Pre-vacation meanderings.
Warning: ahead is more information about my upcoming vacation than you probably want to know. Read at own risk. Isn't that what LJ is for: to list the minutia of one's life??
I am in my pre-vacation slump. On the countdown now...22 days to the annual Griswold Family Vacation! I really shouldn't be in a slump already but it's summer, the weather outside is nice (when it isn't constantly raining) and I really don't want to be in my windowless office. Plus, I'm really pretty exhausted and am actually very much looking forward to a week of vegetation.
This vacation is the annual event with C's family. When C's now-divorced sister first married her ex 24 years ago, she started going with him on his family's annual week at the beach. Over the course of the years, C's parents, and occasionally C and I, would be included in this week - sometimes there would be an available room or two in the house they would rent. Three years ago, C's mother decided we should rent our own house and now this has become the annual "thing". This year, in our house will be C's parents; C's brother, wife and 5-month-old; C's currently single sister; and C and I. Missing this year will be C's other brother, wife and 5 and 7 year olds. We continue to go to the beach the same week as my SIL's ex-in-laws because my SIL's kids continue to go with that group. My SIL has a good relationship with the exes, as do we, so it continues to be a congenial, extended, modern, American, family relationship. The houses we rent are just a couple blocks away from each other and we all hang out on the beach together and go out at night together. Good, yes?
We go to Sea Isle City, New Jersey. When most people envision the Jersey Shore, they probably think of either Atlantic City, Wildwood or Cape May. But in between those are a whole bunch of little shore towns on and along the coastal islands and inlets of the southern coast of New Jersey. Sea Isle used to have charming little beach bungalows and Victorian-style larger houses. However, over the course of the years, original landowners of Sea Isle sold their charming little bungalows and the postage stamp of land they sat upon to developers. The developers ripped down the bungalows and built looming 3 and 4 story things that would sleep 20 people and sold them to in-landers who live in them one week a year and rent them to vacationers like us the rest of the year. Here and there in Sea Isle you still see a bungalow or older Victorian but there aren't many left.
But Sea Isle does maintain some charm. The main square still has a lot of little shops. Sea Isle has a "promenade" rather than a boardwalk, that also has a lot of little shops. The town has a few restaurants and night clubs and some ice cream stands. The beach is wide and reasonably clean. So, all in all, for what it is, it's an enjoyable place to visit.
The general M.O. for the week: we leave at O-dark-30 on Saturday morning. It's a little less than 4 hours drive to get down there. We all meet at Carmen's for breakfast the first morning. Carmen's is a seafood restaurant but they also have a darn good breakfast menu. The servers at Carmen's wear t-shirts sporting slogans such as: "35 years and Carmen's still has crabs!" or "Morning, noon and night, Carmen's has crabs" I'm always amused anyway. We can't get into our house until 2:00pm so after breakfast, we either hit the beach or the promenade and find something to do until we can get into the house. Once we get into the house, it's a flurry of unloading and unpacking, accompianied by a beer or two. See, we always bring the beer in coolers already on ice so that once we get in the house and the vacation officially begins, we can immediately start drinking.
Then we go for ice! Because...we need more ice. This is also a tradition! There are only two places in Sea Isle where one may purchase bagged ice. One is the little grocery store. The other is Kix. Kix is a bar. Duh. We obviously go to Kix for our ice. It usually takes us about 2 hours to get ice. Because we need to drink several beers to gain the strength to carry all that ice. Then it's back to the house for some dinner. Then I usually pass out for the rest of the night. I'm so lame.
The rest of the week is pretty much this: get up at some point in the morning, eat, hit the beach, go back to the house, eat, drink, back to the beach, back to the house, eat, drink, some nights go out, some nights stay in and watch movies or play games. Repeat next day. At least one evening we hit Stone Harbor which is another beach town a few miles south of Sea Isle. Stone Harbor has a movie theater and some higher-end shops. It's something to do. It's just basically a week of decompressing and doing nothing of any importance. I'm usually good for getting at least 3 smutty, explicit sex-scene, romance novels read. Hey, they're educational!
