So I'm getting ready to leave for my annual girls vacation to Lake George with Mel and Audrey and feel that this is as good as time as any to announce a vacation from the blog (not that I've been constantly updating these days).  I'm sure that I'll return in the fall, but for the time being I'm planning to live a blogless life. I'll let all my Constant Readers (I think I know who you all are) know when I resume.


Bye.

So as it turns out, Joel's best man Mark and his wife Nicole are pretty awesome... and they immediately jumped on the "make fun of Joel" bandwagon. Really, the only folks missing now are Scott and Robbie.  Joel really does just walk around with a target around his neck... so, we are having some fun. Sadly, there is no contingency plan for rain with this outdoor wedding and it is currently monsooning.  I'm kind of curious to see how all this shakes out but at least it's not still 90+ degrees. We'll be wet but not sweaty and that is certainly an improvement from a couple of days ago.

So here we are in Ohio at the beautiful Days Inn in Cambridge.  It smells a little, but it has a pool and wireless internet, so things could be worse.  In fact, yesterday they were.  After 10 hours of sweaty traveling (all the AC in the world couldn't defeat the bright, miserable sunshine) and some dubious rest stop bathrooms (I have now come to depend on the free standing Starbucks for all my rest-room needs) we were subject to a family "weenie roast" with Joel and Jenny.

1. Who has a weenie roast?
2. Who has a weenie roast in 90 degree weather in July?
3. Who has a weenie roast with no water or booze, only soda?

Answer: these lame Ohioans.

So, we sat out on the farm sweating while spearing hot dogs on sticks, getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and wishing for death.  Yes, the farm is beautiful and fortunately the wedding will be in the shade (that being said, it's down a poison ivy ladden trail of death that 100 of the 150 guests will have to traverse via golf cart because they're too old to walk it). Other than the natural beauty of the farm, everything else kind of sucked.  Then, after the hot, gross, miserable weenie roast, we all had to trek down an even deadlier path to a little clearing where Jenny wanted to hold the ceremony for a white people "hymn/prayer sing-in."  It was awful. Awful. Really, no words. Now, I am not opposed to the singing of spirituals and hymns... my family does it all the time at large family gatherings.  Here's the difference... we can sing. Those of you who have been to my family gatherings know this. These folks can't sing and ain't got no rhythm. An, PS-- they think Kumbaya is a great hymn to bust out (I really had to bite my lip hard not to laugh at this one).

Today we have the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner but fortunately we don't have to meet with these boring folks until 4pm, so there is time to hang out in the hotel or drive around rural Ohio. Yea.  I'll be back soon with more updates on the lamest wedding ever.

So this is the second article (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2187833&page=1) I've read recently about the new anti-choice tactic of buying a clinic building and then evicting the clinic. When I sent the first article to EB she told me that this had happened with our clinic in Atl, Ga but RL and the shar-holders managed to raise enough money to counter the anti offer and buy the building outright.  Sadly, this is likely going to be more common as the antis start running out of ways to pseudo-ban abortion ('cause lets fact it, they have a whole lot more money and time on their hands than we do).

Oh, and I recommend checking out this NAF report (well, the report is actually a big pdf, so this is just the link to it) on Crisis Pregnancy Centers... I'll wax poetic on this later, when I'm not melting (PS, despite the heat, I am super-hardcore and went for a run).

Comment: livejournal is pissing me off right now with it's inability to make a link!

So I've been dogsitting for my mother while she is in Norway with her man.  This has been somewhat of a nightmare, although not as bad as it could have been (so far the dog hasn't died, so that's a big plus). However, she did take a giant spite-dump the other morning. Here, read the email that I sent to my mother regarding this manner:

So... it's been almost a month. You now all see why I never kept a journal as a kid-- I can't manage to keep it current (well, that and my grandmother would read it).  I don't really know why it's so hard for me to keep up with the journaling. It seems like such a good idea at the beginning and then I just forget about it and it becomes more of a chore than a fun way to clear my mind.  Frankly, there are times when it seems much less tedious to run for an hour on the treadmill than bang out a few paragraphs on the old i-book. Well, such is life.  Here I am again letting y'all know what's up.

