Bananarama.

The snow has finally (mostly!) melted and I'm seeing the welcoming signs of spring. When my thoughts turn to green, they inevitably turn to this iconic wallpaper oldie but goodie: Martinique by Hinson.

Perfect for the beach house, right?

Domino.

I must have it.

House Beautiful

Can you tell I need a vacation?

via Decorative Decor

I can't reconcile that I love this wallpaper but I don't like green. Ah, such are the daily aesthetic struggles at chez HG.

Thinking Spring (Break).

Photos J. Savage Gibson; Meg Braff, designer

This cover of the new Coastal Living and interior shot of this open-air villa in Round Hill, Jamaica is jamaking me need some sun! Especially with more winter weather on the way. So my mind is wandering toward summer spring warm weather and its trappings, and I am eyeing booty for the beach:

Target Embossed Porcelain

Ricci Argentieri Bamboo Flatware

Twos Company Sunflower Mirror

Pottery Barn Bamboo Clock is on its way

Doesn't that make you feel better already?

Perfect for a Rainy Summer Afternoon.

The scenery in A Summer Place is just breathtaking (it's supposed to be set in Maine but was shot mostly around Carmel and Monterey, CA) and the beautiful old oceanfront Queen Anne inn really exists (although now it's private property). An equally gorgeous Frank Lloyd Wright beach house appears later in the film (and really exists on Scenic Drive in Carmel).

In addition to the beautiful properties, the storyline is really romantic. It's about a man who revisits (with his frigid bitch of a wife and lovely teenage daughter, played by Sandra Dee) the inn where he had a summer job as a lifeguard and a summer romance with a guest's daughter. He discovered that the guest's daughter married the innkeeper's son and they now run the place. There's lots of mad love and drama and sex - it was really quite racy for its time (1959).

You can probably rent it if your video store still exists (I bought it from the local record store).

Beauty & the Beach: Shore Haus Update.

Owners John Raines and Chris Berg are pictured here in front of some of the new bird prints in store. John is leafing through a Natural Curiousities book that comes unbound so you can frame the pages.

If you happen to be in Rehoboth Beach for the holiday weekend it's the perfect time to stop in and see the beauty in person. Shore Haus is located just after the Rte. 1 split at700 Rehoboth Ave. Or if you can't visit in person, you can always take a trip via their website and their new blog.

And, now, a bonus - the boys of Shore Haus:

Dennis

Alex

I'm thinking of doing a calendar.

UPDATE: Well, what do you know? Shore Haus is in the Washington Post today! Click here for the link.

Beauty and the Beach, Part Deux.

I got a new camera a couple of weeks ago. So, last weekend when I arrived at the beach, I went to the Shore Haus, which you remember from this post to take new (and more and hopefully better) pictures. When I got there, I discovered I was beaten to the punch by a fellow blogger, My Notting Hill.

It's a small world in blogland and to have met My Notting Hill was especially coincidental since I won her contest for a Canadian House and Home magazine and she had seen a post about Shore Haus on my blog.

So, go take a visit to My Notting Hill and see what new beauties John and Chris have to offer. (David, this means you.)

Where Are You, My Little Domino?

Others have had you for weeks. I and all the bookstores in Delaware (okay, all in Wilmington and Browseabout in Rehoboth) are still slumming with the September issue.

Does anybody know what's going on? Does Domino have a beef with Joe Biden? Or vice-versa?

I don't subscribe to magazines because it drives me insane when I go to the bookstore and the new issue of something I subscribe to is in the bookstore before I get it. I prefer paying five times the subscription price (not really, but it's the price I pay, so to speak). And the mail reminders to send in my money for the next 12 months five minutes after I subscribed? Well, I'll admit it - I get too many. I can't keep track of what I've paid for.

So. Did everybody else in the country receive their October Domino Mag? Incidentally, Barnes & Noble said they will no longer be carrying Domino. *Sad face.* I hope another one isn't biting the dust...

Quitcherbitchin'.

After the mind-bending events of the last week, I needed a break. So I went to the beach where I attended an event which shall remain nameless. I will say that said event was attended by a rather rednecky, McCain-loving crowd. It's okay, I'm from Illinois - I felt like I had travelled back for the day. And I will add that said event was not NASCAR. I was advised by one of my gay boyfriends at the beach not to inform blog people of the event because nobody (save my Midwestern posse) understands my love for this event and if anybody at all is reading this blog, they will question my sanity and stop.

Anyway, I am in this crowd of people, everyone drinking and having a good time when a guy stops me and says, "Hey, you look like Sarah Palin." His brother, standing beside him, concurs.

I must have looked so insulted that he said, "No, your glasses. You look like Sarah Palin." I said, "For god's sake, Sarah Palin? I am a woman and I am wearing glasses, but I look nothing like Sarah Palin." Although then I found the picture above and there's a picture of me that looks almost the same. *Cringe.* (Updo sort of included.)

He said, "It was a compliment, she's hot."

Now, this is not the first time this week I have heard that Sarah Palin is hot. My husband went to lunch with some clients earlier in the week and told me they were all over how hot Sarah Palin is.

How depressing is that? It's like when my former?/first? mother-in-law said Dan Quayle was handsome. Remember Dan Quayle? He couldn't spell tomato. And the Republicans keep churning them out. Although, in her beauty-pageanty defense, I think S.P. can spell t-o-m-a-t-o. With no "e," Dan Quayle.

So, after chatting with these guys (no amount of my talking was going to convince them that Sarah Palin was the scourge of women but one of them was a good sport enough to wear a "Joe" [Biden] sticker that I plastered on his shirt for most of the evening), I left to use the restroom.

While waiting in the doorway of the very crowded loo, I hear from behind, "Oh, no..." and proceed to get barfed on.

I was thinking, "Nice. Barfing already before 10 pm. And on me. WT..." Then she says, while trying to clean herself up and quit barfing, "I'm so sorry, I just started a new chemo this morning and clearly it is not going well." So, of course, I felt like shit for her.

I said, "Well, the last time I was barfed on was in college by my brother, so you're in good company. And it looks like you're eating well. Salad?" She laughed and said yes, she couldn't keep anything down. And because I had unfortunately had experience with ca from my first husband, I told her about those wristbands for seasickness and how they can help with nausea from chemo.

After she left, the woman who was tending to my hair (don't even go there), said, "Well, you handled that very well but I'm worried about your sweater." And I said, "Well, I can leave and have my sweater cleaned. She is still going to need chemo." Hopefully the ass-sucky chemo will help.

Anyway, if you're feeling sorry for yourself after the last week, it's time for a glass-half-full check. After all, tomorrow is another day. (Just promise me you won't read Bloomberg.)