So silly to get excited about outlet malls, we just had one open where we live but I’ve only been there once. It is really nice and it’s a great place to shop if you’re taking a ferry ride over and are looking to do something before heading back to Manhattan or home if you live in the island.

So last night Tommy, Samantha, Alyssa, my mom and me headed out to a really nice outdoor outlet mall about 40 minutes away. We drove through one of South Florida’s infamous rain storms and even got caught in one while shopping. Of course if you know me that isn’t a big enough deterrent to stop me from shopping. Ha! Some rain…bring it on!

Earlier in the week mom, Alyssa, Samantha and me went to a smaller outlet mall where Samantha scored clothes for school @ Nike and I resisted temptation at the Coach outlet and didn’t buy a bag. Amazing restraint I tell you. Amazing.  Fast forward to last night and all restraint was gone. I saw the Coach store and couldn’t help but go in to see if this store had the bag I was looking at. They did. I had to buy it! Had to. So I did. I crumbled. I have little to nothing that holds me back when it comes to bags. Now before anyone decides to get all better than thou; remember we all have our “thing(s)”that we either spend our money on our time on.

After my score at the Coach store I was happily surprised to see a store who’s clothes I love called Desigual. We don’t have one where I live, only in Manhattan, not sure about Jersey. I practically skipped  into that store and almost fell over when the salesperson informed us that half of the whole store was 70% off!  Score!  I found 3 tops that I love on sale and mom scored a blouse that looked like it was made for her. Happy times! Who doesn’t love a good outlet score?

 

I haven’t been on vacation with my family in about 10 years. When my mom retired she took us all to Disney in Florida. It was a great vacation filled with wonderful memories. My dad was still with us then and I’m so, so glad to have those memories of him.  Since that trip our summer vacations have been with other families, friends of ours. Renting very large beach houses or most recent, last summer we rented a large house in the Lake George area, more precise; Loon Lake. Those vacations were each wonderful, we had really great times with all the families. We had but one rule: we all were able to decide what each of us wanted to do, no trying to talk someone into doing something they didn’t want to do or get mad if the answer was no when asked if they wanted to do/go somewhere. It has worked out better than I could have ever imagined. No one’s feelings are hurt because you had to return to “the rule” when/if you were rebuked or refused.

This vacation we decided to spend with my mom and 2 nephews, William 24 yrs and Jacob almost 12 yrs at my mom’s timeshare at Sanibel Island, Florida. I asked her back in March how many people the condo would fit and turned out we all would fit yay!

I have to say I’m glad I’ve had this opportunity to vacation with my mom.  My mom is easy going and so are my nephews. Grocery shopping which can sometimes be a chore ended up being fun. Going out to dinner has been great; not one complaint about anything and everyone well behaved. Tonight we’ll be having dinner at the condo, we have a lot of food to go through. That’s ok sometimes you get tired of eating out all the time, I know I do. Maybe I’ll score a trip to the outlets after dinner…

Current situation; residing in a beach condo steps from the actual beach and views to make your jaw drop. On this gorgeous beach are an amazing assortment of shells that I haven’t seen in any of my previous beach house vacations. Not to say this is a better vacation than those in the past, just different. I’ve never stayed on the beach like this. It is really nice. Oh and we have a screened in patio with which to take in those awesome views of the beach. It’s so nice here.

The condo is my mom’s time share. Her and my dad bought it about 10 years ago after spending  time here with friends. This is our first time here and it’s beautiful. If one doesn’t care for the beach there’s a pool to go. Samantha and my nephew Jacob made great use of the pool so far. Today I hit the beach and it was glorious! The only exception was this large amount of seaweed present, but we got around it by going further in the water. Oh and we saw a dolphin!  Tommy and I first saw it’s fun and we were like, “oh shit!” And we turned to walk quickly out of the water which is not easy to do. Then we saw it’s tail, whew!!  of course we thought it was the greatest thing ever after that.

After the beach we hit the local outlets, yay shopping!  I didn’t get much just some clothes at the Gap. I was very tempted at the Coach outlet though but I resisted and all was well. I have my new “I worked this summer and this is the bag I bought bag” sitting at home so I really have no business buying yet another bag. Sounds so logical, haha.

