carnival fantasy

i spent last week on a cruise ship in the atlantic ocean going between south carolina and the bahamas.

charleston is only 3 and a half hours from asheville. the cruise left at 5 pm on monday, so we drove down monday morning and got on the ship. no airports, no hotels. easy breezy!

i have never been on a cruise before. it was not exactly like the love boat, but it wasn't too over the top cheesy either.  it was a lot like woodloch pines, but on a ship.  lots of activities available, but nothing was mandatory.


 there were over 2000 people on the ship. if you're looking for relatively agreeable, polite passengers, i recommend a ship leaving from charleston as opposed to one from south florida and/or new jersey. it seemed like 99% of our boat was from NC, SC, or Kentucky. They blessed their food before eating, but did not bless out cruise ship staff.  Good trade.

here they are learning the 'thriller' dance

 the weather in asheville last week was snowy and sub freezing. the weather in the bahamas was 72 and sunny.

we got off the boat in nassau and went to a resort nearby- site of many james bond movies. they try to keep the riff raff (us) out, but our cabbie lied and said we were staying there and snuck us through the gate and we went to the spa to sign up for a couples massage. it was all very uncomfortable. we were chased out of a hammock in a deserted park while waiting. we drank the world's loneliest un-garnished bloody mary in a fantastically beautiful but soulless heartless silent bar.

we weren't supposed to be there, and everybody knew it. i was happy to see it and happy to leave it.

after a peek at the vegas-disney spectacle of the atlantis, we found a sweet spot at the other end of the island called traveller's rest.

people were nice! they spoke to us! and wanted to take our money! it was glorious!

they even gave us a bonus fritter. they are serious about their conch down there. delicious giant clams.

the next day, the ship stopped in freeport. we took a cab to the reef golf course at the grand lucayan and kevin played golf. it was very beautiful and relaxed. the course was in pretty dang good shape and greens fees were reasonable. he was the second person out at 9 AM and did not wait for a shot, done in about 2.5 hours. it was lovely.

the ship left the bahamas at 5pm on thursday and we had a 'fun day at sea' friday, arriving back in charleston at the crack of dawn on saturday. the carnival staff were great - friendly and diligent. they cleaned our room 2 times a day. all of the common areas were constantly being maintained - scrubbed, painted, re-tiled. twice i saw them RECARPETING somebody's room. i guess when there's an accident, instead of cleaning the carpet, they pull it up and replace it. it may not be the greenest method, but it definitely seemed clean. 

 one fun, quirky thing about carnival is they make 'towel creations' - twist towels into animal shapes. i thought this was extremely funny and wanted to buy the instruction book. kevin wasn't so amused, and so we didn't get the book. if anybody is looking for birthday present ideas for me, i would like this book.

all in all, it was a great escape for 5 days, and i would definitely do it again. 

deeeeep freeeeeze

the swannanoa river is bigger than a creek. with this week's polar vortex bringing sub-zero (really) temperatures to asheville, the river froze over in parts.

there's a platform of ice along the bank.

thankfully today is back up into the balmy upper 30's and the ice is now chunking and flowing downstream.

many people were without power and many have burst pipes and flooding. we had a burst-scare yesterday afternoon when i turned the kitchen cold water faucet and nothing came out. frozen pipe! all other faucets in the house worked, so we knew it wasn't a main pipe, but the kitchen sink happens to be located DIRECTLY over my 1200 precious heirlooms (vintage clothing) stored on shelves. i strongly considered buying dozens of plastic bins and moving hundreds of pounds of clothing upstairs, just in case. for over 24 hours the pipe was frozen, but i just kept a sharp lookout/listen out and this afternoon it thawed. no burst, no flood, thank you baby jesus!

pouncey has two balls!

hola 2014

2013 was a good year for me. and for skippy haha vintage! i really enjoy selling on etsy, it is user friendly and the seller fees are reasonable. everything continues to move in the right direction as time goes by - more views, favorites, and sales. 

