Molly the Awesome Biker-Pup

Our motorcycle trip on Saturday started out well. We were headed to New York for a campout and we actually left early for once. The day was perfect, crisp and sunny, and I was back in my groove, back on the Buell. Everything was going right.

Until this happened:
(that would be my drive belt - a small, but unfortunately very necessary part of motorcycle-riding, BTW, it's supposed to be shaped like an "O")And then this happened:
(that would be my dad's friend Pete's truck with me, my dead bike and my helmet hair in it)And then this happened:
(that would be my bike in my dad's basement [and me with more lovely helmet hair] - the Buell's not going anywhere this weekend)So, rather than complain and whine about having my broken-down butt carried up to the campout on the back of Luke's bike, I did this:Yes, that would be the divine miss Molly riding on the motorcycle with us. I was afraid of her riding on Luke's bike alone in a basket, but curled up in my lap on the back of Luke's bike, now that's a different story. That I could go along with.

We bundled her up in her fleece coat, then her Old Navy parka, then her harness, which I attached to a rope that went around my body. I sat her on my lap and we were on our way. I thought she'd get sick of the wind in her face and tuck her head inside my jacket after a while. Boy was I wrong.Two and a half hours of riding, one short stop for lunch and she was still hanging her floppy ears out in the wind. In fact she kept leaning into Luke's back, trying to squeeze herself in front of him. She perched on the end of my lap, stretching her little neck out to catch as much air as she possibly could.

Once we got to Sioux and Voyle's place in NY, Molly hopped off the bike and had a grand time sitting by the bonfire and hanging out with the crowd. She got to sleep in a tent with me and Luke, she shared (hogged) my sleeping bag and woke up the next morning raring to go. When we packed up the gear and I grabbed her parka she started to wag her tail and when I put it on her she jumped up on the bike, ready to go. She amazed me. She's one tough little cookie and she's fearless.

So if you were in the souhwestern part of Connecticut/southeastern part of New York state this weekend and saw what looked like a fluffy white dog on a motorcycle, you weren't going crazy, that was my biker-pup, Molly.

My Dog is AWESOME.

More bragging to follow. Stay tuned.

My Routine

My friend Keith just got his very own blog, and since he mentioned in his first post how he was "inspired" by my pointless ramblings, I thought I'd gain some inspriation from his newest post about his morning ritual. His routine is, of course, all geeky and Canadian, but mine... well who am I kidding, mine's pretty geeky, too.

First, just like Keith, I need coffee. But I'm not a coffee snob. I don't need any maple syrup-roasted beans seasoned with fresh Canadian air. I'm happy to take anything in a cup that has caffiene and resembles coffee in the slightest bit.

Next, music. I open up my friend iTunes and pick my favorite morning playlist that I like to call "mellow". Jack Johnson, Jehro, Ray LaMontagne and maybe a little G. Love start my morning off right. OK, time for my next ritual.

Blogs. Yes, I love blogs. And I read a lot of them, too. My friends have them so I have to read those and keep up on what's going on with them. Then there are the friends I feel like I have even though I've never met these people - Dooce, Pamie, those guys. I've been reading their blogs for years and I know more about them than I do about some of my close friends. Weird, huh?

I tried to do a little screenshot of my bookmarks toolbar so you could see the order I go in, but it's too darn long to fit in the little blog window. So here it is:

Dooce | Pamie | Ultratart | Cute Overload | Mediacrity | Me, My Dogs, My Life | Optimistic Diva | Keith's blog which has a really long name | Spewing 4th Art | Loobylu | Go Fug Yourself | SimplyJune | Resale Queen

By the time I've gotten through those, I've had my fill of life in Utah, life in LA, cute pictures of animals, funny comments on celebrity outfits, art, crafts, eBay hijinks, and all my friend updates. It's a well-rounded morning. Then I check my email and go to Blogger to update my own blog(s).

And then I stare at my monitor for a while and decide what to do next. Maybe I'll check the blogs again, it's much earlier on the West Coast, maybe Dooce and Pamie have a new update now...

Have Dog, Will Travel - or How We Humiliate Our Dog While She Plots Our Slow, Painful Deaths

Luke has always wanted to take Molly on the motorcycle with him. When we had a quad, she LOVED it and rode on it all the time. Now she jumps up on the seat of any motorcycle she gets near as if to say, take me for a ride!

We took her, a couple of times, up the street to our friends' house but she sat on my lap while I was on the back of Luke's bike and she loved it. But this weekend it's a different story. We have a 2-hour motorcycle trip to New York planned with an overnight camp out, and sure, my mom would be happy to watch her while we're gone (right Mom?) but wouldn't it be more fun to bring her? Of course it would.

Molly's a hit with the motorcycle group we're camping with and when they heard us joking about bringing her, they were all on board. My dad even called last night with a new idea for transporting her in a milk crate lined with foam on the back of Luke's bike. So we've been brainstorming for possibilities and although it hasn't exactly been working out, it's been really funny.

This here is Sunday night at my sister's house. Luke was insistent on trying out one of Andrea's old baby carriers to see if Molly would fit. She fit, but her enormous look of disdain and loathing hung over the top.Luke still thinks that this is the best solution. I say: have you seen Molly actually sit up for more than five minutes at a time? She's more of a lounger and I think it would drive her nuts if she couldn't lay down for two straight hours. Plus there's no room in the carrier for her tail to stick out.

Which led us to the Toto basket (formerly our laundry basket). There's plenty of room for her to lay down, or look out if she chooses, and she can wear her harness so we can tether her to the bike instead of Luke. We fastened the basket down snugly and she actually looked pretty comfy in there. (Don't let that look of disgust fool you, there were treats in that basket. She was happy there.) I'm still worried, though. She's gonna be cold! I've got a fleece jacket for her and even an Old Navy parka with a hood, but I still think she'll be scared and cold. If I was riding on the back so she could lay on my lap, that would be one thing. But all alone in a breezy basket - I don't think she'll go for that. We'll see. I don't think we've given up on the idea yet.

Two Movies I Actually Liked!

Good news! There really isn't anything wrong with me. I finally liked two movies I saw. Two movies in a row! They were Office Space and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

First, Office Space. Yeah, OK, I'm just gonna have to go ahead and say that I loved this movie. If you've seen this movie, you know what I'm talking about.

Peter is a cubicle-dwelling corporate drone who hates his job and realizes that every day is worse that the last so essentially: every day is the worst day of his life. His girlfriend takes him to an occupational hypnotherapist where he finds peace and calm and a permanent state of relaxation due to a little glitch in the hypnotizing process, (namely his doctor keeling over with a heart attack before he can bring him back from his hypnotized state). Peter decides, in his new state of peace, to do what makes him happy, which is nothing. He sleeps in, goes to work in his flip flops, and tells the corporate consultants the truth about how much he slacks off and how unmotivated he is at work. He dismantles his cubicle and speaks his mind to his boss. No matter how bad his behavior gets, Peter never gets fired, in fact, he gets promoted.

