Excited for a White Summer

I am not the most graceful or delicate woman out there. Every summer I day dream of owning a white summer dress and wearing it out in public without immediately tripping/falling into dirt or eating/dropping food in my lap. While I am not the most klutzy person in the world, I do tend to have problems with white.

Well, H&M is coming out with the Conscious Collection which, as luck would have it, features white spring/summer fashion. Basically this is awesome because I can now get a white dress for cheap but still look hip and happening.

Normally I am not one for full sleeves, winter or summer, but this dress is calling my name. In fact it is yelling it from across town. Dare I say, it is a little on the short side, but I feel those lacy sleeves balance the garment out nicely. I could envision myself wearing this dress, but I can't quite figure out where I am going. At the moment, I just see myself walking down the street. (but not in those shoes, I am really over that style in a major way)

The other dress that caught my eye is this one. I find that volume around my stick-frame usually ends up looking pretty great. I am a bit worried that the flow begins right at the boob line, as without any assistance with defining that curve, my bust goes buh-bye. Additionally, an A-line that starts that high has high odds that the shape of the dress will make my legs look like that they start up at the armpits. This dress is definitely the runner up, and again, not loving the shoes...

Summer Fun

I can't believe I haven't blogged about the best thing that has happened to summer. Yes, I am referring to Dunkin Donuts' new summer doughnuts. Below is my first love, it is called a Beach Ball. They are munchkins with pink, orange and yellow little circle sugar things cover them. Just looking at them makes me smile.

When I first saw them - the morning I saw Eclipse - I bought a couple just before getting to the theater. I couldn't wait to show my friends in person, so I took a picture and quickly nommed them down.


There is also a regular sized doughnut that pairs with these munchkins rather nicely. It is essentially the chocolate frosted doughnut with these same sugar things covering the chocolate. Oh man, now I need a doughnut. STAT

Summer with USA

All of the regular season shows are over. The only program still wrapping up right now would be my dirty indulgence of The Real Housewives of NYC. Bravo realizes how much of a train-wreck these seven women are and has decided to stretch the finale into 3 episodes. At this point, there is just one left to go and I can't imagine there is much more to talk about. Personally, I was curious to see what Kelly Bensimon would say, and well, she is just as incoherent as ever.

Most channels seem to give up on tv during the summer season, which makes sense. I have very little time in my day now that I am willing to devote to watching shows. If it is nice out, I want to be outside. The one channel that I do get excited for, and keeps my DVR in shape, is USA. Both Royal Pains and Burn Notice are starting up again, and I am quite pleased with both.

If you have not given these shows a chance, and are looking for something to watch on Thursdays, I would suggest becoming a fan. You could easily jump into either without backtracking through previous seasons.

Burn Notice is about Michael Weston, a burned spy in Miami, who uses his spy knowledge to help people out of sticky situations. With the help of his girlfriend and friend, very intricate plans get put together, usually ending with something blowing up. His mom is a great character that you see for just a few minutes here and there, always with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.

Royal Pains focuses on Dr. Hank who used to be a top surgeon in NYC but gets sued for negligence. He goes into depression until his CPA brother drags him out to the Hamptons. After sneaking into a super swanky party, there is a medical emergency, which Hank deals with, and thus his life as a concierge doctor begins.

I'm excited for the summer to kick off, and while I like to get the most of the good weather, I do like that at least one network is giving me something to watch if I just want to be a lazy bum.

Itsy Bitsy String Bikini!

I have been in a big need of a new bathing suit. Last summer was rather disappointing with all the cold weather and overcast weekends, so I never committed to a new suit. This year, I have a good feeling. My inbox constantly gets bombarded with sales emails from J-Crew and Victoria's Secret. I already tried the J-Crew angle and realized that their sale is still more than I am willing to pay so I figured I would go Vicky Secret.

The store had an amazing green/blue tie-dye bikini that I knew should be mine. It is a halter top (with a little push-up - there I said it) and a string bikini bottom. I have never gone string bikini but I figured, why not just go for it. Sadly, I realized that the suit was not on sale but I didn't want to risk trying to find the same suit online (or more truthfully I wanted a suit for the weekend).

This was the closest bikini that I could find online, which makes me very happy with my on the spot purchase.

I am excited to wear this on the shores of the Narragansett Bay this Memorial Day Weekend. If I could live in a bikini I think I would, oh office dress codes...

