a whole shade darker

that's what rye said i was last night as i was cooing over the colour of his skin. GEEEE! it was a beautiful weekend here. i knew it was gonna be a good one when after work friday a pickup pulled into the driveway and delivered my man and a picnic table. immediatley christened the table in the backyard with a beer, then we headed down the street to make up and bbq some of ryan's famous tbay bacon burgers, remember those? mmmmmohgad it had been a while. then we took off to tbay for the night, hit up a birthday at a bar and then hopped over to see a sweet band play at the next bar over, danced and drank my first whiskey sours ever yes yes YUM and just had a big ol ball, basically. crashed on some kind people's couches. saturday we did our domestic best and went shopping in the city, came home with armloads of books, a soccer ball, salvation army wares, one sharp hockey sweater, and a wii. WIIIII! ba that was lame ok but whatevs, its awesome. because my boyfriend is better than yours we got wii fit too, and i've been daydreaming about having this ever since raymi got it last year and i was hella jeala. omg pfff this post sucks. anyway, it doesn't, it rules. we got a bunch of awesome games too PARTY ONNNNNN fuck ya this weekend ruled. i'm on a total rye high. he rules. bahahaa. but he does, i am, we have such a time, every time. aaaanyhooters then what... oh ya then we stopped for bison burgers and pie on the way home and spent the night in playing with ourselves and our new toys. thE-en yesterday it was a sunday long morning on the couch with coffee and our new baby wii, tried out the new soccer ball behind the school, went to canadian tire for one of those drink coolers with a spout, made up the worlds largest long island iced tea and went down the street for beer chicken and bocce ball in the sun. and THAT my friends is what we call back yardin'.

only cool dudes take pictures of books
but i am in love with this book. look how pretty. its the only classic i ever remember really liking too.


*thanks to sarah for the new bg

last night sipped the sunset

for a sunny friday and you xo

lottery friday

doesn't this feel like a free friday? how is it already friday? monday long weekends rule that way. its SOOOO nice outside here this morning, the first thing in the morning kinda nice that makes me feel turbo guilty about the fact that im drinking off coffee on the couch watching a bad movie (definitely, maybe starring ryan reynolds, last week it was p.s i love you NEVER watch that okay) on the good cable. but hey, i'm up. and i'll pull my life together soon and get out there, fuck knows my skin NEEDS it. i've been trying to get my ass back by taking walks on the road that runs along the bottom of the mountain, people keep assuring me i won't run into a bear back there so that's nice. even though someone ran into a bear back there yesterday. don't worry don't worry i know what to do- when you come across a bear what you do is you're supposed to scream, kick him in the bear balls and then take off running. piece a cake.
anyway its also a jackpot friday cause we won at poker last night, well i mean i "won" as in split a pot with ryan's dad and ryan "won" as in splitting the last game of the night's pot but i mean clearly we are both winners, we made a $20 profit between us. i know i know, you wish. it was a fun night. tonight should be too. betchoo all the others too.

what's that you wanted another family guy clip?

hahahahahahahaha

ugh this movie is c-o-n-t-r-i-v-e-d

we listened to records and then went to a bonfire last night

yes i think it can be easily done

oh man. i had the best weekend ever. i hope you did too.

friday night we ignored the weather report and went by the blue skies that prevailed all day, teasing and tempting every camper on the earth underneath, flipped and flopped over gchat all day over what to do and landed on baby pack your layers cause we're pitchin a tent at wolf lake (love it here), loading the cooler till we can barely walk with it and roasting up some smokies. even when the clouds started rolling over after work we kept loading up the truck, fuck you sky god we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this the bush way even if it rains all night long and we end up sleeping in the truck and then peel off at 8am to our warm home bed and camp out in the living room watching the snow all saturday. and i'm glad we did. it was fun, warming your bones with rye and huddling around the fire with new faces, you simply CANNOT beat a campfire you can't, and i feel long weekends work best when you load them up with different stuff. this one felt about a week long.

