Rotating Turkey for Gluttony.

So a howdy and happy post-gluttony-day for all you. I spent it in Burlington NJ with the Jenn and the Russ. Thankgiving Eve was spent with friends (45 of them, I think was the count) and that was quite fun. People, negotating sex for robots, or robots for sex....turkey, Foam safty weapons, pumpkin soup, even people screaming for my "Pants." (I came out of the bathroom only to have a table full of people shouting "PANTS! PANTS! PANTS!" To which I informed them that I couldn't possibly give them my pants, as i was not wearing any. I had on a skirt and tights, no pants.) A nice evening.



After waking up at almost 10am (that is quite sleeping in for me) and discovering that it was almost 70 degs out in NOVEMBER! I went for a run, and by the time that I came home the turkey had been put into the roaster, and the veggie chopping for the meal had begun!! Potatoes, Turkey, Caserol, STUFFING and rockin cornbread....and let me not for get the CRANBERY CHUTTNEY! Heck Yes! Home made by Jenn. She's a BEAST an that stuff.



The turkey whirlled and spunn about on the spitt....yumm. There were apples in the stuffing....the sage stuffing...very tasty. Jenns' mom and family came over, so there was a comfortable five of us around the table. Very nice, mellow, and enjoying the foodity. And watching some Discovery Planet show....I enjoyed it, mellow is what I needed.



Jenns mom lives in Harrisburg, the capital of PA, I have only been there once, on my way to hershey park.......yes, HERSHEY PA! The air really does smell like chocolate, and honestly it was a bit scary (For those no in the know, i am allergic to Chocolate.) But there is a huge amusement park and it has some fun rollercoasters and stuff there, I went there in college summer with some friends from school.

Then Today, Friday, was back into the city to get some things on, and on my walk home I hear a jingle and a jangle of the carrage horses, they now have their holliday bells on and there are few sounds I like better than the hoves on the cobbled stone and the jingle of the bells. Sooooo nice, and a sound that I will always associate with hollidays in Philly. Nice!

Dr. Who and the Leaves

Ok so here in am, in the Philadelphia area. The air is crisp, the leave are changing, it is November. And it all makes for a lovely postcard. I have been here since last tuesday...I have just over a week left. It has already gone by so fast. Meetings and appointments. The nice thing is that I do not have to waste time getting to know the city, i know where everything is that I want and already know the map to navigate the city. Kinda fun. Slightly relaxing. Tuesday night right after I landed I dashed off straight to Go Vertical with my friend Sal so that we could meet with a Friend who was celebrating his last night working there. It was fun. but I was still in shock about the outdoor to the 8 million people in philla thing. Sigh. I guess I cant have it all right? Though I am better now, come saturday night. I have gotten used to the people and noise and all that.


I am working in the studio with Jenn during the weekdays when I am here, and this week on thursday I got inspired by Chris to make a Squid......ok well I started off on the squid but he insisted that it should have goggles and lazers.....so, 3.5 hours later, THIS (below) is what happened. I like it, it kinda makes me wanna make a whole series of squid sketches ......the seven deadly squids? I duh'know.....squids. DO they envy he octopus? or is it the other way round? I guess I'll never know.



I am spending part of my time in Philadelphia, and part of the time in Burlington NJ with my friend Jenn and her Husband. This weekend was Russ' birthday. So Jenn and I made cake (ok Jenn made cake because I had to fight through Philadelphia annoying and delayed public trans on friday when I SHOULD have been making Cake) but she did let me help her make frosting! Peppermint frosting....oh man, so good. Butter cream frosting with crushed peppermint candies. I got to do the CRUSHING!!!! Heck yes....and I got to use a metal mallet to do it! WhhoHoooo.....CRUSH CANDY!



