what the hail is happening in northeast ohio?

Please forgive the preppy double popped collar saturn driving white girl that cranks Mariah Carey's "we belong together" up and sings along with her windows down at red lights of major intersections in suburban Cleveland.

I went for a bike ride last night and this is what I saw:

3 punk 13 year olds skateboarding through in the parking lot I wanted to cut through
1 rabbit, (saw the same one twice), a golf ball in a bush, a little girl on a really stupid looking scooter, 2 pairs of crutches in an alley.... and on my way home, (the redeeming item of this blogpost) three small children beating each other up with those pieces of styrofoam that come in large appliance boxes, like microwaves or fridges...as the dad calmly watched from the front porch.

Susan, I know these are going to be your children someday.

"I'm only drinking this wine because it matches my dress"

Ah, June 15th...an evening of joy! As tentative plans fell through, new ones sprung up.

I was cruising around the website of one of my favorite bands, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals about a month ago, and realized that indeed, she was coming to Cleveland. After making plans with Beth and Scott to go see her, they would pop up to Cleveland, we'd go to the show, and then they'd continue on to Vermont for the summer. WELL, due to family wedding showers on Beth's part, the plan was no longer feasible.

Next option: I grabbed my 2 grace potter cds and gave them to my dad, "dad, listen to these and tell me you can't live your life the same without going to see her this thursday" a few days later he replied with, "well, she's funky...but good, she's an acquired taste! I wouldn't mind going to see her."

Shortly after that, I found out that my dear friends, James and Emily, from camp were going to be in Ohio, and going to the grace potter show with them would totally be feasible! My dad ended up having other plans for the night of the show, so...I met James and Emily downtown, and we uncovered Wilbert's (a Cleveland venue famous for jazz and blues artists playing there). I had previously chatted with beth to determine if wearing the I loVERMONT shirt would be a negative or a good to go for the show..we decided it was a heck yes.

It had been two summers since I saw Grace Potter..the first time was June 04 at Nectar's in Burlington, VT and Aug 04 in Waitesfield, VT (her hometown).

James, Em, and I all met in a parking garage a quarter of a block away from the venue, James pretty much attacked me, it was great. We bought tickets and Slick steve the Ticket Guy asked me if I was from VT, and I said no but that James and em were..he's like oh- there are some other people here from VT, maybe you know them....I don't think Slick Steve the Ticket Guy knew the band was from VT, therefore possibly drawing a large crowd from that area....

Can I just tell you the smile that I saw come over one of the band members face's when he saw my shirt!? "Yay, for some VT love!" They played a great set, it was sweet because it wasn't crowded, a switch up form the VT shows! They played alot of new stuff which I wasn't necessarily ready for, but it was still excellent. This was where Grace informed the audience why she had a glass of wine on her organ...."I'm only drinking this wine because it matches my dress". well said, well said. I'm guessing it was a chardonnay. we chatted with Scott the guitar player, who was a cool guy, and appreciated the love from VT, too! He told us how excited he was the other day when he got to "jam" with Mike Gordon the bassist form Phish, and getting psyched for playing at Bonaroo tomorrow afternoon.

James rounded out the evening by giving me a hunk of cheese from Shelburne Farms, a famous spot in VT, and James will argue with anyone that Shelburne cheese is better than Cabot, well, I now have one of each, so we will see...

g'night.

Happy Flag Day

June 14. MattArnold Style

When isn't the (photo-journalistic) photographer a (photo-journalistic)photographer?

Right, so back in December, my dear friend, Michael asked if I would take some "photo-journalistic" shots at his wedding. He's been working for a photographer who was going to take all the traditional shots. I said sure. Saturday I found myself being more than just photographer; roles I fulfilled included, but are not limited to:
-bridesmaid
-photo assistant
-fiance to the best man, who was the groom's brother
-dj

For my beloved, Sunsa

I can only imagine how your life might be different had I posted this warning earlier:

Who ever thought the United States Post Office would be a place to attempt to pick up girls?


About a week ago I went to the Post Office to mail something, but was stopped outside by a slightly hippie young man. He wanted to know if I was interested in signing a petition to get the possibility of building of a new walmart onto the ballot so the community could vote on it. I normally would have, but I was sketched out to see the guy had no signatures on his tablet. I just had this weird feeling about it, I declined his offer but thanked him for what he was doing.

Today I went to the Post Office to get some information on envelopes. When I pulled in a parking place I looked up to see that there was a young guy (a different one than before) with a tablet, and I thought, "oh man, I don't want to go through this again" when I got out of my car and approached the door, the guy asked me if I was a registered voter, I realized I don't think I am in Ohio. I could be wrong...I know I should know this..anyways I told him that I wasn't yet, because I had recently moved to Ohio. That apparently was a good enough reason, and I didn't have to tell him I didn't want to sign the petition.
I did my business in the P.O. and when I came out the following conversation commenced:

dude: so do you like the area?
me: uh yeah, I like the lake, It's nice to have things close by, and the convenience, but alot different than rural PA
dude: how does your husband feel about it?
me: (freaking out inside) oh- I'm not married
dude: man, I could have been lucky.
me: opening my car door and getting in....um, see ya later
dude: yeah I hope so