Vacation is awesome. You forget what day it is until it’s almost time to go home, shopping is awesome, and there’s the beach!  I could just sit there and watch the water all day and smell that great beach smell.

 

My last day of summer session was yesterday. Before we left the office we had to unplug all the electronics including the phones and take almost everything off the floor including computers, printers, etc…in order for the custodians to wax the floor. It was bittersweet in a way. The office is pretty organized for our day to day working environment, and to see it with everything piled on top of our desks was like ugh it looked so messy.

I’m so glad to finally be off. I know I shouldn’t complain I’m on the same schedule as the NYC school year and I get plenty of time off during the year. But summer is different. I work summers because I like my job and I really don’t mind being there. But to see beach pics on social media…well that’s the kicker. We’re allowed 2 sick days for working the summer. Last year I didn’t take either, it seemed like an unspoken agreeement between the 3 of us working that no one would take a day and that was cool, the summer was pretty mellow last year. This year however we had 2 extra nurses and the summer was not all that mellow. There was plenty of down time but when something was happening with one of the students it was something that had to be dealt with seriously. 911 seriously.

So this morning I slept in to the late hour of 7:30am. I know I’m out of control. It’s all good though, I don’t mind getting up early to start my day. This morning I’m heading to the Sal Val for some thrifting, I hope it’s a shopper’s sky!

There aren’t many “rules” in my house aside from the ones most of us have. Love God, be respectful of each other, clean the bathroom when told, keep your room somewhat clean/organized, say thank you when you receive a gift, say hello back when someone says hello to you, etc…There’s more but I would sound redundant.

We also have an unwritten rule of telling each other I Love You whenever we say good bye, even when we’ll be apart only for a few hours. Every time my older girls leave this house I say, “ bye…love you” and they say it back. We dropped Thomas off at his house last night after spending the afternoon with him and I must have said repeatedly  I love you to him at least 3 times before he said it back, I have to smile at that because he does the same thing on the phone. I know he loves me, yes he has to say it.

I can talk to my husband 3 times a day on the phone and each time we say goodbye we say I love you. Same with my mom and close friends. It’s not that I’m afraid I’ll never see them again and I want those to be the last words they hear from me; that’s a great sentiment and excellent point. My intent is to let that person know how I feel about them. My kids know I love them as they know the sky is blue so do my husband and my mom. However it’s great to tell people how you feel whenever you get the chance no matter how often or not often. My best friend Jackie who lives in Wisconsin; I don’t have the opportunity to talk often to on the phone. We text mostly and always say I love you to each other. I have dear friends I met at church and we often tell each other I love you when we depart.

I remember before my dad died, before he became sick, we would speak on the phone often and I got into the habit of telling him I love you whenever we said goodbye. There was a time I rarely said I love you to my dad. I don’t know why it was that way. I mean I know my dad loved me even when it wasn’t said and I know he knew I loved him. One day it just became very important to me to say it to him and say it often. I’m glad I told him I loved him when I had the chance.

Tuesday August 13 marks the end of Summer in the city 2019. I have to say I’m not sorry summer session is coming to a close. It’s been an interesting 6 weeks. We’ve had 911 calls for students who had situations that needed more care than we could give at school. It’s going to happen in the school I work where there is a medically fragile population.

We are off on Monday due to a Muslim holiday and back on Tuesday for the official last day. The schedule doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but I’m not the one who made it up so that’s all I’ll say about that. I’m looking forward to my 2+ weeks off before we return the first week in September. I’ve got plans to just “be” the first couple of days, then a beach day with Lelly yayyy! . I wonder what it would be been like to take the whole summer off but meh, that’s ok I’ve had plenty of summers “off” when I was a stay at home mom.

