If you own a pool and you’re going on vacation, you may not want to read this. But, leave me your address before you go.

Have you ever thought of all of those luscious pools in Palm Beach sitting empty during the summer? There must be hundreds upon thousands of them. Sparkling and glimmering in the sunlight. Swept and chemically treated every week by peppy little pool fairies. Just one little splash and you will be suddenly transformed from being sweaty and over-cooked to relaxed, laid back and maybe you’ll find an extra $100 in your checking account. Who knows. With one of those pools anything is possible.

It just so happens that the thought of all of those empty pools is driving me crazy (I know, wait for it....short drive...who said that?). It isn’t that I can’t go to a friend’s pool, or a relative’s, or the Lake Worth pool, or Lake Lytal, or Calypso Bay. That’s not the same as a pool not serving it’s purpose. They’re just empty for goodness sake! It’s, it’s, it isn’t green! I’m trying to be efficient here. I’d be doing a service to the environment. Really, just think of all of those pools, the water going into them, the pumps used to keep them filled to just the right amount, the pool people using gas to go up to the North End to keep them clean. I’m only trying to do my bit during these tough times. Think of me as a Pool-ecologist.

Just call, I’ll keep your pool company while you’re out of town. I do prefer lounge chairs but it isn’t a requirement. Also, umbrellas or shade around the pool are a must so sun only pools need not apply.

photo by:  freedigitalphotos.net (yes, I did not take my own picture.  It's summer.  I've been at the BEACH!)

I hesitate to suggest a salon, but after two visits, I thought I’d share. Somehow, finding the right hair stylist seems more complicated that what doctor to go to or picking out your child’s school. Maybe it’s just me. It took me so long, so many tragic visits to salons here, that for a couple of years I would only get my hair cut on trips to my hometown. That and my dry cleaning.

Finding a salon requires perseverance and a little bit of investigative work. Just stopping in a place I drive by seems incredibly risky to me. I might as well go in and say "Hi, you don’t know me and you don’t know my hair but I’m throwing myself on your mercy. Please leave me with something on top." I just can’t do it. The other day I was at A Latte Fun with some friends and a little girl came in with the most fantastic hair cut. She had thick straight hair and it was cut in a wedge so the cut made her hair look even thicker. We, of course, couldn’t let her mom go into the play part until she told us the name of the salon, where it is, and who cut her hair. That’s the way it works.

After two great hair cuts at a salon, I wanted to mention a place a friend recommended to me. I took my daughter to DaNee Ritz Salon (more info is under "Errands") on S. Olive, just south of Clematis, two weeks ago. She’s two. And she had to wear her sunglasses the whole time. Dawn cut her hair and did a fabulous job. She also worked around the glasses. What can I say, I’m the star’s caretaker. I love what Dawn did with her hair so I took my other daughter the following week. She wanted to have layers put in her hair so Dawn fixed her up. My daughter loved it and was so excited to go to school and show her friends. I love how girls are just like women just in a miniature size. One of her friends took pictures of the front and back of her hair so she could show her "stylist". I couldn’t stop laughing about that. I don’t even remember getting my hair cut in a salon until I was in middle school.

A friend from Italy told me that hair salons in Italy are everywhere and they’re all good and affordable. So, maybe that isn’t the case here but I now believe that you can get a great cut here. Oh, I can’t remember the name of the salon where that girl got her cut, but I do know it’s off of Indiantown in Jupiter on A1A in the Three Palms Shopping center. If you were wondering.

Okay, I’ve been putting off doing this. But it’s become like an elephant in the room. I can’t ignore it any longer and I can’t pretend it didn’t happen. So, here goes. Hollywould isn’t here anymore. Are you okay. Somebody call 911. Did you already know about it and were afraid to mention it to me? I considered wearing black around town for a while but I decided that people would just think I was down from New York so no one would figure out I was in mourning. Hollywould is supposed to open up in Adventura. I don’t know if they have yet. Does it really matter anyway? I mean, who goes there? Zara has a children’s department and I would really, really love to see what they have in but do you see me going there? Ah, no.

