Nantucket the Beautiful Pt. 2

So when we last left our Fourth of July recap, I had just had my dreams dashed with the cancellation of the fireworks. Although I was completely bummed out, there was no time to dwell on such things, as my sister Becky and her boyfriend Freddie were set to arrive the next day! Also, Steve and I both had to work on Friday, so we returned to the real world while Alisa and Rocky set off for the beach. 

I was going about my regular work day when I was shocked to see my photo on Nantucket BlACKbook. Well, not like, totally shocked, because Holly had sent me her style survey to fill out. But still shocked, nonetheless because I had no idea when it would run, if at all.

island infamy.

So needless to say, that was my greatest accomplishment that day. 

My sister and her boyfriend Fred arrived that afternoon, and after I was finished with work, we all met up for dinner. Unfortunately, in doing so we kind of missed out on the rescheduled fireworks. Correction: I saw one single firework while we were waiting in line for ice cream.

oh say can you see.

Yes, we had ice cream everyday. IT'S THE FOURTH OF JULY.

The next day was Saturday, so I finally got to go to the beach- YAY! But Steve still had to work- BOO. Regardless, we all packed up our beach essentials and headed to Surfside. 

you have yours, i have mine.

The beach was amazing. If you can believe it, it was the first time I had gone and sat on the beach since I moved to Nantucket.

Unfortunately, it was also the first time I got severely and horribly sunburnt. Apparently, event the strongest SPF needs to be applied immediately after getting out of the water. Needless to say, there were a lot of references to Alicia Keys' "Girl on Fire." Because that's what I was for the rest of the weekend. 

Since we clearly needed some cooling off, our next stop was Cisco Brewery. Even though there was what seemed like 40,000 people there, somehow I managed to snag us a shady seat where we spent our afternoon sampling an array of delicious beverages.

just a couple of f yeahs & madaket mules.

and peach wine, for the lady.

I appreciated that even Cisco showed some patriotic spirit. 

accessories are important.

The rest of the night was pretty relaxed, as most of us were sporting some serious sunburns and aimed to move as little as possible. Steve made us a delicious pressure cooker meal and we dined like kings around our Ikea coffee table. 

But with everyone leaving the next day, we couldn't resist going out... for ice cream. Yes, one last time. And of course, we couldn't resist a photo op with a reminder of our PSU days:

what's a few hundred miles?

Finally, it was time to head home and come to terms with the fact that that holiday was almost over and everyone would be leaving us, which was really hard, because it was the first time that we had had any friends visit since we've been on Nantucket. 

Before seeing everyone off to their boat back to America, we took a quick stroll around downtown to make sure that everyone got their full island experience. Which obviously meant souvenir shopping.

meet nantucket's newest rap duo.

I also took all the ladies to one of my favorite stores downtown, C. Wonder. I love this place, not only for all the nautical items and brightly colored baubles, but also, free candy.

i'll just have a few sweet tarts for the road.

Unfortunately, my sister's most favorite item in the store is not for sale:

her pageant talent may or may not be balloon animal-making.

As we approached the Hy-Line docks, we realized that my sister and I never took a picture together. Not one, the whole weekend! That needed to be amended real quick.

like my granny cardigan? it's to keep my flesh from burning.

We finally said goodbye and prepared to return to our normal lives, sans four house guests and boozy fruit. 

But it was still the weekend, and after seeing a posting about it on Facebook, we headed to Sconset for a free event from Theatre Workshop Nantucket with Tom Meehan. Why who is Tom Meehan, you say? This guy:

who doesn't love a man in a seersucker suit?

Don't recognize him? You probably wouldn't. But you know his words, as this is the guy that wrote only my favorite musical of all time, Annie. He also wrote Hairspray, The Producers, Young Frankenstein, Elf the Musical, and even the new Rocky musical that is currently showing in Germany (opening in the U.S. March 2014!). He's a summer resident in 'Sconset and it was so inspiring to listen to him talk about his work (he's simultaneously writing four shows right now) and writing (he's 83 and he spends hours each day just doing what he loves) and even though it was like 95 degrees in that chapel, I clung to every word. 

and yes, that is blair waldorf's dad conducting the interview.

These are the types of things that makes me love this place. On any given night in the summer, there are at least six events going on like this (and some of them are even free!). 

Did I mention I love 'Sconset?

got my church on.

After that, I kind of thought that our weekend was over. Until this happened:

claire-aoke.

What can I say? I can't resist an evening of belting out some solid lady-pop songs. 

this time i'm not leavin' without you.

Was that the longest four-day recap in the history of recaps? I almost never do these, because unlike all my blogger friends, I can never seem to write up a recap in an appropriate amount of time. Hence why it is now almost August and I'm just finishing up what happened on the Fourth of July. But I just couldn't resist after such a fun-filled weekend sharing some of the amazing-ness that had ensued. I may have exhausted the amount of fun I'm allowed to have in a short time period, but I'm okay with it. And I'm definitely okay with not getting sunburnt ever again. 

~L

Nantucket the Beautiful

Guys, this is it. My favorite season. My favorite holiday. My favorite color combination. 

Except this year, it was going to be different. We live on Nantucket now, afterall, therefore making our usual pilgrimage to Portland, Maine not exactly feasible. 

But seeing as this island is like, one of the Fourth of July capitals of the world, it seemed crazy to be anywhere but here. So they came to us. They being Alisa and Rocky, the other half of this annual patriotic party, and then later, my sister Becky and her boyfriend Fred joined as well. 

