The Italian Stallion

Paulie: [about Adrian] She's pushing thirty freaking years old, and if she don't wise up, she's gonna die an old maid.

Rocky: I'm thirty myself!

So Philadelphia has a huge celebration around the fourth of July with tons of free events, concerts, food, fireworks, etc. They do a few outdoor movies at different parks and one of them is Rocky that is shown at the Art Museum Steps.

I've always wanted to go, but I never had before. I decided this was the year. My friends Becca and Jami were game. We had some yummy vegan burgers at the Belgium Cafe and then headed over. It was a gorgeous night. We didn't have prime seats as you can see (the screen is that tiny rectangle) and it was a teensy bit hard to hear. But at least now I can say I've seen that movie, even if it turned out to be not terribly exciting to watch Rocky train by pounding the crap out of slabs of raw meat and hang around with his socially awkward girlfriend Adrian. But it was a fun atmosphere and during his training montage everyone was clapping and cheering. Fun times.

ugh

I went to put on my fourways and this is what happened. The button simply disappeared into the depths of the dashboard. I seriously destroy everything I touch.

Some randoms

• I was looking for one of those refreezable icepacks the other day and decided to check in Isaac's lunchbox. One was in there, along with a greenish grayish old wilted turkey sandwich in his sandwich container. I definitely almost vomited.

• Isaac heard "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul on the radio the other day and said "Who is this? The Beatles?" He's also been listening to KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way I Like It" repeatedly... which is getting old. I liked his Michael Jackson obsession better.

• Speaking of music... I'm loving this song. And Megan Tonjes does a great cover of it:

(Go ahead and click it. Give it a listen while you are reading.)

• Isaac spent the night at my parent's house Friday while I went to the concert, and when I went to pick him up the four of us went to see Cars 2. Wow was I disappointed. Isaac enjoyed it well enough, but I was a little shocked at how violent it was. It was a little disconcerting to see Mater outfitted with a machine gun trying to "kill" other cars in a shootout. But don't tell that to Joe-- he will just remind that you DISNEY/PIXAR movies might not be suitable for kids (????).

• I've been reading a ton lately. I read the first of the books in the Hunger Games. I need to read the next ones ASAP! I've also been working my through Jennifer Weiner. Her books fall more into the "beach reads" category, but they are well written and they are set in my favorite city-- Philadelphia and it's fun to hear all of her references to local neighborhoods, streets, restaurants, etc. Feel free to leave recommendations. One of my to-dos this week is to pay my library fines so I can put in some more requests.

• I'm finally getting into the groove of summer vacation. This is the first summer that I haven't really worked at all and also that Isaac hasn't been enrolled at least part-time in some kind of childcare. The first week was extremely overwhelming. I know it sounds super-lame to complain about, but day after day of being home with nothing to do except housework was so overwhelming. I was kind of having a breakdown and I didn't think I could make it to the end of the summer. I've said it before, but even if I was a bazillionaire I could never be a stay at home mom. I would slide into a serious depression. At any rate, this week I made a point to fill up my calendar a bit more. Isaac and I both did the dentist (both cavity free!), I scheduled a consult with the oral surgeon, a physical, a hair appointment and an eye exam, as well as some play-dates for Isaac and some girlfriend time for me. I definitely feel like things are a bit more doable now and that I can make it to the end of summer without having a nervous fit.

• Isaac is doing a few soccer camps as well as swim lessons for the summer. I enrolled him for a group class at our local YMCA, except that for the first two weeks there were no other kids in his class, so he got a private lesson for the price of a group lesson. His teacher has asked me to move him up to the next level though, which is good. The first week he got all weird and would barely participate. He did a lot better the second week though, and by the end of the class was diving and swimming the length of the pool. Growing up, my parents always had all of us kids in swim lessons and I think it's really important for kids to feel confident in the water.