then sunday morning we got our asses out of bed and hit the highway(by 10:30!) for a road trip to Duluth, Minnesota. ryan's been before a bunch, i hadn't, he guessed i'd love it and man did he guess right.

this stretch of highway 61 (and i hope to explore more of it in the future) from the canadian border is SPECTACULAR. don't make fun of me for using that word, or do whatever its the right word. rivers and waterfalls and rock cliffs and hills trees trees tress, all along the shoreline. i've now seen the entire north shore, and i am a richer person for it.

garth algar views Cascade River

Temperance River

it was a SPECTACULARLY GORGEOUS hahahaa day. it was. the sun and temperature kept climbing as we drove- 22 by the time we reached the city.

ryan's an awesome travel partner, and this is big, good news for me. for so many reasons really, one being he'll pull over and let me wander through a flea market for as long as i want.

the small towns along the way are all charming, overflowing with "minnesota nice". that's actually something. Beaver Bay Minnesota, population 179, was good to us.

and welcome to Duluth! a bunch of pictures are missing from our cameras, how does that happen? but for the most part when we rolled in (gaining a whole hour when we entered central standard time) we were just super pumped and looking around at everything. sometimes taking a photo story of a trip can eclipse being OF the trip and that bugs me so i didn't whip the camera out at every turn, just wanted to take it all in.

bob dylan is duluth's native son- the zimmermans lived in the apartment upstairs. i bet we didn't look like geeks taking these pictures, and i bet even harder we didn't give a tiny rats ass cause fuck it, we followed highway 61 to the birthplace of bob dylan fuck you if that's not the coolest beans.

around here is where we lost pictures, which makes me a bit sad cause we took these awesome ones of our romantic night in Canal Park, but the amazing thing about seeing somewhere new is that the images stick in your brain like permanent photographs, and more vivid and art-faggy than anything i could ever snap with a camera anyway.
so Canal Park's here in my head. ohhhhh look at that view. ohhh so cool. so nice.

day 2- shopping interlude. got clothes, shoes, booze & cd's, a good man takes you shopping on vacation! in my world anyway. next time you're in town check out electric fetus. we made 2 stops here and it has an awesome vibe, awesome wares and a huge selection of cd's and records. i got a big river johnny cash record which i am going to put on now that i remember i got it, for $5. tried on a dress that rye really liked, twice, but i couldn't commit, i think i've lost some of my shopping mojo. which isn't a bad thing per say, unless you have to deal with my backwards and moreover nonexistent decision making process all day. <3!

thought it would be cool to take a drive over the bridge so we could say we'd been to wisconsin, too. cept the bridge took us out onto minnesota point instead, which from as far as i could see was a way nicer drive to a way nicer place anyway.

beachy and cool, each house along the shoreline was squeal-worthy and unique, and like you could tell an artist lived in every other one. wow i love adjectives eh.

back over to the mainland to hang out in Canal Park for a couple more hours, strolled around, checked out some art, practiced being adorable.

oh i forgot to mention we stayed at a hotel with a waterpark, for $49 at par and it was hilarious and awesome. after our 2 free happy hour drinks we donned our trunks and wristbands and entered the steamy polynesian paradise, went down the slide in a double tube, floated around in the lazy river and stood ankle deep in the kidz zone sipping coronas waiting for the big bucket to dump. best maylong ever right.

baby, it'll keep me swooning for weeks.

rye made me take a picture of this in Grand Marais. ice, maps, live bait and porn?

the-en we had a norwegian pizza from the famous Sven & Ole's, the "Vild Von", with wild rice and bacon and olives and i'd tell you what else if i didn't just finish the last piece. it was delicious.

then we didn't smuggle booze over the border.

this post took forever.

xo
x millions

come and knock on our door

whoa how is it already friday?! how awesome is that. congratulations everyone.

