Shopaholic in Alabama

Thank goodness! Tropical Storm Lee has finally left our area. Yesterday was a wild day of extremely high wind. It was so gross, I couldn't think about going on my 4 miles. If you tried to walk the beach, you were literally "sand-blasted" with wind and sand. The local authorities had to break out the heavy equipment to move sand from our roads.  One little leftover that Lee managed to bring to the surface? More fresh tarballs on our beach. Can you believe it? Those tarballs are an unfortunate result of the Deepwater Horizon BP Oil Spill, from April 2010. See, all the oil wasn't cleaned up, just the oil that was pretty close to shore or actually reached the beach. The rest of it was broken up at the surface and subsequently sunk out in the Gulf. This operation was performed using a chemical called Corexit.   As of noon CT today, BP's cleanup crews have yet to arrive on our beaches and take care of this. We'll see... All of this makes me extremely con...

Happy Labor Day!  I hope you are enjoying a day off work, with family and friends, in the bright sunshine! I'm sure lots of you are at the beach, squeezing in that last "unofficial" summer weekend. Others are probably having backyard barbecues, grilling out and enjoying time with loved ones.  We are experiencing Tropical Storm Lee here on the Gulf Coast. Hopefully the rain rain will go away very soon (hey, I can dream!) and we can get a much needed dose of sunshine! While it's great to have DH home for the weekend, we're getting a little bit of cabin fever around these parts! How are you celebrating the Labor Day holiday? Have a safe and fun day! 

Happy Saturday!  This Shopaholic has seen more than her fair share of hurricanes. Living on the Alabama Gulf Coast, it's something you always take seriously and hate to see that "cone of uncertainty" with your town in the center of the map. Worse than that, you begin shaking in your flip flops and stocking the supplies when Jim Cantore and The Weather Channel arrive at your beach - a potential sign of impending doom.  Today I would like to say "good luck and better times ahead" for all my east coast friends and family who are either already experiencing, or will experience, Hurricane Irene this weekend. Please make certain you have everything you need to weather the storm, and heed any evacuation warnings. While a hurricane (even a "small" Category 1 storm) may seem like a good reason to whip up a Dark 'N Stormy and wear your Lilly, I promise you it's not!  Hope you are all looking at beautiful images like this out your windows aga...