Today was Brittany’s first day at her new school, Burroughs High in Burbank. Cue the marching band. Montclair didn’t have a drumstick, let alone a whole band. As far as public schools go, it’s highly rated in Southern California. Her high school class of 2013 went from 50 to about 750. It will be an interesting transition, but I still think she’ll be a stand out when all is said and done.

When I asked her for all of the details, she said, “pretty good”. So, I’m thrilled. And it only cost us a house to get her in.

A few interesting facts about Burroughs. The 80’s hit television show, The Wonder Years was filmed on campus. The Burroughs’ Choir is a big deal. They have played on Oprah, Dancing with the Stars and were the inspiration to the television show, Glee. Ron Howard, Debbie Reynolds, Dan Haggerty (Grizzly Adams) and the voice of Mickey Mouse are all alums.

Dallas is in the books and was our best show yet. Despite a terribly slow show (it’s the economy stupid), Basically Me has struck a chord in the South. Now all we need to do is produce and ship what we sold. Sigh.

Escaped the heat and caught Stevie Nicks in Dallas.

Paying her for her time worked.

Teaching Britt the family business.

They do everything bigger in Texas, including roller skating cowboys like this guy. Our show coincides with the Western Wear show, so good people watching.

The first two days of the show have been busy. In fact, we have quadrupled our New York show numbers and matched the last Dallas show with two days to go.

Surprised by some rare cloud cover, Dallas residents on Thursday fell a day short of tying their all-time record for consecutive days at 100 degrees or above.

Sean brought his crew to outfit the house with TVs and surround sound. Nothing like starting a big project hours before a business trip.

Sean came by and removed my TVs from their walls. They will remain lifeless until they are rehung in the new house next Monday. This separation will help me adjust to the fact that we have decided not to hang a TV in our bedroom.

Headed to Dallas tomorrow. Can’t wait to be apart of the record setting 46th straight day of triple digit heat.

Celebrating all of the July birthdays.

Being that I’m a Francophile, I could’ve watched this movie without sound. I generally don’t like Woody Allen movies, but I enjoyed this one.

Wild applause all around……

We funded today, so escrow might actually close tomorrow. If that happens we get the keys on Monday, paint on Tuesday and leave for Dallas on Wednesday. When we move in is anyone’s guess. We had our final walk through last night, so here are way too many pictures if you’re interested.

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NYC was as hot and humid as we’ve experienced there. The traffic also seems to have gotten worse. Still, you can’t beat the Big Apple. On the surface, the show was pretty bad. It’s nearly three times the expense of the Dallas and Atlanta shows and lacks our core customer. With that said, we wrote about the same amount as we did in Dallas and Atlanta the first time around, so we’ll probably stick with it and continue to grow our customer base. If nothing else, it’s a great write off. It was also nice fitting in a visit with Matt and the family in Old Greenwich, Connecticut.

I always make time to visit this Brooklyn steakhouse that was voted New York’s best steakhouse for 26 years in a row. The bacon is a must.

The first day wasn’t as bad as it seemed, but our target customer didn’t make the trip to NYC. Although we didn’t write the kind of orders we do in Dallas and Atlanta, we did manage to pick up a number of new stores in the North.

I made Sonia hike through Central Park in her heels, but number 50 took a tumble thanks to checking out this Egyptian marvel known as Cleopatra’s Needle. Here’s the scoop:

The Obelisk, nicknamed Cleopatra’s Needle, is the oldest man-made object in Central Park.

Transferring the 71-foot, 244- ton granite monument from Egypt to New York was an arduous and delicate process. It took 112 days from the time the Obelisk touched upon the banks of the Hudson River until it reached the Park. Laborers inched the monument on parallel beams, aided by roll boxes and a pile-driver engine. Thousands turned out on January 22, 1881 to marvel as the obelisk was turned upright.

Dinner in “Old” Greenwich with Matt, Beth and the Kids.

On the train to old greenwich, conn to see Matt and the fam.

To NYC…

Since the last update, we added Utah, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and New York.

Sonia, Brit and I caught a showing of, It Happened One Night with Clark Gabel at the Forever Cemetery in Hollywood. We enjoyed the classic movie surrounded by the eternal homes of many famous corpses including Douglas Fairbanks, Jane Mansfield and Bugsy Seigel.

It’s my 20th High School Reunion today. Too busy and uninterested to attend. The 25th or 30th may be more appealing.

Congrats to adding Fashion Designer to your resume in your 41st year. Like a fine wine, babe.

Toured Pearl Harbor. It was a bit eerie being there. Toro, Toro, Toro.

No matter how much I bug her, Brittany just isn’t a blogger. Nevertheless, her goals for the rest of the year remain the same, so I’ll keep you in the loop as to her progress with 51-100.

Sunset at Waikiki Beach, HI

Watching the women’s World Cup finals halfway between the contenders’ countries.

We spent the morning on the other side of the island Lanikai Beach. This was before game two of the tournament that would end in a massacre. Brit’s team played the best team they ever faced and were murdered 9-0. It was definitely an eye opener. Only four or five of our players could have made their team. Only two could start.

We actually pulled off a surprise birthday party in Hawaii.

Despite being down to 12 players, Sherman Oaks Extreme played 90 minutes and beat a good Hawaiian team 4-1. Brit scored two.

Pre soccer beach nap.

I forgot my camera wire, so iPhone pics until Monday.

By Brittany.

Aloha

The best part of my day is being your dad.

One of these days we’ll be able to afford the perfect location for one of our shoots. Until then, we will continue to improvise. On a positive note, the latest models we hired were great.