Maggie Penza's Beachside Summer

 Summer is finally here! It's reaching a steamy 95 degrees today in Boston, as it is seems to be in most of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, but I'm not complaining. It's nice to have some heat after the rainy, cloudy mess we've been having. As long as it only stays for a few days...luckily this weekend it's supposed to drop back down to a lovely 80 or so, just in time for more recruiting! 


I had the pleasure of hearing from ever entertaining Junior Maggie Penza this week.  Life seems pretty rough for her out on the Cape...

You are living the dream this summer on the Cape. Give us an idea of what your typical day is like:
Maggie: My typical day starts with some kind of exercise or workout followed by a trip to the beach so that I can maintain the summer glow that my friends down here have come to expect from me. After the beach, I come home to feast on my specialty, peanut butter and jelly with bananas, before I get ready for work. Then, I head to my restaurant to waitress and charm the hearts and minds of my customers. Finally, if my shift ends early, I go back to the beach to watch the sunset. It's a tough life, but someone has to do it.

What is your restaurant like and how are you enjoying working there?
Maggie: I work at Oliver's Restaurant in Yarmouthport during the Summer. It's a family restaurant that has everything from burritos to broiled seafood platters. On the weekends we have bands come in to play for those of our customers that can stay awake past 10 pm as well as karaoke, which I have yet to try my hand at despite constant requests from my co-workers who have heard of my legendary vocal stylings. I almost always have fun at work, and I get some excellent stories out of it so I can't complain.

Any funny/strange waitressing encounters yet?
Maggie: Nothing too crazy has happened yet because it is still early, but I did convince some people the other night that I was a magician. I didn't have to do any tricks, they were just really gullible.

Who are you living with?
Maggie: I live with my friend Kate in her grandmother's Cape house free of charge all summer. We occasionally get a visit from her family, but for the most part we're just living the dream.

What kind of fun summer activities/hobbies do you have when you're not working?
Maggie: Most of my free time is spent at the beach, but there are a lot of day trips that we have planned as well for the coming months. We are going to spend a day or two in Provincetown, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. We also plan to go kayaking, sailing (as soon as we can make friends with someone that has a boat), and whale watching because whales are cool. As far as hobbies go, I have been teaching myself how to cook so that we do not die of starvation. So far my best dish is lemon pepper chicken with broccoli.. I'm thinking of signing up for Top Chef next season.

Any plans to visit some other EC Laxers or are any of them coming out to visit you?
Maggie: Alex Corrado comes down for a couple of days every couple of weeks to have mini vacations, but I have yet to see anyone else so far. I am positively certain that will not be the case for long, though.

Have you been keeping up with your notorious tweets out there?
Maggie: Of course! It's hard to keep up with the constant demand from my fans, but I have to give the people what they want. I don't tweet as frequently because there is not a lot of service at the beach, but I like to think that it's the quality rather than the quantity that counts.

What do you miss most about Boston and what are you most looking forward to when you get back?
Maggie: I realized the other day that I really miss Boloco, so that is definitely up there on the list. Along with that I also miss being able to walk everywhere. I'm a pretty terrible driver so I can't wait to get back to only needing my legs and the T system to get around.