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?