VT Log Cabin

Coming back

2010-04-28T19:09:00.001-07:00

Brewing up a new post... been awhile.....

Classic!

2008-03-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

Beavers! In a tampon commercial! Hilarious!

Then one more:
"Photoshop Disasters"

A good week

2007-11-16T07:46:00.000-08:00

I'm wrapping up a great week in Amsterdam. Took some pictures but have to wait to get home to get them off the camera. In the meantime.. I "borrowed" some imagery so you can get the jist. Here are a few things that I did:

Canal tour of the city- yes it's touristy... but you can't beat the view from a canal. We wound through the city looking at the beautiful Dutch row houses and houseboats. Really sweet. Highly reco to anyone coming here for the first time.

Dam Square - the palace is huge and the square is buzzing with street performers and tons of tourists taking pictures. Bought some Delft Christmas ornaments and some fun slippers for my nieces.

Leidenplein - watched the skaters on the tiniest skating rink I have ever seen, ate some chocolate dipped waffles and ate at a restaurant that was good, but experienced possibly the worst service ever to date, including turning the light on over our table to give us the hint that dinner was over. Real Dutch hospitality.

First let me start off by saying that if you are into art/art history and like to take your time to see EVERY piece on display... GO ALONE. There's nothing better than taking your time if you want to really get down and check out the textures, brush strokes, watch exhibit videos, etc and nothing ruins it quicker than someone saying "hurry up."

Anne Frank Museum- A must-see for anyone. Made me want to go read the book all over again. Got to the see the chestnut tree that Anne wrote about in her journal before it's felled next week. Very sobering.

Rijksmuseum - Saw The Masterpieces exhibit and took the audio tour. I've always loved Dutch painting so it was pretty sweet to see Rembrandt, Steen and Vermeer up close and personal. One bummer was that one particular painting that I wanted to see "The Kitchen Maid" by Vermeer was on loan to another museum in Tokyo. Saw one piece in particular that I really liked- Winter Landscape with ice Skaters by Hendrick Avercamp.

It's so detailed- you can sit and look at all of the little different scenarios going on in the painting. These types of paintings used to be my favorite in college...

Van Gogh museum - AMAZING. The one museum contains the largest collection of his work in the world. They've curated the pieces in a way that you can track his progression as an artist. Have been pronouncing it incorrectly apparently. So awesome. Took the audio tour. Had to navigate through a bunch of school kids, but it made me happy to see them there and most of the actually looked like they were enjoying it.

Cruised around the Museumplein and checked out the dog park. Really made me homesick for my furry babies. Happy to see that the ChuckIt is alive and well in AMS.

Did alot of walking in general, rode the tram around. One thing that I didn't do is go through the main Red Light District. We went out to dinner one night and walked by one of the small Red Light Districts. I found it to be a little depressing, even though they are choosing to do it. But just sitting there on display, trying to look sexy when the women that I saw just had a dead look in their eyes. Just thought it was sad.

The Euro headquarters for Nike are interesting. Very small in comparison to WHQ in Beavertron. Also people don't really walk around much in contrast. But everyone was very friendly and it was great to meet people in person - see the whites of their eyes - instead of always just having conference calls.

All in all - a good week. Looking forward to getting back to home, the dogs, but most of all Vin.

A really long day.

2007-11-11T01:15:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Amsterdam! I'm sitting in the hotel Barbizon business center, wasting away some time before I can check in. My journey started about 21 hours ago - left a rainy (surprise) Portland and hopped on a plane to Atlanta. Spent some time in the delta lounge, partaking in a few rum and cokes and free wifi for a couple hours. Then hopped another plane to Amsterdam. Where it was raining.

First time riding up in the front for a transatlantic flight. I must say... coach is really going to suck when we come back to EU for a vacay. I had some champs while the coach peeps were loading in and spent about 10 minutes exploring every possible position I could make the seat get into. I watched all of season 1 of Entourage and Big Love. Vin-- we need HBO. Speaking of Vin... I felt like I was right at home because the dude sitting next to me was sawing some major logs. I wanted to pelt my little ear plugs at him. Eight and a half hours of snoring. Rough.

Anyhoo- got into Amsterdam, went through customs, got my bag, bought a train ticket and rode into Central Amsterdam. (As I type the church bells are ringing away and it looks like the sun is starting to peep out!) One thing. The skies in Rembrandt's paintings are for real. That was the first thing I noticed as I was walking over the canal to the hotel. The light and the clouds together was really amazing.

I can't check into until 3.30pm (thank you travel department. that was real swell.) so I'm going to see if I can check my bags in and go for a walk/get some lunch or coffee.

Feeling back up to blogging - we'll see how long it lasts!

It's coming.....

2007-10-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

I'm brewing up a new post.

In the meantime... Katie just reminded me about this ad. I've forgotten how friggin' funny it is.

BABIES EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!

No I'm not preggers.

Random post

2007-06-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

While Vin was out catching bass fish, I was back in Oregon holding down the fort. Interestingly enough- I became increasingly aware of how much crap there is to do (well. crap we make for ourselves to do) when you are the only person doing it. So while I was taking out the garbage, mowing the lawn, picking up 2 dogs' worth of poop, pulling weeds, doing laundry, cleaning the house, etc (you get the point) I was thinking about NOW vs. THEN.

Some observations

NOW: two dogs equals twice as much poo.
THEN: one dog pooping in the snow made it not seem so bad. until the snow melted.

NOW: I don't know how to grow roses.
THEN: I didn't know about goldenrod.

NOW: Why do men always assume the role of the garbage taker-outer/recycler?
THEN: I had to do it myself.

NOW: Cleaning one bathroom is more fun than cleaning two.
THEN: I only had one bathroom.

NOW: Mowing the lawn takes forever when you have three times the amount of grass to cut.
THEN: Mowing took about 30 minutes.

Here are some pics as of late...

I also am putting up some cute pictures of the furry babies.

On a side note.. I've been thinking about choices a lot lately and how do we decide to make the decisions that we make, and how you deal with the consequences, good vs bad. And how do you determine if they are good vs bad. And really, for me, it seems to come down to the level of control you feel you have over your life and situation. It's made me really mull over some decisions. Getting married to Vin? Best decision ever. Moving out of the comfort zone in Vermont and coming to Portland? Good decision. Letting the dogs eat some mayonnaise? Not a good decision. Dying my hair dark red with magenta highlights? Probably not a good decision. I won't get into anything super deep- but you get the jist. It's really about taking ownership over the choices that you make- not playing the role of the victim. Something sucks? Then make a choice to make it better or make a different decision. Something kicks ass? Then keep making similar decisions. Own the choices you make. Keep making it a point to have/keep choices. Does more freedom = more choices made? Or does making less choices= feeling more in control?

Discuss.

Sunny time in PDX

2007-06-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a rather delightful week here in PDX. There weather has been rad- sunny every day. Dogs are panting when they are outside- and that means summertime! Woo hoo!

we've officially been in PDX for 1 year+ now.

Here is some possible summertime business I'd like to get down to:
- somehow figure out how to get rid of the catshit (really. the cats) in our neighborhood.
~~- finish edging the front yard and do the back yard.~~
- somehow organize the "garage"
- identify the plants that the previous owners have planted.
- go berry picking somewhere on the coast
- go see Mt St Helens
- go snowboarding in June
- learn how to make video work on my damn website
- teach sirius how to play catch. catching the ball once and running around with the ball does not = catch.
- learn how to make gazpacho
- have brunch on the back deck once a month
- have some friends come visit me
- ride my new bike alot
- go camping alot
- learn how to surf
- learn how not to be afraid of sharks whilst learning how to surf
~~- hang out with my swingles more often~~
- take pictuers more
- blog more
- stop using the word 'fuck' with such high frequency
- get rid of some chub
- pick bellydancing lessons back up
- make dinner at home more often
- learn more than "basics" of CSS
- get some more furniture

This is a good place to start I think.

Who doesn't like kittens?

2007-05-08T17:23:00.000-07:00

Last night we had a little intervention with nature.
Our good friends Katie and Bill had some furry tenants living in their backyard.

Katie has been out of town- so I volunteered to help out.

In a nutshell- we got the kittens together, put them in a box, managed to not the scare the mother off, trapped the mother and got took them to an animal rescue group here in PDX. Check out their site- PDX Pet Adoption

Now most of you know my current feelings on cats-- it's not really the cats as much as it's the cat shit. And really- what chaps my ass the most is the totally lack of responsibility on "the owners". It's not hard to get your cat or dog spayed (next door neighbors... that comment is directed at you.)

Anyhoo- they were cute little buggers. Good deed done for the day.

A Year Ago...

2007-03-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

A year ago today I was packing up my house.

A year ago today I was beyond excited for a new direction in life.

A year ago today I was sad to leave my friends that I had met and who had become my family.

A year ago today I was scared to start over at a new job.

A year ago today I was stoked I wasn't going to ever have to use StudioManager again.

A year ago today I was pondering what a week-long trip in an RV with two dogs and a man would be like.

A year ago today I was lamenting that had I not dicked around for the year before that, I would have enjoyed the kitchen I (and lots of friends) helped me get finished up so I could sell. And someone else got to enjoy.

A year ago today I was worried that maybe I won't find a buddy to go to the mountain with. (I MISS YOU ROBIN)

A year ago today I was bummed that I wouldn't get to have grill outs with Kevin and Anne.

A year ago today seems so long ago.. and at the same time feels like it was just last month.