• We also did another trek out to one of my VERY favorite spots in the city Smith Memorial Playground. If you've never been and live in the Philly area, check it out. It's amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing and it's free! Also, for the summer months they have extended hours. It's a great way to fill a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

• I really miss my sister. It has been nearly a year since I have seen her, which is really just unacceptable. I'm so counting down the days to our beach trip when she comes home.

Well, that's all for now, since I just realized it's nearly one in the morning. Oops. Feel free to leave a comment. I see so many random people on my feedtracker and would love to know who is lurking. =)

Caravan

(ignore the random "Friday" text in the upper left corner... I can't seem to undo that)

So old college boyfriend did give me a ticket to go with him to see the Dave Matthews Band Caravan in Atlantic City. And his free tickets turned out to be VIP passes. That meant we got a great spot to stand, dinner in a fancy tent and VIP bathrooms. He was a bit blase about the whole thing, but I thought it was great. It was a really fun night, even though I didn't take too many pictures. My feet ended up being so filthy that it took about four showers to get them clean (and the shoes I think are just a lost cause)....

Summer isn't summer without a few outdoor concerts, so hopefully that won't be the last.

sad but true

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Linking up to This Kind of Love for What I Love Wednesday....

I'm LOVING this nail polish: Sonic Bloom -the color on my toes currently. Sort of an electric tomato color. Plus I combined a coupon with a great sale and got it for like 1.50. Wahoo! LOVE a great deal.

I'm LOVING this song Good Life by One Republic:

I LOVE that Isaac and I were both cavity free at the dentist. Yay! After all of my dental nightmares this year, it was a relief to get the all clear finally.

I LOVE the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I need to buy the other two books in the Trilogy and get reading.

and lastly I LOVE that I've gotten back in touch with some old friends.

"Different, Not Less"

Now that it's summer and I'm enjoying "funemployment" (to steal an expression from the Mormon Child Bride) I'm finally working my way through my Netlfix queue. i'm great about he watch instanly queue but the DVDs seem to sit on my counter for months.

Anyways, I recently watched Temple Grandin, an autistic woman, which originally aired as an HBO special.

.

Here is a great review of it. It is based on her book, Thinking in Pictures which I read ages ago. Temple perseveres through life in a time when mother's were being blamed for autism in their children and were being told to institutionalize their children ASAP. Being an autistic support teacher, this movie has been recommended to me by many different people. Our classroom assistants even got to watch it as an inservice one day. It didn't disappoint and of course I found myself crying through it as she struggles to be understood and especially in some scenes with her mother. I definitely recommend it and I love that it could give people a more realistic looking depiction of a person with autism, beyond the Rainman. Claire Danes really captured the nuances of her behavior: her loud unmodulated voice, the difficulty of sustaining eye contact, even her odd gait.

Anyone out there seen it? What did you think?

whirlwind

What a crazy weekend! Friday night my mom and I went to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Fulton theater in Lancaster. I had never been there before and had pretty low expectations. Especially since I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the West End in London. I was pleasantly surprised, however. The Fulton was a beautiful old building and the production was great.

The next day I met up with a good friend from college, Nicole. She was in town visiting her father. That has been a fun part of my parents moving to the Lancaster area: we end up in town a lot of times for holidays. I had only intended to stay an hour or two but it was so pleasant floating around in her pool that I ended up spending most of the afternoon there. I had put sunscreen on my face but I ended up up with a bad burn on my chest.

After that I dashed off to a graduation party at the TrueDeeva's house and spent the afternoon giggling at her former mother in law's antics being shocked at how much all of the kids had grown up. I think her daughter was in first grade the last time I saw her, and now she looks like a young lady, ready to go off to middle school. I managed to avoid drama with Isaac's daddy (We had both been invited and I had asked that we go at different times because I thought that might confuse Isaac. His dad didn't like that suggestion, but it worked out in the end.)

From there I met up with my friends Becca and Jami. She is officially moved into her house in Fishtown. It was such a nice night that we ended up wandering around the city from place to place. We checked out Stephen Starr's newest place Frankford Hall. Although I don't have much use for a beer garden, it was a really neat place, with a huge outdoor courtyard and ping pong tables and girls walking around selling huge pretzels. We also walked to PYT in Northern Libs but was disappointed by horrible service. Seriously, the worst service I have had in ages. We were this close to just walking out, which is a shame because the food was really good.

