Beach baby with a pillow

Yesterday the weather was absolutely beautiful! It was the kind of weather that screamed, "GO TO THE BEACH!" Apparently I was the only one who heard it because when I suggested that we all hop into the truck and head to the beach, my family looked at me as if I had just suggested we dance naked on hot coals. They wanted to go to the skate park.

My husband, sensing my disappointment, suggested that I go to the beach alone. Oh, I could not possibly do that.

Shyeah, right!

Fifteen minutes later I was sitting in the truck with my little bag and cooler. In my bag was my phone, money, new book Blue Like Jazz, baseball hat and towel. In my cooler was water bottles and a few snacky type things. In total it weighed about 6 pounds. What a far cry from when I go with the boys and I end up carrying half my body weight in beach paraphernalia. I forgot how easy it is to get just myself out of the house.

When I arrived at the beach I meandered around on the sand a bit, searching for the perfect isolated spot. I plopped myself on a deserted patch of beach and lay baking in the sun. After about an hour and a half I decided to take a walk around the lovely beach town of Ocean Grove. It was so nice to just walk in silence and take in the sights and sounds of a lazy holiday afternoon.

I went into a store called Cottage Home Interiors, and I wanted to buy one of everything in the store. I wept silently as I turned over price tags. I could make (and have made) the majority of the items in the store for a fraction of the cost that they were being sold for. I spotted a lovely lamp that I plan on reproducing. I decided against taking pictures of the lamp with my camera phone. Tacky.

I headed back to the beach. When I arrived back at my spot, I saw that it was no longer isolated, or quiet. A large group of people with an even larger group of children had convened right next to me. I thought about it for 3 seconds and then I picked up my stuff and moved. I don't feel badly about this choice either. Moments of absolute peace and quiet are so far and few between that I was not chancing this one. I moved right next to a group of senior citizens. I knew that they would not be throwing sand or whining that Hunter took the shovel that they were using. I realize this revelation probably makes me sound like a curmudgeon, but the loudest that it got over with the seniors was when Marge screamed to Harry to stop fumbling with the umbrella, just sit down and read your magazine for pete's sake!

It was bliss.

Also this weekend I also recovered a bolster pillow that I bought it at a garage sale for a dollar. The bolster pillow forms cost more than that. I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use the pillow and I found it in my newly recovered chair.

Pillow before:


Pillow after:


Lovely. (Just don't turn it over. I am still working on the finish details.)