Jedi Clam Eaters, Sherman Brothers Band and DJ Trish Fans Alert: 16th Annual Clam Bake in Bay Head, NJ on Saturday, August 20th

Since my two girls are Jedi clam eaters, it may surprise you to know that we've never participated in the Annual Clam Bake to benefit the Bay Head Fire Company #1.

There's a first time for everything, they say, and this may be our year...DJ Trish stopped by Roxy's Bay Head Blog to let me know that the 16th annual clam bake is scheduled for Saturday, August 20th, from noon to 5pm, rain or shine (and we're hopin' for lots of shine) at the fire house, 81 Bridge Avenue in Bay Head, New Jersey. The food will include clam chowder, steamers, cherry stones, hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob, hot roast beef and sausage sandwiches, beer and soda. You can get discounted tickets in advance, or pay full price at the gate (last year they were $32).

As or more importantly, there will be live music, including the fabulous Sherman Brothers Band...our plumbers really rock! DJ Trish will also be rockin' the gazebo, so get your tickets, discounted in advance, or pay full price at the gate (last year they were $32 per person).

Hurricane Bill Was Here

Music Monday Tribute to Bay Head NJ Beach Rentals: Stay-cation by the Go-Gos

Welcome Music Monday visitors... Rex, London, Maddie and I are enjoying another perfect weekend at our beach house in Bay Head, NJ, and the theme of this week's Music Monday is "Stay-cation"... renting Roxy's beach house at the Jersey Shore instead of traveling far away for your summer fun. I've taken some liberties with the lyrics of my favorite tune by the Go-Gos:

It's June and the kids are out of school
Back here at home there's nothin' to do
Don't go far away
You'll wish you'd stayed
Head down to Bay Head for a beach house to stay in

A week at the beach and in the sun
Nights at the boardwalk lots of fun
I know I'm not wrong
And it won't be long
Before you're on the porch painting a sea shell

A week in Bay Head
You won't forget
Two weeks in Bay Head and you'll
Make plans to do it all over again

CHORUS
Stay-cation
All I ever wanted
Vacation
Had to get away
Stay-cation
Bring the family along

A week in Bay Head
You won't forget
Two weeks in Bay Head and you'll
Make plans to do it all over again

CHORUS

For all the wonderfu times our family shares at the Jersey Shore, we feel like our beach house is going to waste when we don't get the chance to use it due to our work schedule or London and Maddie's activities in the Roxiticus Valley. We were glad to be able to rent it for two weeks in late July and early August when we'll be busy up north (and west) with Roxy's 25th high school reunion (that will certainly inspire a Music Monday post all its own!) and a visit from Aunt Veg and Uncle Quiet. If you're interested in renting Roxy's beach house in Bay Head, NJ this summer, please call or visit Diane Cornell at Van Sciver Realtors, 431 Main Avenue, Bay Head, NJ, phone (732) 898-0038 and be sure to tell her Roxy sent you.



Can't seem to get my mind off of you
Back here at home there's nothin' to do
Now that I'm away
I wish I'd stayed
Tomorrow's a day of mine that you won't be in

When you looked at me I should've run
But I thought it was just for fun
I see I was wrong
And I'm not so strong
I should've known all along that time would tell

A week without you
Thought I'd forget
Two weeks without you and I
Still haven't gotten over you yet

CHORUS
Vacation
All I ever wanted
Vacation
Had to get away
Vacation
Meant to be spent alone

A week without you
Thought I'd forget
Two weeks without you and I
Still haven't gotten over you yet

CHORUS

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

Today's the Day for the Bay Head Halloween Parade

It is eight o'clock on Sunday morning and we are waiting for London and Maddie to wake up at our beach house in Bay Head, NJ and begin the countdown to the 11:45am Bay Head Halloween Parade. Witches, goblins, ghosts and Disney princesses will start gathering on Mount Street in Bay Head, New Jersey, shortly after 11am for the 11:45am parade start.

As my loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers know, we stayed up north in Mendham on Friday night for the big Joan Jett & the Blackhearts concert at the Mayo Center of the Performing Arts in Morristown, NJ. We waited until late on Saturday afternoon for the drive down, and made it here in time for one of Rex's specialties...the last lobsters of the season. The weather forecast, including howling wind and rain all day yesterday, may have scared some other fair weather residents off, but we were determined to get down here and march in the parade...come hell, Halloween, or high water. Thankfully, the high water on Lake Avenue has gone down overnight to make way for the parade.

London and Maddie decided to go as a pair of Sharpays (the High School Musical character, not the dog breed) -- one Sharpay Golf and one Sharpay End-of-Year Celebration, complete with gold lame (pronounced la-MAY, not sure how you'd spell it differently than adding an accent over the "e") pants.


Rex and I are going as Barbie and Ken, and we're hoping this motley family can win a trophy this year. Rex really looks the part, and London promised to style my hair in Barbie pigtails, but the competition is always tough... we're not the only family in Bay Head that takes Halloween seriously!

