Summer Party x 2

What a coincidence. On Tuesday, June 2nd, she is hosting an "I Love Summer Party" in blogland. She's inviting us to link up with her and we're all going to list all the thing we LOVE about summer. Things like our favorite summer recipes, favorite summer activities, vacations, outdoor ideas and on and on! How fun does that sound? I'm looking forward to getting some good recipes and ideas.

The coincidental thing about this blog "I Love Summer Party" is that it's also on the day that my Auntie Theresa is hosting what has now become her annual birthday party for Cindy Lou's twins and also my mom. Everyone who isn't working comes and swims and we have lunch. It's a lot of fun and I think we all look forward to it every year. It's definitely one of the things I LOVE ABOUT SUMMER! Isn't that a neat coincidence?

I hope you'll link up with Darlene at Our Creative Life and party down with everyone else out there in blogland that loves summer!

I'm having all the family over tonight for the Sunday Night Supper. The sun's shining and the temperature is going to be in the mid 80s, so it's perfect for the kids to swim. Naturally, it's also a perfect night for us to host. I'm stuck, though, trying to figure out something easy and plentiful enough to fix. I just don't want to be in the kitchen for hours this afternoon making supper. Something on the grill is easy enough, but then there's the sides to worry about. Hmmmm. Maybe we could all have a McDonald's Happy Meal. Somehow, I don't think that would set too well with the grownups. They don't give good enough prizes.

Thank you so much all my blogger buddies and blogger family for all your sweet, sweet comments on my rough day Friday. It was touching to my heart and I appreciated it a lot. Y'all are very sweet. I wish I could give every one of you a big ol' hug!

Hope it's sunny where you are, and if it's not I hope it's sunny in your heart. Till tomorrow. Live, love laugh.

Lemonade

Did y'all wonder where I was yesterday? I had the best of intentions. I worked yesterday morning and had not slept very well Thursday night because Jeff's been sick with a really, really bad cough. The same one Cam had. Y'all probably remember hearing about it. Yeah, well, now my bed buddy has it and boy, has it been rough sleeping.

My depo finished rather early, so I went to my favorite store, Target. Spent a leisurely hour or so looking around at all their pretties and looking for something to spray on the 10 million new mosquitoes that we have now, thanks to all the recent rain. I bought myself a bag of popcorn and a mango smoothie, which, if you've never tried, I wholeheartedly recommend. They're delish. Possibly full of sugar, and not a smidge of real mango, but that's another story altogether.

I was, as my Washington friend so pointantly said, "pooping rainbows." My rainbow poop was to be short lived however. Since this is Cam's last week of school, after they're done with their exams each day, they've been allowed to check out, if they had signed notes from their parents. He may have lost a very important project, forgotten lunches, and lost or forgot who knows what else, but honey, let me tell you, he made darn sure he got that note signed allowing him to get checked out after these exams. He DID NOT FORGET THAT! After he leaves school, he'll go hang out with friends, go have lunch somewhere or one day he just came home. Yesterday, he didn't really seem to have anything in particular to do. He and his GF have kinda parted ways. Yet again, another story that I don't know too much about and out of respect for his privacy, won't divulge too much info about. Suffice it to say it's kaputsky. I talked to him when I was leaving Target and he was riding around, kinda in the area where all the kids have been hanging out having lunch, etc. He said all the food places were still really crowded, he was waiting for the crowds to die down some, grab a bite, then go home or if a better offer came up, he'd choose the best offer. Apparently nothing better came up right away. He came on home.

I was turning onto my street and he called again. In a panicky voice he told me that he had backed into Ross's truck. Ross had parked his truck in the middle of our driveway so that he could hook the boat up. He was going to the lake with Jeff's brother, P-nut. I said a really, really ugly four-letter word, and hung up. Simultaneously, I was turning in the driveway. What I saw was uglier than the four-letter word I blurted out.

Since it had only happened minutes ago, Ross was inside clueless. To keep Cam from having to tell Ross, I told him. I think he expected to see a little small dent. When he saw the real damage, he went nuts. And I do mean nuts. My boys are big. And they yell. And they yell loud. And they say mean stuff to each other. But they don't cuss. In fact, one day -- even today a little bit -- I'm going to laugh at the stuff they say when they're mad at each other. Cam admitted that he just wasn't paying attention. Ross was brutal though. But then Cam brought out his big guns and started bringing up the two wrecks Ross had in '06 when he totaled out the two cars in three months. It was ugly, girls, So very ugly. I called Jeff at work and broke the bad news and begged him to come on home. Which he did.

