Italian Beach Bums

Being a beach bum is one of my secret talents. I'm really good at it.

I cultivated this valuable skill at an early age by watching my grandma (a master at beach bumming) life her life. Every afternoon she would pick up her sun-bleached beach chair, toss it into her convertible and yell for Goldie, her dog to jump in the car.

Living on the beach is even nice when it rains.

They would cruise down the block to the beach and sit there for hours. Watching people, dozing off, watching nothing.

 The best part of the beach is letting  your mind relax and wander. Problems start to sort themselves out in your noggen and what you were fretting about in the office suddenly is a lost memory.

Like my grandma, I knew what to do when packing in Jersey to go to our place in Italy that is a block from the beach. Sun screen, back pack, lunch box, and get some outdated magazines for free from the public library.

packing gourmet panini for our lunch on the beach. look at that mozzarella. love.

"Built" makes amazing lunch bags that keep things cold up to 8 hours. I've had mine for years and it still works great on super hot days. We normally use it to tote drinks around in the car when we go out on weekends. Or if we go to the beach. I'm not a lunch girl so much at work, but this bag gets lots of use on the weekends. 

Walgreens sunscreen: 2 for 5 dollars.

rough sea

seaweed. there was so much of it floating around. It is perfect to lay on burnt skin and sooth the pain. 

I packed 3 swim suits and 2 sundresses that I could wear out on the town or on the beach and look decent. Oh, and I highly recommend the fluttery bikinis Victoria Secrets came out with. I got one in blue and the ruffle on the top gives great shade if you are starting to burn and it is super cute. Specifically the style is called "flounce". Out of all 3 swim suits I used this one the most. And I think they are on sale now so it is a great time to get one for next year.

Mine

VS ad. My beach and bum are much better. Anyway, the back leaves some really neat sun tan lines.

In beach towns sundresses or t-shirt dresses are always acceptable. My husband tried giving me some teasing grief before going "Are you ready to wear a swimsuit after the long cellulite winter?" Apparently Italian ladies get nervous about swimsuit season much like their American counterparts. I knew that months of downing pizza and chocolate careful eating and water would make my body perfect for the beach.

So the steps for being a beach are:

1. Go to the beach with your gear for the day.
2. Be a bum
3. Let your husband throw you around in the water.
4. Eat pizza and take naps
5. If you happen to have Invisalign do not fear! Salt water will wash your braces much faster than your toothbrush and toothpaste. Hold onto them so they dont get lost, and let the water do its magic.

And a note on suim suits. It is important to have something comfortable, not something to hide your fat. What is the point of going to get some vitamin D from the sun if half of you is sweating under a full suim suit? So, if you are 75 go for the bikini, your skin wants you to!

I really enjoyed our lazy beach days. They would start waking up late, contemplating over breakfast in our pj's which beach to go to, and spending hours under the umbrella rotating our chairs every hour as the sun moved, going home, eating dinner and having a nap, then going out on the town to eat gelato and watch little kids play soccer (Italian children playing soccer are better than Brazil at the world cup). I think I was born for the beach.