Dear Eddie Spaghetti,

Hey Eddie. Superfan Shan here with a little request. You know that I like everything you do, right? Well, I was wondering if you'd remake this song. Now don't get me wrong, I love me some "Rock of Love" and Bret is so committed to his douchebaggery that it's kind of endearing... But ol' buddy just can't sing that well and I kind of like this song so I'd like to hear what you'd do with it.



While you're at it, can you do this one too? I know it's Bret's life story and all, but I still think you could pull it off better than he does. And Bret, if you happen to see this, sorry bro but every song doesn't have to reference the rose and thorn. We know that was your hit song... back in 1988...


Thanks guys.

Love,
Shan

Wordless Wednesday

Taking one for the team...

While JJ was laid up this weekend on the couch, I decided to just give in and spend the weekend horizontal as well...
I did however, get up for important things like going to Subway and the liquor store....

Laying Low

It was the first nice, genuinely hot, weekend of summer! hooray! You'd think that we'd be all sunburned and roadworn from a weekend on the bike but alas, not yet. John had scheduled a minor little surgery that left him on the couch for a few days .

(PS: that's not really John)
We did manage to get ourselves out for a couple beers each day and make it over to a BBQ with The Jens. We love them.

Fashion Friday

In reading some FF's of the past, it seems that most of my outfits revolve around my shoes. This one is no different. Wedges are all the rage, but I'm not a fan of all of them. Sometimes they tend to look heavy and clunky (and sometimes that look is cute, but not all the time) I like mine to swoop in a little under the heel rather than go straight down. I think it's a lighter, more feminine look.

I had forgotten my phone at the studio so I had to go pick it up after work the next day and used the opportunity to make the most of the sun and shoot this week's pics in an exotic location! By exotic, I mean the East Side waterfront.
This whole outfit was super comfy and I could have worn it all week. The shoes rule, the shirt is soft and I like it's shape (found in the "L" section of Goodwill :)), and the skirt is an old dance costume skirt. The hair flower is constructed from a flower I cut off of a shirt and the earrings are my favorite red giant hoops!
so easy, so fun :)

Ba-bam!

I had a meeting today where I had to present the project we've been working on since March. The second major presentation with this project. Today it was with all of the major stakeholders. Every one of them said that it was better than what they expected :) If I was a sports person, I'd call it a home run. But I'm not so you get this:

Wordless Wednesday

Remade

I have mentioned more than once that I have a bunch of my mom's and grandma's old jewelery... I have remade a lot of the pieces to make them wearable in my life. My grandma never had pierced ears, so all of her old earrings are (well, started as) clip-ons. They hurt so badly to wear that I have had to be creative and convert them to pierced earrings. I only like one style of pierced earring, so I have a stockpile of clasps and convert any earrings I buy to the style I like. On new earrings, its usually pretty easy. On some of these old ones, I've had to be more creative. It's worth it though, they used such sparkly pieces.... The clear rhinestone ones are my old burlesque earrings. I made them from two different old pairs that I wired together. Nana would have loved that they got to be in so many shows.
Also, some of the detail in these old pieces is really cute...
These were old clips that I added the chain to in order to make them dangle... They are huge. and awesome.
Here's another pair that just have amazing detail...
Lastly, my new orange collection. I have recently decided to add more orange to my life and so I dug out this old necklace and these three earrings from Nana's stuff. I converted the matching earrings to hooks and the poor lone earring has a new life as a ring. The swimsuit top also recently got a new look. I got this bikini at dance nationals in 89 or 90 in Florida. I have always loved the color (although it has faded a bit in 20 years). I had robbed the clasp for some emergency burlesque outfit a few years ago, so it was being held together by a pin, which was fine since I only used it for tanning in the back yard. Last weekend, I decided that I would like to rock it for real, but that I would only wear it with black bottoms.. The reason I would only wear it with black bottoms is because the matching bottoms are old school 90's and are high cut and meant to be worn high on the side of one's hips. I don't do that. Anyway, to make the top more versatile, and help it to not look so mismatched with black bottoms, I dug out an old lycra zebra print top from my "going to Goodwill" pile and gave the sides a little pizzazz. I added a new clasp and viola! new swimsuit :)

