My Town Monday: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Well, well, well. Guess who's coming to lunch (yes, it's lunch, not dinner, but I couldn't resist the title!) in sunny San Diego?



It's our very own President Obama! No surprise that he's smiling. We've promised him our world-famous wonderful weather AND lunch at a private home in swanky La Jolla. Yes, it's the same swanky La Jolla where Child #3, Child #4 and I spent a large portion of our summer thanks to ambitious Child #3's determination to take a high-school Spanish class.

It's kind of weird to think the president is just a hop, skip and a jump west of our little house today. Unfortunately, I won't be attending his fundraiser luncheon. $5,000 per plate is a smidgeon beyond my budget. As is the additional $10,000 to have my pic taken with the President. (Although wouldn't that have been a fun photo for the blog!!?) And there's also the small matter that my name wasn't among the 160 on the guest list!

After lunch, the President is headed up to LA. In fact, he won't be far from his old stomping grounds of Occidental College, where Child #2 is currently studying.

IF I were going to the luncheon and found myself next to the President, here's what I'd say:

-Thank you for changing the horrible health care system in this country even a little bit. Now Child #1 is insured once again under our plan and can remain there until the ripe old age of 26. I can't begin to tell you the number of his friends (people in their early 20s who are part-time students working jobs that don't offer medical) who were completely and utterly uninsured.

-Please forgo your visit to the House of Blues in West Hollywood and instead stop in at Occidental College and deliver these home-baked cookies to Child #2.

-Yes, you can have a few of the cookies.

Here's a link to the official My Town Monday blog for links to more posts about various corners of the world. Always of interest!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Monday!

A Meandering My Town Monday: College Orientation, Motherhood, Attitude Adjustments

Thanks Google Images for this photo of St Pierre et Miqueleon. Actually, I think it's a photo of St. Pierre only.

As many of you know, I returned last night from leaving Child #2 at Occidental College in LA for his freshman year. It started out as a tough four days for me. Lots of tears and kleenex and strangled voice. Then, suddenly, I thought of this guy named Richard.

Let me backtrack a sec. A few moons ago (ha!) when I was only slightly older than Child #2 and was an undergrad at the University of Toronto, I spent a summer on the island of St Pierre in French immersion. St Pierre et Miquelon are the oldest overseas territories owned by France. To orient you, on a clear day (and there weren't many the summer I was there!), you can see Newfoundland. While at St. Pierre, I lost a contact lens. Naturally, my only backup was an ugly pair of glasses, a prescription out of date. I was devastated.

Richard was another student in the program. We hadn't met before the summer. He was energetic, chatty, wore glasses (although not as ugly as mine) and was nothing short of brilliant. I don't remember his last name, something Jewish, I think. Anyway, when Richard heard me obsessing about my glasses problem, he started talking about various challenges in his life and how he'd ended up turning them around and learning a bunch from them and how wearing eye glasses for a few weeks didn't have to be devastating. Kind of hokey, but it stuck with me. And there have been several times now in my life when I was obsessing (it's my style!) over something when Richard popped into my mind. This weekend was one of those times.

I watched Child #2 interact with professors. He used respect and intelligence and wit. I watched him organize his belongings. I watched him juggle his schedule between polo practice and orientation activities. He's ready. Or at least as ready as he needs to be.

So, yeah, it was tough getting on the 5 and heading south to San Diego. I've never left a child somewhere for four years. BUT, in Richard logic, it's time for me to move on. Oxy College isn't my story. Oxy College is Child #2's story. And I need to get out of the way and let it unfold.

(Besides there's always skype! Mwahahah)

And, now, a few shots from the four days at Oxy so that this is somewhat of a My-Town-Monday post!




This is Oswald the Tiger, Oxy's mascot. It was 100 degrees!!! I'm not sure how Oswald stayed hydrated enough to not fall over in a dead faint!




Here's is Child #4 who came with me. Thank goodness! She helped keep me grounded. There were signs like this all over campus. Very helpful for the directionally challenged!




I'm thinking this might be truly Californian because we do love our bottled water. The campus was dotted with water coolers and paper cups!




President Obama (nickname of Barry!) attended Oxy 1979-81 . Child #2 is not staying in the dorm Obama was in. They also don't share a hairstyle. Apparently, though, Obama appreciated his time at Oxy. And I hope they have that in common.


Here's a link to the official My Town Monday blog for links to more posts about various corners of the world. Always of interest!

Further adventures in the LA area

One of the THOUSANDS of photos taken yesterday by Child #4. She sent this one by phone to her brother, Child #3, who likes the George Lopez show.

Child #4 (11 year old daughter) and I spent the day....sightseeing on Hollywood Blvd! We took a tour of the stars' homes (our tour bus guide got a ticket outside the house where Michael Jackson died) for overloading the vehicle!), visited Ripley's Believe It Or Not (the stuff nightmares are made of), went to the Chinese Theater, shopped, ate. Child #4 took literally THOUSANDS of pictures!

