Feeling better this week after settling into our condo, not that it isn’t small, just feeling a bit more comfortable, but I think it is still far off from complete acceptance of the space. We have a guest coming in late October and he had to make hotel reservations because of how tiny our place is. We would love to be able to host guests, but it is definitely going to be a shock for friends and family to see how small it truly is.
It is booked; I am flying back to St. Louis mid September for 5 days. I need a break from New England. It will be exciting and refreshing to come home for a visit and catch up with clients and friends. I plan on doing hair almost everyday I am there.
This week the weather is cooling off, so it is really beautiful here right now. I hope we get a chance to get to the beach before the summer ends. Jason is bringing Pru (our Great Dane) along with my car next week, so things are really going to feel like home. I spent 3 hours at the RMV (Registry Of Motor Vehicles) yesterday just getting a drivers license, so within 7-10 business days I should be receiving my Massachusetts drivers license. Jay went today and got the car registered and got his license. Then we have one day to get it inspected, so we can park it in our neighborhood. I was explaining to a friend the other day how incredibly ruthless the parking is here, not just finding a spot, but getting tickets and being towed. I am not exaggerating, it is the worst. We live two blocks from the ball park and on game day the tow trucks line up just waiting to cart off cars. On move in day I rented a Zipcar (hourly car rental) and was unloading boxes outside our new condo after about two minutes a tow truck was waiting for me to leave the car double parked, just so he could tow me. There are more stories, but I am trying to keep these blogs shorter.

Take care and I can’t wait to get to St. Louis.

Feeling better this week after settling into our condo, not that it isn’t small, just feeling a bit more comfortable, but I think it is still far off from complete acceptance of the space. We have a guest coming in late October and he had to make hotel reservations because of how tiny our place is. We would love to be able to host guests, but it is definitely going to be a shock for friends and family to see how small it truly is.
It is booked; I am flying back to St. Louis mid September for 5 days. I need a break from New England. It will be exciting and refreshing to come home for a visit and catch up with clients and friends. I plan on doing hair almost everyday I am there.
This week the weather is cooling off, so it is really beautiful here right now. I hope we get a chance to get to the beach before the summer ends. Jason is bringing Pru (our Great Dane) along with my car next week, so things are really going to feel like home. I spent 3 hours at the RMV (Registry Of Motor Vehicles) yesterday just getting a drivers license, so within 7-10 business days I should be receiving my Massachusetts drivers license. Jay went today and got the car registered and got his license. Then we have one day to get it inspected, so we can park it in our neighborhood. I was explaining to a friend the other day how incredibly ruthless the parking is here, not just finding a spot, but getting tickets and being towed. I am not exaggerating, it is the worst. We live two blocks from the ball park and on game day the tow trucks line up just waiting to cart off cars. On move in day I rented a Zipcar (hourly car rental) and was unloading boxes outside our new condo after about two minutes a tow truck was waiting for me to leave the car double parked, just so he could tow me. There are more stories, but I am trying to keep these blogs shorter.

Take care and I can’t wait to get to St. Louis.

Shortly after returning from my visit to St. Louis I saw Kate Hudson and Jason Biggs right on the street here in Boston while I was walking home from work the other day, right near the salon. They are apparently filming a movie here. (Not a great photo, but here it is anyway)

I also am involved with the AIDS Action Committee helping them on an event in December 2nd at Club Cafe. www.aac.org/danceathon, take a look. I am soliciting donations now for the raffle and the costume contest at the Dance-A-Thon.
We attended the last dance at club Avalon, which is literally two blocks from our place in the Fenway. They will be tearing down the club to build a multi-use theater and dance bar, so eventually I suppose the Gay Saturdays and Sundays will return. They are moving the nights over to some other clubs that are down in the theater district.

I took an opportunity to drive down to NY City for the first time (since living here) last week. Jay was there for work all week so I had a place to stay for free. The drive was only 4 hours, so I thought it would be fun to just go hang out and see the city again. My first time driving in Manhattan, and it was not that bad, just have to pay attention and be aggressive as you do in Boston. Jay and I had a nice dinner near Times Square and then we walked west a bit to a cute place called Therapy were they had open mic night, which was actually a nice change from the same ole gay bar experience. The next day I got up and ventured out, not having much of a plan. I just wanted to be in the city. Not having a lot of money made it very hard to not want all the beautiful things I saw. I walked all over really. I wanted to check out the basic area Bowie lived in SoHo, and then went over to Rebel Rebel, the music store in Greenwich Village. I had to stop over at Manhattan Portage in the East Village and then of course you cant go to NY without stopping off at Century 21, the huge discount clothing store right near ground zero. I met up with an old friend in Hells Kitchen for a latte and then took off for Boston around 7pm.
--My terrible times sq. phone photo.

