Thank You For Being a Friend

This summer I am watching A LOT of "Golden Girls" reruns.  Although I would prefer fewer insults among these Miami ladies, I find the show both funny and comforting.  Binging on "The Golden Girls" has highlighted the similarities between the four friends featured on that show and the ladies from "Sex and the City."

Here are the character break-downs, as I see them. I am certainly not the first person to suggest that the ladies from "Sex and the City" owe a debt to their "Golden" predecessors, but I may be the first to work "The Wizard of Oz" into the discussion.

Dorothy Zbornak & Carrie Bradshaw: The Dorothy

The central "girl" of each group.  Dorothy is an English teacher and Carrie is a writer.  Both are witty and sarcastic.  Dorothy put up with her ex-husband Stan's garbage for over thirty years, while Carrie continues to put up with Big's nonsense through the series and movies.  Perhaps most importantly, Dorothy and Carrie are the glue in their respective friend groups.

Sophia Petrillo & Miranda Hobbes: The Brains

This is the most strained comparison, in my opinion.  Nevertheless, Sophia and Miranda both tell it like it is and are good at dispensing advice.  Miranda, a lawyer, tends to be very rational, while Sophia, an elderly Italian immigrant, favors embellished stories from her youth in Sicily.  "Picture it. . . ."

Rose Nylund & Charlotte York: The Heart

The sunny, naive friend.  Rose is a grief counselor and Charlotte is an art dealer.  While Rose is portrayed as not very bright, this isn't the case for Charlotte.  However, both are sweet and optimistic.

Blanche Devereaux & Samantha Jones: The Nerve

The friend with an insatiable appetite for men.*  Blanche works at a museum and Samantha works in public relations, but their identities are totally wrapped up in their sexual conquests.  These two women are bold and they would not hesitate to add that they are fabulous.


*Note: I am not suggesting that the Cowardly Lion was into dudes.  The king of the forest may have been gay, but if I had to guess, I would say that the Tin Man was the "Friend of Dorothy" in that group.  (The Tin Man is also my favorite.)

Coffee Table Chic

Last week I became obsessed with searching for glass items in the blue/green family to group together on my coffee table.  I started looking up vintage candy dishes, moved on to vases, and have landed on candle holders.  My goal was to find interesting items to group together without going broke.  I also have to take my cats into consideration and therefore nixed any tall items, as I assume tall items have a higher chance of being knocked over and broken.  I have settled on my first three pieces and am hopeful that they will be a good starting point for a growing collection.  I am also on the hunt for the perfect affordable tray on which to place them.

Since this blog is getting less traffic than ever due to the fact that I am not linking to it on Facebook, this post is pretty much an announcement specifically to my mother, who poured over online photos of vintage glass with me last week.  Well, Mum, I scrapped that idea and have gone in a more cost-effective direction.  But the first item below has a candy-dish vibe, right?

Sweet Pumpkin Bowl Filled Candle from Pier 1

Peacock Mosaic LED Candle from Pier 1

Simpatico Hobnail Glass Candle in Spanish Lime from Nordstrom

Cat Stuff

This birthday's theme (because all birthdays must have themes) was cats.  I got three cat birthday cards on Friday and Steve couldn't resist adding one more last night.  I also now have cat tea towels, a cat night light, and a cat change purse.

I am choosing to embrace the "cat lady" label.  There is no use fighting it when a photo shoot of birthday loot in my living room turns into this:

A Birthday and an Anniversary

I have many thanks to share today.  The best part of birthdays is hearing from the people I love and I was lucky to hear from many of those folks.  I hosted a dinner last Friday and my cousin Molly baked a cake for me (funfetti!) so the celebration spanned several days.  Then last night, Ryan organized a surprise event, which was a fabulous dinner at the Yard House.  I didn't even know there was a Yard House in Boston, but Ryan did and I was delighted to dine on a vegetarian Gardein burger before blowing out the candle on a salted caramel butterscotch pudding.  I owe a very big thank you to Ryan, Steve, and Kyle, who were part of both Friday night and last night and have probably had their fill of me.  But the joke is on them-- I will see all three next week!  I also want to thank Mum, Molly, Eric, Jeff, and Christine for being part of one of the celebrations.  My absolute favorite way to spend time is laughing with the people I love the most in the world and I got to do that twice in one week.  Thirty-four doesn't seem so bad after all.

I very much appreciate the texts, emails, calls, and cards I got from those I couldn't see in person, so shout-outs to Dad, Auntie Kathy, Uncle Stephen, Auntie Mary, Uncle Pat/Pman, Uncle Dave/UD, Erin, Michaela, Jamie, Christi, Eileen, and Aimee.  And because I strongly believe that the planet should celebrate me for a full "birthday month", my friends Kasia and Kris and their adorable daughters are keeping the party going this Thursday.  I have the most thoughtful and generous family members and friends. 

