Down the Shore with Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift was down the shore yesterday, making stops at Uncle Bill's in Avalon and the Lobster House in Cape May. She posted a few pictures on twitter, too, including the photo above.

She's a shore girl, having spent her summers in Sea Isle and then Stone Harbor. Welcome back, Taylor! Hope you had a nice stay, and come back this summer if you can :-)

Ho ho ho

Before heading to Rhode Island, we did a quick trip to Cape May to wrap up holiday shopping. We stayed at the Victorian Motel. I'd never stayed there before, but it's located right behind Congress Hall so I've seen it. Not bad - very serviceable and clean motel close to the center of everything.

We got into town verrrrry late on Friday night, and in the off season, our options were limited, so we hit the Ugly Mug for some bar food, and then the Brown Room at Congress Hall for a post dinner drink. I snapped this photo on our way out:

Pretty.

The next day, we did a 10 mile run (from the hotel to Sunset Beach, then to the Lighthouse and back with a leg thrown in down Beach Avenue to check out construction of the Convention Center), followed up by brunch at Tisha's. We wrapped up our shopping at Whale's Tale, Madame's Port, the Fudge Kitchen, the Toy Shop and Sensia.

Nice trip. I wish we could have stayed longer, but that was not our pre-Christmas trip this year.

Anne Hathaway to get married in Cape May? Her family thinks so

The New York Daily News is reporting that Anne Hathaway's family would like her to get married in Cape May.

I agree.

So I'll put this out there: if anyone is doing a follow up story on this, drop me a line at jenmiller27 [at] gmail [dot] com and I'll be your "expert" on where I think she could get married and why Cape May would be perfect for such an event.

Site of the Day: RetroStockPix.com

AMAZING. RetroStockPix.com is amazing.

This site has taken the archives for Aladdin Color, Inc., which was founded in 1953 as a company that made brochures for motels, car dealerships, amusement parks and more.

The photos from those brochures are on the site, which makes them even better because they're super styled and posed (side note: as far as I know, a nine year old me is still in the Avalon Campground brochure).

The site has pics from around the country, but a chunk of them are from 1950s and 1960s Jersey Shore. You Wildwood fans are going to be VERY pleased.

I've been sharing some of my favorites on my Tumblr page - if you have some time today, take a look through. This one's my favorite so far.

It's probably too late to buy prints as holiday gifts, but I'm booking this one for future presents, and place where I'll go when I'm ready to decorate a new office.

Oh hey!

I'm on vacation this week in Providence, RI. That's me in front of the city's tree. Yes, I am in there. Big tree, huh?

Mack & Mancos changing name to Manco & Manco

So this is happening. No really. Purple sign and everything.

Meet the Brigantines

They're from Red Bank but call themselves the Brigantines. That at least deserves a quick post, right?

I like this one, too, off their EP Next Summer. And not just because I like Ray-Bans

Merry Christmas to Me

What an amazing piece of history!

The Cape May Handbook was published in 1977, one year after Cape May was designated a National Historical Landmark District. It showed people how to restore Victorian homes. This book was crucial at the time. The historic designation meant that people couldn't knock the homes down anymore. Instead, they had to be restored, and this book was the guide on how to do that correctly.

It makes me wish I'd been around in Cape May then - for the fight to save the old buildings, and then the work to turn them all around.

Even from a 2011 viewpoint, the photos of some historic buildings as taken in the 1970s in fascinating. Holding the guide that helped people return them to their formal glory is just wonderful.

Two odd things, though:

1. It feels like my old piano books.
2. How the heck did it end up at a used book dealer in New Hampshire?? I'm glad that this dealer though to not only keep the book but list it for sale online. It's a treasure.

Good Job, Tramps!

Lookie lookie what came in the mail yesterday:

My Asbury Park Relay Marathon team - the Tramps Like Us - finished second in the women's open relay. Way to go ladies!

I'm contemplating jumping into the New Jersey Marathon, which is put on by the same people who do the Asbury Park Relay Marathon, in May for a few reasons.

First, I'll already be marathon trained since it's about a month after the Ocean Drive Marathon.

Second, I tried to run this race before and got hurt, so it'd be a mental hurdle to jump - even if I did have a lovely weekend in Asbury Park/Ocean Grove that weekend anyway.

Third, the medal is the state of New Jersey. Last year's medal was the state spinning inside a circle. Yes really.

I think I need a race medal that looks like my favorite state. Might be worth the four hour plus slog. The big hitch is that it's the same day as Philadelphia's Broad Street Run, which everyone and their mother runs, including my boyfriend. Do I go against the grain for a medal of New Jersey? Hm. I'll figure it out soon enough.

P.S. I'm also a member of team Cookies & Beer, which, for the second year in a row, go into the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 miler in Washington, DC. If you got in, too, see you there!

Happy Anniversary, Emily

Six years ago today, I walked into the Animal Welfare Association by myself and walked out with a dog.

So in honor of Emily's "Gotcha Day," here's a year in photos of the best dog ever. In all that's happened over the last six years, I've never really been alone. Thanks Emily.