Wish us luck...and if the girls' costumes, wigs, and oversized sunglasses turn out to be a suitable disguise, I may even share some photos here on Monday.

Introducing Roxy's Best Of...Bay Head, New Jersey

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a gal of wealth and taste
I've been bloggin' around for three long, long years
Stole many a man's soul and faith

And I was 'round when The Bluffs
Served beer and cocktails shine or rain
Made damn sure that
Dennis Foy
Washed his hands before you ate

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name (Roxy)
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around Bay Head Bistro
When I saw it was a time for a change
Theresa's South served up dinners
Mueller's Bakery set out a cake

I rode a tank
In the East Avenue rank
When summer camp raged
And the mussels stank

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

I watched with glee
While London and Maddie
Caught their first waves
Out on Mount Street Beach


I shouted out,
Who's got clothes for me?
When after all
It was The W.A.S.P. and The Bee

Let me please introduce myself
I'm a gal of wealth and taste
And I made plans for Crab Shack dinners
every weekend 'til we reached Labor Day

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game

Just as every Point Beach cop calls me criminal
And Martell's Tiki Bar sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me ROXY
cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name (Roxy)
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game (Roxy)
Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
Tell me baby, whats my name (Roxy)
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name (Roxy)
Tell me baby, what's my name (Roxy)
I tell you one time, you're to blame (Roxy)
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who

Now, I have to say that when I rewrote the Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil as Sympathy for the Housewife to introduce Roxy's Best Of... over on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives blog, weird (bad) things happened. My computer crashed a few hours later, taking Roxy out of commission in the blogosphere (not to mention my investment banking career) for about a week. Here I am, back in business, taking a chance by rewriting those risky lyrics yet again on the Bay Head Blog. Please click on any of the links to explore my new Roxy's Best Of...Bay Head and the rest of the Roxy's Best Of...WordPress MU (Multi-User) Community, and do let me know what you think!

Thanks!
Roxy

My Witness Protection Program Relocation Recommendation: Bay Head, New Jersey

As we count down to tonight's premiere of USA Network's new original series In Plain Sight, USA Networks asks: Where would you go if you were in the Witness Protection Program?

Roxy recommends: Bay Head, New Jersey.


If I had to be moved as a part of the Witness Protection Program, and my neighbors at the beach didn't already know me so well, I would just settle in for a year-round relocation to Bay Head, NJ. When Rex and the girls and I head down to the beach for the month of August, we stop once at Shop Rite in Wall Township to load up on supplies, then we rarely leave "the island" for an entire month. Unlike our year-round home in the Roxiticus Valley/Mendham Township, New Jersey, where we have to drive 20 minutes for anything, Bay Head has everything we need within walking or biking distance.

Central Market is on the corner of Mount Street and Route 35 for a different sub sandwich every day: classic Italian, tuna, sloppy joe, Central special, roast beef...



In a short walk around town, there are art galleries (Kate Leigh Cutler, the Anchor & Palette) as well as shopping...the Beach House Classic Board Shop, Artisan's Galleria, The W.A.S.P., The Bee and the Shopper's Wharf. We jump into the convertible and head over the bridge to the Crab Shack on Mantoloking Road in Brick when Rex wants to cook fresh seafood for dinner, or there are many restaurant choices nearby: the new Theresa's South on Mount Street and Route 35, Dennis Foy's Bay Point Prime on Route 35 headed into Point Pleasant Beach....I could go on and on.

In preparation for my relocation, I've taken the quiz, "Could you survive being in the Witness Protection Program"...



...and flunked with flying colors:


I guess I'd better stick with my life as a Roxiticus Desperate Housewife with a beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey. Come to think of it, some of my Bay Head neighbors are so secretive that they may have already relocated through the Witness Protection Program... I'm going to check out In Plain Sight tonight (Sunday, June 1st) at 10:00pm EDT on USA Network to learn more.

Bay Head NJ Artists: Kate Leigh Cutler

One of our neighbors in Bay Head, Kate Leigh Cutler, is a fabulous artist. She did one painting of our girls several years back that I will post here soon, and has promised to have her newest painting of them complete when we return to the beach for Father's Day Weekend 2008. For now, I'll leave you with another Kate Leigh Cutler original painting of one of the neighbor boys surfing near Mount Street Beach in Bay Head, New Jersey.

Best of Bay Head, NJ: Christmas Shopping

Rex and I close up our beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey, every year right after the annual Halloween Parade that starts on Mount Street, heads down Lake Avenue, turns left on Bridge Avenue, and proceeds into the fire station. By the end of October, all of the "bennies" are long gone, and the year-round Bay Head residents are left to enjoy the quiet tranquility of our beautiful beach town.

Leading up to Christmas, the local Bay Head merchants' association puts on a special night of holiday shopping, when all of our favorite stores stay open late and create a festive Christmas shopping atmosphere throughout the town.