Sunday I squeezed in a walk with my friend Kim, before we were back to Lanc for a nice meal with my dad. Joe grilled steaks and I had a turkey burger. At first I was sad and it was one of the first times int he past year that I really found myself wanting to eat red meat. But once they were there on the table, they looked less appetizing and I was fine with my turkey burger. It was a great weekend.

feeling crafty

Last year I bought this cute little buckets in the dollar section of target but had no idea what to do with them. When my friend Diana loaned me her big shot die cutter to make all those bridal invites Isaac and I decided to play around with it.

We made this out of things completely around the house. I just used a cereal box with the flower die cut and then modge podged random scrapbook paper on. I used a straw with a pick up stick inside to jab into some craft foam and then I just shredded the leftover scrapbook paper to cover up the foam. The ribbon was leftover from the curtains in my office.

P.S. Last day of school today!!!!!

An interview with Isaac, as he graduates kindergarten

I was inspired by Sarah over at Clover Lane:

I am really good at: math

I like to: do the monkey bars at recess

Someone that makes me laugh: Damien

One word that describes you: difficult (I swear, no prompting from me on that one!)

I am really happy when: it's my birthday

I am really sad when: I have to wash the dishes

My favorite book: The Story of Darth Vader

My favorite TV show: the NBA

My favorite vacation: Orlando, FL

I like school when: it's calendar time

I don't like school when: we have to be quiet

My favorite season: Summer

My favorite toy: Wii

My worst nightmare: the one about Michael Jackson's Thriller with zombies

Things that make me mad: when mom takes my Wii away

Favorite sport: Basketball

I like my Dad because: he takes me to play with Junior

I like my Mom because: she lets me use the computer

I like my family because: they are fun

Movies...

When you are as broke as I am, Netflix is like your best friend. Here's what I've seen lately.

White Oleander I'm always up for a good drama but this one was sort of weak. It was about a girl who's mother commits a crime of passion and goes to jail. The girl floats from foster care home to foster care home. I might read the book, but I felt like the movie was sort of cliche.

The Business of Being Born This is one that came recommended by quite a few of my friends. It's basically a big advertisement for midwifery and home births. Although some of their views bordered on over the top propaganda (just because monkeys that are c-sectioned don't care for their young, doesn't mean that women who have sections are going to be less attached to their babies!), I thought it raised as lot of interesting points about how women in America view childbirth.

Paper Clips This was a really cute documentary about a middle school in rural Appalachia who decide to collect a paperclip for every child that was killed in the Halocaust. It was really good.

Bridesmaids

I saw this one in the theater with friends. There are parts that are raunchy and over the top, but overall I really enjoyed it. I totally related to the main character, a single girl navigating the world of dating and dealing with blows from life. It was hilariously funny. I found myself laughing the whole time.

National Geographic: Solitary Confinement

I like documentaries about psychology and this was about the psychological effects of solitary confinement. I thought it was interesting and featured footage and photos of Eastern State Penn, which is a Philly landmark.

Tupac and Biggie

This one was all right. I was making 50 cards for a bridal shower and just wanted something on that I could half pay attention to while I was working on them. It brought up a lot of the loose ends of the cases of the murders of the two rappers and highlighted the corruption in the LAPD that caused the murders to do really be investigated. However, Biggie and Tupac is pretty much old news.

Man on Wire

This is a documentary about Phillipe a tightrope walker who does daring stunts such as walking between the two towers of Notre Dame and ultimately between the two towers of the World Trade Center. His stunts were interesting but the documentary was a little slow, mostly talking head type interviews and awkward reenactments.

Movies That I Tried to Watch and Just Couldn't Get Into

Brokeback Mountain and Chasing Amy

Have any good recommendations for me?