I've never worked in an actual cubicle, but in my old office I experienced so many of the same insanely frustrating situations. The same tiny mistake brought back over and over by multiple managers, the repetitive redhead in the cube next door. At one point I was laughing so hard but trying not to laugh because I was watching it with Luke, who, although he hates his job, has never worked in an office. I thought that he would think I was insane since he's never been frustrated enough with office machines to fantasize about taking a copy machine out to a deserted field and beating the crap out of it with a baseball bat. But I was wrong. This movie speaks to the frustrated worker in all of us.

Whether you work at a desk or driving a truck, you still have management to deal with and I'm sure they still say incredibly ridiculous things to you and make your work life miserable. This movie was hilarious and everyone working in upper management should watch it as a training video to learn what not to do to your employees.

Next, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I loved this movie. I want to hug this movie. It was quiet and subtle and fast moving and it just made me happy inside.

For the first time ever I actually liked Jim Carey. His acting wasn't over-the-top and his character, Joel, was truly likeable in a pathetic sort of way. Kate Winslet was fantastic as the spontaneous and wacky, screwed-up girlfriend, Clementine, who decides to have all memory of Joel erased from her mind so she can forget about him and their relationship. Hurt and angry, Joel decides to do the same but realizes during the memory-erasing that he truly loves Clementine and doesn't want to forget her.

There's a scene between the memory-erasing doctor and his secretary, Kirsten Dunst, that makes the point that love isn't just in the mind, it's in the heart. You can have the memory taken away, but the love will still come back.

I was worried that the movie would end on a sad note but I loved the end. It makes you think: if you knew the beginning of your story and you knew the end, would you still want to go through the middle? And the answer is YES!

OK, now for the true test. Up next from the Blockbuster selection: Fahrenheit 911 and Honey.

Never Enough Lisa

What's that you say? You want more Lisa? More blogging? Well your wish is my command. Check me out here: The Joseloff Gallery Everything you never knew you wanted to know about our art gallery. Updated periodically, or whenever I have gallery news to report. Pretty, isn't it?

Eew... Kinda Neat.

This freaky thing has been hanging out on the side of our house for a week or so:
I've been searching online to see what the heck it is and now I have a serious creepy-crawly feeling going on. Too many spider pictures affecting my brain. Is there a bug in my hair? A spider crawling up my leg? Spiders aren't my favorite among the buggy creature community, but this one is apparently a Marbled Orb Weaver, a shy and non-threatening spider that builds beautiful, strong webs.

Now I think I have to go take another shower so I can stop scratching.

Betty Home Crocker

Yes, Betty's back. I had quite the weekend of cooking and crafting. Seeing as how the frost was coming and there were still veggies in my garden, I went out and picked everything and had to do something with them all before they rotted on the kitchen counter.

Between Friday and Sunday I managed to make:
-a large batch of pesto
-stuffed peppers
-pepper and sausage quiche
-clam chowder
-apple pie
-crab dip
-pasta with crab and cream sauce
-extra pastry crust to be used later on
And you know what I had for dinner on Saturday? A bowl of shredded wheat. Sad.

I also managed to craft quite a bit and I made some wall decorations (pictures to come, they're not quite done yet) out of some recycled wall hangings I took from the trash pile at work. I stripped and refinished a chair I bought at a tag sale for $3, and I finished refinishing our old dining set so I could sell it on Craigslist. Then I started to make some curtains, the finished one is pictured above. Cute, huh? They're for our guest bedroom.

It was quite a busy weekend. The funny thing is that I didn't make a bit of jewelry so I feel like I didn't get anything done!

Happy Birthday Melissa!

Here's to the second anniversary of your 29th birthday.

Pretty Pictures

Yesterday I took a little trip to New York City to visit two wonderful exhibitions. My eyes still hurt and can't really focus well from all the pretty things and all the color they had to absorb yesterday. I have art whiplash. There's so much to say and not enough time to tell you everything right now but I can give you the highlights.

We saw: Cezanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant Garde at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Picasso and American Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

I recommend: The show at the Met. So many amazing, important works of art in one place! We had a little discussion about the insurance policy they must have on the musuem for this show which ended with the thought, "Who cares about the money. What would you do with it? Build a time machine? You can't replace these paintings. If a bomb were dropped on the museum right now, we'd be screwed." For sure we would have been.

I didn't realize: How much I love Van Gogh. Not the typical Starry Night or Sunflowers, but his portraits and his patterns and backgrounds. My eyes were happy looking at them.

I learned: That there is truly such a thing as too much of a good thing. The show at the Whitney just had too much to look at. Too many comparisons of Picasso's work and the work of American artists he influenced. My eyes and my brain were tired by the end, which is a shame because there were some wonderful Jasper Johns paintings that I would have liked to spend more time with but I just couldn't focus anymore. I also learned that I love Stuart Davis (the painter, not the singing Buddhist monk, although he is pretty cute) and the sculptures of David Smith.

I was surprised: At how I felt standing in front of some of these works of art. I did jump a little when I saw Picasso's Three Musicians because I loved this painting in high school and painted a life-sized version on brown paper for an art class project. I was a little giddy seeing it in person. Some of the other pieces though, I wasn't all that impressed with and that surprised me. An amazing, rarely-seen Picasso or Jackson Pollock and I stood there thinking, "eeh... it's all right".

So that's it for the highlights. It was a great day, beautiful weather, pretty pictures, amazing things to see. You should go see for yourself!

Don't You Love Ads on Blogs?

Yesterday I decided, what the heck. I know I only get about 30 people a day reading my blog, but maybe that's enough traffic to raise a little shoe-shopping cash via Google AdSense. I added the little nifty ad bar to the top if the page yesterday when I wrote about cheating on Blogger with VOX and the first recommended ad link was "Infidelity". I wonder where that would have taken me. I'm prohibited from clicking my own ads so I couldn't find out. I hope you don't mind the new ad format, a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do, you know. The shoes don't just buy themselves.

My Infidelity

Blogger, I just have to get it off my chest: I've been cheating on you.

I feel terrible. His name is VOX and I've spent a lot of time with him today, but I really think it was just a fling. You're my real true love. He seemed all new and flashy and had some cool features that you're lacking, but you're so much more fun to be around. You're easier to manipulate and customize and really, isn't that what we all want in a partner... uh, blog.

I tried it. I was sucked in to the new, try it now, invitation only, new! new! new! blogging service, VOX. I scored myself an invitation and I spent a whole lot of time playing with it today, but I don't think I'm going to change. It seemed cool at first, I've always liked the book and music recommendation columns, like all Typepad accounts seem to have, and VOX has a cool photos links area that I liked, but the template can't be manipulated, the code can't be changed, and I can't find anywhere to add links to other sites I like, or my banners for Flickr, or Etsy, or the Croncast 300 by the 300th (have you all signed up, huh? huh?). So I think I'll stay with Blogger. Maybe I'll keep my VOX account for photos or something. Heck, who am I kidding? I'm barely finding time lately to update ONE blog, how am I going to keep up with two?

