101 days of summer

The lazy days of summer are over, as of tomorrow. I wanted to particularly relish every moment of this summer, knowing that once grad classes began in the fall, it wouldn't be until Christmas break that I'd have a good amount of free time again.

Here's a numbers breakdown of my summer:

Weddings Attended: 3

Brea and Nathan
Katy and Dale
Heather and Justin

Weddings I Wanted to Go To, But Couldn't: 2

Ashley and Mike
Carol and Joe


Movies Seen in Theatres: 4

Up
Star Trek
500 Days of Summer (yes, I stole my blog post title from this)
Julie & Julia

Movies Rented: 14

I Love You, Man
The Spirit of the Marathon
Taken
Last Chance Harvey
Rachel Getting Married
Road to Perdition
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Evening
Sophie's Choice
Doubt
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Lakeview Terrace
Yes Man
Bolt


Books Read: 10

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
We Are All Welcome Here by Elizabeth Berg
Two Part Invention by Madeleine L'Engle
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (re-reading it for the first time since 10th grade)
Crazy Love by Francis Chan
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Musical Theatre Performances Attended: 2

Wicked
The Music Man


Live Music Events Attended: 2

Jimmy Buffett - Concord, CA
Preservation Hall Jazz Band - New Orleans, LA

New States Visited: 6

Vermont
New Hampshire
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Maine
Louisiana

All added together, it equals one fantastic summer!

family matters

Since David is gone until next Wednesday, I've been staying at my parents house the last few nights. I knew that if I was alone in our house for 2 weeks, my mind would run wild with thoughts of scary scenarios and that it would be best for my sanity if I was around other people. Plus, I get free meals that I'm not involved in cooking so it really turns out to be a pretty good deal for me.

Anyhow, my younger brother Steve is also at my parent's house for a few days before he moves to Santa Cruz when his lease starts next week. It's a little strange to revert back to my living situation of when I was in high school---me, my brother, and my parents all under one roof.

One of the things I appreciate about my immediate family is that we all grew up saying what's on our mind, even if it's messy and not fully thought out. We never sweep anything under the rug; if something or someone is bothering us we confront each other and say so and fight it out (most of the time loudly) and get it over with instead of doing the whole passive aggressive thing. And yet, tonight I was reminded that this family trait can also be one of my biggest frustrations.

Tonight's family fight began regarding my brother's flossing habits (or rather his resistance to flossing) and it turned into a much deeper fight about differences in perspectives about money (relating to my parents buying a new car). Voices began to rise and I just wasn't feeling like joining in on what was becoming a heated debate. So I did what I've never done before, I got up and left and took my car and drove around for 20 minutes in silence. I needed to clear my head and think in a separate space instead of add to the emotions of the discussion. I then drove back to my parents house, and came back to the fight winding down into truce mode. I threw in my two cents, saying that I sort of understood both perspectives and felt that both my parents and my brother were somewhat right and somewhat hypocritical. And then they decided to agree to disagree and without a residue of bitterness, it was over. Despite yelling at each other five minutes before, the issue had been resolved to a point where an understanding was reached. Everyone's respect for one another was still in tact. I'm not really sure why this was deserving of a blog post other than the fact that this has helped me to process this event and just process in general the conflict resolution habits of my family, which I realize I'm thankful for in the end, despite the messiness.