Coffee that goes CRUNCH

I have been out of coffee for my coffee maker for the last week or so. Being the fiscally responsible woman that I am, I have, of course, begun purchasing iced coffee on my way to work every morning. I can't bring myself to drink black coffee so I usually get a little cream and sugar.

This morning, when I walked over for my morning -- errr late morning/early afternoon -- jump start, I neglected to say "just a little" when quantifying the cream and sugar. Because of this the woman at DD went to town with the add-ins. As I walked out of the store I stuck my straw in the cup and took my first big swig.

Whoooooosh. Not only did I get a mouthful of coffee but along came a substantial amount of sugar. Crunch crunch crunch. Feeling the granules of sugar between my teeth made me flashback into time when I ordered ice coffees (light and sweet) to drink while watching middle school baseball games. It was a nice quick trip down memory lane. I don't have plans going back to that kind of sugar intake, but for the moment it was pretty sweet. (pun intended)

Bathing Suit Blues.....and greens and pinks

Bathing suits are already going on sale everywhere. In order for me to get a suit for this summer, I realized I should get a move on because sadly one cannot find anything decent if one waits until June or July, you know when swim suits are actually needed. But there is no need to get into that old tired issue.

Victoria Secret has been bombarding me with emails about their swim sales. I have never purchased a bathing suit from them, and since they don't have the best return policy (and there is shipping costs!), I decided if I was going to go for it, I better know exactly what I wanted. The Mall at Chestnut Hill has one of the stores so I trekked on over. Sadly, they carry no suits, so I was stuck.

As I walked back to my car, I remembered that the Atrium Mall (across the street) had a J-Crew and they were also sending me numerous emails. So off I went. There were a number styles available for me to try on. I loaded up my arms with bottoms and tops, and headed into an oddly lit changing room. If that lighting is suppose to help me look better, I don't ever want to see myself in a bathing suit in normal lighting.

Bathing suit shopping should never be done when

• a) you are still pasty from the winter
• b) just ate ice cream at your office's meet the new coworker's party or
• c) not 100% full of confidence.

I did not fulfill any of these requirements and eventually had to just put the suits away. I like one suit, and I am pretty sure it was flattering, but I just wasn't ready to put down the $57 dollars (that was after the 30% off). Hopefully things will look better when I try again in a week or two.

Summer Sun in April? I'll take it.

The day was beautiful today. I think it hit 80 degrees at some point. As soon as it hit 1 pm I hopped on out of the office to take my hour lunch in the quad. Thankfully I stayed in the shade because even then, I began sweating in my new summer work dress. I knew right then and there that I would be heading back to my apartment for homemade nachos and margaritas on my balcony.

If you are in the market for a new type of guacamole, I would suggest you try out Santa Barbara. The company is genius, the guac is packaged in an air-tight plastic bag so you can squeeze out as much as you want and left the rest in the packaging. None of the unused guac turns brown, which happens whenever I have purchased a style that comes in a tub. There are some red peppers in the mix and I only like guacamole with a kick. Prior to about 8 months ago, I would have refused to try the stuff because avocado has a butter like texture and I prefer crunchy.

Also, this company makes a great pico de gallo. Just the right combination of veggies and spice. After baking my nachos I scattered a few spoonfuls over the pile. Delish!

Honestly, I hope to have many more afternoons filled with this Mexican themed snacks in the late sun. This apartment and I get along quite well.

Now that is Dedication!

Today was gorgeous. A friend of mine and I were up at Revere Beach for a few hours to look at the amazing sand sculptures (I'll post pics once I get them outta my camera). When I first embarked on the adventure to Revere it was super humid and slightly overcast - not exactly ideal beach weather. By the time we reached the beach things felt a little better. The sea breeze hit us as soon as we got out of the T stop which helped counteract the heat.

The sun stayed hidden for the first 45 minutes or so. Then the sun REALLY came out. Strong. Definitely laying out on a towel and soaking up the rays strong

Don't worry, I totally slathered on the sunblock to protect this skin. No wrinkles/old lady leather skin/ skin cancer for me!

After a few hours it was clearly time for some ice slushies and extra long hotdogs. Over the course of a couple of hours the crowds grew pretty substantially. Most people were in bathing suits or clothing that made sense. Then there were the individuals wearing head to to black outfits.

I am sorry. But really people?