If that wasn’t enough. Like I haven’t experienced a huge enough blow to my shopping psyche, I heard from a reliable source that Babor is closing by the middle of June. Can things get any worse around here? What am I going to have to do - have my daughter do my toes for me while I read a People magazine on the porch? Babor was The place that everyone knew that I liked and that they could get a gift cerftificate for me and I would be happy (rare, but happens). Babor was also the place that I had decided was going to be the setting of a James Bond-esque film with beauticians as the secret agents. What’s going to happen to that idea now? Gone. Blown away like a forgotten memory. 

I really can’t take any more disappointment. I’m trying to prop up this place with two toothpicks and some Elmer’s glue. Next thing you know, the beach will be closed too and then where will I be? Somebody cue the music, I need a moment.

Update (Aug. 6):  Island Video is now closed too.  So it's either Netflix or Blockbuster on Southern for us locals.

I should have known when the parking price went up a couple of months ago from $.25 for every 15 minutes to $.50 for the same time that something was up. And sure enough, these little beauties are now all over town. I’ve decided to look upon them as modern sculptures and ignore their more mercenary purpose.

When I’ve gone down to Coconut Grove (mainly only to go to Senor Frog’s), the parking system there - just like new one here - seemed kinda fun. We would all be excited that we didn’t have to have coins with us, it takes credit cards too. But, thing is, if I remember correctly, down south it’s still $.25 for 15 minutes. Now, if I am so unfortunate as to get stuck in a place in Palm Beach where I have to use a meter, I have to plan on using some lunch money for parking. I know in this Pollyanna-Pink PB Chick website I have a Policy of only saying Positive things, but, the thing is, I think the new parking system, along with the higher parking prices sends the wrong message. It almost feels like the town of Palm Beach is discouraging visitors. Is that the point? Because maybe we’re at cross-purposes here - I was actually trying to get people to go to Palm Beach.

For the most part you can count of the fact that I won’t be parking at a spot where I have to use a credit card to leave my car for 15 minutes. Maybe in the future Palm Beach will require a deposit of things like jewelry, bonds, or first born sons. Who knows what they’ll come up with next.

Update:  Of course after promising that I'll never, ever, ever pay those prices for parking, I did.  We went to the beach at Midtown Saturday.  We parked in one hour parking then but on Sunday we went to Phipps Park.  The only place to park is in paid parking.  While my family ended up finding some shade to wait in while I did the parking, my conversation with some perfect strangers went something like this...

People who were in front of me:  HOW much is it for 15 minutes?
Me (with a resigned voice): It's $2.00 per hour so it comes out to $.50 for every 15 minutes.
People in front then had to send someone back to their car for more money. waiting, waiting, waiting...
My turn.  Me:  Where's my piece of paper?
My son:  I don't think it gives you a paper.
Me:  Wha???  Oh,  it says here we have until 12:22.  What time is it?
Guy Behind Me:  It's 11:22.
Me:  What?  I can not believe it.  Aaaauugghhh. [the kids were with me]  I have to do this again.  I'm so sorry (to the like 4 people behind me).
when I'm finally done...
Me:  (to everyone in line) sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
WHY IS LIFE SO HARD???

So I went to the beach on Friday, Saturday and Monday. I don’t know what happened on Sunday. Frankly, I’m a little embarrassed about it. I should have been there. Now I have regrets. Aaah, there’s nothing like the sound of my daughter complaining about her sea lice. Another thing I’m regretting. And I’m the one who had the dire warnings about buying the Safe Sea. Can’t take my own advice. What a loser.

I can’t get enough of going to the beach. Everyday is different. On Saturday we were sitting on our towels and my husband told me to turn around. Behind us there was a row of four people sitting in chairs all doing crosswords or Soduku. And, can you believe it, I forgot my camera. I was so mad. There would be a picture of them here right now. It was classic.

Also on Saturday there was a girl who came to the beach after us who put her towel down right next to us. She had wonderful red hair and, frankly, the whitest skin I think I’ve ever seen on the beach. I kept wondering if she had put sunscreen on before she got there because I didn’t see her put on any. Then she just laid out in the sun, no umbrella or anything. After only fifteen or twenty minutes she left. When she was gone I turned to my husband and said "Thank goodness she left, she was stressing me out."