If you're interested in peeking at the VOX blog wile it lasts, there's one post and I've already changed the template twenty-seven times. I'll probably change it a few more before I'm happy and then I'll go and delete my account. I'm an idiot. But you can see for yourself here.

One More Post

This is the last of the three-legged dog posts, I promise, (by the way, she's doing great, getting better every day), but I just had to show you this from Cute Overload. What a weird coincidence! I think I might have to get one of those shirts.

On Amazing Pup

(Sorry the picture is so blurry but Sydney was so wiggly that I couldn't get a clear picture!)

Sydney's back home after her surgery and she's doing amazingly well. My sister and her husband both had to work on Saturday when Sydney was set to come home post-amputation so I agreed to pick her up at the vet. Unsure of what sadness I'd see when I got there, Iwas shocked to see her bouncy and wagging her tail, happy to get out of there and completely unfazed by her new predicament. She skips around, up stairs, down stairs, from the front seat of my car to the back. She's amazing.

She hung at our house for a while before my sister got out of work and the vet had told us to put a t-shirt on her when we got home to keep her from scratching at her incision. I found an old BMW t-shirt I had and figured that it was appropriate since we had seen a man at the BMW rally in Vermont this summer who lost his leg and went on to ride over 25,000 miles in one season. Nothing stopped him and nothing's stopping Sydney!

Way to go Super Pup!

Sydney-Girl

My sister's dog, Sydney, is going to have her leg amputated today. She's been fighting cancerous cysts on her paw and has twice had them removed with surgery, but the vet suggested that the only thing to do to make her better was to amputate her leg.

I'm happy that she'll soon be recovering and feeling better and her paw won't be big and lumpy and painful anymore, but I can't stop thinking about her today and how she must be feeling.

On the phone with my sister last night, with my own puppy curled up against me, I said to her that, as much as I would like to think that dogs feel and reason and think the same as we do, I'm sure that they don't. Of course, they can love us and they show something similar to emotion when they're scared or if they get yelled at and know they've done something wrong, but can they feel sad? Can they dwell on what they used to have and don't have anymore (like four whole legs)? I don't think so. It's the only way I can figure that dogs can bounce back from a surgery like Sydney's so fast.

How many dogs with three legs or dogs with paralyzed back ends hauling around doggie wheelchairs have you seen? Those dog's don't show self-pity. They don't shy away from romping around with the other dogs even though they only have three legs. They just love life. Dogs are amazing creatures. And Sydney wil be one of those amazing pups, too. Be strong Sydney-Girl! The worst will soon be over.

(And by the way, that scruffy muppet-looking thing in the picture is a young Molly. That picture is from a couple of years ago, hopefully just minutes before an appointmet at the doggie-salon.)

Husband and Wife

This is a cople of days overdue, but hey, I'm a busy lady! Our exhausting weekend was capped off by the very beautiful wedding of Flannery and Nate in Protsmouth, RI. It was a gorgeous day, Flannery looked so pretty, and everything was perfect! Gracias to Flann and Nate who are off relaxing at a Mexican resort right now. We had a wonderful time. CONGRATULATIONS!

Happy/Sleepy and Those Other Dwarves

Today I'm feeling very Happy/Sleepy. Most days I'm some combination of the seven dwarves. Sometimes I'm Grumpy/Dopey sometimes Sneezy/Bashful, but almost never Doc.

Today I'm Happy/Sleepy because we had a surprisingly huge and fun opening last night in the gallery where I work. Everyone was having such a good time I had to physically push a few out about 15 minutes after I had actually turned the lights off. It was great. I worked twelve hours, got home, went to bed, woke up, and came right back to work. The circle of life.

Now my eyelids keep sliding closed, my fingers are trying to remember how to type, and my brain wants more caffeine. But still, I'm Happy/Sleepy. It's a good day.

New Necklaces Available Soon!

Soon to come in my Etsy shop: a new selection of kids' necklaces (or necklaces for those with small necks and a love of fun colors). Hopefully I can get them listed today. I have three right now, there will be more very soon. The necklaces are all about 12-inches long and this one, pictured above, features a funky handmade pendant. Cool!

And a knittng update: I decided to count my stitches last night, thinking that this hat was really freakin' big and I found out that I had somehow managed to double the number of stitches I needed. What the heck? I had to pull it all apart and start over, which actually worked out well because I was able to untangle my yarn and wind it into a ball like I should have in the beginning. Practice makes perfect! (It also makes some serious frustration, but hey, let's focus on the positive.)

Proof of my Insanity

Yes, that's knitting. As if I didn't have enough going on. The cool weather every September seems to trigger something in my brain that makes me want to bake pies and make things. This year it caused me to think I could knit myself a hat, despite the fact that the extent of my knitting experience is making a couple of scarves. I only know the knit stitch and have never pearled. But hey, everyone has to have a dream, right? Right now my dream is to make myself a hat. Unfortunately, I was so excited to start knitting that I didn't wind my new yarn into a ball, so now I have myself a giant knot at the end of my needles.

Shooting at the Walls of Heartache

So last night I had a dream that I was riding my motorcycle with the stereo cranked up (side note: my real motorcycle doesn't have a stereo) and "The Warrior"- that fabulous rollerskating song from 1984 by Patty Smyth - was playing and I was rocking out. I noticed that I was being chased by brightly-colored motorcycle riders with hoods over their faces and so I maxed out the volume on the stereo and sped off with an impressive wheelie.

Then I woke up. And now I can't get that song out of my head. I can't say that I've heard it at all since 1984, but for some reason it came to me in a dream last night and now...

"Shooting at the walls of heartache, (bang, bang), I am the warrior!"

It Will Be Mine

How delicious is this bag?
My cousin's wife, Karen, has a beautiful website called SimplyJune where she sells handmade lovely things, including purses like this one. We only see eachother a couple of times a year, at holiday gatherings or weddings, and we always seem to say, we should arrange a trade sometime. Well, sometime is now.

Karen unveiled these new Nataliya bags and I couldn't resist. Now I'm just waiting to hear what she would like in return. (Karen, if you're reading... I'm waiting... ) In the meantime, my Nataliya bag is safe, she marked it sold, so don't even think of stealing it from me. Go to SimplyJune and buy one for yourself!

Crafty Ass Chick

I usually don't swear on this blog cause, you know, my mom is reading, but I found this site today and it was so cute, I figured Mom would forgive me. I love it! There are even cute little craft kits in case you want to get all crafty, too. Go check it out! www.craftyasschick.com

What's Going On Here?