We finally got our Murphy Bed installed, but the front is not what I ordered. He is coming back to put the shaker style front back on it, but overall it is nice to finally be in an actual bed.

Work is still a bit slow, but that is because I am impatient and loved being busy like I was in St. Louis, which I am returning again on the 8th of November to do more hair. The building that Pure Hair Design is in has decided to have its brick tuck pointed and the trim and windows replaced, so they have assembled huge scaffolding on the entire front which blocks the front of our sign and obstructs the view a bit. We have had even regulars say they had a hard time finding us. We put out a sandwich board, but I think we need to put some kind of banner up. Eventually things will pick up, I already am having return clients and that makes me feel better about my future.
Today is a bit chilly and I wonder if it is the REAL beginning of the cold coming. Well more work today on the Dance-A-Thon and we need to get more flyers out in the neighborhood about the salon, also I set up my Dad with a blog of his own, lets see if he can start posting some of his writings up on the web.

The first signs of winter are on their way to Boston. Yesterday I had forgotten to carry a jacket with me to work and on my walk back it was a bit windy and a bit chilly. Jay returned from another week in NY City and we watched the first game of the Red Sox’s American League Championship game on TV and most of it we watched muted. We could hear the crowd roar before it appeared on the TV. Thanks to Janet Jackson’s breast we now have a three second delay, which is great for predicting ground balls and strike outs. We didn’t watch the whole thing, but we were very aware of when it was over.
I cannot believe we leave for Disney World on Thursday. It has not really been in my thoughts and I have mixed feelings about the trip, but I am sure it will be fun. The mixed feelings stem from being stressed out, a bit depressed, and simply not a huge fan of the “Disney” way of life. The rides should be exciting, the resort on Disney’s property should be pampering. I just need to “put on a happy face”. Even though I am not really busy at work and would feel that is why I would need a break; I need a break regardless. When we return from the trip, our good friend Darin will be arriving from St. Louis and spending 4 or 5 days here. It is always fun showing our friends around Boston. We just have to make sure it is on a budget.

So much has happened since the Red Sox won the World Series in which I wrote about in my last blog (see below).

Darin (DSLY the Style Guy) came for a visit right before Halloween and incidentally Jay’s birthday week. It was a fun time and always a good time when friends come visit us. Dinners out and daytime shopping with Jay, a short drive up the north shore to Salem for the annual Festival of The Dead, and the occasional evening spin around the dance floor.

I flew back to St. Louis again to make my greatest clients hair look beautiful for another 6 weeks. Thanks so much to Christopher Phillips who allowed me to use his salon space out of Metro Hair Designs at 170 and Delmar. It was a joy to see everyone back in St. Louis and I will be returning during Christmas.

I now work part time at Restoration Hardware for the holidays, but the wonderful youthful female manager has asked me to “stay forever”. I love the products and it also helps me to interact more by meeting more people and by getting out of the house and salon.

Mama Judi (Jay’s mom) just left Boston from her first ever trip to the Northeast. She had a wonderful time and even had a wish come true; to see snow fall. Jay and her had most of the time together as I was working allot. I know they did the duck tour, Faneuil Hall, Newbury Street, and various bars and dinning places. I actually had a bit of time one day to join them in Cambridge as we tasted Burdick’s famous hot chocolate, shopped at Harvard Square and walked through the campus of Harvard University. I want to soon go to the Museum there. She made us a very nice and tasty thanksgiving dinner so the three of us enjoyed time that day. We even took a walk with Pru on that day, as it was unseasonable warm. You can see in the photo that we have no jackets on; See the Prudential building in the back? This is basically our front yard.

Take care..

It is offically COLD here! 27 degrees today. It gets this cold in St. Louis I know, but I didn't have to walk to work.... Brrrr.. I have determined that I need a few more essential clothing items to protect me from the elements; even more layering items, fluffy hats, and better gloves.

