Friday I'm in Love: Beach-bound edition

Man, what a killer week! Work is not my friend right now. But on the bright side, if I can get through today I get to put it all behind me for a spell. We're off to "the country" tomorrow (as we always called it growing up) to celebrate my Grandma Jessie Mae's 80th birthday, and then heading over to the Outer Banks for a couple of days with the fam. T and I haven't been there since this whole thing went down, so it'll be fun to return to my favorite place without having to frantically assemble 100+ welcome bags before I can enjoy it. One of my favorite quotes is in my head today, tired and still under the weather as I am: "The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen has it right. So on that note, my sea-themed picks for the week:

Beach Countdown

(okay, not exactly sea-themed)

There was some truly great web amusement this week to count down the hours until my toes hit the sand. First, I can't even tell you how many times I watched this amazing dancing baby yesterday instead of crying about the gargantuan spreadsheet that was swallowing my soul. This baby can move! On another note, this website provided so much amusement for me during yesterday afternoon's infuriating "I'd like to apologize to BP" moment from the esteemed Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX, of course). Go play "Joe Barton would like to apologize," and see what you find! My favorite: "Joe Barton would like to apologize to King George III, for dumping all your tea in the ocean. That probably made it *way* too salty. Our bad."

Beach Blanket 

I spotted these perfect beach blankets on Frolic and was instantly smitten. They just scream sand-sprinkled, salt-tinged, effortless ease to me. They also make me smile about two of my favorite effortlessly easy beach side effects: beach "pedicures" (I've lazily avoided shelling out $$$ for weeks now knowing that free smooth feet were on the way) and beach hair (curls galore, so kinky and full I don't even bother washing it when I'm seaside). Bring. It. On!

Beach Music

While we're at it, how about a soundtrack? This song played on our wedding website for all of 2009, and hearing it makes me, you got it, so very happy. I'd also like to point out that I've come a long way from my beach music of years past (mopey teenage music fans unite!). I mean, I'll light a mental candle for The Cure this weekend during an especially poetic crashing wave and all, but in general, I'd prefer Alton Ellis to actually come of out of the speakers on this particular trip. Ahh, the things age does to you...

Have a very happy weekend, everyone - here's hoping we can all find a little serenity, whether we're seaside or not!