Four of the seven nights we'll cook in. Each woman (Of course. We aren't in the 21st century yet when it comes to cooking in our family! And it's probably better that way.) takes a turn making a meal. The other nights it's Chinese, pizza or go out for dinner. Thursday or Friday night it's usually "clean up the leftovers" night. For my meal this year, I'm planning to grill some pork loins, roast some red potatoes and make a spinach salad.
Then Saturday morning we pack up, clean up and head home to unpack and do laundry. And it's all over and back to work and reality. Sigh.
All in all, it's a pretty enjoyable week. I'm looking forward to it more than usual this year because, and I know I should feel bad about this but I don't, C's bro with the 5 and 7 year olds won't be with us. This brother is in the Army and just got transferred to Texas. His kids are...discontented. That's the only term I can think of. They are never, never, never "happy". One of them is always whining, screaming, or crying about something. It's tiresome. They've been like this since birth. They are incapable of entertaining themselves and unless someone is paying attention to them, they are being naughty in order to gain attention. Gaaah!! So, I'm really looking forward to a more peaceful week. I'm not too concerned about the other brother's 5-month-old. She is a very sweet, quiet, happy baby.
So, I'm really having a tough time concentrating at work. I'm not really overwhelmed with a lot of projects right now. I do have to get to work on updating my audit system but I'm procrasinating. I also have to do a personnel file purge but that means filing and organizing and....blech! I'll eventually find something productive to do.
C's work is leveling out a bit. They've gotten most of the bugs worked out of the new production line and are actually getting a lot of orders for the product!! Excitement!!
Sweetie's been swamped again. Poor guy. He really needs more staff but just doesn't have quite enough business to justify another person, but that means he and his current staff are all overworked. Sucks.
I think I'll go get a pedicure tonight. This past Saturday, we had a going-away picnic for the Army brother and while we were setting up, I smacked my left big toe on a shelf in the garage (yes, I was wearing flip flops, shut it). Almost half the toenail broke off :( Fortunately, it's not really painful but now it's ugly. So, I must go see if it can be helped. Go ahead - call me self-indulgent.
Okay now, off you go Nan, get productive, accomplish...here I go, yup, indeed, gonna get serious now. Yup. =P
I am in my pre-vacation slump. On the countdown now...22 days to the annual Griswold Family Vacation! I really shouldn't be in a slump already but it's summer, the weather outside is nice (when it isn't constantly raining) and I really don't want to be in my windowless office. Plus, I'm really pretty exhausted and am actually very much looking forward to a week of vegetation.
This vacation is the annual event with C's family. When C's now-divorced sister first married her ex 24 years ago, she started going with him on his family's annual week at the beach. Over the course of the years, C's parents, and occasionally C and I, would be included in this week - sometimes there would be an available room or two in the house they would rent. Three years ago, C's mother decided we should rent our own house and now this has become the annual "thing". This year, in our house will be C's parents; C's brother, wife and 5-month-old; C's currently single sister; and C and I. Missing this year will be C's other brother, wife and 5 and 7 year olds. We continue to go to the beach the same week as my SIL's ex-in-laws because my SIL's kids continue to go with that group. My SIL has a good relationship with the exes, as do we, so it continues to be a congenial, extended, modern, American, family relationship. The houses we rent are just a couple blocks away from each other and we all hang out on the beach together and go out at night together. Good, yes?
We go to Sea Isle City, New Jersey. When most people envision the Jersey Shore, they probably think of either Atlantic City, Wildwood or Cape May. But in between those are a whole bunch of little shore towns on and along the coastal islands and inlets of the southern coast of New Jersey. Sea Isle used to have charming little beach bungalows and Victorian-style larger houses. However, over the course of the years, original landowners of Sea Isle sold their charming little bungalows and the postage stamp of land they sat upon to developers. The developers ripped down the bungalows and built looming 3 and 4 story things that would sleep 20 people and sold them to in-landers who live in them one week a year and rent them to vacationers like us the rest of the year. Here and there in Sea Isle you still see a bungalow or older Victorian but there aren't many left.