a few major highlights of the last year: 

i opened a skippy haha vintage t-shirt shop on defunkd.com vintage t-shirt collective. dozens of sellers post hundreds of authentic vintage t-shirts all in one convenient location.  jimmy j does a fantastic job of keeping the site fresh and functional. there's a funny, informative blog and an interactive forum - lovers of true vintage t-shirts can get lost for hours on this site.

in 2013 i taught myself to sew. more accurately, i reacquainted myself with the sewing i learned in mrs mcdonald's 7th grade home ec class. though that was sewing with a machine, and now i've been sewing like betsy ross.  seams. buttons. burnholes. a 2 foot dog nail rip in a duvet cover. it has opened up a whole new world of vintage for me! instead of passing on things, or reducing prices for missing buttons, i repair them and sell for full price. win-win!

last but not least, i mentored a sweet, funny, kind woman in etsy selling. she went from being a young mother/goodwill junkie/semi-hoarder to a professional 20+ etsy seller in a couple short months.  after hundreds of emails and text messages back and forth about shipping and keywords and photos and customer service, check her out: robin egg surprise - i am totally proud of helping allison get her wings!


i hope everybody is off to a great start in 2014 - can't wait to see what treasures the next 12 months bring!

merry christmas from dog

holidays are as festive as you are.  festive is as festive does.

even if it's raining and gray and muddy, you can always put on the carpenter's christmas album, boil some cinnamon on the stove, focus on the twinkling lights, and be merrier than buddy the elf.

happy holidays to you and yours! warm puppysnuggles to all!

olive and friends

i think photo calendars are a FUNctional and often hilarious present. i like them.

dogs like them too!

big thanks to betsylife for sharing a yearful of puppy pics!

starring adorable black lab puppy olive, and her big sister tally.

nacho approves.


pouncey approves too.

the dachshund i think is named boozer. i have no real life experience with dachshunds (weiner dogs), though i know that one of them bit kevin in the nose when he was a little kid. so now i think they're pretty funny and awesome.

check out betsylife for more puppy pictures, great recipes, and moooooore! 

*ps - dogs were enticed into kissing olive through the magic of coconut oil. 

time sure flies

 
there are very few things in my life that i have done for consistently for 5 years straight. 

i haven't stayed at one school, or played soccer, or played clarinet, or played tennis, or given up eating meat, or kept the same job, or lived in california, or lived by myself, for 5 years straight. 

 i HAVE, however, been (as facebook says) In A Relationship for 5 years as of today. 

 it was 5 years ago that kevin & i met up in hickory for dinner, and nothing's been the same since! 

i have changed my sleep pattern completely - i used to sleep midnight to 8AM, now i sleep 9PM to crack of dawn. i have learned to can it when it should be canned, and speak up when it should be said. for the most part. 

the sum total of my relationship advice is - if you love retriever dogs, pick a partner who acts like a retriever dog! 

i happen to love retriever dogs. they are loyal and friendly and smart and cute and love to be outdoors. i am not saying i couldn't love somebody who didn't have these traits, but it is soooo much more natural for me to love somebody who does! 

basically, i didn't mature and grow as a person in patience and compassion to get to 5 years - more like i found somebody from the start with whom i am highly compatible. when you share values and a general direction, they can get 'their way' and it not be offensive to you. and vice versa. things that could be struggles with a different person, are more like win-win. it's nice.

onward!

pouncey's puppy reunion!

this weekend we took pouncey out to trails end in waynesville to play with his brothers and his mama.

there were 4 pups in his litter. all boys - 1 was white, 3 were brown. the white one was picked first. his name is harley and he lives in franklin, nc.

next we picked pouncey out of the remaining 3 brown ones.

then another family came and picked jake. sadly for jake their circumstances changed and jake didn't get any attention and he was returned to trails end a couple of weeks ago. he is kind of like a feral animal. he has stubby legs and was trying to hump pouncey the whole time, but there's a sweet dog underneath.