Friday and Monday we did the Emergency Beach Run. This involves racing to the beach straight from school and having the kids change in the car. I find it very therapeutic for everyone. Who cares about homework. My question is "How much?" If I get a shrug out of my son, we’re good to go.

On Monday when we went to the beach there was a family there from England. Hey, they could have been from Australia or New Zealand but I’m pretending that I’m a language expert and I’m going to go with southern England, possibly Sussex. Anyway, I love it when I get next to foreigners on the beach. I really feel like I’m on vaca’. I always feel bad for them though because they’re always so burnt. Although, I must admit, maybe I feel a little superior because even though we all have our sunscreen on, we have that tan that "we just can’t help" having because since we live here it’s inevitable. Hey, you take what you can get.

Another good thing about being next to people from England is I got to hear their "fancy" accent and I could still mostly understand what they were saying. It’s not like they were from Germany or something. That could have been bad because then they could have been talking bad about me and I’d have had no idea. I could have been telling them that their kid was cute or something and they’d been telling each other "What’s with the American chick? We just want to be alone on the beach?" And I’d have been grinnin’ like a fool. Phew, thank goodness they were English.

Oh, another thing I love about the beach is when other people get in trouble. Yeah, you think about these things too.  See, thing is, I’ve gotten fussed at a couple of times before. Nothing big. "Watch your kid...blah..blah..." Hey, it’s why I go to the beach with the lifeguards. They’re like the police. You’re glad they’re there but not when you get a ticket. So, when someone starts climbing on the rocks I tell my kids "Wait for it..wait for it..." and then there’s the whistle. It’s most entertaining. They also don’t like it when someone swims too near the rocks, or when a swimmer goes out too far. I don’t think footballs and things like that are allowed (we brought one once and we got a talkin’ to so I’m not questioning authority). But, when my daughter got stung by jellyfish she went up to the lifeguard stand and he sprayed her foot with vinegar (works like a charm) and I know if something were to happen I’d rather be at a beach with lifeguards than without. Come on, admit it, you know it’s fun when someone else gets the whistle.

Maybe I’ll go to the beach tomorrow. You never know what’ll happen.

Sunfest is a coming. Lock and Load. Buckle your seat belt. All hands on deck. It’s time to review our game plan for getting around downtown. Now, you may think "Oh, I can’t drive around downtown until Sunfest is over." Hey, Flagler may be closed down but that means nothing in PB Chick’s world. See, this is the way it works...

Say you want to drop off some books at the library but you’re coming from south of Okeechobee. So, what you do is go up Olive until you get to Banyan. Drive east until right before Flagler. You know they’re going to close Flagler right there so turn right in between the office buildings. The book drop off is on the other side of Clematis so turn right but then throw the car in reverse and back up to the book drop.

So what happens if you’re on Flagler coming from Palm Beach Lakes but you forgot that it’s closed at Banyan. Go up Narcissus right along side of the "old" City Hall. Keep going past Clematis and Datura. You can even go through the parking lot (there’s meters there so it must be okay to do this) and you can get to Evernia.  Note:  I just drove on Narcissus.  It's closed after Datura.  Whatever.

If things get really bad and you can’t take it anymore and you have to get from Okeechobee to Palm Beach Lakes and there’s no way you’re going on Olive or Quadrille the escape plan is to cross over into Palm Beach and drive up Cocoanut until you get to the north bridge and then you’re on the other side of all the mess.

I have some other short cuts but I don't think they're legal.

Just remember, keep your head in the game. Don’t lose your cool. Play nice. Remember it’s not the destination, it’s how you get there and the lessons you learn along the way. Just to be on the safe side add fifteen minutes onto wherever you’re going. Rock on.

