Time Flies When You're Having Fun

I dreamed about my blog the other night, which, I think, is my subconscious telling me that it's time to write a new post. I am having the best summer and was shocked to see that it's August already.  Time flies when you're having fun!

We took our annual camping trip to the beach earlier in July.  We've been staying at the same campground resort for years, and this year Mother Nature decided to give us a week long bear hug because the weather was fabulous!

Our home away from home on these camping trips is a pop-up tent trailer tricked out with air conditioning, water and electrical service, a mini fridge and some very clever storage compartments. Some people might call our camping style "glamping" - a combination of  'camping' and 'glamorous'.  

I tend to think of our pop-up tent trailer as the grown-up version of a Barbie camper. Except that Barbie would have a much cuter camping wardrobe than me and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be caught dead wandering the streets of the closest town in search of french fries - while wearing a pair of Birkenstocks.

Fries at the beach are the best!

We store the camper in our garage during the off-season. Bringing it out when summer arrives is a test of our nerves and our twenty-one years of marriage! The trailer was bought four years ago and unfortunately, we relied on the salesperson's measuring skills before we made the sale final.

We were expecting the camper to be eight inches narrower than it actually is. Boy were we surprised when we tried to put it in the garage that first time! There is barely an inch on either side of the trailer to fit through the garage doors.

Ah well. All's well that ends well, and once we're all set up, it's extremely easy to forget all your cares.

We spend our days at the beach and our evenings around the campfire.  At night we have a dry and comfortable place to sleep.

Harry loves camping, too.  He gets pretty tuckered out from chasing seagulls.

We wake up most mornings to the sound of seagulls squawking, so when Harry gives them a hard time, I consider it a doggie form of payback.

We have all the comforts of home - even a little mirror so that I can put on some mascara and lipstick and blow dry my hair...

... because Barbie would like that!

Now, if only I could decorate the camper with pink flower decals and purple fun fur, Barbie and Ken might join us for s'mores around the campfire one evening. 

I wonder where I can find Barbie-sized Birkenstocks...

Farmers' Market Gazpacho

The weather on the weekend was magnificent and I finally made a trip to the Farmers' Market.  The local strawberries are in season and they taste so good!

This is probably the last week for local asparagus, and now tomatoes, snap peas and zucchini are ready.

Soon the rest of the fruit and vegetables grown here will ripen, and I can't wait. In the meantime, the Farmers' Market had some hot house produce and local-ish veggies for sale.

I bought everything I need to make gazpacho - which is a summer time favorite at our house.

Mr. StyleBurb and I love my gazpacho recipe so much that when our 20 year old food processor broke, we replaced it right away with this new fancier version.

Over the years I have tweaked  my recipe for gazpacho until it tasted perfect to us. The aroma of all the fresh veggies is like summer in bowl!

My recipe is really simple.

- whiz 3 cloves of garlic and one small red onion in your food processor
- add in 2 ripe tomatoes, 1 red pepper and 1 green pepper (seeds removed) and 1 large cucumber
- pulse several times to chop everything into bits
- add 1/4 cup of olive oil and 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar and about 1 cup of vegetable cocktail
- add 1 tsp. of salt and 1 tsp. of fresh black pepper

- pulse until you have the consistency you like
- add more vegetable cocktail if you want a thinner soup

Chill the soup for several hours before serving. I like to top our gazpacho with croutons and I always serve Tabasco sauce on the side.  Mr. StyleBurb likes it spicy!

Delicious!

 

 

School's Out For Summer: Meet The Kids

My thanks to Alice Cooper for help with the title ;)

Thursday was our first day of summer vacation.  I've added full time chauffeur, recreation director, camp counselor, lifeguard and police officer to my official job title of 'Stay-At-Home-Mom'. 

I think an introduction of my kids is in order, since I'll probably mention them a bit more over the next two months. My kids asked me not to use their real names or photos on my blog...

...so I gave them a little summertime homework assignment: choose a blog alias and I'll find a picture of an actor or actress whom they resemble.

Audrey (age 15)  is my oldest daughter.

Audrey is our Thinker. She's a gentle and sweet girl who is responsible and dependable. Audrey just finished her first year of high school with spectacular results. She plays piano and flute and is learning the trumpet over the summer. Audrey has her Blackberry with her at all times so she can be in constant communication with her friends to plan trips to Starbucks, the movies and malls.  Thankfully, she's very tolerant of her younger brother and sister!

Awesome Possum (age 13) is my son.

Awesome Possum is our Comedian/Inventor. His yearbook signature page was filled with comments from his friends about how funny he is and that he's always willing to help out. A.P. is bright and witty and has a very strong sense of what's fair and just. He has a section in the basement where he can modify electronics and test out his inventions. Of course, Awesome Possum loves computer games. He builds virtual cities, houses and ''stuff". I really don't understand what he does; it all seems very technical and complicated.

Purplicious (age 9) is my youngest daughter.

 *remember, they choose these monikers themselves.

 

Purplicious is our Artist. She's creative and girlie and loves art, crafts, baking, shopping and fashion. It's not uncommon for her to have three wardrobe changes in one afternoon. Her lip gloss collection numbers close to fifty.  Purplicious is extremely chatty and inquisitive.  Mr. StyleBurb once tried to count how many questions she asked in 10 minutes, but he lost count. Purplicious is very good-hearted and has a lot of empathy for people and animals.

Summers at our house are busy, loud and messy- there's never a dull moment!