Monday

• I ran a mile and biked five tonight. Not bad. I could have run more but my allergies are causing my lungs to close up and I wasn't in the mood for wheezing and keeling over. Tomorrow is Zumba, so the week is off to a decent start as far as excercise is concerned. And I tend to eat a million times better on days that I bother to work out. Hopefully I can stick with it for a while, because I have a whole closet full of summer shorts and capris that are too small, which is just depressing.

• I got a great Groupon a few weeks ago 20 bucks for 45 dollars worth of stuff from the Body Shop. Since I am obsessed with The Body Shop, I couldn't pass it up. I bought two lip butters, a lip balm, a body butter and two shower gels and I am in love with the shower gels. One is grapefruit which is one of my favorite scents for shower gels. It just smells fresh and citrusy and yummy. The other is almond which just smells nutty and delicious.

• Speaking of depressing, I'm helping plan a bridal shower for a girl who goes to my church. Her name is also Lisa and I keep getting e-mails that are intended for her about aspects of the shower. I'm in charge of the invitations. I picked up a cute wedding type stamp at AC Moore tonight. I should be able to whip up something cute... I hope... or it will be horrible and I will end up spending even more money on store bought invites. We'll see.

Another E-harmony winner. This was on a new match's profile under the section "Other information you might want to know about me": I'm not on here for the right partner, but to choose someone and make her right. Uh... make her right? Not too sure how that works. I promptly hit the archive button on that one. Well that's all for now. Counting down the days until June 15th!!

Quick Memorial Day Post

Here's a few pictures from Memorial Day. Isaac and I had a lovely day with my parents. Isaac played outside all day, helped my dad with lawn work and car washing and went swimming at the Leola Pool. I did some crafting and reading. We went to my parents church picnic. Here's a few pictures.

We stopped letting him win a long time ago.

Riding our bikes over to the picnic.

Games at the picnic.

a few randoms

• We have had such a hot few days and it has been unbearable at work. Our school is very old and is not air conditioned. The temperatures in our classrooms have been in the upper 90s for the past two days. At least I can wear a light cotton sundress. I feel bad for the men in my school who have to wear pants and polos. Ick.
• It's not fair to be so hot before I have even had a chance to get over my allergies. I have been a snotty, sneezing, itchy, drowsy, wheezing, asthmatic mess for the past week or so. And I look scary to boot.
• I'm currently reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I tried to read it once before and couldn't get into it, but the second time around I like it a little better. It is just a compilation of letters from the various characters and it took a while to get used to that format and keep all of the characters straight in my head. I would say I'm about 2/3 of the way through it and enjoying it.
• I can now say I've made an official (if half hearted) attempt to get a summer job. I filled out a few applications, but nothing looks to promising, aside from writing IEPs which isn't very many hours. I really need the money though, so I should probably hustle a little harder. I did get Isaac enrolled in swim lessons and a few sports camps which gets me a few checks in the "good mommy" column. Lately, I've felt like the mommy that other better moms point and laugh at.
• My sister and brother in law are on their way to Alaska for the next year or so. I need to figure out a way to afford to visit them before they move.
• I ended up meeting up with the TrueDeeva herself over the weekend. It has (sadly) been a few years since we have hung out. I had a babysitter and my plans ended up never materializing so I texted her on a whim. It was fun and I will be heading out to her place for a BBQ in a few weeks.
• I got an e-mail from another e-harmony guy, who seems like a real winner. In response to my question "describe the worst date you've ever been on" he related a story about how the girl's face looked skinny in the picture she sent, but when he met her, her body was fat. Then, one of his open ended questions he sent me was "What is your opinion on society today?".... Say what?? I responded that I wasn't sure how to answer such a broad question and his response was "Well, that's why I asked you, because you're a broad."......... So in short I've met another arrogant jerk, this one who seems to have the political views of the Unabomber. Thanks, e-harmony.

Anyways, that's all I have for right now. I'll try to post some Memorial Day pictures as soon as I can gank them from my mom and dad's camera. Have a great week!