonings-jfk  "When I first saw him, he was bigger than life. It wasn’t that he was really taller than the others. But he seemed to be in a different dimension. The eyes were a total surprise to me. I have never seen the color in photographs—the violet of grapes!" In the golden sunlight of Florida, Kennedy seemed to radiate warmth and color—and an energy that became a struggle for the artist: "All my sketches from life as he talked on the phone, jotted down notes, read papers, held conferences, had to be made very quickly, catching features and gestures, half for memory, even as I looked, because he never sat still. It was not so much that he seemed restless, rather, he sat like an athlete or college boy, constantly shifting in his chair. At first this impression of youthfulness was a hurdle, as was the fact that he never sat still."

President Obama.

Stardust ballroom portrait of me with our longtime friend Celia, the mother of the groom.

P.S. Celia and other Jewish friends, I hope I got the Jewish traditions right.

Cape Cod Grave Digging: Before I Forget to Remember

I love this photo of Rite; image from dignitymemorial.com.

Photo of Bob & Rite, also via dignitymemorial.com.

Last Friday evening, when Punch was at a Brewster pond with her friend, Dan was on Washington Island off the Wisconsin coast, and Fig and Florida Orange were trying to get an earlier flight from Palm Beach to Boston for their Cape weekend, I went to the cemetery to find Rite and Bob Bremner.

I've written about Rite [Marguerite] and Bob before. They were formative in me getting to the Cape and loving it for over 50 years. Co-workers of Dad’s, they owned the cottage my parents rented--on Windmill Lane over by Great Pond--starting when I was about 4.

Eventually, they retired to the sandy shore full-time, inspiring my parents to have their simple ranch house built in the same town, North Eastham.

I cherished them. They didn't have kids--I think they wanted to--but over the years, had a dog and later, a fat cat they adored. They loved to read thick books (she, romance; he, history) and walk by Wellfleet Bay, gathering wild lavender and pretty shells. I learned so much from them. Rite gave me her zucchini bread recipe in high school. Since our house has no phone 📞 line, Mom sat by the bay window in their kitchen to call Dad when she and I stayed a full 3 weeks. I can see her now, white peasant blouse and flowy skirt, cradling the receiver.

Rite and Bob came with us on a ferry day trip to Martha’s Vineyard and a car ride to Provincetown in the 1970s. We went to the chowder supper at their church on Route 6. My friend Nancy Blake stayed at their house with me in a room with twin beds, nubby bedspreads and carefully tended African violets on a plant stand, basking in the sun. Rite made me my first Fluffernutter--lovingly packed for a day by the bay--and pan of fudge from the recipe on the Fluff label. To this day, I buy a jar of the old-timey white marshmallow magic on Cape trips to fix sandwiches for the young girls in my midst. It's just one timeless gift Rite left me.

After Mom died, R & B taught the art of clamming to Dan and me when we were newlyweds, raking in the damp bay sand at low tide before dawn, unearthing hard-shelled quahogs. Rite pushed baby Figgy with me in a bright blue stroller on Wonderstrand Way. Whenever we went to their house on Quail Cover Lane for dinner, it was always served on their wedding china. When Dad and I took them to dinner with young Figgy, they chose the Hearth 'n Kettle.

They left their house to their nephew, who promptly moved in with his family. By the end of their lives, Rite and Bob were living at a facility in Chatham. After Rite went, Bob stopped eating. Told me he didn't want to live anymore the last time I saw him. They had been married for 68 years. Rite died October 21, 2014 and Bob followed just over 8 months later, on June 26, 2015.

When I drove by the house, their nephew told me they were buried in the cemetery across from Arnold's Lobster & Clam Bar.

I had looked for their grave a few years ago with Sis, but couldn't find it. Now I looked again, covering a lot of ground in my crystal flip flops and Maggie's Organics lilac-top dress. It was sunny and hot, near 7 p.m. A shirtless, sunburned man [with a stark white T-shirt outline] was walking his big dog and talking on his cell.

Give me a sign, I said to R & B. Some kind of a sign. Help me find you.

I thought of Bob's gangly frame, Rite's petite figure, the pretty black pumps and tailored red jackets she wore when they came to visit my parents the day after Christmas every year and went into NYC. I remembered Bob liking the fried oyster platter from Arnold's, and the way Rite called me Ali. And the time Moey and I drove up to the Cape in our twenties, had car trouble, and I asked Bob to look at it. He slid underneath.

