Just because

Sunglasses

I have a thing for sunglasses.  I haven't counted lately but I'd guess I have 40 pairs.

Not expensive, designer sunglasses.  Quite the opposite actually. Most of my sunglasses were under $10.  The most expensive pair was $20.  

I buy them anywhere and everywhere.  From a beach vendor in Puerto Vallarta, at the Walmart in Palm Springs, from online vendors, and occasionally even from the Dollar Tree.

I don't need my sunglasses to be "high quality" or to last forever, because I have so many and am always looking for new ones, its OK with me if they aren't heirloom quality. 

This is a rather goofy photo of me, but shows another cool pair of sunglasses.  These were also purchased online from Zulily during a clearance sale.

Friends

Would you believe I found this on the kitchen island at my friends' house?

Would you believe that I actually arrived these items in this fashion?

Do I have perverted friends or is it me???

You be the judge!

Beardy boy

Sunglasses

I have a thing for sunglasses.  I haven't counted lately but I'd guess I have 40 pairs.

Not expensive, designer sunglasses.  Quite the opposite actually. Most of my sunglasses were under $10.  The most expensive pair was $20.  

I buy them anywhere and everywhere.  From a beach vendor in Puerto Vallarta, at the Walmart in Palm Springs, from online vendors, and occasionally even from the Dollar Tree.

I don't need my sunglasses to be "high quality" or to last forever, because I have so many and am always looking for new ones, its OK with me if they aren't heirloom quality. 

These were purchased online from Zulily during a clearance sale for $5 or $6.  I love them because their angular lines and hombre colorization.

Just because

Labor Day weekend update

We had a fab weekend with Bugs & Roger.  Sat evening we walked to a waterfront restaurant and had cocktails and terrific seafood for dinner.  The weather was perfect for dining al fresco, and we had a sassy waitress that made our experience even more fun.

L to R:  Me, Spouse, Bugsy, and Roger

My delicious cosmo

Sun we had enchilada casserole for dinner and birthday cake (Spouse made both) on the screened porch for Thad's birthday.  I didn't take any photos.

Bugsy & Roger left before lunch, so Spouse & I grabbed sandwiches from Subway and went to the beach.

Holiday weekend

Its the Fri before a holiday weekend.  We're tidying up and preparing for a visit from our good friends Bugsy & Roger who arrive tomorrow.  The weather forecast is great so I anticipate lots of morning coffee and afternoon cocktails on the screened porch along with great conversations and laughter.

We'll also be hosting a small birthday dinner for our friend Thad on Sun.

It should be a fun weekend! 

What are YOU doing this holiday weekend?

Beardy boy

Pain

Just because

Sunglasses

I have a thing for sunglasses.  I haven't counted lately but I'd guess I have 40 pairs.

Not expensive, designer sunglasses.  Quite the opposite actually. Most of my sunglasses were under $10.  The most expensive pair was $20.  

I buy them anywhere and everywhere.  From a beach vendor in Puerto Vallarta, at the Walmart in Palm Springs, from online vendors, and occasionally even from the Dollar Tree.

I don't need my sunglasses to be "high quality" or to last forever, because I have so many and am always looking for new ones, its OK with me if they aren't heirloom quality. 

This pair is a classic aviator with standard grey lenses.  I'm not certain but I believe these were purchased at a convenience store when I went inside to use the free ATM!

Friday

What are YOUR weekend plans??

Beardy boy

I do know...

Just because

Sunglasses

I have a thing for sunglasses.  I haven't counted lately but I'd guess I have 40 pairs.

Not expensive, designer sunglasses.  Quite the opposite actually. Most of my sunglasses were under $10.  The most expensive pair was $20.  

I buy them anywhere and everywhere.  From a beach vendor in Puerto Vallarta, at the Walmart in Palm Springs, from online vendors, and occasionally even from the Dollar Tree.

I don't need my sunglasses to be "high quality" or to last forever, because I have so many and am always looking for new ones, its OK with me if they aren't heirloom quality. 

