boats, pies, and squirrels

it's been a busy week. I haven't had much time to catch my breath, let alone write some posts. not that busy = bad. it's been a fairly low stress in lab with Erik at UCSB and spending all day doing data analysis is not very taxing, if only slightly mind-numbing.

last Friday we went to see Ani Difranco at Live on the Levee. I can't believe how much older Ani looks from when I saw her in 2002-2003... making records and having babies will do that I suppose. hard to believe that I've listened to her music for more than half my life. weird. we road 34 miles out and back to Chain of Rocks bridge on Saturday and I have the peeling sunburn to prove it. not that it's still red- it all went in and turned tan. now it just feels like I'm molting. and Sunday I paddled on the Meramec with Laura and saw her new place out in West Bumblefuck... which, for all my jokes, is very, very close to the river.

and I feel like a kid with all my after-school activities. granted, my mode of transportation is a Bianchi and not a mini-van equipped with a soccer mom, a Capri Sun and a granola bar, but you get the idea.

• Monday - Yoga
• Tuesday - Bike to REI, buy and cut PVC pipe, clean and re-organize Laura's car
• Wednesday - Paddle on Creve Cour lake, hang slalom gates, softball playoff game (which we won!)
• Thursday - Bike to Maplewood for Meghan's birthday party, Schlafly

we got the go-ahead to start on our kitchen remodel from a contractor friend (it pays to be a regular at the Bottleworks, really it does) and just need to get the plumber out to take a look and give us an estimate. then we can start tearing into drywall and taking down cabinets. I think we've decided to do the IKEA thing and drive to Chicago (how very Sufjan Stevens of us!) though we have a little time left to decide.

the highlight(s) of the week have a common theme: Laura. dancing and singing to ancient CDs from the *gasp* 1990s while using a hacksaw was a blast. then, the capture of our eggplant by a rodent beanie baby in a Dread Pirate Roberts mask made Michele's week...

a bit of a side note here: we have been battling squirrels in our garden all summer. both the tomato and eggplant have been decimated just before the fruit is large/ripe enough to harvest. M has declared war and has been spreading blood meal everywhere. next stop, fox urine!

and then, the piece de resistance, homemade raspberry pie. surprise homemade raspberry pie. how many people are lucky enough to come home to find this being made in their kitchen by a sexy C1W paddler?

Laura, you rock.