And she also made a faboo gingerbread pear cake......we decorated 'em and it was a lot of fun. Then the Dr. Who frenzy began. Russ wanted to celebrate his birthday by watching ALL the Dr. Who shows.......all of them. It is now 11pm on Saturday the 17th and we are still watching them. I like the new ones more than any of the old ones......ahh well. the new Dr Who IS a hottie.



Tomorrow were gunna go score some mexican food and then I will likely head back into the city sunday night. Be there for monday errands and a concert with ppl. Tuesday, photo shoot. (Fun fun) Wed.....something, i just don't remember, and then back to NJ for turkey day!! likely be there until sunday (possible second photo shoot) then back to the city, get settled monday and fly out to Tampa....zoom zoom off I go....I hope I get to log in before that. But who knows. This year is moving so fast for me. Serious, I had no clue it would be such and wild ride when I left this place back in April. and it only just hits me that I have been mobile since even before I left Phila in April. I...well here's the list.

Jan '06: NY, PA
Feb '06: Germany/Italy
March '06: Germany
April/May '06: Phila to Santa Cruz CA
June '06: Phila. PA
July '06: Nebraska
Aug '06: NYC, NY
September '06: Scotland
October: Maryland
November ;06: Phil/NJ
December '06: Sister, Tampa FL
Jan/Feb/March '07: Tampa FL, Bay Area CA, Portland OR, Seattle WA
March/April '07: Phila
May/June XC Road trip with Mom to Nebraska,
June 07: NE
July 07: NE, CO, WY, SD, OR

.....Ummm, you get the picture....*Shrugg*

Yosemite....

So, the plan was, fly out to philly on the 7th, stay 20 days....fly to florida on the 27th, simple easy....nice round numbers. Yeh....right, ok so that SOooooOOooooo didn't happen. Megans wedding went off with out a hitch and sunday....i had the opportunity for a road trip to someplace cool. Then I thought....ok, climbing in yosemite...or go to philly. SO what am I REALLY gunna miss in philadelphia. Nuthin....nope. So I made the call, changed my flights. and now here I sit in philadelphia, haveing been here just over 24 hours now, and reflecting on an amazing experiance that i am so blessed to have had.

We drove up Friday morning and got to yosemite about noon on friday, it was super hazey. and very moody. There was a lot of soot in the air as there was some controlled burnning going on. We set up camp and did some climbing. It was my first experiance outside trad climbing. I learned to be a seond, and gather the gear as we climbed. It was super fun and awesome.



It was a real learning experiance, and I did so many things that I'd never done before, it was great! and kinda humbeling to be on a slab of rock that vast. Yosemite made a massive impression on me. It was like being in a painting all the time! Just surreal, vast, wild, loud and quiet. I loved every second of it. and my company was darn good as well. ;)



Saturday, we did a climb called "Super Slide" I liked the name and it made me laugh. It was fun. I guess that is a given huh? I got to do some belaying while secured to some bolts on the verticle slab of rock we were climbing. it was a trip and a hard thing for me to get my head around to trust the gear. The whole weekend was a mental experiance as much as a physical one. So great....i learned a lot about me. and that is always good.

Sunday, it rainned, so we goofed off in the Cafe in the park and took some nature photos, hiked some, and just bonked about. Fabooo. Until this trip I'd only been to the park 2Xs before and the last time I was 8. Needless to say....i didn't remeber much. But this will stick.



.......(below) "What? What? I can't Hear you Burt, there's a banana in my ear!?"...


I found in Cliffs of Insanity...cool huh...but there were no screaching eel. Hummmm.....



(below) The Infamous Half Dome. It's funny, driving about Yosemite....everyone had a tri pod and a camera and it is crazy! Drive drive drive....snap snap drive snap drive ...repeat...who can blame 'em though. the place is epic.



I needed a lift, but there was no one to be had.....amazing, no one in yosemite! the place is always swarming with people from what Ive been told.

