Summer Sista Kick Off

Just like that, the longest day of the year is over. I didn’t do nearly everything I wanted to do on the official first day of summer, like eat ice cream for every meal and enroll in the library’s summer reading program and hit up a public pool and get a raging whirlpool going like the good old days of summer. If you couldn’t tell from that sentence, my childhood summers were incredibly cool.

Since this post is on a fast track to nowhere, I’ll keep it simple w/ a “life lately” spiel.

-Brent and I headed down to the greater Philadelphia area last weekend for a little family reunion. Brent hasn’t done Philly (ever?) in years, so our itinerary included all the necessities. I even got tickets to the Liberty Bell ahead of time so we weren’t waiting like chumps all afternoon! If you’re saying to yourself, "but you can't buy tickets to the liberty bell ahead of time," well, you are correct. Turns out I bought tickets to Independence Hall, across the street from the Liberty Bell. There’s $1.50 I’ll never see again.

-Independence Hall turned out to be pretty cool; what wasn’t so cool was poor Brent holed up in my sisters condo with a terribly timed bug. The hungry hungry hippo feeding we saw at the zoo? The mumbling tour guide with overused and unoriginal jokes? The most delicious (and cheapest, b/c I guess the Amish don’t want to make money?) doughnuts from Reading Terminal Market? Brent missed it all. I did bring him back a homemade Amish whoopee pie, which seemed to help soften the blow; bottom line, if you get the chance to buy baked goods from the Amish, don’t squander the opportunity. 

-We were in Philly on the 18th, so we didn’t get to do it officially in our house, but 6/18 marked our first house-iversary! I know, I know, the house-iversary is huge. We’ll never get that first one back. Homeownership is expensive and exhausting, in case you didn’t know. I haven’t found anything satisfying yet about that freshly mowed lawn or shoveled driveway, but stay tuned. I’m only kidding, it’s great not having to make awkward small talk w/ people in the building and pretend to hold the elevator door open. 

-I wasn’t kidding about the library summer reading program ruling my summers; Brent and I stopped at the lib after work and picked up the enrollment sheets for adults. Hell yeah we’re going to show the kids that adults read, too. We’re going to beat their picture-and-chapter book reading butts. Brent’s excitement deflated a little when he saw there wasn’t really any incentive behind the program, but then I pointed out the RAFFLE to win a FREE BOOK and he was back in the game.

-My restaurant is closed July 3rd and 4th, which is freaking amazing. We might do some fun Fourth plans, but more than likely we’ll be sweltering in the sun trying to assemble our new patio furniture. I got all amped up about mulching and flowering in the front lawn, so we’ll be in hell Home Depot w/ every other amateur trying to spruce up their home for a 4th of July cookout. Only we don’t have a grill, so after all the yardwork and yelling when our patio table is somehow assembled upside down, we’ll be hosing each other off and guzzling Bud Lights in clear view of the neighbors b/c AMERICA.

this picture needs no explanation. except that it does, in the form of its own post, which I will hopefully get around to. when I saw potato sacks at the flea market a few weeks ago, I could already see the looks of excitement on my sisters faces when I brought them to our Philly reunion; I think that excitement is palpable in this picture.