Friday Frivolity - A Few Summery Thoughts

We recently found ourselves at a fantastic summer party.  It was one of those "will it rain won't it days?" and our hosts managed the uncertainty with aplomb and elegance.  It all began in the kitchen with watermelon mojitos and ended in the garden on a perfect summer evening.  Here is one secret to summer party success.

Image from Barefoot Contessa

Another secret to summer success:  pack light.  We all know it - the problem (at lest for this modern family) seems to lie in the execution.  In addition if you know of a way to prevent grandmothers from giving grandchildren all your old junk each time they visit your old home please let us know. 

Image from Meet the Hilfigers

We loved this piece in the NY Times on the summer and life value found in being a camp counselor versus a summer spent getting people coffee and donuts at Google:  The Camp Counselor vs. The Intern.

 Image from Martha Stewart

Last but not least in the we all know it category: when enjoying the sand between your toes, don't forget the sunscreen, hat and beach umbrella.

Happy Weekend!

The Good, the Bag and the Ugly

Ah summer.  Easy, breezy.  Hot and homework free.  We won't keep you because you probably want to get back to the beach, book or Mexican Fiesta.  But before you go, here are a few things we thought you might enjoy.

The Good
We are looking forward to seeing Wes Andreson's new movie Moonrise Kingdom.   It is a love story about two 12-year-olds who run away on an island in New England.  But really we will watch almost anything with Bill Murray especially if it is by the man who brought us The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited and The Fantastic Mr. Fox.  BTW doesn't Tommy Hilfiger's whole preppy family campaign remind you of the Tenenbaums?  Is it just the headbands?

 Picture from COPIOUS FASHION

We are fascinated by the blog Never Seconds written by a school age child in England.  Let us know if you agree.


The Bag
As much as we enjoy feeling good about remembering our reusable grocery bags, they are a bit bulky at times.  Not anymore.  Enter BAGGU, stylish and petite these bags can live in your glove compartment, bike basket or purse. 

BAGGU

The Ugly
While it isn't new news it is very sad news that Brain Child, the thinking mother's magazine, will cease to exist in its current print form.

Perhaps, like darling decor magazine Domino, Brain Child will live to fight another day.  Good luck and thanks. 

Speaking of brains, thankfully, The Atlantic, continues to arrive on paper and electronically so we can read interesting incendiary pieces like 1% Wives Are Helping Kill Feminism and Make the War on Women Possible and Why Women Still Can't Have it All. 

 Photo courtesy of The Atlantic

Right, so back to that beach book.

Sprinting towards summer

Camp forms have been submitted; the teacher gifts purchased; year-end parties have been planned, and the end of the school year is on the horizon. As every sports team, community organization, or book club tries to pack in a “last” dinner, annual meeting or luncheon, things get breathtakingly hectic and the modern mother’s calendar erupts in multiple overlapping colored bubbles. As she rushes through all these events, trying to compose thoughtful thank you notes along the way, life can start to feel like a sprint, a sprint into summer. Of course, its not a race, not even an endurance test, just another example of how modern mothers must, balance, plan, organize and execute, all while keeping their equanimity and not getting caught up in the busy contest.

So, hang in there modern mothers! The sprint towards summer will end soon enough, and in the meantime, we can all look forward to the joys of the season (fireflies, pool parties, and 4th of july sparklers) even if our anticipation might be tinged with a bit of dread. Stock up on sunscreen, sandals and swimsuits, as you race through your year end activities, before you know it we’ll all be on vacation, if that’s what you’d like to call it.

There's No Place Like Home

Any modern mother able to take her children to visit grandparents in her own childhood home, can count herself lucky. In our transient country, it is indeed special to be able to return to the scene of one’s own upbringing.

Oh, the nostalgia and wonder it can evoke: the gravel still crunches under car tires in the driveway; the front door stands unchanged; the house smells the same; the floorboards creak just as before. Yes, the house may be very much the same, yet the modern mother may find herself so very, very different. Have the rooms gotten smaller? How is it, that the lavatory looks so dated? How is it, that the time when she lived here was so long ago?

College, first job, second job, graduate school, a wedding, another job, homeownership, and finally, children have filled the gulf between the shimmering, bottomless hours of childhood and the considered, practical planning of today.  Now, many a modern mother knows what she will be doing each week of the summer by approximately June 15^th.  Gone is much spontaneity and the sense of endless possibility.

So, the modern mother, may revel in watching her children run about, catching lightning bugs in the yard, seeing a child rush through the screen door, letting it slam behind him, or watching him glide his fingers along the same banister as he heads upstairs, dirty and exhausted. It can make her own childhood seem so close, yet untouchable, unattainable, like a mirage. And she can’t take her eyes off the children as they infuse her old home with their spontaneous joy.