But Lindsay, didn't you move into a super small apartment over a garage down a dirt road in the middle of the woods? Why yes, yes we did. So what did we do? We had everyone over anyways. All six of us. One bathroom. 

But let's start at the beginning, shall we? 

We moved about a week before our guests were scheduled to arrive. There's nothing like impending company to force you to unpack. Without them, we'd probably be living in a box fort right now. We spent all our waking hours trying to get organized and make our place at least livable, if not presentable. It was less than a mere 24 hours before Alisa and Rocky were set to arrive that we even got our couch set up:

yep, that's right. we didn't have anywhere to sit for an entire week.

As we neared 2:00 A.M. on Tuesday evening, I attempted to put away some stragglers of my wardrobe that hadn't found a home yet. As I opened my dress closet, I felt a strange wobble, and before I even had time to react, this happened:

there aren't enough tears in the world.

The game hadn't even started and I already lost. For those of you that don't know, there is a very long, love-hate (me being the "love" part and Steve being the "hate") relationship with this particular piece of furniture that I am feeling deserves its own post. However, I still haven't processed my feelings on that yet, so it will have to wait until I have completed the seven stages of mourning and am emotionally stable enough to tell my story. 

So there was a set back. But we soldiered on. And finally, on Wednesday night, we were reunited for the first time in what felt like forever:

forgive our weird pupils.

After a little dinner and after-dinner drinks, we headed to Stop & Shop for a few necessary essentials:

inappropriateness. not on the list.

PS- Did you know if you go to the grocery store super late at night, it is all neat and organized for your shopping pleasure? I may have to start cooking. 

i wish my life was this organized. color me jealous.

That night, we prepared some lovely sleeping accommodations for our guests. I.e., sheets on either end of our newly cleared off sectional couch. Of course, that meant that violations ensued:

this shit is bananas. b-a-n-a-n-a-s.

For those who may not know, many years ago, we noticed a pattern in pictures of Steve and Alisa together. And that pattern was some sort of inappropriate gesture in Alisa's direction. It had become such a phenomenon, that one year, Steve created an anthology of pictures known as the "Violation Album" (Volume 1, of course) for Alisa for her birthday. And so, almost eight years later, it continues. 

We awoke the next morning with only two thoughts in our mind: food and fireworks. Okay, and booze. Three things. 

Let's start with the food. Steve made his most notorious breakfast item that he only breaks out for very, very special occasions: The oven-baked caramel french toast from the Graycote Inn in Bar Harbor, Maine. If you must know how to make it (and I assure you, you must), you can find the recipe here. We all died a little bit, came back to life, ate more food, and died again. 

there is also an egg sausage thing, but we all know i don't eat eggs. among many other things.

The best part? There is a caramel drizzle. CARAMEL DRIZZLE, PEOPLE.

breakfast will never be the same. 

Did I mention mimosas? Yeah, there were those two. 

nothing like popping the cork on a three year old magnum of champagne.

The weather ended up being kinda meeeeh that day, which really started to concern me after last year's fireworks got totally rained out and we had to miss them completely. But we couldn't resist visiting at least a few of Nantucket's numerous miles of shoreline. 

it's just like that movie beaches, but with dudes. and less death and singing.

Of course, it wouldn't be us if there weren't some more inappropriateness:

from dancing to violating in less than five seconds. a new record.

The weather mildly started to improve, which could only mean one thing: it was time to grill. Slight problem: the grill was in pieces. In a box. In the garage (yes, the very one we live over). Luckily, the men were here to save the day:

like mckayla, rocky is not impressed.

But they did it. And it only took like seven hours for us to feel hungry again. 

you may not be able to tell, but there is cheese inside the burger.

There may have also been beverages. We steered away from the red, white and blue margaritas this year, because unfortunately, I only own one blender. But there was a new addition, which will forever be known as... boozy fruit.  

i.e., steve's orange sangria champagne concoction thing.

But Steve was greedy, and stole my Nantucket-necessity Lilly Pulitzer coozy and got beer sweat condensation all over it, totally decreasing the preppy girl value of it. 

it takes a very secure man to rock a regatta print.

After conquering our expertly grilled meals, we prepared ourselves for the fireworks on the roof of the Whaling Museum. At the last minute, the entire staff was invited to take in the Fourth of July finale from the rooftop observation deck, which is not only private, but boasts some of the best harbor views on the island. I was so excited to show our guests not only where I worked, but also to beat the insane crowd that heads to the beach. 

And of course, the second we pulled out of the driveway, the fog rolled in. That Grey Lady can be such a bitch sometimes. 

We went to the roof anyway, hoping that as fast as it rolled in, it would just roll right out. 

so happy i curled my hair.

And it stuck around. But so did we. 

fog or instagram?

But the fog, like this shirt that Steve insists on wearing, was relentless. They cancelled the fireworks, rescheduling them for the next night. 

It was mildly depressing. I mean, this was our first Nantucket Fourth, after all.

Nothing a little trip to the Juice Bar can't fix.

if i could cover my life in patriotic sprinkles, i would.

That's it for the first installment of Steve & Lindsay's First July Fourth on Nantucket guest-starring Alisa and Rocky. Coming up next? The arrival of Becky and Fred. And more ice cream. And more drinking. 

AMERICA.

~L