Episode 373: Lots of Things Are Exciting

how true!

man, i had a good weekend.

oh wait. i forgot i was in "episode format" and therefore need to be more formal. let's continue...

I discovered last week via Facebook communication with Maria that she and Jason had moved to Rhode Island. I had no idea! And so I said, "Well I must come visit you immediately."

And I did!

I left on Friday just before 11:30am. Stopped at Dunkin Donuts, which took a very long time. BUT BUT BUT!!!!!!

JULIE: Can I get a medium iced mocha raspberry coffee with regular cream and sugar, please?
DUNKERS EMPLOYEE, AMBER: Oh yeah! I remember that drink!!

Yep. She remembered me. I remembered her too. She started working at the one off exit 13 not too long ago. I remember a time when she was still being trained. Ah, they grow up so fast. So, that was cool. It was like the first time at the post office when they knew my box number without me telling them. It's kind of nice to be known in places. It feels like you have more friends.

Then, I was on my way!

Headed south on 89 until I hit 93. I was in a very good mood because this was the day I learned that Crash Kings were the rulers of Alternative Radio. It put me to 'super-excited mode.'

And it was very exciting to drive through Andover, MA, especially with the Crash Kings sticker on my car. I secretly hoped that all the cars around me would roll down their windows at the same time and 'Mountain Man' would be playing on everyone's radio. (I secretly hoped this A LOT.)

If my life were a musical, that would have happened. And perhaps we would all get stuck in a traffic jam and then everyone would get out of their cars and do a choreographed dance to 'Mountain Man' in the middle of 93.

Yeah. I'm thinking about that choreographed dance right now and that WOULD HAVE BEEN SO AWESOME.

Anyways, I continue on my journey on 93 until I see the signs for 95. So, I switch lanes to prepare for my exit. I find myself driving behind a large white van with lots of writing on the back. I am curious as to this writing, so I speed up so I can read it. What does it say in large red letters?? It says,

CAUTION: WEDDING CAKE

Now, this intrigues me very much. Is there a wedding cake right now in that van?? Were they just delivering a wedding cake?? Is someone getting married today?!!?

Then I read that this wedding cake and fine European pastry shop in Braintree, MA was voted "number one wedding cake" on The Today Show. Crazy! And I immediately think of my sister, Kara, who is an amazing cake decorator and overall wonderful baker.

And I'm so enthralled with this truck that I miss the exit for 95. Ah well, this just means I'll have to go through Boston. I am a little excited because my car has never been to Boston before. At least, I haven't taken it there yet, and the last time I was there, was for the show at The Paradise. Lots of good memories.

Anyways, so I drive through Boston and it is exciting. And I continue down 93 until I hit 95 for the second time. I THINK this means that I skipped 128. Which is my least favorite road in all of history. Mainly because I don't understand it. Which leads me to digress and talk about when I am President of the United States...

Quick Recap:

When I am President, there are the new laws that this country will adopt:

1. Drive-thru post offices.
2. Mandatory alphabetization of all grocery stores
3. Birthday holiday.

AND:

4. It will be illegal to name ONE road MORE THAN ONE name.

For instance, "95" and "128." Well, WHICH is it?! 95 or 128?!? No matter HOW many times I am explained this phenomenon, I don't understand it, and therefore, am making it illegal.

The law will be called,

'One Road, One Name.'

Love it.

Let's have it one more time:

1. Drive-thru post offices
2. Alphabetized grocery stores
3. Birthday holiday
4. One road, one name

Things might be crap now, but the future sure looks good. (That could be my campaign slogan.)

ANYWAYS:

I drove 95 through Providence, which also made me think of Kara because she used to live there! Until very recently. I also thought about how the last time I was in Providence, was to see Crash Kings.

ALSO, Friday morning when I was packing up my car I ran into my boss in the driveway and she said,

BOSS: Have a great weekend!
JULIE: Thanks! You too!
BOSS: Where are you headed? To Maine?
JULIE: No, Rhode Island!
BOSS: For the band?
JULIE: No, to see my friend!

But I LOVE how she assumed I was going to see Crash Kings. Like, anytime I leave the house it's to see them.

Back on track:

The drive through Providence was nice. I thought about The Great and Curious Wall. And also Spike's hotdogs.

And then I continued south! I don't remember the names of the roads I went on, or else I would tell you.

But, I took a left exit. And then I took a right. And then I took a left. And then I took another left UNTIL!!!!!

I arrived at Maria and Jason's house!!!!!! SO MUCH FUN. I took my stuff out of the car and immediately tripped over it.

