My 4th

After a LONG day at work we decided to just stay at the mall and watch the fireworks from the roof of the parking garage.  We were sitting in the back of my truck when this family stood directly in our line of vision.  I thought it was nice.

After fireworks Nori drove us to a bar for a drink and curly fries.

She was supposed to be practicing driving stick shift in preparation for getting her new car today.  As of me writing this at 7:45 she still hasn't replied to my texts, which leads me to believe she's still asleep.  It's possible.

I actually plan on going to sleep shortly.   I am so tired from this week and I am off tomorrow.  I am excited for a good nights sleep tonight.

I'm also excited to see the blog post that Mike is going to do about our 4th of July.  I'm anticipating that he's working on it today and will post it tonight or tomorrow.  Link to follow.

happy 4th of July!

The outfit, the hair, the whistle.  Ugh.

Happy birthday America.

God bless America

Happy 4th of July!!!!

I'm a little bit disappointed to be going to work all day today but I'll be getting time and a half and I definitely need everything I can get these days.

So while you all enjoy your holiday I will humbly submit some suggestions for your playlist:




and also this:




As usual I love the reactions from the audience after the whistle note.

Of course, this:



And for good measure, you might as well watch this again:

rabbit rabbit rabbit

source

July, wow, already.  My personal goal for this month is to not get in trouble.  Not even once!

I'm glad I have the incentive of my new job to motivate me too.  I got my first new paycheck on friday and it was pretty nice.  We also did good business last week and ended up making our sales goal for the month of June, even though we were only really open for like a week.

So even though I have to work July 4th I'll be making time and a half and, again, keeping out of trouble.

I even have a good inspirational fat cat for the month.  Not so much the caption, as usual, but the cat himself.

He seems optimistic, looking to the future.  I like him.

Traveller's log: Ariel in CT

Now that Ariel is a freelance writer I wanted to take advantage of her talents for my own blog.  When she mentioned a trip out of town for the 4th I told her I would love to see her documentation of it.

I honestly couldn't be more happy I did either.  I actually watched the video before I read the post and I laughed so hard I cried.  I remembered after it was over that they had mentioned it at dinner but somehow it was nothing like I could have ever imagined.  I mean, wow, just wow.

I'm excited to present this to you:





The Amazing Adventures of a Traveling Smusher
Wack-in-the-Box: an Independence Daze

This holiday, in the spirit of celebrating my country (and my day off), my girlfriend and I, who affectionately think of each other as smushed up bulldogs, decided to do something wholesome for the Fourth of July. Because the only American tradition that I have ever known involves a lot of drinking, we called her cousin and his boyfriend, who are equally as cute and boring as us, and who we can rely on for a good-old adult time. So we rented a zipcar to spend the day touring the metropolitan area.


The most impressive (and confusing) stop on our odyssey was the strange roadside attraction known as “Wild Bill’s Nostalgia Center” in Middletown, Connecticut. For the life of me, the only word I can really think of to describe it is “creepy.” I spent a good deal of time simply trying to wrap my head around what exactly it even was. Here’s what I concluded: it appears to be a “collection of memorabilia,” (and I use the phrase loosely; “hoard of junk” also comes to mind) anything and everything you never wanted from the last fifty years or so, all on sale for a pretty penny. The building is completely covered in vivid murals- some generic psychedelic 60’s tie-dye, some amusement park haunted house characters, and a lot of half naked babes. Upon entering, it’s hard to know what to look at first: the wall of joke magnets, the racks of old fatigues, the sports star bobble-heads, the plethora of porn, or possibly this baffling “still-life” arranged on a stage in the back:


The lot outside has also amassed a similar array of treasures, including their claim to fame, a 33-foot tall jack-in-the-box, the world’s largest, with a clown head weighing a massive 600 pounds. It’s less like the surprise, pop-goes-the-weasel, from your childhood, and more of a terrifyingly slow, optical illusion out of a bad acid trip: 

Although my tone may seem rather cynical, I actually recommend stopping in if you are passing through, if for nothing more than the sheer bewilderment that will overcome you.

I give it 3 out of 5 Travel Smushers

NYC for the 4th

There was a part of me that was excited to spend the 4th of July in Miami and see what it was all about but when my work schedule lends itself to travel I have to take advantage.  And when Meghan said she and Sam both had the 4th off it was too good to be true.

I did everything I could have wanted to do yesterday too.  I got coffee from 9th St., followed by sitting in the park with Meghan and chatting/dog watching.

Once Sam woke up we wandered around the city looking for food.  After being turned away from our original destination we ended up at Bread which I had forgotten all about.  I used to eat at Bread almost every day when I worked at Simple around the corner, but I haven't been back since.  The food is just as good as I remember.

