The best hot dogs. period.

This is a shameless plug for a hot dog place in hartford by the name of woody's.  It has apparently been on some television show, but more importantly it has earned my endorsement for serving me a dog with both sauerkraut and swiss cheese on it.  Delicious.

I like to call it 'eccentric'

As we were traveling past Gillette castle the other day and decided to stop and take a look.  It's the product of a newly wealthy actor by the name of william who was the first to portray one sherlock holmes on the stage.  That job must have made him insanely wealthy, because the castle he made for himself on the connecticut river was entirely stone on the outside (even the faux banners are stone) and came with it's own scaled-down train service for after dinner trips around a pond.  As horrible taste goes, it's right up there with a rhinestone piano.

the return of the polaroid!

One of the things that made me sad last year (or whenever ) was the closing down of polaroid en masse.  The instant gratification and the feel of having an actual photo in my hot little hands couldn't be beat by any digital facsimile.  Now they're back with a new model and they're reproducing the type 600 film, which is what my old polaroid takes.  Here's to cameras that only produce one copy of those illicit photos!

more jet cranes

(photo by my better half(who is a stickler for credit apparently))

As the whirlwind tour of family, friends and wedding venues continues, it was nice to take a little time out to sample some of the local brews on the way.  Since I was going to be sitting still for a little while anyway, I decided to fold myself another crane or two (i'm now up to a couple dozen or so).  The best part  A great part about visiting the states is the option to buy your beer by the paddle.  This paddle went from a nice white ale all the down to a stout.  It was a spectrum of hops gloriousnicity.

On the subject of Barns...

As we look at wedding venues, I've noticed that we tend to gravitate towards farmy-looking old barns.  They have that hoe-down feel to them which just screams upper crust.  Then there's the opportunity to have wedding photos like this, not to mention the tractor.  We, of course, go nuts for all the exposed beams and joinery; add a wrought-iron chandelier and we're just in heaven.

Great Scott!

Since my subconscious is such a genius, it figured out how to travel through space at speeds faster than light while I was dreaming last night.  I woke up with the crazy-big maths parading through my brain like some crowd of hooligan sports fans.  Not having a pen to hand, I've lost the thread completely.  All I remember is that, due to gravity's warped sense of humor, not only did you travel through space, but also randomly in time.  I think that would be quite confusing, but ultimately fun.  Think of all the people who want to get in line to punch hitler in the face circa '33!

the best ice breaker yet

So my embarrassingly fun parents brought along the best party favor to the rehearsal dinner we all went to for my cousin's wedding.  Since the 'dinner' was more of a cocktail hour that lasted all night with some nibbles past around, they did the smart thing and waited for everyone to get their fill at the open bar.  After the whole room had managed to get sociable, out came a gigantic bag of wax lips for everyone to wear.  The wedding photographers loved them, because they made us all look foolish and those are the pictures that people will remember.  There was enough for us all, from the aged grandmother to the two little kindergartners.  Don't worry, there will be photos!