Next stop: Sandy Neck Beach

Over the weekend we made good on our promise to explore the lower Cape, visiting Sandy Neck Beach in Sandwich and West Barnstable, Mass.

It was an odd day, with raging thunderstorms periodically scouring the mainland, with the brilliant sunshine where we were on the Cape. Suffice it to say, our time on the beach was perfect, and our commute home was a little scary.

Sandy Neck could be more aptly named Rocky Neck, with stones ranging in size from a centimeter to a foot all over the beach. While the sand was soft and warm, these rocks were sharp and hot! Of course, once you reach the water of the Cape Cod bay, you're feet get a break in the cool waters, and the stones under the water take on more lusterous looks - their grays become deep greens and blues, and their browns deep reds and oranges. It's really very pretty.

On this trip, I was able to finally able to swim a bit, and sunbathing with S in the interim, it was ideal beach weather, in the 80's with a nice breeze.

Intend on reaching a lighthouse in the distance, S took my for a nice long walk along the beach where we spotted a wedding party gathering, a series of big, beautiful beach houses on the shore, and a handful of really cute kids, old couples, and puppies.

This weekend we're sticking close to Boston, but we've got plans to visit Woods Hole and the Fort Hill area at least one more time before the summer's out.

Read level midnight

Can you tell I've been watching old episodes of The Office on DVD?

So generally I am much more of a reader during the winter months when it is gloomy and cold outside, when holiday breaks are prevalent, and when there's nothing better than curling up under a fluffy blanket with a good story.

These summer days always feel like a countdown, with lots of preparation for fall trainings at work, and lots of vacation opportunities to seize whenever there's a perfect sunny day.

That said, I was pretty excited to see this list published by Teach.com:

How cool is it to follow along this chart, depending on your literary mood of the moment, to pick out the perfect beach day read?

Considering all the amazing stuff to read out there, sitting down with a good book is a pastime that's never off-season.

Even more water

If there's something I love more than land, it's water.

I am not sure if it's the summer months that make me yearn for the sea, or just that, once the weather gets warmer, it's easier to visit, but as you can see from this post and this post, I am relishing my time by the water these days.

Yesterday we took a day trip to the Cape. One of the nicest things about Cape Cod is the pristine nature of its beaches. You will be relatively bored there if you are in search of a lively beach packed with surfers and families, concession stands, fairs and shops all along the water. While some of the hundreds of beaches there are more popular than others, each is less crowded than an "Ocean City" any day, and still more desolate, with colder Atlantic water, than the Outer Banks.

S and I were in search of a beach site we'd not been to yet, and found Nauset Light Beach in Eastham. Eastham, for its Fort Hill area, is probably my favorite town on the Cape. Nauset Light Beach only added to my love for this little stretch along Route 6.

We got to the beach a bit after 7 in the morning and parked for free, which you can do even in peak season if you get there and the National Parks aren't yet open - parking lots open at 6am, the "parks" technically at 9. There were a few couples around, a few fisher people and a few folks walking their dogs, but that was it.

The sun was still rising, and it was chilly and warm at the same time. We did a tour of the four lighthouses in the area, Nauset Light House and the Three Sisters. Then we plopped down on the beach for some snacks, a nap, and just a little time for a walk along the freezing waves. It was overcast the whole day, with peaks of sun cascading over the water every so often.

We then drove up to another favorite, Provincetown, and visited the Julie Heller Gallery, where we learned about local artist Sol Wilson and his portraiture of the area. We finished off the day with lunch at the Squealing Pig and a leisurely drive home.

If I have my way, we'll be visiting the Cape all summer. I already have in my sights a few trips to see concerts there, a good movie at the Wellfleet drive in, some time spent getting to know the lower Cape - only an hour drive from us - and perhaps another visit or two to enjoy some art. Waterside, it will all be fun!

Exciting weekend plans

Are you eager to here all about my crazy weekend ahead?

Well, we've been considering a move, which makes me a bit sad, because I love our current home so much.

So in between apartment visits and too many floor plan reviews, I am aiming to spend the rest of my weekend being the superwoman of domesticity - cleaning our current little pad with all my might!

Whether or not we move, I want our home now to be (and smell and look) lovely, and if we do decide to move, it will certainly help me get a jump start on organizing, packing, and prepping this place for a move out.

I'm going to treat myself to some new products (I told you it was a CRAZY weekend, full of self-indulgence), and go to work!

I hope your weekend is fun filled and you turn whatever your plans are - big or small - into an adventure.

Women on women

What makes a woman a role model today? In fiction? In real life?

Apparently some folks are upset that Miss Ohio named Pretty Woman as a movie with a positive female role model as the lead. Either they find the idea of a prostitute as a role model offensive, or they find the idea of an attractive, young woman as a role model offensive.

"She rescues him right back."

I for one love Pretty Woman as a movie and agree in some sense with Miss Ohio's statement. I also love movies that will likewise cause fellow feminists to potentially call me superficial, vapid, or a detriment to the cause of equality - Clueless and Legally Blonde come immediately to mind. I am not afraid for my ego or my IQ to say that I find these movies enjoyable to watch as a leisure activity and inspiring to watch as a woman.

Written and directed by a woman.

When I hear women cut down female characters in our pop culture instead of proposing alternatives, or worse yet, or when I hear us cut down other women for liking female characters that we personally do not like, it makes me wonder:

• Why is it bad that a "pretty" woman is a role model, or a blond woman, or a young woman?
• Do these fictional women not possess characteristics that cause us to love them, and that go beyond their physical appearance?
• Vivian's intuition, care for others, assertiveness, and wit?
• Cher's analytical nature, her joyfulness, and her optimism?
• Elle's friendliness and willingness to grow? 
• All three of these women's self-determination and dogged adherence to their own self-worth?
• Why are we so quick to write them off just because of how they look, when a disproportionate emphasis on women's looks is actually the problem?

"I don't need back-ups. I'm going to Harvard."

Not all of our heroines have to beautiful, nor should we discount them because they are. Physical beauty should not be something that divides women and causes us to argue with one another about the value of each others' influence in the world.

Honestly, I think you'd have to be crazy to watch Pretty Woman and assume that Vivian changed Edward's life because she was beautiful. She changed it because she had a gift for seeing who he was and forcing him to deal with that reality. He changed her life because he did the very same thing for her, not because he was rich. On that point, Vivian's objectification as an attractive woman is no worse in the movie than Edward's objectification as a rich man, but who's out there decrying the disproportionate prevalence of well-to-do male characters in popular movies these days? No one (except maybe me now, yikes).

I really want us to teach our daughters to value the contributions of women's personalities over our personal thoughts on their looks.

I want my daughters to watch a movie and talk about how the characters thought and felt and what they did about their thoughts, feelings, challenges and aspirations. I want them to understand that outer beauty can be nice, and that it's not an enemy, but that character quality outshines it every time.

And most importantly, I would really love it if we women would recognize that instead of criticizing ourselves and or peers, we can be a force for encouragement and positive change.

So I encourage you to love and admire the women you do, no matter their age, weight, height, color, or your own determination of how physically beautiful they are. Really dig into why it is that you relate to certain characters, in reality or fiction, and I bet you'll find it has little to do with their appearance and much to do with just how amazing us women really are.