So now I have some reflections on what's happened in the the last year...

This year I quit a job and took a new job.

This year I moved across country.

This year I bought a house with my husband.

This year I didn't freeze my ass off.

This year I learned about "allergies"

This year I learned that there is a big difference between working at a design studio and working at an ad agency.

This year I got married to the best guy I could ever hope to be married to.

This year I ended up with a second dog.

This year I didn't have to scrape ice off my car.

This year I didn't have to let my car warm up for 15 minutes before leaving to go anywhere.

(sensing a theme here?)

This year Suki didn't have to wear MuttLuks or a furry jackets. (I'll admit.. I was a little sad. But now she has a sassy rain coat!)

This year I've met some great friends that I hope to have when I'm old. (PruVallens Rock!)

This year I've become really good friends with people I didn't really know that well.

This year I've learned how to "compromise"

This year I have declared war on all "outdoor" cats.

This year I will not let the goldenrod become 9 ft tall.

This year I will spend alot of time in my "pre-owned" hot tub.

So, you see? So far so good. More to come. I'm turning 35 next month so I have lots of deep thoughts on that.

Moving In: 2 rooms down. 4 to go.

2007-02-09T23:13:00.000-08:00

So tonight we hauled 5 carloads of stuff over to the new place. The Allens came over and helped us out with some brawny strength and their pickup. We moved the dining room stuff, a bunch of clothes, the office stuff, boxes of stuff that hasn't been open since we left vermont, and the dressers over to the new place. Fairly satisfying to have stuff at the new homestead. Tomorrow night if we get the beds moved we'll be staying at the new place for the first night.

Some pictures to share....

Random Sushi Night

2007-02-08T22:02:00.000-08:00

We went to sushi tonight for dinner. I was looking forward to some nice albacore and some spicy tuna. Sushi was good. Fellow dinners were not so good. There was a table next to us- one elderly (but snappy!) elder woman, a young-ish guy with really bad sideburns and his hippy girlfriend, who was knitting throughout the whole meal. The older woman was pretty chatty- I mean REAL chatty. And she had this old smoker's voice- so it was like this low buzz throughout the ENTIRE MEAL. I think she might have been a little hard of hearing because I heard her entire life story. She had a horse growing up named Honeybabe. She was a ballerina when she was little. Her mom liked to play the piano. She had a son with a guy - they were never married- and her son met his dad when he was a grown man. Yes... we heard it all.

Then this weird drunk guy with a mullet came in solo and sat down on the other side of us. He ordered up a big ole plate of sushi and while he was waiting, some of his friends came in. They were quite animated and then they left. Then his phone rang- on like volume level 10. Then he proceeded to talk loud enough that the kitchen dudes came out to see what was going on. Needless to say- we finished up and left our loud co-eaters behind. The old lady was still yapping away when we walked out the door and the Dirtbag was still talking to himself while he ate his maguro.

Weird.

Anyhoo--
we've been real busy trying to get moved into our new house and I've really sucked at calling people and keeping in touch lately. So I'll be steppin' it up soon! In the meantime... some photos.....

A nice sunny day in PDX

2006-12-07T13:49:00.000-08:00

Yeah I talk about the weather alot. But come on! It's snowing in BTV right now and I can't lie and say I'm stoked to be somewhere where it's still in the 40ºs!!!!

I'm starting to think about my New Year's resos. I have decided that I need to work on my vocabulary- building it up. Since I stopped talking to clients on a daily basis- or even participating in that many meetings face to face, I've decided that my communicado skills have slipped or are slipping. So that's one of my NYRs. I need a word of the day calendar. hint hint.

The house deal is coming along. We got a great house inspection but a bad sewer inspection. So back to countering the offer. But I think this is the final deal and now it's on to the mortgage! I'm really excited about settling into a place that we both like, in a city that we both like. I was thinking on my drive into work this morning that this is really the first time I've ever lived somewhere that I have WANTED to live- not just because of my job. Vermont is great and all- but I was only ever there to work for JDK. I do miss Lake Champlain and I REALLY miss my friends- but don't miss BTV.

Vin hopefully has a pair of new snowboarding boots on their way to us and what does that mean people? Yes! Vince LaVecchia is getting his ass back on a snowboard! YAYYYYYY! I still haven't been up to Mt Hood yet- hoping to do that during the week off. I didn't go once last season- too cold. SO I'm sure Lift Phobia will be in full effect- but it will be so great to get back on the mountain!

Our Christmas tree is up- so far Sirius has left the ornaments alone. Well. He hasn't eaten any, let's put it that way. (we had a moment of glittery poop last year- he loved to eat ornaments. I know. Dangerous.) But it looks beautiful- still a giant tree, but it smells wonderful every time I come home!

ok- back to work. Lunch break over.

Sunny Day(s?) are Here Again!

2006-11-25T17:30:00.000-08:00

I've been slacking off big time in the blog department.

We've had yes some more big life happenings here in PDX. We put an offer in on a house and they've accepted it, so we've started the rounds of inspections, tracking down old bank crap, etc. They house is DOPE. Yes... DOPE. I've called it the "Party House"since I first laid eyes on it. Why, you ask?

Let's start with the hot tub on the back deck. SWEEET! Anyone that knows me well can appreciate my love for water, pools, lakes, ocens, rivers and especially HOT TUBS. My parents started Melissa and me early on swimming lessons. We were in Texas at the time- I was 3 and she was 5. We caught on quick, moving onto years of Satuday's spent at Los Rios Country Club at swim meets. I digress.

My house in Winooski was awesome. Good first house for a first time house owner to have. Had a few big issues right in the beginning. Luckily I had a plumber living across the street but it was a good house to cut your teeth on. This house doesn't have shag blue carpeting or wallpaper that was stuck to the wall with rubber cement or a kitchen floor that came from 1968. This baby is good to go, move-in-ready... Withstanding a few wall color changes- there isn't anything we have to do other than move in and then figure out how to furnish the joint. I still have the futon furniture my parents got me upon graduation from college. Lots of good naps have been taken on this futon couch, but it's time to graduate to down filled cushions and kiln-dried wood. Don't be suprised when you come over though if you have to sit on a beach chair for awhile.

Anyhoo- back to the Party House. It's got a pocket door, 2 french doors, built ins upstairs, clawfoot tub ( i love! vin hates!). It's also got a nice little nook in the basement that we're turning into a studio for me (stoke!) and to top it off- a dog door! I'm not sure how to go about getting the dogs to USE the dog door- but I'm betting Suki will figure it out first. The back yard is big- slightly intimidating for a semi-beginner green thumb. Nothing a few books from Powell's won't fix.

What's the best part about it is that we can finally "settle in". Not have to worry if the dogs scratch the floor or can hang things on the walls where we WANT them as opposed to where the holes in the wall already are. That sort of thing.

Vin and I have decided/pledged that there will be no more big life events for at least another year or two. We've had some biggies in the last year- proposal, quitting jobs, starting new ones, selling a house, buying a house, moving far away, spening a week in an RV that smelled like hot dogs with 2 spazzy dogs and THEN getting married (followed by a fantastic trip to Fiji!) So we figure that's enough for now.

On a different note- we had an awesome Thanksgiving. Celebrated over at the Lewis' house- we brought the turkey. And I must say it's the best turkey EVER MADE. I've only made one before it- a la Martha Stewart style, complete with cheesecloth and basting on the half hour. This time I decided to brine. The night before it wallered in a giant zip lock bag filled with salty, maple-syrup, infused water. Then the next day we popped it in to the oven. It was the juiciest turkey I've ever had in my life!!! Some comments from people that shall remain nameless "This is the best Thanksgiving of my life". It was great!

The Beginning of the Rainy Days

2006-10-15T20:59:00.000-07:00

I think Fall is officially kicking in. It was a cold rainy Sunday here in PDX. Slept in too late with a black dog sandwiched between Vin and I, while the one was snoring away in her dog bed. I love mornings like that. It was so cozy and warm under the covers and we've not really turned the heat on yet so it was nice and comfortable. Got up, fed dogs and went and grabbed some brekkie at this place up in St Johns. The waitress forgot to place our order, but I didn't care because I drank about 5 cups of coffee while Vin and I pondered life. I ordered the blackberry walnut pancake and Vin got an omelettte; The pancake was about the size of a frisbee- who in the hell can eat a whole pancake that size?? We couldn't. The leftovers are sitting in the fridge as we speak. It was good enough to bring home- and for those of you that know me well- i HATE leftovers. So scootch on up to the John Street Café next time you have a hankering for a good breakfast. We did the usual lazy drive back- meaning perusing the streets and checking out houses that are for sale and then finally made it back to Boston Ave. Vin took off for work and I took the dogs out to Delta Park. Good dog park day. Only 2 other people showed up and they weren't dog dorks so Sirius was happy as a clam and Suki caught balls until my arm got sore from throwing the ChuckIt. I decided on the way home that since the weather was crappy , I could officially waste an afternoon away at the bookstore. I've been holding out spending too much time at Powells. Powell's Books is the largest independent used and new bookstore in the world. (thank you google) and it's the size of a city block. It has en endless maze of rooms that are all color coded, and then book sujects are all coded under one of those colors.

When I was growing up, I was very lucky to be in a family that like and encouraged reading. I'm not talking reading books that you HAVE to read in school. I'm talking about down and out reading. I always got books for Christmas or birthdays and have always loved to read- still do. I went through four books while I was in Fiji- 2 non fiction and 2 fiction. Always have to balance out the fluff with susbstantial, make-you-think-about-shit books.

