Vacation playlist

as i mentioned in my multi-part wrap up, my sisters and i cranked the tunes on sirius satellite radio during our fabulous sister-palooza weekend.

and so, without further adieu, the sister-plaooza soundtrack. i suggest you pop on over to itunes and check these out:

Let’s Go (Suzie McNeil)

I Love Myself Today (Bif Naked)

The Only Thing that Looks Good (Bryan Adams)

Love Song (Sara Bareilles)

If I Were a Boy (Beyonce)

Photograph (Jamie Cullum)

Stay Here Forever (Jewel)

Love Somebody (Schuyler Fisk)

I Will Possess Your Heart (Death Cab for Cutie)

Wishing Well (Airborne Toxic Event)

Love is My Religion (Ziggy Marley)

True to Myself (Ziggy Marley)

My Sweet Lord (Wailing Souls)

Primavera (Santana)

Africa Bamba (Santana)

Don't Stop (Fleetwood Mac)

special thanks to my sis charlotte for putting the list together and helping me realize that life is so much more fun when there's a soundtrack playing at full volume.

sister-palooza part 4: final thoughts

our final day was a pool day.

could this be anymore fabulous?

i think not.

a little poolside feast was in order. these fish tacos knocked my socks off.

and then my dears, a little baby love.

here's blogstress kelle hampton's precious little nella cordelia.

the cuddliest, sweetest baby ever. (except for my own, of course.)

kelle never fails to inspire me. so it was super fun to get to see her.

read all about her adventures here.

and speaking of inspiring ... what a cool nephew i have. ashford is only 14 and already working at publix just to keep busy during the summer.

here he is pretending his aunties and mom aren't standing there pointing, smiling and taking pictures.

we are cruel. what can i say.

there's a smile.

later ashford's brother drake gave us a ride on his new golf cart.

i must say, he's a very careful driver.

and he didn't text even one time.

chardie, are you listening?

wait, what happened? weren't these two babies just a minute ago?

now they are looking suspiciously like almost-grown-ups.

they're going to love me saying that.

and lastly, the piece de resistance ... we topped off our amazing time together with a visit to my favorite naples eatery, sea salt.

be still my heart.

you get fresh bread to dip in fine olive oil and three kinds of sea salt.

we are all pretty nuts about salt.

chef fabrizio aielli's cuisine is divine.

we shared small plates, including this crispy calamari with green olives, pancetta, manchego, and spicy lime sauce.

this is the pizza of ahi tuna tartare, with wasabi cream cheese and sweet jalapeno truffle sauce. delish.

my favorite was the jumbo lump maryland style crab cake with mustard sauce.

please, may i have another?

it was the perfect ending to a fantastic sisters weekend.

truly, words and pictures cannot do it justice.

we were blessed with sunshine, amazing food and beautiful scenery, for sure. but that wasn't really the point.

it could have been cleveland in february (no offense, cleveland) and we sisters would have rocked it out.

there was gut-busting laughter, girl-talk that went long into the night, recipe-swapping as we chopped and sauteed, and singing at full volume in the car ...

it was magic.

we are sisters.

nothing could be better than that.

sister-palooza part 3b

our day at the lovely isles of capri was amazing. but it didn't end there.

we washed off the sand and salt and we lotioned our sunburned shoulders and and put on soft summer dresses and headed out to barefoot beach.

it's so beautiful.

and the shells are so perfect and tiny.

there are billions of them.

this is my twinnie, in case you were wondering. you can tell it's not me because she's the one with the chicken pox scar on her nose.

she's gonna love me saying that.

here's me doing my sears catalog pose. (and yes, that's my recently purchased date night dress.)

the sunset was, as to be expected, infinitely gorgeous.

then we were off to a friend's house for dinner.

i'm not gonna lie. there were cosmopolitans.

and a delectable asian salad with scallops.

and home-made tiramisu.

part 4

sister-palooza part 3a

day three was so action-packed it just won't fit into one post. so i broke it up for you.

thought you'd appreciate that.

chardie's neighbor tim took this group shot before we left for the isle of capri. it took all of five minutes and he was soaked in sweat by the time he was through.

did i mention the heat is off the charts?

thanks, tim. you're a good sport.