the last puppy was duke and he stayed at trails end with their mama, blizzard.

mama blizzard thinks this is fun but wants them all to go home later

pouncey had a BALL!

pouncey, duke, and jake

pouncey was the best fetcher. the fastest. the most energetic.

also the goofiest. and tied for best manners.

pouncey, jake, blizzard, duke, and harley

jake wins coolest eyes.

clan of the cave dog, jake

cover dog, duke is the biggest by 10 lbs. he is very friendly and sweet, and he is definitely in charge.



pouncey is the only one who is fixed. (jake is getting fixed soon to curb the humping.)

harley also sucks on his bed! just like pouncey. they were the first two taken from their mama, i think this is why. harley doesn't really fetch, he runs in circles. much like nacho. his fur is soft as a bunny, too.

l-r: pouncey, harley, jake, duke

pouncey and duke have matching tongue spots on their XXL tongues. of all 4, they are the most similar.


family portrait time!

pouncey, duke, harley, and jake - the 4 brothers!

i don't think they recognized each other, but maybe they sensed a familiarity, and i know they did have lots of fun!

recipe - bedazzled bananas!

you will not find many recipes on this blog, but this one is fun: 

1. peel a banana 
2. bedazzle it with cashews 
3. mangia! 

good stuff

we were 6 hours into a 9 hour road trip, in a hotel parking lot in columbus, georgia. we were on our way to the florida panhandle for 'parents weekend' - what would be the first meeting of our parents in the 5 years we've been together - picking up my parents at the airport the next morning to stay 3 days at the beach in a condo with kevin's parents. it was 10 pm and kevin asked "can i help you with your bag?"

i said 'sure....where is my bag?"

my bag was at home.

luckily, i am roughly the same size as kevin's mom, who hadn't left for the beach yet and was kind enough to bring me a big bag of t-shirts and pants and belts and jackets that i wore all weekend. along with some junk i scrounged off the target, dick's, and kohl's clearance racks in a one hour early morning shopping frenzy in dothan, alabama, (and one slight breakdown in the kohl's dressing room - why the hell are all these pants spandex! i hate these pants! i am buying these pants anyway! i hate these pants!) and a baseball hat from my dad, i made it!

which was great because we all had a great time. kevin was only slightly creeped out to see me wearing his mom's clothes all weekend. everybody was on their best behavior and there were no fights and lots of laughs. and cuteness.

this was followed by a nice week at home, including some pasture time with pouncey. and pouncey's tongue.




on friday we got in the car again headed for chattanooga and norman blake. this was hour 5 in what was supposed to be a 3.5 hour drive. it was rough.



but the show was smooth! norman blake is a guitar master. he was playing with his wife on cello and his friend on fiddle. it was very sweet.


we came home the next day and pouncey passed his first overnight test with flying colors! he didn't shred anything while we were gone and has earned enough trust to stay at the house next time we go away. no more kennel for pouncey! see you later, bed, bark and beyond.

sweetest pouncey ever

snuggling with miss maizey, the almost-13 year old golden retriever. 

also, if you haven't already, get your grubby paws on "hands on a hardbody" - documentary made in 1997 about people in texas who go to a car dealership and put their hands on a pickup truck. for 3 days. last one standing drives it away. you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be astounded.

party crasher

my brother is 2 years younger than i am. he is also much more social than i am. when we were growing up, many times i wanted him to disappear.  the more i wanted him to disappear, the more he wanted to do what i was doing.

when i left home and went to college and looked back with some perspective for the first time, i felt a little guilty for being mean to him. he has a big heart and he never meant any harm. i should have been more patient. but damn he was annoying!

i found these pictures of my 7th birthday party and all these feelings became crystal clear.

fine. okay. he can come to the sleepover. it's 6 girls and...chris. fine. okay. whatever. his sleeping bag goes in the corner.



great. everybody is singing and having a pillow fight. he can stay over there. inside his crayons sleeping bag.

