Red skies at night, sailor's delight!

What a great weekend!  The weather was spectacular, starting with a massive lightning display on the ferry on the way over that features chain strikes that sometimes spanned 135° or more.  Luckily, the storm passed us over completely for the most part leaving fiery red skies out on the deck as David and Lauren hooked us up with a long marinated batch of grilled deliciousness.   After the meal, we got to drinking as usual and after the bars, there was a round of midnight Frisbee on the beach with Lauren’s glow in the dark disc.

Beach day

The old adage proved true and “red skies at night” welcomed in one of the most gorgeous days in memory on Fire Island.  We broke out the surfboards and were able to catch a few rides with the long boards at a sandbar that has been forming up between Kismet and Saltaire.  The breeze was really light and we all were happy to spend time on the beach under the sun.  Aaron kept us well supplied with a cooler full of drinks.  Steve set up in the studio again and this time, we have tunes down there.

Party Planner

Around 3:00 Krista confidently marshaled a crew to get ready for the main event, the Luau.  We made a lot of improvements even before the decorations, such as replacing that crappy alarm-clock radio excuse for a stereo with a real receiver and a pair of rich sounding JBLs mounted on the walls.  The decorations were a lot of fun and they were very complete too.  Great care was taken in decorating everything from the railings (Tyler was waiting for an excuse to use a staple gun) to the cupcakes (special thanks to Alison and Christa for their great topping idea and surgical application thereof).  Even a coconut bra came into play.

The coconut bro

We all started early sitting around in our leis and drinking extra fruity drinks while rounds of finger foods came out.  Some of the big hits included: bacon-wrapped scallops with cream sauce, (Birthday girl’s fav) grilled sweet corn on the cob with a butter and pepper, and mini pulled pork sandwiches with grilled pineapple that were finger lickin good!  A few things that you may not know about our shares as fun facts:  Tyler makes a mean piña colada and Aaron really pulls off a coconut bra with surprising confidence.

Dave Warton's crew

The guests arrived in waves starting around 7:45 and included Chance House upfront, Blue View Terrace accompanied by party-goers from one or more previous engagements that evening who were kind enough to bring the smorgasbord with them, Cozy-A, and finally Dave Warton’s crew who stirred up the dancing until late.  Wherever there is dancing,  there is Steve and vis-a-versa –so there was dancing.  Hip hop, salsa, even some flamenco moves!

A hawaiian wind blows

Just around midnight, on Cat’s actual birthday we all circled up to wish Cat well and watch her blow out the candles.  We followed it up with a champagne toast and then headed out to the bars.  The next day was another stunning beach day and the hangover was taken care of first thing by Cat and Lauren with some spicy Bloody Marys of which almost everyone had two.  Later that afternoon Tyler stepped it up again with margaritas on the rocks and an original rendition, which I think was his best, the Black Cherry Margarita. yum.

Fruit skewers

By dinner time it became clear that we hadn’t left enough time to cook before the last ferry so we headed to the Surf’s Out for dinner.  We sat outside and the proprietor was nice enough to drag every heat lamp over to the table until he found one that worked for us.  In the meantime, some lady at another table filled with some sauced middle aged women fell backward off her bench and was knocked out cold. Lesson for you, if you’re gonna drink on benches at Fire Island, be sure you take Cat’s Pilates classes to stay upright. (This lady did not look like a Pilates enthusiast).

Opening her gift

Just before we headed back to the house to pick up the dog ad catch the ferry.  Cat opened her birthday present and received a set of pearls she’d coveted on a vacation last year.  Here’s the happy lady modeling them!  All in all a great weekend.  Special thanks to Krista for taking the helm on party planning and set up and to all of you who pitched in to make this the best 30th birthday party [yet]!

See you in Kismet!

Lady in pearls

Sunset

Bacon wrapped scallops

Birthday toast

Birthday girl

Party dancers

Grass skirts

Chair-dance action

NOW its a luau

Boys clean + make drinks

new bikini

Cat, Jamie and John B

Hey B Team!