OK, to steal a line from South Park, have I broken a funny fuse? Either there's something wrong with the entire movie-watching world, or Luke and I have busted fuses. Not only did we recently not enjoy The Wedding Crashers, which many people that I know liked, but last night we watched The Matador, which friends had told us was HILARIOUS, and we couldn't stand it. What is going on?

I had half a dozen moments where I sort of "ha" laughed, more chuckled, I suppose, but "hilarous" wasn't a word that ever came into my mind. Who directed that thing? IMDB tells me it was Richard Shepard. Luke, at one point said, "this looks like a cheap Quentin Tarantino movie", and he was right on. The bizarre scenes for no apparent reason: Juian (Pierce Brosnan) walking through the lobby in his Speedo, heading for the pool, then dropping into the water, sunglasses on, drink in hand, where he sees - a shark? What in the world was that about. I think there are less outrageous ways to show that Julian is starting to fall apart. The giant, cheap-looking titles of: MEXICO and DENVER and BUDAPEST telling you where the scene is taking place, sort of Tarantino-ish, but cheesy. The random, unnecessary sex scenes: the sex scene with the dog chewing on Julian's pant leg - our entire scene in BERLIN - what was the reason for that? I think I got it early on in the movie that Julian filled his non-hit man life with sex and alcohol, I don't think it was necessary to throw random sex scenes in all through the movie to prove that point. I did like how the end wrapped up and brought you back to the earlier scene in Mexico City where something happened to cause Danny to "owe one" to Julian. I liked that. See? I do have positive things to say.

Well anyhow, you get it, something is wrong with me and Luke. We need replacement funny fuses, ours are broken.

Home Sick Movie Reviews- Weekend of August 26th

Hi there - remember me? Yeah, I'm sorry. I was chasing down a cold all last week and was lucky enough to catch it for good on Friday. This was bad becasue of all the aching, nose-blowing, whining, etc. But this was good because I got to spend some quality time with my favorite fuzzy blanket, laying on the couch, watching TV all weekend.

Thanks to TBS and their all-movie weekends, a stop on Friday at Blockbuster, and a good collection of DVDs at home, I was not without movies all weekend long. And this is what I have to say about them all.

Funny Farm with Chevy Chase (from the collection)

I love this movie. Funny Farm and The Princess Bride always come out when I'm not feeling well. They're funny, they're light, and they cheer me right up. Also, if I happen to fall into a drug-induced coma while watching, I can wake up at any point in the movie and still know what's going on. I'm still shocked when someone tells me they've never seen Funny Farm. This usually happens after I make a Redbud or a Yellow Dog reference. (And if you don't know what I'm talking about right now, you need to go see the movie.)

Serendipity with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale (courtesy of TBS)

Very cute. I've seen parts of this movie before but never the whole thing all the way through. John Cusack was born to play the slightly pathetic, yet still so lovable, yearning-for-love guy, wasn't he? He was cute, Jeremy Previn was so funny, and Kate Beckinsale is beautiful, of course. A sweet love story.

Transporter 2 with Jason Statham (Blockbuster)

I love Jason Statham. I don't care how cheesy the movie is. He could read the phonebook out loud, then win a highly improbable fight wherein he is outnumbered and unarmed except for a jar of mayonnaise and some yarn I'd still say I liked it. The fast-action driving scenes are exciting, the fight scenes entertaining, and the balding man with the ambiguous accent is foxy. I loved this movie.

Mona Lisa Smile with Julia Roberts (from the collection)

What a surprise! I really liked this movie. I borrowed it about a year ago from my mother-in-law and haven't watched it because I thought, for some reason, that I wouldn't like It. I have no idea why because it was fantastic. I can't imagine being a college-aged woman in the early 50's like these girls were. What an incredibly hard time to grow into adulthood. I thought the actors were all fantastic and I wanted all of their hair-dos and skirts! I've loved Ginnifer Goodwin since seeing her on Ed, and despite her incredibly irritating voice, I thought Kirsten Dunst did a great job as the one you love to hate. This was the first time I had seen Maggie Gyllenhaal in a movie and I thought she was excellent. I spent the whole movie trying to figure out why she looked familiar to me. I still don't know why. Julia Roberts, of course, was excelent and the whole really was delightful. I'm still surprised.

Lucas with Corey Haim (courtesy of TBS)

This movie is so sweet. Watching it makes me feel all awkward and embarassed like back when I was in school. Little nerdy Corey Haim is so cute and pathetic, and that redhead, IMDB tells me her name is Kerri Green, she's the same girl from Goonies with the cute face and slight whine to her voice. Lucas is sappy sweet and light and perfect to watch while you're home sick on the couch with a box of tissues.

Wedding Crashers with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson (Blockbuster)

What a disappointment. I love Vince Vaughn as much as I love Jason Statham so it hurt me greatly not to like this movie. I liked parts of it. I laughed in a whole bunch of places. I even loved the ending, but as a whole, it dragged. I found myself looking at the clock constantly because it felt like it went on FOREVER. Funny, funny, booooring, funny, funny, booooring. This is how it went. Like a series of excellent, related skits, threaded together with slow set-ups that pulled it down. So disappointing. But despite the occasional boredom and the extra weight Vince Vaughn packed on for the role, he was still quick and funny and cute. Owen Wilson, though, really needs to get that nose fixed.

Well, that's it from the couch. I'm starting to feel better and now I'm back to work so the movie-reviewing will have to go on hiatus for a while. Until next weekend, at least. I still have The Matador from Blockbuster to watch, so maybe I'll have more to say later.

Hi Mom!

My mom reads my blog but said the other day that she wasn't sure if she should. Well of course she should. Look - she's even on it!

When I started school, I missed my mom so much during the day that I invented reasons to go to the nurse to try to get my little self sent home. Poor Mrs. Peak, the gullible school nurse. Either she was an incredible pushover or she really didn't care, becasue no excuse was too crazy. My underwear was too tight, I got a sliver on the playground, my earrings made my ears hurt, and of course, my favorite excuse: my tummy ached. Anything to get her to call my mom to come get me.

My mom couldn't always come pick me up and I was always so disappointed when one of my grandparents came to get me. Ug, not Grandpa. It was like a wasted excuse to go home because I still wasn't with my mom.

At some point after I started the first grade, I decided to take a picture of my mom to school with me so I wouldn't miss her so much. I framed this picture of her on vacation with my dad and kept it in my pencil box. I would sit at my desk, take my pencil box out of my bag, set up my pencil, my eraser, and my picture of Mom on my desktop. Then I was ready to start the day.

It really seemed to work. Although I still missed her so much, I felt like she was there with me. The trips to Mrs. Peak's office became fewer and I eventually learned how to spend the day at school without my mom.

I love this picture and I still have it, twenty-four years later. I took it to college with me and I still keep it on my desk at home because no matter how old you are, you can still miss your mom.