Bay Head, New Jersey is not the type of place where people wake up at 5am on Black Friday (or sleep out in tents in front of the big box retailers) to stand in line for bargains. Especiallly off season, Bay Head is a sleepy little town where residents forego the thanksgiving ads from the big box retailers in favor of shopping at the old classic stores right in town... like the Jolly Tar or the stores in the Shopper's Wharf on Bridge Avenue, or head over to Mount Street to the Artisan's Galleria, maybe even commission a beautiful painting from local Bay Head artist Kate Leigh Cutler or find a special watercolor or oil painting by another Jersey Shore artist featured at the Anchor & Palette gallery in town.

If my Bay Head neighbors are looking for a big-screen color TV or Playstation or Wii, I bet they either wait for Santa Claus to bring it down the chimney or they avoid the crowds at the mall and purchase Black Friday items online.

Update on Our Bay Head Family Reunion

As I've posted once before, we're planning an August 2008 Bay Head family reunion for Rex's family. Everyone is pretty well confirmed, and they're all staying at The Grenville. I'm afraid we're stuck with the picture from their web site until I get back down to the peach with my good ole Canon Digital Rebel XT.

Bay Head NJ Kid Stuff: Borough of Bay Head Summer Camp 2008

Bay Head Mayor Bill Curtis (who is also the owner of Curtis' Central Market) informs me that the Borough of Bay Head will be running its summer camp again for the summer of 2008. The camp is a half-day (9-noon) program for residents age 5 and up and will run for six weeks starting July 7 (through August 15th). Information and registration forms are available from the Borough municipal office. The web site doesn't look like it gets updated very often, so you're probably better off checking in by phone: 732 892-0636.

Best of the Jersey Shore: The Crab Shack on Mantoloking Road in Brick, NJ

When we're at our beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey, Rex cooks a lot of seafood: clams, salmon, scallops, lobster...you name it and we get it from the Crab Shack.

I may have mentioned before that my girls are Jedi Clam Eaters, and we'll buy 100 littlenecks and topnecks. Over the long Memorial Day Weekend, we had clams on Friday night and lobsters on Sunday night. I meant to take a picture of the Crab Shack for you, but for now we'll stick with a happy crab.

If Rex is cooking seafood at home in Bay Head, the Crab Shack is the only place we'll go for fresh seafood. Open all year round, the Crab Shack has a large variety of fresh seafood daily, including live and steamed crabs, homemade specialties and prepared seafood dishes. If you don't feel like cooking, you can eat there, inside in the fish market or outside in the sunshine.


Visit the Crab Shack!
74 Mantoloking Road
Brick, NJ 08723
732-477-1115

Florida's Caladesi Island Named Nation's Best Beach...on behalf of Bay Head, New Jersey, I Beg to Differ...

According to a recent story from CNN online, Florida's Caladesi Island topped the 2008 list of America's top beaches compiled by "Dr. Beach" -- Stephen P. Leatherman, a Florida International University professor. While our beloved Bay Head, New Jersey, didn't even make the list, Caladesi beat out beaches in Hawaii, along the Eastern Seaboard, and in California for this year's honor. The runners-up on Leatherman's list of best beaches this year were Hanalei Beach, Hawaii; Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Florida; Coopers Beach in Southampton, New York; Coronado Beach in San Diego; Main Beach in East Hampton, New York; Hamoa Beach, Hawaii; Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; Cape Florida State Park near Miami; and Beachwalker Park on Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

Gone Shoppin'

After a nice bike ride in sunny Bay Head, New Jersey, Rex took the girls and me on a shopping trip to The W.A.S.P. on Bridge Avenue and The Bee (just moved to a new, bigger location) on Route 35. The girls made out like bandits at The W.A.S.P., picking out "twin" bathing suit sets as well as three or four new outfits each.

Their mom didn't do too badly either...I found a nice white pinstripe suit at The W.A.S.P. and a hot midnight black and white wide strip tank dress at The Bee. We are ready to start stepping out for the summer season here in Bay Head, New Jersey.

Theresa's South is Coming to Mount Street in Bay Head, New Jersey

Despite the earlier protests of our year-round neighbors in Bay Head, New Jersey, we've had a restaurant on the corner of Mount Street and Route 35 for several years. It started with Heat Wave, which changed to Bay Head Bistro. The location changed hands again over this past winter, and there's a sign that the owners of Theresa's, Mojave Grill, and Isabella's, all in Westfield, New Jersey, are bringing Theresa's South to Mount Street in Bay Head.

As I was taking these pictures, I ran into some guys who were working inside the restaurant, and they told me they hoped to have it ready by June 1st. With Rex's birthday and Father's Day in the month of June, we'll be sure to have a review for you by the end of the month.

She Sells Sea Shells Down by the Seashore

My girls have kicked off the seashell sales season here in Bay Head, New Jersey, with a new twist: Krylon spray acrylic will make this year's shells last longer. They haven't sold any so far today, but we're gearing up for a huge Memorial Day weekend....and we also found $2.50 (10 shell sales) in assorted change left on our porch on the honor system over the winter!