Archive: August 2006

While JG and I were getting the lay of the land at the beach, we found a takeout menu in the kitchen for a place called Oceanside Seafood. I have this thing where I like to have city-specific cuisine if I’m a tourist, and the beach means seafood! We walked in for dinner, unsure of how it all worked, so JG asked the girl at the counter, “If we want to eat in, do we seat ourselves?” It turned out that the girl was Joanna, one of JG’s friends from the high school years! She was living at the beach for the summer and waitressing at this restaurant that we had randomly picked. JG and Joanna tried to catch up quickly on the last five years of life, highlighted by Joanna shrieking, “You’re married, aren’t you?!” (Um, yes, nice to meet you…) Joanna ended up being our waitress, and she gave us great recommendations. The two of us plowed through steamed clams, crab Florentine soup, shrimp, flounder, and scallops, all delicious and even better, at the “regulars’ discount”. It pays to have connections, right?

This unexpected run-in with the past reminded me of how JG and I are slated to go to the wedding of one of my high school friends, Amy, in a couple of weeks. It’s the first wedding that I have from that set, and I’m a little apprehensive. I envision being seated with people I haven’t seen in years and there’s stilted silence as we all try to make pleasant conversation until the wedding party arrives …

Where did you go to college again? … Oh, that’s right, I remember now – that’s great. And you’re working where now? … That sounds really interesting. … Oh, look, hors d’oeuvres!

Maybe I’m just being pessimistic. Maybe it’ll be a fun time: I can reminisce, JG will have a chance to meet people I grew up with, we can dress up and dance, and even have an overdue visit with my parents. Don’t get me wrong – I’m excited to be there for Amy; she was one of my closest friends when I was a teenager. We teased our calculus teacher, ate Ben and Jerry’s out of a community pint, and spent many hours at school for band and play practice. In middle school, we used to say that we were the “friend type, not the lover type” when we commiserated about never having boyfriends, and look – we’re the first two to be married out of our friends. It’s funny how that works.

I feel like I’m walking back into a world where I was a different person. These high school friends are accustomed to me on my own, since I never dated in high school, and now I’m a wife with an out-of-state license that has someone else’s name on it. I wonder if anyone will exclaim, “You’re married, aren’t you?!”

I guess we’ll see…

After a weekend away and a ride home that was thankfully light traffic-wise, I can muse about all of high points from the weekend, in bullets, no less, because that’s how I roll.

• I went into the water voluntarily this weekend – several times, even! On Friday, the water was nice and warm, and I didn’t even cringe as it lapped around my swimsuit. I even braved depths higher than my knees to jump around waves and stand on a sandbar. When I had had enough, I sat at the shoreline to let the waves push me around and watch JG bodysurf: “Three belly scrapers out of four waves!” he crowed. It was something close to paradise.
• I’d never seen those little jellyfish that wash up on the shore, and I tiptoed around the minefield of transparent blobs, trying to get a good picture. I jumped when I felt something crawly; then I saw the abundance of little clams at my feet. JG showed me how they try to dig back into the sand once they’re exposed, and I was transfixed at the sight of dozens of tiny orange, purple, and white shells propelling themselves into the sand.
• JG and I had a rousing game of Scrabble on the beach because, yes, we are that cool. I’m proud to say that I ended up on top, despite JG’s bingo word (uses all seven letters and earns you fifty bonus points), “poaches”, and racks like WOOEEEU. Low point of the game: I had a bingo word of my own (“gleaned”), but had nowhere to put it, and I ended up having to play “nodal”. High point: I managed to double-letter the Q in a double-word spot with “quite” for 48 points. This is the part when my geekiness is unavoidable.
• At our friends’ recommendation, JG and I took a jaunt to the free zoo at the Cape May County Park, and it was a lot of fun. In addition to the run-of-the-mill, barnyard animals and caged birds, there was a reptile house and a Pathway to Diversity that led to zebras and giraffes. It was very well-done for our five-buck donation. Plus, the excursion doubled as economy birth control, as JG and I have zero urge to push around small children in strollers, make sure they don’t walk into strangers, or purchase animal-shaped sugary drinks from the tiki hut-like drink stations, and all of that was confirmed in this morning trip.
• We strolled down the main downtown area in Avalon and I loved seeing two separate shops dedicated solely to cheese. How great is that? There were white lights intertwined in all of the trees on either side of the street and a gazebo-ish thing in the middle of a square where I pictured barbershop quartets or horn groups gathering on the 4th of July. It was sort of like Stuckeyville or Stars Hollow, both places where I would like to live if they existed…

