I can't believe it's the unofficial last week of summer! How did that happen?  Time flies. I wish I felt inspired to write some life changing missive about it but I am tired.  So I will just recap my season by the numbers:

90 days of really hot weather (yes!!!)

5 depressing days of walking by a deflated Arthur on top of the Children's Museum. I prefer him when he is inflated and "waving" at everyone

12 course dinner at Spago. I did not finish any course after #5 but it is everything you think it would be

3 Liege waffles eaten at the Bastille Day Block party

2 glasses of champagne procured by me & mrs. carpenter at said Bastille Day party by pretending we were French. I mean, I am French but not from France...you know what I mean

5 new pairs of sandals

1 lost raincoat

5 days in Los Angeles (not enough time.  did I ever tell you how much I miss my old hometown?)

3 hours getting lost in Compton due to bad GPS (yes, THAT Compton)

0 stiches (Thank goodness - I broke a glass bottle of glitter nail polish)

2 pints of frozen custard

1 private fireworks display

1 green dress (not a real green dress, that's cruel) used to host 5 shows including Herbie Hancock at the Lowell Summer Music Series!

1 box lunch split with 2 members of the Sixers in Newburport. I got the chips.

3 lobster rolls consumed as well as numerous, books, movies, and cds

14 lemons peeled to make homemade limoncello

and so much more...I just need Count von Count to help me count the rest a ha ha ha ha

Even though it's winding down, I do feel like I got a lot of bang for my buck this year.  Now, I just have to keep the momentum up for Fall...

One of my guilty pleasures in life is reading advice columns.  From a young age, I was hooked on reading Ann Landers, Dear Abby, and Ask Beth (whatever happened to that one?).  Over time those have been replaced with varying other columns, none of which have held my interest until recently.  I have become totally addicted to "Love Letters" and the best named column ever, "Miss Conduct".  I find thinking about other people's social conundrums to be a nice deviation from the monotony of my every day life (stalled orange line trains, piles of work, laundry...oh how I hate laundry). 

From time to time, I get extra excited reading about other people's problems as I feel I can add value by posting a compelling solution to the online forum.  Needless to say, i was psyched when Miss Conduct referred to *me* as an expert here:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/missconduct/2010/07/response_to_ill.html

WOO HOO!!!  If any of you need any expert advice on anything, feel free to email me.

Today at work, I was having a passionate discussion about my favorite items from the grocery store with Hawaiian shirt clad employees.  My vote is for the frozen pain au chocolats - not too sweet, super buttery, delicieux!!!  Rudy, one of my coworkers, was sharing in my excitement and he mentioned that he likes the Tempura Bird's Nests. 

He proceeded to tell me, with a twinkle in his eye, that it was his favorite thing to eat with his granddaughter, Ashleigh.  At Christmas, he put a tray of the bird's nests out and said, "I could make a meal out of these!".  He felt a tug and Ashleigh said, "Ohhhhhh Opa! I could too!!!" (Opa being German for Grandpa).   Then, he started showing me pictures of her and telling me about the kind of adult she will be (Harvard educated, running our current business, etc. (-:).

Just the way he was telling me about her gave me this immediate rush of bittersweet feelings.  My grandparents are all gone now and I miss them terribly.  Ultimately though, my feelings of loss are far outweighed by all the happiness I feel when I think of them.  The grandparent-grandchild relationship is all about unconditional love and fun.  It really doesn't get much better than that!!!! 

Last Fall, I saw the movie "An Education" and I was absolutely over the moon for it. It's a timeless and timely story.  Timeless inasmuch as it's about a girl who has been groomed for academic achievement her whole life.  Ultimately, she finds out there's more to life than just books.  Timely as it's set in early 60s London complete with burgeoning Carnaby Street fashion and Perec Rachman mansion blocks.

Needless to say, since I was so enchanted, I requested the book multiple times from the library.  Finally, this week I picked it up and I read it in one day. Granted it's a short book and the movie is only based on one chapter.  It's 172 pages of life lessons learned by Lynn Barber.  You won't cry at the end like in "The Last Lecture" but you'll finish it feeling like you can really relate.  It's succinct but affirming.   Much like all the music I talk to you about on Saturdays, it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (and the new Roots album too!)

So, I was totally laid up this past weekend due to an unfortunate situation involving the clean up of broken glass with bare feet.  Sometimes, I am so smart and then, other times, you'd swear I just fell off a turnip truck.

While this was not the most comfortable weekend of my life, I did spend a lot of time with my feet up.  Luckily, a lot of my favorite movies & tv shows were on this weekend "500 Days of Summer", "The Galloping Gourmet", "Your're Cut Off" (oh how I love a cheesy VH1 show), etc.  How fortuitous!!

The last movie I watched on Sunday night was "Paris, je t'aime".  Yes, it is about Paris but it's more about slices of life (no pun intended regarding my feet).  It ends with my favorite vignette about a postal worker who dreamt of visiting Paris her whole life.  2 years before her trip, she studied French in preparation of her visit.  While her French is not exactly magnifique, it's very touching in how much she tried to assimilate.  Her story ends with her finally discovering the meaning of life.  It makes me cry a little bit every time I see it.  To be honest, I so want to ruin the whole movie for you by telling you what her epiphany was...but I will simply recommend the movie to you.  You just have to promise me you will email me after you watch it.

I love the library.  If the library was not free, I would totally pay for it.  Given that, you can imagine that I spend a LOT of time walking through the stacks of my local branch.  Normally, I have a book agenda but the last time I went, I just grabbed what looked good. 

One of the display books was "Tokyo Vice"  by Jake Adelstein, a former journalist for the Yomiuri Shimbun.  I'd never heard of it but it was about an ex-pat living in Tokyo, working in media.  Given my interests, I snapped it up immediately. 

I just finished it and all I can say is "WOW".  The book itself is very interesting, describing the seedy underbelly of proper Japan seen through western eyes.  The really BIG story is at the end of the book. Adelstein uncovered a deal between Japanese Yakuza & the FBI, where the mob boss could come to UCLA (one of my alma matas - go Bruins) for a liver transplant paid for with dirty money.   The last few paragraphs are what make the story.  I won't spoil it for you but I was slackjawed when I closed the book.

Dirty politcs and money make the world go 'round, for sure!