House Plants

After a week of playing in the mountains, I had done my laundry and was putting it away when something caught my eye--Look carefully at the picture:
Apparently, when I was gone, this plant had grown through the window and in to my bedroom! (Top left corner of the window) Clearly I'm more of a green thumb when I'm out of the state. Too bad it wasn't a magical bean stalk! How does that even happen?!

Montana Musings

My last few days in Montana... First of all, We made sure to hit the Bozone, the brewery in town. While we were having a few, Mike looked out the window and asked "Is that guy walking donkey's down the street?"

Turns out, there really were donkeys!
After picking up a few growlers, we headed to the store to get the fixin's for some bbq...
And no, I have no idea what they were doing with the kale, but I'm certain Melissa started it. Random lion doing naughty things to the security camera. Clearly, Mike was enjoying himself.
Mustard any one?
Montana was absolutely gorgeous!! I loved the people, the atmosphere and the mountains

Even these last few in Wyoming! :)

Thanks Mel for a great road trip!!

The Wilds of Montana

Ah, the wilds of Montana!

We headed up to Headwaters State Park. This is where the Missouri River Starts as well as the Gallatin River, the Madison River and the Jefferson Rivers feed into it. As we were driving Jeff spotted a MOOSE in the Missouri! You all know of my love of Mooses, so we stopped for some pictures!

We didn't get much closer, because apparently moose are mean, and we didn't want to make it want to charge us...but I'm so psyched I saw a real live MOOSE!

After the moose sighting, we headed to the Lewis and Clark Caverns. (Random trivia: It's the first state park in Montana.) We hiked up the mountain to the mouth of the caverns. It had an amazing view! This is the Jefferson River cutting through the valley.
The caverns had your typical cavey stuff...
Fallen Stalagmite:

Random cave spelunkers :)
This was a beautiful pond in the cave that looked like glass. That's not a reflection you see...the water is just that clear.
There was a section of the caves that had LED lighting. So the colors were much more true. I had no idea that caves were actually pink and purple, rather than earth tones!
Yeah caving! The mountains are such a beautiful place to play!

Road Trip!!

It's that time of year again--time to hit the open road and take a good ol' fashioned ROAD TRIP!

Here's Melissa having fun with the camera:
Creepy enormous windmills. Seriously, they were alien scary.
And these boys mooned us. Sorry, we weren't quick enough with the camera to get the big white ass pressed against the window.
Fun self portrait:
Melissa's happy rest stop in Minnesota:

The "Car Wash & Laundromat in the middle of South Dakota cracked us both up! (Yes, I'm holding a squeegee--there were massive bug issues on the windshield.) I didn't get it, I mean the place had a Car Wash/Laundromat but no stop light? Come on!!Mmmm....Peanut Butter and Banana
Beautiful view from Jeffie's front porch.

And finally at Dave's Sushi (Jeff and Melissa, happy and full of Sushi!)

I'll update soon with more pics, but I'm still frolicking in the mountains of Montana!

Fact or Crap?

Is this for real? Under what scientific principle does it fall?

Pop Corn téléphone portable micro-ondes
Uploaded by sassiere

Who wants to try it?!

You know you're crazy when...

I was out this very gorgeous afternoon for a training run when I happened to run past my High School track coach. We chatted for a second. I told him that I had a 9 minute PR on Sunday at the Chicago Distance Classic 1/2 Marathon. I also mentioned that Julia had also completed her first 1/2 Marathon and was thinking of running her first marathon this fall.

He proceeded to tell me that we were getting a little crazy, complete with the finger twirl by the side of his head. I informed him that we blame him for it.

You know you're an insane runner person when your H.S. track coach tells you that you're crazy. :)

Disappearing Froggies

Here's some advice for all the Froggies out there: In this day and age, there is absolutely no excuse to stand up your date. There are cell phones, pagers, email and a gazillion other gadgets that may be used to contact another human being. Especially when you confirm said date, 24 hours prior to the date. I believe it's much better to make a phone call and lie to me (ie. car trouble, family issues, raging case of herpes...) as to why you're not going to show up, rather than ignoring my existence. Don't be extremely nice to me, make arrangements to meet and then become an amphibian Houdini!

