The Things Our Parents Tell Us

I was listening to the radio the other morning and they were discussing adults who wouldn't do something because their parents told them not to do it. Correlating with it is advice your parents gave you or statements they made that you will never forget.

Some of mine are:

• Whenever I use a credit card, I hear my dad in the back of my head saying not to use a credit card unless it's an emergency or you can pay it off immediately. Not a bad thing to remember. But I still feel weird using a credit card, no matter what occasion.
• Mom - never leave the house without lipstick. I hear this in my head all the time. Do I obey it? To her dismay, no.
• Dad - "If a boy tries to take advantage of you physically, grab his thumbs." I don't know why I remember this one. Grabbing his thumbs would be the least of his problems.

What are some things that your parents told you that you can't get out of your head? Or is there something that you still won't do because your parents wouldn't approve or think it's a good idea?

Dreams

I've had a bounty of dreams recently. One involved a theme of bad toupees and ended with Rod Blagojevich comforting me. What?

Another dream I had this week had me running around the city with friends when all of a sudden the sewers backed up and the streets were being flooded by crap. Crap as in...crap. Ew. Gross. We escaped to this old, victorian three-story home that served as some strange convent. It was almost like a combination of amish women and nuns. Then it turned out to be some kind of cult where they basically worshipped their vacuums. I said to someone standing next to me, "Hey, they feel the same way about their vacuums as we do our brooms." When I said this I meant brooms that we use for flying. You know you've been reading too much Harry Potter when it seeps into your dreams.

The final dream had my counselor writing it down and then analyzing it. She told me that I should spend the last 10 minutes of my session in a tanning booth. I said that I have some big stories to tell her and she responded, "I don't like to listen to these types of stories until Easter." RANDOM! She analyzed the dream. It's official. I'm a wacko.

A New Book

I am reading the most delightful book. You know it's good when you say "delightful" after only reading 16 pages. It's called The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It makes me want to write. So here I am writing. Nothing good enough to publish. The book is comical, heart warming and just plain witty. Beckles, we should write a book together!

Has anyone read it?

Summertime in the City

I really am having such an amazing summer. I stopped taking classes, vowed to not partake in a play, and have sort of reacquainted myself...with myself.

Sunrise bike rides with Alyson, movies in the park with Jess & Jay, Ravinia with Cristin, laying out by the lake with Harry Potter, talking on a porch swing with a glass of Chardonnay in hand with Melissa, walk in the park with Kelly, So You Think You Can Dance with Janell and Carmen, mountain climbing in L.A. with Kathie, swimming with my nephews, cocktails at lunch with Beckles, High Tea with Mum, walks with Dad, dancing at Jessie's wedding with Erin, Bobtail ice cream, small group on Monday nights on Alyson's roof top, full moon reflection on the lake, pilates in Millennium Park with Jessie, etc., etc. I really could go on and on. I am so blessed for these gifts this summer. I'm looking ahead to the Family Reunion in Missouri this next week. I can't wait!

I haven't felt this way about summer since I graduated from high school. Feels good.

Slippery When Wet

Oh to be 18 again! Andrew and his friends are having the time of their lives. If only we had thought of this back in the day....