But Sea Isle does maintain some charm. The main square still has a lot of little shops. Sea Isle has a "promenade" rather than a boardwalk, that also has a lot of little shops. The town has a few restaurants and night clubs and some ice cream stands. The beach is wide and reasonably clean. So, all in all, for what it is, it's an enjoyable place to visit.
The general M.O. for the week: we leave at O-dark-30 on Saturday morning. It's a little less than 4 hours drive to get down there. We all meet at Carmen's for breakfast the first morning. Carmen's is a seafood restaurant but they also have a darn good breakfast menu. The servers at Carmen's wear t-shirts sporting slogans such as: "35 years and Carmen's still has crabs!" or "Morning, noon and night, Carmen's has crabs" I'm always amused anyway. We can't get into our house until 2:00pm so after breakfast, we either hit the beach or the promenade and find something to do until we can get into the house. Once we get into the house, it's a flurry of unloading and unpacking, accompianied by a beer or two. See, we always bring the beer in coolers already on ice so that once we get in the house and the vacation officially begins, we can immediately start drinking.
Then we go for ice! Because...we need more ice. This is also a tradition! There are only two places in Sea Isle where one may purchase bagged ice. One is the little grocery store. The other is Kix. Kix is a bar. Duh. We obviously go to Kix for our ice. It usually takes us about 2 hours to get ice. Because we need to drink several beers to gain the strength to carry all that ice. Then it's back to the house for some dinner. Then I usually pass out for the rest of the night. I'm so lame.
The rest of the week is pretty much this: get up at some point in the morning, eat, hit the beach, go back to the house, eat, drink, back to the beach, back to the house, eat, drink, some nights go out, some nights stay in and watch movies or play games. Repeat next day. At least one evening we hit Stone Harbor which is another beach town a few miles south of Sea Isle. Stone Harbor has a movie theater and some higher-end shops. It's something to do. It's just basically a week of decompressing and doing nothing of any importance. I'm usually good for getting at least 3 smutty, explicit sex-scene, romance novels read. Hey, they're educational!
Four of the seven nights we'll cook in. Each woman (Of course. We aren't in the 21st century yet when it comes to cooking in our family! And it's probably better that way.) takes a turn making a meal. The other nights it's Chinese, pizza or go out for dinner. Thursday or Friday night it's usually "clean up the leftovers" night. For my meal this year, I'm planning to grill some pork loins, roast some red potatoes and make a spinach salad.
Then Saturday morning we pack up, clean up and head home to unpack and do laundry. And it's all over and back to work and reality. Sigh.
All in all, it's a pretty enjoyable week. I'm looking forward to it more than usual this year because, and I know I should feel bad about this but I don't, C's bro with the 5 and 7 year olds won't be with us. This brother is in the Army and just got transferred to Texas. His kids are...discontented. That's the only term I can think of. They are never, never, never "happy". One of them is always whining, screaming, or crying about something. It's tiresome. They've been like this since birth. They are incapable of entertaining themselves and unless someone is paying attention to them, they are being naughty in order to gain attention. Gaaah!! So, I'm really looking forward to a more peaceful week. I'm not too concerned about the other brother's 5-month-old. She is a very sweet, quiet, happy baby.
So, I'm really having a tough time concentrating at work. I'm not really overwhelmed with a lot of projects right now. I do have to get to work on updating my audit system but I'm procrasinating. I also have to do a personnel file purge but that means filing and organizing and....blech! I'll eventually find something productive to do.
C's work is leveling out a bit. They've gotten most of the bugs worked out of the new production line and are actually getting a lot of orders for the product!! Excitement!!
Sweetie's been swamped again. Poor guy. He really needs more staff but just doesn't have quite enough business to justify another person, but that means he and his current staff are all overworked. Sucks.
I think I'll go get a pedicure tonight. This past Saturday, we had a going-away picnic for the Army brother and while we were setting up, I smacked my left big toe on a shelf in the garage (yes, I was wearing flip flops, shut it). Almost half the toenail broke off :( Fortunately, it's not really painful but now it's ugly. So, I must go see if it can be helped. Go ahead - call me self-indulgent.
Okay now, off you go Nan, get productive, accomplish...here I go, yup, indeed, gonna get serious now. Yup. =P