… is a diner I drive past every day and was the very first place I stopped to eat on my first trip here, when I was on the cusp of calling the beaches area home.  I sat inside The Sun Dog Diner with my  two toddlers, my babies who are now 13 and 12, while my husband took a conference call in our parked car, outside.  The diner’s interior is unchanged from that day, when it was so homey and unique, and my children were given a basket of crayons to color on the place mats while I contemplated the generous menu and a whole new life in a warm climate by the sea.

I probably ordered one of The Sun Dog’s juicy hamburgers, which are famously prepared in any number of ways, as I’m sure I wasn’t on a diet (judging from the pictures of me in early 2000) and no doubt, the requisite basket of fries that any good diner serves up.  I remember the afternoon sun of an early January day coming in through its western facing windows and it was probably after the actual hour for lunch because the place was relatively quiet, as it was the other day, when I stopped in to get the skinny on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, the Food Network’s program with Guy Fieri.  The Sun Dog had been chosen as a featured location, along with a couple of other Atlantic Beach restaurants, and I knew the crew had been there earlier in the week, filming.  It’s all very exciting to know that any local place will be aired on the program. It’s just that the The Sun Dog’s  an integral part of my neighborhood, so imagine my disappointment (mine? how about theirs?) when the bartender chatted with me and said that the production crew had decided against filming in the Sun Dog and moved on to another location.  The production crew had chosen certain items from the menu for the food prep portion of the show, while the Sun Dog staff thought privately that perhaps the art of preparing another of their popular menu items would provide more entertainment value. But naturally they complied with the production team, and in the end they weren’t chosen because, indeed, the menu items were just too simple (but no less delicious) for featuring on television, I suppose.  The Sun Dog offers a truly diverse selection of foods that cater to a variety of foodie preferences in casual dining but singularly cooked to perfection, and certainly not just burgers and fries. But you know how it is in television … “one day you’re in, and the next day, you’re out…” so the Diners, Drive-ins and Dives crew moved on to their next local venue (another feature for a different post), and leaving ‘atlantic beachlife’ to bring you my version of The Sun Dog: ten years of food and fun.

The Sun Dog is definitely a local favorite. You can get lunch and dinner, and stay right on into the night, when the music starts up.  I’ve taken nearly every visitor I’ve had in the past ten years for a a meal at The Sun Dog and I can’t think of a single one that we haven’t enjoyed in all that time.  

What I’ve appreciated about the place, too, is its nightlife, close to home.   Whether you’re 21 or 71, you can find your tribe there.  It’s one of my favorite bars for people watching later in the night, and even more fun?  The ladies room conversation during a weekend night, anytime after  about 10:30pm.  The sweet spot for powder room confessionals is probably 10:30pm – 12:30am because between those hours, the girls and women are still hopeful for a good outcome – if they’re looking for one.    It can be all rather poignant really, for after a bit of private, ladies’ room girl talk, I can then monitor the goings-on from my perch at the bar. Hey, I’m entertained by all the male and female posturing and flirtation, while my husband is just enjoying  the band, where the music is live, the talent is local and the kitchen stays open til late to accommodate those appetites that will inevitably crave quick, and casual food after a few drinks and the night’s worn on.

Not to worry: there are always cabs circling the block, looking for people to drive home if you  decide that the better choice is to leave your car parked until tomorrow.  What makes Atlantic and Neptune Beaches such a great place to visit – apart from the sweet sandy oceanfront and high/low choice of accommodations – is the ability to shop, dine, and stay out late to dance until closing time while visiting several local night spots on foot (to call them merely bars does them a great disservice)  and walk the one block back to  your hotel or motel.  It’s all right there, variety, in a lovely, small town environment.  When was the last time you could say that  about your vacation spot?  Just another reason why it’s so great to live here, too.

The Sun Dog Diner: the family diner with live music and a bar scene that kicks in long after your kids should be in bed anyway.  A Neptune Beach institution for over twenty years, it’s just an everyday part of our small town, and across the street from the beach.

Unfortunately, you won’t see it on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, but the next time you  come out to the beach you will.  Call me.   I’ll meet you at The Dog.

Although I wasn’t a marathon participant, I still can’t shake the feeling of the day.  It was truly powerful. Breast cancer is a horrible disease and seeing more than 10,000 women and men, gathered in one place, fiercely facing their challenges… it was awesome, in the truest sense of the word.  Below are the welcoming remarks from event organizer, marathon trainer and former Olympic athlete Jeff Galloway and Donna Deegan, just moments before the starting gun. Musician Daniel App performs his original song, the theme song for this year’s race Believe in the Beat.  For those of you who didn’t see it the first time … or perhaps you’d like to relive those exciting moments when it all came down to the start, welcome to race morning, redux:

beachlife  | be-ch li-fe |

If you’ve ever asked yourself if that Shu Uemura  eyelash curler really is all that, I’m here to report that the answer is yes, yes it is.

You see, when you’re shopping with a sister you only see but once a year and you’re in a Nordstrom – one of those stores that just hasn’t made it to the Jacksonville area (along with a fair number of  independent films, now that we’re talking about it) and there’s simpatico in shopping between you … and actually, you’d read, yet again, in a magazine on the very flight to visit your sister, about the greatness of the Shu Uemura eyelash curler and suddenly you see a Shu Uemura counter?  Well, you tell me.  You buy it, don’t you?

Yes, yes, you do.  

In fact, you  both do.

Shu Uemura eyelash curler?  Where have you been all my life?

You’ll have to imagine the hills, green and lush from recent rains, rising from the coast and sometimes obscuring both the ocean view and interrupting cell phone connections.  The car hugs the narrow canyon roads and takes the hairpin turns and occasionally passes magnificent homes perched on the side of the mountain.  I can feel the increasing altitude in my ears.  The mountains are alluring; as we travel, the Pacific comes into view. What must it be like to live up here, high in the mountains above the Pacific coast, a private life in the canyon, perhaps with the coastal view?

As we descend to sea level, the  waning sun yields to the ocean and becomes a  pink-gold sphere. 

During those final moments it seems to resist the horizon, and  most everyone on the beach pauses to watch. And when the ocean finally absorbs the melting sun, the sky grows saturated with its color, reflecting off the water, everyone moves about again, bathed in the pinky light of the afterglow. The chill is undeniable.  It’s February after all, but that does not deter beach lovers on any coast.  A sunset wedding in Malibu on a Valentine’s Day weekend. 

 That couple was blessed with a glorious one indeed, and after making their sandy vows in front of their guests and gawkers (atlantic beachlifer) they moved inside to the Sunset Restaurant at Zuma Beach,  and the rest of us carried on with our Saturday evening.