We got SNOW again….We got 8 more inches last night while we slept and now it is raining sleet-ish, snow/rain and is suppose to freeze tonight. FUN! I see the snow ploughs out behind the building and a few people were attempting to dig out their vehicles. The Jeep wrangler from the condo association did get the whole sidewalk down the block taken care of, but we shall see how clear it will be on my walk to Restoration today.

Next week I will be returning to St. Louis for another few days of doing hair and also seeing friends and family for the holidays. It will be fun to see everyone and also get a break from all the pounds of snow and ice I have to dredge through everyday.

Just a note, after this photo was taken we got an additional 8 inches of snow.

New Years Eve is here and 2007 is almost over. Wow, what a year this has been. I was in St. Louis for the Christmas holiday working and also seeing friends and family. I decided that when I go back, I wanted to see people on a more one on one basis or two or three people at a time for dinner instead of the huge crew. It is great that I have good friends that allow me to stay with when I travel back. Darin let me stay at his huge place and even let me borrow the car. I love seeing my clients and being able to work at Coiffures by Shawn worked out great, so I think I found my regular spot for my every six week return. This past trip was I really enjoyed seeing the kids (Alec, Rita, Trevor), even though it was brief. All of us went out to Donnie, Catherine, Anna, and Will’s house in New Town. New Town is this total brand new town, which honestly is sort of creepy to think about, it reminds me of Pleasantville or even the Truman show. I saw my father and we did the annual Brenner Christmas eve at my aunt Pats house near Jerseyville and then off to another tradition; The Groves after hours event. It was such a treat to see Nancy and her family along with Red our former golden/Irish setter dog that they now care for.
I do believe Boston is breaking records every way it can, first with the Red Sox, next with the Patriots win a few nights ago and now with the most snow fall for the month of December ever recorded. Oh Boston and it’s mightier than all attitudes. LOL, this sure will ad to it I am sure. Restoration Hardware is working out great and the manager as asked me to stay on; they like me. I even got a small “Shining Star” award which came in the form of a $50 gift card. I guess it was for being a good employee and such.
I will return to St. Louis on my birthday weekend, (February 1st) which also happens to be Mardi-Gras weekend as well as Super bowl weekend as well. Jay is going to be coming along this time and remember St. Louis actually has a huge Mardi-Gras celebration which we plan on avoiding, but I am sure we will be watching the game with the Lesbians. Also it works out good for my six week return for hair cutting/coloring and my Grandfather will be celebrating his 85th birthday. It should be a socially packed trip.
See you in ‘08
Shan

Boston weather had been unseasonably warm the last few days and with that comes more activity. First being that I have been a bit more steady in the salon and seeing more return clients and some new referrals which is exciting, but still slower than I want it to be sometimes. The weather also brings out the "massholes". I encountered a driver while crossing in a cross walk just yesterday on my walk home. I was walking and talking on the phone and was almost completely across the street when a car turning kept creeping up on me. I stopped and turned to the driver of the car and asked him (not sure he would hear, but possibly could read lips) if he was going to stop. He preceded to roll down his window and reply," You're just taking your time talking to you boyfriend" I regret to inform you that my only gut response was, "fuck off". As my good friend Adam said, after I had complained that I wish I had a more witty reply; "either you have it or you don't."
Another exciting thing the weather brings out is the cruising of men in the park that runs the entire length of Park Drive. Casual consensual sex between two men in public as gone on for ages, so it is not surprising nor does it bother me really, just not something I am into. We always walk the dog near the Rose Garden and along the war memorials, which tends to be an "active" area at dusk. However this particular evening more sinister activity took place.
I was walking Pru along the same path as I always do next to the war memorials which are nearly right in front of our place. I noticed four people walking off in the distance approaching me. Two of them veered off to the left and went into the darkness behind the memorials, the other two, who happened to be black females, continued on the path. Upon encountering me and my 125 pound black Great Dane, they left the sidewalk to avoid any contact with the dog and one made a comment, "Sure is a big dog". I got a glimpse between the trees of the other two black guys in dark clothing with hoodies, and to my shock one of them was holding a baseball bat. As I was walking away from them I texted Jay and he replied, "WHAT? call the police". I wish I had phoned right then, but I proceeded to walk around to the other side of the rose garden away from them. After almost clearing the corner I decided to double back a bit to see if I could see anything happening in the direction they were. I also wanted to warn people who may take that path to be careful. I was just about to turn and return on my way when I noticed the two girls were coming from around the edge of the garden and were within 10 feet of me, which startled me that they were not on the sidewalk. I proceeded into the light and was glad I had the big dog with me. It was also comforting that other people were walking along the corridors. While I was entering the large open area that was lit, I had noticed that the girls met up with the two guys and that the guys had begun to run along some bushes in the direction away from me off in the distance. I started to pick up my pace a bit and was walking toward them.. LOL.. I know, towards them, but at the moment I wanted to follow the girls, and there were other people on the side walk as well, so I felt it was safe to continue. As I drew closer to the small group (remember other strangers are also nearby), the two guys changed direction and were then walking toward me and the dog, but then suddenly they changed direction and walked around us. All of a sudden barely 12 feet behind me they sprang on a guy who I had just passed and attacked him. I ran in the opposite direction, as did the other pedestrians near me on their way down the path. In all my excitement and nervousness I immediately phoned 911 and began rattling off what I had seen. It all became clear what there intentions where in the beginning. Damn me for not phoning earlier. I suppose they wanted to steal or to scare people. I phoned the police and they came within minutes so I gave him a detailed description of the whole event. The victim apparently got up and slowly disappeared into the darkness.