I don't know if there is any aspect of my personal fashion that I would be willing to put myself through that much torture for. Admittedly some of my shoes are not the most comfortable in the world, but there is nothing that would make me dress in head to toe black in 80 degree weather. The all black look is not something I have ever really gotten into, but I realized after today that those people deserve to have a hat tipped to them. They must endure some major discomfort. Which leads me to this most important question: what kind of deodorant do they use? I feel like it has the be the strongest one out there...Really, I'd like to know!

Bikini Streak is Over.

Summers used to be defined as the time in my life where bikinis were worn more than underwear. (Note: this is not due to a laundry problem, but simply because I was always at the beach/on the boat) Now summers are defined by a time where I have the weekends to try and get some sun and the week days are filled with me trying to figure out how to dress myself where I won't die walking to work and yet won't get told my skirts are too short.

Well this holiday weekend, I got to return to the good old days. My days were spent with me waking up and immediately putting on a suit and only changing into "regular" clothing when it was time for dinner and evening activities.

Bathing suits are just so comfortable. They sit right on your body, don't move or relocate and they fit so well. It is like second skin. There were times during the last month where I just wanted to wear one under my work clothing to boost my mood, but given that the average temp was in the 50s (or so it felt) it just seemed like a silly idea. Actually, now that I think about it. Maybe I should wear a bathing suit tomorrow. I kind of got a little sunburned this weekend - little awkward ones here and there, nothing really of concern - but my suit might be a little more comfortable than underwear was today...

Did the Cape people throw in the towel?

I drove down to RI this weekend for the holiday festivities. Instead of driving down Thursday night, I opted to go Friday morning. There were a few reasons that motivated me to this:

• night construction the week before had been abysmal - 93 was reduced to ONE lane MULTIPLE TIMES
  
• I didn't want to get caught in any biblical flood rains at night as the ride back the previous week got me caught in rain so bad that water came inside my car via the space down by the gas petals - so unpleasant
  
• I wanted to find my jello shots a purpose as kickball had been canceled and they just don't keep for a week

So driving down Friday morning became my plan. I mentally prepared myself for a miserable morning commute to Gansett. Getting out past Dorchester is always a pain and the Cape exit is always even worse. But strangely enough, the ride was a breeze. The only issue I ran into were these two random cars that decided to go 50 and 55 miles an hour in the middle two lanes and kept slightly changing their speeds making it really hard for me to scoot around. It was almost like they too couldn't believe that we could really make a break for RI.

I don't want to jinx my ability to get home on the weekends for the beach in the future, but I gotta wonder, did nobody go to the Cape? I mean it was Fourth of July weekend, I hit more traffic on a random Friday night in the winter leaving Boston...

Well thanks everyone who chose not to drive Friday morning. You made my life super easy!

Is that you Summer? It's me

VS

Today is July 1st. I am wearing a sweatshirt. I have worn a bathing suit once. Been to the beach once. Subsequently, got sunburned once. And ridden on the boat in the Narragansett Bay, you guessed it, once.

WHERE IS THE SUMMER????

WHERE IS THE SUN????

I know that everyone else has been asking the same things, but I am really beginning to feel that the summer is just never going to come. I was trying to figure out of these biblical flood like rain storms have become the new Boston summer. Last year we had out of no where lightening storms. But at least it was generally warm out. Now it just cold, damp and gray.

All I am saying is that I deserve a bit better. I would really REALLY REALLY like to wear some of my summer dresses. Please mother nature. Give a sista a break.

Windows Stayed Fresh

FROM TO
I wish this was my window/view*

With the forecast of consecutive days of 80 degree weather, to be followed by days in the 70s and 60s, we chose to finally take the saran wrap off the windows earlier this week! It felt great peeling away the plastic wrap and taking off the foam sealant --- almost as if I was finally giving the outdoors permission to come inside.

We now have a steady stream of fresh air blowing through our bedrooms/kitchen/livingroom. It is kind of amazing... Having new air circulating really can make an apartment feel like a classier joint. Yesterday, we were reminded how cool our apartment likes to stay. In the winter our place is kind of like an icebox, or so I am told by my roommates, as I apparently do not have cold receptors. In the summer, it does not switch to get hot, it actually stays pretty cool and comfortable. For example, yesterday our indoor/outdoor thermometer that we keep in the kitchen told us that it was 87 degrees outside and 71 degrees inside. That is a major difference!

Spring is finally here, and summer is just around the corner. I can't wait to get to the beach!!!

*For the record I stare out my bedroom window and look at the side of the apartment that is next to me.