I remember the days when these were my boys and these were their means of transportation.

Life for me was so much simpler and so sweet then. Honestly, I knew it was good and I knew it was precious, and I loved every minute of it. I know now that I was a very, very good mother to those two little boys. And it wasn't easy, believe me. There have been many times I've asked God what in the world he could've been thinking giving me -- a prissy, OCD clean freak -- such rough neck, dirty boys instead of ponytail, Mary Jane-wearing little girls.


That was then and this is now. And the reality is that I have almost 21-year-old and almost 17-year-old young men. I love them more than life itself. I'm prouder of them every day. They don't always make me happy. Sometimes I could wring their necks. And they are trying their darndest to break their dad and me with this car stuff. But yesterday, when Ross apologized to Cam for being so upset and saying such mean things, I couldn't have been prouder of him. I wouldn't trade my two grizzly boys for a thousand prissy girls.

The upside is that I still (knock on wood) remain the ONLY ONE IN MY HOUSE WHO HASN'T GOTTEN A TICKET OR HAD AN ACCIDENT IN AT LEAST FIVE YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I'm not bragging or anything, but it's just that my boys tease me that I don't drive very well and they especially tease me because I'm not the best at backing out. Well, I'll bet Cam won't tease me about that anymore.

Jeff and I moped and moped and moped some more. We shed a few tears of pure frustration. It really was an awful, awful afternoon. But true to our personalities, we didn't let it keep us down for long. Life is too short not to make lemonade out your lemons. We didn't go out, but rather made turkey sandwiches and ate by the pool.

Mercifully, the 10 million mosquitoes left us alone.
Till tomorrow, have a great weekend. I pray that I will.

The Sunshine Connection

I don't want to do anything. I've got the blahs. According to Discovery Health, here's my problem:

For some people, lack of sunlight, usually during late fall and winter months, can bring on depression. Many people tend to feel a little down on cloudy days. People with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) experience depression during periods of gray weather. Experts believe that sunlight causes changes in a tiny structure in the brain called the hypothalamus. For some people, these changes upset the brain chemistry and cause depression.

And by George, I think they've hit the nail on the head. I must have sunshine. I. Must. Have. Sunshine. I know there's nothing you can do about the weather, so why gripe about it? Well, why not gripe about it? These awful, gray, gloomy skies and periods of soaking rain are making me feel bad and I'm ticked off about it. Thanks to Discovery Health, at least now I can justify my blues. I feel redeemed. Though I still feel lousy, at least my lousy mood is now justified.

Today I'm going to wear my T-shirt with this on it:


Yep, that's me. Little Miss Sunshine.

Till tomorrow.

$*@! HAPPENS

I had no sooner hit "Publish Post" yesterday before my phone rang. Ross had a dentist appointment to get his permanent crown put on. If you live with me in the southeast, you know we've had some very crazy weather the last week. It will pour down rain. Then it will be sunny. Then the whole thing will start over again. When it rains, though, it really pours. I'm guessing that's where that saying actually came from was from a weather pattern like this one.

Yesterday afternoon we were in a "pour down" time period. Ross slid into the back end of the car in front of him at a stop light. He said he put his brakes on, but his truck just skid and he rear-ended the car. They were all preparing to stop for the light, so he was going pretty slow, about 5 miles an hour. Thankfully, no one was hurt. The car he hit had three people inside. His big truck just rolled over their bumper and trunk. It tore their car up pretty bad. His truck may need a new front bumper and grille and that's only because it hurts his feelings that it looks like it does. It really doesn't look that bad.

He apologized to me over and over "for all this". He had two other wrecks in 2006 and totaled out two different cars. The sad and ironic part is that he's really a very good driver. One of the

'06 wrecks was coming off of our insurance in just a few weeks.

While I'm so thankful that no one was hurt and that the accident wasn't any worse than it was, although it was plenty bad enough, I'm in the dumps today. Big time. When I'm done with this, I've got to call my insurance company. My insurance cost me more than a very nice car payment each month. Wonder what it'll cost now? Maybe a very nice house payment? That's if they keep me. They may not. Then I ponder the idea of just paying for the other guy's car. It was an older model Saturn. The way cars diminish value, it probably wouldn't be worth but a few thousand dollars. I'm just not sure what to do. My head is throbbing with every beat of my heart, which, by the way, is beating too fast I'm sure, and both feel like they weigh at least 100 pounds.

