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Well, yinz guys, I’m about to go on my first big solo road trip* to a family reunion in mid-New York state, the Fingers Lakes region. Wine country! I’m pretty excited, even though I had a few things trip me up this morning, i.e. picking up the GPS from my parents, stopping in a Starbucks [...]

You probably know that mannequins are scary. It turns out that if you can get past your fear of their staring, motionless imitation of human life, they can be occasionally hilarious as well as creepy. I was walking past the great thrift store Hey Betty a while ago and spotted these bevies in the window. [...]

Luck works out in weird ways. The same day I’m freaking out over not having enough money to put gas in my car, I win tickets through work to the Flaming Lips concert. If you’re keeping track at home, this is the third thing I’ve won in three months, after throwing out the first pitch [...]

So I went to my first roller derby match (game? brawl? whatever) on Saturday. The Steel City Derby Demons vs. the Philadelphia Roller Girls. And even though the Pittsburgh teams didn’t win, it was awesome. Don’t ask me the technical rules or anything like that. I know who the jammer is and what her role [...]

In addition to my grey hair, another thing I’ve learned to make peace with is the fact that not everyone who meets me will like me. That may sound a little weird or not that big of a deal to you. Maybe one day the fact hit you and you just went back to whatever [...]

“I know I’m alone if I’m with or without you But just being around you offers me another form of relief When the loneliness leads to bad dreams And the bad dreams lead me to calling you And I call you and say, ‘C’mere!’” Yeah, I’ve been listening to a lot of Rilo Kiley this [...]

I headed out last Monday on my birthday to the Red White & Blue Thrift Store assuming it would be closed, since most things were in observance of Independence Day (a fact I’ve grown used to after all these years). I mean, come on, do thrift stores get more American than the Red White & [...]

“How do you do it and make it seem effortless? When it’s all the stupid things, so overwhelming to me. Like paying bills or showing up for work early. Or laughing at your jokes.” Good job with predicting my mid-twenties, Jenny and Blake. Seen here and inspired/related.

Saturday was my mother’s mother’s side’s annual family reunion. It’s the Italian part of me and they’ve been going to a local family amusement park since I was a small child. There are matching t-shirts, card games, and tons and tons of food, of course. It’s as dorky as it goes and I completely love [...]

Sometimes I have to remind myself that things won’t go as planned not matter how solid and swimmingly everything is going up until that certain point. It’s not that I haven’t figured this out on my own yet, but when I’m looking forward to something, I can have tail-wagging puppy-dog enthusiasm. And unlike the puppies, [...]