In unrelated news: I started working for my employer twelve years ago today.  It is scary how fast a dozen years have flown by.  I am thankful that I can celebrate this work anniversary by looking out my very own office window. 

Important Announcement

Today is Sammy's birthday!

The Most Wonderful Day of the Week

The top post on the blog for the past week was a whiny screed composed by yours truly.  Since I am currently not linking to blog posts on Facebook, it probably didn't pass in front of many eyeballs.  Fortunately.

Last weekend my uncle and aunt hosted a big family party at their lake house.  Of the 31 members of my dad's side of the family, 27 were in attendance, including folks who flew in from Arizona and New Jersey.  Ryan and I stopped (with several relatives) to visit our grandfather in his nursing home on the way up to the lake, so we saw 28 of 31 family members that day.

I always enjoy a family reunion, but adding in the lake venue and the lovely weather resulted in a nearly perfect day.  There were half a dozen kids at the party and I suspect that it is not kosher to post photos of them on an unprotected site, so I have posted only photos that do not include minors.

A big thank you to Uncle Pat/Pman and Aunt Norleen for being fabulous hosts!

First lesson of the day:  Everyone loves a jet ski.  So much fun.

Ryan

Daniel

Steve

Some (grown-up) cousin shots:

Zach

Sarah, Lynn, Nicole & Krista

You can't see this little girl's face, so I will just tell you-- She is super cute.

One generation up:

Aunt Norleen & Mum

It is not an easy task to get these six brothers to cooperate for a group photo.  This shot is pretty darn good though.  Back Row: Bri, Pat, Steve, John, & Dad.  Front Row: Dave & Nana.

Summer birthday cake:

There were ten unique spit samples on this cake after blowing out the candles.

Sunset on the lake:

Taken on Cap'n PMan's sunset boat cruise.

Swift Kick to the Crackers

Today started off so well:
1) Friday.  The best day.
2) Fantastic weather.  Neither too hot, nor too humid.
3) Large family party scheduled for the weekend.

All of the ingredients were in place for this to be a fantastic day.  Then I got out of bed.  Seven buses drove by my stop this morning without stopping.  I stayed zen because, hey, it is Friday, the weather is beautiful, and I have a book to read.  As you can imagine, I arrived at work late.  Fridays in the summer are a little slower in the office as a lot of people utilize vacation days to take long weekends.  I decided I would make the most of a quiet morning and do some automobile insurance investigating.  I had called the company with whom I have home insurance and had gotten nutty quotes from them twice.  I decided the third time would be a charm.  It was more like three strikes, you're out.  I was given the same outrageously high quote, which is over three times the average for my zip code and three times what any of my friends in Boston are paying.  A friend had given me the name of her insurance contact at a different company so I decided to give that a whirl.  Their quote was a thousand dollars higher than the previous mind blower.  It seems that because I have never had auto insurance before, my rates are going to be catastrophically high.  Most drivers start out on their parents' insurance as teens and then they have an insurance history by the time they are adults buying their own coverage.  For the small percentage of weirdos who start driving as adults, most can hop on a partner's insurance policy.  So today I learned that I am royally screwed.  Right now auto insurance will cost three times as much as the lease I was hoping to procure.  I launched into a full-blown panic attack at work and went outside to fill the position of inner-city lunatic as I talked on the phone in an "agitated" state with my mum. 

Who needs a car?  Not me.  I am super committed to a vehicle-free life.  Forever.  Problem solved.

I just got back from the ladies' room and while I was washing my hands, I noticed that one of my pearl earrings fell out at some point today.  There are still 9 hours left in this day.  I'm sure the universe is not done with me yet. 

Movies with Brits

In the last 24 hours I have watched, 'The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey' and 'The World's End'.  I had high expectations for both movies, especially hoping for a handful of chuckles at the Pegg/Frost movie ('The World's End'), but both movies were mediocre at best.  I rated both a 3 out of 5 on Netflix and saved myself from wasting a mailed DVD rental on them.  Thank you,Skinemax  Cinemax.

Terrible news

Sammy quit Facebook, y'all.

Breaking News

It is hot as hell here in Boston.  Right now it is 11am with a temperature of 88 degrees and a 'feels like ' of 93 degrees due to the humidity.  This trend keeps up for the next 10 days or so, which is awesome news for a overly-sweaty Irish guy.

Dramatization depicting my current state: