No Complaints Here!

Hi! Guess what I did today. Go ahead......OK, fine, I'll tell you, we went to the beach! I am so excited because normally I am not a fan of natural bodies of water, nor do I like walking around in what equates to my underwear in front of strangers (or non-strangers, for that matter). I also don't like to venture too far from home. But I got a tip on a really nice beach here in Nova Scotia, checked it out online, ran it by my other half and planned an outing.

OK...so, I'm all impressed with myself because this is my definition of adventure. Shut up! 2 hour drive to a place I have never been to run around barely dressed. What do you call it?

Things didn't go exactly as I would have liked this morning before we left, but this is No Whining Wednesday and I'm a dedicated individual (surprise, surprise) to participating, so I turned my thoughts to the things that could have gone wrong but didn't. It's all about perspective.

Before we left our cooler bag blew a zipper (and the cooler had an unidentified object growing in it, eeewwww). Mr. Sprite suggests we hit the store to buy a new cooler before we leave town. Right on, let's do it! In the car Mr. Sprite suggests we buy a beach umbrella. Fucking Awesome! Lately, Mr. Sprite and I have not been seeing eye to eye. In fact we have been arguing about just about anything two people could find to argue about and some of the things they couldn't. The fact that we were thinking the same thing on two separate occasions today would've been enough to make my day. In the store my newly re-exalted hubby (word? Is now.) finds two beach chairs on sale. He bought them. How great is that? No sand in places sand has no business being (more on this later).

Purchases made, we hop back in the car and make our way to the beach. We made it door to door, so to speak, without one wrong turn. Which, in my world is a rarity.

The beach was everything promised. The sand was soft, white and sparkly. Yes, it sparkled. The water was crystal clear and a beautiful blue. The Atlantic ocean is not usually known for being welcoming 'round these parts so this was especially surprising.

Now, some of you may know that I am not a thin girl. And if you didn't, well, now you do. This is a never ending cause for anxiety for me, yet I have yet to find the catalyst that has actually given me the will to quit shoving food into my pie hole (just a quick side note, I quit smoking a few months ago and the food shoving has become alarmingly worse, inevitably so has the weight gain. TMI? Sorry, end side note) and get off my increasing arse and do something about it. My weight, of course contributes largely to the fact that I am not comfortable in a public place scantily clad. Today? I said fuck it. I wore a bathing suit. Yup, and I didn't care what little miss size two in the two-piece down the beach thought about it. Wait.....maybe....awww, shit! Well, I mostly didn't care.

I spent four and a half hours at the beach with the family and it was heavenly. The kids collected sand dollars, explored the beach, found a (dead) crab, rolled in the sand. I read and relaxed. We had a beach picnic. AWESOME.

Just a few notes on my beach experience that were less than awesome. I am not complaining, just including them for your amusement.

1) Deer Flies are nasty little buggers. Seriously, I must have donated (unwillingly) at least an ounce of my blood today to prevent hunger amongst deer flies. Oh and DEET? Yeah, I think it attracts these little blood suckers. "I take your fuckin' DEET" < --Overheard being said by one of the offending insects.

2) When applying sunscreen DO NOT forget to apply it to your face. Obvious, right? Apparently not. I look like a freakin' tomato! Also, not so obvious, if your bathing suit bottom is of the shorts variety, do not neglect to sunscreen the very tops of the back of your legs (aka, bottom of your bum cheeks) cause they will burn. Which makes sitting slightly uncomfortable.

3) Regardless of how inviting the Northern Atlantic appears to be, no matter how much it resembles those pictures of the Caribbean you've seen, it is not warm. Not at the beginning of August. The info I've found on the average temperature is sketchy, between 8 - 16 C (46 - 61 F) seems to cover it. Either way, that is not bloody warm enough to be swimming in, but swim my family did. Yeah, I was the only one too chicken to dive in. Screw that! My feet were cramping up just standing in it.

4) Remember that fantastic sand I had described? The sand I was hoping the beach chairs would prevent from getting in low places? No such luck. Not only is it where it has no business being but it's everywhere else too! Everywhere! It sure was purrrty, though.