Even though he's 20 3/4 years old and going to school and working, he still needs his mama. I did at least find that out yesterday. He didn't want me to hang up the phone with him until I was almost at the accident scene. He was freaking out. It broke my heart to sit and watch him handle all that by himself. Tore me up. But watch I did. I stayed out of it. I let him take care of everything. He's practically a man now. But believe me, I hovered close by just in case he needed me. I imagine I'll always do that. At least every chance I get. He got a ticket, but the policeman hated to give it to him. He told Ross that "shit happens." I guess he's right.

Till tomorrow.

Ain't No Sunshine

Back from Panama City and there was no sunshine that's for sure. We couldn't have had a better time though. Nan and Ronnie were so much fun to vacation with. If the sun had been shining, we might have had so much fun we'd have never come back. Just kidding.

We left pretty early Thursday morning, so we were in PC at about 12 noon. We couldn't get in our room until 1, so we went ahead and did our grocery shopping. We were on the 10th floor, room 1001 trying to open the door at exactly 1:01 p.m. We were ready for a good time. Jeff's probably gonna kill me, but I just thought this picture was adorable. This is the only hat that he's allowed to wear. Hats just don't look good on him, but I love this one. He's had it about five years, and it's his BEACH hat. He has to wear it at the beach because his head gets burnt to a crisp. When he has this hat on, he's ready for F-U-N. He put it on when we were unloading the car. Unfortunately, it was smushed from the five-hour car ride. Even more unfortunate, this was the only time he wore it. The sun was never bright enough for him to need it.

After getting the car unloaded and everything put away, Nan and I were on the balcony checking things out. The beach wasn't too crowded. Maybe the lousy weather kept some people away. Jeff and I had the master bedroom and it was very, very nice. The king size bed was awesome. We have a queen at home, so the king felt huge. The room was clean, well furnished and, by the time Nan was finished, Cloroxed to the max.

This is what we saw when we looked left off our balcony.

When we looked straight down over the balcony, this is what we saw. We never swam in it. We didn't have enough cooperation from the weather to get in. It looked refreshing. We put our feet in it and it felt pretty good.

I gave Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville a second shot. I ate there when I went down on Spring Break and it just wasn't that good. We all wanted to go because it has a good reputation and the atmosphere is great. We ordered the Volcano nachos as an appetizer. The four of us shared them. I've definitely had better. Nan and I shared a triple decker club sandwich, which was pretty good, but so salty that I drank about a gallon of water that night, which left me bloated beyond recognition.

As I said, I guess you go there for the atmosphere, which is really good. They play lots of Jimmy Buffett music (obviously). And they have big screen TVs playing his concerts from all across the country. This is a big plane that drops out of the ceiling when they play Margaritaville. A huge shaker of salt comes out of the bottom of the plane. It was fun. Go there to have a drink. Don't go there hungry.

Lots of us took our summer vacations at Panama City when we were kids. It's changed so much since then. Nan wanted to take a walk down to where she and her family always stayed. It was called The Fiesta. We stayed there a time or two when I was a little girl. So. . . she and I took a walk down to The Fiesta. It was four miles, two each way. On a flat surface that's not so bad. The beach was sloped and the ocean was chilly, so it was kinda rough. But we made it and we got some absolutely priceless pictures and reminisced about times gone by. Here's The Fiesta as it looks today. The windows are busted out, all the rooms are empty and it's got a sign in the front that says that it's ready for demolition.

The two-mile walk there wasn't so bad, but the two-mile walk back was a different story. I fell down my front porch steps a couple of years ago and sprained my left ankle pretty bad. It's still weak and gets sore if I do a lot of walking. Walking on that sandy slope tore it up. It's still hurting. I'm going to have to wear tennis shoes for a while. Flip flops just aren't supportive enough.

While we were walking and reminiscing, Jeff and Ronnie were golfing on a gorgeous golf course. As I heard it, Jeff played a game of unreal golf. They enjoyed it very much and only got a little wet. We met them after they were done at a beach bar called Schooners. We stayed there several hours. It's right on the beach, so we watched it rain. Then we watched it clear up. Then we watched it rain some more. I think in those few hours, we sampled some of just about everything on their menu. And it was all exceptionally good! We had a crappy waitress. She looked like she had sucked on lemons the whole day. What a grouch! I guess she hates her job. Oh, well.