There are certain things I have decided that I can’t live without. One of them is Cokes. I tried for a while. I fall on and off the wagon but, if I go to Rocco’s I am not drinking water with my taco. It’s just criminal. Another thing that is required is getting some sun everyday. I don’t care if I turn into one of those ladies you might find marooned on Pompano Beach decked out in pedal pushers, suntan oil and cat-eyed glasses. I need my vitamin d. Usually every day, at some point, I take my weary bones outside and sit down in the sun for at least fifteen minutes. Today something happened that, well, explains this picture.

Did you notice what a beautiful day it was today? I had nothing to complain about (for once). I didn’t go to the beach but I only have myself to blame. So I was sitting outside reading the best book called Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson. I don’t know why I decided to look up all of a sudden but right in front of me (maybe five feet away) was a snake. At the same time I looked up, he (aren’t all snakes boys, he he) had just lifted his head up to look around. I jumped up to go in the backdoor and at the same time he turned around and slid for cover under the bushes. While I was cowering behind the door, he immediately came out and continued on his way. So, I quietly snuck out and headed for the garage and got the shovel (yeah he was cute but he was a snake). While I was getting the shovel I had serious deep thoughts about murder. Could I really do it? Usually my husband handles these sorts of things. But I had CHILDREN to protect. I’m really not an animal lover but I can’t stand the thought of dead animals. Then I thought, yeah, I can do it, so I got the shovel and prowled around the bushes for a while. I don’t know where he is, but if he so much as shows his face around here he’s gonna get it.

I called my husband on his way home from work and our conversation went something like this:

Husb:  Did you wear your boots [have I mentioned that they're Tamara Henriques?] when you tried to kill it?
PBChick:  Uh. No.  I was wearing my sandals [Jack Rogers, thank you very much].
Husb:  Well if you try to kill it again, wear your boots, but you might want to put a rubber band around the top of them - they're really wide at the top.
 [pause while I figure out what he's saying but not saying...]
PBChick:  Uh, I think I'll stick with the sandals.

I have a nest of vipers in my garden. What’s next for paradise? Gigantic sharks washing up on the shore? Turtle populations declining? I need a Coke.

Hello. tap tap Is this thing on? PBChick here. Did you miss me? Did you notice I was gone? I’m such a loser. You didn’t. I was on Spring Break. And, I LEFT FLORIDA! Yes, I know, it does happen sometime. I’m sure you do it too. I felt like after 10 hours of driving (yes, I drove) I was going to have my ID checked at the border to make sure I was allowed to leave. Some guard was going to say "Nope, you’re a Florida resident, only non-residents are leaving today, try tomorrow." Fortunately, no one stopped me and I got out. Phew.

I realized on my time state-side that every time I feel the need to excuse my behavior I simply say to myself or out loud (it doesn’t really matter which), "...I live in Florida" Like when people keep offering to let me use their swimming pool. "No thanks, I live in Florida, almost everyone has a pool so it’s no big whoop for us." Another one is when I’m with someone else in the car and I’ve just yelled and/or honked at someone who has taken too long to make up their mind where they want to turn and I say "I live in Florida, we have to drive like this, we’d be considered rude if we didn’t" Or, when I’m having my third doughnut at my favorite doughnut shop and I say "I live in Florida and the Krispy Kreme store closed." You might want to try this phrase out sometime. It covers a multitude of situations.

But, back to my vaca. I had a great time, thanks for asking. But, I’m glad to be back. My future plans include a serious trip to the beach where I’m going to sink my toes in the sand, read some more of the latest Peter Robinson book (I tried to read it the other day while I was eating a sandwich and realized it was either the book or the sandwich, food and murder mysteries don’t always mix), and simultaneously keep a desultory eye on the kiddies. I live in Florida and I love the beach.

Here's a pic from my trip.  If you guess where I took it and what building it's in, you can have your choice of  my next 40% off coupon to Joann Fabrics or a PBChick bumper sticker!  One at a time please!