Fashion Friday

I built this first outfit based on the skirt and the shoes. I have been dieing to wear these awesome purple shoes... I mean, look at them :) I don't have much purple in the shirt department, so I decided to make them accents and add jewelery to match. I chose this grandma-style necklace that I used to keep in my "play jewelery box." (I have a couple things in our house in case kids come over and need to be entertained. the box of play jewelery is one of them. It is comprised of a bunch of old jewelery from my grandma and mom that I couldn't bring myself to wear. As is evident by this post, sometimes I change my mind.) I added the purple bracelet, which I love. (and it's from Walmart. sorry if you hate Walmart) I also rocked my old Evie/Shannon "cheer up" ring. One day I was on my way to the studio and Evie was sad. I had to stop at Lippmans for something for Sugar Q so I picked us up matching purple rings. It totally cheered her up. a good friend will throw down the $1.25 to do that :) The skirt is an old dress that I cut the top off of. I tapered the waist a bit and I never tie the strings that are supposed to be tied. I let them hang free because I like the sash-y look.

Let me say that after wearing these shoes all day, they are SUPER comfy. yay! I couldn't wait to wear them again. I figured I'd wait til the next week because of the purple-ness. Then I realized that if they were black, I wouldn't hesitate to wear them twice in one week. Why should purple have a different rule? So I rocked them again 2 days later...
They are a smaller part of this outfit, but an awesome part! This shirt has been everywhere.. John saw me in the morning and said "that's quite a shirt.." I said that I'd had it since high school and he said "what, high school in the circus?.." I got a ton of compliments on it throughout the day. I have had it since high school and when I went to college, I left it home and my mom wore it for a few years and then I got it back after I moved to Portland. On a similar note, last summer she insisted on stealing those earrings from me and then when she saw how many pictures I had where I had worn them she felt bad and sent them back. With that belt :)

Kitty Cleaning

LBK is deaf. She wasn't when she moved in, but she has become so in the years since. It's pretty funny to demonstrate her lack of hearing. John will clap his hands loudly behind her head and ...nothing.. I am still in awe of the sweet trusting cat that she is. She lets me give her sink baths and purrs through the whole thing. Last night I found a shortcut... She has no idea that there is any sound to this treatment.

Wordless Wednesday

Whoa! (ala Joey from Blossom)

I landed on this blog today and couldn't stop clicking to each next page. Partly because I couldn't get over how I could specifically remember the taste of so many of the foods and drinks (Bonkers, Clearly Canadian, Chocolate Mint bubble gum, C3PO cereal, New York Seltzer....) and partly because I was looking to see if anyone had submitted Kidd Video. (they hadn't, so I did :))

totally awesome, dude.

PS: I still have, and use, my Caboodle. and I'm totally craving some Keebler Magic Middles cookies.

Fashion Friday

For the longest time I've been looking for an awesome pair of gray shoes. They are hard to find! However, I scored a pair last weekend at Buffalo Exhange and was super excited to wear them. I was also super excited about this outfit. I love gray. Every time I wear it, I feel comfy and warm. Probably because I have 2 gray hoodies that I wear all the time, I've associated the color with the comfort of my beloved hoodies. The shirt has little studs on the shoulders and it was an accident how well the styling matched my purse! The skirt is one of those gems that I picked up for $5 at Goodwill and probably has a cost per wear of about a dime.

Another fun coincidence is that I happened to have silver toes, which were super cute peeking out through the shoes.
Unfortunately, these awesome shoes killed me by the end of the day. Next time I wear them, I think I'll just put them on when I get to the office, or at least switch to my tennies coming home. I'm not going to lie, I walked from the bus stop to the house in my bare feet. Last but not least, I matched makeup to the gray too!!! I'm surprised how much I loved rocking the silver eyes, but I definitely plan to do it again!

Finding our inner Jessica Rabbit....

The latest from Tease and Tone! Oh how I'd love to do this in fancy dresses instead of our workout clothes!

Wordless Wednesday

This may not be your favorite thing about me....

