Vacation… Stone Harbor & Cape May NJ.
Vacation was great. Coming home and getting back to real life? Not so great.
We were at the beach for a week and if you saw the photo of the car on Facebook, you were amazed to discover yet another way Paul is the luckiest guy on the planet.
It’s not every man whose wife takes a rice cooker on vacation.
I can only imagine the depths of your envy.
We were in Stone Harbor, at the Jersey shore. If you’re not from the area, that might make you think I was with some frighteningly-spray-tanned, overly-muscled drunk people… I’m pretty sure that show has singlehandedly crushed tourism in the entire state of New Jersey.
But Stone Harbor is south, near Cape May… they pretty much don’t let you in without searching your car for Tory Burch and chevron beach coverups. I fail this inspection every time, but I just act extra snooty and claim that I forgot it at home. This seems to fool them.
We all got to do our favorite things. I got to go to overpriced junk shops. Paul got to do beach stuff. Elvis got to sleep in the sun.
And the best part is that my whole family was there, at the same house we’ve rented for the last 10 years… a place where my brothers and I immediately regress 20 years and let my mom do all the cooking.
Thanks, mom! Sorry you have such horribly lazy children.
I guess it’s sort of your own fault since you raised us.
Who knows what you did wrong.
Be glad you’re not getting a post about the giant pile of laundry in the foyer or how much Elvis hates to travel in the car… Instead, you’re getting photos from Cape May—the town is a national historic landmark because of all the Victorian architecture.
The only reason we haven’t moved there permanently is because we are not millionaires.
A small and totally irritating factor.
If you’ve never been, you’re missing out on the rage that accompanies the realization that other people’s families were smart enough to amass fortunes that they passed on to their children, so that they could lead privileged lives of Victorian summer houses and general awesomeness.
By 1834, Cape May began to attract the elite of New York, Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia. Music pavilions and ballrooms blossomed. And so began its reign as the Queen of the Seaside Resorts. Source – History of Cape May, NJ
Congress Hall began life in 1816 as a simple boarding house for summer visitors to one of America’s earliest seaside resorts. Its owner, Thomas H. Hughes, called his new boarding house “The Big House.” Source – Cape May in Vintage Postcards.
Aside from beach stuff and houses we cannot afford, I had another notable happening last week: Rhoda at Southern Hospitality blog featured me.
If you like house-stuff, you probably already read her… but if you’re new, start with her totally DIY house tour.
If you are a blogger, you did a double-take and said—wait, Haven blog conference Rhoda? She’s sort of a big deal around internet land.
Even more than the thrill of being acknowledged by blog-royalty, the post she wrote about me was so kind. It taught me the meaning of blogging-generosity.
And the more I thought about it, the more I took out the word “blogging” as a preface and appreciated it for what it is—just plain generosity.
For about five minutes I thought about writing something meaningful about random acts of kindness… but was totally distracted by the opportunity for some kind of Blanche DuBois moment and comparing myself to Tennessee Williams.
Obviously I needed to crop myself into a black and white photo with Vivien Leigh and also wear a peignoir… But vacation/crushing expectations of real life/having to go to the grocery store interfered.
As soon as I can afford to hire someone to live my life for me, I will dedicate myself to nothing but pasting myself into landmarks of American cinema. Look out, Scarface.
I will love you EVEN MORE… if you share me with your friends.
August 21, 2013 @ 7:10 pm
Oh I adore Cape May. So much so I wrote a post about it. Take a gander if you like old house. Well duh! 🙂
http://decortoadore.blogspot.com/2010/08/charms-of-cape-may.html
August 21, 2013 @ 7:25 pm
Hey Victoria, I don’t think the rice cooker is such a bad thing. Paul should definitely not be complaining. I have a friend who went on holidays once in a little Toyota hatch and took with her (amongst other equally redundant things) an exercise bike and a George Foreman grill neither of which were used once. The car was so overloaded I’m surprised that there was room for her and her husband.
I’m so glad that you had a lovely holiday but as I’m living vicariously through you could you please, please, please get onto the kitchen soon? 😀 Love your blog.
Priscilla
August 22, 2013 @ 11:18 am
I do not have words to express how I am delighted by the grill/bike. Sometimes you just NEED these things.
August 21, 2013 @ 8:28 pm
I would love for you to post about travelling with Elvis. Does she travel well!?! I had quite the experience last day taking both Percy and Flash (cats) AND my 92 pound Golden to the vet, 30 minutes away. Yikes, what a trip! I love reading your blog, it never fails to make me laugh, especially as I am reading it out loud to my hubbie ( another saint in the making).
Anne
August 21, 2013 @ 10:40 pm
I love Cape May too, and haven’t been in years. Last fall, when I was visiting my sister in NJ, I told her I want to go the next time I come up from FL where I have lived for years now. Jersey gets a bad rap. It’s either the Jersey Shore folks or someone like Joe Piscapo saying, “I’m from Joisey!” No one from south Jersey talks like that…we have the same Delaware Valley accent that the do in Philly and Delaware. Sounds like you had a fantastic trip!
