Summertime.... and the living is easy

June has been a quiet month for us. It started off with my niece's wedding (sort of -- she's been married for a year already and so the wedding ceremony was completely superfluous, but it was fun anyway) and has kind of meandered along. I turned 44 on June 3 and it wasn't a great birthday, but I knew that going in. Every seven years since I was 16 I've had bad birthdays, and this year was it. I spent the day at home on the computer, which was fun, but what made it suck was that 1) I got my period, and 2) I had to have the car repaired to the tune of $362. On the plus side, I'm good now until I turn 51.

Despite a bang-up start to the month, we haven't done much. We've gone swimming in the lake. We've gone to see a lot of movies. We've had several barbecues. Other than that... not much.

The summer movies have been a mixed bag this year. Iron Man was awesome, as expected. It's my second favorite comic book movie ever, taking X-Men 2's spot (but not ousting Spider-Man 2 as the best comic book movie ever). Konkles of Nonya was great, thanks to acting powerhouse Peter Dinklage and a sexy hott Caspian. Speed Racer was dumb and flashy. Indiana Jones made me want to commit ritual seppuku because of the insanely stupid and unnecessary relationship with Karen Allen and the cutesy family angle. We've also seen The Happening, which has turned out to be the worst movie so far -- so bad it's good. Marky Mark has used up a huge chunk of Boogie Nights goodwill by not only being in this turdfest but also by his hilariously bad acting (to be fair, he didn't have much to work with -- the dialog was laughable). We also saw Wanted, and that was okay. Kinda dumb. Next up is Hancock and then Hellboy.

I sort of decided not to do One Local Summer this year. I had a lot of fun with it last year, but since I'm only home on the weekends I'm limited to only two nights in which to produce a local dinner. To tell you the truth, I've been feeling extraordinarily lazy (even lazier than usual) and half of the time I've been like, "Oh, let's just Five Guys it up tonight." So, unless Five Guys counts as local food, I'm afraid I have to bail on OLS this year.

This weekend is July 4th, so expect a forthcoming post in which we have an Americue, shoot off fireworks, and laugh at Fat Ringo.

Asher's Graduation Party - Revised

This past weekend was my nephew Asher's high school graduation party. We had a lot of fun and some great food. It was so good to sit around with my mom and my sisters again and make each other laugh. Jeanne had everyone cracking up with her imitation of my mom putting on her Aquanet hairspray in the 60s (with her bouffant) and of mom complaining when we went on the boardwalk in Sea Isle City NJ that the shore was just horrible for her hair. I brought up the story of my sister, Bev, and her husband, Bob, going to Home Depot for something. When they got out to the car Bev said, "Do you have your nuts?" To which Bob replied, "Yes, do you have your tits?" Good times! My mom joined in on the fun -- for some reason or other she started talking about a rapist in Center City Philadelphia who, after raping his victims, will suck on their toes. This was truly disturbing and really brought the room down. Not because a guy is sucking women's toes, but because my mom was talking about it. Um... gross much? On the plus side, she was totally flummoxed that someone would do that as a sex act, so at least it's not like she told us that she's got a new boyfriend and that's what they're doing. I think that would send me screaming from the room. Ew. I just really creeped myself out.

Anyway, Onil didn't really take very many pictures (and I guess I didn't either, but I don't really like the camera). The only picture of Asher is in the accomplishments picture. You'll see a photo of him in his band uniform on the table with his diploma and awards. And there are no shots of the guests. Enjoy what little is there, though, and look how cute my mommy is! I love this picture of her.

Click here to see a brief slide show of Asher's Graduation party.