Part of the silence for the past couple of weeks has been due to my uncertain career path... Planned Parenthood started recruiting me to run their center in Trenton and I started renegotiating my responsibilities and salary with EB and RL.  I didn't really want to start putting a bunch of stuff out in the ether until  I figured out what was going on and now that all is right with the world, I'll share it with all of you.  Along with a nice increase in salary, EB and RL have given me the opportunity to take our outreach program to a whole new level where I get a corporate AmEx and an expense account... they have also told me that as soon as I feel ready to run a clinic, we're finally going to open the North Jersey clinic (probably in the New Brunswick area--- really, the north part of central jersey). There are really no decent clinics in NJ north of Trenton, so it would be great to open a stellar clinic there... and it wouldn't be as busy as my current clinic because we'd only go to 14 weeks, so I could still do all the outreach stuff.  Anyway... all super exciting news.

Less exciting news... the NARAL-NJ board kinda sucks balls.  We're still looking for a new ED and of course with the kind of salary we can offer we're hard pressed to find a quality candidate. I suggested hiring someone with less experience that we can mold into a great asset-- it would require that the board be fairly hands-on for a year or two while we cultivate this person, but in the long run it would serve us well. I was basically told by the board that they don't want to be hands-on... they want to sit back while the affiliate "happens." Assholes.  Sadly, I can't find anybody to replace all the lazy punks, so I guess it will just be me making sure the affiliate doesn't spontaneously combust (well, maybe me and JP. She's pretty hard core).

Hmm... that's all for now.  I have to prepare to do some serious baking tomorrow (TK's baby shower is Sunday and I volunteered to make the cakes) complete with the molding of marzipan bumble bees for decoration.  Should be fun considering it will be a million degrees outside and humid. 

I was hoping that this post would be full of great news about Mel's opera, Tom's girlfriend and a weekend with the girls. Sadly, the crap weather has ruined almost all of my plans. The opera was canceled, which meant no Mel to report on and no Tom as he changed his plans to spend the weekend introducing Julie to the family.  Other Jen also bagged on the festivities, although her no-show was not weather related.  I did get to spend the weekend with Mel and Audrey, but our trip out to the New Hope/Peddler's Village area was also largely, rained out so we watched movies and ate all the fancy cheese that I had bought for the opera (PS-- I recommend Bride and Prejudice... what a fun flick).  Now, Mike and I are sitting in Panera (comcast has crapped out at our place, so we've had no internet at home for the past week) checking up on a week's worth of emails and blogs. Next stop Wegmans for provisions. 

No big news this week except that I will officially be a Monday thru Friday girl as of July 1... I'm actually pretty sad about it even though Monday I will only have to put in a couple of hours in the office and will otherwise be able to work from home. I'll miss Saturday's at the clinic... they're crazy, but so much fun.  There is something in the air on Saturdays that affects the whole staff and makes everything extra hilarious and the day run smoothly.  Ah well, when you move up in the work world it means that you get rewarded my working in your PJs... at least for me.

So I know I'll get shit from the neo-cons and country-haters that read my blog, but I do love the Dixie Chicks.  I'm not going to say that I was a Chicks fan from the beginning-- back in my wrecka stow days, when I was too cool to listen to anything in the Folk/Country aisle, I too hated on the Chicks.  My transformation came around when my mother, an avid Chicks fan, asked me to go to the Top of World show with her because none of her friends would go (because they're all damn yankee, country-hating northerners). So, begrudgingly I went (she had spent a ridiculous amount of money on 8th row seats) and became an instant Chick fan.  Why? Well, along with their Bush hating ways (which ultimately was the only reason I went to the show) they are a kick ass live band.  All three are truly amazing musicians and they travel with the best.  The show was fan-fucking-tastic and since I have become a devout Chicks lover.  So, when the new album came out, mom and I made plans to go to the Philly show (coming up in July) and I've been paying moderate attention to the news surrounding the release of the record and the continuing country radio boycott.  Then this morning while reading the Washington Post, I stumbled across this article about the Chicks tour.  So, intrigued by the blog in the article, I searched it out and it is funny and well written. So, since I do love the Chicks and want to spread the love, here is the blog. Enjoy.