We got a text from Child #2 (our freshman Occidental student!) between his polo practices. He needed a belt and new swim goggles. Somehow, we morphed this into a $146 Target shopping trip!

Anyway, the three of us met up about 9:30 pm in the parking lot outside his dorm to hand overt the loot. Which, quite frankly, just felt weird. Oh, what am I saying? My whole life feels weird this weekend. Anyway, his roommate was already asleep. Child #2 was exhausted. Probably from two polo practices and the heat and all the overwhelming newness. In brief, he likes the polo team, likes his coach, likes his roommate, ate in the cafeteria with a new friend. Oh, and I did get a nice hug. Child #4 got her hair mussed by her big brother. ;)

Today we are off to Family Orientation at Oxy. We will see Child #2 this afternoon.

Week Round-Up at the Summy House

It's been a full week with Child #4 (10 year-old daughter) off for the first of her two weeks of spring break. Does she continually mention to the brothers that she has two weeks while they only have one? Uh, yes! Because that's what little sisters do!

Below, in order of excitment (most exciting to least) are three events from our week:

It's a box of Makeups! My copies of I SO DON'T DO MAKEUP arrived from Random House. The paperback came out earlier this month.

Actually, I'd forgotten they were sending so many copies. So, if you want a free copy of I SO DON'T DO MAKEUP, leave your name and email in the comment section. I'll have Child #4 pick a winner next Friday. She can choose two winners (one from here on the blog and one from Facebook).


We had a good visit at Occidental College. Child #2, a senior in high school, is considering this college. We went on a campus tour, chatted with a counselor in the Career Development Center, chatted with Financial Aid, chatted with the water polo coach, watched a polo practice, checked out the bookstore, ate in the cafeteria with students, chatted with random students. Well, the latter was mostly me.

When do we have to make a decision? By May 1st!!! And we are not a family who makes decisions in haste. In fact, one of us is intensely indecisive and is known to revisit a decision over and over and over. Me!

Oh, the photo? The conveyor belt in the cafeteria won over Child #4's heart. She was ready to sign on the dotted line post lunch.


Our local cricket farm (where we buy crickets for our veiled chameleons) finally figured out how to get rid of the cricket virus they've been battling for months. The virus paralyzes crickets at four weeks of age.

How did they solve the problem? They switched breeds of crickets. Now they're raising crickets from Florida. This photo shows our container, along with a few quarters to give you a sense of size, of 250 5-week Floridian (love that word!) crickets. See how well we feed them--kale, apples, damp sponges for drinks of water. We're the ultimate in cricket motels!

Remember: if you want a free copy of I SO DON'T DO MAKEUP, leave your name and email in the comment section. I'll have Child #4 pick a winner next Friday. She can choose two winners (one from here on the blog and one from Facebook).

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

My-Town-Monday: Occidental College, LA

On this fine Monday, I'm off to visit Occidental College with Child #2. Oxy, as it's called, is a small, private, liberal arts college located in northeast Los Angeles. If the L.A. traffic is kind to us, it will take just a little over two hours to drive there.

The college really is small, with a student body of a little over 2,000. The professor:student ratio is about 9:1. The campus sits on 120 acres. The student body is diverse and proud of it. I did point out to Child #2 (a son) that there are more females than males at Oxy! President Obama did his first two years at Oxy, then transferred to Columbia. At least, I think that's correct. I read somewhere else that he studied for less than two years at Oxy.

Oxy was founded in 1887 by Presbyterians. It's near the beach, Hollywood and all manner of LA attractions. And students get free parking on campus, which come in really handy for a certain student's mother! Oxy's mascot is Oswald the Tiger. And, weirdly, the school colors are orange and black, which are the same school colors of Oklahoma State where Mr. Summy and I met.

I'm really, really curious to see the campus tomorrow. It's one of Child #2's top picks, but this is his first visit. Will he feel at home there? He'll be sitting in on a history class. That should be interesting. I'd like to sit in on a class to too, but I don't see it happening. Especially as I'll have Child #4, who is happily on spring break, with me!

You've probably seen Oxy in a movie. The campus has been featured in Clueless, Orange County, Jurassic Park III, and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

I'll let you know how it goes.


Wishing Mr. Summy a belated Happy Birthday! His birthday was yesterday, and we did wish him a happy birthday then and bake him cupcakes and present him with gifts. So, it's just belated on the blog. ;)

Child #4 (10 year-old daughter) gave her father the above game, Hedbanz, after seeing how much fun Carley, Sam and Freddie had with it on iCarley. Her father was a good sport, as were the brothers, and we all sat around the kitchen table with plastic headbands around our heads, each trying to guess the card clipped into our respective headband. Guess who lost? ME! I am THE worst at word games!!! You should see me at Wheel of Fortune. It's abysmal!

Click here for links to more My Town Monday posts! It's always fun to see what's going on in other corners of the world.

sources:
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/occidental-college-1249
http://www.unigo.com/occidental_college/