My Jersey Shore

Thanks to MTV, the Jersey Shore has become a water cooler joke, but to me, Jersey Shore means something else, something much more.

It's where I vacationed every summer with my mother and father, cousins and aunts and uncles. It's where I learned to jump waves, where my father taught me how to dive, and where I spent way too much of my parents money on rides, salt water taffy and arcade games. It's also where you can get the best zeppolis and sausage and peppers outside of Little Italy. In fact, I've spent every summer of my life visiting, except for the last four years that I've lived in L.A... until now. Since Raphael's business partner is getting married in New Jersey and we're invited, I took the opportunity to also spend a day and a half in the Jersey shore sun with my family and finally introduce my husband to all my childhood exploits there.

My father, especially looked forward to our summers and taking me over to Point Pleasant for a weekend or longer. His favorite song was Under the Boardwalk, so when he passed away, his sister dedicated a bench on his favorite boardwalk in his memory, so that he'll always be sitting on the dock of the bay in some respect. He was definitely with me in my heart this weekend, that's for sure.

Here are some photos of my Jersey Shore:

My mother and I went on this ride called Skyscraper in Seaside Heights boardwalk that spun us upside down and around at 170 feet in the air, we were laughing, screaming and crying. It was the best ride I've ever been on!

Now, here's a photo that fosters the stereotype though. When I was growing up it used to be called Shoot the Geek or Shoot the Red Sox, but now it's "Shoot the Guido" and has The Situation mask over some poor guy getting pummeled with paint balls.