seaside.

Every year when Spring and Summer roll around I crave all the nostalgic things that remind me of my childhood Summers, like kite-flying, carnival rides, and boardwalk arcades, but it's usually too hot here to do any of those things. We had a few strange days this week where the weather felt like early Autumn weather...sunny and warm but with a cool breeze during the day, and chilly and crisp at night, so I decided the boardwalk would be the perfect place to enjoy the uncharacteristic weather. 

I was really excited about wearing tights...tights are a rare sight after January or February, it gets too hot so quickly, so I wore my favorite polka dot tights paired with high-waisted sailor shorts (which I seem to be living in lately), a light blue blouse, vintage cat-eye sunglasses, and a pastel vintage scarf tied in a big floppy ridiculous bow in my hair. This outfit was inspired by candy shops, 1940s girls vacationing seaside, ice cream, all the pretty pastel colors of old fashioned boardwalks, and a tiny bit Lolita (it was old Vlad's birthday, after all).

I had to stop in here and get taffy of course. It reminded me of Candy Kitchen on the boardwalk in Ocean City...so nostalgic. I remember going in as a child and being overtaken by the sweet smells...all the pretty pastel taffy lining the walls and shiny, colorful rock candy in glistening bouquets...ohhhh I miss it so. I think some of my favorite color combinations as an adult are directly inspired by old fashioned candy shoppes.

We played some junky old arcade games that kept taking our coins, but we mostly just wanted tickets to trade for silly cheap arcade prizes. Isn't that the best part? We mostly picked out things that could double as cat toys- plastic leap frogs, striped spinning tops, miniature lizards, and some of those rubbery inverted domes that you turn inside out and they pop! up in the air. The cats loved those. I also got silly ridiculous things like a purple pinky ring with hearts and a plastic neon yellow gun on a hot pink keychain. I wanted one of those parachute things or a glider plane, but they didn't have either. Those are like, the main boardwalk prizes, right?

One of the main reason I wanted to go to the boardwalk was to take photobooth pictures, but even though the damn thing took my money and took four photos, a photo strip never popped out after waiting for fifteen minutes. I was given my money back, but still I was pretty disappointed. I took this weird funhouse mirror photo while I was waiting for 'the photo strip that never came.'

After the arcade we walked on the boardwalk a little...I really wanted to go on the ferris wheel (my favorite ride) but there were no other takers. It was really windy though, so it probably wouldn't have been the best time to ride anyway. We watched the go-carts and tilt-a-whirl for a little while and looked at the ocean and took some photos, then realized how much time had passed so we had to scurry to my car because the meter was definitely up. But not before getting some ice cream on the way out!

Such a perfect day. 

beach day.

I live less than five minutes from the beach, but I can honestly say I don't like going. It's too way hot here, and there's nothing appealing to me about laying on a towel in direct sunlight, sticky and hot and feeling like I'm about to die. I don't mind the beach so much if the weather is cool, and I'll occasionally go to the beach fully clothed just to walk in the sand for a bit, but it's been years and years and years since I actually put on a bathing suit to go to the beach. in the summer. But when my cousin visited, it was one of the things she wanted to do, so we did. The only reasonable time for two pale ghost girls to go the beach in the middle of June is eight o' clock at night, obviously. so that's what we did. 

40s style sunglasses - anthropologie

1950s bathing suit - ebay

aquarium and my dad's birthday.

 



 Yesterday was my dad's birthday, he would have been fifty. Instead of staying home all day and being upset like I did last year, my brother and I decided to do something special that would take some of the sadness of the day out of focus. My dad loved the beach and the ocean, we were always out on our boat or visiting the beach when we were growing up, so I figured we would at least stop by the beach (I live maybe five minutes away?) but my brother suggested we visit the Marine Science Center, where my father built the main bird sanctuary enclosure. I had never been there, and it seemed like the perfect way to honor my dad on his birthday.

We arrived a bit late, making it just before last admission, but we had just enough time to tour the whole center and even spend maybe a bit too much time at the sting ray tank. There were fish and turtles and eels, and probably my favorite, seahorses, and of course as I mentioned, sting rays, which were located in the middle of the main room in an open 'touch tank' where you could stick your hand in and pet them. They were so cute and had such funny little faces that I spent most of the time trying to capture a cute little face in a photo (they're so fast!).

Outside of the center is where the keep the 'ICU', for sick or injured sea turtles to be rehabilitated and re-released into the wild. They were all so huge but had cute names like Buster and Bunny and made me really sad for them that they were hurt and had to be contained in tiny (for them) pools but I knew it was the best for them. I made a little donation in honor of my dad because I know he would have been proud as he was a big supporter of sea turtle conservation.

We made our way over to the Bird Sanctuary to visit the enclosure built by my dad, and looked at all the eagles and falcons and owls, and even got to see one of the owls super up close when a lady was taking him out of his cage to bring inside for the day (he wasn't very happy about it).

the enclosure my dad built.

When we left the Marine Science Center, we stopped to get iced coffee and made our way to the beach. Despite the mid-ninety degree temperature that day, down by the water under the pier felt nice and breezy, a bit chilly even, it was so windy, and even though I'm not a beach person it was nice because I felt close to my dad. It was really hard because the whole time I was just wishing he was there, but I think he would have approved of the way we spent the day.

dress - borrowed from my shop
heart locket w. photo of my dad - gift from my aunt