So much for saving money....

Photo: Gilt Group

Ok, so I am on a really tight budget.  I am currently planning a trip to visit a friend in Portland in September, a friend's wedding in Key Largo and Costa Rica early next year.  I have been saving like I never knew how to, pushing my leftover money into my mother's hands knowing that I can't get my hands on it.  For three months I have been doing great.

Until today.  I, I don't know why, went onto Gilt and came across a great pair of Kelsi Dagger red booties.  The guilt has already set in, but I can't wait to wear them with a great summer dress and then with black tights in the upcoming Fall months. It is almost worth eating tuna for the next month!

"Forgo Fist-Pumping on the Jersey Shore" via New York Magazine

Photo: The Breakers

As a native to the New Jersey shore, just north of Asbury Park, I am very aware of the reality and not so reality of MTV's portrayal of what the Jersey Shore really is. A few years back they aired two 'True Life' episodes following, what else, New Yorkers spending their summers in Seaside Heights (known to us natives as "Flea-side") and being out of control. After these aired was when I moved to San Francisco, getting the "you don't seem like the people in those shows...are you really from New Jersey?".

I enjoy these shows. Mostly, because if out-of-towners watch them and believe what they see, they will either not make this state more crowded by visiting, or go straight to Seaside and let me enjoy my favorite spots during the summer months. As you have seen in a few posts, I always enjoy Asbury Park and the creativity that is exuding from it's walls; art, fantastic restaurants, boardwalk treats, art galleries...it's all there and has unique followers just as them.

IF you are daring to look past these shows & embrace what the 'real' shore has to offer to you, here's a beginner's guide courtesy of New York Magazine, here.

Greetings from Asbury Park

Photos: Robin West

Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary
I am not a vegetarian, but I do have strong feelings towards how animals are treated on this planet, no matter what their life may lead to.  If you care as much as I do, please check out this website.