And now I want to cry. Sorry Mom, you're probably tearing up, too. Keep reading my blog and know that I still miss and love you very much!

AAaa-choOO!

No, that's not ragweed pollen, that's my website as a graph. How cool is that. You can graph your own site by going here: Websites As Graphs. A pretty cool way to waste some time for no real reason.

The Joys of Being Antisocial

Think back. Can you remember your high school yearbook quote? Was it something lame? Some lyrics to a song you thought ROCKED the year you graduated? I remember my quote exactly and I think of it and repeat it to myself all the time. Here it is, complete with a picture and some lovely stats of how I spent my four years of high school.


To everyone who read that quote back in 1994 when I graduated, and even those reading it now, I must have seemed like someone who wanted to say something profound about fashion. Or to look cool quoting Jane’s Addiction. Not so. To me, this quote is so plain and so true. It’s a quote about fitting in. And I still feel like I don’t fit in anywhere I go.

I wish I knew everyone’s nickname, all their slang and all their sayings. Some days I wish I didn’t have the ability speak at all because everything I say seems to come out wrong. People are mad at me, I say stupid things, I can’t express myself. I just can’t fit in. I feel like this every time I’m at a party. I don’t know how to talk to people. I don’t know how to interact. I hate small talk. I’m sarcastic, but apparently I look very unsarcastic and when I break out the wit it horrifies people. They don’t get that I’m being funny and there are painful eternities of awkward silence. Sadly, sarcasm is how I deal with feeling awkward, so I whip out some more and it all just gets worse. Just cut out my tongue.

Every way to show affection, how to dress to fit the occasion. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve leaned in toward someone when greeting them, and I think we’re hugging, but really we’re supposed to… what? Kiss? But I barely know you! I’ve gotten dozens of smeared lips across my cheek as I go for the hug and they’re aiming for the kiss. OK, if we’re supposed to kiss, can we do it on the cheek? I’m not too keen on the mouth-kissing. I’m with Julia Roberts on that one. A little too intimate for some guy I see once a year. Who do you think you are, expecting a kiss from someone you barely know? You’re not Santa Claus, I’m not going to sit on your lap. Why would I kiss you? How about a hug instead? It’s so uncomfortable. It makes me feel miserable. My inner eight-year old flinches and squeals “eeew gross”. It makes me feel like the crazy one, but shouldn’t they be the one feeling bad? They of the casual lip-lock?

Everyone feels a little lost in high school but I thought I might get over this some day. Let’s see, mmm… twelve years later. Nope. I guess not.

This past weekend I spent Saturday and Sunday partying with friends and non-friends. The non-friend parties just plain wore me out. Friends of friends are the ones who exhaust me and send me to the ladies’ room, just so I can be alone for a minute. I sit in the quiet of my small porcelain sanctuary, head in my hands while saying to myself, “I wish I knew everyone’s nickname, all their slang and all their sayings…”

This is why I like blogging. It makes me feel like part of the world, yet I don’t have to actually talk to anyone! I can be incredibly social, posting every day, writing all about myself, bla, bla, bla, me, me, me. But I can do it in a gloriously antisocial way. All alone in my office, mouth shut, no talking, no greeting people, no dodging of the lip-smackers. Aah, blissful antisocial blogging. It’s heaven.

Fruit Dip (with Added Addictive Qualities)

Sometimes Betty Homecrocker (as Beth likes to call me) likes to share her cooking secrets. This is one of those times. I forgot about this recipe until last week when I walked past a big display of Marshmallow Fluff on sale at the grocery store. My sister made it months ago and it was so good. I made it for a party I went to this weekend and it was even better than I had remembered. I forced myself to throw the leftovers out so as not to find myself eating it with a spoon later on. Spme people said it tasetd like cake icing - I think it tastes like heaven.

Fruit Dip

1 8oz. block of cream cheese, softened
1/2 of one large tub of Marshmallow Fluff
A few shakes of cinnamon

Put it all in a bowl and whip it with a hand mixer until it's smooth and creamy. Dip friut, your fingers, whatever into it and enjoy.

I served apple slices with it - super yummy. If you cut up apples for the dip, remember to sprinkle them with lemon juice to keep them from getting brown. Plus they give the dip an even yummier lemon icing taste.

Lazy

Lazy is how I'm feeling right now. Too lazy to collect my thoughts into a proper post. I'll just leave you with this instead. Proof of Molly's drunken debauchery this past weekend. She drank all of Luke's Rolling Rock and fell asleep on the beach blanket. What a life.

New Updates and an August Sale!

I finally got around to updating a few parts of my website last night. It's been so long since I had the time, according to the link on the Bio page, I've beed reading the same book since February. The biggest change is the Gifts page which now looks like this:

Pretty, huh? And I know, I spelled commission wrong. Trying to type while having a sneezing allergy attack - not easy. I have to fix that tonight.

I also marked down a few things on my Etsy jewelry shop, Jewelry by Lisa Gaumond.


All in-stock anklets are 50% off. You can score yourself an end-of-summer ankle bracelet for only $10. Get them while they last. There's also a brand new "Funky Francesca" charm bracelet available. Go check it out!

Starstruck

Playing around with Statcounter this morning to see who is reading this blog and where they're coming from, I noticed a few referring links that begin with www.croncast.com.

I followed the links and... HOLY CRAP! I'm on the Croncast blog! Woo-hoo! I'm almost famous.

I thought it was pretty exciting back in June when I Googled "Americade 2006" and Artsy Fartsy was the first site returned. This is way better.

Thanks Kris and Betsy!

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

Have you ever listened to someone on the radio and formed a complete picture of what that person must look like in your head, than seen what they actually look like in person and it made your head hurt because your picture was so totally wrong?

Well that happened to me this weekend.

Last week I started listening to a new podcast. I downloaded my first two Croncast podcasts. They were recommended to me by the host of another podcast I listen to all the time, Morning Stories. From the first word uttered, I knew I would love this podcast. It’s a half-hour of Kris and Betsy Smith, a young, married couple living outside of Chicago, talking about life and family and selling crap on ebay and getting a dog. Normal, everyday stuff made so funny.

Kris has the most amazing, deep, rich voice I’ve ever heard. I love deep voices so much that I don’t even care what they’re saying, but this voice was actually saying really funny stuff. Betsy has a slightly squeaky voice and a slight Midwestern accent that made me like her immediately. She talks really fast and is completely wacky but so lovable. Kris and Betsy chat and argue, pick on each other, and they very obviously love each other very much and have a lot of fun together. It makes me smile hearing them laugh at each other and argue about getting a new dog, which was the main topic of the first two podcasts I heard last week.

I had a complete picture figured out in my head of what the two of them looked like. Kris was tall and lanky. Paleish skin and dark brown hair, parted on the side. Small, wire-rimmed glasses. Big hands, smooth face. Quiet and reserved. Betsy was short and petite. Tiny and cute. She had short, blond hair and funky glasses. She was very stylish and funky to go along with her spunk.

