cream-colored ponies and crisp apple struedels

because I recognize that the last post was mildy morose, I've decided to compile a list of good things about this summer:

1. Mona food all the time. my mother really is the best cook ever. I'm not just saying that because she's my mother. Or because she's Mona and she could kick my bum.
2. I had just the right amount of Abramson this summer. a month was perfect -- I got to hang out with my favorite geriatrics but didn't get sick of the place or frustrated.
3. i got to see the 4th of July fireworks with Missy and friends!
4. the botanical gardens with Fenster and Gold families might have been the most precious thing ever. nothing beats growly Jason when Mona started taking pictures right and left
5. the fact that I got a lot of Skrevsky time at the beginning of the summer. that was pretty great
6. the day with Matt and Sarah involving avocado-brie-pesto sandwiches, mimosas, Merrymead and schnuggling. that was one for the history books.
7. I get to dissect eyeballs, run an 80-year-old train, look at the sun, teach kids about spectra and color, play with plastinated sheep and mouse and horse brains, ride on a segway, and make paper. oh, and assembling space suits is kind of fun too. right. and i get paid to do these things - amazing.
8. i got to see my Schutz and Ronis twice. which makes for goodtimes always. I mean, I'd rather see them more, but I'm glad I still get to see my friends.
9. PRISCO. we were in the same place for more than a month for the first time since, what, 1997? this was a good thing for my neshama. so was the crazy day we spent gallumphing around the Philly art museum
10. BRADLEY WHITFORD. going to see him in Boeing Boeing with Shaked and Will was not only one of the highlights of the summer, it may have been a highlight of the past decade. just saying.
11. getting to read for fun all the time. it's been glorious, and i've found a few gems which is always a wonderful feeling.
12. i finally finished Gilmore Girls. i cried when it was over.
13. Les Mis at the Walnut Street Theater, Boeing Boeing, Mamma Mia with Mommy Mona, and Sex and the City with Skrevsky. these are a few of my favorite things.
14. deciding to teach Hebrew school again. i just need to accept that i can't get away from it. and i'm really excited for Or Ami, which is much smaller than the gigundo-synagogues i'm used to at Beth Or and Temple Beth Elohim.