If you're looking for a dog, please consider adopted an adult. It's not Emily's fault she was beaten and abandoned. She came to me one underweight, scared pup. But now - I hope - she is one happy dog.

And the decade is...

...the 1950s! Ann Delaney and Anonymous, step on up for your prize of...well, a thank you and a congrats :-)

Since I'm feeling a little retro and it's chilly outside, how about a holiday tune from THE BEST SINGING GROUP EVER?!?!



Love the Ray Conniff Singers. Funny thing is? I'd never seen a video of them singing before. And this is exactly how I pictured them to be, right on down to the cardigans.

Thank you, internet. Thank you.

Guess the Decade

Anyone? Leave your guess in the comments.

The picture appeared in Ben Miller's The First Resort: Fun, Sun, Fire and War in Cape May, America's Original Seaside Town, which I'm re-reading. Nifty project.

Speaking of projects, I started a Tumblr. I'm still trying to figure out the best use for this kind of program, but it's been fun posting pictures so far.

Free eBook alert: JINXED by Beth Ciotta

Beth Ciotta is a Jersey Shore-based romance author (featured on this blog in January 2009) who set a few of her previous novels in Atlantic City. One of them, Jinxed, has been re-issued as an ebook, and is free for a limited time. I read most of it while on the train to and from New York this weekend, and it's a fun, frothy read.

Get it while you can.

New York City via the Jersey Shore

I was in New York this weekend for a two-day writing seminar. Instead of paying many hundreds of dollars for a hotel room in NYC on an insanely busy weekend, I opted to stay in Red Bank instead, and take NJ Transit's North Coast line to and from the city.

This proved to be a smart move, even if I did need to get on the train just after 7am to be into New York by 9am.

At least I got a pretty sunrise on Saturday morning.

It was fine for a solution to getting to and from New York on a weekend, but I gotta admit: I can't imagine commuting that way every day. That's a lot of train time.

I stayed at the Molly Pitcher Inn, which was more than fine for the price ($109 pre fees and taxes as booked through kayak.com). The room was nice but small. If you must have a TV in your room, make that known. I didn't have one in mine.

My only problem wasn't with the inn but the guests: specifically wedding guests who decided to have an after party from the hours of three to four am in the room next to me. There was some making out in the hall, too. Apparently the drunk girl was really looking forward to biting the drunk guy. At about four am when two women decided to have a conversation outside of my door, I finally told them to shut up. This isn't a knock against the inn (I hadn't called the front desk), but oy what a mess.

On Saturday night, I had dinner at Basil T's, which was CROWDED. I had to wait for a seat at the bar.

I wanted to try one of their craft brews, but I was so tired from a long day of writing that I just wanted a big glass of red wine, which is exactly what I ordered. The food was good - service wasn't great (I have a feeling my server was just having an off day).

On Sunday, I skipped my afternoon session to meet up with Erin of Relax Concierge for lunch at Langosta Lounge in Asbury Park. It wasn't terribly warm, but it wasn't cold either. Nice crowd on the boardwalk though.

After lunch, we walked to Porta, which is a new place that opened this year. Can I admit that I'm enchanted? What a lovely spot. Here's Erin acting as a Price is Right model.

They have an outdoor area with a bocce court. That in itself is cool. But even better? This.

What an excellent idea! Especially for a new-ish business in a shore town that's busy but not exactly jammed this time of year. It really reaches out to locals, who I think is the crowd they want to be sitting at their bar.

Long weekend, but a good one.

On another note, I've been getting a lot of emails and tweets about my hair - specifically that I cut off 12 inches of it. So here's an update on that (as taken from the Molly Pitcher Inn).

Apparently the best way to style it is to sleep with it wet. Who knew? I don't hate it. It's just...different.

Here Piggy Piggy

So I cut off my hair. For a good reason - I said goodbye to my mermaid waves.

I tweeted this photo, but people had less to say about the hair than about the four blue pigs you see in the background.

That narrow closet is my new running wall - medals and a bag from the Philly Marathon are hung from the wall. The pigs are part of it. They're Blue Pigs that I bought at Congress Hall in Cape May - one for every year I've run the Ocean Drive 10 Miler.

The 2008 Ocean Drive 10 was my first long distance race ever. I was so dazed and thrilled after the race, that I bought a Blue Pig and wrote my time on its tag.

In the 2009 race, I dropped more than 15 minutes off my time. So of course, I had to buy another pig and do the same thing.

2010? Not so great. I'd been training for a marathon and had to drop out because of a hip injury right around the time of the OD10. I was tempted to just say screw it and run the full marathon that is part of this race weekend, but common sense said I'd probably hurt myself. Still, I ran the OD10, and of course, got a pig despite some controversy.

By 2011, I had a streak going, so of course I ran the race again despite that medal incident from the year before. I ran seven races in 11 weeks, and this was one of them. No picture of a pig in my post about it, but there is a picture of my dog (who just turned 10, by the way).

Which brings me to the 2012 race. I will NOT be running the OD10 next year. Instead? I'll be doing the full marathon.

Maybe I'll have to buy two pigs to honor the occasion.