I totally don’t miss those days when I was home full time. I wasn’t a miserable stay at home mom but those days were not easy. I think back lately and wonder what it would’ve been like to work outside the home at that time; working the hours I do now. I know it wouldn’t have been realistic because I had to meet get Thomas on the bus in the morning and be there for Thomas when the bus dropped him home. And I couldn’t have gotten everyone else to school on time and then me to work on time. I think of this when I realize how long I was home for. But back then I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to work as a nurse ever again so the point is probably moot. God planned for me to find the online ad for my job and be hired and He also arraigned for me to be working where I work. I know this as sure as I know the sky is blue. It was no coincidence that I was laid off, looking for another job, hired by the Board of Ed, told to go to my school for “training” and then requested by the principal to be assigned there permanently because I’m a mom of a special needs child. That’s all God’s handiwork and planning. He is mighty to be praised.

God is amazing. He really is. I remember back in the day praying for direction for Thomas. All I wanted was for Him to point me in the direction I was to go with Thomas. The Lord certainly put the best people in my path to help us. Those very people were the ones who gave us direction and guidance. Being that hindsight is 20/20 I know for sure it was God’s plan for Thomas to attend the schools that he did. There are no other explanations. And for that I am so thankful.

I’m still raising our youngest so I still need direction and guidance. That’s the only way to go about things. Prayer, fellowship and keeping an open mind to those that He sends your way. Knowing God is listening and He will answer you. And you have to accept that His answers are given in His time not ours. Also, His answers aren’t always the answers we want but they certainly are the ones we need.

 

August 1, 2006 the day my last baby was born. Thirteen years ago. I thought I knew it all being I already had two girls. But Samantha proved me wrong. She broke the mold and showed me and the world she is her own person. She takes after Alyssa in looks, complexion and hair (they both have rediculously thick plentiful hair). Personality wise I have no idea where she came from. In each of my older children I can see where parts of their personalities come from and what side of the family they take after. It’s cool in some ways and eerie in other ways. To see yourself in your child can be frustrating because you know how the issue is going to go down, and amusing too because you know how the issue is going down.

Samantha is not like my other children. Thomas has his own category and the girls are real “girls” and Samantha is not, she just goes along beating to her own drum; video game playing, skateboarding, attends church youth groups and learning takwondo. She is not quite tomboy yet definitely not a girly girl which makes her difficult for my older girls to identify with.

Being that there’s a 5 year difference between Samantha and Lelly, Samantha has characteristics of both a youngest child and an only child. She is cool with me: being that often times Alyssa and Lelly are either off with their friends/boyfriend/working. Samantha and I are together frequently. She didn’t inherit my love of thrifting but she does enjoy a good old fashioned trip to the mall, or if I’m particularly agreeable a visit to Dave and Busters. Friday’s used to be our dinner time, just us. But then she started going to youth group Friday nights so it turned into dinner for Tommy and I. Now that it’s summer, youth group is suspended and we are now a trio on Friday nights.

So my baby is certainly no longer a baby . Today she called from a church retreat to tell me she made the very mature decision to accept Jesus as her Savior. I’m so happy for her, she was very emotional and happy and was so mature when she said, “Mom, I got saved.”  I don’t think her birthday could get any better, even though I’m not spending it with her. Samantha comes home tomorrow so we will celebrate then and Saturday with a family trip to Dave and Busters. Samantha wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’ve purchased a new handbag. There’s not many details, most people aren’t into bags as I am. It’s a very dark purple with a large capacity and the leather is to die for. This is my “I worked this summer handbag.” I haven’t debuted her yet but she will be mailing a maiden voyage soon.

I’ve also acquired a gorgeous tote; striped animal print in shades of brown and black. The fabric is velvety and just so nice. You would think I would have enough handbags after a while. But no. That’s like saying I should have enough shoes…Ha! There’s something about carrying a bag that you love, like it goes with what you’re wearing and just makes you feel so good. It has all that you’re looking for in a bag and it is made so incredibly well and the color is perfect! Hard to explain; fellow handbag whores will understand.

I’ve decided to rehome one of my bags that I’m just not feeling the love for anymore. It’s a designer bag I acquired via thrifting. The original color left a lot to be desired so I researched DIY dying handbags. I found the dye at a great store in Manhattan and did the job. The bag went from not so hot ivory to an awesome dark navy.