the isles of capri are a cluster of tiny unpopulated islands between naples and marco island.

people gather there with family, friends, kids and dogs to eat, fish, kayak, camp, swim and play.

the capri fish house is about as "old florida" as you can get.

it's run by a bostonian named mike. you've probably heard it mentioned by famous blogstress kelle hampton.

her pictures are much better than mine.

if margaritaville were a real place, it would look like this.

i like how people sign their dollars and staple them to the beams.

here's ours: yordy girlz rock!

the grouper fingers were epic.

out of this world.

after lunch we took a boat ride with owner mike.

he's just nice like that.

he took us to see where the dolphins feed. look closely.

and showed us around the islands.

i kept expecting to see gilligan and the skipper.

only if they were marooned here, they'd never want to leave.

paradise.

when the weather changes, you can see it coming a mile away.

quick, crazy rain showers blew through about once a day, giving us short breaks from the brutal heat.

the only thing that would have made the visit any nicer, is if kelle hampton had been there too.

she couldn't make it, so we stopped by her house the next day.

we're just pushy like that.

and yes, i got to hold little nella bean.

more on that soon ...

part 3b
part 4

sister-palooza part 2

sanibel island was calling our names.

so we set out on a road trip.

after we had our coffee, of course.

do you think my twinnie looks like me?

the drive was about an hour.

sunglasses were worn ...

... and songs sung.

in fact, each adventure we went on had a theme song.

thank you, sirius satellite radio for the inspired tuneage.

jean and charlotte.

the two best sisters a girl could ever ask for.

aren't i lucky?

here's the three of us. one thing we have in common is that we all operate on high speed.

every day.

overkill is our middle name.

go diva or stay home.

we found a sand bar with thousands of sand dollars on it. we collected up a bunch.

i was missing my boy so i floated the raft over to two little boys out in the water with their dad.

I showed them what we'd found.

i put on my mommy voice and explained how these sand dollars were actually alive and how very, very special the creatures of the sea are.

they agreed. then they started slinging them across the water like they were skipping rocks.

i'm not gonna lie. my kid would have done the same thing.

these chairs didn't get much use. did i mention that it was a million degrees out?

factor in the intense humidity and that's like a million six.

thank goodness for balmy water and gentle waves.

heaven.

we had to hit key lime bistro on the way home to re-hydrate. sadly, we were too late for the crab cakes benedict.

then we headed out to shop at the healthy food store, cook some quinoa veggie pilaf and sweet potato fries.

then we laughed, talked and watched silly movies until all hours.

sisters rule.

more to come tomorrow ...

part 3a
part 3b
part 4

sister-palooza part 1 (aka bits of my weekend)

my sisters and i live too far apart. that is a fact.

twinnie is in los angeles, big sis chardy is in naples, fla.,
and i'm stuck in between in nashville.

i know. not ideal.

so we decided to plan the ultimate sisters weekend in naples.

and man, oh man, it was fabulous.

so fabulous, in fact, i'm going to give it to you in parts.

i don't think you could handle it otherwise.

let's begin.

each day began with guilt-free espressos topped with skim milk and sweetened with stevia.

i'm completely spoiled now. addicted totally.

these are ridiculously good. you use a little pod of high intensity espresso - and they come in a jillion different kinds.

oh, and did i mention we grated scharffenberger chocolate on top? well, we did.

and i'm not sorry about that.

one of her foodie friends loaned us this machine. i absolutely have to buy one.

on day one we went to clam pass beach.

it's chardy's favorite place to take her boys, and it is phenomenal.

oh, and it's a habitat for these adorable endangered gopher tortoises. there were big ones hiding in their burrows, but this little baby came out to say hi.

the water is so blue, it looks like the caribbean.

for lunch we had some amazing coconut shrimp ...

and grouper salads. the seafood here is amazing.

each evening, locals and tourists alike gather to watch mother nature totally show off.

when the gorgeous sun finally disappears behind the horizon line, the goofy tourists clap.

i won't say if i clapped or not. but if i did, could you blame me?

beyond beautiful.

after the sunset, the clouds put on a show of their own.

i'm in love with naples, and it's only day one.

more to come tomorrow ...

part 2
part 3a
part 3b
part 4