The most memorable thing we did on the trip was take a walk on Saturday morning. We had all gotten up early and it was raining. Hard. And it was windy. And it wasn't going to get any better for at least the next five hours, according to The Weather Channel. There was nothing to do inside, so why not go out for a walk? I wore a jacket with a hood. Nan had a visor. Ronnie had a cap. Jeff doesn't wear hats, so he had nothing covering his head. That rain was pounding us in the head, in the face, in the legs. It felt like BBs. It was heavy, then light, then heavy. The wind was also pushing against us. It was a big, big workout. And so much fun.

When there are double red flags flying, it means that it's not safe to be in the ocean. Well, honey, they were flying every day except Thursday.

Saturday afternoon, the sun peeked out for about an hour and a half and the beach got crowded quickly. The beach patrol kept coming by and fussing at people that were in the water. The driver of the truck has to actually say over and over the same warning message. I couldn't understand why they don't make a recording so she doesn't have to do that. Seems almost as dangerous as the waves in the water to have a person driving a truck on a crowded beach holding a microphone talking into it. Duh. Maybe someone will figure that one out. Hopefully before someone is ran over.

For the Gulf, these waves were pretty amazing. It was obvious that there was some sort of disturbance somewhere. The ocean looked ticked off the whole time we were there.

This was something I saw after our walk and I just thought it was so cool. I'm sickened I didn't think of it first. Someone will probably be able to buy themselves a nice little beach house with their earnings from this little invention.

You step on it and it mists water on your legs and feet to rinse the sand off. Works pretty well, and you don't have to actually touch anything to turn it on or off. Great idea, huh?

But. . . I had walked in my tennis shoes, so my shoes were full of sand. A gentle mist wasn't gonna touch my shoes. I needed something more. So. . .

Thank goodness, what was once good enough is still good enough. And, in fact, works way better. Probably costs a lot less, too. I just imagined someone at the beach or lake in their cutoff denim shorts taking out their pocket knife and cutting a garden hose making something to rinse their feet with. Then I pictured someone maybe in a suit and tie, in an office with a pencil and paper designing something to try and improve on that. I don't know why, I just found it so ironic that the oldie was still the goodie.

Here's a picture of Jeff and me before going out to eat on our last night. We went to an old, old favorite. Captain Anderson's.

Here we are waiting on our most delicious seafood. Which was, by the way, soooo good. When I was a little girl and we'd take our family vacation to Panama City, we'd always go to Captain Anderson's for supper one night. We'd go early and daddy would walk us around to look at all the deep sea fishing boats that had come in and were unloading their catches. That's still a big attraction all these years later.

We all had fun, with or without the sun. Don't know when we'll get to do it again, but we definitely want to. Our family vacation with the boys is in three weeks. We're going to Tybee for nine days. Yee-haw! Shortly after that, Jeff's fall football will start pretty heavy. Yuck. I'll be a football widow till November.

Special kudos to my guest blogger. She did a most excellent job. I enjoyed reading about her day's events. By the time she got the hang of it, I came home. I hope she'll start one of her own.

My boys did so good while we were away. They kept the house nice and tidy. They know what their mama likes. And they don't like to hear her scream. HA!

Haven't done much today except play around with my pictures. Nan only took 398 of them. She has a great camera and it takes pictures really fast, so she's able to make lots. Between mine and hers, I think we made about 450 pictures. You'd think we were there for two weeks. It was just that good, I guess.

Till tomorrow. Live, love, laugh.

I Feel Patriotic

Nothing is ever free, though to you it be. Somewhere, somehow, someone paid.
How true.

I know I really take for granted being safe and free to do what I please, when I please, without fear. It's a shame it takes days like Memorial Day and Veterans Day for me to remember those who make my way of life possible. But THANK YOU to all military men and women fighting for our great country.

This is the view outside the office where my deposition took place yesterday. I'm not fond of heights. Oftentimes when I'm up high like this (and it was only the 37th floor) I think about the people in the World Trade Center on 9/11, which was 110 floors! Can y'all even imagine?
Our world has certainly changed since then, and so many lives have been lost to keep us safe.

Well.... on a lighter note, here's a picture of me and my hubby-wubby back on May 23rd, 2008 at the Georgia Aquarium. I wasn't feeling the love for that place. If you've seen one fish/swimming creature, you've seen 'em all. And WAY too many people getting all in my personal space. But that's just me...

Today I have a bridal shower for Jason's cousin, Reid is in a baseball tournament in Winder, he's going to ESPN Zone in Atlanta with his cousin Caleb this morning, and Eli and Alayna have skating birthday parties this afternoon. Hmmm, can I pull a rabbit out of my hat and get it all done? I'll letcha know...