 

 NO! no. no. no. what the???? NOOOO! how did this happen. i hate my life. i hate this party.

looks like somebody ate his wheaties

pouncey had some vaccines this morning and as i brought him into the office, the vet said "looks like somebody ate his wheaties this morning...with some CRACK on top..."



the beginning of a snarl



aww pouncey so cute



SNARL!

 

really he is a nice dog, just a little spring-loaded!

happy birthday big popi!

happy birthday to my DAD!

My dad is the greatest!

Here is one small example. Not only did he go to every single one of my Saturday soccer games from age 8 to 12, but he would then spend a lot of his Sunday writing articles about the games, which he then mailed into the Long Islander weekly newspaper to be published. He had legal pads full of notes. Checklists of every girl's name so nobody would feel left out, even the girls who were not so great got their name in print.

He has a fantastic sense of humor and is endlessly patient and rational. What an excellent dad!

nachos falls

once upon a time there was a waterfall.

nacho went to the top of the waterfall.

nacho hopped straight down the face of the waterfall.

nacho had to think quick because there were slippery rocks at the bottom of the waterfall!

nacho thought quick and hopped even quicker!

nacho did a full extension leap and landed on the dirt and was fine! stuck the landing! 

 the rest of us had heart attacks.

fly foot blood foot

it's been an eventful time for the doggies over here.



last week, pouncey was caught like a striped bass by a fly fishing hook in the ankle. he pounced across the river at the wrong time. the hook went through in two spots and i held him down while kevin removed it with pliers. pouncey did not growl or snarl for even one second. he squirmed and whimpered a little but for the most part laid still.



a couple days later the dogs came up from the river and there were bloody pawprints all over the house and deck. (which came right up with white vinegar). pouncey had somehow sliced his back paw open and was gushing profusely, every step he took. we gave him a rawhide chewy and some pain medicine/sedative and kept him in his crate for a day until it scabbed over. 

his spirits were not diminished by either of these events.

in great news, nacho has stopped chewing, scratching, and licking! it's like a switch turned off this week. it also coincides with the grass mold level dipping from 'extreme' down to 'moderate' for the first time in months. here he is on his first hike since spring. he galloped and pranced around the fields like a puppy!

*****

behold a new video from guadalajara joe - in which he impersonates freddie mercury. this is *NOT [edit] somehow an attempt to prevent borat from playing mercury in a movie. so yeah!

* Borat is already not playing mercury, this is an attempt to have guadalajara joe play mercury, as queen searches for the right actor.  so yeah!


 

roller derby

this weekend the WFTDA (women's flat track derby association) held a tournament at the civic center downtown asheville.

my old friend A-lisa from your favorite kickball team, the san diego kitshickers, is now a member of the chicago roller derby team, the windy city rollers. she goes by 'sargentina' and her job is to kick ass, and she is really good at it. she was an all-star from day one on the kitshickers, and nothing is different on the windy city rollers. 

last i saw alisa, (right) she was ho-downing, now she's downing ho's

i got to hang out with her for a couple of days, and pouncey was allowed to sleep outside of his crate for one night and snuggle with her. he fell in love and will never be the same!

pouncey drooling over sargentina's playing card

windy city had to finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd this weekend in order to make it to the championships in november. they lost in a white knuckle heartbreaker saturday, but last night they squeaked by minnesota to clinch the 3rd spot!

it was really mind-blowing and exciting watching their bout. these women are extremely intense. extremely agile. extremely powerful. the score is constantly changing, as they get a point for each player that their 'jammer' passes on her trips around the track. it's pretty confusing for a new fan, but very exciting. i can't believe the small amount of padding that they wear, considering the speed they're moving and the concreteness of the floor.

i wouldn't want to try to break that line!

 it's always great to see old friends, especially when they're doing interesting things!