After lunch we stopped at whole foods to pick up another of my favorite nyc things;

source

and headed back to one of my favorite places:

for one of my favorite activities:

As the sun started to fade we made our way to the party for the evening.  Suzannah's instructions were, "the doors are open, just come on in" so that's what we did.  But the apt we entered didn't seem to have much of a party going on.

Apparently because it wasn't the apt throwing the party.  That's right, this is just somebody random's apt in NYC that they leave completely open.  We literally walked in off the street without buzzing anybody, got in the elevator, pressed "P" for the penthouse, and walked right in.  Once we realized we were in a strangers apartment Meghan made us leave quickly, but I had to snap a picture before we did.

Having seen the penthouse I was disappointed to not be able to party there.  I figured the apt hosting the party would probably be more modest in comparison.

I couldn't have been more wrong.  It was seriously one of the largest and most unexpectedly luxurious apartments I have ever been in.  We weren't really sure who at the party actually lived in the apt so I was hesitant to take too many pictures, but here are the two most important ones.  This was in the corner of one of the GIANT bedrooms:

Why?!  I want this!  It's so Mariah!!  Ugh, my envy knows no bounds.

And then if that wasn't crazy enough, when I asked where I could go to the bathroom I was directed to their powder room in the front entryway.  I figured it was going to be a modest closet sized bathroom. I was, again, incorrect.  It was really hard to take a picture that really shows how crazy the bathroom is but I did the best I could.

It was floor to ceiling mirrors on all four sides with all black furnishings.  Even the door to the bathroom was mirrored so once you closed it you were in the epicenter of your own infinite army stretching out in every direction.  And when I peed?  Oh it was glorious.  I could watch myself from literally every angle.  And who doesn't want to do that?!

The only downside to the apt was that we didn't have any kind of view of the fireworks.  At first I thought this was our only outside view:

Until Meghan finally invited me up to the roof which had a pretty incredible view of Union Square.

We could hear the fireworks, and even sometimes see them in the reflections of the windows, but it was mostly just a tease.

At least the skyline provides enough twinkling lights to satisfy.  And we even left with enough time to catch a few of the fireworks from the view down 15th St.

Along with all the other stragglers who couldn't find their way to a better view.  We got home and I didn't even realize but Sam ordered a pizza from what I would say is the ideal place to order a pizza from, Lombardi's.  Not only is Lombardi's great because it's delicious and steeped in history, it's also another place that I used to eat at all the time when I worked at Simple.  And there's nothing better after a good buzz than some nostalgic pizza.  Isn't that how the saying goes?

I'm not even sure when we all went to sleep last night but it happened at some point.  And now I must prepare myself for another fun nyc day before I head back south tomorrow morning.  I'm going to go put my walking shoes on now!

Happy 4th of July

Dan's family had a quintessential 4th of July backyard bbq that you don't even know how jealous you are that you missed.  Unfortunately Dan got me hammered off of watermelon mint martinis and I ended up passing out for the better part of the afternoon.

But I did wake up in time for us to go to see the fireworks!  Dan took me here for some prime viewing:

It's the University of Buffalo, which I commented was beautiful to which Dan quickly replied, "no, no its not".  I think he just has the same feelings about it that I would have about USC or UF, it's only exciting if you're not from the area.

There was no wondering about the excitement level of the fireworks however.  They really were cool, especially since we were sitting fairly close to them.  The depth, the depth!!

Enjoy the blue, it's the most expensive color!

I like this one because it reminds me of the end of Britney's concert when she vanishes in a waterfall of fireworks.  

Even though we sat there longer waiting for the fireworks to start than actually watching them it was a really fun night.  Once we started playing music on our phones, yelling at every passerby, "Justin?  BJ?", and drinking champaign I forgot about the fireworks anyways.  They ended up being a pleasant surprise.

Now I've got to brush me teeth and get ready for some HARDCORE sight seeing.

why isn't she allowed to party!?

I had such a fun time at Kitty's 4th of July party last night, my only complaint was that Bella was segregated to the back room.  I honestly don't know why she didn't just step over the doggy fence as she easily could have.  I guess she is just too well behaved for that nonsense.

It was so fun to go to a party in Sarasota that didn't consist entirely of family members.  I actually met new people!  Crazy!  Of course one woman asked my sister and I if we were in high school which caused us both to laugh to the point of not even being able to explain why it was so funny.

And the food, oh the food, so much amazing 4th of July food.  What I wouldn't give for some pasta salad right now.

But my heart still broke for the party guest that was not allowed to mingle with the other guests.

"Why oh why won't you just let me hang out and be nice and knock things over with my butt?"

: (