AAAHHHH it was so great to see Maria. I hadn't seen her since Christmas and I don't think I had seen Jason since..... the time I went to NYC during our last year of college. That was a long time ago.

We hung around their super nice, IKEA furnished apartment for a while. Then went for an early dinner at RJ's. We had a strange waiter named Paul. And we heard Julian Casablancas on the radio!!! I was excited by this.

Then, Jason had to go to work, so Maria and I hung around for a bit longer, and then I decided it was time for an "area tour."

We drove past URI, which I recognized from when Kara and I were there for the Phantom Planet/The Format/ZOX concert. AWESOME.

And then we just kept driving. South. on 138. We passed a few Tim Horton's, which was very exciting for me.

WE ALSO PASSED a 'defunct' amusement park!!! ('defunct' quickly became the word of the weekend.)

THE ENCHANTED FOREST OF RHODE ISLAND. In Hope Valley. We drove past it and were immediately amazed. It was so strange. We decided we would stop on our way back.

And we did! There were tiny barricades blocking the entrance, but we managed to park and then just walked around them to get in for a better picture.

I will show you pictures, but not right now because I don't have them uploaded to the computer yet.

The sign was creepy. Especially because it has the word 'enchanted.' And everything is overgrown and grim.

Maria and I decided that we would buy it and restore it to better than it's original glory. If anyone can turn something from grim to enchanted - it's us. Trust me on that.

It was exciting to find this place. It felt like a secret. It reminded me of Tally Hall. I think it was from that internet show where they set off to find Mary-Kate and Ashley, but instead get lost and end up in an abandoned amusement park. (Great video, btw.)

After this incredible find, we headed back for ice cream at this tiny place called Lickety Splits. 24 flavors of soft serve! I got coconut soft serve with chocolate dip. Delish.

(The soft serve ice cream place up here that is located in the parking lot of Home Depot and sounds really sketchy but it really amazing is opening this weekend and I am very excited. Phew.)

Then we went back to the apt and PLAYED ROCKBAND FOR OMG SUCH A LONG TIME.

Have you ever played Rockband? I had never played it. Never even been near a Rockband machine. Which, I don't know what that means. I think I mean the equipment.

Anyways - SO AWESOME. Immediately I wanted this. If I had this game, I would play it non-stop for the rest of my life. So maybe I should never have this game.

I started out playing bass because bass players are totally sexy.

I TOTALLY ROCKED ON:
- 'Here It Goes Again' by OKGO
- 'Buddy Holly' by Weezer

Ummm...that might have been it. It's also a hard game. For the most part, I was convincing myself that it was a defect with the game which was making my score so low. But then Maria or Jason would do it and score perfectly. And so I had to accept that it was simply because I was a Rockband newcomer.

Then, Maria switched to bass and I switched to guitar. Which lead us to a conversation about how they need to add piano to Rockband. Or, as Maria suggested, a keytar. And then I created a new game called, "KEYTAR HERO." A play off the popular, "Guitar Hero."

*And then today, when I was still thinking about creating 'Keytar Hero' I decided that if anyone can make playing a keytar sexy and cool - it's Tony. And then I decided that Crash Kings should totally add a keytar to the band!!! I mean, they already have a keyboard that sounds like a guitar! Why not a keyboard, that sounds like a guitar, that looks like a guitar!?!?! It'd be crazy!!! And then the band slogan would be:

Crash Kings: Blurring the line between guitar and keyboard since 2006.

Brillz! I don't know why they haven't hired me to be band manager yet. I can feel it coming...*

So, we played that for a while. And drank some alcoholic beverages. And then watched Anchorman. Awesome night.

OH. And, we were watching HBO and kind of quite suddenly found ourselves watching this one-man performance called '1,000 Cats' or something like that. Apparently, it's part of this "Funny or Die" TV show.

Um, it was kind of amazing. And kind of ridiculous. A lot ridiculous, actually. But really funny. I found it very funny.

"1,000 cats. 1,000 stories. 9,000 lives." Those were repeating lyrics of the song. It was this middle aged guy dressed in a black unitard and cat ears doing this huge song and dance for like, 12 minutes or something. Maybe longer. Maybe more like 20 minutes. And he had made up this story, kind of, about 1,000 cats. All different kinds of cats. And he was just onstage singing and dancing. Crazy. Oh, it was so weird. (But awesome.)

Then we went to sleep.

Saturday morning we woke up and went to fancy schmancy Newport. We went for sushi, because Maria and Jason had been to this place that they loved and was amazing. But we got there, and the place had closed. Like, gone out of business. Very disappointing. So we walked around and ended up at The Red Parrot. Um, it was delicious. I had mandarin coconut chicken. Ohhhhh it was soooooo good. I can't even describe it. Just imagine the most good thing ever. In food form. YEAH.

