HELLS YES

I totally stole this from John, but it's too good to pass up:


Who wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese this weekend? Road trip for the BFFs?!?

bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes

My life has been overtaken by bikes. Here's a glimpse:


The Pedal Cloud hops mad curbs.



BFF bike derby


Carl and I represent.

Also, Shanai got me hooked on bike related missed connections. Here's one from today:

Wow! We passed right in front of Dunn Bros at the Lake St. bridge at 8:00 last night. I'd have smiled more, but I was trying not to choke on the gnats I just breathed. your gnatty admirer

Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads

This book is awesome. Who doesn't want to know about flesh-eating beetles or how to stuff a human?? My fun having, film fest coordinating, traveling around the country, busy ass has been taking quite a few months to finish reading it, but I have a feeling that my upcoming 12 hr MEGAbus ride will do the trick.

But seriously - I can't stop thinking about taxidermy lately. It seems to be popping out at me from everywhere. I visited the Milwaukee County Museum for the second time a few months ago and once again my mind was blown by the amazing dioramas they have on display. They even have the very first diorama ever!!!

Did you know that Sam Sanfillippo is one of my favorite taxidermists? Really truly. Squirrels riding rodeo? Genius. Plus he's from Wisconsin. I hope he loves cheese as much as I do.

My old house had a huge boar's head mounted above the fireplace. A REAL boar's head - covered in cobwebs and dust and complete awesomeness. Chris found it in the basement along with over 10 years worth of old roomates' crap. It used to scare the shit out of me when I'd stumble home drunk from the CC Club at 3am. I sure do miss that boar's head...I like to call him Al.

There's this new Minneapolis taxidermy/music blog floating around the blog-o-sphere. It's called Stuffed Pheasant and although I think it has too much music coverage and not enough local taxidermy...it's still nice to see something new and weird pop up. Plus, I heard they're looking for writers...so if you feel like covering the latest and greatest in taxidermy you should hit them up.

What if your job was to paint all this bird shit?

spring break '08!!

Things that took place during Spring Break '08 in Milwaukee:



Ate too much cheese.






Drank $4 liters of beer.

Watched the buffalo 'roam'.

Inflated my ego by finding a flaw in this diorama.

Hung out with some hungry Dinosaurs.

Witnessed the love between men.

And discovered how much I truly wish I could pee standing up.

thumbs down

Don't you hate it when a totally thumbs up day turns into a totally thumbs down night?

Here is how my day started:



The best thing ever happened this morning: the sun woke me up before my alarm went off. It's always nice to start your day with rays of sunshine as opposed to obnoxious beeping.

Too bad today is a shot day. I switched back to the pen style shot as opposed to the syringe because my allergic (?) reactions to the syringe shots were getting stronger and stronger. Hopefully today will be reaction free and I won't have to worry about frantically calling my doctor....

Other good news of the day: my kombucha tea matured enough to bottle yesterday. This morning I drank a cup after waking up and it was delicious.

Good day sunshine. THUMBS UP, RIGHT?

Fast forward to 3pm:
A large, red, itchy bump formed on my leg where I injected my shot. LAME.

Fast forward to 10pm:
Snow started falling on the first day of spring. THUMBS DOWN.

I know this year's slogan is No Hate in '08, but sometimes it's so damn hard.

HM....

I've ranted about my moral dilemma concerning Mall of America's fast-fad chain stores such as H&M and Forever 21 in this prior post and I've stuck to my guns (and my wallet) since then. I haven't given either of those brands a single cent since writing that rant, but with the spring/summer seasons creeping up on me I'm realizing that I'm in dire need of some necessities. Necessities such as sunglasses. And jeans that aren't full of holes. Necessities that I could probably scour thrift stores for but lack the time, or buy from local boutiques but lack the cash flow. Necessities that could be found in a snap at H&M...

Luckily for me (and my morals) the Low Impact Living blog has done some research for me. This article rates some of the top fast-fad fashion brands such as Gap (includes Old Navy and Banana Republic), Target, Forever 21, and H&M in relation to their environmental responsibility and social practices. Hmmm, it seems that H&M isn't exactly the big bad wolf I've made it out to be. Not that they are perfect by any means - or that shopping there is better than thrifting or buying locally or handmade - BUT the article does let me feel okay to rationalize buying a few things from them here and there.

Hole-free jeans here I come.

Stuporbowl XI

150 bike kids and a smart, sassy, lady from Chicago invaded my house last weekend.

Since my house was a 'sober stop' this year (wtf??) Becca and I made anyone who entered our territory don a "finger 'stache".

Here is the Chicagoan, Becca, helping my lady Stella model a "finger 'stache":



Stuporbowl XI kicked ass for many reasons this year. But mostly because a woman won all around first place! Hell yes! It made me crazy proud to be a lady biker in Minneapolis.

Here's the champ, Susan, with her "thumb 'stache":



Finger 'staches for all.