I work with a woman who is a huge fan of this designer’s bags. I tried using the bag this last weekend and wasn’t feeling it at all, so Monday I asked said said co worker if she would like the bag. She was so excited and said yes!  I’m thrilled she said yes. I know I was so ecstatic when my bff, Jackie gifted me a handbag I was lusting after. A Louis Vuitton Speedy 25 bag. I was shaking when I opened the box.

I don’t know if I’ll be rehoming any other bags after this. I’m still feeling the love for most of them. There are a couple of smaller ones I’m not using anymore since I prefer to carry specific “stuff” in my bag and I’m not willing to downsize. It’s funny what you think you absolutely without compromise need to carry in your bag. I keep most of my stuff in one of 2 pouches inside my bag, so when I change bags it’s a seamless process and I’m not searching for every little thing like lip balm and such. So there you have it. I’m a hopeless bag whore who admits she has a problem (let’s just call it an “issue” the word problem sounds so severe).

 

I totally feel like an old dog trying to learn a new tricks. Last week I began a motorcycle training course, couldn’t keep up, crashed my bike, bruised my body, bruised my ego and pride. I started over yesterday with a private lesson. It was great; one on one with a very sincere, patient instructor.

I was so, so upset last weekend when the class ended in disaster like that. But I wasn’t going to let it stop me from learning how to ride, and neither was my husband going to let me quit. Tommy is so supportive, kind and just all around good. Yesterday I worked on learning how to change gears from 1st to 2nd. Sounds so easy. I don’t even know how to drive stick so this whole clutch issue is totally new to me. I’m proud that I was able to change gears and even get up some speed on the bike. Feeling the wind on your face like that is totally cool and I was only in a parking lot.

I so want to get this down. At one point yesterday during the lesson I heard my dad say, “Just drive!” Something I had been waiting to hear since I first got on a bike. That is exactly what my dad would have said if he were here. It’s what he always said to us when he picked up a car for my sister or I to get around in. If we complained about the size of the car or anything at all his answer would be, “Just drive!” So that’s what I plan to do.

I have another lesson next week I almost can’t wait because like anything practice and more practice makes perfect. I’m not comfortable on Tommy’s bike to practice, it’s too big I think. Although I don’t know any other bikes than the ones at the training center. Right now they have me riding a smaller bike, a Honda rebel it’s called, and I’m cool with that.

It’s a well know fact to those that know me that I’m a lover of all things handbags. A bag whore is an accurate description. My husband was kind enough to give up the top half of his armoire so I could store my bags appropriately. Some are ridiculously expensive, some moderate in price and some from thrift. Although the ones I scored at the thrift aren’t worthless. I found Chanel, Marc Jacob, Balenciaga, Coach, Mulberry, Kate Spade and the French brand Lanvin at the Sal Val. Those bags are a part of my rotation as those I’ve purchased new.

Every now and then I look to downsize my collection, I just sold two bags on Poshmark and that’s cool. I did make a profit on both although they took a good amount of time to sell. But meh that’s ok I’m not paying any overhead for storage. I have this one new tote that I scored on super sale at Macy’s. I remember the day too. I was sitting in my awesome parking space at work perusing the Macy’s website and this beautiful tote was marked down so low I couldn’t not buy it. However it’s been sitting in the armoire since it’s been delivered. Truth be told it’s a bit too small for me I like big bags to carry all my “stuff”.

So after thinking on it a while I’ve decided to give the bag away. Everyone has their own bag preferences. So I asked one of my favorite co workers if she was interested and she said yes! I guess I could have returned it to Macy’s but it’s nicer to give someone an unexpected gift. Especially from my favorite category of accessories.

I have a bag I’ve purchased with my “I worked this summer” money. I haven’t debuted it yet. Last year I bought a bag in the same manner. It was nice. The funny thing is I don’t mind working the summer. Last year the atmosphere was very chill and the time passed pretty quickly. This year the time is passing pretty well, not fast but not super slow either. The atmosphere isn’t exactly chill. We’ve had a couple of emergency 911 calls so I wouldn’t call this summer dull.

I’m looking forward to summer session ending. I want to go to the beach in the middle of the week and just enjoy being off. We will be going away after the summer session ends I’m looking forward to that as well.