P.S. A Girl Named Kelly Kelly is rockin' out at the beach, sun or no sun! Y'all don't worry, she takes the party with her wherever she goes :0)

Oh, the Fun We've Had!

Hey, y'all! First off, thanks bunches for all the sweet comments. I had big shoes to fill (even though her feet are tiny)!
My work sabbatical ends today. I've taken off the last two weeks. I should say, I've taken off actually going to depositions. I had gotten wayyyyy far behind with work. Several attorneys called looking for transcripts. B-A-D. So I've been trying to get caught up. Today I have to work at 2:00 downtown. Yuck. I've enjoyed staying home. Now, y'all know Kelly and I are both court reporters -- BUT -- I actually do most all of my own typing. Double yuck.

Anywho, Reid decided he wanted a mohawk for summer. He had one last year, and it sorta suits him, so I said go for it. Here he is at his baseball game last night. Handsome, I think.

How was our first day of summer vacation, you're dying to know?? Well, I give it a C minus. By 10:30 a.m., Eli had been sent to his room twice, stood in the corner, while Reid had been spanked once and sent to his room. Alayna was whiny and starving, and I needed to get groceries. So I whipped 'em up some pancakes, made them clean up, and off to the store I went. I drug Reid along with me for some company and help loading and unloading. But fear not, our day got better and I think we'll get our groove back lickety split.

As I was looking through some old pictures from around today's date to post, I came upon one of my most favorite pictures ever:


This is my dad Marshall and my baby, Eli Marshall, on May 22nd, 2006 at Ross's high-school graduation party. I hardly can believe that was three years ago!! For anyone reading who may not know, my little Eli was named after my dad, because I found out I was expecting him right after my Dad nearly died from pancreatitis and liver failure. My baby was a miracle and a blessing as was my Dad living to see him.

It's been so good to talk to y'all again, and keep those comments coming! They pump me up!

P.S. A Girl Named Kelly Kelly made it to the beach, and the rain had stopped for the time being. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her. Rain at the beach makes her frown :0(

Hope the Lord smiles upon each of you this Friday. Until next time...

Summer Lovin' and Substitute Blogger

Hey, y'all! Well, I'm "subbing" for Kelly while she's on her mini-vacay. I think I'll be like the substitute teacher or bus driver you remember having in school. You know, the one who was so fun and sweet and cool you never wanted your real one to come back? Oh, I'm joking. Anyone who reads this blog knows a Girl Named Kelly Kelly has a real knack for this.

So yesterday was Reid and Alayna's last day of 5th and 4th grade! Eli won't start kindergarten until the fall, so it was not a big day for him. Here is a picture of them on their FIRST day of school this year.



And, after several tears, threats from me, and one fight, here is a picture from their LAST day of school!

I think they've grown and changed a lot, don't y'all? Reid had his 5th grade awards ceremony, singing and walk through the school. He'll be going to middle school next year. CANNOT believe it. I thought I was going to be really weepy and sad, but I'm happy to say I wasn't! Jason was with me, and he thinks that stuff is so corny that it's hard to cry, because he's got me laughing the whole time.
So now summer has officially begun at the Parks Home! I always start each summer with a stern lecture to my kids about how it's not going to be a free-for-all, eat-all-day, sleep-all-day, be-lazy-all-day, sit-around-in-your-pjs-all-day summer. I told them we were going to have an eating schedule so the kitchen wasn't open and messy all day. I also mentioned getting some posters and chores charts and schedules and stuff.

But really, who am I kidding? By mid-June they'll be staying up until 2 a.m. and sleeping until noon, making messes and eating me out of house and home. I'm not so great at following through with stuff. I have good intentions.

Well, I had several other pictures I wanted to post today, but I had a small nervous breakdown just getting these two uploaded. Blogging is hard work!

I've really enjoyed being your guest speaker today. So I guess until your regularly scheduled blogger is back in town, you're stuck with me.

Until next time...

Proud Mama and a Guest Blogger

Last night was Cam's FFA Banquet. It was far and away better than the football banquet we had a few months ago. Those Future Farmers really know how to do things right.

They had it catered by a local catering company. The fried chicken was crisp, the mashed potatoes creamy, the mac cheese cheesy, the roll -- well, you get the point. It was excellent. And being that they are an agriculture organization, they didn't leave out the green vegetable. We had the most delicious spinach salad with fresh strawberries. It had some kind of creamy dressing, that was OMGosh fabulous!