Here are some of my favorites:

"Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed " by Jared Diamond
I haven't finished reading this yet but it's great. If you are interested in anthropology and why there are people living in grass huts in the 21st century, you'll like it too.

"An Anthropologist on Mars" by Oliver Sacks
This is probably one of my favorite books I've ever read. Good enough that I'll include part of a review on it because I won't explain it good enough:

"Neurological patients, Oliver Sacks has written, are travellers to unimaginable lands. An Anthropologist on Mars offers portraits of seven such travellers-- including a surgeon consumed by the compulsive tics of Tourette's Syndrome except when he is operating; an artist who loses all sense of color in a car accident, but finds a new sensibility and creative power in black and white; and an autistic professor who has great difficulty deciphering the simplest social exchange between humans, but has built a career out of her intuitive understanding of animal behavior.

These are paradoxical tales, for neurological disease can conduct one to other modes of being that--however abnormal they may be to our way of thinking--may develop virtues and beauties of their own. The exploration of these individual lives is not one that can be made in a consulting room or office, and Dr. Sacks has taken off his white coat and deserted the hospital, by and large, to join his subjects in their own environments. He feels, he says, in part like a neuroanthropologist, but most of all like a physician, called here and there to make house calls, house calls at the far borders of experience.

Along the way, he gives us a new perspective on the way our brains construct our individual worlds."

My favorite parts- the surgeon with Tourettes and the artist who becomes color blind after an accident and the blind guy who regains his sight after surgery.

Buy it. Read it.

Some favorite dog books:

"Marley and Me" by John Grogan
I read this twice while in Fiji. I laughed all the way up to the last chapter. Then I cried. If you love dogs you will love this book.

"Cesar's Way" by Cesar Millan
It works. Well. It works on one of our dogs. The other one.. well. We're working on in it still.

Today I've picked up a few more- landscaping and gardening books in the Pacific Northwest and the Journals of Lewis & Clark. I was feeling very pacific northwest-ey apparently. Book report to follow.

Dog Park Observations

2006-10-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

So I've been to the same dog park both days this weekend and I've made some interesting observations about dogs, but most importantly... the dog owners.

If you've ever been to a dog park, then you know what I'm talking about. I started taking Suki to the Starr Farm Dog Park when she was about 12 weeks old. (This gives me a good rason to post up on of Suki's baby pics... this was before her ears started sticking up fruit bat style)

Anyhoo- I started taking her there when she was little for the sole purpose of making sure I wasn't one of "those" dog owners whose dog was socially inept with its own kind. We had a good start- a few run ins with bigger dogs who were slightly bullyish.. but I sucked it up and looked the other way. After all, I wasn't keen on the idea of having a wussy dog either. We spent alot of time at Starr Farm and met alot of interesting people. As a newbie dog owner (and no it doesn't count when your family had a dog. Let's face it people- more than likely your mother is the one who raised the family dog. You just played with it.) I became familiar with carrying little plastic bags for poop retrieval and treats, for "training". I use quotes for a reason.. more discussion on that to follow.

The park was great for both of us- gave me a chance to get free dog advice and training and let Suki run and play until she was pooped. This is where I learned valuable bits of advice such as using a squirt bottle to stop unwanted beahvior (ours is lovingly termed "The Enforcer" and taught Suki how to play catch, which to this day is STILL her favorite thing to do. But I digress.

The best part of going to the dog park is people watching. Today we went to our local favorite park. It's located close to some busy roads and can be a little noisy, but we like it mostly because it's got more low maintenance dog owners. We have tried going to Chimney Rock Park several times since we've been here, but it tends to have too many freaky dog owners. Here are some "grave generalizations" (Vin's favorite term lately)

1. Men typically are the ones who get the most upset when their dogs get humped by other dogs. Of course when their dog is the one doing the humping, they are oblivlous. But once someone else's dog gets going on their dog-- hold the phone. The best is when it's a male dog humping another male dog.

2. People who bring their 3 year old to a dog park which is filled with dogs you don't know really shouldn't complain when their kid, who isn't supposed to be there in the first place, gets knocked over or just scared because they get barked at.

3. Also on the 'kids at the dog park' topic. Watch your kid while you are there- it's pretty gross to let your little kid run around barefoot- or better yet- roll around - on the ground at a park where it's a concentrated dumping ground. Pun intended.

4. Little old ladies who can't manage to stand or run after their dog probably shouldn't own an 80 lb dog.

5. There are a lot of weird old ladies with little dogs in Portland.

6. Why bring your dog to the dog park when you are going to keep it on a leash?

This is just a starter list. I'll be adding on to it as time progresses... In the meantime, I'm in a bubs sandwhich and my battery is about to die. More on this topic later.

TGIF

2006-09-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

Yay Fridays!

I can't complain much because I've been home sick most of the week.. but I'm still glad it's Friday. Getting back up to speed with work and life here in PDX. We picked up the dogs and it was so great to have them back with us. I really miss the little buggers! They seemed to really do well at the Double Dog Ranch. Sirius is all about sleeping in his crate now at nights and has behaving better at the dog park. Suki is still Suki. : )

We've been slowly making our way through wedding pictures- I still can't believe how fast it goes by. Everyone says it will and they aren't kiddin'! But it was a wonderful day and amazing to have the most important people in your life in one place and in one space. Truly a wonderful weekend.....

We had a great time in Fiji. We spent three days at the Outrigger Lagoon resort on the coral coast and then a week on Castaway Island. I highly recommend a week on Castaway Island to anyone interseted in going to Fiji. We went snorkeling everyday, went the Outer Reef to go snorkeling, went on an island hopping trip on the "Fastest Boat in Fiji" and then just drank alot of fruity rum drinks. The colors of the water is what stands out most in my mind. Vin and I each took out a little catamaran and went sailing and the whole time I just started at the water as my little boat cruised along. The color is almost indescribable. We were in great spirits until we went to leave. The flight was cancelled and we spent 5.5 hours in the Nadi Int'l Airport just watching the massive chaos unfold as the night progressed. We ended up getting put up at the Sofitel which is a schwanky spa hotel and had a nice extra free day in Fiji. We finally made it onto the plane and spent 10 hours in the shittiest possible seats with people that didn't find it neccessary to cover their mouths whilst coughing. The plane sounded like a floating TB ward.

Anyhoo--- we're making memories... right?

Signing off.... more this weekend....

Wedding Pictures!

2006-09-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have been sending us links of their photos so I thought I would share. If I'm leaving any off let me know and I will add them in. Thanks for sharing everyone! (all images shown here by Shem Roose!)

Shem Roose's pics (to see his other amazing shots go here www.shemroose.com)

Jess Hill's pics

Melissa Hartwig's pics

Denis Kegler's pics

Fiji Pics

The countdown has begun!

2006-07-29T17:39:00.000-07:00

So today we've tried to get some wedding stuff done.
We've been slacking a bit and work has been crazy for me for the last two weeks. Almost like being back at JDK!

Today our goal was to get all of the seating arrangements done- we aren't picking actual setas, but just tables. Easy and not easy. We have a few "science experiements" and we're hoping that things go well on that end. It's good for people to mingle!! Right?

So i tried just making lists of people but it quickly became extremely messy once I started moving people around. I came up with the brilliant idea of using stickies. If you have ever worked with me.. you might notice that I have a certain fondness for Post-It® notes. I love them. I write notes on them. nubmers. I've even been known to do site maps and do layouts on them. They are quite handy and I like because there is a lack of "permanence" to them.. meaning I can move them around here and there without scratching out or erasing or wiping off. I love them, in short.

Anyhoo. So we go to Walgreens to pick up sticky notes- we leave 20 minutes later with sticky notes and a bunch of extra crap and head home. This was after a late morning trip to the dog park and judging from the behavior displayed this afternoon.. we didn't wear out Sirius nearly enough. I digress. We get the list out and i put each name on a sticky note. 186 sticky notes later- i started putting them up in groups of 8. It was great- I should put together a kit and sell it on theknot.com. seriously.

This is what it looked like:

I made sure to purchase the EXTRA sticky sticky notes which came in handy as we moved people from table to table. I'm hoping people will be stoked to sit with who we've put together.

So now we're just waiting to run though everything with our folks to make sure we got their friends/family right and then I can formally check it off the list and get started on the name tags that go on the favors.

One little gross picture to add in.. so I woke up friday morning to an itchy puffy ring finger. I went in to the bathrooom to get some water because my fingers were so puffy that I couldn't gt my ring off. I finally slide it off and there is a nice ring of red crusty itchyness in the place of the band. I thought I would attach a photo of it... might be a good time to upgrade to Platinum!

With that I sign off for the evening.. Have to go down and rouse Vin off the couch to get some dinner. Have a happy!

Wow. Its thursday and I haven't gotten shit done.

2006-07-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

This week has been crazy.

Remember all of those posts about "I'm bored." "I'm bored at work" "I don't have anything to do at work"..

yeah. Thing of the past.

This week alone I've managed two get 3 huge ass presentations pulled together (i love my new team. they are great!) (but that doesn't mean i don't miss my old jdk team... i love you guys...) push a new campiagn live, help push a bunch of people that don't know jack about online to create a better campaign, pulled together a big presenatation that was requested last minute and keep working on 3 internal projects. Whoa Nelly!

