three trips to vermont in one year?!?

I may be attending my 20th high school reunion in July.

I know. I know. I'm fairly alarmed myself.

I knew the invitation was coming, but I had pretty much ruled out going as it's a mere 5 weeks after I would have just come back from Vermont and it's my first summer in the youth services department and I never ever ever was really all that into the whole reunion thing.

And then my bff of yore, Pev, contacted me asking if I was going. My bff of yore whom I have not seen in over 10 years as she now lives in Winnepeg and I live in Michigan and somehow our going-home-for-Christmas rotations are opposite.

For Pev?  I will go. 

(And I'll start taking bets on how many ridiculous things we may manage to do in one very short weekend. Will Eed and Pev get tattoos to commemorate their first tattoos 20 years ago? Will Eed and Pev manage to track down an old Toyota Tercel to drive around town? Will Eed and Pev smoke cloves? Drink copious amounts of alcohol? Watch Reality Bites whilst quoting the entire movie?)

But for the first trip, we leave the Grandest of Rapids on Friday June 15th at some ridiculously early time, like, 5:30am and will arrive in lovely Burlington, Vermont by about 9:30am. Now, this was clearly not my first choice as neither Peter nor I are particularly fond of early mornings especially the morning after, say, a Destroyer show at the Ladies Lit Club, but the price was right and the timing actually means I get to spend a few more hours with my Uncle Harold and Aunt Diane so it's totally worth it. We're not exactly sure how we're going to get to the airport yet though my favorite plan so far revolves around hanging out with the Boyles post-show for a few hours, having them drop us off at the airport at an ungodly hour after which they'd start the long drive to Vermont while we crash out on the plane. 

But seriously, I'm super-psyched about the June Vermont trip. I haven't been out there in June for so long and it's so green and so pretty and there are so many wonderful people who are coming together to celebrate our wedding.  It will be a party to end all parties! And THEN we get to hang out in the most coolest city of Burlington for a few days. Walking to Pennycluse for breakfast, hitting up A Single Pebble for amazing Chinese, trying out Three Needs Brewery, driving through the Notch, maybe visiting some cheesemakers and definitely visiting some breweries. 

June 15th: I'm ready for you now!!!!

what a pain in the neck

Guess what?  Despite years and years and years of being told "No one would ever show up for Spring Break programming at the library because everyone goes out of town" we had over 300 people show up at the library over Spring Break because NOT EVERYONE GOES OUT OF TOWN. It was awesome to hear from parents how grateful they were the library offered so many programs as it gave their kids something special to do over their break.  

It was an insane week of insanity topped off by a whopping 27 kids showing up for Teen Iron Chef: Desserts.  I got a little taste of what my summer is going to be like (our current schedule has us averaging about 6 programs per week which, imho, is about twice as many as we should be running...) and I realized that not running when life gets stressful does not in fact alleviate stress. If you could remind me of that in the throws of the week where I'm currently scheduled to run a Spa Night, do a story time at the Farmers Market, run our Reading Buddies program, pull off a Flip Flop craft day and do another family story time that would be swell.

My running for the week was derailed by my 6 month dermatology appointment yesterday. I got cut into.  Twice. Once on my left arm and once on the back left of my neck. If it's nothing, I should hear by postcard within 10 days. If it's nothing serious, I'll find out when I get my stitches out in 10 days. If I get a phone call, well, I go back in for more extensive cutting. This appointment was set up a long time ago, but hearing from Michael about a friend of his who had survived heart surgery not 6 months ago only to discover he has stage 4 melanoma and there is nothing they can do put me in the "just take it off" mindset for the first time since my initial diagnosis years ago. 

In much more frivolous news, I finally took a break from all my teen lit reading and starting "Clash of Kings."  This whole series is hilarious if only because it is so mediocre writing-wise and yet so compelling plot-wise. I anxiously read through chapters in anticipation of the next Arya chapter!  I'm still waiting for Daenerys to show up! And in between I get delightful descriptions of food and blowjobs! 

I also have begun the final season of the epic series "7th Heaven."  There are some who believed me to be speaking in jest when I mentioned on facebook how excited I was to obtain the show on DVD from my local library. To be clear: I love the Camdens. Sometimes I love to hate them. Lucy in particular is a devil woman. As is the whore-faced Ruthie. And there is something terribly wrong with Sandy's face though technically she's not a Camden, but really all of those side-characters are family member fillers especially after they exiled Jessica Beal's character Mary for being slutty. And the twins are just downright creepy. The acting is horrible. The scripts are a muddled mess churchiness. But I swear, there is something amazing going on here. Between the monotone line delivery from Kevin and the tear-rimmed eyes of Reverend Camden, I feel as though I'm watching a morality play not to be missed.

We did start Justified to balance out the 7th Heaven. And what an equalizer it has been. I now know under no circumstances can I ever live in Kentucky. 

In case there was any doubt about that.