Reading is Sexy!

 I love reading!  Maybe not as much as some people who always have their nose in a book, but I really enjoy the time that I get whisked away by a good read.
I also love a reader!  In my humble opinion, reading is like attractive accessory.  Hell, reading is down right SEXY! 

My favorite books are usually historical, mostly in and around the Tudor period, but I also have a darkness to me, so books set in Medieval Europe are alluring.  I just can't get enough: I want to swallow all the images in my mind, all the facts, all the characters.  I need to absorb it all!!  Except in the summer...the summer is when I pick up what I call "fluff".  I think EVERYONE should read & like what they are reading.  If you love reading something that I consider "fluff", I admire you for just picking the book up, because I love it too.  Fluff is what I consider an easy read.  Light & Fluffy.  I don't know about you, but in the summer I like to sit on the beach and read, or try to, because usually I am people watching or eaves dropping on the families next me (creeper, I know, but we are all guilty); with these VERY important tasked I involve myself in, how am I supposed to put my undivided attention into anything that needs undivided attention?  It helps in the summer, to keep the reading light. 

Recently, I won a book.  I selected it from other prizes because a friend had told me about it months ago.  I still had the post-it on my work desk, just so I wouldn't forget to check it out on Amazon.  I forgot, until I saw it as a potential prize.   I am sure many of you have heard of it.  It is now a best-seller.  The book that I won is called, The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  This book is something that I would normally consider "fluff", boy was I absolutely wrong.  This book, this amazing book is set in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963.  It is a book with beautiful, richly written, lovable & loath-able characters & a glorious storyline.  Why, oh why did I wait until the summer to read this?  Yes, it was an easy read, but the depths that Ms. Stockett reached was unparalleled for a novel of this nature.  I didn't want it to be over.  I even read the acknowledgements.  If you haven't read this book.  It is a MUST!!

It's Summatime!!!

You can smell it in the air.  You can feel it in your bones.  You can see the lightning bugs in your yard!!! 

Today, is the first day of summer.  I have always enjoyed the summer, and what is not to love?  Baseball is in full-effect and my son is out of school; with the latter part of that statement comes endless days for him.  Mid-week sleep-overs & bonfires in the back yard are just a couple of the things that I have to look forward to with Bryan.  I never minded.  In fact, I love being asked the question..."Mom, what day is it?"  These perfect days that just ran into each other.

There are so many summer memories.  We all have them!  The memories from way, way back consist of spending days in the pool, ALL day if possible.  Running through the sprinklers, & spending a week with Nanny & Grandpa in Summit, NJ.  No sea shore for us, we were North Jersey bound. There were also those day trips to Dorney Park, Hershey Park & Six Flags.  Around the 4th of July, people would flock to my hometown to go to the local carnival.  They were, & still are one of the very few locations in the area that had fireworks.  People literally took shuttle buses; but we were in walking distance.  Lucky us!!
Then, as we got older we went to carnival after carnival.  Looking back, I think about how gross it was and those carnie perverts.  It didn't stop us (the teenage girls) from flirting to get a free ride.  The New Jersey shore was the spot to be.  We would go anywhere with a beach!!  We made money by baby-sitting or mowing lawns, it didn't matter because we weren't quite old enough to have a "real" job.  We laid out  in the sun ALL day and had our cordless phones next to us, just in case someone called to make plans.
The year that I was pregnant with Bryan was the hottest summer that I can remember.  Continuous days of triple digit temperatures.  I was so uncomfortable and huge (Bryan was born in September).  Summers after that changed...not in a bad way.  I had this itty bitty buddy to bring to the shore and show him everything that the summer had to offer.  He took to the summer like a duck to water.  Jumping in the pool donning his mickey mouse swimmies.  Actually, Bryan is currently down the shore and having a blast. He got his ears pierced on the boardwalk.  When he comes home he'll be making his way to a Katy Perry concert.  He is obsessed and I am not sure it has anything to do with her talent?!?

This also happens to be the summer before Bryan's senior year of high school.  I am hoping that he has a blast this year.  A safe blast, thinking of the consequences of his actions kind of blast, but a blast none-the-less.

Time escapes us faster then we know.  Embrace every perfect summer day that you can & make memories that you'll never want to forget!!

What are your favorite summer memories?  Boys, Flings, Camps?

2 1/2 years old

in Florida, Bryan is 7 years old.

This week Bryan sent me a picture of his new accessory.