I'm sitting here at work... lamenting that i have a client meeting and i ran to the office without brushing my bottom teeth as I got a "it's not working" phone call at 7.05am whilst i was in the middle of sonicaring away. My hair is fro'd out. And i just grabbed whatever clothes i could and ran out the door to come here and try to help our team who is in MN. So once I'm done with them- and who knows if it works- Actually let's pause on that thought for a moment. Anyone who gives a presentation on a computer should have to go to some computer school to learn how to troubleshoot shit themselves- i've slapped some coverup on undeer my eyes to cover up the circles which are getting darker exponentially eery day- and decide that for 15 minutes.. i'm not going to do any work. i'm going to look at gossip sites.

here are some of my personal favorites:

www.thesuperficial.com
www.goldenfiddle.com
www.jossip.com
www.gawker.com
www.perezhilton.com

just to name a few.

Then I spend some time looking at designer-ey sites...

Looks like it's going to be an interesting day.... gotta go.. i'm gettin' sharked by account managers...

Have a happy!

Dogs Rule

2006-07-25T23:18:00.000-07:00

Anyone that knows me KNOWS i love my dogs.
Often referred to as "the babies", "retards" (i know. not PC.)"pain in the ass" or "bubs" or my favorite "The Bubaloos".

I love my dogs. Every day I am reminded of life's perspective. I get caught up in the daily grind and bullshit of work, wedding planning, the jack off driver in front of me. And then I come home to my little bubaloos. All they do is eat, shit, sleep and play. And be obnoxious. But I love them with all my heart. I talk to them, laugh at them, play with them. Hell I even sing to them and make up songs about them.

I've had Suki since she was a teeny little barky puppy. Was so little they weighed her in what looked like a fruit basket scale when I took her to to the vet the first time. She was so little and spunky. Still spunky not as little. She has huge ears and long gangly legs. Like Bambi... So cute I could just eat her up!!!

Sirius defnitely rides the short bus.. but is so sweet. I swear every day is Groundhog's day though. We did foster care for him and once we had him for awhile.. well. I couldn't imagine giving him away. I joke about it.. but really.. I'm attached to the little wing nut. He barks at nothing and goes ape shit over the cats on the other side of the fence.

anyhoo.. the reason why I posted this is because I came home from dinner with Heather and Shannon.. and when I opened the door, they were so excited to see me! Really.. every time I come home they act like they haven't seen me and I am greeted with wags and kisses..

So everyone give their Bubs hugs and kisses and remind yourself why you have that little obnoxious, retarded bundle of fur. They don't care about the small stuff- they just want a master that loves them and tells them where they are in the pack.

Easy.....

Friggin' Hot

2006-07-21T23:41:00.000-07:00

It is too hot to blog.
Will write more tomorrow and upload some pics from our friend Ran Coulter's birthday party.
Where we sat outside.
In the heat.
And ate BBQ.

90º friggin degrees at 11.37pm.

Memories

2006-07-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

I've been out in Greenbush, Michigan since Friday. For those of you that aren't familiar with our Great Lakes, it's pretty close to going to the ocean. Except it's not salt water and freezing cold. My folks have a place right on the beach. Every morning I look out the window when I get up and see the lake. When I have my breakfast, I'm sitting in front of a huge picture window and look at the lake. It's great. I've come here almost every summer of my life, give or take a few years here and there. I've spent the last few days jet skiing, tubing, swimming, lounging in the sun... you get the picture. Rough life. I actually decided to partake in some real "excercise" and went for a bike ride across the road along Cedar Lake today with my mom and my Aunt Judy. One thing that's been most interesting is that for some reason this trip really made me think of coming here when I was little. Maybe it's because my cousin's second kid is about to turn 1 and I'm getting married.. who knows. All I know is that I have some great memories up here and one thing I realized today while I was battling the flies that seem only to come out when there is a west wind is that there are some things that literally have not changed as long as I can remember, and then there are some things that have completely. The same volleyball net hangs in the same place. I remember playing volleyball with all of the cousins and aunts and uncles. The same lady lives next door- Sandy. She just celebrated her 70th birthday over the weekend. Some of the same toys that I played with were being played with this weekend by my cousin Kelly's son Rory. So it's comforting but also made me realize that things change everyday. Sometimes I don't really notice change because I'm busy paying attention to the things that are the same. Maybe it's because I've had so much change in my life in the past 9 months that hanging on to those things that aren't different have kept me from losing my shit. Who knows. Just made me think about stuff.

Anyhoo--

We had a private fireworks show. The neighbors "kids" showed up with probably $500 worth of fireworks hauled in from Ohio. It was great. Hour long of profressional fireworks just down at the watersedge, while we sat in chairs on the porch and watched. We used to do bottle rockets out of Coke bottles in almost the very same spot back in the day. This evening we had a family BBQ. Aunts, uncles, cousins all gathered around one single table for a great meal. We were going to go in the boat south to Oscoda to watch the fireworks from the water, but the wind picked up and the temperature dropped and you can't trust a west wind. So, my mom and I watched movies, talked to my sister on the phone.

I would post up pictures but I will admit I haven't taken any. Will get on that tomorrow. Hope everyone had a fantastic fourth of July!

Salty.

2006-06-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have that feeling of "what have i done?"

I've experienced that today after some interesting "discussions" with some people. I won't go into gory details.. but let's just say... it's been an interesting morning.

Anyhoo.. I just looked down at my sleepy little bubs, snoozing on her cushion. She looked up at me gave me a wag and went right back to sleeping. Suddenly I feel a whole lot better.

F work.

It's finally cooled off. Too hot to blog even. Vin and I cruised Portland last night just so we could have some air conditioning. 90ºF at 10pm. Awesome.

I am leaving to see my family on Thursday night. Haven't seen them since Christmas and I am really looking forward to it!

More laters... have to go to a meeting....

Another sunny day....

2006-06-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

My back deck is calling my name and I just might have to listen up. It's a beautiful day here in PDX and for all of you that think the weather sucks in the North West all the time... well you take a look at this.

It's totally nice out and that means crickets and tumbleweeds at work. Apparently there are "summer hours" on Friday. I'm looking out at the Fremont Bridge and traffic pretty much isn't moving. Guess everyone is thinking the same thing as me!

Had a BBQ last night and I'm sad to say I didn't take any pictures. The margaritas were flowin' a little easy last night... Denis, Heather, Justin and Shannon came over and then later on Sarah and Ethan stopped by our place. Their flight got in early so they stopped by, had some dinner and then left with the Butler-Kegler party. Good times. A lot of recyclables. The Lewis' can throw down!

I'm trying to grow my hair out right now. I also haven't colored it since last fall. I think the blonde is creepin back in- but it will never be the same after I dyd it dark red a few years ago. Sad.

So I'm getting ready to work on a big internal project. The kind that will make or break you. Lots of exposure to the higher ups. Lets hope it goes smoothly. it's funny how places that like to be "progressive" are the slowest ones to adapt to change.

Sukes is chillin'out. rough life. We made a little stop at Urban Fauna on today's potty walk and picked up some treats, chewies and a new ball to play with. Perfect for office catch. Won't break anything or make too much noise.

Went to PF Changs for lunch. Met up with my old boss and his family. It was great to see them. Rachel was 3 years old when I started at JDK. She's going into the 6th grade this fall. Made me feel old. : )

I'm going to get back to work now. Have some stuff to finish up and then I think we're out of here!

Nice view from my desk

2006-06-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

The crap weather finally broke and it's been sweet all week. Suki was at work with me yesterday- regaining her title yet again as the cutest office dog- and likes to pass the afternoon watching the workers and people go by. They are putting up a 15 story building right outside my window which means I will no longer be able to see the Fremont Bridge. However, I will still be able to see Mt St Helens and if I want to see MT Hood, I can just go up to the roof. I know. Rough.

As I'm not much of a writer, blogging has proved to be a little harder than I thought. I am trying to resolve to be better at it, writing more often.. it just keeps getting pushed to the bottom of the list with everything else going on.

So. Let's see. What's been going on.

Vin got back from a week back in Vermont. He fished in the LCI tourney and got to spend Father's Day with his dad. While he was out, I got dog duty and spent alot of time with them. We went on walks, took a walk with Heather and Mia in Forest Park, in the mud. We went to the dog park, etc etc. I'm still convinced that Sirius was dropped on his head when he was a puppy.

The World Cup is still going on- everyone at the office is pretty much just watching games out in the atrium. Not very productive. I love that is still falls within your job- hey- we do Nike soccer. Gotta keep up with what's happening in the sport, right? Those big white things are huge screens that the game is being watched on. I am still pretty slow here at work but that will be changing soon.

Wedding planning has been really good and sometimes bad. But it's getting done and I'm really excited about it. Our friend Jess is making the wedding cake and I can't wait to see what she does! She's an amazing chef...

Thinking about going to the coast this weekend. Check the dogs into boarding and get out of dodge for a night. There is a classical music festival in Astoria that I want to check out possibly. But then I wouldn't mind going to Cannon Beach too!

I just polished off a sizeable portion of Ranier cherries. I'm hooked on them. Especially since I tend to spill things on myself. No danger of dark red cherry juice and they are really tasty.

Well. That's about it for now.. Heather and I are meeting up at Whole Foods to pick up stuff for the grillout we're having tonight. Salmon kabobs and corn on the cob. Yum!

Shit is finally kickin' in

2006-05-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to announce that I FINALLY HAVE SOME SHIT TO DO AT WORK.

I'd also like to say "be careful what you wish for"

Remember Goonies?

