GO AMERICA! WOOOOO!

As I'm sure many of you are, I'm getting ready for a relaxing Memorial Day Weekend. My little brother is graduating from high school (Go Brad!), the pool is calling my name, and Boyfriend and I might play a little golf (which is actually means he'll play golf, and I'll expand on the pool lounging as previously mentioned).

So, yes, rainbows and puppies all around. Memorial Day Weekend is fulfilling my dreams already.

(Image from a site who's URL is not made up of very nice words, ironically, so I'll just link it here.)

That being said, one of my biggest pet peeves is when people gorge themselves on hot dogs and brownies in the name of something they don't know or understand. Memorial Day sometimes falls under this category, and in that spirit...

A BRIEF (AND SASSY) HISTORY LESSON:
Created soon after the American Civil War, Memorial Day (nee Decoration Day, which I slightly prefer because it reminds me of streamers) is a federal holiday that was created to honor those who have given their lives in service as members of the U.S. Military. Another fun fact, you ask? The first Memorial Day, according to Yale Professor David Blight, was celebrated by formerly enslaved African Americans at Washington Race Course in South Carolina. According to Wikipedia, "The race course had been used as a temporary Confederate prison camp for captured Union soldiers in 1865, as well as a mass grave for Union soldiers who died there. Immediately after the cessation of hostilities, formerly enslaved people exhumed the bodies from the mass grave and interred them properly with individual graves. They built a fence around the graveyard with an entry arch and declared it a Union graveyard. The work was completed in only ten days. On May 1, 1865, the Charleston newspaper reported that a crowd of up to ten thousand, mainly black residents, including 2800 children, proceeded to the location for included sermons, singing, and a picnic on the grounds, thereby creating the first Decoration Day."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

There.

Now you know.





p.s. Can we talk about how ridiculous that rainbow and puppy picture is?

J'adore Cape Cod.

I love Cape Cod. I love it in ways that are normally reserved for children, spouses, and really excellent jewelry. I love it with my whole being, my entire core. I love. love. love. the cape.

When the weather starts getting nicer (anywhere above 60 degrees, really), my mind starts wandering down 6A and towards the beach. Today's temperatures will allegedly reach the high seventies, and so my brain is firmly planted in Harwichport.

I think the reason I love the cape so much has less to do with its geographical location, and more to do with what I do there. Which is to practice my lounging and lolling about.

Have you ever lolled? Southern and I are big fans of the Sweet Potato Queens, and they introduced me to the concept. Lolling about is a combination of lying around, drinking cool beverages, and convincing people to amuse you while you recline on some sort of cushioned surface. It's my activity of choice.

Tanning while lolling is an excellent way to spend the day. Add a book (perhaps a Red Dress Novel?) and you've created the single most perfect situation in existence.

There are only a few short days left in May, and then June (and lolling, and cape season) is upon us. I'm ready. Are you?

About Me...?

On second though, an "about me" post is sort of the same thing as your first diary entry that told the blank pages that you have a brother and a crush on Johnny from the boy's school. It was cringe-worthy then, and that was before I knew better.

So let's just go right into something, shall we?

Bathing suit season.

Last year, I randomly and uncharacteristically found the.perfect.suit. at J.Crew a few weekends before the first trip to the Cape. I wore that thing to death, which means this year I have to find something new. Of course, the Crew's too cool and with it to carry the same suit I had, so we're starting on page one.

I actually ordered eight individual tops and bottoms from another company this weekend, hoping to recreate the magic. They all came this afternoon. Did I find a suitable replacement?

NO.

EIGHT SUITS. And all of them made me look too wide, too thin, lanky, and stubby, all at the same time. Distressing.

Any ideas, blogosphere? I hear Spanx is making suits these days... although I'm not sure if that would allow me the same amount of breathing room as the good old bikini does for eating snacks by the ocean. Something to think about in the next month or so.

P.S. Southern B thinks we need sign offs. I can only think of Jerry Springer's "Take care of yourself, and each other." Not the image I'm going for.