More Montana

Some of the fun and wacky people at our daily before dinner cave conference. Most of the time we actually discussed the day's events at the dig, but sometimes we got a bit off track and just chatted about whatever.

Zee archaeologists francaise, working at zee excavations. Hehe Actually it's Stephie, Cameron and Heather working in the "garbage dump" moments before we all strangley developed French accents.






One of Rich's ever-present goats greeting me as I emerged from the very odiferous Lion Cave. Previous excavations had been done here, but on our hike we weren't equipped to go in much farther than daylight could reach.

Aaaaaahhhh....Montana

Well, I don't know where to start! I could go on for hours about my vacation to Montana last week, but that would probably get boring. I am a believer in the phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" - well, at least if it's a good picture. So here are a few pics with short captions so you know what they are.



Petroglyphs at the entrance to Blacktail Cave

One of the thousands of beautiful views on the ranch

Ranch owner and cave discoverer Tag Rittel with his dog Kelly telling us about the Medicine Wheel and the history of the Native Americans in the area.

This shot is a little blurry because of the low light, but it shows two levels of the excavations in the cave.

I've been [tos]sed!

It's not just great, it's not just amazing, it's amazingly amazing!!It's [tos]ome to the 10th degree!!! I was blown away from the moment the curtain went up until the cast took their final bows. The crowd was full of die hard fans that went crazy at the drop of a hat. When Larry Pressgrove came onstage and took his seat behind Lady
88s it took almost a full minute for the crowd to settle down enough for the show to begin. Then Jeff and Hunter had to wait for everyone to settle down after they made their entrance. Pretty much after every moment that was special in some way (and to the super[tos]sers that's a lot of moments!) the audience was making enough noise for three theatres full of people.
And I was just as excited as everyone else. I laughed (almost constantly), I cried (when Heidi sang A Way Back to Then), I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. After the show, we went around the building to the stage door and had to squeeze through the crowd that was already forming to get inside. The dressing rooms were crowded with all sorts of people congratulating the cast. It was great to talk to Jeff after not seeing him for about 30 years. His mom, Jeannie showed up as well and we chatted in his dressing room while he visited with more people.
But the craziness wasn't over yet! The cast was paged to go down to the stage door to meet the HUGE crowd of fans that had gathered. Apparently the police were getting a little cheesed that they were BLOCKING ALL TRAFFIC ON 46TH STREET!!!
We sat in Jeff's dressing room while they went downstairs and we could hear the crowd screaming when they appeared. After that we had to see what was going on and took a gander out the window. There must have been at least 200 people all trying to get pictures and autographs. The phrase "rock stars" was being bandied about quite a bit in reference to the cast's popularity.
All in all it was an exciting evening! In addition to the show, we had a very yummy dinner at Connolly's, an Irish pub a few doors down. Great food and service and reasonable prices. And it was nice to see Nike and Todd too! And the Night Hotel was very dark, shiny and cool. And of course New York City was its usually sparkly self. Nike and Todd took us for an after dinner stroll and we went through Bryant Park (where we took pics of each other) to the Public Library (where we took pics of the lions)
I could go on and on about all the fun things we saw and did, but this post is getting too long. Suffice it to say, I will be heading back to New York again this fall!!

NYC Here we come!

One more week until we head to New York!!! It's going to be [tos]ome!! I just saw a cool trailer for an entry in this year's NY TV Pilot Festival. You can watch it here: .It's a humorous look at life at the zoo called "Living in Captivity" Let's hope we see it on the tube soon!

mhunkee and playbill

The countdown begins to the first preview performance of [title of show] on Broadway!! I can't wait! A friend and I are going up to NYC for the weekend to see the show at the Lyceum (buy tickets now if you haven't already!) I opted to go to the first preview show rather than the "opening night" because a) I am off work for the preview show and b) it won't be so crazy afterwards and I should be able to chat with my cousin Jeff for a little while. I think I was probably 5 or 6 the last time I saw him since they moved to Florida when we were little. Anyhoo, I've been listening to the [tos] CD a lot and- if it's possible- I love it more everytime I listen to it. It always inspires some new thought and mostly inspires me to keep creating whatever I like and not worry about what people might think or if it's any good. (My favorite number in the show is Die,Vampire,Die!) I think anyone, anywhere who has ever done anything remotely creative can connect with the show on some level. (That sounded good didn't it? Very all-inclusive and possibly a little [title of show] )

And speaking of shows, I also recently went to see Duran Duran in concert in Philly. It was amazing! They sound even better in person. The opening band was Your Vegas and they were so good I went out and bought their CD the next day. Duran Duran's set started with some of their new songs from Red Carpet Massacre. I love the new stuff as much as the old because it really has the flavor of their early stuff mixed with the intense dance rhythms provided by Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. It reminds me of their first three albums when they were more funky and danceable. Their middle set was an all electronic mix of new and old. I love how the reinvented some of the old songs. And the last set was all the good old hits. The whole show had an amazing energy and it was a blast!!

who wants a clean house?