2006-05-14T19:25:00.000-07:00

We went to Cannon Beach today. My first time to the Pacific Ocean! I let Suki off her leash and she was in hog heaven- running like the dickens up and down, splashing in the water, running and playing with other dogs, playing catch. It was fun to watch her. Sirius - of course- stayed on his lead. For a lab mix- whatever is mixed with the lab doesn't like water. It interesting to watch him, he tippy toes around and then books it when the tide would come in. But towards the end he was just walking around in it. Nervous Nelly. I am convinced he was permanent brain damage from his previous owner and we now know why they got rid of him. Oh well....

We saw Haystack Rock - for those of you who might remember, in the closing scene in the movie "Goonies" it's the rock that the pirate ship peeps out of at the end. I have some photos to upload but i need to go get the camera. It's 7.30 and it's still totally light out. I love that I can come home from work and still have several hours to DO something. The weather has been unreal- warm and sunny and clear- no rain. I'm convinced it's the best time to move here!

More updates after dinner. Suki has been staring at me while I type and hasn't blinked. It's a little unnerving.
Back later.

Been a long time...

2006-04-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

We've been seriuosly slacking on the blog.
Mainly because I have 1) forgotten and 2) still can't find my computer. Still have boxes to go through and Vin can finally take his office boxes in today. Which I am VERY excited about because they are sitting in the dining room against the wall.

We went to a little hole in the wall Thai place called the Thai Peacock last night for dinner after I went to happy hour with Heather and one of my old JDK bosses. Had a few too many Bellinis.. me likey the champagne! Vin met up with us and then he and I went to dinner. Let me tell you people.. at a real Thai restaurant, medium is not really medium. I think I drank an entire carafe of water and Vin busted out in a light sweat. But it was great! I had the 'Evil Jungle Noodles' and Vin had Pinneapple Red Curry.

Tonight we are doing a big push on the house. At least on the downstairs. I can't deal with the boxes anymore and need to just suck it up and do it. And we've decided to have a BBQ tomorrow night so that will help to "motivate" me so I won't be totally embarrassed when people come over.

So far we are really loving it here in Portland...

Moved In?

2006-03-26T20:47:00.000-08:00

The truck showed up today, a litte late, but safe. The boat came out first, and it was unscathed, fortunately. We moved it into the backyard with the help of a local flatbed service, and then he went back for the car. Unloading the car and having out Vermont plates land in Oregon made it feel a little more like home. Mobility. Then the real onloading began.

Dennis and John worked through all of the boxes, and Meghan and I started in the kitchen. The dogs split their time between the backyard and the front porch, always staying out of the way, for the most part. The beds, couch, table, chairs, lamps, and dozens of boxes were all loaded in, up and down.

Meghan and I worked through the kitchen stuff, got everything unpacked, cleaned, placed. The people who packed the boxes used HUGE sheets of paper to wrap things in. We could not believe the paper that was used to wrap the most delicate items in our house:
- Bug spray
- Many pieces of tupperware
- pencils
- spices
You get the idea.

So eventually the movers finished their work, and we said goodbye. At that point, we really felt like we had moved here. We watched the moving truck round the corner and drive over the curb down the street. Luckily, our neighbors weren't too bummed out about the gigantic truck taking up most of the street. In fact, they're all pretty nice so far, even with our obnoxious dogs.

So we're sore already, and Meghan just went upstairs for the first time today. It's 9 pm here and we're going to start unpacking upstairs. We'll probably still be putting stuff where it needs to be through this week. So feel free to post some uplifting, motivating comments.

FINALLY! New photos!

2006-03-25T08:22:00.000-08:00

Well.. you will all be happy to know that I finally got the photos uploaded onto the site this morning. Same link... just hit refresh and if you don't see new ones, then empty your cache.

VIEW UPDATED ROADTRIP PHOTOS HERE!!!

I added in about 125 new ones... they go all the way up to seeing the house.... One thing that I forgot to mention in the blog was the fact that I had bruises all over the place during that trip. Ran in to doors, tables, bonked my head on the captain's pit, you name it. Even to the point that I was bending over at one point to feed the dogs and Sirius jumped up and we totally coconutted. So I had a pseudo black eye. You can see how yellow it is on the last page. Trés attractive. For the most part the bruise on my eye is pretty much gone. But I can now imagine how much it hurts to get socked in the eye. Ouch.

It's our first weekend here. We've got Justin's Audi TT and are all going to somehow manage to jam in there and go get some coffee and head over to a new dog park that is supposed to be great. After that.. hopefully the dogs will be wiped out hence becoming less obnoxious... we're going to go check out Fisherman's World (for Vin) and then we will head southwest to Beaverton to check out the Nike Employee Store.

We're going to be finally meeting our landlords today to at some point... A few random things we've found about the house- like the back deck (which will be AWESOME for parties and grillouts with our new grill we will be picking out soon (that we got as a wedding present from someone who shall rename nameles at their request) I also want to check out the Crate & Barrel store too to see if they have any rugs on sale as we definitely need some to quiet this place down a little. Lots more floor in this house. I also actually want tosee in person the stuff we registered for on the wedding registry.

We went to dinner last night at Henry's Tavern. It's two blocks away from WK and was pretty packed. Had a great dinner and then came home and crashed. I think after this weekend will be back to our normal selves. Hopefully.

Anywho... enjoy the photos... comments of course are always wanted.... we hope everyone is doing safe and sound. And when are you coming to visit?

First day at WK

2006-03-24T17:43:00.000-08:00

So today was my first day at Wieden
I also just found out we have internet access at home- yipeeee

I am taking home my fresh new powerbook and will be uploading my pictures this weekend! yipee!

First day was good. It's big here. Easy to get lost. Am going to the Nike Employee store this weekend so I can load up on Nike shoes. No more Merrells.

Will be starting a new blog probably over the weekend if I can get to it. seeing as I'm not in VT anymore, we should have a PDX relevant blog.

Have a good weekend!

Slabs of raw fish

2006-03-22T19:04:00.000-08:00

My first memory of Portland will be of the best sushi I've ever eaten. It was the best because it was big, cheap and fast. But it was kinda like the "sushi nazi" out of a Seinfeld episode. Amazing. Makes Burlington sushi look like tasty morsels.

We're here, we've driven all over town, we dumped the RV, we're sleeping on air matresses and we feel good. The dogs on the other hand, are freaking out a little. Many new smells and too many new noises to mention.

The dogs introduced themselves to our neighbors early this morning by barking, fighting, running, jumping and generally being obnoxious. The lady next door came out in her robe and cap to let her little dog out and feed the cats and was greeted by a faceful of Sirius and Suki yapping and jumping against her fence. Our neighbors live very close by.

The neighboorhood is full of dogs. Once we made friends with the lady next door (she printed directions to every dog park in town for us, a hint?) she pointed out about a dozen houses withing barking range that were home to 1-3 dogs of various sizes and breeds. Thank god for tall fences.

Other than that, believe it or not I have a decent feel for where we are and how to get places already. This town is set up well. That's not to say I was not intimidated by it's size when we first drove in. It's main saving grace is that there are woods, mountains, rivers and lakes with fish and stuff within 15-30 minutes in any direction. It's wierd how close everything actually is, and yet there's so much different stuff. The city is packed into a tight place, but the neighboorhoods have grass and trees, and you can be in the hills in minutes. Interesting.

Finally got through my email today and now work is rearing it's imposing head over my conciousness. The trip is over. It's Spring here though, which is good. It rained most of the day today, but I barely noticed.

7303 N Boston Ave & Maguro

2006-03-22T00:20:00.000-08:00

So it's really late.
I'm upstairs with the two dogs sleeping slumber party style. Vin is out in the RV. He didnt' want to sleep on the floor.
I accidentally discovered that we have a super weak signal from someone in the neighborhood, but it's strong enough to post a blog!

We got into town and checked out the house. It's REALLY cute. Very reminiscent of living in Winooski. The house is probably about the same age, plaster walls, clawfoot tub, little tiny tiles, and bigger than my house in "the 'nook". The dogs have been sniffing all over the place and have christened the backyard. There are a bunch of dogs in the neighborhood so of course they all had to introdcue themselves to each other via barking.

The three of us decided that sushi was in order and we drove down into south portland to the misty sushi restaurant that has no sign in front of it but normally has a line around the corner. Since it was already 9:15 we didn't have to wait. We ordered a boat load of sushi- and really.. it was the best sushi I have ever had. YUM! (dad- when you guys come to visit we MUST go there. Mom can have teriyaki chicken)

Going to drop off the RV tomorrow and then run errands. I will be posting up new pics tomorrow when we go over to Justin's house for a bit. I'm going to tuck myself into my makeshift sleeping bag next to the floor vent and call it a night.

Goodnight from Portland!

20 miles out of PDX

2006-03-21T18:38:00.000-08:00

So we are 20 miles out of PDX. We can see the lights of the city reflecting off the Columbia as we drive along 84.

Can't believe we are HERE.

Slight change in plans

2006-03-21T16:50:00.000-08:00

I have cabin fever and am ready to get out of the RV. Hence we've decided that since we are two hours (which now sounds like nothin') east of Portland that we are putting the pedal to the metal and are going to our new home. We called our landlords and they are going to be meeting us tonight. Going to pick up some air mattresses at a Target or something and spend tonight in a space bigger than a breadbox. A little sad to see the road trip end.. but not THAT sad. Currently we are driving along the Columbia River heading west on 84. Washington state is on my right. I can't believe Vin has driven the whole way! I've been the navigator, blogger updater, etc. We are going to clean out Large Marge (my name for the rv) tomorrow and turn it in Thursday morning. Hoping a neighbor has wireless in the neighborhood that we can sponge off of. If so I will put my new pics up. There are a bunch of them!