Cupcake masters

Mark and Aaron

Sunbathers

Hula-la!

Jamie and Tyler

Luau ladies

Check Cat's face...

Birthday girl

Returning from a swim

Vince & Alison

On the beach

Fritatta artists

Thanks to everyone who has signed up.  We are really pleased with the group and are looking forward to a great season together as we blast off into summer 2009!  If you didn’t get the invite email to the blast off party with the address and all, please email benandcat@kismetsevenseas.com and we’ll forward you a copy.

The blast off party is also a great place to meet other shares and make trades.  If you have not paid your balance yet, please come to the party prepared to settle up.  There will be a desk upstairs with welcome packets, liability waivers and the lovely Cat Goddard there to settle tabs, as well as sign up for guest spots and cooking slots.  No need to bring anything at all – snack, beer, wine and liquor will be served.  Full service starts now!

If you haven’t signed up for a share yet but still want to join us this summer, please contact us ASAP to enquire about remaining slots!

The scuttlebutt is that the new Surf’s Out will continue to have bands and DJs and space for the active nightlife to continue after the polished restaurant closes for dinner.  We have been walking by the place every weekend while getting ready for the season and the renovations look great!  This is a marked change from the shabby state of the place before, which only highlighted the persistent buzz kill of endless DJ ineptitude.  Happily, we are assured that this major complaint has not been tossed aside and we should be looking forward to a grooving good time at the Surfs Out this summer!

There is a big grand opening next Wednesday night and we promise to get back to you with all the details and reviews of the food when we get the 411!  Also, you can check out their flashy new website at www.surfsoutfireisland.com.

Hooray for Kismet!

Rendering of the new Surfs Out

A dish pictured on the Surfs Out's site

Steve

Seven Seas is proud to offer the best set of amenities in the sharehouse business on Kismet, Fire Island.  In lining up all the great amenities and activities for our shares this summer, we have pulled out all the stops and called in a lot of favors, so while we were at it we figured, we already have the yoga studio, the Pilates classes, the running club and the screened in tents that we can take out to the beach, why not make it like a real spa and offer massages as well?  Yeah, we think like that!

So we reached out and got our favorite massage therapist, Steve, to make some time in his busy schedule giving rubdowns to the stars to come out on one weekend in every series!  Steve is a full time professional masseur trained in Swedish and other methods and will not only be running a “How to Give a Killer Back Rub” workshop, but will also offer FREE chair massages and with bring out the full table that can be booked for hours, or 1.5 hours sessions of corporeal bliss.  If you’d like, we can set up our white 10 x 10 cabana on the beach and get a full body massage right by the surf as well in the privacy of your own tent.

Talk about a sharehouse that goes the extra mile! (Maybe book your massage post runners club session?)

The event is being held this coming Wednesday, January 21st at 6:30 to 10:00 PM at Haven, 244 East 51st Street (Between 2nd and 3rd Avenues). Paul will be collecting financial donations as well at donations of either business clothes, or warm winter clothes for the homeless which will be distributed through homeless outreach group, Common Ground.

If you are interested in joining us or just want the chance to win a mid-week stay at Seven Seas, come on out to the event. Please be sure to let Paul know you’re coming by RSVPing to the event on Facebook.

1. Go to the share schedule page that suits you on the web site, either for weekend shares or the midweeks.
2. Find the embedded calendar and click on the ‘add calendar’ button in the lower right hand corner of the calendar and click on it.
3. A window should pop up asking you which series to add. Add the series you want and, presto! You’re done.

What’s more is that as our activities schedule fills up, we will add all the events for each day and weekend right to the calendar. That way you’ll always have the weekend’s activity schedule handy. Even if you don’t use google calendar yet, you can sign up for an account for free and then sync that calendar with a wide variety of popular calendar programs, including Outlook, iCal and many others.