It feels too early for the morning fog that greeted me outside the door. That sort of thing usually comes later in the season – a not-so-happy harbinger of fall portending school and the end of fun. Yet there it was, stubborn and insistent and refusing to lift in the least. I drove to work through it, then watched as it waited outside the office window, sauntering along the Hudson River and obscuring anything beyond the immediate shore. For various reasons, I didn’t mind it. If this is the remainder of summer, it’s only fitting, and my heart’s simply not in it. When that happens, blog posts tend to sag, even when I’m not simply re-posting things from a decade ago when life felt so much easier. Rather than failing at thrilling anyone, this blog will be taking a hopefully-brief break for a few days – a smaller version of the full-summer breaks this site (and perhaps any hate-readers) once enjoyed. Let’s take this time to focus on summer, on family, on what really matters and what brings us joy. While I’m away, here are some links that may bring you summer fun from the past – random days and years and posts that kindle some of what summer best embodies. The season flies by all too quickly – get out there and hold onto it.

June 29, 2010 ~ Capture at the creek

July 29, 2010 ~ Meeting a childhood idol at his Chelsea penthouse

August 10, 2010 ~ Lulled by the ocean

June 11, 2011 ~ A pride post

July 2, 2011 ~ This used to be my playground

July 25, 2011 ~ Summer stalker: part of your world

August 5, 2011 ~ Camp crush

June 7, 2012 ~ The gay religious experience

July 26, 2012 ~ Turn up the radio

August 20, 2012 ~ David Beckham’s bulge

June 23, 2013 ~ Music for a darkened theater

July 15, 2013 ~ High summer recapping

August 29, 2013 ~ The majesty of the mount

September 2, 2013 ~ I hear the ticking of the clock

June 27, 2014 ~ Sweet scent of summer

July 25, 2014 ~ Family summer fun

August 12, 2014 ~ Your love is killing me

September 2, 2014 ~ A New York City birthday adventure begins

September 3, 2014 ~ Bathroom briefs

June 30, 2015 ~ Taming an unruly beast

July 15, 2015 ~ Peering over the edge of 40

August 24, 2015 ~ My 40th birthday

September 13, 2015 ~ An almost-secret garden in Boston

June 25, 2016 ~ The point of being pretty

July 2, 2016 ~ True blue for three decades

August 31, 2016 ~ All my August days

September 4, 2016 ~ A sea recedes

June 30, 2017 ~ The very last sunset

July 20, 2017 ~ We will be found

September 22, 2017 ~ Two friends on a perfect day

June 29, 2018 ~ A summer look-back before a break

August 30, 2018 ~ September’s coming soon

September 20, 2018 ~ Andante

June 30, 2019 ~ Saigon summer in Boston

July 13, 2019 ~ King of wishful thinking

August 26, 2019 ~ A love-letter to Betty Lynn Buckley

September 1, 2019 ~ September summer nakedness

June 20, 2020 ~ Summer begins

June 21, 2020 ~ The 2nd night of summer

July 15, 2020 ~ Summer evening by Tom Ford

August 27, 2020 ~ A king signals the slipping of summer

June 22, 2021 ~ A good day for Dad

July 23, 2021 ~ An anniversary letter to my husband

August 30, 2021 ~ Two decades of working for the state of New York

September 21, 2021 ~ A summer that wasn’t quite…

Ten years ago I was getting ten million hits a month here. There are nowhere near that many hits these days, and that’s the way it should be. Life evolves. Focuses shift. Attention-spans dwindle. So here’s a look back ten years ago today:

10 Million… and the Hits Keep Coming – {Originally posted July 30, 2023.}

The stats of www.ALANILAGAN.com are not something with which I concern myself all that much. As you can see, I don’t sell advertising, I don’t make a living off this site, and if I wanted to I could shut this whole thing down tomorrow and be all right with it. When I began this endeavor over ten years ago (personal websites age more quickly than dogs, or even gay men) I did it for myself – as a repository of some written work and photographs (and Projects). To this day, that’s still what it encompasses.

When I got back from vacation, however, I glanced through the stats, and noticed that this site has enjoyed a banner month. Unlike most mainstream places, this corner of the web gets pretty much steady traffic regardless of season or day of the week (partly because there is a post – and usually three – every single day). In fact, on weekends and holidays, my traffic tends to increase. (This site is ridiculously banned from many work places, so I don’t enjoy the bump of workday boredom.) But it’s not something to which I’ve ever catered, with the possible exception of a naked hunk here or there. I hadn’t noticed how close we were to reaching a milestone until Sunday, when this little website reached ten million hits for the month of July. It’s far from a big number, but for a personal site it’s not that shabby.

For that, I have no one to thank but you – yes, you – the person reading this right now. Odds are we have not yet had the pleasure of meeting (I’ve only had the fortune to meet a few people from the online world), but please know that the simple fact of you visiting here means more than most of my closest friends sometimes mean (honestly, I could give you a long list of people I love dearly who won’t read a single word of this because they never come here). So for you, the ones reading this now, I offer my heartfelt thanks.

And though I don’t much like to look back, here’s a little retrospective of some of my favorite topics from the past – in honor of ten years of doing this, and a month of ten million hits. You’ll see the main themes of this site – and perhaps divine some new themes to come.

There’s nothing I love better than a properly crafted cocktail.

Unless it’s a properly cut pair of underwear.

Or my ass, which has fueled more hits than… oh, forget it. It’s written itself.

