Vacashun. I hadz it.

Most summers we rent a beach house, usually somewhere within driving distance of the Land O' the Grey (NE Ohio, although this year's 12 hour drive was the upper limit of what I can endure without an overnight stop). As usual, I didn't start looking for a place until a few months ago, so I didn't have a specific destination in mind, just oceanfront with a private pool for $5k or under and with a bunch of bedrooms and bathrooms. This year my search led to a place we'd never been before-- Emerald Isle, NC-- which is at the western end of Bogue Island (yes, confusing as it is, the island runs west-east).

And you know what? I think it may be my favorite beach town so far-- not too commercialized, not too crowded, yet everything we needed (like groceries, shopping, activities) was available right on the island without constant trips to the mainland or fighting traffic. But unlike the Outer Banks, there were boogie board worthy waves for the demon spawn, and they broke close to shore which made me feel like they were safer.

The house wasn't bad, could use a little updating/preventive maintenence before it gets away from the owner, but as with most beach houses, it had three floors with the main floor on top. The trouble with this one was that it had the steepest damn steps inside the house, outside the house, and leading to the beach. My poor knees and ankles may never be the same! OUCH!

This trip we only had one "borrowed" minion of my demon spawn. All my previous MomMobiles have had seating for 8 so we'd "borrow" two minions, but my current MomMobile only seats 7 (I decided AWD and luxury trumped the extra seat this time). We decided that our most pleasant child (note sarcasm), Monkeybutt (who turned 16 the day before we left), needed to bring a minion to keep her entertained and maybe the venom wouldn't spew so readily. It worked-- they hung out together and stayed the hell away from the rest of us most of the week. WHAT?! Trust me, it was the only reason we returned with the same number of demon spawn that we left with. Seriously.

Now, Emerald Isle is right next to Camp Lejeune-- as in MARINES, so I was sincerely hoping to strain my eyes trying to take in all the eye candy catching a little R&R on the beach. Alas, only one. But he was USDA Prime Eye Candy-- definitely not a Baby Blue Marine; nope, this was a seasoned soldier, humpin' his backpack down the beach wearing nothing but his fatigue pants and boots. Naturally it wasn't when I had my camera on the beach ::pouts:: But, OH LAWDY! Dat Marine could semper my fi anytime he wants!

So with vacation over, it's now time for EOM work crunch and then back-to-school shopping because the younger two demon spawn start on August 21st. Which (and I can't believe I'm saying this) is too damn early!

Oh, btw, I took several print books, ebooks and audio books with me and I only got around to reading THREE! For some reason, I mostly just felt like staring at the waves.

But those three were good 'uns:

HUGE thanks to Madame Butterfly for sending this one! Note to self: even Madelynne's contemporaries completely rock!


Yep, that's right-- Marta sent me the ARC and yep, I agree-- I am one lucky beotch! Expect a commentary on this one. It releases 09/16, so that gives you just enough time to read the first two books in the series. Here's the trailor for book 1, Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, and here's the trailor for this 3rd book-- McDreamy, Armitage, and Gerry Butler all overlaid with the Jonesian® Effect. WOOT!


I have no idea why I've let this one lay around in my TBR for so long!