For an organizing, decorating geek like myself, today was rather exciting. The crew of Style network's Clean House has been in town all week filming their "Messiest Home is America" episode! Of course it's in Pennsylvania - though there's a place in Bedford county that is the REAL messiest home in America, but I'm sure they wouldn't want any help to clean it up. Anyhoo, today was yard sale day for the show. I got there a bit early and there was already a crowd gathering under the chilly grey morning sky. We stood off to the side and watch Matt and Trish shoot a few scenes. Trish really is that sweet in person and Matt is hilarious! A few minutes later, genius designer Mark Brunetz showed up and the crew started handing around the release forms since we could possibly end up on TV. I was surprised that the home owners were about my age. I thought it would be a retired couple who had been hoarding things for decades. But these two had been hoarding things since the 80s because they had old computer parts and video games from that era. And I mean A LOT! Three 6' tables full of odds and ends from 3 decades of technology. I know a few people who would have been drooling over it. I only bought a funky faux carved wood picture frame and an onion chopper, but Mark Brunetz wrote up my receipt for it and I got my picture with him!. The crowd around Niecy was crazy- hell, the crowd was crazy in general. There must have been over 100 people crammed into a small front yard under a tent. But most people were pretty considerate of others and didn't shove or fight. I know at least one person who will be on the episode when it airs in July. There was a little boy who was buying a Harry Potter game and he looked like a miniature Lucius Malfoy, so Matt called a cameraman over so they could talk to him. I'll probably be on in the background somewhere! It was a neat experience to watch them tape the show and see everyoine I watch on TV way too much!

Was I just in Utah?

Hello all! I just got back this afternoon from a very short trip for work. We went to Logan, Utah to visit one of our vendors. Our flight to Salt Lake City arrived at 10:30am Tuesday and we flew out at 10:06 am this morning, so I really didn't get to see much except during our drive up to Logan. The Rockies were certainly larger than our mountains here in PA, but they weren't as big as I thought they would be. I did think Logan was a cute little town and was certainly clean. It looked as if they had just swept all of the streets and sidewalks. But it was such a short trip (and I was sleepy half the day from getting up at 3am to go there) that I hardly feel like I was in Utah. But I did get a good dinner at Hamilton's, a lodgey type steak house in Logan. Very good service and beautiful decor as well.
In other news, I got my tickets for [title of show] !!!!! I could only afford balcony seats, but it's front row balcony, baby! I bought an extra ticket for whomever I can con into going with me. (And hopefully help defray the cost of the hotel) because it will be more fun if I've got someone along to discuss the show with. I hope I get a chance to chat with my cuz, but I'm sure he'll be busy with all the craziness of their FIRST BROADWAY PERFORMANCE. WOO-HOO!!!!

[something to shout about]

This is some very exciting news.....[title of show] is going to Broadway!!! "get outta here!" Yes, it's true. My uber-talented cousin Jeff and his three amigos will open at the Lyceum theatre in July. If you'd like to see their creative and hilarious announcement from the [title of show] website click here: http://www.titleofshow.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1085 It was also announced in the New York Times this past Thursday. I am definitely going to be there, hopefully for opening night! I didn't get the opportunity to see the show when it was off-broadway, but I did buy the CD. And even though I didn't get all the theatrical references (not being in the scene myself), I still laughed until I nearly peed my pants. And I really love the [title of show] Show installments on YouTube. If you haven't seen these, you need to!! I especially enjoyed the Christmas special. It captured the feeling of holiday specials of the late 70s/early 80s and family gatherings gone wild. LOVED IT!! So I am really looking forward to seeing the show on Broadway! (did I put enough exclamation points in this post?)

On the move

Right now I'm sitting in my new apartment enjoying some pizza. I am done unpacking for the day, but I think it's going to take the rest of the week to finish. I keep changing my mind where I want things! But I enjoy decorating, so it's not really a chore. And I'm excited that I'm allowed to paint here, so I'm sure I'll be adding some pizazz to the plain walls later on. The kitties adapted to their new surroundings rather quickly. They're already enjoying the views from the windows and sliding glass door.
I'll post some pics after I get a little more settled in.
I'm now a contributor for our blog at work. You can see my first entry at http://www.boscovs.blogspot.com/ . Of course it's work related, but I think it's pretty entertaining and informative as well.
Well, I'm going to finish my pizza and try to relax the rest of the evening. More on the unpacking progess next weekend!

BBQ or Bust!

Hello all! This month I traveled the furthest west I have even been in this country - the lovely city of Ft. Worth,TX. I wish I could say I was there for the fun of it, but I went for three days for a convention for work. When I wasn't hiking up and down the aisles of the Ft. Worth Convention Center looking at camping gear and camouflage, I was partaking of the excellent local cuisine. I've eaten plenty of barbecue in my time and I have to say Ft. Worth had some of the best. One of our vendors took us out to eat at The Railhead Smokehouse ( http://www.railheadonline.com/ ) where we had some great sammiches. I have never eaten barbecue in a sandwich quite like the way they serve it. Pickles, onion and mustard sounds like a strange combination, but it was fantastic. They also have a great Texas brew called Shiner Bock that was a great complement to the meal. It tasted a lot like PA's own Yeungling. And you can order from their website if you're getting hungry from reading this blog. I think that their claim of having the best barbecue in Texas just might be true!

I stayed in the Hilton Ft. Worth which used to be the old Hotel Texas where John F Kennedy stayed the night before he was assassinated. We had a cocktail reception in the ballroom where he gave a speech as well. Unfortunately I slept great - no ghosts! But it was a very nice corner room with a view of the courtyard across the street and the hotel is a couple minutes walk away from the convention center.

Other than that I've been slaving away at work. We're doing all of our last minute adjustments to our spring assortments while we're working on our fall plans. The fun never stops! Now I'm also starting to pack since I'm moving next month. The kitties are just thrilled. Well, they would be if they knew we were moving. They've been having fun playing with the stuffed armadillo toy I brought back for them from Texas. My new place is more modern and I'll have a dishwasher!! Now I can go crazy cooking up lots of good eats and not have to wash the $&*%$ dishes by hand.

Well, I'm going to sign off for now and I will try to write every week again like I started off!

I'm still here!

Hello again! I am still here, though for most of December I wasn't sure which way was up. It was the usual hectic month since I am still working in retail though in the buying office. I only had Sundays off the entire month and I had to get things done around the house then. So there's my excuse for not posting! I'll post something more interesting this weekend, I promise!