carly's review

Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford ...... ...... Carly says: Moxy Maxwell is a really, really good book. Moxy should have read Stuart Little all through the summer, but she didn't. She waited to the last day. Then all kind of things went wrong. She has a good sense of humor and she makes me laugh.

...... Mom's 2-cents: Moxy Maxwell was a really fun read. A perfect summer book choice to show that reading can be "just-for-the-fun-of-it". The short chapters and photographs make for super easy reading. Happy reading!

..... Carly gave Moxy Maxwell: 5 out of 5 stars

may reads

• The Ex Debutante by Linda Francis Lee

Loaned to me by my sister who wrote a review here . I thought it was amusing, with a lovable character, and a happy ending -- it was a fun read.

• Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

Again, loaned to me by my sister who wrote her review here. Really, really liked this book. I liked it a lot more than I had thought that I would. It follows 2 best friends throughout their life from the 60's to the 70's, to the 80's and into the 90's. Spoiler alert: I cried through the last couple of chapters which is a fairly good indication of how attached I got to the characters. Highly recommend.

• Lost Souls by Lisa Jackson

Murder mystery in the true sense of the word "who-done-it". A fairly good, quick read with some suspense and mystery.

• A Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier

In the way of expanding my reading material is to add some biographies to my list. This was an interesting story. I do not have the same religious beliefs as Mr Poitier but you have to take away something from his tenacity and belief in bettering himself. He definitely has a story of triumph.

• The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Brilliant! A historical novel that takes place in the 12 century. It begins with mystery and character development that grabs you and does not let go. For 1000 pages I did not want to put it down and was sad when it came to an end (although I hear there is a follow up?) It was so gripping that you could just loose yourself in it. I loved it and can't wait to look for the sequel.

wordless wednesday

50 things that made me smile

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1. quality time with Carly

2. visiting with mom, sister, aunt

3. relaxing

4. sun

5. sand

6. waves

7. smell of the ocean

8. gulf breezes

9. sunsets

10. big fluffy white clouds

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11. walks along the water

12. crabs

13. pelicans

14. sand pipers

15. looking for shells

16. sitting on the deck

17. taking photos

18. making drippy castles

19. trying to boogy-board

20. napping on the deck

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21. watching 27 Dresses

22. playing top toss

23. painting Carly's nails

24. kite flying

25. board games

26. reading

27. no cell phone service

28. wireless Internet

29. stack of magazines

30. people watching

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31. fabulous produce stand

32. summer tomatoes

33. ice tea

34. watermelon

35. pimento cheese

36. smoked tuna dip

37. shrimp poboy

38. road trip for ice cream

39. cold Mexican beer

40. eating out (LuLu's, Shrimp Basket, Doc's)

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41. shoe shopping at Watermelon Patch

42. outlet shopping

43. tacky souvenir shops

44. sending post cards

45. people watching

46. Walter Anderson shop

47. no makeup

48. baseball caps

49. doing nothing

50. planning for next time

Girls at the beach...day 8

Last stop on our way home in

Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

Ocean Springs is a wonderful little coastal town.

We were all really excited to see it looking good post-Katrina.

The biggest reason for the side trip was to stop at

Walter Anderson's Realizations.

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......

I have been "wishing" for a couple of years for a large Walter Anderson piece to hang above my bed. I had done a lot of looking online and knew exactly what I wanted. It just took "pulling the trigger" as my husband says.

I failed to take a picture of it but Kacey was more on top of it. I swiped this one from her blog (speaking of see her post here about Ocean Springs).

Girls at the Beach...day 7

last day, last hoorah

last day of being beach bums

our last meal out

(I was NOT leaving without eating a shrimp poboy)

one last stop at a tacky souvenir shop

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Girls at the Beach...day 6

tick-tock, our time here is almost over. so sad but we have had such a great week. we were bums all day--lots of lounging on the deck, digging our toes in the sand, and walks along the water. there is something so relaxing about the combination of sun, sand, and surf. it magically turns me into a beach bum and find that I could spend a whole summer here (no need to talk about reality right now).

extra fun today: top toss (pic above), road trip for ice cream, kite flying, napping on the deck

not fun today: Carly getting stung by jellyfish.

Girls at the beach...day 5

There was shopping.

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Well, actually there was more snowcone eating than shopping.

......

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There was LuLu's and

some yummy smoked tuna dip and shrimp salad over fried green tomatoes.

oh, and of course fabulous key lime pie :)

Girls at the beach...day 4

Carly has made friends with a little girl in the beach house next door. She is delighted to have a buddy to play with. All us grown-ups can be a little bit of a drag. They have spent hours in the ocean on boogie-boards and swimming. Tonight we have one tired little girl.

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Girls at the Beach...day 3

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We ventured into "town" today to eat lunch at one of our favorite dives -

some of the best shrimp you can ever eat!

(plus the best waitress. really, she was great)

.....

Food is a VERY big part of our vacation. We eat out a couple of times at some of our favorite places, but most meals are eaten at the beach house. We love to fill the refrigerator with our favorites and everyone does their own thing at meal times.

.....

what fills the refrigerator:

chicken salad

pimento cheese

spiral-cut ham

salsa

watermelon

strawberries

cantaloupe

green salad fixings

broccoli cornbread

diet coke

ice tea

......

what would you put in your beach refrigerator?