So....in the end, I was emotionaly exausted, really tired, and happy. We climbed again monday and then drove home, got in late and I got a moment of rest before jumping a 6am flight to the east coast. I had a rough day yesterday. Going from all the quiet natural beauty of nature to eight million people, honking horns and 3000 miles from where I woke up. It was a little rough. I am so happy that I had the chance to do this, thanks.

Weddin'

So, the 3rd was the wedding, the whole reason that I was in CA. Friday was the rehersal. and that was funny. My camera died so I dont have much in the way of photos yet. But I got some of the pre weddin' chaos before hand. I think it was fun. Maggie got the Bride and Groom matching ball caps which was a load of cheeseey goodness. And Meg was an awesome bride...she stayed chilled and calm thought most of the stuff, and on top of that she didn't make up do a runthrough more than once....saying "EIther it's gunna work right tomorrow or it won't." A ver healthy attitude I think




Savi looked thrilled and beeming the whole time which was nice to see. Just really exvited about the whole thing. Most of his family had come down from southern CA and so they were all at the hotel partying it up. They were fun people. I liked them lots. The wedding planner was chill too and everything seemed like it wouldn't be a thing

I was planning on jumping into the pool at the hotel in my brides maids dress....but by the time things wound down it was late, and I was tired.....just ready for bed.




Megan PROMISED me that I didn't have to make a toast speach.....guess what....I had to make a toast speach. Toast.....is it the same speling.....gosh I hope so, because it would be funny if everytime that you ate toast you had to make a speach.
Hummm. Not much else to report.




My Sister came in from Tampa florida in order to get to the wedding she came in on a friday and dashed up early AM on Monday. It was nice to have her there with me even if I couldn't spend all that much time with her.

Pumpkin Patch and the Pumpkin King

So this past saturday was the pumpkin day. It started out with final fittings for Megs wedding dress, followed by TWO hours in Costco, on a saturday. Which ended up being amusing since I did some improv, photography (by camera phone unfortunately) on the floor of Costco, which had a man thinking I was having a sessile! Awesome! I love it when people are confused. Then we raided a pumpkin patch in stripie stockings with masks in the dead of night in order to procure our pumpkins for a night of stabbing. We had a get away car and sleep gass......ok we didn't but that is what I wanted to do......instead we just paid too much money for some farm raised big orange squash that we didn't even eat! (we DID roast the seeds thought.)






After dragging the captives home we put some protective papers on the floor and proceeded to stab the holy-hell out of them, rip out their guts, and give them faces and shapes.....and all to the back ground noise of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It was a good night. Played some more Wii and went on a couple "moon missions" (Sorry, I cant tell you what that is....)



Sunday I got kidnapped to San Jose and went climbing at Castle Rock, my 3rd time out of doors bouldering. It was, as expected, a ton of fun. And I also got to see some damn good sunset. I thought I would be home by monday evening. But I didn't, I got home today, Wed. Lucky for me I brought my laptop and stuff so I got some good work done. I went to work with my friend, it was funny, like "bring you friend to work day." ha ha. awesome. Especially since it is all swanky Silicon Valley corporate computer land.
(Below; Computer land cubical.....and the missplaced truck amidst a sea of swanky hybrid prias'. It looked really funny parked in the parking lot towering over the little cars...."why are you so little?" My coffee cup on the wheel looks little too.)



I have been so busy this week being kidnapped, that I didn't even KNOW that today was Halloween until yesterday during dinner. We went out to dinner last night and just after we ordered there was a mini earthquake. 5.6. It was funny since I'd not been in one for some time, having been on the east coast for some time now. I laughed.....and thought.....ummmmm should I get under the table or something? We decided not to. There was another one today....3.something. No much. Kinda funny. I was on my bike, so I didn't notice.

I have been doing quite a bit of climbing, eight out of ten days. and I love it. Learning to climb cracks was the crowning joy of my weekend. It's hard but super fun. But I need a small break. body is tired. Next week...... trampoline room.... heck yeah.