Birthday Suit

Week Day Beach

Week day beach is the best.  It separates the topless from the prudes, the sun worshipers from the tag alongs (the employed from the unemployed).  Week day beach is when you actually get to read your book and actually get to time how many minutes you lay on your stomach and your back.  There are no distractions, so you can really focus on relaxing as hard as possible.  I love week day beach.

I Earned Two Bagels This Week On This Hike

Only Five Days Left Until Saturday!!!!

Greens

Slea Head Drive is kind of like Ireland's Hana Highway. The road is narrow and winding and alternates between hugging the sides of mountains and hugging the sides of cliffs. I was pretty nauseous behind the wheel and kept thinking how a drink would help calm me down.

Do You Ever Click The Links On My Blog?

We all know Born Tired and Catacomb Homes, but do you guys ever click on that cute little 50 Back Flips icon? Because that 'cute little icon' is basically your daily dose of Ansel Adams on Built To Spill. Seriously:

We have a lot of friends who take pictures of pretty city kids and those are all glamorous, but John's shots really make me feel like my life is passing me by in my cubicle. NATURE DOES NOT AWAIT US! Rather the opposite: Its turning to dust! In the morning I drink my coffee, look at the pics on John's blog and plot my next escape. This man does amazing things with a camera and to use a comfy cliche, his shots are worthy of a thousand words AND awards. I look at his pictures and I crave trail heads, wet shoes and back packs full of collected rocks. Thanks, John!

12 Miles Uphill Both Ways Without Power, Running Water and Heat

Long story short, the same wind that bent the above saplings robbed us of power, water and heat for two nights this weekend. We survived off random stuff like left over high-fiber Triscuits, a tray of ice cubes and some Whiskey. Wind is totally fucked up. Along with downing trees and power lines, it also gives sensitive skin unsightly burns and can really mess up bangs, hair, outfits - basically your whole life.

Anne - where is your mind in this picture, little lamb? The Caribbean? A power plant?

Franconia, NH is Bode Miller's home town! An American Olympian born and raised just down the snowy street from where we were staying! We expected there to be some revelers due to his Olympic wins, but mostly there were just a bunch of homemade signs. Like this one. Oh and a white board that said, 'Welcome to Bodeville, USA.' More like Welcome To The Threshold Of Hell.

Italian showers at the Dutch Treat - the town's bar and grille. Everyone was so surprised by the fare we ate there twice in one day! And the fact that we didn't really have a choice was hardly bothersome.

Faking high morale in the parking lot of Walmart. We bought this crazy battery for $100 that looked like a big red stereo from the 80's and pretty much ran off that for the next 12 hours. I want one for my own home. It was really useful. Like a power, water and heat.

Also, at Walmart - BB guns for under forty dollars! Sharp shooting ensued. We had an epic afternoon charging our new battery. Because we had to run the car to give it juice, we spent the afternoon in Phoebe's front yard waiting patiently for it to charge. There may or may not have been some mild tailgating as well.

Guess what we all learned this weekend?!?!

It hath no seasons! Seriously, I can barely think of a better afternoon and trip for that matter. Thank you no power, water, heat for providing us with such a good weekend!

Saturday, when the skiing party had left, Anne and I lay sourly in bed, both silently plotting our escapes. I kept rolling over and trying to fall back asleep thinking the longer I slept, the less I would suffer (btw - a good strategy for all stressful situations), when suddenly the house turned on with an electric surge! Anne shot up out of bed as if someone had pushed an eject button on the mattress and screamed, "POWER!" Historic breakfast sandwiches, showers and episodes of Celebrity Rehab on VH1 soon followed. Spared from a Donner Party ending!

Coastal, Coasting

Monday Homesickness Puffiness

No Throwing Stones In Glass Houses

Good Vibes Composite Index Up Twelve Points

Top Of The Rock

Would've been nice to have been alone up there, but unfortunately there were two electronics-obsessed yuppies experimenting with their enormous digi-cams at the summit with us.

Manute Bowl Retreat

Do you recognize these people? Probably not. This is Dana and Karl. Dana works at L magazine and is practicing for the GREs and Karl is a card carrying member of the Zip Car program. Together they make a great singing and life team.

This is Danya. She invented the Highline. Kinda.

Danya again. Watch out for poison ivy!

This is Ben. He is how I know these people - because we were once prisoners at the same work camp - CBS.

Whole crew minus Ria (can you imagine how confusing that gets during competition??) and Brian. I guess they had to leave early on Sunday because they were nowhere to be found when we woke up.

I REALLY didn't get this sign, but I think it was about me?

Hey Lover, this is more than a crush.

I went on a getaway with my bowling team/other friends this weekend. In between handfulls of Cheeze-Its I managed to apple pick (kinda), learn how to play Boggle (whined to Tim about losing because I was dumber than the other people playing), watch Arrested Development (after much consideration, Gob is still the hottest), bowl (beat everyone) and hike (still itching today). Great Barrington is cheap and friendly, kinda like if Liz was a town. Snap!