Being around the boat show for a couple of days got me to thinking. Uh oh. Have you ever thought that your family was going to have a big moment? Maybe it’s when you pull together and help build a house for a needy family somewhere or maybe it’s scaling some mountain, working as a team to do it. Well, I think my family is meant to have something along the lines of the movie Captain Ron. I just know it. Great things. And just maybe this weekend at the boat show is when it’s all going to happen. I’ll meet some rich boat owner along Flagler who needs his yacht from Florida moved down into the Caribbean somewhere and only my family will be the ones who will be fit for the job. My husband will be the one to wear the eye patch. This will be our Big Moment where we learn What We’re Made Of. We’ll face the open waters (seas 2-4 feet), search for provisions (where is that Houston’s in Ft. Lauderdale where you can tie up your boat?), and fight off pirates (Scrabble or Blokus?). Along the way we’ll learn some profound life lessons (like how to tan evenly) and we’ll grow closer as a family (a Spa at Atlantis would help me with this one).

It could happen.

Almost St.Patrick’s Day - when everyone’s Irish. So, before you start reading this, go out and buy the Once cd. Cue it up on your iPod and then continue. I’ll wait...Did you get it? Great...

I was driving along N. County yesterday and saw this rainbow. I could see the beginning and end of the rainbow. I thought about going out to check for my pot of gold but I’m not a very good swimmer.

I saw in the paper (the PB Post) yesterday that there are loads of St. Pat's activities going on.  There's an Irish Fest downtown today and tomorrow.  That looks like a lot of fun.  A comedian, cloggers, singers and a bunch of other activities.  There's also a parade in Delray that involves a pig.  I don't know if I'll catch that this year.  It was weird though, most of the notices in the paper were things at bars?  What's up with that? 

Ooohhh, wouldn't it be fun if we tried to make the intracostal green for the big day?  Since Simple Green is supposedly so super safe, we could try using loads of that.  Just an idea, I'm open to other suggestions on how to celebrate.  I'm not dying my hair green.  Pink I could live with but green is going too far.

OhmygoshhaveyoubeentoKourtneyPulitzer’snewshop? Okay, sorry, I’ll slow down. Going back a ways, there used to be a great shop next to Jane Loves Cheap Furniture. It was called Vignettes. It was actually in my little guide before it made it to the ‘web’ but it closed and so, bye, bye Vignettes. But, lets so move on! I read about Kourtney Pulitzer in a local mag and so I made my way down there this Saturday. Big treat, Kourtney was there and guess what, okay, I’ll tell you, I know the secret to why this shop is so fantastic! She’s from the South! Okay, maybe it takes more than that, but you have to go by this brand spanking new store (she just opened in December).

So, while we were reminiscing about big hair and Chuy's, I saw some lovely clothes. Beautiful dresses. One shift was coral and white print with beading on the neckline - it came in blue but that one’s gone already. There was another beautiful floaty dress in yellow (oh my gosh - Jenna Bush should wear this to a bridal tea - get it - Yellow Rose of Texas???). I love the delicate necklace paired with it. I also loved the tunics and simple shorts - so SoFla. Plus some lovely linen pants that would look great on my tall, skinny friends - you know who you are.

One last mention, Kourtney also has some other interesting things in her shop. One item that really caught my eye was a painting by her mother-in-law. It was a view of the back of an airplane wing (looked like a private plane!) with islands scattered far below. I loved it.

I was looking through a local mag recently (no, I don’t remember which one) and there was a photo shoot at Eaton Fine Art. I knew this because of the huge construction cones that you can’t miss if you’ve ever been to CityPlace. So, that stuck in my head, when so very much else doesn’t. Fast forward to me riding on my bike today (yeah, it rained on me again today, I’m starting to take it personally - I have my own personal rain cloud). Oh, and by the way, I wasn’t wearing a fab scarf or anything, I don’t trust my two year old. So, to get back onto the subject, I went to Eaton Fine Art because of that article I was telling you about. Yeah, LOVED it! What a fool I’ve been for never going before. I must add this to my list of regrets. It really seemed almost like a public space. So, heres a pic. I also added Eaton Fine Art to "Places to Go and Things to Do".