The Oregon Interpretive Center was really cool. Life size dioramas (Very realistic... right down to the poo stuck in the oxen's tails!) But we watched a (way too long) video on the Donner Party and then went out and saw a part of the real Oregon Trail.

Anyhoo.... this has been really fun. We're glad so many people have enjoyed our travel log. Will post again when we arrive in PDX.

Officially in Oregon

2006-03-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

We're in Baker City. Stopping for some early lunch before we hit the museum. Iwill try to upload pics if we have wireless tonight. We're staying in The Dalles tonight- don't know where yet. Rolling into Portland tomorrow ahead of our stuff. We got a call from John our driver and he's stuck in Illinois waiting on a part and for weather to clear up. More news later. Vin is antsy.

Rainbows & Elk

2006-03-20T17:18:00.000-08:00

Just saw an amazing rainbow after driving through some showers. Close to Boise and we've seen a lot of elk- one guy even had an elk ranch right off of 84. Lots of wind turbines. We keep criss crossing the Snake River and went through Snake River Canyon. Still feelin' mighty relaxed from our marination in the hot springs.

One thing that we've noticed is that people in the midwest sure like their fireworks. Lots of fireworks shops. Do they really sell that many I wonder?

I'm really looking forward to going to the Oregon Trail Museum (outside of Baker City) tomorrow. Apparently you can still see wagon wheel ruts still. Reminds me of Pompeii in a way.

Anywho... service is getting low. Later taters....

If you're ever in Idaho

2006-03-20T14:05:00.000-08:00

Wow! We are leaving Lava Hot Springs... it was AWESOME. A little place that you pay $5 to get into and there are these gravel-bottomed pools that are all hpt spring fed. No sulphur so it wasn't stinky. We sat in the middle pool- had to have been like 115 degrees. The snow was lightly falling with the hot water bubbling up around us. I went and had my massage while Vin got pruney.

We had lunch at this place called Johnnys. It had the old vinyl swivel barstools and great food.

Getting back on the highway now to head towards Ontario, Oregon. We're staying at a true RV Park that's right on the Snake River called Oasis Campground. It's about 4 hours away.

Morning in Idaho

2006-03-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

We're up and moving to get to Idaho's famout Lava Hot Springs resort. Meghan is looking forward to soaking in the pools, and it's a nice day to travel as well. No more snow for us.

This KOA has what looks like a makeshift farm next door: Lamas, Donkeys (that were making donkey noises all night) ducks, geese, dogs, etc... Pretty interesting stuff, and keeps the dogs occupied just watching the animals out of the RV.

After the Hot Springs we'll continue up Interstate 84 and stop along the way at some places we want to see. We have a couple days before our moving truck arrives in Portland, so we're going to make the most of it. Columbia River Gorge, Oregon Trail Museum, Hood River, etc... Should be cool. We'll take pictures along the way. Keep an eye out.

Laters from potato-land.

Nighty Night

2006-03-19T21:25:00.000-08:00

I wanted to add one last thing in. Vin didn't mention that our camp site is right next to a little place that has 3 pet donkeys. What is with donkeys out here?

They also like to bray alot. Like at 10.25 when you are getting ready to go to bed. And the dogs like to freak out each time they do it. It's more funny than anything else... trailer parks....donkeys....fake log cabins....hotdog aroma.... yeah... good times.

We're going to try and head over to hot Lava Springs tomorrow and I am REALLLLLLLY hoping that we can sit in some pools tomorrow. Help get rid of "flat ass" from riding in the car for a week. I'm really excited to check out the Oregon Trail Museum too. It is really interesting to look around while we are driving and imagine what it would have been like to be in a wagon heading out west.

Going to hop up into my little cave now and watch some more "sex in the city" with vin's laptop and headphones. Need to drown out donkey noise and Vin's snoring...

nighty night...

Continental Bubs

2006-03-19T20:37:00.000-08:00

Howdy. We're about to pass through another time zone, tomorrow, on our way to Oregon. Today we crossed the Continental Divide, saw some pronghorn, elk, and some amazing scenery. It was really the wild west, full snow-capped peaks, tons and tons of space, and lots of 18 wheelers.

We generally had good weather, some snow during the day, but it really never made the roads any worse than wet. The few breaks of sun helped us to put the landscape into perspective. Made me think about people roaming the hills without roads, signs, GPS, AAA, and Cruise America. I mean this was some harsh land out there, and people just wandered it and settled over time.

Being out here definitely gives me a serious appreciation for space, of which we have a complete lack of in the RV. I appreciate that people settled out here and just figured it out, bred some cows, planted some stuff, dealt with the winters and distances between people and towns.

I can see why owning land out West, where everything is bigger and more spacious, is desireable. I can also see why people like to drive around the country in an RV, or with one in tow. I wonder if a pickup with a travel trailer would get better gas mileage than this beast. I cannot imagine it would not.

Feeling a little tired, and I need to research the fishing opportunities in Oregon, so I'll end it here. Right after we dropped into Utah, I started spotting trout streams with fisherman on them, and it made me jealous and excited to fish here.

Tomorrow, we're planning to drive through Boise, onto Oregon and up to the Oregon Trail Museum, and then out towards Redmond and Bend, and eventually we think we'll head over past Mt Hood and into Portland via Sandy. We're going to take our time and enjoy it, we have until 3/23. And we get another free hour tomorrow too.

Please comment, we love to read them. Thanks.

Roadtrip photos

2006-03-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

I'm currently uploading a photo gallery on my website because Blogger just sucks and its taking WAY TOO LONG to load up just a few images. This way you can see a bunch of them.

I realize that after awhile.. they all look a little the same. But hey. I'm taking pictures out of an RV.

The directory is loading up on the site now so it will be up in a bit. It takes awhile to load 146 images.

Once that's loaded, we're going to head into town (in the RV) to get some Mexican food for dinner. Olé!

VIEW ROADTRIP PHOTOS HERE!!!

Crap weather in Brigham, Utah

2006-03-19T15:27:00.000-08:00

Spotty service available today. Took some great pictures in Wyoming. I had a bumpy but restful nap in the back this morning and woke up to sunny clear skies and beautiful scenery. It truly is being out in the wide open. Have had some spotty snow here and there- now being one of those spots. We're close to tonight's spot in Idaho and we just saw that there are natural hot springs close by and we are going to definitely go check those bad boys out. I haven't been to natural hot springs since I lived in Texas and I can't wait. I played a little solitaire todaybut didn't win too much. Picked out M&Ms out of the trail mix. Will try to update the pics tonight.

Our first pump out

2006-03-19T07:20:00.000-08:00

So we're attempting to do the first pump out. The rule so far has been pee only so it won't be that bad. But Vin went to pull out the tube and it's rotted out. One of the many things to add to the list of things about the RV that have been a bust so far. We've kept a running list and plan on making a call in the next few days.

Anywho. Long night and didn't sleep very well and it wasn't because of Vin's snoring either. Had to go the bathroom at 4.30am and the dogs were up and they needed to go out too. So the three of us head out for a bathroom run. It had stopped snowing and it was pretty quiet. Except for the hum of trucks going by on the highway. Which literally is about 100 ft away.

So I'm off to walk the dogs for their morning walk. They are tied up right now outside so I could sweep out and clean up a bit. Trying to get some fresh air in the joint as it still has a slight rank odor of dinner from 2 nights ago.

Laters.. we're off to idaho today and blogger isn't letting me upload my pictures right now.

Grey Birds

2006-03-18T18:39:00.000-08:00

Well Hello folks! From our home at the trailer park/ KOA. Dogs got a nice treat tonight, as Meghan and I offered some leftovers from our BBQ dinner in downtown Laramie. We're getting cleaned up, planning some routes and generally relaxing after some long road days.

On our way out here today, all across Rt 80 in Nebraska, we saw many types of birds. Most were living in the fields and ponds within site of Rt 80. There was a large Spring migration of Sand Hill Cranes as well, which was cool to see.

Birds spotted:
- Migrating Sand Hill Cranes (Supposedly they all come to the Platte river and it's a big tourist attraction. We stopped at Cabela's instead.)
- Red tailed hawks
- Ring-necked pheasants (Sirius wanted to flush it)
- Mallards and assorted ducks
- Sea Gulls (no where near any sea)
- Canada Geese
- Snow Geese (or some sort of white goose-like creature)

That might have been it. All in all a nice day to drive, but it was completely grey-bird out all day, with fog and mist all day. We even hit snow again near Laramie, over the pass from Cheyenne. Cheyenne did not look that great, but Laramie is a college town and has some nice houses and good BBQ restaurants.

We'll see what it looks like tomorrow, most likely with some more snow on it!
See ya

VRL

Sleepin' in a trailer park

2006-03-18T16:56:00.000-08:00

We've just pulled into tonight's KOA. A real jem. Going to try and get some free wireless from the Days Inn that's about 30 ft away. Can't wait to take some pictures in the morning. Lightly snowing. Just had an AWESOME bbq dinner. The dogs will be stoked when they see some leftovers in their bowls shortly.

