Seven Quick Pro-American Takes

1. I'm at my parents' house. We stayed the night so we could get a nice easy start on our Day Where We Traded The Children For Massages And Room Service. Of course, Molly woke up at 6 and then I had to chat with my mom while she gave Molly a bottle and now it's nearly seven and I am obviously not going back to sleep. Le Sigh. And now my dad just asked me where I want to go running this morning. Do I not get any breaks around here?

2. My run yesterday was the awesomest. It wasn't long or exhuasting or anything special, but the whole time I was thinking: I AM A BADASS. The thirtieth birthday is nearing and perhaps I am getting a twinge sentimental and look backy and take accounty. And the running thing, I think, illustrates a few of those thoughts.

3. We saw the John Dillinger movie last night. What a downer, people. And I didn't think it was very good, either. Very pretty, very Johnny Deppy (nothing wrong with that, am I right ladies?) but I was never quite sure of the point.

4. When I used to wake up at my parents' house in Italy they'd already been up for hours and would have a spread of fresh bread and brioche from the local bakery, butter, jam, Nutella (because they know their daughters), coffee, and anything else cooked to order. I miss that. Especially the part where I slept longer.

5. I'm going to try very hard not to drive Phillip crazy this morning. The potential is there 1) because I am excited and 2) I want to plan our entire day to the minute so as not to waste a moment, but I can't, really, because 1) it depends on whether or not we get an early check in and 2) what time we leave my parents' house, which we never decided. And since Phillip 1) likes to sleep as long as possible when he is not on Kid Duty and 2) is pretty much the opposite of Terrified Of Wasting Time, it's a difficult balancing act indeed. To be fair, my neuroses in this area are well-understood by my husband and he's actually very sympathetic and accomodating, but that just makes me want to try even harder not to be a freakazoid taskmaster.

6. Do you do anything special for the Fourth of July? When I was growing up we were always on our Summer Stateside Hiatus and occasionally we'd have a barbecue with family, but not always. Kind of a toss-aside holiday, with annoying frightening fireworks at the end. In college I'd traipse out to Gas Works (which I hear made it onto the Colbert Report? And he has a point.) with my bestie because Celebrating Appropriately was important to her. But it meant staking out your spot around noon and either roasting all day or getting soaked all day until it got dark enough to start the fireworks show. And then it took you hours to LEAVE the park because the rest of the city was camped out there as well. Now I'm content to stay home and grouse about the neighbors who are blowing things up and doing so ILLEGALLY. Sometimes we're invited to someone's house for a cookout, but we're almost always busy- tomorrow we'll be picking up the kids. I seem to be lacking in the Knowing People Who Own A Boat and Knowing People With Excellent Views departments.

7. I had this big list of links to post today, but I left them at home. Sometimes I think my seven quick takes aren't very quick, you know? Don't want to be misleading you. But I'm going to go now - breakfast must be eaten, and the fabulous dress my mom gave me as an early birthday present needs to be ghetto-hemmed with fabric glue. Have a happy long weekend! Yay America!