Blonde Ambitchin': A Family Blog

In one sense, I can't believe how quickly the summer is flying by.  Lily has been out of school for almost a month and she's been to sleepaway camp and back.  On the other hand, time seems to stand still when you're doing the working parents' dance of finding summer camps, coordinating play dates and generally feeling resentful that summer feels no different than any other time of year when you've got work that needs doing... ha ha.  That said, we had a really nice trip up North last week and we've got a mini-vacay planned in Santa Barbara for August (with Maryte and Oskar!!!!!) that I am living for! And despite the crazy weeks, we've had some really nice relaxing weekends at the beach down the road and our Tarzana pool house (AKA grandma Judy's and grandpa Tom's house).  On the 2nd to last day of the school year I decided that I was in desperate need of a Disney Day with my girl Lil.  I love that Jason is old enough to go with us now but it doe...

It's been a long time, folks!  We've had a lot going on the past few months but really the main reason I haven't blogged is that I've been so tired.  My narcolepsy has had my name and I've been so tired every night that I can barely muster the energy to talk to my own husband or watch TV, let alone blog.  But I took 2 naps today and Matt's out with friends so I guess the stars have aligned... Jason and Grandma Kathy looking at photos of Ziva and Coco in May. Lily really is the best big sister and Rosie just worships her. Shelly and I snapped a rare photo together a few weeks ago before our friend's birthday party. Rosie turned 8 months old on May 12th!  I can't believe she's almost 9 months old now. We celebrated Uncle Brian's 34th birthday at Grimaldi's. Also you can see that Jason had to get glasses this past month.  He wasn't crazy about it but it's going pretty well.  Once or twice a day he takes them off an...

If I had to pick one emotion that presides over the rest right now, it would be relief.   I was feeling really hopeful as we headed into this season.   Sure, Season 7 was largely disasterous, but surely the showrunners, writers and producers were listening to Talk the Thrones and would right the steeply canting ship before it was too late.   The first episode started off slow but first episodes of seasons always start off slow.   The 2 nd episode (‘twas the night before Winter fell) was largely filler but it was entertaining filler and I enjoyed it.   Even after the 3 rd episode, when the Night King appeared to be vanquished, taking the entire undead threat with him, I was holding out hope that there would be some genius twist to make it all worthwhile.   It was after the 4 th episode that I realized the fan theories and debates would be far more interesting and meaningful than the actual show.   At this point, I braced myself for a rough fina...

Only 1 more episode left?!   It’s starting to hit home that GOT is ending and I’m just so sad.   For the past few years I’ve lived for Sunday nights; not just because I love watching the show with friends but because I love dissecting it, listening to podcasts about it and texting about it the week after.   Where will I channel all of my nerdy comp-lit English major energy?! But let’s talk about last night’s penultimate episode. I might be in the minority of viewers here, but I actually really like Daeny flexing her evil muscles.   I’ve blogged about it before but we have seen inklings that she’s headed in this direction: ·       When she clearly delighted in Visery’s gruesome golden death; ·       When she burned Mirri alive and delighted in her screams before walking into Drogo’s funeral pyre; ·       When she threatened the wise council of Qarth because they ...

I have SO MUCH that I want to say about last night’s GOT episode!!!!   SO MUCH!!!   But alas, I also have a ton of work to catch up after being at a conference for most of last week.   On top of that, the Internets is on fire and everyone has pretty much made the same observations that I would make.   But I did want to make some general points that all tie to the main criticism I see, which is that there’s no consistency to the “rules” of the GOT universe anymore. First, the rule of consequence is no longer certain.   What I mean is, in the early seasons, you knew that EVERY conversation, no matter how seemingly trivial, would have consequence in some way.   Whether it was Arya casually telling Ned “that’s not me,” Robb succumbing to passion and love over duty and honor, or Roose Bolton seeking Robb’s permission to have “his bastard” retake Winterfell, you knew it would all matter even if you weren’t sure how it would matter. B...