I always have some sort of big fish. In order to keep big fish healthy and active, they have to have good diets. The best thing to give them is live food. What that means is that I have a cricket container in my basement. Depending on how many fish I need to feed, I buy 100-500 crickets at a time. I feed the crickets carrots to help naturally enhance the coloring of the fish (I know, I'm a big fish nerd). More than one of my friends has given a nervous laugh and then quickly walked away when they realized the the tote with the screen top labeled "crickets" was actually true. Once upon a time there was a hole in the screen and unfortunately it coincided with Eva spending the night downstairs. She was cool when she mentioned that she awoke to a cricket crawling on her face, but I know she did the "OMG its a bug on me" dance more than once when she thought about it.

Evie is also totally freaked out by their creepy crawly noise when I get them in a box and bring it to dance with me. I loved the look on her face when I first told her that if anyone ever pissed me off really bad that I'd release the box of 500 crickets into their house or car (or dance studio, tee hee) and if I didn't have access to those things, I would simply mail them the box (which they are very anxious to get out of the second that it's opened even a little).

- evil grin :) -

PS: Bonus points for the friends of mine who feed my fish when I'm gone.

Tanning

I was laying out in the sun yesterday, trying to build up my base tan. As I laid on the table, I creatively folded my clothes up and down and twisted them as small as possible. ( I know I could have just gone to put a suit on....all the way upstairs. I would have missed crucial minutes of UV love!)

As I soaked up every delightful ray, I was flipping through the Victoria's Secret catalog. I have to admit I felt like maybe they should have given tan lines a little more thought when they designed this one.

Fashion Friday

I cut the feet off of these tights because they were way too big and my intent was to wear them with boots. I had no idea how much I would love them with skirts for spring. I do not find it acceptable to wear skirts with bare legs unless your legs are fit and tan. If they are not both of those things, you should wear tights. However, as is gets nicer outside, tights feel winter-y. Tights add a layer of warmth and you want to wear open toed shoes. Also, if you're one like me who likes skirts on the short side, you have to make sure you are office-friendly. I think capri tights are a great solution to all of the above! I'd love to have awesome stories about the make-up of this outfit, but it's mostly Forever 21. Headband, shirt, skirt, shoes, all xxi. I'm wearing the swimsuit top underneath because that tat is still healing and not ready for bra straps yet. I've had the earrings since high school :)

One more story from the weekend...

We had just said goodbye and gotten into the car and I sat down and got a quick, stabbing pain in the middle of my back. "Shit! John I think I just got stung by a bee! Will you look at it?" My reaction to mosquito bites is ridiculous and so I assume bees will be worse and was nervous that if I waited five minutes, it swell so large that my shirt would burst, hulk-style. As I held my shirt over my head so John could look, there was a buzzing sound and we stopped to wonder which phone was getting static-y and why...hmmm? John assessed that it looked like I had been bitten, not stung and while it was huge, it was not of comically immense proportions, at least not yet. What is that damn buzzing? It seems obvious in retrospect, but as we put my shirt back down, the bug flew away and the buzzing stopped. it had been trapped in my shirt. duh. dude, it was huge. As we drove out of the woods, I felt like I had a giant dagger stabbed into my back. I made John stop and look at it more than once. By the time we arrived in town, it was going between stabbing pain and horrible itching. The redness was about as big as my fist. Awesomely enough, it happened on the opposite shoulder than the new tattoo. But that also meant the between the constant itching of the bite and the healing itch of the tat, I was just about driven crazy with the urge to scratch my back. One side was off limits and the other side was positioned in such a way that I needed a tool of some sort, or the help of a husband, to reach the itch. That happened Saturday. Today is the first day it's actually diminished to the point where I can accomplish tasks without wishing I could scrub the skin off my back. ah.... unfortunately, the redness is still as big as my fist. Gonna wait to take the new tat picks until I won't get asked "um, what does that big red part mean?"

Luxury!

(Note: I wrote that in my best Monte Python voice as an homage to JJ's family and their often running commentary...)

