Our Road Trip!

I've been twittering about mom and my road trip to the Northeast. Fall is here and it's just beautiful up North! We're now on stop 3 of the trip- New York City!!

I'd been taking pictures with my hand me down digital camera which works beautifully, BUT....... I've discovered how to take pictures on my wonderful Blackberry phone and then email them to myself so I can post ! I already adored my new amazing blackberry, but now I'm over the top in love with this little machine! I'll be posting pictures from my digital camera ( soon as I find my cord to download onto the computer) but in the meantime, here are some slightly blurry pictures that I took today from my phone.

Here's what we did in just one day here in NYC! Ate Dim Sum in Chinatown @ Ying Jam which is just like a traditional dim sum house in Hong Kong, we ate Italian pastries @ Ferrara's Cafe in Little Italy http://www.ferrarascafe.com/, rode in Pedi Cabs twice in the middle of the city traffic in the rain. Went to Macys - which by the way is the world's biggest store www.macys.com and had make overs at the Philosophy and Mac make up counters. Then we went to see an amazing Broadway Musical " Jersey Boys" which is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. http://www.jerseyboysinfo.com/broadway/ Besides being incredible music, singing, dancing and energy of the young cast, their story is really quite extraordinary. The audience was singing along with the show which doesn't happen so often on Broadway!

Enjoy my first attempt with taking pictures from my cell phone. Mom in front of the Ferrara Pastry case, Mom in the Pedi cab with our driver/ rider and me @ Macy's actually getting an oxygen facial right in the center of the Philosophy counter! Only in New York! More pictures to come....

The Rhode Island Beach House

I'm off island on my 2nd Annual road trip with my mom to visit my family up north. We are in New England celebrating my Aunt's 80th birthday. This is the wonderful beach house in Watch Hill , RI that one of my very dear friend's just recently completed a major renovation and decoration. Best of all, the house is a true home , complete with their own yellow lab who happily posed for a picture! Isn't this beautiful? Notice the view from the window- yes, that is the ocean... every room has a great view! enjoy!

Hallie's Savannah Adventures as the Roving Blogger continue....

Our roving Blogger had not one, two or three but FOUR Celebrities sightings this week! You've already seen her picture of Robert Redford and Paula Deen, but here- in her own words - are her adventures of seeing one of our most fav celebrities- Ruby as well as all the details about the Deen Family Book Signing.

"Diane,Look who I just happened to see while driving down Abercorn on my way to meet Susan Kelleher for our Lunch Crunch ab workout. I literally pulled to the side of the road in a no parking zone and grabbed the camera. Her production person explained they were literally starting to film but she grabbed my camera and offered to take a photo of the two of us. Ruby gave me a big hug – she is truly a Southern doll. I know she was down a little over 100 lbs last time I was able to catch the show. Unfortunately the film crew was ready to film so I had no time to talk to her or tell her how disappointed we were that the show is no longer being shown here in Savannah. She saw me from a distance, acknowledged me and honestly just gave me a big hug when I approached her. She is truly a stunning lady"

Here is Hallie's recap afternoon at the Paula Deen book signing this week @ Uncle Bubba's:

"Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the Queen of Southern Cooking, our very own Paula Deen. At a book signing held at Uncle Bubbas the whole family gathered to meet and greet over 500 fans. And when I say the whole family, I mean Paula, Michael, Uncle Bubba, Jamie, Bobby and Bobby’s girlfriend. Yes, you read it correctly…Bobby has a girlfriend. Rumor has it he is dating actress Katy Mixon (she played Susan, pregnant wife of Jon Favreau in the movie Four Christmases). It’s been a busy year for the Deen family with numerous TV appearances and book signings. The boys recently came out with their third cookbook, The Deen Brothers. Take It Easy, which is fantastic, lots of great and simple recipes (be sure to pick one up at Seaside Sisters). At the same time, Paula has been traveling around promoting her Cookbook for the Lunch Box Set with numerous appearances on The Today Show and Good Morning America. And starting in November, Capt. Michael Groover will be touring around with his lovely wife promoting his new book, My Delicious Life with Paula Deen. Although the boys had to leave prior to my turn, the highlight of my day was Paula laughing hysterically while signing the group photo from my Deen Family Dinner (minus the Deen’s) Dinner Party. After informing her of the concept and highlighting our amazing menu of food items I assured her that she would receive a formal invitation….next time. "

If you'd like to read Ruby's Blog visit http://www.mystyle.com/ and then search Ruby's Blog.

Our Friends with Sea Kayak Georgia

This week and weekend there is a very big deal event happening on Tybee. The Sea Kayak Symposium begins today with kayakers from all over the world here enjoying our Tybee back yard, better known as the ocean.

Visit http://www.seakayakgeorgia.com/ to see all the details of this amazing week of adventure, all the classes and events being offered and just to learn more about what's right here on our island! The picture in front of the sign is Susan, Cindy and I on one of our kayaking trips this summer with them. Such a fun time we had.

