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.  I'd seen someone wearing a pair in Puerto Vallarta but was unable to find them there, most likely because they were purchased elsewhere, so I ordered them from Amazon.  I think the blue/green all-over mirror finish coordinates nicely with my shirt.  Note: there is no frame/lens distinction.  

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 with mirrored lenses that sometimes look amber and sometimes look orange.  My orange shirt coordinates well with them I think.

 

Throw back

On Sun I opened up my photo storage boxes and looked through a bunch of old photos, looking for something specific.  During my search I found a couple of OLD photos of me that I thought would be fun to share.

This photo was taken 27 years ago, in the spring of 1992.  I was 28 years old.  I was on vacation visiting family, friends, and destinations in CA and one of my stops was Hollywood where my uncle and his wife lived.  I believe she took this photo of me standing next to the door at Gucci on Rodeo Dr in Beverly Hills.  The sunglasses in my hair had tortoise shell frames and I loved them.

Yes, I was significantly thinner.  And blonder.  I used to spray Sun In on my hair and then use a blow dryer to achieve this natural, sun-kissed blonde look.  Between the Jams shorts, mock neck shirt and beachy blonde hair, I was serving up Surfer Dude Realness, Huntee.  Believe it or not, this was BEFORE I came 'out'.

Fast forward 3 years and there's this:

This photo was taken 24 years ago in the spring of 1995.  I was 31 years old. I was on vacation in Key West FL with my boyfriend at the time and another couple.  I think we stayed at the Island House resort.  We were out to dinner (I don't remember where) when my boyfriend took this photo.  Again I have blonde, dramatic hair but at least I was 'out' by this time.

I think I'm going to find a few more old photos to share.  They're funny to look at, but they also conjur up good ol' memories.

Final vacation highlights

Fri was our final day in Puerto Vallarta.  We decided to go back to Coco's Kitchen for a late breakfast.

Spouse at Coco's Kitchen

In Mexico it is customary for servers to wait until you ask them for the check, which we kept forgetting to do, so our meals always included extra time relaxing.  Then we returned to Blue Chairs beach club for our final day at the beach.  It was a bit overcast with periods of sun poking through, but we didn't mind.  It was so relaxing to sit under the palapa and hear the waves, watch the men, and go in the ocean.  

After cleaning up at the condo we headed out for the evening.  This was our view that evening:

Spouse wore his new bear tank top which looked so cute on him!

Our 1st stop was Anonimo bar for a pre-dinner cocktail.  I'd read online that the bartenders were gorgeous there, which was not an exaggeration.

Bartender at Anonimo

And trust me when I say that as good-looking as he is in this photo, he was even MORE beautiful when he smiled.  While enjoying our cocktails we had a celebrity citing!

Me and Cher

Actually, her name is Thirsty Burlington and she was out promoting her Cher impersonation show.  

She was just as funny as Cher and sounded just like her!  We were sad that it was our last night in PV and that we wouldn't be able to go see her show.

Then we went to dinner at La Piazzetta for dinner.  The menu of Italian specialties was quite extensive and delicious.  The 3 of us shared 2 appetizers and then each of us had a wonderful, authentic Italian entree.  Then we walked onto the pier at Playa Los Muertos.  It was dark and I knew my photos wouldn't turn out, so I'm borrowing this one from PeterKTravels.com.

Then we returned to the condo to begin packing and tidying up, then we had some 'screen time' on the terrace before going to bed.

The next morning our property manager/driver (who was absolutely gorgeous) picked us up at 10am and took us to the airport.  Our flights to Chicago and DC were uneventful, and we were picked up by our nephew and taken back to Spouse's sister's house where we spent the night.  Sun morning Spouse's brother and his daughter came from MD to join us for breakfast before we headed home to see our boys.

We had a wonderful trip and I'd recommend Puerto Vallarta to anyone who enjoys a relaxed, LGBT-friendly beach environment.  The peso-to-dollar ratio is terrific.  We always felt safe.  The food was delicious.  The prices were very reasonable.  The locals were very nice and everyone speaks or understands English.  This was our 3rd visit to PV (and our 2nd Beef Dip) but certainly won't be the last.

Palm Springs wrap up

After the fabulous car show, we returned the rental car and went inside the airport to find our gate.  We got some snacks for the plane, then I went through many of my photos on my phone to kill time while we waited for boarding time.  Fortunately the flight wasn't full and the window seat next to me was empty, so I moved over to it, giving Spouse some much needed shoulder room.

I'm leaning over from the window seat and Spouse is in the isle seat

Our flights were fine and we were picked up by our nephew and taken back to Spouse's sister's house. We stayed overnight, then had a late breakfast with several family members before heading home to DE.  I was really eager to see Marvin & Walter!

It was a really fun trip!  Carl was a terrific traveling companion and was open to just about any suggestion or request we came up with.  We had lots of great food, saw lots of beautiful homes, cars, scenery, and reconnected with old friends.

Palm Springs: day 7, car show

After checking out of the house we went to a vintage car show which was part of the Moderism Fall Preview event schedule.  It was INCREDIBLE!!  There were so many beautiful cars, some I'd never seen in person before.  It was a little overwhelming!

Feast your eyes on all of this automotive glory...