ohhhh i know what happened! sorta lost a day over here, an internet day anyway on wednesday when we had a rainstorm and a power failure and then the cable and internerd were out for the rest of the day. just as i was grumbling to myself about having to fold clothes instead of watching the y&r ryan came home early from work and we decided to for once use the day constructively and get some stuff on the walls and some furniture arranged. good day.

the mountain looks so cool in all kinds of weather.

a good boyfriend lets you put your gay shit up on the walls

i'm thinkin about going back to my hairs natural colour

oh ya i told you guys about our roommate right? that's all he ever fuckin does.

so what's everyone doing for the long weekend? we have buckets full of options and ideas over here so we'll be making the most of it. its blindingly sunny out this morning which i'm taking as a good omen but you can't really ever trust the skies on the may long weekend we all know that don't we. so keeping your options open and plentiful is the best plan of attack i feel.
ok omg i need coffee.

howdy doody

from way up here
sigh. my hair is obscene right now.

tweet tweet

hi good morning, its monday, i have a giant pimple on my chin and i just bashed it with my mug, ouchie. mondays are kinda ouchie so i won't talk about how brilliantly sunny it is here this morning and how i'm thinking about taking up tanning professionally even though i promised myself i'd stop lying in the sun once i hit 30, eh F that right, and even though lying out in the sun all day isn't gonna get me any closer to writing a book or getting my best summer ass back. but F that right? we'll see.

anyhooters let's talk about the weekend, how was yours mine was great, one for the books. it went like so: grocery run, caesars, bocce ball, guitar lesson, hockey, tequila rose, campfire jamboree, midnight snack, sleep, hamsteaks and eggs, couch movies, hockey, caesars, hockey, tequila rose, tequila rose, tequila rose, shag, after party, midnight snack, sleep, walk in the sun, bocce ball, street hockey tutorial, caesars, hockey, mothers day bison burger barbeque, triumphant hockey, sunday night cartoons, sleep. plus tons of shagging oh wait i said that.

shags are super fun, they're basically a stag & doe- music and dancing and drink tickets and snacks and lots and lots of people you probably grew up with, you buy tickets to win a bunch of prizes and then you fumble to look at all your ticket numbers at the end of the night all hammed up and then you don't win anything

but that's not the point, you're happy to support the couple and cut up a rug and spill your beer and meet a ton of new people and be out on your man's arm and then you go to the local pub to keep partying till last call

karaoke and dancing- you can see on the left people were literally dancing on the tables, i could see them pulling away from the walls, no calamities though, phew.

nascar caesars hahahaha. no, i've discovered i'm pretty good at making caesars. its a good preliminary drink to the night cause its got vegebals. yaaaa you buyin that? it feels like its good for you anyway. and of course its the perfect morning after don't kill yourself breakfast.

everythings turning greeeen!

i've promised a lot of people more pictures of our apartment, so i promise to take some in the near future. just as SOON as i clean it.

it comes in this heavy glass matte black bottle and it goes down like ice cream, ice cream that actually tastes like roses. guys i thought it would taste frickin weird before i had it but it doesn't, its delightful. raymi i think you'd like it.

so i hope you all had a good one too. spring is for lovers eh? fuck i fucking love spring. and to answer your question again- yes i'm happy. very muchly warmly greenly rosely hahaha happy.

i should try and get these pizza pop stains out of the carpet maybe.

have a good one

+
+
= later!

mama bear catches a fish

ryan and i were gonna make steaks last night, then we were gonna make pasta, then steaks, then ryan's dad called and said the pickerel were jumpin on wolf river (seriously i fuckin love it here) and did we want to head out there and hoya did we ever. i was waiting for this day to come. smelt fishing was totally fun but i havent caught a fish on a rod since i was a kid- there's a pretty hilarious picture of me making a hilarious face wearing rubber boots and one of those kway jackets that folded into a pouch, my brother had the blue one and i had the red one- i should find that picture. anyway

ya, you still can't have him.

it was so so so beautiful out.

me fartin around, waitin for fish. we didn't have any bites for the first hour or so, so i alternated between practicing my cast- guess what i don't suck at it- and playing in the weeds being the official photographer of the day.