It seems like it has been a while since I actually wrote something in my blog. I had another trip back to St. Louis to work. Greg that owns Coiffures by Shawn has been great to me by allowing me to work there every 6 weeks. His space is really nice with very tall ceilings and it is also convenient for my clients. Jay actually came back with me and everyone was so glad to see him, he even surprised me with a nice gathering at Debbie and Marni’s; No wonder my father hung out with me at the salon that night for my last few clients. It was a great time to go back, because of my birthday, and my Grandfather had his 85th birthday two days after mine. We celebrated both of our birthdays at my Cousin Laura’s house and my mother even flew in from North Dakota. I rarely talk to my mother and after 5 years not much has changed. I tried my best not to get irritated at her behavior and not be too cynical in front of her. I saved it for later, (wink)
So the second day I was in St. Louis it snowed 8 inches and it was apparent to me already the difference of the peoples’ behavior verses how New Englanders perceive the snow and getting around in it. I just walked to work and pretty much worked alone all day as all my clients came in, besides the roads were clear by noon. Then the day we flew home it was 74 degrees, strange weather.
Back to the grind here in Boston, it has been wet rainy and snowing since coming back. The salon was slow for a few days, but today (Saturday) was hectic, which always makes me feel better about business picking up. I have been taping and preping so the girls can come in to prime the walls tomorrow in the salon and then I will finish up painting on Monday. Slowly but surely we can spruce up the salon and I also have some new ad ideas for the spring. It should help business pick up even more, but I still have a lot of ideas I would like to implement in the near future.
Restoration Hardware is slow as well, and my hours are down to a minimum, but I am gracious they like me and want me around. We are also in the beginning stages of planning for the Boston PrideStuart Street Block party which takes place in June. The planning is moving along at a great pace. Lots of things are going on and I am feeling more and more comfortable here in Boston and in a few months we will have been here a full year; Hard to believe.

It seems I have been overlooking the blog again as I have been reminded to make an entry on a few occasions. I have been just going on with my daily life, and dredging through the snow and cold walking to both jobs. We painted the salon a few weeks back a new fresh hint of yellow called essence, brightening and bringing some warmth to the salon. We left one wall chocolate along the back and repainted the back bar (shampoo) area a nice pale sky blue that blends with the nice ½ inch shimmery blue tile. I love the brightened new look and over time we will also be bringing in new ideas and décor to change things a bit over time. I have to say I am thrilled for Jenny and the salon to be featured in the new March issue of Allure magazine and already we have seen a spike in business. I am in discussions with Matt our web guy and we should start updating the Pure website within the month. Business and clients are still building, but I think I am starting to see progress, I am just so impatient.
I have been working; it seems more at Restoration Hardware lately as well. We had a few long days for resetting the floor for the new spring outdoor collections. So some days I had to be in at 6am and other days stay till midnight. I also realized I really have not had a single total day off from either place, but I hope to find one soon, I certainly don’t want to get burned out. The store in general can be slow and times and of course I can always make myself busy by tidying up, but also I find myself shopping, which is something I really cant afford to do right now.
Jay has been traveling a lot for work lately so perhaps that has added to a bit to my seasonal depression. I am hoping spring will lighten things up and make me feel better about things and the future. We are great, it is just hard to start over in a new place and we still have not made many friends yet. Plus it is pretty damn expensive and the people can be downright rude, but I have discussed this all before. It is almost here in April and we will be over the first year hump.

