Ciao Luglio

I did not like the thought of going one for July, so I’ve decided to step up and put out a mediocre blog post. I saw recent hits from #1, The Wig and The Wolv so I needed to give them something to groan about. Plus, my hands will be full next month when Trump is reinstated.

I keep up with celebrity news, which is why I focused on the headline which informed me that Christina Haack, star of Flip or Flop, smoked toad venom, which helped her chronic anxiety, made her less egotistical, and prepared the twice divorced 38-year-old star for a relationship. Whoever’s the other half of that union is one lucky guy.  I’ve never tried toad venom, but I plan to research whether those cube shaped wombat turds have any positive qualities.

I also saw that Chrishell and Jason from Selling Sunset are now a couple.  The headline said people don’t know how to handle it, but I feel I’m dealing with it pretty well. I’m just concerned how #1, The Wig and The Wolv are doing with it, as well as if they are keeping up with all the skimpily clad Kardashian pics and the daily toned abs articles. What bothers me is the paucity of underboob coverage, so to speak.

We are heading to the Jersey shore in a couple weeks.  We’ll meet up in DC to spend a few days before driving up to Stone Harbor.  My in-laws always get a big place there, so we’ll hang with them for the week.  The place will be overrun with millennials, but this boomer always draws energy from today’s youth. I love the beach, but I have to make sure I do not spend too much time in the sun, because it reacts with the DNA-altering robots that are in my COVID vaccine.

Regarding millennials, you often read articles how they are addicted to their smart phones.  This becomes painfully obvious when they almost run you over on the sidewalk.  My trainer is concerned with what this will do to them in the long term, especially their neck.  I’d have to agree with him.  I also thought I heard him reference a skaneateles muscle, but then realized I had confused it with an upstate NY town. But smart phone addiction is not a problem for me, as I’m addicted to my desktop.

Have you heard the term “layaway” recently, as in “I have it on layaway at Nordstrom”?  Of course, you haven’t.  I remember hearing it when I was a kid, but I don’t think my folks ever bought anything that way.  I guess credit cards made it virtually obsolete 50 years ago.  Why was I thinking about layaway?  Because I’m a deep thinker, damn it!

We had driveway cocktails in our backyard recently.  We were chatting about San Diego, probably because we were heading down for the wedding.  My wife brought up the Gaslight District and one neighbor cracked that it was not really there.  I thought that was clever and deserved a blog reference.

See ya in August

San Diego Nuptials

The wife is out hiking and doing her part-time paid school gig, so I’m taking this opportunity to gift you one of my blog posts.

We had quite a week starting on the 4th.  We drove down to Oxnard to visit an old Bay Area friend and spent the night there on our way to San Diego.  We were there for the wedding of The Hotelier’s daughter and decided to make a week of it.

We picked up our girl in Del Mar on Monday.  She was hanging with her old hoops pals from UCSD, all of which are thriving in their chosen professions.  The Del Mar resident is a newly minted PhD in biophysics.  I had briefly looked into that field before deciding to become a Spanish major.

We got into our rental Monday afternoon on a cool side street called Robinson Mews.  It was not the most high-end place but that fit considering the crew occupying it.  We had a family get together there on Tuesday evening with several relatives from my wife’s side.  She brought out a stack of pictures from the last century that we all viewed and commented on as we ate the large pile of food we had picked up from El Indio.  Mexican food was a recurring theme all week, and not only because it repeated on me. It seems we overestimated our requirements for the Tuesday night gig, so the girl brought some of it over to the bride’s home when she visited mid-week.  Most of the remainder was devoured by SB1 when he arrived Thursday.  He finished it off for Friday’s breakfast.

We also visited some old family friends in La Jolla.  Two of my mother-in-law’s high school and college friends, both in their 90s, greeted us warmly and we had a great visit with them and their families along with my brother and sister-in-law, who had been visiting their son at UCLA.  We also nailed down a date to hang in Paso Robles with one of the couples.  We had had plans for earlier this year that had to be canceled, so we got that back on the calendar.

The dining options in the Hillcrest neighborhood where we were staying were abundant.  We did The Red Door one evening and then went to The Farmer’s Bottega on Thursday when the entire family contingent was with us. The meals were good, but I was slightly disappointed that there were no genetically modified options on the menus.

The wedding weekend kicked into high gear Friday.  We checked into the Sheraton Marina in the afternoon and then headed over to the Thorn Brewing Company.  There was a menu of about twelve different brews, lots of apps, as well as a taco truck.  Nobody left hungry or thirsty.  The suggested attire was “smart casual”, but I have to say the only guys from the FCMC that interpreted that correctly were #1 and I.  We got a good pic taken in our sharp sports coats that we had tailored in Singapore.

Saturday was the big day.  My girl was the maid of honor, and she had a morning appointment for hair and makeup. My appointment was even earlier due to the great deal of work required.  Everyone arrived around 4:30 for the 5pm event, which was held in a park across the street from the reception venue.  The groom was beaming as he waited at the chuppah, as the bridesmaids and groomsmen took their place.  When the radiant bride was escorted by her parents, I started to mist up a bit.  It was a truly beautiful and touching ceremony.

The reception was a blast.  I danced like a maniac – as much as that is possible with this creaky body - which is probably why I was dragging a bit on the short walk back to the hotel at the end of the evening.  The food and drinks served were top notch.  I wouldn’t expect anything less from The Hotelier.  The girl gave a great speech and was followed by the best man. Later on, the crowd started the hora, and one eagle eyed guest notified folks to avoid a few low hanging items, so the couple was not bonked on the head.

The weekend ended with a get together in another park on Sunday morning.  Designer donuts, bagels and lox, and lattes were featured there.  We had a chance to say our goodbyes to one and all.  We hit the road Monday to spend the evening with one my wife’s college friends and her husband.  They gave us a nice tour of Huntington Beach before we headed home Tuesday.

I do have a few celebrity items I’d like to share but I’ve decided this is not the place nor time, so stay tuned for another post in the upcoming week.

Congrats to the newlyweds!!