This pair came from a rather unlikely source: a local hardware store!  Spouse & I were getting some keys copied and near the register we saw a sunglasses rack.  Believe it or not, these are heavy plastic and should last a good while, but were only $3.99.  What a bargain!  I love the clear frames.

 

Pizza?

Beardy boy

Family visit

Recently we had a short but nice visit from several of our family members from the DC area.

Spouse's sister, brother-in-law, their 2 sons, their daughter, son-in-law, and their 3 children all came for a couple days at the beach.  (In case you're doing the math, that was 6 adults and 3 children under the age of 5.)

In addition to lots of beach time, they also went to the boardwalk for games and unhealthy but tasty food. The joke around the house was that they couldn't go more than 45 minutes without a meal or substantial snack, so there were a couple trips to the grocery store, delivery food, and restaurant visits.  While I was at work during most of that, I think I gained weight just hearing about all the food they ordered/bought/made/consumed.

Unfortunately I didn't take many photos at all (I was not with them at the beach) but I did get these 2 cute ones.

Our nephew David and Marvin making himself King of the Pillows

Me and my boys

 It was a very nice visit and we all had a good time!

Just because

Sunglasses

I have a thing for sunglasses.  I haven't counted lately but I'd guess I have 40 pairs.

Not expensive, designer sunglasses.  Quite the opposite actually. Most of my sunglasses were under $10.  The most expensive pair was $20.  

I buy them anywhere and everywhere.  From a beach vendor in Puerto Vallarta, at the Walmart in Palm Springs, from online vendors, and occasionally even from the Dollar Tree.

I don't need my sunglasses to be "high quality" or to last forever, because I have so many and am always looking for new ones, its OK with me if they aren't heirloom quality.  

Although you can't see it in this photo, in the upper corner there's a "Dior" insignia.  But they caught my eye due to their interesting shape.  I bought them from a beach vendor in Puerto Vallarta this past January and they're the most expensive sunglasses I've purchased at $20.  I got many compliments on them when I wore them around PV and at home.

Selling real estate

I'm a realtor so I get the pleasure of helping people buy and sell homes.  Its a lot more work than most people think.  In addition to what they see on HGTV's House Hunters where the realtor shows them 3 houses and they buy one, we often show people a lot more than 3, and some don't buy.  And for those that do buy, as their agent I must also coordinate their inspections, help them resolve inspection issues, provide the appraiser with comparable properties, facilitate the transfer of the utilities, and ensure the attorney handling the closing has all the necessary documentation for the contract and addenda.

Occasionally I'll get a call from someone from another state that's not familiar with our market here.  The joke around the office is that they always want 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and to be walking distance to the beach for no more than $200K.  Those people make me want to say this:

Beardy boy

Scenary

This passed weekend we were at the beach and I just couldn't resist taking 'stealth' photos of the hot guys beautiful scenery we saw.  It was a particularly 'good' day for it!

 

Just because

Sunglasses

I have a thing for sunglasses.  I haven't counted lately but I'd guess I have 40 pairs.

Not expensive, designer sunglasses.  Quite the opposite actually. Most of my sunglasses were under $10.  The most expensive pair was $20.  

I buy them anywhere and everywhere.  From a beach vendor in Puerto Vallarta, at the Walmart in Palm Springs, from online vendors, and occasionally even from the Dollar Tree.

I don't need my sunglasses to be "high quality" or to last forever, because I have so many and am always looking for new ones, its OK with me if they aren't heirloom quality.  

These are blue mirrored aviators, a classic shape updated by the blue mirror.  I bought these at Walmart for $5.

Friday night reward

This evening we had dinner with our buddies Steven & Thad at El Azteca.  I've heard it said that its important in life to acknowledge and celebrate life's little victories, so to reward ourselves for making it through another work week a few of us had delicious frozen margaritas.  YUM!!!

iPhone 8 Plus 'Portrait' mode

Beardy boy

Shady

True!!!

Just because

Sunglasses

I have a thing for sunglasses.  I haven't counted lately but I'd guess I have 40 pairs.

Not expensive, designer sunglasses.  Quite the opposite actually. Most of my sunglasses were under $10.  The most expensive pair was $20.  

