motherload

has this ever happened to you?

when you're least expecting it, you suddenly stumble upon the obscure item you've been obsessing over desperately and its just sitting there in front of you waiting for you to take it home??? its a really great feeling, but also a tad overwhelming because a shot of adrenaline like that tends to make one light-headed and a bit jittery. allow me to back up just a bit.

on friday, josh and i had some time to kill before we had to be somewhere, so we went junkin.

"just a quick little look," i promised, because we really didn't have much time. i don't like being in a rush, because i'm afraid i might miss something important. still, i managed to find this bag of pretty vintage christmas ornaments and this cute vintage owl halloween decoration for nice prices.





with only minutes left before the place was about to close, i turned a corner and almost stumbled upon the happiest smiling face i could have ever imagined:



NO WAY! i've been wanting one of these SO BAD. you may remember riding on one of them on the mcdonalds playgrounds of yesteryear. recently i had been drooling over them on ebay and crying over the fact that shipping alone is usually $100 at the very least.







i moved my smiling cheeseburger into the room with mayor mccheese, which also housed my newly acquired giant ice cream cone. it's seriously starting to look like an amusement park in the ryan arms...my work here is done!



happy cheeseburger has since found his true calling in life, which includes providing baby smurf with hours of enjoyment.

adventures in petting a dophin a.k.a. meeting someone famous

the other day i was reading a blog about someone's brush with a famous musician. that got me thinking about some of the famous (and "famous") people i've met. several years ago my cousin beth and i coined a term for meeting someone famous.

backstory: when we were younger, my family went on a trip to sea world and my cousin beth came with me. near the exit, there was an exhibit where you could stop and put your hand in the tank to pet a dolphin. my parents were ready to leave, but my younger brother chris insisted he needed to pet a dolphin before we could go. he waited patiently for one to swim near his hand, and my parents waited impatiently to go home. when they finally told him he had to leave, chris started crying.

"but i want to pet a dolphin! it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" something about a red-faced 9-year-old sobbing over the missed opportunity to pet a dolphin struck us as deliciously hilarious. thus, when we wanted to talk in code about a run-in with a celebrity, we called it "petting a dolphin" because it was our version of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

anyway.

here are some of my favorite instances of petting a dolphin. some are actually impressive to me, while others stand out because of ridiculous situations i got myself into just to have this memento. i've never been one to meet celebrities and ask for autographs...i like to have the memories to look back on. what am i gonna do with a piece of paper? give me a photo any day.

*disclaimer: i apologize for the fact that i'm awkwardly unphotogenic and that this is more photos of me in one place than you ever wanted to see in your lifetime*

have you petted any dolphins lately??

lemmy (motorhead)
[my ultimate dolphin!!!]


? (? and the mysterians)


corey feldman


andre "mr. rhythm" williams


dj fontana (elvis' drummer and "the first drummer of rock'n'roll")


nobunny
[it's kinda weird when your friends become superstars, but i guess he's pretty "famous" these days!]


kerri kenny-silver (the state/reno 911)
[the state is my favorite show in the WORLD!]


jeff magnum (the dead boys)










the sweet inspirations (elvis' backup singers)


paul revere (paul revere and the raiders)


michael ian black (the state/wet hot american summer/stella)


michael showalter (the state/wet hot american summer/stella)


pauly shore


wanda jackson "the queen of rockabilly"


jesco white "the dancing outlaw"


david wain (the state/wet hot american summer/stella)


handsome dick manitoba (the dictators)


roy loney and cyril jordon (flamin groovies)


paul-z (zero boys)


the great gaylord


guitar wolf


peter tork (the monkees)
[my favorite monkee!]




rivers cuomo (weezer)


peter noone (herman's hermits)


tre cool (green day)


flo and eddie (the turtles)


melvin davis "the detroit soul ambassador"


gob
[i could fill a whole scrapbook of photos with these guys -- this isn't even all of them]


















i would be happy to tell stories about any of these photos :)

tell me about dolphins you've petted! better yet, do a post like this and link it in the comments!