In the great wide snowey open

2006-03-18T15:10:00.000-08:00

So it's been a day of limited cell service. We're about 15 min away from tonights stopping point in Laramie, Wyoming. The snow is coming down pretty good.. looks like winter. Hoping that the water tank does not freeze up on us. Very glad we filled up on propane. Stopping for some dinner at the powder river rib company (no hot dogs tonight) and then to the campground to chill. I'm going to watch my dvd's from Parker and Vin is going to read. hoping that we are close to the showers because we didn't have one yet today and I feel skanky. But the snow COULD be a deterrant. No WiFi tonight so pics have to wait until tomorrow.

A chilly night up over the cab

2006-03-18T05:57:00.000-08:00

I've been sleeping up over the cab in the coffin-esque bed. There is about 3 ft of vertical space up there. I figured that it would be warm up there because "heat rises". Last night, JACK rose. So I was pretty much fully under the covers all night. Only woke up a few times to Suki growling (watch dogs!)

We're getting ready to head out. Vin is filling up the water tank currently and then we need to fill up the gas tank. The RV only had the renters guide in German (sweet.) So luckily we downloaded the english version from their website and have that on the laptop for figuring out how to do all that stuff.

Looks like we're heading into some semi-crappy weather. We'll keep you posted from the road. Never got my Shamrock Shake yesterday. Maybe they will still have them at Dirty Ron's. All I know is that we're up early enough so Vin can have his McMuffin.

Chilly Toes

2006-03-18T05:24:00.000-08:00

Just woke up to find a severe lack of LP gas in the RV, meaning the furnace no longer blows warm air. So we're getting out of here. Meghan's over in the fake log cabin cleaning up, I have the engine running, the dogs walked, and sorta fed.

We need to find a place to fill up the propane for heat tonight in Wyoming! More later...

VRL

Two Big Rivers and a Free Hour

2006-03-17T20:04:00.000-08:00

We drove a long way today. We covered many miles, passed many cars and trucks and were passed by many cars and trucks. We also crossed two rivers and gained an hour back on the clock today.

Most of the trip is a blur to me now, but I remember a few scenes:
- World's largest truck stop, basketball donkeys
- Western sunset we were driving into
- Crossing the Ole Mississippi river
- Crossing the Missouri river
- Driving past the KOA entrance twice before finding the driveway, even though it's lit up by an obnoxious yellow logo sign.
- Craving an egg mcmuffin from ole' Dirty Ron's (McDonalds) and arriving there 9 minutes after breakfast ended. I HATE that.
- Checking on Sirius sleeping next to me many times to notice that he was still just sleeping. He's the laziest little dog. He never moved from 9:30AM to 8PM arrival except to excrete waste when necessry.

What else? Today was entirely pleasant driving. No wind, sunny weather, no traffic, straight roads. Still blew a lot of gas, but we also drive further today than any other day. I enjoyed it, and I didn't even have my Ipod or the radio on. Pretty much zoned out on the road and focused on driving.

Getting excited because tomorrow we go to Wyoming, and it's a shorter drive. Headed to Laramie Wyoming, another KOA which is already booked and waiting for us. I know Meghan's been looking for a hot tub at once of these places, but I am not sure they're available yet.

Also getting excited because after Wyoming, we head to Idaho, then on to Oregon. We should end up with a couple of extra days to hang out and/ or see stuff. Our plan was to jam hard through to the Rockies and spend time out there seeing things, which is working out so far.

Right now, our laundry is drying and Meghan is cleaning the pot we used for dinner. Tonight, I cooked a gourmet meal of Velveeta Mac and Cheese, sliced tomato and microwave hot dogs. Now the RV smells like microwaved hot dogs with just a hint of dog breath. That would be not such a bad thing if we did not have the heater running, which simply recycles the air from inside the stinky RV, making it that much hotter and stinkier.

What else, what else? I am ready for bed. More driving tomorrow. 525 miles of Rt 80.
Ok, catch y'all soon.

VRL

Hunkered Down in Omaha

2006-03-17T19:05:00.000-08:00

We've pulled in to our Omaha, Nebraska KOA for the night. Definitely not as kute and kozy as the one last night. We're going to pop some laundry in (need clean pants.) and take the dogs for a stroll. Then we're calling it a night.

Vin made dinner tonight. Mac and cheese and hotdogs (all beef!) A nice, sodium-filled dinner for two, which is sure to mean I will have little hotdogs for fingers when I wake up. Excellent!

Chasing the western sunset

2006-03-17T15:38:00.000-08:00

We been chasing the sunset on probably the straightest stretch of highway yet. Pictures will go up tonight once we get the laptop out and the photos off the camera. Vin is on his 3rd day of driving. I keep offering to drive but he's all into it. Or he's just afraid of me driving a 25' RV for the first time. Suki has been on my lap for most of the day today and Sirius has pretty much been comatose except for our stop for lunch. We are about an hour away from tonight's stop in Gretna, NE. More news later...

Forgot to mention...

2006-03-17T12:52:00.000-08:00

So I forgot to tell you what the donkeys were for.

Donkey Basketball.

That's right. People ride donkeys and playbasketball. And they wear these little rubber shoes too. He ws trimming their hooves because he didn't have a game that night so he figured he would stop and take care of a few things.

Funny.

Donkeys at the World's Largest Truck Stop

2006-03-17T12:13:00.000-08:00

We just are getting back on the road after stopping at the World's Largest Truck Stop. (how do they determine thay anyhow...) We filled up the tank, put in some oil, took the dogs for jaunt down the little stretch of grass next to the exit. A guy had pulled up next to us with trailer full of donkeys. He had taken a few of them out. We decided while we were eating our sandwhiches that we needed to take a picture of that. I mean really. Who would ever get the chance to see donkeys at the world's lagest truck stop? Once we get to Nebraska we will upload today's pics. Classic.

Ed Flynn is Correct

2006-03-17T11:13:00.000-08:00

That's right. Miles per gallon.
Here is a picture of what we have been looking at all day.

Just crossed the Mississippi

2006-03-17T11:09:00.000-08:00

We just crossed into Iowa a few minutes ago. Going to hit a rest stop soon for a dog break and some lunch. We're on 280W and will be back on good ole 80W in about 5 minutes. From there it's 313 miles to the next KOA. Not the most exciting day except for the Adult Shop that was literally in the middle of a dirt pile right next to the highway in Chicago. Of course it had a lot of patrons.

Guess what...

2006-03-17T08:42:00.000-08:00

the number "9.75" stands for? Really.... someone venture a guess.....

ps- Nick,my camera battery was dead yesterday, so that's why we didn't have any...

A Surpisingly Good Night's Sleep - from meghan

2006-03-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

Miracles abound on this trip. Vin did not snore last night!!!!
Got up at 8am this morning- the latest I have slept in for a long time BTW- took the dogs on the "Nature Walk" (aka trail in the woods that goes around the KOA). They even had a little Dog Run- which was a teeny fenced in area but allowed for a brief bout of rough housing. I picked up the RV a bit- it was like a pig pen because we had ever really "put stuff away". It was more like "jam crap in every available spot and let's go!".

So today we go through Indiana and then stay in Nebraska for the night. I will be updating from the road of any exciting adventures that may occur. We're off to get a Shamrock shake at McDonalds... Happy st patricks day!

PS- This KOA is very nice and clean. Nice clean bathrooms.... Val could appreciate that...

Good morning from America

2006-03-17T06:41:00.000-08:00

Fresh from a shower in a fake log cabin at the KOA South Bend East. Dogs are walked and fed. I need to feed myself now and get on the road.

This place is surprisingly clean and comfortable, even well appointed! Meghan might not agree, but I think so. It's a little surreal to be here when no one else is here. The Kampground only opened up 2 days ago and they don't have water hookups yet.

So we've had electric hooked up and the heater's running almost non stop. It's not amazing RV weather, but it's fun.
Ok: breakfast, email, St Patrick's day, driving to Nebraska. We don't even have time to stop by Notre Dame on St Patty's day!

Talk to y'all from the road...80 West, hundreds of miles.

VRL

Internet KOA Madness

2006-03-16T18:48:00.000-08:00

We're hooked up to shore power, we've got our free wifi internet running, we've all eaten dinner and the beds are made. We're at the South Bend East KOA in Granger, Indiana.

Here's how we got here, and how the Internet has made things easier:
- Meghan emailed her resume to Wieden + Kennedy.
- She got an email response from the hiring manager.
- She got the job. Emailed me about it.
- We decided to move to Portland. I looked Portland on Wikipedia.com to find out how much rain they get.
- We found a house on the internet via Craigslist.org.
- We emailed the owners and landed the place.
- We booked an RV online to drive to Portland.
- We Mapquested the entire route, printed each day's trip and saved PDFs to my laptop as backup
- We booked KOA campgrounds online for each night of the trip.
- On the drive out, Meghan browsed the Internet on my handheld device, looking up the weather for upcoming locations
- I checked my email while driving and responded to the important ones
- Meghan posted a few entries to this blog FROM the handheld in the RV while I was driving on 80 West.

And here we are, in the woods at a KOA Kampground, beaming words and photos to a place the world can reach all at once, or whenever they get to it.

Heading to Nebraska tomorrow. Hopefully no snow along the way. RV is running fine. Dogs are doing well, but they don't go far from us.

Ok, Meghan's turn.

VRL

Lunchtime

2006-03-16T14:22:00.000-08:00

Just stopped for some gas right nd walked the dogs. We had our first RV lunch- sammies and chips.
We're about an hour and 45 minutes until we hit Cleveland. We'll be waving at Jen Fox from the highway!

Everyone should have a Treo!