Spring is on the verge of happening here in Boston, with an ever increasing 40 degree weather, I still find myself wearing layers on my 20 minute walk to work everyday. The Fenway Red Sox’s kicked off the new season today with an afternoon game, but I will miss the crowd when I get home later tonight after my Pride meeting. I have to say that the salon is starting to pick up from the Allure magazine article and www.Yelp.com is really helping out a lot to bring new people to me from all the wonderful reviews my clients have posted. I am also seeing the returning clients, so things are really starting to look up. Restoration Hardware (my part time job) is closing on May 18th and we have already started to let our customers know about the closing with sales on floor model furniture and such. I think after the store closes I will focus on the salon more and take the summer off from any part time work. I am really looking forward to the summer here along the cape and of course P-town. I am still busy with the Stuart Street Block party planning and trying to find a company that has fun outside decorations is becoming a challenge. I am also going to meet with a graphic artist to come up with the design concept for all the media concerning the party in June.

The South End is changing a lot in the past 6 months, already several businesses have closed and the buildings are being remodeled for more upscale condos and multi-use retail. Upper Crust will be opening within the week two doors down from the salon, Anita Kurl recently moved to Washington St. and a new shoe store LeoKadia is opening up a few doors down. So we are quite excited to see the upcoming changes.

Jay has been traveling quite a lot again for work, going from San Diego to Houston and back to San Diego this next week again. I hope perhaps someday soon I can piggy-back on a trip to San Fran when he has to go out there to work. But we are doing well as a couple and I also feel the spring and summer will get us out more and hang out with some new friends we have met here.

“He’s in the best selling show, is there life on Mars?” I sang that over a year ago now, at our going away party in St. Louis and it still makes me think of that wonderful night. Sometimes it is hard to believe it has been a year, but as hard and long as the winter was here, and it can’t come soon enough. I am glad to be finished with my first year in Boston and look forward to a better year than the first rough year here.

Cheers and see you next time.

“Busy scissors, Oh oH, hairdresser on fire” Morrissey said in a late 80’s song. Pure is picking up after a long and lonely winter. The word is out and business is good, they are even hiring a new girl who starts this week. I recently returned from St. Louis again after another successful trip. It was cold and raining even in the Midwest for this time of year. It was a trip that was full of extra sights, such as being able to attend the Dining Out For Life event and Atomic Cowboy with friends. I am trying to find a non-profit AIDS service organization here in Boston that wants to take on the Dining Out program (www.diningoutforlife.org) . We shall see how that goes after I hear back from JRI Health Services and also from someone at the Dining Out program.

There are all kinds of social things going on as well, we attended Guerilla Queer bar this past Friday along with 500 + people. We got there at around 9:15 and still the line was a block long. So they decided to take over The Liquor Store, which features a mechanical bull that the ladies ride in there bikinis, but seeing as the Gays took over, we saw all kinds of “ladies” being thrown from the bull. The music was ify, but the crowd was friendlier for the usual Boston gay crowd. I mean, wow, we even met people in line, people actually spoke to one another. Wednesday is the kick off of the Gay & Lesbian film fest and we are going to the opening show at the MFA. Friday is the hilarious musical play, Whizin’ put on by the Gold Dust Orphans, which every season they take famous plays and give them a “Twisted” revamp. It will leave you in stitches.

It was great to see Andy and Kellie here in Boston as well this past weekend. Andy was here being recognized as one of the top 100 inner city architects, representing St. Louis. We had a nice dinner and walked around the North End after stopping in at Mike’s Pastry for our sugar induced comma filled canoli’s.

Pride is 3 weeks away and we are really in gear for all the festivities. I am finalizing the last minute orders on the decorations for the Stuart Street Block Party coming up Sunday June 15th. I need to get this all wrapped up because I will be in St. Louis again the first week of June, so that means I will miss two Saturdays in a row in the salon. As part of my obligation volunteering in Pride, I have to work other events sponsored by Pride besides the one I am working on, so I will be working the Parade and then the festival on Saturday June 14th.

Today is just beautiful in Boston this Friday May 23rd and It seems everyone is heading to P-town for the official opening weekend of festivities and you can tell by the visibly slower foot traffic on the streets. I have been asked by several people if I am in P-town because it is certainly often a given that you will be there. We are still low in funds and also we don’t know a ton of people to invite us to stay with them down there, but we are looking into going towards the end of June, and perhaps sharing a small place with some friends.