Here's the thing: Because we love to travel to small towns in rural places, and have long since quit camping, sometimes we end up staying in crappy hotels. My love of the traveling we do does not remove my OCD tendencies so I travel with an emergency suitcase. In that suitcase is 2 flat sheets and pillow cases (always clean, cuz I wash them after every use), a towel, an atlas, instant coffee, 2 granola bars, two whiskey glasses, and the Phase 10 dice game. (awesome, I know. Maybe someday I'll share the contents of my travel toiletry tool box) The most often used items are the sheet and pillow cases. ...and that brings us to this weekend. We were going to be in the woods outside of Unity and we had passed through there once and had lunch at a great little bar and we were anxious to stay! JJ's mom grabbed the hotel number last weekend when they passed through (it's not exactly on the interwebs) so I called and made us a reservation. When I called, the phone was answered "Unity general store and motel" and then she asked if she could call me back because there were people in the store. dude, this was going to be awesome, I had high hopes. We didn't even have a second thought as we drove through town on the way to the woods.
After a long day in the woods, and enough beers to not drive further than we needed to, we arrived back in Unity to check into the hotel. The rules were posted outside.
While in the general store, John checked in while I smelled the homeade scented candles. John said "you want one?" he joked "we can light it if the rooms smells bad" (dear readers, this is what we call foreshadowing in storytelling. and jinxing yourself in real life.) We went over to our room and opened the door. A smell so strong lived inside there that it almost hurt to enter. John ran back to the office and caught the lady just as she was closing the store (7 pm) and said "Can we have a different room, ours smells like cat pee" "It's not cat pee, we had a flood and the only other room doesn't have a working toilet." John comes back and says "I guess we'll have to use that candle..." Unequipped with appropriate camping equipment and unable to get anywhere else in a decent amount of time, we had to stay. We opened the window and lit the candle and hoped for the best while we left for the bar. Before we go, let me give you a little tour. While we do this, imagine that you are wearing a mask made of cat pee.
OK, I kind of wished I would have stolen the keychain. This microwave is older than the first one my family got as a kid. Check out the retro auto-settings. Also note, I wouldn't have opened that for all the tea in China.
Fancy, colored towels.
shower.
John's favorite feature: the thumb tack curtain rod.
John showing off the decor (do you still have your pee mask on? cuz it still smells horrible.)
My favorite feature: the sink.
After we'd opened the window as far as possible and put our sheets on the bed, and lit the scented candle, we hoped for the best and went to the bar. I love towns where you can take your picture in the middle of the street.
We'd been to the bar before :)
After hopefully enough whiskey to knock us out through the smell, we headed to the hotel. The open windows and scented candle? ...didn't work at all. It was a pretty sleepless night. I actually debated going to sleep in the trunk of the car. The next day after a couple hours in the woods, we headed back to Pendleton, where I took a very hot, very long shower and even shaved my legs to finally feel clean again. I'm sure we'll go back to the town, but only en route to somewhere else that we're sleeping.

Wordless Wednesday

Mushrooms!

I always describe mushroom hunting as being like an Easter egg hunt for adults and Mother Nature does the hiding. Well this was one of the years where she was generous. The best mushroom seasons are when you find one and it leads you to another and another. and another..andanotherandanother.... kind of like this:

and then there's us pros, who have the mushrooms eagle eyes and every once in a while spot one that Mother Nature never thought we'd find....

Memorial Day Us-iversary....

In order to ensure that we never forget it, and that we always can celebrate with a three day weekend, we consider Memorial Day weekend to be our anniversary. We do that because our first trip together was about a year after we met and that trip happened on Memorial Day. John took me out to mushroom hunt at his family's spot. I'd never been mushroom hunting and felt super special to be taken to the family spot. If you are one of those people that assumes we're talking about trippy mushrooms, guess again. We hunt morels, and they are delicious! I proved myself a solid hunter that first year and we've done it every year since. Here we are on one of our early anniversaries...
That was back when we camped :) We now plan to ensure that we have hotel close enough. (more on that in a later post....)
We had a super successful season and got the share the weekend with John's family. Everything was wonderful.
We also got to have a wonderful road trip and some kickass fun nights in some of our favorite bars around the state...
and maybe a couple beers in the woods.
After all these years and all the time we've spent together and every up and down, we even still like each other :)