We have a number of guests staying with us who are attending the Symposium- a special welcome back to Martha- a self described "aging Gidget". Two of the above pictures show Martha on another one of her Tybee adventures this summer kayaking on the waves. She's the one in the middle yelling "yahoo!!!"

The Outdoor Inn is located right next door to Sea Kayak GA and ideal for not only weddings and special events, but kayak groups. http://www.theoutdoorinn.com/

Our newest Artist @ SeaSide Sisters Coastal Cottage Shop

I have a wonderful new artist being featured in my "shop within a shop" @ SeaSide Sisters here on Tybee. Catherine Lovett does amazing bright, vivid coastal scenes- usually painting on large canvas . She's done two incredible paintings that hang in my cottage- one of blue crabs and another of wild Georgia Shrimp and lemons. They are so beautiful, her art will be appearing in a future article in Paula Deen's magazine . The pictures just make your feel like you're on the coast! She will also be a featured artist at the 15th Annual Telefair Art Show in November www.telefair.org

We are very lucky because Catherine is now painting just for SeaSide Sisters very small ( 5x5 or 4x6) and affordable (under $50) original pieces of coastal art. The above pictures: A Basket of Oysters, an Oyster, a Shrimp, a Starfish and a Sanddollar and even a small picture of Tybee's Back River are now in the shop.

Stop by and see this bright and cheerful fun original art!!!

Our Roving Blogger Hallie's Movie Updates

I can't be every place at once, so one of my favorite Savannah friends- Hallie- has volunteered to be my guest blogger complete with photographs. Here is her newest report from Downtown Savannah AND the newest movie being shot here - produced and directed by ROBERT REDFORD!!!! PS- I've also included a picture of Hallie and one of her all time favorites - Paula Deen!

"Well, the second day of filming for The Conspirator commenced on a beautiful sunny and comfortable Tuesday in downtown Savannah, GA. The movie, as you can see from the props, is set to take place during the 1860s. The story is about Mary Surratt, the lone female charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination trial of Abraham Lincoln. Directing this film is none other than the handsome and famous Robert Redford (as you can see from my blurry pictures). The movie will feature James McAvoy (Atonement), Evan Rachel Wood (The Upside of Anger) and Robin Wright Penn (Message in a Bottle). Recently added to the film cast is Justin Long (Mac computer guy and He’s Just Not That Into You). McAvoy plays a disfigured Civil War hero who comes to Mary’s defense, while Long will play his best friend and fellow soldier who also assists as McAvoy's conscience. Robin Wright Penn will play Mary Surratt and it is rumored that Evan Rachel Wood will play President Lincolns wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. Filming is set to run into December so more updates to come from beautiful Chatham Square, primary location of the filming."

Hallie Currigan- Roving Blog Reporter for Mermaid Cottages

Twitter- another fun way to keep in touch!

Hopefully everyone has discovered Twitter- as much fun as blogging, but much faster and quicker. ( perfect for those of us with ADD- which I believe is 99% of the adult world any more!)

I've been "tweeting" for over a year now, but am just now finding new inspired ways to change and improve the Twitter site. I really had fun this summer with Twitter when Miley was here on Tybee and staying very close to my personal cottage. ( I know most of my Tybee friends know exactly where she was staying). Miley was a passionate twitter and would twitter constantly. The fun part was tracking her tweets when she was sitting on her porch just a block away from me while I was tweeting myself. Of course she wasn't following me and I was just of one of her 2 million plus followers, but it was still fun. Now she's made national news ( seriously- I found out about this on NPR Marketplace- she no longer tweets because she wanted to keep her life a bit more private- but yet did a www.youtube.com video entitled "Good Bye Twitter").

So Miley is gone from Twitter, but the Middle Aged world of which I belong loves it and has great fun with it. If you don't believe me, follow her dad- Billy Ray. He is more caught up in twitter more then his daughter ever thought about being!

I love it because I can update my many friends and guests on Tybee and what's going on down here and for those of you not able to be here full time, you can have your little taste of Tybee on Twitter.

I just learned how to change up my Twitter design. Good old Martha Stewart who like Billy Ray adores sharing, has a great background design of her little boston terrier. Sure enough, I figured out how to do so and now my twitter is personalized like Martha! The picture I selected right now is from one of my fav local Tybee artist's- photographer and musician Richard Leo Johnson. Richard takes glorious pictures and has shot several of our cottages ( when he's not busy working for Savannah Magazine, Coastal Living Magazine- the list goes on and on.) You can learn more about him by visiting his website www.richardleojohnson.com and you'll wonder like me how one person can be so incredibly talented!!!!

PS- I've also just found that people are posting questions on twitter that I didn't know about or how to respond! Just send back some answers to "Barbara" who had some questions for me. sorry!!! I'll be better about responding now that I figured how to do so!