My last day at Restoration Hardware was yesterday. It was a short lived part time job after starting back in November of last year. They liked me so they asked for me to stay on and then I decided to stay even through the last moments. The last several days was mostly packing up the store and cleaning it up, and t was fun actually to work along district managers and other employees from several district stores who came in to help close it down. I will miss seeing some of my fellow co-workers as I have become accustomed to them. I know I will be in contact with a few of them.

Woo Hoo to summer…

See ya at Stuart Street…

Check out other links to the Party--

YELP.COM

OK, it has been a while since I last blogged, so this is a long one.

Boston is wonderful this time of year and everyone cherishes it; so to kick off the warm weather Jay and I took a day trip to Portland, Maine and had fresh lobster by the ocean on Cape Elizabeth. It was picturesque as most of New England tends to be with the rocky shore and the quintessential lighthouse. We took our time driving up US-1, passing the smaller towns and the thousands or so antique stores. Portland was very grand all perched up on the hill looking out over the ocean. We took just a little time to stroll along the downtown streets before heading back. I did want to check out Kennebunkport on the way back, which I heard was cute, and, indeed, it was a petite little village with several stores that featured nice clothing and of course up-scale trinkets. The town sits on a small bay that has all the fishing and sailing boats docked bobbing up and down in the setting sun. We dined along the miniature harbor in Kennebunk, which is across the small bridge and a 30 second walk from Kennebunkport. The view of the large homes along ocean drive was incredible as we headed out of Kennebunk.

I recently celebrated one year at Pure and business is absolutely booming for me. I am so fortunate to finally feel some relief that I am busy again. Yelp.com has been extremely helpful and of course my quality of work, and personality help and everyone encourages others to come see me. So I feel good again. A woman named Maria recently joined our team, and we are eager to share our knowledge and expertise with her.

On the first of June we attended the Boston AIDS Walk briefly. Since we walked all the way from our place to the Esplanade with Pru, by the time we got back toward Kenmore Square, she was beat. I think I realized that day how old she really is. Of course a 7 year old black Great Dane in the hot sun doesn’t mix.

I had another trip to St. Louis for work where I got to attend the Taste of the Central West End, which took place right outside the salon. I had an amazing time this trip with Janelle coming in to town as well with Donnie, Catherine and the kids at the City Museum as we spent several hours crawling through the huge five story jungle gym and the cavernous tunnels. Catherine was quite impressed with the artistry and time it took to build such an elaborate place, and we both thought there is really nothing like it, that they really should do some national advertising, as well as have someone commission a book about the history of how the City Museum was created. We would buy it. I was also invited that same evening to see Natasha Bedingfield at the Pageant with Debbie, Angie and Adam, so that was a nice treat.

Back in Boston I was busy with work of course and also the volunteering I did for Pride. I helped out at Pride Lights, then took off Saturday to help with the Parade and walk along side the Obama team, and then worked the door of the Beer Garden at the festival. Sunday of course was setup for the Stuart Street Block party in the rain, sigh. We did manage to get it set up, but with a late start. I hit a brick wall about 1pm and then got some more energy around 8pm, just in time to tear it all down and pack it up. I do enjoy volunteering, but I am going to pursue other organizations and ideas I have in store for the future.

So in the last week along we have attended the Fenway Community Health Spirit Cruise, which takes you out into the Harbor for an evening of fun, music (CDs put on rotation), boys, girls and light hors d’oeuvres; also went to the El Greco exhibit at the MFA and to see/hear Amanda Palmer (The Dresden Dolls) with the Boston Pops, for part of what they call their “edge Fest” series. I just fell in love with the Boston Pops and will be looking into the musical piece called The Planets by Holst.

Today we are heading to Providence, Rhode Island to attend the Pride Block Party they are having. This should be fun.

One last note, I am trying to get my father’s two 1968 Italian mopeds to Boston. He gladly said we could have them, but we are trying to figure out all the logistics right now.

Cheers and have a wonderful summer.

Whew, Pride is over and the Block Party in R.I. was a drag, so we ended up walking to most of the local gay bars in downtown instead. Overall I think Providence is a cute little town.