To the Frog that stood me up: You better be trapped under something heavy. Preferably a hot, sweaty, smelly, sumo wrestler who had just eaten copious amounts of Mexican food.

Frog Poaching

Ah, the set up. In my experience these never go well. However, the hopeless romantic in me seems to say yes, because "You never know!"

I was set up for a lunch date. As we were chatting, Greg* asks me if I'm a vegetarian, saying that Katie** was one. Now, this was a set up, but Katie was not the person who set us up. In fact, I don't think I know a Katie. Hmm...glancing down at what I now notice as a ring on his left hand I ask "Are you married?"

To which he responded, "Yeah, do you have a problem with that?"

Do I have a problem?!?! As a woman of good moral character, I absolutely cannot date a man who is involved with another woman. I wouldn't want to be that woman. Heck, I've been that woman and it sucks! Therefore I would never want to do that to someone else. If you're an unhappy froggie, grow a pair and break up with her and move on. I know it might be tough, but in the long run it's a benefit for everyone. But I digress, I am NOT A MAN POACHER!! Furthermore, knowing that the man I was with was that easily distracted from the original woman would just make me insecure about his feelings for me. I guess it's that whole, "once a cheater, always a cheater" thing.

My response was to ask the waitress for a take out box, dumped my sandwich into it (hey, I was hungry!!) and walked out.

*Why I feel the need to protect the frogs, I'll never know--but that's not his real name.
**Also not her real name.

An Open Letter to Riders of the CTA

Hello, readers! I have found in my travels this week several issues to which I'd like to address:

First of all, a show of respect for ones elders. I stood up to give my seat to a woman on the crowded el this afternoon. As I was offering my seat, some punk ass kid took the seat. Not that I'm ancient, but I was older than this kid!! And the woman to which I was relinquishing the seat couldn't have been that old (maybe 40's or 50's) but out of respect, I offered my seat. That seat should not have gone to some teenager. What the crap?! The elderly, injured and pregnant woman should, in fact have priority!!

Second, I would like to remind you that it is AUGUST. Therefore, activating the heat lamps is neither necessary nor amusing. On a side note to the CTA, how the hell is it that those things don't work in December, yet can blaze away in this humidity?!

Moving along; please bathe. Preferably in clean water and not in perfume or cologne.

Also, it's just fine if you're unfamiliar with public transportation. It's not ok, for you to wander aimlessly and block the flow of people. If you're not certain which direction to go, then ask for help (CTA employee/police officer/friendly looking yuppie). But don't stand at the top of the stairs/escalator/doorway/blocking the entire platform with a puzzled look on your face. Just because you haven't a clue doesn't mean you should make the rest of us late. I have no problems giving you directions, but please, get the hell out of my way. On the same token, please don't take up an entire stair on the escalator and make out. There are people trying to walk up the stairs, and you're blocking the way. Make out in an unobtrusive place (ie GET A ROOM!)

Before I go on, I want to make it clear I fully support ones right to free speech. However, I don't want to hear your discussion of anal sex with your significant other. I also don't care who's screwing whom (unless I actually know these people), the virtues of polygamy (yes, they were moving to Utah), or the finer details of your child vomiting on your dog (and the dog eating it). I believe that it's possible to have these conversations at a reasonable volume as not to include an entire el car.

Next, no, I do not want to join your creepy culty religion. Nor do I want any sort of reading material that will try to entice me to join your creepy culty religion. Please don't offer me any Kool-aid either (I know better than to take food or drink from strangers, thank-you-very-much). You have the right to your religious beliefs, I have the right to mine. It's ok if they're not the same, I promise.

Finally, please remember that you are in public. Therefore, I do understand that bodily functions are natural and normal, I would prefer a discretion in their emission. I do not need to hear you continually hack up lugies and spit them at the third rail. If you're above the age of 12, it's not cool to be able to belch the alphabet. And if that burrito is becoming musical, please be discrete and keep your ass away from my delicate nasal passages. P.S. Shitting your pants (literally) and then choosing a seat is not ok!! Bacon strips in your underwear is gross enough, please don't leave them on the bus too!

Thank you for your time.