2006-03-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

we are about 40 miles away from pennslyvania (that's pennsyltucky to you, kaszuba and frank!)

The RV is much quieter so far today- wind is not bad. we stopped at target this morning to load up on some groceries and a bathing suit because some of these koa's have hot tubs! we've been reading everyone's comments so far. Vin was very excited to learn that he hadn't lost his red hat (thanks jackie!) The dogs are sleeping... I've been checking email and weather on the treo. what a great thing to have on a trip like this!
I finally feel like I'm starting to relax a bit- amazing what not having a job for a bit can do for you.
More news later.. going to stop for lunch and walk the dogs in a bit.

A Brand New Day!

2006-03-16T05:01:00.000-08:00

After probably one of the best nights sleep I've had in the last month and a new shower (I even exfoliated!) I feel like a new person. Even the dogs seem much more relaxed.. but let's see how long that lasts before we fire up the RV.

We're on our way to Indiana. Never been. I just have the "Gary Indiana" song in my head from "The Music Man". We're going to make a quick stop at Wegmans to pick up some stuff for lunch and dinner (our first culinary exploration - wait- kulinary exploration at the KOA) and a quick stop at Target to get some stuff to buffer the noise in the RV. And some stretchy pants to wear.

Can't remember if this KOA has WiFi or not... if there is we will be sure to update!

Winter's Grip in Syracuse (via Vince)

2006-03-15T20:08:00.000-08:00

Well, it seems the East is working on keeping us around a little longer. With 30mph headwinds, we burned enough fuel in the RV today to keep Iraq in business. Guess there's no hoping for a tailwind heading West?
It's been a long few days, and Meghan's friends Ursula and Jim (Syracuse, NY) have been nice enough to let us in, give us wine and Thai food and even let the dogs sleep inside.
It's still snowing and windy, and we hope tomorrow will be a better travel day.
Today began in York, Maine with a bagel sandwich, coffee and Stoli the dog. We headed out of ME, and through Mass to get the RV and drop off the rental. I decided today that I don't like Massachusetts. It's like the state got the short end of something and everyone who lives there has decided to be a jerk because of it! Sorry for those of your from Mass, but your driving sucks.
I drove the RV and not long after negotiating the narrow streets of Cambridge and Boston, we headed west on 90 and into wind and snow.
Snow and wind jammed us all the way to Syracuse, and made for an exciting ride. The RV is very basic, solid, but kinda loud when it's windy.
The dogs did not move far from our seats in the front. In fact, they shared one captain's chair for a while.
So the biggest bummer so far was the discovery that the RV did not have a tape deck as advertised, but it does have a CD player.
Unfortunately, the CD/ radio combo does not allow for the new Ipod to plug in! So the new playlist will have to wait.
Actually, it's been nice to ride in the vehicle without loud music, but I think I'll need it soon.
We're out early tomorrow on one of our longest days, to South Bend, Indiana.
KOA Kampground extraodinairre coming up. "Kamping Komfort in a Kwality wooded Kampground." Good thing we stopped and Kwiki Mart for hot dogs and remembered to pack our KOA Value Kard!

I'm riding in a giant can on wheels.

2006-03-15T19:50:00.000-08:00

Picked up the RV this morning in Salem, Ma. You can't miss it. After watching an informational video in a smelly office with two nervous dogs. We signed the paperwork and were free to start the adventure! We moved all of the stuff out of the mini van and into the RV, which was a tad ghetto. But hey- this is an RV and we're out on an adventure so we got rollin'- Vin in the RV and me in the mini van, we still had to drop it off in Cambridge at the car rental place. Dropping off the car was not as simple as one might think. We had a big ass RV to think about on these narrow Boston street afterall... After a slight run in with a school bus, we both managed to make our way and dropped off the car.

So FINALLY! We're driving! We get on 90 finally and we're going in the right direction. WEST.

The wind was blowing at 30 mph and let me tell you- it made for a noisy ride, as well as the constant rocking back and forth. I passed the time by reading the newest issue of Marie Claire and making shims out of paper towels and jamming them into the noisiest spots.

We pulled into Syracuse (let's go orange!) to spend the night and Ursula and Jim's place. Had some Thai food and caught up. After a few glasses of red wine.. I'm tired.

Top 'o the Mornin' at York Beach

2006-03-15T07:30:00.000-08:00

Bright and early here on the Nubble in York, Maine.

Loading day was long. It started out sunny and nice out- 50º in March! Vin dropped me off at the airport and I picked up the rental car- which was actually a mini van. We met back and house and waited for the driver to show up to load our stuff up.

We're sitting drinking our coffee when this behemoth tractor trailer pulled up- it was HUGE and took up half the street. John the driver comes in with his assistant Dennis to survey all of the crap we have. (And really. At this point it IS all crap.) The loading commences and they start hauling stuff out. For the most part everything went nice and smooth. The piano proved to be the usual challenge. It wouldn't sit on the cart because the bottom part is a little warped (hey. it's 90+ years old.. we have to cut it some slack) They tried putting it on the cart, they tried wheeling it out, you name it. They even tried picking it up but no one wanted to pop a hernia. At this point I was getting more and more nervous with each attempt so I decided to go distract myself by vacuuming upstairs. Shem stopped by with Sylvia and we had a little visit with them while they moved the piano out of the house. Finally I saw them making their way up into the truck and breathed a sigh of relief. I had been enviosioning it either tipping over and going through the floor, tipping over and going through the porch, you name it.. I thought it.

Finally around 4 we started getting close to having hardly anything in the house. I kept cleaning while they kept loading. The flat bed which was being used to load the car and boat into the truck was supposed to be showing up and we wanted to see how they were going to get Vin's boat into the truck. We waited. And waited. Waited some more. The tow truck guy calls- they're running late. So we go back to loading. I took apart the trusty futon and chair to help move things along. Cleaned some more. Robin showed up to say bye and see the empty house. Which BTW was a little sad. It was a great little house.

At about 5.30 we realize that the tow truck is STILL not there and we have a half hour before we have to pick up the dogs from doggy daycare. John tells us we don't have to wait around so we start doing the paperwork, say our goodbyes and get in the mini van.

I forgot to mention. It was now 34º out and snowing. Yeah. Love that Vermont weather. Started out 50º and sunny... ended cold windy and shitty. Awesome!

We picked up the dogs, packed them into the van and head south. Pulled into York at about 9.30pm. Celebrated our departure from Vt with some champagne with Nick and Jess. I headed up and went to sleep with Suki, Sirius and Mike's dog Gretchen. We hunkered down and went to sleep.

Got up at 6am this morning and took the dogs out for a little potty action. It's really windy out still. Got a load of laundry running and we're meeting Jess for breakfast at 8.30am and then we head out to pick up the RV in Salem, Mass.

I have a bunch of pictures to add up but it's not letting me upload images.. so we'll try again later.

Vince's Roadtrip Update

2006-03-15T05:22:00.000-08:00

So Meghan does not get all the credit for this blog. Wanted to fill in the blanks, but actually there's not much else to say.
We did really well in terms of packing quick, being organized and getting things done, even though my project manager might disagree on our efficiency.
The movers were great, and I really really hope they were careful with my boat. We left before it was loaded because the flatbed driver was "busy doing something else".
Nice to come to Maine before heading west. Although I think the dogs are a little confused. Little do they know it's about to get even more confusing for them, because thier little home is going on wheels for 8 days.
We're on the way to get a bagel, pick up the RV, watch the RV training video, drop off the rental car, and head to Syracuse so Meghan can buy a new sweatshirt.
From NY, we head west on 90 to Indiana, near Notre Dame, so Meghan can buy another new sweatshirt.
From Indiana, we head to Nebraska, and we'll probably look for cheesy t shirts for Meghan to buy along the way.
Nebraska to Wyoming via Rt 80. Heading up to Laramie where our Komfort KOA Kampground is located.
From Laramie, we'd like to check out Yellowstone, via West Yellowstone, but the roads may be gnarly for the RV, so that's optional.
Wyoming will lead to Idaho, Pocatello to be correct. I'd love to spend some time out there before we head to Oregon.
I also wanted to head to Bend, OR to take a look around. I know there's a good brew pub there, and I actually have a fishing buddy who lives there. Or at least he used to. He took me down the Deschutes river for trout one year in a drift boat.
So from Bend, we'll head over to Portland and drive to 7303 N Boston ave. I wonder what the neighbors will think of us living in the RV the first night.
The funniest part of the whole trip will be dropping Meghan off at a world class advertising agency, where she just landed a great job at Wieden and Kennedy, in a 25 foot Class C RV with two little dogs co-piloting.
We'll keep y'all posted along the way.

VRL

Packin' Day

2006-03-13T14:44:00.000-08:00

We made it through packing day. They arrived at 8.30am this morning and left around 4pm. There are boxes everywhere and I have a slight sense of satisfaction knowing that I didn't have to do any of the actual packing. I could get used to this...

Anyhow.. the dogs are at daycare and I'm just sitting here at the computer- the one thing that isn't packed yet thinking about "Loading Day" which is tomorrow. We have to pick up the rental car- which somehow magically got upgraded to a mini van or SUV and trust me we need the room- and then we watch as all of our crap gets loaded into a giant semi. Should be fun.. digital camera is charged up and ready to go for that one!

I uploaded some pics to check out- here's the house with the boxes everywhere and then here our Bob and Angelo- the packers. They were awesome- they even did me a favor and brought the washer and dryers up the stairs!