Friday was my childhood best friend’s birthday. We’ve known each other since we were 8 and next year we’ll celebrate 40 years of friendship. Yes, girl math calculations mean we’re now 47. 

I only have a handful of close friends. Just how I roll and have pruned the list shorter and shorter the older I’ve gotten. Don’t we all do that? Some people just show up for you, for the good, bad and ugly and others come and go. Just human nature. 

As an only child, friends were more like siblings and I chose them wisely. She’s the only one I’ve stayed close with since, aside from the occasional check-ins with others on Facebook or at our high school reunions. She’s been a consistent champion for me and a sister I never had by blood. 

When my ma was sick, she was one of many who consistently checked in and offered to do whatever she could, along with offering to come help, living all the way in the Bay area. She’s a nurse, which comes with the territory of helping people and she’s really great at it. 

We’re counting down the days until early September when we’re tackling the big cleanout of my ma’s house to sell it and she was the first to offer to show up and be there for anything and everything. I’m looking forward to seeing her as it will be over a year since our last visit, even if it’s for shitty circumstances. We’ll make the most of it and the best part is we’ll do it together. My hubby has no idea what he’s in for but he’s a trooper and will roll along with whatever, too.

Aside from that, I’ve been keeping up with my usual Cruise Director calendar and I honestly feel fortunate that I’m always crazy active, packing in as much as I can into a given day/week/month because it’s now serving as a great distraction from constantly being upset about my ma. I still find plenty of time to be sad – driving bubbles up sadness more than anything when a familiar song comes on that we both loved or from a movie soundtrack that we watched and listened to a million times. So don’t get me wrong – I’m grieving plenty. It’s also a reminder that my ma is always with me and riding co-pilot. 

Part of that busy calendar included a night out to celebrate one of my favorite friends this week – another July birthday.  I got tickets to Moulin Rouge at ASU Gammage. O.M.G. It was so awesome! Talk about great music and although it’s based on the movie, which TBH, I wasn’t a huge fan of, they modernized it with even newer music. Major mash-ups and likely a huge expensive royalty list to boot! I mean they had Gaga, Beyonce, Whitney, Tina – all the divas and so much more. The set was incredible, especially for a touring Broadway show. It was like we were in the Moulin Rouge. The cast waa awesome. I just grinned like a Joker idiot the whole time AND I hadn’t looked up anything about it online or seen any clips so I could go in cold and get the full unbiased experience. I can’t recommend it enough. It runs through August 3 and then heads on to the next city. If you ever get a chance to see it on the road or on Broadway, do it!

Here’s what I also managed to squeeze in to watch too, with a heavy catch-up day on Saturday!

The Hunting Wives – Netflix 

I saw this pop-up as a new show and was intrigued because of some of the cast. It’s mildly Hallmark but with more drinking, more redneck vibes and more hunting riffles. It’s fun but I’ve only just started it so we’ll see!

Stick  – Apple TV

Season 1 is a wrap for 10 episodes. Season 2 was greenlit the same day as the finale dropped. Owen Wilson is just the most loveable goofball, as I’ve written about before. It’s super feelgood and still reminds me of my pop. Give it the late summer binge it needs.

Sam Rockwell on Hot Ones  – YouTube

He’s such a truly unique and fun actor and had a lot of great sound bites. He also looked like he was ready to explode, turning very red! This was the first episode I watched that the guest actually requested beer because duh, beer goes with wings, even if they’re ready to melt your face off and the beer doesn’t help put out the fire on your tongue – it’s always milk. Seeing him in anything always reminds me of my very favorite movie he starred in – The Way Way Back. A coming of age tale where he works at a waterpark. It’s great. He recites a favorite song of mine in one scene that to this day makes me laugh every time I’ve been at the top of a water slide, ready to go down. 

Fantastic Four – at a theater near you

Sure, there’s been many movies before that were perfectly fine. This one was a new take and I loved that it was set in the past. The mid-Century modern vibe of it too, along with the cast, was A+++. Maybe it’s because Pedro stars and he can cry on camera LIKE NO ONE CAN. It was all equal parts touching, action-packed, funny, charming and sad. Two-stretchy-thumbs up!  

Happy Gilmore 2 – Netflix

The Sandman is a genius with his empire of funny, always. I LOVE every time I see the list of top earning celebrities and he sits at the very top, wearing swim trunks and a shitty old shirt and doesn’t give a fuck. His production company and Netflix deal was super smart and he makes sure people walk away from his movies having laughed. Nowadays feeling like that goes a long way – they don’t have to be masterpieces or Oscar-worthy. Just entertaining and worth your time to watch. He knows that formula well. 

Part 2 is nearly 30 years after the original, falling into the trend of what’s old is new again and everyone that’s trying to bring the good times back. I saw something online that talked about how sometimes the popularity of a movie originally isn’t just about the movie and its content but the time period it was released in. Sometimes you can’t recreate that magic and draft off of that, especially THAT many years later. But I’ll tell you what: Sandler does a fun job of trying. It was silly and very much like the original and I loved it. Don’t read too much into the garbage that’s out there about it – just watch and enjoy!

Resident Alien – SyFy

The official cancellation just dropped that Season 4 will be it. Man, it was soooo fun! Alan T is a national comedic treasure. I wish more people watched it and maybe if it hadn’t been on SyFy it would have had a larger audience. But, 4 seasons is more than some shows get and I think they were able to wrap it up, knowing this season may be the last. Only two episodes remain. If you need a new show to binge this can be it, especially one that will make you laugh and isn’t heavy at all.

Sunday Scaries time but not really since I’m a week out from vacay! Honestly I am so happy it’s finally here. I’m ready to find sand weeks later in my clothes and body parts!