Whirlwind!

Oh hey there blog, long time no internet service.

The past week has been unreal.

Uh where to start... Gracie's birthday in downtown Syracuse resulted in us deciding we needed to take a Last Supper photo at sushi:

Then on Tuesday, Warren came home and brought back some delightful lavender soaps from France (they just smellll like the little shops in France, so of course I'm completely thrilled).

I got to Rome, passed out, and then took Jill to work her half day so I knew how to get there to pick her up later. While she made money, I spent money, and got myself some boots for the concert

It's how I roll. Even knowing how much I was gonna be walking in NYC.

Picked Jill up and headed down I90 to White Plains. No idea how we got out of paying the toll on the way there (??) but we did manage to get lost for a solid hour and a half (and we were making such good time too...)

Finally got parked and settled and on a train into the city by 6. Tony met us straight off the train because he's the best New Yorker of all time, and he hoofed us 20 minutes by foot to Madison Square Garden. Grabbed Manning, her cousin, and a bite to eat, and showed up to our seats just as Semi Precious Weapons was plowing through their set.

I'm pretty sure I love them. Definitely need to pick up their album.

Then... Lady Gaga. My camera couldn't handle how far away our seats were, so here's a few shots from Stephen's Boston Monster Ball adventure.

[Our seats]

[Steve's seats]

Love.

Left the city by 1am, and drove straight back to Rome that night (exhausting and at times probably not a wise decision...). Jill had a great interview that resulted in her getting a new job (stage hand! yay no more food industry!) and I slept in. We killed the rest of the day hanging out in various places in Rome that were way too hot and not a whole lot of fun until we hit a pool late that afternoon. We attempted a drive-in double feature, but the mosquitoes and heat kicked our asses before the second movie could start.

Friday was a lot of bad news that has since resolved itself, and I headed to Wolcott to see Hanners. I met her besties Mackenzie & Katie, and went to Jacks bar finally with her - I already knew I adored Katie, but turns out Mackenzie and I are long lost soul mates. This girl cracks me up and we have ungodly amounts of embarrassing things in common (blogs! beer! silly bands oh my!) - instant friendship. We bonded over the 104 Store diner food at 3am.

Saturday was Hanner's grad party, and I was the walking dead. I had to nap mid-afternoon just to be a human that night. Blake & Ashley showed up (weee mini caz reunion - we missed Timmy though), and then I got to meet her other bestie Sam Caster. Playing Spoontz (vicious Soviet Russia-style Spoons) felt like settling into old friendships I had always had. It was so weird, and so comfortable.

Sunday saw me back in Binghamton finally, but shortlived, as my parents and I had to head out to Greene for family reunion (previously known as Hillbilly Hell) - this year was surprisingly low key, and the weather was beautiful from under a willow tree, next to the pond, watching little boys jump into the water "froggy-dive" style.

Monday was a "day off" - I hung with Mom, we toured a few liquor stores searching for a particular brand of sweet tea for Dad (Jeremiah Weeds Sweet Tea, in particular, if you're interested), and restocked my travel kit for upcoming adventures with Kate Sculley.

Yesterday found me back in Caz, and against all odds, the rain held off and I got an excellent shoot in with Martin Welych. On the way home, I happened upon a big old pile of FREE on the side of Route 13. After watching American Pickers the night before, I couldn't let all of those cardboard boxes go unexplored.

Hello random jackpot of interesting:

There were two more boxes filled like this, but this one in particular had the most unwarped disks in it. This vinyl, once cleaned up quite a bit, will play on my mom's record player - they're all 45s and they would be in great condition if that pile of FREE hadn't survived a downpour before I got there.

[Just in case you can't read those, they're WHAM! Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, and Grand Funk's Do The Locomotion. Yes.]

But seriously!! The best of the 70s and 80s are in here, they're all doubles-sided singles meant for a jukebox. We used to have one back when I was little, but it's been gone a long time. I hope some day to have one again so these beauties don't go to waste.

Today, I am contract-writing, Light Rooming Martin, and I made my own agenda (yes, I hand-drew a ton of lines into a sketchboook from July 2010 to July 2011.) -- finally I can start scheduling out and not forgetting things. So necessary. I also finally hung my dray-erase calendar so I can see it whenever I get up. Getting organzied is finally coming together.

I'm debating applying for a job in Utica. I just don't want it to start until late fall... but I'm pretty sure it's an immediate-fill position on the off chance they'd want me anyway. Still gonna stew on it a little longer.

Tomorrow is a full photo day - bank & Staples in the am, Senior portraits at 1, Joe shoot (aka training) at 3:30. Dad got fed up with me carrying all of my expensive pro supplies around in a plastic bag, so he forfeited my pay tomorrow night on the shoot to preemptively get me a solid camera bag. It's a beauty, I just had other plans for that cash.... oh well, it's an extremely necessary supply.

Has everyone else's summer been this busy and wonderful simultaneously?!