“In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night . . . You — only you — will have stars that can laugh! . . .

“And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure . . . And your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them, ‘Yes, the stars always make me laugh!’ . . .

“It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh . . .”

          The Little Prince
              ~ Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Somewhere along the line (and I can’t point exactly to that point when it happened), this week has been booked solid:

Monday: Mayoral candidate’s forum (see below)
Tuesday: First meeting for volunteer knitting gig
Wednesday: D.C. for Democracy Meetup
Thursday: Movie (Tentative; this may be my respite day yet)
Friday: World Cup kickoff party

No, none of it is onerous. Yes, much of it is fun. But it’s still exhausting to contemplate…

I also think that there are plans for the weekend, although, for the life of me, I can’t remember what they are right now. I know there are two baseball games next week…

The first full weekend of summertime has come to a close, and, if it serves as an example of what’s to come, it’s going to be great. We rode our bikes, went to the farmers’ market, sat out at local eateries, read, visited a museum, and saw a Shakespeare play.

I feel it’s important to make home plans as well as travel plans for the summertime. It’s so easy for the time to slip between your fingers — and it physically hurts when you get to the end of August and realize that you haven’t done anything fun or outdoorsy.

1. Go to the beach. Any beach. It does have to feature sand and water (where I can swim). Salt water is preferable, but at this point I’ll take a pond.
2. Read interesting books. In addition to Pericles (which I read yesterday), I’d like to read Peter and the Starcatchers (before its sequel comes out in mid-July), Fly By Night (which I own but which Grey Kitten read first and liked) The Accidental (because it takes place during summer vacation), The Fourth Bear (because I will buy anything that Jasper Fforde writes), American Vertigo, Democracy in America (because how will I know what Levy’s talking about in American Vertigo if I haven’t de Tocqueville first?), and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Just to name a few…
3. Go to a drive-in movie. There are several in the area. And there’s really nothing like watching a movie from your car. I realize those of you with portable dvd players will not feel the same way. And that’s fine. I would also like to make sure I get to see one of the screens on the green and to just see more movies in general. There are several outdoor movie venues within Metro distance of the house and it’s just a matter of not being lazy — and not having alternate plans the nights they’re scheduled for. And there are seven different theaters within the city limits, more just outside, and several venues (like the Library of Congress and the National Theatre) that show movies as treats during the summer. I have no excuses.
4. Make jam. My breadmaker claims to have the power to help me make jelly. I’d like to test its capacities and see if it will work. I’ve never made jam, but I have remarkably fond memories of raspberry jam Gramma made when I was a girl from the berries we’d pick off her bushes. I asked her about it recently and she has no recollection of ever having made jam. Do you think she was passing off fairies’ work as her own?
5. Knit a tank-top. I have the yarn. I have a pattern I think will work with the yarn. Now I just need to do the math to make one work for the other. It also would be nice if I actually went to one of the public knitting groups instead of just lurking on their email lists.
6. Ride 100 miles on my bike. Rudi would like to ride 100 miles in one day. That’s crazy-talk. I would like to ride 100 miles in one season. By my calculations that’s 33 miles a month or just over a mile a day. Sounds reasonable to me. (And, since I did 16.3 today, I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.)
7. Avail myself of the outdoor recreations afforded me in D.C. For instance, I have never been to the National Arboretum. Nor the Friday Jazz nights in the Sculpture Garden. Nor the D.C. pools (which are free for residents this summer thanks to some deal they worked out with a corporate funder). I have never rented a canoe to paddle up and down the C&O Canal. Nor have I rented a paddle boat and spent an hour in the Tidal Basin. I have not gone on a Potomac Pedalers ride, not even the one that goes to the ice cream shop up in NorthEast. I have never mini-golfed at Hains Point. Nor have I played tennis (despite having a racquet down here since we moved) at any of the free courts. You get the gist. There’s lots to do and I should do more of it.
8. Eat outside more. I haven’t taken full advantage of the restaurants that boast outdoor seating. And we bought a grill last summer and haven’t used it other than last summer’s camping trip. I think it would be a ton of fun to organize a couple of barbecues in Rock Creek Park.

Yes, it does sound busy. But none of it is really strenuous. I mean, really. Eat, read, knit, learn things, see friends. But, as I said to Erik this afternoon, I just can’t see that I’m going to look back on my life and think I should have done less of those things.

I’m heading up to Connecticut tomorrow morning for a short break (okay, a longish break of five and a half days). I will post some from my folks’ house, but probably less frequently than usual. Please continue to romp and frolic as if I were here.

A preliminary note to my male readers: You likely will not care about this post. Come back tomorrow after I’m done reaping the sympathy of my female readers.

Now that it’s just us girls, let’s talk breasts. More specifically, bras.

In the last two weeks, two of my bras have given up the ghost — one had a strap snap and the other’s underwire broke. I’m devastated. Nevermind the fact that the latter bra was my favorite — the only one that looked good under all my light colored tshirts, of course. Now I have to face the dreaded task of … bra shopping. ::Evil organ chords::

Clearly this bra-shopping procrastination is why the bras broke. With the exception of the black bra I bought in England last fall, every bra I own is three-plus years old and gets worn frequently. It was time. It was time a while back. But I just couldn’t face up to its necessity until the bras literally had to start breaking. I’m sure if I put it off any longer the rest will also give up the ghost.

Luckily, I’m heading to Connecticut for a long weekend, where I have access to Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Target, and Kohls. But I know this means I’m going to have to try on nearly every white and off-white and ecru bra in my size in each store.

And why is it too much to ask for them to be supportive and non-weird and comfortable and pretty all at the same time? I’m no longer horrified by the peek-a-boo bra strap; I can see that it’s not really that awful for someone to know you are, in fact, wearing a bra. Call me old-fashioned, though, but if you can see the pattern on my bra through my shirt, you have too much information about me … particularly if we take the previous post into consideration…

And why would people with larger cup sizes want excessive padding? Please. Manufacturers, please understand: we come with our own.

::Grumble::

Okay, I’m done ranting. Just think of me with pity this weekend as I spend several hours under unflattering dressing room lights.

So the weekend of June 24, we had plans to go to the wedding of Rudi’s friend Penny to her long-time partner, Jeremy. Life being what it is, their wedding has been pushed back to allow them to deal with dissertations, graduations and a cross-country move.

Now we will be going to a different wedding that weekend, but all the way across the country and of my friend (and former intern and cat-sitter) Elodie to her long-time partner … Jeremy. Adding to the eerieness? Jeremy’s mother’s name is Penny…

Now my main problem is to figure out a wedding present. I’d planned on making Rudi figure out the original wedding’s present, but now I suppose I’d best put my brain to it. Do you think she’d like hand-knit potholders?

Today is Rudi’s birthday. Because he is once again a year older than me, I can now return to referring to him as old. Feel free to leave him some love (and some walker jokes) at his blog.