It’s June already and hard to believe this wonderful year is half gone. But hey, it also means it’s summer which means leaving work behind for a couple of weeks and VACATIONING, which means doing something different from your daily routine, which means bringing your blood pressure way down as you contemplate the mini-umbrella in your mai tai. It also means unhooking your kids from their phones and tablets (you too!) and hiding them.

Planning for the HUGE family get-together at the Outer Banks in mid-June. By planning I mean wrapping a gazillion birthday presents which will mean, of course, paying Tullio's June overhead with the, what is it? Twenty? awesome cakes. Then, of course, there's figuring out all the logistics of who's sleeping where, who's cooking when, and who's turn it is to buy more toilet paper.

Everyone has leftover ham from Easter dinner to lay carefully between two slices of brioche toast slathered with mustard and maybe a couple of dill pickles? Yes, yes, nearly as good as a taco, well, I stress nearly, okay? I hope you stashed some of your chocolate Easter eggs, to give yourself a well-deserved sugar high, not just the munchkins.

We've already passed the 15th of March so it's too late for me to warn you about possible gnarly Ides tripping you up or pissing you off or making you crabby.

Happy February -- So many exciting happenings this month -- Valentine's Day, my birthday on Valentine's Day, the Super Bowl (congrats to the RAMS and Matthew Stafford), and the two very biggest excitements, other than my birthday??