Bubbles and BBQs (with How to Make Monstrous, Huge, Unbelievably Big Bubbles)

The best things about summer is the world of outdoor space that it opens up. Picnics at the park, playing at the beach, lunch on a patio and a stroll around the neighborhood are a few of my favourites. But the ultimate outdoor fun of summer is definitely the backyard barbecue.

Now, I don’t have a backyard, but this sunny Saturday we were headed to a friend's BBQ party, so I took a peek into my cabinet of Klutz curiosities for a way to make our day extra fun.

How to Make Monstrous, Huge, Unbelievably Big Bubbles is the brainchild of bubble master David Stein and the editors of Klutz. Stein’s invention, the "Bubble Thing," is the magic wand that makes your bubbles big, and inside the book you’ll find the recipe for the perfect bubble mix.

As the ribs and carrots sizzled on the grill, we set up with a bucket of suds and our Bubble Thing and took turns blowing super-sized bubbles out in the sun.

Now and Then (with It's all about US, especially me!)

If you’ve been around here before, you’ve probably heard about my bestie, Lea. All throughout school, we were as close as close can be! We shared clothes, crushed on the same boys and finished each others sentences. But, like most best friends, for all the ways we were alike, we were complete opposites too.

Lea is a sunny kind of gal. You can put her in a room with anyone and she’ll instantly make friends. I prefer to hang out in the background and observe. Whether we were making our way on the playground or finding our place at parties, I usually left it to her to represent our little twosome to the outside world. It’s not a stretch to say that back then, it was all about her. And that suited me just fine!

But now I’m older and more sure of myself, so I’m sucking up my courage and offering Lea a break. Sure, I’ll always be a wallflower at heart, but after years of hanging in the back, it’s time for me to shine! So, last week, when we met up to catch up over hamburgers, I brought It’s All About Us (Especially Me) to show her just how far I’d come.

Between gossip sessions, we passed this pretty-in-pink book back and forth, filling in questions and queries of “total randomosity,” and giggling wildly over all our crazy answers! I mean, how else would we have remembered cutting off my favourite doll’s hair or how fun it was to screech the Pepper Ann theme song at the top of our lungs?

And since the book includes three different coloured copies of each page, we have room for one more! I’m embracing my new outgoing role and am on the hunt to find us a friend to share these silly surveys with. Any takers?