The pirates landed on Tybee- despite the rain!

We had so much fun this weekend! Pirate Parties right and left all weekend long. We had many costume changes ( who knew you could purchase so many pirate type clothes! We all gathered to march in the parade on Saturday and despite the very dark clouds gathering over head, we felt very confident the rain surely wouldn't come a second year in a row. I guess the weather gods were not happy that our island had been invaded by so many scary looking people. ( honestly the pirate attire on people of ALL ages was truly amazing!)

So the rains came half way thru the parade and we all just kept marching/ walking / strolling. But so much fun!

My Saturday outfit was the pirate mermaid complete with the flowing mermaid tail. Too bad you can't see the sparkly eye make up composed of blue and green sprinkles. And thank you to our friends with Forever Tybee who gave us a ride and proceeded to sing happy birthday to me!

Next year all of you need to be part of our group. But what am I saying- Tybee's Mardi Gras is Feb 12th and 13th 2010- another parade down Butler Ave!!!

The Ruby Slippers have nothing on the Mermaid Pirate Shoes

I have never been one for dressing up in costumes. My daughter LOVES to dress up ( her entire group of friends from college love to dress up for that matter- they have entire theme parties). Halloween was never a big deal for me and costume theme parties at Marriott events- nope- never got into them.

But there is something about Pirate Fest and living on Tybee that seem to go hand in hand. This is the 5th Year of the event and I saw it two years when Mary Kay Andrews, NY Times Best Selling Author and her friends stopped by the cottage on their way out to the festival fully dressed as pirate. They were having so much fun and adult beverages were not even part of creating that fun for them!! Then last year spending time with them as well as the owners of Sea Glass Cottage where everyone came dressed up- well I finally got it. Unlike Beach Bum Parade where you just get all wet- this is a full blown theme and very easy to create a pirate look and best of all, just have fun.

So- again following the lead of Mary Kay Andrews, I met with the local seamstress on Tybee to create my own pirate look. I decided against the traditional pirate colors of black and red and went with my own favorite colors of seafoam green and shimmery blues. I realized, I was creating a mermaid version of a pirate costume. So we took it a step further and decided to create a pirate mermaid outfit! A pirate in the front but with a mermaid tail trailing behind! Pictures will follow...

And the creativity continues- an old pair of shoes bound for the Goodwill are now being created to become mermaid pirate shoes. Who knew that Walmart carried green and blue glitter glue. I also found that Walmart carries green sparkly eye makeup to include mascara, eye liner and eye shadow! One of my team reminded me to be sure not to mix them up since they all were in the same Walmart bag!!

The fest kicked off last night with the Bucaneer Ball crowing two good friends- Amy Gaster with Tybee Vacation Rentals and Cullen Chambers Executive Director of the Tybee Historical Society are our Pirate King and Queen. The pirates land on our Tybee beach tonight to take over the city and we'll be there as pirates!

Mermaid Sightings @ Breeze Inn!

Another mermaid found at one of our cottages! This beautiful hand crafted mermaid whirly gig was made in Delaware and found her way to Breeze Inn. She matches the color perfectly especially with the summer garden. Sea foam greens and pinks are a beautiful match! Breeze Inn will also be the sight of a pirate pre party party on Friday night... the pirate invasion is about in begin- word has it that there are some pirates driving up the coast from Ft Lauderdale about to arrive at Breeze Inn..

Sunset as seen from Venetian Drive

Sunsets are beautiful this time of year, I took these pictures last week from Venetian Drive. You too can see these glorious views from any of our three cottages- Sunset Cove, Tybee Tides and Doodlebug Cottage. No extra charge even!

Our Pre Theatre Party

Our team of Mer People ( the mermaids and mermen of Mermaid Cottages who worked so hard and long all summer) gathered together Friday Night for Pre Theatre cocktails and munchies party at Mermaid Manor. ( good thing my "m" key on my computer hasn't worn out from that last sentence! ) We wanted to support our friends and neighbors who all were appearing in the production of The Treasure of Lefty the Pirate... the legend of the Tybee Bomb which was shown at the Tybee Gym- or theatre as it is this weekend. We enjoyed time together with each other and had a toast or two to the very successful summer season with happy guests, homeowners and prospects for next year looking excellent! ( thank you Miley for delaying the premiere of the movie till next spring!)

I made a new cake- Praline Apple cake with fresh apples I'd brought back from the orchards of North Carolina- the cake was very yummy and the praline topping only made it better!

Hopefully all of you will be able to see the last two shows today- Matinee at 3PM and the final show @ 7:30PM Buy your tickets on line at http://www.tybeeposttheatre.org/

thanks again to the best team on the island for all your hard work! BTW- we'll next be gathering as a group for the Pirate Fest Parade next Saturday and everyone is invited to join us in our parade group!