same boots im wearin in that old picture

then, all of a sudden it seemed, they started to bite and we were reelin in these GIANT pickerel. giant to me, but the guys seemed to think so too. i sorta pictured like a 3 pound fish. these were closer to 10. so i caught my first fish, cause i'm not even sure that "first" one when i was a kid wasn't caught by my dad and i was just forced to pose with it. so i cast, caught and reeled. it was exciting and kinda freaky and mostly super fun. the only thing i didnt do was pick it up and take the hook out, basically because i was terrified, it was bigger than me and thrashing around like crazy. two fish barely fit in our bucket, and at one point i leaned over and looked in at them and they both flapped and flipped and knocked the bucket over and i screamed and ran the other way. after ryan's dad got over his heart attack we were all laughing hysterically. I AM BUSHWOMAN. yaaaa i got aways to go. but i am getting there. and these guys are good shit out here- no one ever makes you feel like a spaz from the city, they just want to involve you and for you to have a good time.

what a catch, this guy. i also refused to pose with my fresh caught fish. KINDA regret it, everyone should have one of these shots. ONE DAY!

the guys wanted me to pose with my fish, they were like the guy on the bottom wont be flipping out and you can wear these gloves, so we got back and dumped the bucket on the grass and i took one step towards them and they all started flopping and gasping and i screamed again and we all couldnt stop laughing, ryan holding the fish for the shot was the compromise. hahahaa look how far away he's holding it from me.

HAHAHAHAHAHAAA

pause for: giant fish flopping off the board while he gets filleted, more steph squealing, beers and a cat eating a bird.

then prepare...

then eat! fresh fish TASTES that fresh, i can't explain it to you if you haven't tried it. but it tastes infinitley better and cleaner and juicier than something you order in a restaurant or buy at the grocery store. and its the coolest knowing that guy was a fresh dude swimmin by 3 hours before. awesome, delicious, awesome night. xxoo.

misc

hello my little candies. how is everyone? its a beautiful spring day up here, got all the windows open, about to put some clothes out on the line, and i've taken one of many walks i plan on taking today and from hereon in.

ya i started this post this morning but the internet was being a humongous bitch so i gave up and went for another walk. i'm drinking this right now. you can't really tell from the picture but the bottle is shaped super cool. also its yummy. fruity and sweet. like me.

here's some shots from timmins while i wait for ryan to finish his pre-dinner nap. i just cut the heads off a bunch of smelt fish we caught last night. i'm not positive that's how you spell smeltfish but whatevs. it was fun. you wear rubber boots and warm clothes and you carry a net and drive up to a creek or stream where people know the smelt are running, late at night, pick a spot, then you wait, as you do in fishing which is so far my favourite part about fishing, the quiet wait, maybe you shine your super cool dude headlamp on the water to see if you can spot any and wait some more, and then you scoop your net when everyone starts scooping and you start catchin little silver smelts. then ryan passes you his net with the fish flapping around in it and tells you to put them in the bucket and you panic and go "what do i do?!" you put them in the bucket. maybe in the wimpiest way you possibly can but you get er done. it was super fun, we brought our dinner for tonight home! and the more i learn and do up here the more i love it and the more at home i feel, getting less wimpy inch by inch too. i think anyway. cause i did not, i repeat did not, squeal and wimper and jump backwards and cry a little bit every time i reached in to pick up a dead fish and then snip its head off while it looked at me.

rye takes me to the movies cause he knows i love going to the movies.

almost won a super dusty broken digital watch from 1994

you love this movie as much as i do don't lie

our cute little motel

ewwww

leftovers

babe in a free tshirt

hi raymi! its in our bathroom too.

ok its 7pm do i wake him up? waking up a dude can be like waking up a sleeping bear. but those smelts aren't gonna flour and garlic themselves. no seriously. i asked if they can come back alive and flop around after their heads are cut off, they can't.