I believe being organized makes life easier. Like today's Mother's Day picnic on the beach in Southern California.
My friend Justine and her fiance' invited me to join Justine's Mother and 10 friends at Zuma Beach on Sunday, to celebrate a surprise Mother's Day. But I'm never surprised at how wonderful Justine's events are. She never forgets a thing. And Justine and I are always laughing along the way (I called my own Mother in New Jersey and attempted to make her jealous-- it didn't work.)
Under the normally watchful eye of Justine's 80-old mother visiting from Manhattan, Justine and her fiance' cooked a sumptuous lunch of pasta with pesto and peas, chicken salad with asparagus and peanut sauce and cold tomatoes with yellow peppers and homemade croutons-- all recipes courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa and Ina Garten. We sipped a crisp Pinot Grigio, and enjoyed champagne and chocolate cupcakes from Whole Foods (after all, some shortcuts are allowed...) We played Tupperware frisbee, watched the rock climbers and even saw a typical LA model shoot at Sunset. The tide came far enough in and we knew it was time to take PCH back home.
I love the beach. And I love how organization can really make little things special, like today.