Here is a picture of my sweet baby boy. Just look at that smile! The reason for the big smile wasn't because his mom was taking his picture. Oh, no, ma'am. It was because of the cute little girl behind him. That's his GF. She's also in the FFA.
If you've been following my blog a little while, you may remember awhile back Cam had lost part of a very important project for his Ag Science class. I blamed it on his unorganized, messy -- well, let's call it what is -- pigpen of a room! He never found the original project. With his teacher's help, backed-up pictures, and saved Word Perfect documents, he was able to re-create the project. Last night he won this plaque for all his hard work.
He earned two pins, two certificates and a plaque. Next school year he'll get one of the nifty FFA jackets that you can see the FFA officers wearing.
Because next year he'll be an FFA officer. He and his girlfriend were chosen as officers.
They're not going to be Ms. President and Mr. Vice-President, but Mr. Parliamentarian and Ms. Sentinel. I was indeed a very proud mama!

He has become quite the agriculturalist. I'm going to stay on him with his grades. UGA has an excellent agriculture school. We all know he was a bulldog even before he was born! Right now he has his sight set on Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College in Tifton. Better known around here as ABAC. It's waaaaaaaaaaaaay down in South Georgia. Hope they let moms come too.

I'll be gone for the Memorial Day Weekend and I probably won't get a post in till Tuesday. I just wanted to remind everyone to remember all our military heroes.
It's a very meaningful day, but I feel like I've sorta lost touch with what the real meaning of the observance is. It's really a very touching story. I believe I read that at 3 o'clock in whatever time zone you're in, you're asked to pause and remember our veterans. I'm going to try to remember to do that. I believe we should remember the day for what it was set out to be; a Memorial Day for our nation's veterans. Seems the least I can do. I won't be posting for a few days while I'm on vacation. But don't you worry, I've asked my BFF and baby sister, Suz to be my guest blogger. She's gonna do a few posts while I'm gone. I'm so excited to read her writing. It's gonna be a blast for me. Of course, I have an ulterior motive. I'm trying to get her feet wet, hoping she'll love blogging so much she'll start one for herself.

Here she is with her handsome hubby Jason.And here are their three kiddos. Alayna, Eli and Reid.Their last day of school is today, so I'm betting her posts are going to be pretty good. Bless her heart. I don't know how she does it.

Please remember in your prayers my cousin Marie who has liver cancer. Marie is in her '50s and her mother Mattie Lou is doing most of her caretaking. Mattie Lou is a sweet and gentle lady with a big heart and smile. Pray for her too. I know she's taking it all very hard. Marie is, after all, still one of her babies.

Hope everyone has a safe holiday weekend! May you be blessed with much love and laughter with the ones you love to laugh with. Till Tuesday.

What Are You Wearing to the Beach/Pool?

So I've been looking for bathing suits. I've found some really, really nice ones. I kinda had in mind what I was looking for. I'm very modest. And errr, well, let's just say curvy. So this was sort of the idea I was going for.
The problem is that I do believe that these are bras and girdles these girls are wearing. I wish they made bathing suits like that, don't you? I just love the vintage look of the 40s and 50s. I love the way the women dressed during that time period. The dresses, the accessories, the shoes. And when they went to the bathing suit, they knew how to wear a bathing suit. Why, even Barbie, the Queen of All Things Fashionable, wore a great bathing suit in 1959.

But when I go in the stores, I can't find a bathing suit like hers anywhere. At least not around here. I see ones that are more like something along these lines. . .

And if you have the body, go for it. It's just not me! I can't pull that look off, no matter how much I adore flip-flops!

I spent many hours searching on the Internet for vintage style bathing suits. I found the perfect one at the Etsy store. And, girls, if you've never been to Etsy, you owe it to yourselves to visit. There are some very talented people in this world. I sure wish I was one of them. Anyway. . . I found the most adorable suit and it's HANDMADE just for me.

If you'd like to visit her Etsy store, just click here. I think you'll enjoy looking at all the pretty things she creates. I just can't imagine being able to sew like that. Instead of navy and white, mine's red and white. When I tell you that I got this handmade suit for $45, I bet you won't believe it, will you?

I wanted another bathing suit, just in case I come in and want to go back out. I sure don't want to have to put on a wet bathing suit. So I searched modest bathing suits and found this site. They have got some very cute suits. Pretty, vibrant colors, very feminine. I loved them all. So I ordered one from here too. I got this top.

And these bottoms. If only I had done the 30-day Shred, maybe my things would look this good. Oh, well, no since crying over what could have been.

What are you going to wear to the pool and/or beach?

Till tomorrow. Live, love & laugh!