The evening of the 4th was spent watching (for our first time) the Boston Fireworks; we even took Pru (Great Dane) with us, but she certainly didn’t care for the finale. We had attended two small BBQ’s that day, one by Jenny and Rich and the others’ Matt and Scott. My father has come and gone from his very first trip to Boston, that same weekend. He drove (the long way) all the way from St. Louis to bring Jay and I two identical 1968 Italian mopeds. I am still trying to find someone to work on them and get them up a running. Although it was a short trip as he had to get back to North Carolina to pick up a good friend from her Tai-chi weekend. We rode the high speed 30 passenger boat out in the harbor called Codzilla. (see my review on yelp: CLICK HERE. ) I actually really enjoyed the tour of Fenway Park, and made me yearn to attend and see a game. I think the highlight of his trip was his 30 mile hike out in the ocean to see the Whales. It was nice just to show him around the town and for him to see how and where we lived and worked.

There has been some drama on my client testimonial section of my website in the past week or more. You have to scroll down several rebuttals to get the original message everyone is referring to, quite funny and frankly, simply ridiculous. (Quick Link)

Well back to work…

Rain, rain, rain and more rain in Boston, SIGH.... But the two 1968 Benelli mopeds are up and running; Woo-hoo. They are so much fun to ride and they get tons of attention. We picked up the second one yesterday after a very nice guy in Woburn has been working on them out of his workshop behind his house for a week. So we took the back roads home with the moped in the hatch of the car and we got stuck in a tunnel that was flooded from a flash flood (see photo below). Several cars attempted to go through and a small handful didn’t make it. We waited (30 mins) till they closed the road behind us and we back tracked.

Work is going strong and I have been really picking up more and more clients. I do get a bit more exhausted lately and I need to start pacing myself and remember to start snacking in between to keep nourished. I have been watching more of the Olympic Games and especially like the Diving events. OK Back to the Olympics..

Don't forget Big Brother is watching (hee hee) Look below, my car in front of my building.

A new president was elected in this country and I have been watching and paying attention to this one more closely than I ever remember wanting to know what a President was up to. So I hope that people feel a sense of a new direction for this country that is under so much stress about the economy tanking. My business seems to be doing very well despite the media’s attempts at scaring everyone. I still even travel back to St. Louis to do hair every 6 weeks. Thanksgiving has come and gone. The two of us went local to the Bee Hive. I got the new Blackberry Storm a few days ago and I have the new Mac Book Pro on its way, so things are looking up.

Not looking good this week however…..

Our condo units tub drain has broken and is spilling water down the interior walls of our unit all the way down to 11’s unit. Guy in 11 came up sweating or wet after being in his shower on Friday to say he saw water forming on his bathroom ceiling, saying “it looks like tea” (he snickered after saying it) We suspect he is “family” (gay, that is). Jay was the only one home and stated that he only ran the tub for a moment, so that it must be 18. 18 came banging on the door after Jay was showering and reported, that he did NOT have water in his unit, BUT that he could hear it “flowing” behind his bathroom wall. We waited to hear back from 11 and continued to shower since we never heard from him in a few days. 11 was back and let us know.. water still…SO In come the plumbers. After negotiating with the unserviceable and disdainful management company to let us into 18, we finally got in so the plumbers could hear the water “flowing”, which turned out to be more of a strong trickle.

Plumbers now have to tear out the ceiling to 18 today just to run a diagnostic that costs only $450.00 to get to our pipes.

Under Massachusetts law we are not responsible to repair 18’s ceiling since our liability policy does not cover anything unless we are negligent. We are not negligent because we acted immediately, therefore our insurance company will not pay. However it is the right thing to do and if we refused we could be sued. So we have to magically come up with some unsaid amount to not only pay for the plumbers to do all the work to our drain, but to pay for the ceiling they are going to tear out to be repaired or replaced. Then what if 11 decides he wants his ceiling replaced, but in that case, I would suspect that Insurance would need to step in. We have no money, my two credit cards at minimum credit limits are maxed out, and I doubt with the state of things, we could get a home equity loan. I was also unable to get approved for another credit card, I am depressed, angry and frustrated to go into debt to pay for someone else’s ceiling.. I am going to attempt to contact the owner of 18 and ask kindly if he could claim on his home owner’s insurance policy for the ceiling repairs. We could then perhaps offer to pay half or the full deductible. To repair the torn drain pipe under our unit is going to cost $4400 that I took out of my business account and thus wiped us out completly. The hunt for contractors start today.