I have emerged refreshed and “as brown as a Brazil nut”, as one of my co-workers would say. I have a greater fondness for the beach than I did previously, perhaps due to the lack of many rowdy family members and the loan of a fantabulous house. Or maybe I’m just getting used to the idea of spending time at the beach, and the shorter break made me more grateful for the time away. Who knows, but I’ll take it anyway.

Greetings from Avalon, NJ!

JG and I have taken a pseudo long weekend away (Friday afternoon through Sunday night) thanks to the generosity of our friends with a beach house here. The weather’s great and a seafood dinner is on tap for tonight, but, oh, let me tell you about the house.

Our friends are pretty well off and they’ve always been really great about sharing what they have, like hosting fun parties and helping people move (i.e. yours truly). When they heard that I was concerned about not having vacation time with JG by myself, their first reaction was, “Borrow our beach house! Let us know when you want it!” Needless to say, we were stunned at the offer, and gladly took them up on it.

When JG and I drove up the street to look for the house, we were expecting one of those single-story, we’re-just-sleeping-here-in-between-beach-trips houses, because honestly, even though our friends live comfortably, beach property, even a couple of blocks off the water, is freaking expensive. Plus, we know that they don’t rent the house out, ever, so it wasn’t like they were bringing in extra money. We crawled along the street, craning at house numbers, and oh my goodness. There was #249.

A beautiful, yellow house with its own driveway welcomed us, and we gaped at the wide, wrap-around porch and picturesque wooden rockers. JG unlocked the door, and we explored what we learned was a 5-bedroom, 5.5-bath house, complete with a full kitchen (granite countertops, gas range, pull-out trash bin, oh my!), outside shower, one-car garage, two living rooms, a wet bar, and master suite perched on its own third story. Our room, the “green guestroom” was leaps and bounds nicer than our room at home, with a king-sized bed and full bath with a double sink (!). Best of all, the house is decorated with fish of all kinds – ceramic, glass, wind chimes, tile mosaic – local art of Avalon scenes, and family photos. It is Beach House to the nth degree, and it is unbelievable that we get to use it.

As we walked back out to the car to grab our stuff, JG breathed, “I feel like we’re on Cribs…” We had no idea what we were stepping into, and it is by far the nicest place we have ever stayed. I’m not sure what this place is worth, or when it was built, but there’s a house next door for sale, and they’re asking for a cool $2.8 million. Oh my goodness.

So, what’s the appropriate thank you gift for friends who let you borrow their several-million-dollar house?

Last night, I was emailing a friend when I unconsciously referenced my “crazy week”. I saw the words appear in my message window, and I paused, thinking, Wait a minute, what day is it?

Oh, right, I remembered, it’s only Tuesday, even though it feels like Thursday, energy-wise. Even more disappointing – Thursday would mean that I would only have to work in the morning the next day so that JG and I could invade our fabulous friends’ beach house in Avalon, NJ, for a long-ish weekend away. As much as our previous vacation was an extended break, it was not so much about the alone time, so I’m looking forward to this weekend for that.

Back to reality. It was only Tuesday, and I hadn’t actually had a crazy week; I had only had a crazy two freaking days. That’s not even halfway through the week! I backspaced sadly and typed, “crazy couple of days,” with a sinking feeling.

This morning, JG asked me, “Is it Friday? Because I feel like it’s Friday.” It can’t be a good sign if my hallucinations are spreading.