Then we drove back. Maria and Jason were very excited to pass in the other direction over the Newport Bridge, because of this "little shack" that you can see from the bridge. I had no idea what to expect. And then finally, we passed by "the shack." It looks like a tiny stone dog house on a little pile of rocks. AND - it's for sale!!! Maria and I decided that we would buy it and transport it to The Enchanted Forest. Turn it into something magical. It only costs $295,000!! It was great.

Then, Jason had to go to work. Maria and I hung around for a little bit more. Then decided to drive to see a lighthouse that Jason had suggested we do. Awesome!

We drove to Point Judith. About.... 15ish minutes away from their house. Nice! A pretty spot that has been overtaken by homeland security. We did not appreciate this, because you couldn't go anywhere near the lighthouse! It was surrounded by chain fencing! And this huge homeland security building! With a giant basketball court! NOT impressed. We hung around anyways.

OH. BUT. Ok, backstory:

The previous night, we had been looking through this Rhode Island magazine, reading ads and whatnot, and we came across an ad for this place called "Iggy's Doughboys and Chowder House" and it had a very strange picture of this "doughboy" who looked a lot like 'Humpty Dumpty' from The Enchanted Forest. We figured he needed a job after the amusement park closed.

And we discussed this for a while. What are doughboys? We came up with the idea that they were fried dough like things. It was a long conversation, I'm sure you can imagine.

SO - CUT TO OUR DRIVE TO THE LIGHTHOUSE:

We're coming up to this small building as we turn the corner to follow the signs for the lighthouse.

MARIA: (reading the sign on the building) Doughboys? IT'S IGGY'S!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, if the caps lock could get any bigger - it would need to be bigger for the amount of volume in her voice. She SCREAMED this. It was a VERY EXCITING time to discover the place that contained the food we imagined as 'fried-dough like.'

We laughed a lot about how loud she screamed. I'm laughing about it again now. So great.

So, on our way back from the lighthouse, we stopped at Iggy's. And ordered ONE DOZEN Doughboy's. As we sat there waiting for them, we realized that most people only order a half dozen. Ah well.

Our number is called. We get the doughboys. The first sign that they would be amazing was that the bag weighed like, 10 pounds. We opened the bag and looked inside. We heard angels and symphonies. The music continued as we ate our first doughboy. OMG SO GOOD. Like a roll of fried dough rolled in sugar. Man. They were delicious. So, so delicious.

We then left Iggy's and went to go visit Jason at work. We brought him a doughboy. He appreciated this a lot. Then we hung around and he took his break. We all went to Starbucks and got delicious beverages.

And then sadly, it was time for me to go. :(

I left just after 7pm. Wow, what a great weekend. I had so much fun. Fun to the max. As always, with Maria.

Seeing as I was on a long car drive, I decided it was going to be my mission to hear 'Mountain Man' on the radio. I had never heard it on the radio before! If you can believe that. It's true. So, I put on WBRU, which was the station that sponsored the Crash Kings concert in Prov. I listened for the whole length of Rhode Island. Which, isn't very long, but still. You'd think you'd hear the number one alternative song in the country.

The station started to get fuzzy just south of Boston so I said,

JULIE: Hmm....what were the numbers of the station sponsoring Earthfest!?

I tried really hard to picture the website.....

JULIE: 92.9!!!!!!!

And I put it on. And listened. I had a better feeling about this one. Heard that song 'Lightening Crashes." Who's that by? Oh, Live. That song is depressing. Heard that famous song by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Commercial. Advertisement for 92.9. "More of the music you love" or whatever. AND THEN.

AND THEN. Right after the advertisement advertising that they play the best songs......

MOUNTAIN MAN!!!!!!!!! Yes yes yes!!!!!!!! Yep, I screamed and CRANKED the volume. On the radio!!!!! I was hearing it for the first time. OMG SO EXCITING!!!!!!! And just as I was driving through Boston, too!!!!! So perfect.

GREAT drive home.

The entire trip was like, 473 miles. And I averaged 50 miles per gallon. Not bad, eh?

I arrived home just after 11pm. Stayed up for a little while. Went to bed around 1:30.

Couldn't sleep. Started sneezing and decided I wasn't tired. Then for some reason started thinking about that restaurant, The Chateau, that you pass on 93. I always make fun of it. It's like, this family Italian restaurant on 93 and it has this super tacky light up sign. But, it's called "The Chateau" which sounds so fancy. I seriously always make fun of it. Whether or not I'm with others or not. It always makes me laugh. Always.

