hail hail CHUCK BERRY!

josh's birthday was at the beginning of this month, and one of the things i surprised him with was tickets to a chuck berry tribute show put on by the rock and roll hall of fame. at first it just started out as a nite to honor him, with lots of special guests doing tributes throughout the nite. now they have announced that chuck himself will be there, and he will be performing! what great news. i never thought i would get the chance to see him play.





this past thursday was his 86th birthday and i'm thankful he's still with us rockin and reelin. other performers scheduled for the nite include david johansen of the new york dolls, jd mcpherson (who we just saw a few weeks ago and he was excellent!), and LEMMY of motorhead! i can't wait for this weekend, it's going to be an amazing night!

Schlitzie

Something happened over the weekend that I still can't believe.

If you know me even the slightest, you know I am a total cat lady. I love the three I have, and I'd be even happier if I could collect one in every color. Therefore, I still can't even believe it when I say that josh and I got a puppy over the weekend!

We talked before about how we sorta wanted a weiner dog. Josh likes big dogs, and I like little ones (but still not as much as cats, of course). Something we both agreed on was the fact that weiner dogs were pretty cute, though. On Thursday we heard someone was getting rid of a four-month-old dachshund puppy and we quickly decided it was now or never. By the time we could get out of work and pick him up, we were told he was no longer available and we were both a bit more heartbroken than we expected. On Saturday, I found out we could still have him. I made arrangements to secretly get him and surprise josh for his 25th birthday on Sunday. You should have seen the look on his face!

Josh named him Schlitzie after one of my favorite circus freaks, Schlitzie the pinhead. He is adorable! He's timid (he is afraid of passing cars when we take him for walks) but so very playful ( thank goodness he can't jump very high or my face would be covered in doggie kisses). He took to his new home right away and he always wants to be cuddling with one of us. He is still being ornery and trying to play with the cats and they are still not having it. Pogo is the most curious and she will at least sit on the couch with Schlitzie, even if its all the way on the other end. Lemmy is still pretty pissed, while Megadeth is terrified like she is of everything else.

Here is our new little buddy, Schlitzie!

white trash drive-in

we had one last hurrah at the ryan arms before summer came to a close: a white trash drive-in. i highly recommend them. we have no problem throwing a themed party like this (in fact, we feel entitled) because we both have family members who secretly brew moonshine and we aren't too embarrassed to have a sign that reads "keep my skillet good and greasy" hanging on our kitchen wall. hell, i spend the entire summer barefoot, and as a kid josh had to be yelled at that it wasn't appropriate any longer to pee off the side of the porch once he moved from west virginia to cleveland.  my point is: done right, white trash drive-in is where it's at. it's a great excuse to eat greasy food and walk around barefoot with your friends while partaking in some particularly trashy cinema. the best part is setting up your lawn chairs outside to resemble a drive-in theater. as you can see, we opted for the garage set-up so that we could show the movies when it was still slightly light outside.

on our big screen: the once-banned "uncle goddamn" and the crowd favorite "gummo." well, i don't know if it was so much a crowd favorite as it was MY favorite, but i digress.



the menu was diverse but equally trashy. it was fun to see what people brought with them. and just look at all the crappy beer!


"swamp juice" -- a secret punch recipe that has been passed down in josh's family! we weren't even allowed to know, so we improvised and had to guess at the ingredients! it should have been more green, but we'll try harder next time.


dirt cake and worms for dessert -- thanks, ty!


macaroni and cheese with cut up hot dogs and topped with ketchup. this was really funny. and look, people actually ate it! thanks janet and lucky!


more fancy desserts from beth and chuck


jo jos and genny cream ale


soo much fried chicken!...and genny cream ale.


some of ty's delicious cornbread, made in a cast-iron skillet on the grill!


chris manning the grill







little charlotte had to leave before we put on any trashy cinema. we don't need her learning any swears just yet!
 

my favorite recipe from this book was for "potato chip sandwich." the only ingredients it called for was two slices of break, some mayo, and chips. yum! hahaha


party pizzas on the grill...trashy!


barefoot and proud











i can't wait to host a part 2 next year :)

hello fall

i haven't been around in FOREVER! honestly, the month of september was a busy one for us, and the remaining time was spent just trying to enjoy the appearance of fall. every year i say, "i'm going to make an effort to enjoy fall more" because usually i'm already dreading the approaching winter and then i don't even take the time to appreciate what comes before. this year i'm trying to sloooow down and not get ahead of myself. it's been all about decorating our cute house for halloween, watching scary movies with josh, cuddling under blankets with cats and scary books, and pumpkin-flavored EVERYTHING. it ain't a bad way to be!

here are a few shots from my instagram (username: letsdanceon).


some of our halloween collection (that stays out all year, haha)


decorating the house for halloween!


70s & 80s die-cut decorations


how could i resist a giant pumpkin?!


the toy store where i work is already in halloween mode, too!

have you been doing any fun fall stuff?

SWINGIN SIXTIES DANCEPARTY (and official monkees pre-party!)

aiiight cleveland, it's time to get your game face on!

monkees fans can rejoice because we're helping to turn this november's SOLD OUT show into even more of a monkees weekend. dancin' folks can shuck, jive and shimmy their way over and show off all those cool moves. and fans of the sixties (with some of the BEST music in the WORLD!) can come on get happy because i'm proud to annouce a SWINGIN' SIXTIES DANCE PARTY that doubles as the OFFICIAL MONKEES PRE-PARTY on friday, november 16th! the night before lakewood's sold out civic auditorium show my cousin and i (both wcsb 89.3fm djs) will be putting on quite the show, with records (gasp! actual vinyl records!), dance moves (can you boogaloo? shimmy? watusi? BATUSI? can your monkey do the dog? ), monkees trivia & prizes, and a big screen showing the monkees tv show all nite long. let it all hang out and show us what you got,  baybee!



this event is FREE and is only blocks from the civic auditorium where the monkees will be preforming the following night.

the facebook invite can be found HERE for you to RSVP ASAP, ya dig?!

if you like what you see and hear, please consider joining us for a nite like no other!

labor day flea market

its been a while since josh and i had a worthwhile junking trip. i absolutely HATE waking up early, so its extra frustrating when i get up early AND come home empty handed. luckily this weekend wasn't one of those times!

here is a picture of my haul. it includes one of my all-time wants! i'm sure you can spot it right away, haha.



i have a nice little collection of vintage planters that i've been growing aloe, bamboo and cacti in. i really loved both of these and can't wait to find more things to plant in them!





also got some vintage halloween for our collection. i can't get enough blow molds! although at this point i'll admit i have too many pumpkins and not enough other halloween stuff. anyone got a double of something you wanna trade for a buck-toothed pumpkin?







i love that something i've been actively searching for for so long just happened to be sitting there ON TOP of a pile at the flea market, and i wasn't even the one to spot it first. we walked up to a booth and josh said nonchalantly, "there's the monkees board game."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you would think that working at a vintage toy store and going to so many flea markets/thrift stores/estate sales/garage sales for years would mean that i would see this game more often. but i haven't seen it in the wild even ONCE! not in any condition. every once in a while it pops up on ebay, but if it is complete people want at least $200 for it (and recently, someone was trying to sell an incomplete one for $175!). this one is not complete, but it is only missing a few pieces (the davy and micky game pieces, their stands, a plastic guitar, and the cardboard spinner). what IS there is in great shape and has fabulous graphics. the only issue is a rip on the box and a stain on the front. the fact that i got this, in any condition, for under $30 made me sooooo happy. now to find a complete version or at least find the missing pieces :)