First, I have to thank my cousin Jana and her husband Steve for hosting us, pretty much every weekend. In town or not themselves, they opened their home and their fabulous couch* to us. (More on that couch later.) It was so much fun getting to spend time with them when they were around and then use of their home and pool when they weren't. We can't take off work - because we just can't. So our Sundays off, especially in the summer, are precious. We lucked out and got beautiful weather almost every Sunday from July 4th on. Even if it wasn't beautiful out inland, it was perfect beach weather. Being able to stay over at their place every Saturday night saved us any Sunday morning shore traffic. It was great to already be down there.
Side note- not so great being ripped off at the bagel place we were going to down there. It cost us double, literally double what it costs at home for two bagels and cream cheese and a taylor ham and egg on a roll. Highway Robbery.
I'll mention the couch now- it's called a plunge sectional. If you're in the market for a couch- I highly recommend. Jana said she actually googled "world's most comfortable couch" or something like that. My Fitbit logs my sleep. The only place I've ever hit five hours of sleep that isn't considered "restless" is on that couch.
I discovered Cupcake Magician down in Red Bank this summer too- which guarantees I will be visiting over the winter too. I'm now obsessed. I also found Fetish in Asbury Park which sells my favorite brand- Sky. The brand is pretty elusive up in Bergen so at least I know where to look first when I want something.
We attended two gay pride parades- NYC and Asbury. Had a spectacular time at both. E got his now favorite rainbow sequin fedora he's been wearing everywhere. Best $5 I ever spent.
We BBQ'd with the Cohen's twice in the beginning of the summer. We didn't get to see enough of them, but hopefully we'll make up for it in during the year.
We spent time with friends I continue to want to know better and who have great kids. We didn't get to see them all as much as we'd like because other people take that thing called vacation. They were all away at different times. When we were able to get together or see each other at the town pool, it's always a pleasure. Briana, Ryan, Carolina, Dave, Deirdre, Colin, Chris and Minnie- we plan to see you over the school year whether you like it or not. I happen to think we make a good, fun, crew.
I made a new friend Michelle this summer, who I enjoy thoroughly. She matches me in deep talk. She also has a lovely husband and awesome kids that E loves to play with. He feels like it's a party every time we see them because he gets four kids at once.
I didn't take my "8 days" I usually take off in the summer while E is in camp. I normally try to pick the nicest day of the week and go to the pool myself. I don't know what happened- camp started like three days after school ended this year and I was trapped in a tornado of chaos. It was go-go-go from the end of school to start of camp. I think I only took five days and only two or three of those I ended up relaxing. I did manage to get my money's worth of the pool though. I signed E up for the town swim team, thinking it would be stress-free. And the actual team and swimming was stress-free. The stress came from E's camp bus not getting home until 4:58p and having to be at the pool by 5p. We made it though! There was just a lot of him getting naked in the foyer of our house and then running out the door. That's how we roll. Naked and running. It could be a reality show, I'm sure.
Then came the day I'm pretty sure parents crashed the school server - teacher assignment day. It looks like E has a nice mix of kids in his class. He was really happy to have a few good friends with him this year so I'm crossing my fingers for an easy time. We also switched swim teams so I won't be shlepping to Lodi. Ever again. My experience with the Scarlett Waves over, for many reasons (worst experience- for another time), I feel like I can breathe. I didn't over-schedule, so far, I don't think. I'm optimistic that how I worked things this year will be monumentally better than last year. I feel like I got sort of cheated out of enjoying how awesome E's teacher was because I was always rushing around from activity to activity and place to place. I could never really absorb her amazing-ness. I was too stressed out feeling like I was in a hamster wheel.
After camp ended we had a full two weeks off before school started. It just so happened that a lot of shows slated for release in the fall were and are doing their tapings now. I got a decent amount of casting calls in a row, submitted E quickly and he got called for three shows. Shows for NBC, Showtime, and Hulu. Getting up at 4:45a to be in Yonkers not to long after that wasn't the way I usually enjoy spending my time but E and I have these work sessions down pat by now and something comical or interesting always happens. I'll write a "Day in the life" of a child background actor soon. We've had a few Kramer-esque moments, of course, that would only happen to me. Don't worry- I'll let everyone know when you could look for him to flash quickly before your eyes on TV.
I also made thirty-three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for school lunch. A freezer packed with pb&j makes me very happy.
Now we're back to school. First day was yesterday and E said he had a great day. His teacher seems nice and I'm happy to be back on a structured schedule. Sort of. It probably won't feel fully structured to me, or B, until I'm back at work for a full week, but I'm getting there!
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| Cousins |
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| 1st day of 2nd grade |
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| pb&j |
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