Totally wrong.

This is a shot of them from their website:

At least I got the glasses right. Now as I listen, I flicker back and forth from the image I used to have in my head, to the actual image of them – it’s very distracting. This morning as I listened I decided to just imagine them the way I originally imagined them, it’s just easier that way.

I was thinking about writing this entry as I was getting ready for work this morning because it was still bothering me how I was so off-base with what Kris and Betsy looked like. Then I got in my car to drive to work, plugged in the iPod and listened to the latest Croncast on the ride in. At the end of the show, they announced another great reason for me to tell you all about Croncast. A contest to attract new listeners where current listeners refer new listeners, new listeners sign up at the website and tell them who referred them. The 300th new listener to sign up will win a new iPod, as well the person who referred them. Awesome, huh? So go, listen, sign up, download, and laugh! And don't forget to tell them who sent you. (My Croncast handle is LisaLisa.) You won't be sorry, and you don't even need an iPod to listen. You can listen right from your computer. Go now! Laugh yourself silly.

Pretty

Check out these little ceramic beads I painted. I love them! My fiend Paula invited me to go to Pottery U Paint in Vernon and I was all stressed out because when you paint pottery, it never comes out the way you expected it to and it can be really disappointing. But this time - I found BEADS! It, seriously, took four hours for us to get out of there and I painted four beads! But I painted both sides! Here's a (slightly blurry) shot if the other side:
Cute or what? They look like candy! Now I have to figure out what to make with them...

And for my next trick...

You may not be aware of my secret crush on Motocross cutie-pie Travis Pastrana, and you may not really care about the X-Games, but you really need to see this video:

Thank you to kottke.org for the heads-up. Travis pulls the first ever double back flip on a dirt bike at the X-Games. AWE-SOME!

Pug Hill

Last week I finished a very sweet book that you should all allow yourselves to read - Pug Hill by Alison Pace. It’s taken me this long to finish my review because I wanted to be honest about the book, but not discourage anyone from reading it at the same time. Make no mistake, I loved the book, but I just felt like there was something missing from it. Reading Pug Hill was like floating above the life of the main character, Hope, when what I really wanted to do was dive in and find out more.

I found the ad for Pug Hill one of my daily blogs, Cute Overload. I loved the cover (always important), the synopsis sounded light and fun and I thought it would be perfect for my next book club selection. So I bought it. And I loved it.

If any of you have read Sammy's Hill (hi Amanda and Flannery!) you'll love the heroine of Pug Hill, Hope McNeil, a socially awkward, hopeless-in-love paintings restorer living in New York. She loves dogs, isn't sure she feels the same about her current boyfriend, lusts after her coworker, goes to Pug Hill in Central Park whenever she needs to get happy, and dreads a speech she has to give at her parents' upcoming anniversary party. She’s similar to Sammy in her clumsy zaniness, but Sammy’s character was more developed and Sammy’s Hill had more to the plot. (Consequently, if you haven’t read Sammy’s Hill, you really should. It was written by Kristin Gore – Al’s daughter – and it’s a fantastic, fun read.)

Hope is lovable and the story is sweet. I love her dad and cheer for good things to happen to every character (well, ALMOST every character). I love the dogs in the story, even Betsy, her mom's jealous, neurotic, insane Jack Russell. Hope’s “Overcoming Presentation Anxiety” classmates are wacky and fun and I felt physically anxious, myself, reading about them giving speeches in front of the class. It was an easy read and perfect for the summer heat, but it wasn't as deep as I'd like it to be. I don't know what I think the book needs, maybe just more pages! There are so many characters with vast amounts of wacky history that we are only given a glimpse of and that leaves me looking for more pages to read.

Hope's sister Darcy was the prettiest and most perfect daughter and now she's contemplating living on a commune with her boyfriend "C.P." (that stands for Crested Possum, I kid you not) whom her parents hate. I want to know more. Hope has had such a history with her best friends but they're just frilly glimpses of characters in the periphery. I want to know more. There’s a brief sprinkling of one of her friends who is married with a small child and the bits of story involving that friend are so random that I wonder if there WERE more pages to this story that were just edited out.

Pug Hill was light and fun and everyone should include it in their laying-in-the-hammock/sitting-on-the-beach reading list this summer. It has a very sweet, fairy tale ending, (is that the seventh time I’ve used “sweet” in this review? Time for me to find a thesaurus), and even though you know it’s completely improbable, it still makes you smile.

I think I might go look for Pace’s other book If Andy Warhol Had a Girlfriend. She has an easy writing style that makes for a great, quick read and sometimes that’s all a girl wants when it’s too hot to do anything else but sit in the shade with a good book. And a mojito.

Sooo Sleepy...

I know, the posts have been so boring lately, you're all starting to doze off like this guy. Sorry about that. But you don't have to snore so loud. Great, I lost another reader.Actually, these two lazy fellas are sketches for a new illustration gig. It's for a new sleep center and the line is "your nights of counting sheep are over". Cute, aren't they? Makes me want to go take a little nap. YAWN...

Molly's Soul Mate

Look at this pup, named Cash, who I found on Cute Overload:
OK, now look at this picture of Molly:Soul mates or what?? Too cute.

What a Weekend

My friend Amanda usually posts weekend recaps, or precaps, actually, on her blog talking about what she’s planning to do for the weekend and for this weekend, I feel compelled to do the same. It was a great weekend (even though I missed my friend Flannery's bridal shower).

Friday, I met my family at Max Amore in Glastonbury and then went over to Saint Joseph’s College to see our favorite play of all time – Forever Plaid. If you’ve never seen Forever Plaid, do yourself a favor and find it playing somewhere. It is hilarious and sweet and there’s great music from the 60’s. You’ll laugh till it hurts, I promise.

Saturday we had a barbecue at my friend Paula’s house to attend. Paula and her husband Karlo have been working their butts off this summer to transform their back yard into a Zen oasis, complete with fish ponds and a wooden bridge across them. This BBQ was the official christening of the back yard and it was a great time. Luke, Molly and I hung out and relaxed there until after 10 that night when they had to kick us out. Since Paula and Karlo live less than a quarter of a mile from our house, we all rode up there on Luke’s motorcycle (even Molly). This was Molly’s second trip to Paula’s on the motorcycle and she loved it. She laid on my lap and stuck her head out so her floppy ears caught the wind. She was in puppy heaven.