Oh my gosh, I totally forgot why I was telling you this. I’m losing it. I wanted to see the construction cones because of a Halloween outfit I made my son wear a couple of years ago. Do you remember when it seemed like everywhere you turned in Palm Beach and West Palm roads were under construction? I can’t remember what year it was. The middle bridge was under construction too. So I had a great idea for my son’s Halloween outfit. I bought an orange t-shirt and put wide diagonal stripes of tape across the front and wrapping around the back. He was a construction barrel. It was a commentary on the insanity we were being forced to endure. Needless to say, he didn’t win the costume contest in the Gucci Courtyard (I wanted to demand a recount).

I learned a very important lesson. Jokes are only funny if people get them. If you have to go around saying "Get it, he’s a construction barrel, ‘cause you know, there’s construction everywhere???" then you’re not going to get a laugh out of people. You’re only going to get one very embarrassed kid.

I’ve been reading The Sartorialist way too much. Today on the way to the library I saw this girl riding her bike. I thought the yellow scarf made the whole look. So, I chased her down and asked her if I could take her picture. I wish I had this much style when I go bike riding. I can just picture it - I’ll get my outfit together and add a scarf. Things will be going well, I’ll be riding along when all of a sudden my two year old will turn the scarf into a noose. I’ll lose consciousness from lack of oxygen and fall over in a dead faint.

Anyway, I thought this girl looked so carefree. This is what Florida living is all about.

I place way too much pressure on myself on Mondays. I expect things out of Mondays. Cleaning, eating healthy, exercise, doing good motherly things like reading, riting, rithmetic with the kids. I can’t wait for maybe Thursday. By then my expectations of myself will be much lower. I’ll have decided that whatever it is that the Monday Me thought needed to get done isn’t going to get done this week and I’ll enjoy the next two days. But, enough about that, how was your weekend? Did you get out and enjoy the incredible weather?

This Chick’n Around is really about MacArthur State Park. We went there this weekend and had a great time and you really should go. So, here are some pictures to try and convince you. The picture of the Indian lady is included because I thought she looked fabulous (I’ve been reading the Sartorialist and I’ve been inspired) and I still want to go to India.

So I saw on the news yesterday (local, thank you very much - doing my part), that The Plaza is open again after two long years of being closed for renovations. Oh joy! So, here’s my little note to The Plaza, maybe it’ll get to them...

Dear The Plaza,

Hi. How are you? I am fine. You may not remember me but I’ve been to your hotel before. Years and years ago I visited the restaurant with my family. It was after a particularly sweaty tour of New York City and parts of Brooklyn (hello Omar Sharif!) on a double decker bus. We thought, what better thing to do in August after an open-air tour than to drag our wind-swept (and stinky) selves to The Plaza? I love, love, love your hotel. See, just like Eloise.

We walked by at Thanksgiving on our way to F.A.O. Schwartz but don’t be mad, I didn’t pay any attention to you. What was there to see? You weren’t open, I couldn’t go in or anything. I promise, if I were in New York right now, things would be different.

So, I just wanted to catch up and say "hello" and to welcome you back. If you’re ever in Palm Beach, let me know, I know of some great things to do around here. Ha. Ha.

I have had it. It’s almost March. I blame all of this cold on global warming.

Enough is enough, I’m going to India. While riding bikes with the kids, I stopped in at the IndiaFest. It was going on at the Myer Amphitheater this past Saturday. It reminded me of the Indian things that I like: the movie Bend it Like Beckham (okay, not very Indian, but a little), the movie Bride and Prejudice (I "heart" this movie. I almost bought it, maybe I will, life is an uncertain thing that changes like the tides...one day I don’t own the movie, the next day I do), Indian clothes (I really want one of those outfits but I’m not showing my stomach), the jewelry they wear on their face (at the IndiaFest there were tables full of these designs that stick onto your face, my daughter was dying for some but, you only get to use them once), and since I’ve never had Indian food, all I can say is I love curried chicken salad.

I don’t know though, if I go to India, I’m worried that everyone won’t be dancing in the streets and throwing flowers at me like in Bride and Prejudice. I’ll have to think about this, should I have my dreams shattered by reality, or should I keep the dream and live with the freezing cold in South Florida? Maybe I’ll check out flights just in case...