They liked gardening--and gave me two painted stone chickens to put in our garden at home. I gave one to my friend Anne. The other, worn but sturdy, is out front here in Montclair.

I couldn't find their grave. I wanted to pay my respects. But Carolyn, who lives up there and walks her older, blind dog, Finn, at the cemetery, noticed me wandering and offered help.

Bremner, she said. I know I've seen that name. She took my cell number and said she will text me when she comes across it again.

I saw BREWER. HIGGINS. MAYNARD. ELDREDGE. Touching mementos left on the gravesites--toy cars, little sailboats. Extensive gardens around some graves, complete with iron benches. Angels, cherubs.

And a plot and stone for NICKERSON. That's a big name on the Cape--Nickerson State Park, etc. I saw the grave for NATE, the original Nate. Nate III is the owner of immensely popular Arnold's, with its looooong lines and awards in Cape Cod Life Magazine.

I came up empty but still, I felt closer to Rite and Bob, and Mom and Dad. I was always young to them. And I still felt young searching for those final resting places in the sandy Cape Cod soil.

Good night.

$ MONEY SPENT OUT OF POCKET

TOTAL DAILY SPEND: zero
TOTAL MONTHLY SPEND AS OF AUGUST 14: $1,854.59.

AVERAGE DAILY SPEND FOR MONTH SO FAR: $132.47.

[I added in all Cape and travel days now.]

Hot, big-money spends in August, or how I spent our bread:

🥖 Fill gas tank twice on Cape Cod, $46 x 2= $92.
🥖Idle Times bike shop rental for Punch from noon Saturday until 5 p.m. Sunday, $31.
🥖T.J. Maxx, four designer dresses, Adidas sneakers, knock-off lightweight Burberry scarf, Olga bra, Lauren pillow, shorts, etc. etc.,  $338.

🥖Pizza+/fancyish restaurant dinner with Punch after swimming in pond in Brewster until after 7 p.m., $77.

🥖Mac's Market & Kitchen, lobster, clams, kale salad, mango salsa and other Sunday dinner ingredients, $53.

🥖Brewster bakery, including cookbook I somehow lost, maybe a message from God because it was packed with recipes for sweets, $25.
🥖2 Massachusetts mugs, one for Cape and one for home, $28.
🥖Commando.com, black half-slip, $65.
🥖Arnold's Lobster & Clam Bar, fried clam belly basket plus tip, $30.
🥖Pure Vita, the new CBD [not for me] and natural home care store with essential-oil bar and pretty pineapple throw pillow case for Cape house, votive candles, seaweed/lavender bath sachets, $52.
🥖Stop & Shop, Cape groceries, $29 + $40 + $52=$121.
🥖Lobster roll supper with P. at Adams Lodge in Wellfleet, $32.
🥖Eastham info booth, pink sweatshirt, $30.
🥖Mass Audubon annual family membership, $65.
🥖Sunbird breakfast sandwich w citrus mayonnaise on grilled ciabatta plus expensive coffee beans from, of all places, Portland, Maine, plus tip, $27.

🥖Audubon gift shop, small turtle rug for home; bird gift for Figgy; goat milk body wash; Bee Boss Body Balm, which I love for lips, too; small owl wall calendar for family, with member discount, $88. 
🥖Vineyard Vines, candy-pink gingham skort, orig $98, now on sale for $68.99, plus shipping, $79.
🥖Mac’s Market & Kitchen, lobster, scallops, salmon, lemon, cornbread square, crackers, $49.

COMPARISON SHOPPING. That long Cape Cod vacay in August really drove the numbers up so far.

TOTAL SPEND FOR MONTH OF JULY [STARTING JULY 5; I LOST A FEW DAYS THERE]: $1,610.81. 👛 🎯 ⬇️
JULY AVERAGE DAILY SPEND: $59.66!  👛 🎯 ⬇️

TOTAL SPEND FOR MONTH OF MAY: $2,348.24.

MAY AVERAGE DAILY SPEND: $75.75. 

TOTAL SPEND FOR MONTH OF APRIL: $3,634.28.

APRIL AVERAGE DAILY SPEND: $121.14.