Sunday, we finally went for a nice motorcycle ride. Poor Luke was sick of me complaining that I never get to go for fun rides anymore. Every time I go for a ride, it’s to go to the Harley shop for parts or five hours on the highway in the rain. I invited some friends and my dad and we rode out to The Vanilla Bean Café in Pomfret. Everyone I know has been out there and told me that I need to go – I would love it. Well I sure did. It was a perfect morning and we had a nice ride out there. We ordered our yummy dishes and sat outside in the sun. It was perfect. The inside is cool, it’s like an old barn with funky decorations. There’s art on the walls and neat details everywhere. The food was excellent. I had the wild rice and corn pancakes benedict – dee-licious! And while we were eating, along came the most adorable, gigantic dog carrying the tiniest little toy in her mouth. It was Stella, the Bean’s resident café dog. She’s an English Bull Mastiff and she was all sweetness. She flopped down next to us and played with her little toy until we were finished eating and could get down on the ground and scratch her ears and have a chat with her. She was too cute. We left our perfect breakfast spot and headed home. Dad lead the way and we saw some great twists and turns and roads I didn’t even know existed. We parted ways and headed to our home to get ready for phase 2 of our Sunday.

We met our friends Dave and Sharon at the Main Pub for a lovely light lunch outside. Eating outside really makes you feel like you’re on vacation. It was great. Then we headed up to Main Street in Manchester where they were holding the annual car show. The town closes a section of Main Street to auto traffic and they fill the streets with old cars and music and vendors. It was ridiculously hot but we walked up and down the street, bumped into several people we knew, ate ice cream, and saw some beautiful cars. Luke said he wouldn’t build me a Nash Metropolitan – they’re so cute! But he’d consider building me a Karmen Ghia – almost as cute. This is, of course, after we win the lottery and he builds his Highboy first.

After the car show, we went home and relaxed, watched a couple of movies, made dinner and hung out. A nice way to end a great weekend!

You People Are Strange!

Tell me why this photo, of all my Flickr photos, has had the most views? Why? There are so many better photos out there. So many that don't contain early-morning-puffy-eye-double-chinned faces of me. What is wrong with you people?

Happy Birthday Molly!

My puppy, my pal, my partner in crime, my Molly turns four today. This is one of our first pictures of her, the night we brought her home. This is my favorite puppy picture. She was so TINY! It hurts to look at these pictures, her cuteness is painful to me. Happy birthday bud!

Campout 2006: More Campers, No Crayfish

(For those of you who couldn't give a hoot about all the motorcycle news, don't worry, this is the last major MC thing for the year so I'll be back to semi-normal after this post.)

This past weekend was the 3rd annual campout at our house for my dad's group of motorcycle guys, the Deadhorse Motorcycle Group. The story goes that, trying to organize this group is like beating a deadhorse... hence the name. As soon as we bought our house with the big areas of foresty nothingness and the peaceful river, my dad said "you HAVE to have a campout here". And we did. Three times now.

They're a fun group of wacky guys and girls with names like Guzzi Guy (and his lady, Guzzi Floozie), Batman (aka Inbred Fred), Rage, Too-Tall, Sparkplug Joanie, Doc Toe, and Joe. That's my dad. I swear he must have a nickname but he won't admit to it. It's just Joe. We earned a nickname only because it's too had to say Luke and Lisa too many times. We're Leak and Lusa now. I'm still not sure which end of that I'd prefer.

Friday evening was the kickoff of the campout and it was HOT. Joan showed up early as usual to set up her gear. Lauren from Long Island, a newcomer to our campout, was the next to roll in, shortly followed by one whopper of a thunderstorm. Lauren, Luke and I made it under Joan's awning before the rain started to come down too hard and we sat and waited for it all to end. Another camper, Brian, showed up after the rain and my dad showed up, too, and we all hung around the fire my dad set and ate chili. A good start to the weekend.

Saturday morning, another hot day. We all rode together to Track 9, a great breakfast place in Willington where they never seem to bat an eye when we show up with a big group of hungry bikers. Big breakfasts and many cups of coffee later, we were full and heading back home to get ready for the annual crayfish hunting expedition. The best part of the whole "crawfish jambalaya" thing. Fish nets in hand, river shoes on our feet, we set off. Unfortunately, all that rain we got on Friday brought the water level up so high, and the runoff combined with the current made it all impossible for us to hunt crayfish. We were exhausted from walking against the current and bruised form falling the rocks and we had about eight crayfish. Luke and Paula managed to snag a few more back near our campsite and we probably had about a dozen in total - until The Incident. The cause of The Incident is still not known, all I know is that I saw the bucket we used to hold the crayfish floating in the river shortly after Someone jumped into the river near it. I don't know if the crayfish all ganged up and tipped the bucket on their own, or of a wave or a foot knocked it when that person jumped into the river. All I know is that all of our crayfish escaped. After touting "Lisa's Famous Crawfish Jambalaya" - there were no crayfish. It was just jambalaya. How sad.
But more campers showed up and some visitors came for the day. I finally got to meet Melissa's James and see that Melissa was still, in fact, alive, since I hadn't seen her for so long and was seriously beginning to doubt it. I made a vat of jambalaya and it was all gone in record time - amazing! We cleaned up and then all settled in for a little guitar music by the campfire.
Our neighbor, Roland, and one of the campers, Voyle, played and sang and our friend Chris was supposed to be there, too, but had a scheduling conflict and couldn't come. Chris is an amazing musician and has a great singing voice and sings this fantastic song about firefighters called "Cold Missouri Water". Well wouldn't you know it, Voyle broke into song and I started humming along and realized - HEY THAT'S CHRIS'S SONG!! That was unbelievable. An obscure folk song about firefighters and two men who have never met, but should have met that night with guitars in hand, singing the same song. I took two little videos with my camera to capture the audio. I can only take 30 seconds at a time of video so here are two clips. It was late and pitch black and we were around the fire so there's nothing to see in the video but, if you know the song (CHRIS!) you'll recognize the tune. Here's one and here's the other.

Sunday morning we woke up to another sunny, hot day and everyone was packing to leave. Sioux, one of the campers from New York, offered to let me take her Suzuki SV out for a little test ride, how nice of her. It was fun and cute and so light and quiet compared to the Buell! Everyone packed up their gear and headed out. We cleaned up what was left and spent the rest of the afternoon soaking in the river. Another successful campout. Thanks to everyone who came out to visit!

BMW MOA Rally Recap: Vermont - It's Not Flat

We're back and we've finally dried out. It was a fun, albeit wet weekend in Burlington, VT.

(For some reason, Blogger isn't playing nice and for two days I haven't been able to upload the pictures that go with this post. I'll refer you to Flickr if you want to see the images.)

Luke managed to get out of work at three on Friday so we got on the road earlier than expected. It was H-O-T hot! on Friday and we were grouchy and sticky putting our gear on but once we got going it wasn't bad. Until Greenfield, MA, that is. The lovely folks of Greenfield were working on some highway construction that turned the two-lane road into a one-lane traffic jam for several hot miles. My clutch hand was KILLING and I could feel the sweat dripping down inside my helmet (nice, huh? you're jealous, I know).

