Beach DO or Beach DON'T?

As I mosey down the boulevard of broken boogie boards, also known as a family beach vacation, I desperately seek the advice of my wise friends.

The dilemma:

If your rented beach house had a basket chock full of tempting and trashy magazines such as Us Weekly, Star, Cosmo, and People, would you read them?

Yes, you say?

Well, what if this basket was in the main BATHROOM of said beach rental?

Would the gross-out factor of reading a magazine that has been read by many strangers, in the most intimate of settings, override the siren song of learning about what Nick and Vanessa are doing, whether Lindsay is in jail or not, or who will star in the movie adaptation of "The Hunger Games"?

For now, I'm going with the gross-out factor. No promises as the week progresses. What do YOU think?

"Night, Lucy." "Night, Ricky."

Just got back from a week in captivity with Tom’s family. They are lovely people, and I do believe I behaved pretty well this time. Semi-psycho, but not all-out psycho.

I think my issue comes down to a concept I read about recently that in-laws just aren’t of your tribe. A different tribe doesn’t mean a bad tribe, just different. My own tribe is wracked with tragedy and riddled with dysfunction, but it’s mine so I more or less “get” it.

On a day to day basis, my vacation problems stem from the fact that I’m not in my own home, thus not able to get anything “done,” and the issue of a fundamental magazine-incompatibility. I first heard this phrase from Marinka and I fell in love with it and her fabulous blog.

In-Law’s Magazine List:

Knit Simple
Prevention
Consumer Reports
New Republic
Cooking Light
Tennis

Anna’s Far Superior and More Interesting Magazine List:

Country Living
Better Homes and Gardens
Vanity Fair
Elle Décor
Southern Living
Family Circle
Guideposts

…and the ultimate guilty pleasures: People and US Weekly.

Yes, yes I brought books to read, but I whizzed through them all. No, I couldn’t drive to the store, because after almost 18 years I still don’t know where the heck I am out in the country and how to escape if necessary.

By the end of vacation I was so desperate I was reading the labels on vitamin bottles.

I am not trying to be judge-y here; my own sister and I are magazine incompatible. Hers: Yoga Journal, Self, Health. Ewwww.

But she and I usually manage to stay occupied discussing our differing views of the same childhood incidents or stuffing our faces with jumbo marshmallows straight out of the bag.

Entertainment-wise, we did better than in the magazine department on this trip.

My mother in law has a dvd collection of “I Love Lucy.” We loved introducing the kids to the show.

Reactions:

Molly: “Lucy needs to tell Ricky to go make his own breakfast.”

Jake: “Lucy and her friend always make things worse by lying about stuff.”


And, in a case of "life imitating Lucy," Tom and I were once again assigned the room with twin beds in it.

I was PMS-ing HARD so Tom’s little bed could have been in Alaska for all I cared. The distance probably kept him safe from any vacation-induced stabbing.

In all, it was a very good trip, yet I’m glad to be home. And waiting for me when I got here? 3 crisp new magazines. Aaah.

It Ain't Easy Being Green

This magazine junkie has noticed that for the past 3 or four months, each of my home magazines has had a “green issue.” The magazines are trying to out-green one another by showcasing green remodels and products. I am glad that in our renovation-crazed culture, people have started to look for ways to be friendlier to the environment. At our house, we use compact fluorescent bulbs, low VOC paints, Clorox Green Works cleaning products and, of course, we recycle. I’m not too impressed when these magazines espouse ripping out perfectly good home features and replacing them with environmentally superior ones. Articles showcase $4,000 organic couches, but they never seem to point out that perhaps keeping an old couch out of the landfill for 10 more years by throwing a slipcover on it might be a good alternative.

I know this isn’t a design blog, but I am big into tweaking my house décor. As a stay at home mom, I have had plenty of opportunities to stare at the walls and dream up ways to make changes. When something irks me about my house, it grates on me until I can’t seem to let it go. My husband, on the other hand, can breeze in and not even bat an eye at our groovy 70’s swirly-textured ceiling! I just don’t get that.

Our powder room has an ugly oak vanity cabinet, so-so lighting and a stained vinyl floor. The problem is, I know the previous owner put this stuff in only about 6 or 7 years ago. To rip it out and start again would be purely cosmetic. My magazines would lead me to believe that replacing them, as long as I do it with environmentally friendly products, would be the best thing.

But I think my grandparents’ generation would have proceeded in an entirely different manner. Their idea of “going green” was to hang on to stuff. This could mean keeping the same kitchen cabinets for 40 years or leaving a vintage bathroom intact. These are the same people who knew not to squander aluminum foil and who always had a giant ball of twine at the ready for any tying needs. My grandma understood the value of “cottage style” before most others, realizing that if you covered up almost any piece of furniture with a soft white paint, you could get a fresh new look without tossing anything out.

I don’t mean to sound judgmental when I talk about renovation, because as I sit here next to the offending powder room, I’m itching to surf the web for a new pedestal sink! I just want to give kudos to the one voice of reason I found in my latest issues of Metropolitan Home. Architect Rob Harrison writes, “Before you do any of these things (major renovations) you may want to talk to a real estate agent. The most environmentally friendly solution when a home doesn’t fit your needs is to move to one that does! Chances are someone else out there will like your house the way it is. Not renovating at all is the greenest option.”

Hmmm. I don’t think moving is in our near future, but I do like the way he thinks. I’d give you more of his thoughts, but he’s already in the recycling bin.

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