I buy them anywhere and everywhere.  From a beach vendor in Puerto Vallarta, at the Walmart in Palm Springs, from online vendors, and occasionally even from the Dollar Tree.

I don't need my sunglasses to be "high quality" or to last forever, because I have so many and am always looking for new ones, its OK with me if they aren't heirloom quality.  

Here's a pair I bought online from Zulily a couple years ago.  They had a clearance sale and I believe I paid $5 or $6 for these.  I think they're really cool and haven't seen anyone else with sunglasses like these.

But do these sunglasses make my nose look big??

Weekend

Its Friday night... welcome to the weekend!

Beardy boy

Love

Word!!

Just because

Happy birthday!!

Saturday was Spouse's birthday!  And Walter's birthday!

This year I planned a very social weekend away for Spouse's birthday but kept all the details a secret.  I told him to simply pack casual clothes and don't try to figure everything out.

So Sat morning we drove to the DC area where we used to live and arrived just in time for lunch at the Taco House with our friends Jeff, Shaun, Brandon and David.  Spouse was happily surprised to see them, and of course equally happy to eat at our longtime favorite Mexican restaurant.  I'd emailed in advance to be sure the owners (who are also friends) Juan & Gloria would be there, so we had a nice reunion with them too.  Unfortunately I took no photos.

Next we drove over to have a short visit with our good friends Bugsy & Roger.  It had been about a year since we'd seen them at our house so we enjoyed a nice, relaxing visit at their home.  Again I took no photos.

Then we drove several miles south to the area where I grew up, but that has changed quite a bit.  Spouse knows that our friend Carl lives there so he guessed we were either going to Carl's house or meeting him somewhere for dinner.  But instead, we arrived at a hotel and checked in.  After a few minutes of relaxing and changing our clothes, we went to a hip bar/restaurant nearby.  Waiting for us to arrive was Carl, Kerry & Hugh, Kelly, Kim, Justine & Liz, Harriet & Bob, Ana & Jose, Javier, and Emily & Brandon!  This time I managed to take a few photos but they're pretty bad.  

L-R: Kelly, Javier, Harriet, Bob, Jose, Ana, Hugh, Kerry

L-R:  Carl, Kim

L-R: Kerry, Justine, Liz, me

The birthday boy

I didn't give people time to look at the camera or smile, I just snapped away.  As you can see from the table, alcohol was involved which likely contributed to the (non-)quality of the photos, but at least its better than no photos.

About 3 hours later everyone left except Kerry & Hugh and Carl, so the servers moved us to a smaller table where we ordered a couple desserts to share and continued visiting.  We had a lovely, lovely birthday dinner, as well as a fun day overall.  We got back to the hotel and crashed.

The next morning we showered, checked out, and headed back north to Spouse's sister's house.  Waiting for us there was his sister, her husband, her 2 sons, and Spouse's brother and his wife.  'The family' had a yummy brunch and visited for a couple hours before heading home to DE.

Spouse complimented me on the terrific birthday weekend and said it was probably his favorite ever.

Sharing Spouse's birthday, although completely overlooked this year, is Walter who turned 5 years old.  We adopted him in Sept but were told he was born on July 20, the same day as Spouse.  That is why Walter's middle name is the same as Spouse's first name.

Friday refreshment

This evening Spouse & I went to dinner with our buddies Steven & Thad at a waterfront restaurant and ate outdoors since the temperature cooled off.  The scenery was beautiful, but to be honest on a Fri evening after a long week, I was more interested in this scenery:

Beardy boy

Hot!!

OK, I know its July which is usually considered the middle of the summer and when we should expect hot weather.  But I was not prepared for THIS:

This is not one of those situations where my car was sitting on hot black pavement, causing the temperature to read artificially high.  Just the opposite!  My car was sitting on my concrete driveway. And as I drove past a bank with a digital thermometer display, it also read 100 degrees.

Living so close to the ocean our temperature here is moderated by the ocean water temperature.  Inland just a few miles it may be as much as 10 degrees hotter in the summer and 10 degrees cooler in the winter.

I won't even begin to talk about how hot it FELT due to the high humidity.

Let's hope this heatwave doesn't last!