August 22, 2013 @ 4:26 am
The houses are amazing. What are holidays for if not drooling on different houses from our usual surroundings?
August 22, 2013 @ 8:21 am
So, I am reading your post as I peer out the window of the home we rent on LBI. I’ve been coming here for years and my husband even longer. Amazing to see the resilience of those who love the Jersey Shore and fought to make her vacation worthy again so quickly after Sandy dealt such a devastating blow. You captured the beauty of Cape May so well. The thing about most Jersey shore towns that people will never get if they rely on reality TV for information is that each place has its own character and when you spend years coming here you start to feel like you’re in on a secret that only you and the people in that town that week know about. Loving your post as always!
August 22, 2013 @ 8:51 am
Hi! I found your post a few weeks ago through Brooklyn Limestone. You’re a scream. Seriously…you crack me up & your house is gorge too! My husband & I are renovating our 100 year old New Orlerans home complete with termites & lead paint. Can I get a yahoo!?! Since you seem to like older homes/cities, have you ever been to Nola? I can assure you it’s like NJ in that it’s very different from what you see on TV (booze, brawls & boobs…ok…there is lots of that but there’s so much more!)
August 22, 2013 @ 10:41 am
I.can’t.get.enough.of.your.blog! Seriously, you are my blogging hero! I love everything about what you do and say and write about. It’s crazy… or wait… is that just ME that’s crazy? I swear I’m not a psychotic stalker, but I have read like 50% of your posts in a span of a week and I’m in love. I haven’t felt this inspired for a long time. Oh and this post just makes me want to burn down my suburban cookie-cutter. But I won’t… Victorian houses are my #1 weakness in life. I want one so badly I don’t know what I would do to stop myself from walking into every single one of those you pictured up there. The law would stop me, I guess…
Anyway, now you probably think you need a retraining order against a crazy Canadian blogger…
August 22, 2013 @ 2:05 pm
Just found your blog & have read it ALL. I just finished a complete reno (and when I say “I”, that means my contractor) of my “retirement” house (after all the $ in took, I’ll probably never get to retire). I definitely identify with many of your posts – I got to the “I don’t care – just pick something” stage about mid-way through the project. At first every decision seemed so IMPORTANT, but then later, not so much. Does everyone who does a renovation who have a blog/web site? I feel like I’m the only one in the world who didn’t do that. I love the choices you’ve made in your home and I love your writing – and now that my reno is FINALLY finished, I find that I’m simply enjoying your writing more than the details about your projects. Thanks for such interesting and entertaining posts!
August 22, 2013 @ 6:39 pm
That Elvis is a very lucky girl !
August 22, 2013 @ 7:06 pm
Congratulations on being featured in Rhoda’s blog. Now how DO you get Elvis to go on vacation so co-operatively? As in, not run away and try to find h(er??) way home? I would love to take my cats places with me, but am afraid they will be terrified and run off.
August 23, 2013 @ 7:33 pm
Ummm so HOW have you been blogging for this long (however long it’s been that you’ve been blogging) and NO ONE has told me about your blog until this very moment?! I’m outraged. It’s the only fair response. You’ve just zipped to the top of my favorites list, thanks to my husband (Andy – ad manager) who finally righted the wrongs in this world and told me I better check out your blog because I would love it. How right he was! New follower!
August 27, 2013 @ 10:44 am
My husband and I lived in Stone Harbor for a couple of years before we had kids. Some of my favorite people ever live there year round. It is an amazing town that I love just as much in fall, winter, and spring. The shopping, the roof top mini golf, the lunch delivered to your beach entrance, all of it amazing. We are 100th street beach people- where are you?
September 1, 2013 @ 9:31 am
93rd… in three blocks from the beach.
We love it too! If only someone would just give us a house!
August 28, 2013 @ 7:33 pm
Oh, Victoria! You have me all starry-eyed and longing for my home state again… I sometimes kick myself (hard) in the rear for leaving all that and moving out here where the people are kind, the water clean, and the grey skies never-ending… sigh. (Seattle is lovely, I promise.) Every time I visit your blog, I want to pack up my things, make a million dollars, and move back to some little hamlet in NJ where I can have my Victorian home, my garden patch in the back, and my sense of belonging to something again.
September 9, 2013 @ 10:02 pm
No offense to Rhoda, who I’m sure is a lovely person, but she’s way too polished and together for us. We’re here because we love the quirky chaos. Keep it up!
November 5, 2016 @ 8:36 am
If you love Cape May, you might love the Amazon Kindle book, Cape May, My Love by Terry Harris. Cape May, My Love is a collection of love poetry about a man and a woman exploring Cape May- that’s Cape May, My Love by Terry Harris