On the Buell, there is no gas gauge, I use the odometer to tell me how much gas I have. The closer I get to 160 miles, the more I practice reaching for the reserve switch with my gloved hand. Well, my speedo sensor, which not only tells me how fast I'm going, but also works the odometer, died before we had even hit Springfield. I had no idea how fast or slow I was going, and no clue of how much gas I had. I signaled Luke when I had the chance by pointing to the speedometer and giving the thumbs-down sign. This is the fourth speedo sensor to die on this bike so he knew what I meant. Once the traffic cleared out and we were onto open highway again, I knew Luke was looking out for me and my gas supply so I just relaxed and cruised. And got bored. So bored.

I'm the type of person who needs to have my mind going in several directions at once for me not to be bored. Yes, riding a motorcycle requires concentration, but once you're on an open highway with no traffic, no billboards to read, and 10 miles between exits with no odometer to watch to help you pass the time, it gets to be a tad monotonous. I wish I could listen to my iPod but Luke SWEARS it's against the law. I have my doubts, but he insists so I go with it. Instead, I listen to the thoughts rolling around in my head.

Among them:

I wonder how fast we're going. If we're going 80, and that sign said 64 miles to White River Junction, how long will it take us to get there? 60 miles per hour is a mile a minute, and 80 miles per hour is a third more so is that 1.3 miles a minute? Ow, it hurts to do math...

(the theme song) "Middletown NI-ssan..." that's all I can remember and it repeats over and over in my head...

I wonder how many times I can run the alphabet forward and back continuously. ABCDEFG...

(that Shakira song) "I'm on tonight, you know my hips don't lie..."

ZYXWVUT, SRQP....

So 1.3 miles a minute is 4 miles every 3 minutes. That's 20 miles every 15 minutes... ow...

"A, my name is Alice, my husband's name is Art, we come from Alabama and we sell artichokes..."

"Middletown NI-ssan..."

I tried the state capitals, too but I don't know very many of them. It was kind of frightening how many directions my brain went. I was just finishing up my third round of "A my name is Alice" when we pulled into the fairgrounds. Thank goodness, too, cause there aren't that many names that begin with Q or X and I was running out.

So we pulled in around 8pm, registered, found my dad, pitched our tent, and were rewarded with this sight: Sunset

Saturday morning we rolled out of the tent and headed over to the Sausage Shack for the delicious breakfast special. The "special" part was the fact that it came with coffee, which I need to maintain the open eyelids and the talking and the walking. The Sausage Shack is located right near Al's French Frys. For the normal person, this name is no big deal. To the grammar and punctuation police, of which I am lieutenant, this sight made me twitch. At least there wasn't an apostrophe.

We wandered around through the vendors, I wanted to thank the Kermit Chair guy for sending me the awesome pink fabric for my chair but he wasn't at his booth when we walked by. I bought a new pair of (pink riding gloves. (This is what happened when I took them out in the rain later on.) We went out for pizza and then the rain started. The rain. I'm so sick of the rain. It was a light, relentless kind of rain that you couldn't call a "pouring" rain, but it was steady enough that is soaked everything through. We hid out under the grandstands and in the beer tent listening to the great bands and drinking cheap Long Trail before heading back to the tent to sleep in the rain. Luckily our tent wasn't in a low spot (like my dad's was) and luckily, of the two tents we have to pick from that we've never actually used, we picked one that was waterproof.

We tried to sleep but the sound of the rain, and the campers stumbling back from the beer tent, and the early birds packing up at 5am kept waking us up. We finally decided to give up waiting for it to stop and just go get some breakfast. We packed everything up in the rain, always a fun time, and went for food. We decided to just head out in the rain and see if maybe we could just escape the rain by heading south.

My dad had told us to take this certain route 17 in Vermont. He told us that we just HAD to take it, so we planned our trip south so as to hit route 17 on the way home. Well... let me just say, I wasn't sure my dad liked me so much after we saw what route 17 had to offer. I'm sure, on a beautiful, clear day, that route 17 would be a blast. And a beautiful ride over a mountain. But on Sunday morning as we headed over it, it was raining and the fog was like cotton. It was so thick I couldn't even see Luke in front of me and the road was nothing but sharp twists and turns and corners and hills. We had to slow it down to almost first gear on some corners, it was insane. I laughed the whole time because my dad was worried about me riding to he rally in the rain, if he only knew what he sent me into on route 17, I wonder what he'd think.

After route 17, we wandered our way down through Vermont. We stopped at Sugarbush for a little rest. The we had lunch in Woodstock, an adorable town filled with art galleries and bookstores. So cute! I even got to go to the Stephen Huneck Gallery. I first admired his style when I saw his Sally books a long time ago and I've loved his work ever since. His wood carvings are amazing and I really wish I had enough money to buy this.

We wandered the rest of the way home with another stop in Northampton, MA. I love Northampton and I really wish I had more time to walk around with less riding gear on. There's nothing worse than walking the streets of a funky, artsy town in helmet hair and swishy riding pants. Here's Luke looking cool in Northampton. We had an uneventful ride from there. Got home around 7 and went to pick up Miss Molly. She spent the weekend eating cat food and ignoring my mom's dog so she was chubby and excited to go home.

It was a short trip and it was a wet trip, but it was a fun trip. Thank you to everyone who helped make it a great weekend! Maybe we'll see you next year in Wisconsin!

A Wish for the Soon-to-Be Mrs. Jankowski

Have a wonderful wedding tomorrow. I'm so sorry that I can't be there but I'll be thinking of you and sending happy thoughts your way. I wish you the happiest, most amazingly wonderful day of your life. Congratulations and enjoy!

Where Did You Go?

When my nephew Cameron was learning to string words into sentences, one of the cutest things he said was "where did you go?" Put him in his crib for a nap and you could hear him down the hall saying "where did you go?"

Well if you were wondering were I went, I'm sorry, I've been busy delaing with the heat, and losing power in the heat, and catching up on stuff I couldn't do while the power was out, and making lists and packing for this weekend becuase tomorrow afternoon, we're leaving for another MOTORCYCLE CAMPING TRIP! I used to groan when, every year, all we ever did for our vacations was go on another motorcycle camping trip, but I'm actually looking forward to this one.

This trip is to the BMW MOA 2006 International Rally in lovely Burlington, Vermont. I love Burlington - home of beautiful Lake Champlain, Magic Hat, Phish, and many hippie-types who craft and have awesome shops on Church Street. It should be fun. Plus it's always a blast to camp with the BMW guys. We camped with this group many times in New Hampshire and it's always funny to be on the way to the showers and see someone with his laptop plugged into the electrical outlet that one usually connects to an RV, then see a woman with a hairdryer, curling iron, and electric toothbrush in the ladies' room. It might be camping but it's not roughing it.

I'll take many pictures, you can be sure of that. A full recap to come next week. Have a good weekend everyone!