Sometimes I Babysit At The Beach

I've been babysitting for close to 10 years now. I enjoy the job because I find playing with kids to be fun! There's a lot you can do with them and most of the time, it does not feel like work. I'm so lucky that I found a great family to babysit for out here, although, with them we don't call it babysitting. The girls are older, 11 and 9, and don't need a babysitter as much as a play pal and chauffeur, so we call it hanging out. Living and babysitting in a beach town has many perks and yesterday we took advantage of them!

I picked the girls up at their house to take them to breakfast at this cute little bakery on the main road in Westport. I had a delicious fruit cup and the girls got croissants, almond and chocolate. We sat at a table outside for a while and then decided it was time to go to the beach.

We set up camp near the water, covered ourselves in sun screen, and got into the water as quickly as possible. It was freezing, but the girls were brave and ducked their heads under right away and I'd been wanting to get into that salt water for a while now. We played in the water for a good chunk of time and the girls practiced their swimming before we headed back to the towels, laid in the sun, and ate our way through half a bag of baby carrots.

One of my favorite parts of this job is that the girls are so chatty and mature so we can hold long, adult conversations and I really enjoy that. They're smart girls with good, kind, and attentive parents and you can really tell how well they are being raised.

The girls got hungry after a while so we walked to the other end of the beach to the little food place that's there. It is crazy expensive, especially for beach food, but since it's the only place to buy food at the beach, they can charge whatever they want and people will buy it! The girls got fries, ate some, and decided it was time to hit the water again.

We walked all the way down the length of the beach where there were hardly any people because the tide was out and the girls could walk out far and the water was still really shallow and warm. I was on left-over french fry duty, carrying them and protecting them from seagulls. The girls walked through the water all the way back to the other end, where our towels were, and I walked along the shore line, waving at them and watching them have a blast!

I didn't even sneak one fry! We stayed at the beach as long as we could but had to be home in time for their next babysitter to take over watching them. I have so much fun with these girls and I'm glad it's my summer job for the next few weeks until school starts. The back seat of my car is now filled with sand but that's what summer is about!

Weekend Recap

This weekend was busier than most and that has left me with no scheduled posts for this week! But no worries. This way I'll be certain to write a bit each day. Plus, the weekend was well worth it!

On Thursday evening, AJ and I headed to the facility where our reception will be held to do a tasting for the menu. We tried a huge variety of hors d'oeuvres, a pasta dish, some appetizers, three entrees, a few wines, and we ended the meal with some desserts and espressos. The food was so delicious and we went a little crazy—our waiter and the general manager kept saying, "You guys are good eaters." You put good Italian food in front of us, it will be eaten. Sorry! Anyway, we both feel confident that if everything else at our wedding goes wrong, at least the food will leave everyone full and happy.

Friday I spent the holiday with AJ and our cousins having a cook out. It was fun, a little messy and rainy, but it was the exact way I like to spend the holidays, with family.

Saturday morning, AJ and I drove to New Canaan and picked up lunch and iced coffees for ourselves and my grandmother, a thank you for watching my little dog over night. We had lunch at my grandmother's house, stole some of her fresh figs, and brought my dog, Tessi, back home. We watched a little soccer before heading to 4 o' clock mass and then came back home where AJ studied a bit and then we watched Dateline, our typical weekend night!

Sunday was a relaxing day. I had a nice, long workout on the treadmill while watching trashy TV because that's the only way to do cardio. In the evening, my mom, my godmother, AJ, and myself picked up salads and drove to the beach and ate dinner and drank wine while sitting in the sand. The waves were pretty big for the Long Island Sound because of the weekend storms and the beach was packed with people who were still enjoying the end of the holiday weekend. Having dinner at the beach is such a treat! It really makes it feel like summer and I'm going to try to keep doing it as often as possible before this beautiful season starts to fade.

Like I said, this week I'm a bit on the thin side for posts but make sure to check back! I have some posts about author interviews planned!

Happy Monday, all!

Keeping Up

No, not with the Kardashians. With myself. I'm really proud of the writing I did in June. I love looking at the listed archives and seeing my number of posts grow each day. I love that I greatly increased the number of posts I published from May to June. The number almost doubled and I'm so proud of that!

That's why I don't want to fall back in July. I want to keep up with June. It reminds me of being college. If I made Dean's List one semester, I felt that I had to make it the following semester and so on because if I didn't, it would mean that I had slacked or failed from past performances. It's not necessarily sane, but it's motivating!

So, that's my goal. To write more than the 27 posts I wrote last month while still keeping up the quality of the content. I imagine that this goal will stick as I continue this blogging journey.

What about you? Do you have any goals—blogging or otherwise—for July? I hope your July is off to a great start!

A Wedding and Breakfast

June is off to a great start! I spent the last day of May with AJ, celebrating the marriage of our friends, Tyler and Melissa. It was a beautiful wedding and a beautiful day.

We danced and shared a delicious meal with their family and friends. It was touching to see such a loving and devoted couple to be surrounded by all of their loved ones. You could truly see how happy everyone is for them and how supportive and hopeful everyone is for their marriage.

They are a lovely couple who have a blessed future ahead of them! We were so fortunate to be able to share the day with them.

The wedding reception was over by 9 (the happy couple had to be up at 3 am for their honeymoon flight!) so AJ and I went to bed early to rise early on June 1st.

We went to 7:30 mass in the morning at a church in Saugatuck that overlooks the water. After church we swung by Dunkin Donuts. I got a bagel with strawberry cream cheese and an iced French Vanilla coffee—black. AJ got a Coolatta and chicken salad on a croissant. The man loves chicken salad.

I love spending time on the beach, it's such a luxury to have the shore and the Long Island Sound just a five minute drive away. It was before 9 o' clock when we got there so it was still quiet.

We ate and talked about the wedding the night before and about our upcoming wedding. It was a wonderful way to start the day and a great way to start June.

It was an ideal example of what I talked about in yesterday's post. If this morning was any inclination of what June and the rest of the summer holds, I can't wait.