So, I decided to Google it. Turns out, they have multiple locations in Massachusetts. The one that I pass on 93 is, where, you ask? Um, it's in Andover. AND, the pictures look delish. Their menu actually sounds really good. And now I want to go. They have lots of dishes containing fried ravoli as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner! AND, they cater weddings and have a whole wedding package you can do! Yeah, I read all about it in a very long PDF file. That's right.

I also read all about the history of the Nocera family, who own the chain. They're thinking of doing some major expanding. But not too much, because they want to make sure the quality stays the same. The first restaurant opened in Waltham in 1933. Interesting, no!? No, not really. But, it was like, 2:30am and I wasn't tired.

So, I decided that if I don't get married at The Chateau, then I might have my next birthday dinner there. Or heck, maybe even sooner. That's 11 months away.

I also read about employment for The Chateau in Andover. Turns out, they are accepting applications for all positions. Weird. But hey, if things get so bad, I'll take the job and just have to live with Mike and Tony's parents. If worst comes to worst, ya know? We all have to make sacrifices during these tough times. I'm willing to do my part.

ANYWAYS, then I was so bored reading about some other family's history, that I went back to bed. And fell asleep.

AND, had a great sleep until Ruby Tuesday woke me up at 10:30am because she was hungry.

JULIE: No, it's too early for breakfast!

And I pushed her back under the covers and she went back to sleep.

I woke up for good at 12:35pm. I got up and decided that I would be productive today.

I had breakfast and watched a few episodes of Weeds.

THEN, I did all the dishes. Took out the garbage and recycling. Swept and washed the kitchen floor. Did two loads of laundry (including Ruby's food mat and the rug inside my door). Chopped up a bunch of lettuce. Dyed my hair darker although it kind of looks the same. AND painted my nails 'Sonic Bloom,' which is like a neon coral shade that I bought while with Maria.

PHEW. What a busy day!!! But a good day! I had been wanting to wash the kitchen floor for a while now. Ruby hates when I do it. Good thing it hardly ever happens. Now it looks nice. So does her food mat and the rug. Win!

Then I watched, Men Who Stare At Goats. Starring Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey. Basically a cast of HOTTIES. I liked it. It was weird. Funny and pathetic. Touching. Hopeful?

Then I watched the special features to learn about all the real people portrayed in the film. It's so hard to believe that this kind of stuff went on in the Army. Crazy.

I also finished Season 5 of Weeds!!!!! AAHHHHH SEASON 6 NOW PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!! Sooooo good.

And then I sat down to blog. And, two hours have gone by and now I'm here. Yikes. It's 3am. I sat down at 1am and said, "ok, I'll do a quick update." I should have known.

My plan for MONDAY:

- wake up semi-early but probably not really
- post office
- brave up and get the car registered already (oohhhh it's going to be so expensive....)
- maybe get my hair cut, but i haven't decided yet

I spent a lot more time than I should have online today researching hair extensions. Not for length, but for volume. Oohhhhh I want them so bad!!!! If I could charge them to my 'unlimited checking account' then I would. I looked up places in NH that put them in. They're very exclusive and very expensive. I looked up if Supercuts did them. Ha. The internet started laughing at me.

I also did some more researching for the mystery Old Navy song that I can't stop thinking about. Still nothing. ALTHOUGH, there was a very close call with the song, 'Believer' by John Butler Trio. And I said,

JULIE: If that song ends up being by John Butler Trio then I'm going to freak out.

Because I looove their song, 'Zebra.' But, it wasn't.

Then, I sampled every song off the new She and Him album and wished I could buy it. 13 songs for 9.99 was very tempting. But, I resisted. I also thought about preordering the DEBUT ALBUM BY PAPER TONGUES, which is being released on TUESDAY!!!!! But, I didn't. I am very excited. Debut album! From a band I've already seen in concert!! And then I thought about how much I loved their drummer.

And that was all!!!!

Wow. This was a very detailed description of my life since Friday morning. I'm proud of this effort. And also of the fact that I never strayed from the capitalization.

Ok, now I think I'm going to go to bed. It's currently 3:13am. Monday morning. East coast.

Oh, I also watched Hannah Montana while I was waiting for my laundry to be done. Two episodes and I had already seen both of them. ( :/ )

OK!!!! How was your weekend!?!?? Awesome and exciting like mine?!?!?! I hope so. I hope you have fond memories of this weekend like I do.

AND - It's a new week full of possibility! Let's all be excited about that.

OK! Have a great Monday! I'll talk to you all later!!!!!



<3<3<3!!