In other news, finally all of the working out, sweating, running and yoga are starting to pay off.  Thank goodness, as Lake George is only 8 weeks away.  And speaking of the Lake, I definitely need the vacation.  I'm starting to feel the clinic burn out... it's been a busy summer, not just in clinic but with the outreach stuff too... events and meetings every night. Lots of travel. I'll be thrilled to have a little time off.  Especially since I don't have faith that all of these meetings and events will result in goodness for the 'choice' movement (I wish there was a better term... I hate the consumerist  nature of the word 'choice').  Ah well, we may be underdogs but at least we feel morally superior and enlightened.

So, remember our plan to hang out at the beach with the newlyweds and their family? Yeah. That didn't happen. After the wild and crazy reception (that included one of Robbie's six siblings from Texas falling over drunk while dancing, yelling "you know you're a redneck when" jokes, all of us dancing to Motley Crue, Marilyn Manson, Def Leppard and The Bloodhound Gang and finally, Mike so drunk that he not only wanted to dance, but suggested that we take dance lessons) bride, groom, three redneck brothers and the Conrows went out to the only bar in Spring Lake walking distance from the hotel.  Robbie and Scott still in wedding attire, we all made a big splash at The Porch-- a couple of hours and a two rounds of shots later we made our way back to the hotel where Robbie (still in her wedding dress) decided that she absolutely must see the beach at night with her brother Mike who had never seen the Atlantic Ocean.  Scott and I at this point were the only dissenters in this plan as Mike (my Mike) was quite excited at the prospect of a 2am beach trip. After a half hour of bickering in the parking lot, it was decided... what the bride says goes. And we were off to the beach.  At the beach, Robbie's brother Mike (a svelte 400 lbs or so) stripped to his skivvies and ran at the ocean.  My Mike waded knee deep only, while I sat on the beach trying to give the newlyweds a wee bit of privacy.  Fortunately, the water was freezing so both Mikes were ready to leave pretty quickly. To be fair, it was beautiful, but I'm sure that Scott would have been happier consummating his marriage a couple of hours earlier. 

Needless to say, Mike and I were both extremely hung over when we woke up this morning. So much so that we did not hang around to find out if hangover + bright sunlight + sand = good times.  We just high tailed it home for some much needed sleep and motrin.

Now, finally coming out of the fog, I'm preparing for clinic tomorrow-- 6am here I come.

This is the summer of weddings for me and Mike... three weddings (and a baby shower) this summers. One down and three events to go. Today is the wedding of our good friends Scott and Robbie. Scott and I would be soulmates if not for Mike and Robbie-- we have a bad habit of drinking too much and then doing karaoke "Paradise by the dashboard lights" complete with sexy (well, we think they're sexy... I'm sure observers think otherwise) dance moves we also both share a perverse love of too much food, Buffy, Vince Vaughn movies and Nine Inch Nails.  So, after 8 years together they have finally decided to make things legal with a beach wedding on a Thursday afternoon (weird, I know).  While at first annoyed by the whole middle of the week thing, I am now happy for it as it is giving me two much needed days out of the clinic. Mike and I will be heading down to Spring Lake around 2pm, checking into our beach front hotel room and enjoying an evening of celebration and ogling Robbie's 17 year old daughter, Renee (quite possibly the most perfect specimen of female teenager ever).  Tomorrow, we'll be hanging out on the beach with the newlyweds and their friends and family before going back to the grind on Saturday morning.

The next in line of super exciting events is my co-worker Tiffany's baby shower (the amazing thing about life at the abortion clinic is that there is always a pregnant employee joyfully carrying her pregnancy to term... despite what y'all may think, we looove babies).  I have somehow been charged with the planning of the shower-- a dubious honor considering the difficulty of working around the schedules of 30 very busy women who can't keep a secret to save their lives.  Finally, Mike and I will be wrapping up the "summer of love" with our friend, Joel's wedding.  On a farm. In Ohio. Outdoors. In July.  Yeah... that should be fun... at least I'm not in the wedding. Mike has to suffer through that one in a tux.

It's strange to be the age where everyone you know is either getting married or getting knocked up (on purpose, no less). It was kind of funny when Royce had Elena and I got married, because these things weren't on anyone else's radar just yet. Now, all of our friends are catching up to us en masse.  Looking forward to '07 and the marriage of Kyle to Julia (should be interesting, especially as he's given up the pope for her) and who knows who else...