But it really comes down to family and friends, and there’s no denying that both have informed and inspired this site in ways that deepen and explore where I come from, and where I’d like to go. There’s no denying or separating them from me – and I wouldn’t have it any other way. (This includes my elusive husband Andy, who has only recently been more forthcoming about appearing in pictures, much to everyone’s delight.)

The role of beauty in the world is often underestimated. I see it in our gardens, and in the blooming of a flower. I hear it in a song, or listen to it in a musical, or taste it in the simple serving of a meal. It’s there in the fragrance someone wears, or the clothing on their back. Beauty is always around, if you know how to look for it.

Of course, special mention must be made of my main creative muse – still going strong after thirty years (would that this site lasts as long) – who is, and always will be, Madonna. From her epic songs to her lesser-known ones, long may she reign.

A multitude of thanks must also be extended to the naked men who keep this site going when I’m galavanting on vacation or in Boston or simply too lazy to come up with anything beyond shirtless guy candy, so here’s to The Hunks. (Especially those who dare to don a Speedo.)

Finally, if it weren’t for all the places I get to visit (Ogunquit, Boston, Cape Cod, Las Vegas, London, San Francisco, Washington), I wouldn’t have a chance to enjoy coming back here at the end of it all.

Here’s to us… and most especially, here’s to you. Let’s make the rest of the journey together.

July’s Last Full Recap – {Originally posted July 29, 2013}

Being that it was the last full week of July, and I’m begrudgingly letting it go (although the 97 degree nonsense can be done), here is the recap for the previous week – one in which I was vacationing and relying on pre-programmed posts. Still, there were good things to be found for those who bothered to look. And now I’m back, resuming the battle, taking up the baton, and twirling like there’s no tomorrow.

Many thanks to Tom Ford, who prepared things brilliantly for my birthday next month.

Yet for all of last week, I was in absentia, and happier than hell about it. I have never, in my dozen-years-plus of working for the state of New York, taken a whole week off. And I can’t believe I waited so long.

Ten years ago we were celebrating David Beckham here – witness that post:

David Beckham Strips Off Shirt, Sprays Cologne ~ {Originally posted July 26m 2013}

As much as I love David Beckham, I’ve never been into any of his products. His underwear proved a bit of a boring let-down, and I have yet to try one of his colognes. (If it stands beside the Brut display at CVS, you’ve already lost me.) Does his new commercial touting a new cologne change anything? Not really. But it’s nice to see him without a shirt again.

{There was also a lucky lavender post that day.}

In keeping with the 20th anniversary of this blog, I’m looking back with a week or so of re-posts from whatever was posted exactly ten years ago. This works double-duty as I’m going offline for a bit, and illustrates how far I’ve come (or have yet to go). I will also add some links to show how some things have very much changed. Here’s the first one, posted exactly ten years ago today:

Things I Used to Hate, But Grew To Love ~ {Originally posted July 25, 2013}

It’s almost Friday, I’m finishing up a vacation, and I have nothing left as far as creative juices go, so we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel and making a little list. If you have anything you’d like to add, well, let me know on FaceBook or Twitter, or show me on Instagram, and maybe I’ll do a follow-up. In the meantime, here is my little list of Things I Used to Hate, but Grew To Love:

* Lobster

* Fritos

* Pizza (yes, I used to hate pizza as a kid!)

* Meatloaf

* Blue cheese

* Alcohol

* The color teal (I blame an old set of kitchen cabinets)

* Dress shoes

* Ties

* Black and white movies

(I don’t dare do a list of Things I Used to Love, But Grew to Hate – some of you are probably on it.)

{Also on this date ten years ago: this gratuitous Ben Cohen post.}

Some weeks, even in summer, you just want to move quickly past. Still, there were a few bright spots. On with the weekly recap…

A rabbit face-off.

A cloud of tiny threads.

Artist profile: Julian Abramo.

My eyes are shot- what do you see?

Flower droplets.

When all else fails… Madonna.

Lightening up on the posts for summer.

Summer teasing.

A letter to my Godson on his very first birthday.

The day I met my husband Andy – 23 years ago.

Dazzlers of the Day included Bridget Moynahan, Cody Fern, and Matt Baume.

Summer teases and summer takes away – and this summer has brought much of each with the crazy weather we’ve had and the rise of the results of global warming (yeah, it’s real, get over it and do something). The weather app is largely useless – telling me it will rain and storm only to have hot and sunny weather, or, much worse, telling me it will be lovely out only to end in a deluge of rain and wind. Sometimes the storms come up out of nowhere, wreak havoc (like a two inch waterfall in ten minutes) then disappear as if they were never there – except for the flooding that remains. We live in meteorologically tumultuous times. 

The lesson I’ve gleaned from this is to take any sunny moment as it comes, and embrace and appreciate it. Gratitude can be had and found from minute to minute. As someone who is accustomed to, and enjoys, planning and preparation, this can be a difficult lesson to learn. That means it’s a valuable one. 

Posts may be lighter in the coming days, as focus turns to family and other items, such as summer itself. During previous years I’ve taken the entire summer off from blogging, but as that left me feeling slightly unmoored, I returned to the daily format for my own Virgo-like love of a regimented schedule. When the world around you begins to crumble, a little structure can be a very good thing.

That said, there is something lovely about a lighter posting schedule, and lighter posts themselves. Too often I get bogged down in the weeds here, sometimes just because I can. When no one calls you out on run-on sentences or indulgent photo shoots, you get accustomed to the luxury. Summer is a good time to streamline and edit, and just step away from the laptop for a spell. To that end, I’ll finish up this post and let you carry on with your own summering for the season.