Con Ed 4-Ever

I'm back in school. I'm just taking one class. It's a freaking Biology class! I have a degree in fine art and design, so it's a slightly different language. The class is a precursor to a very special trip I'm going on this summer with my teacher and classmates.

I had this teacher in under-grad about twelve years ago. I love him. He has a black-belt in Power Point and he explains things in a lovely way.

I did so bad on this quiz tonight. I'm just not used to studying these types of materials and then being asked scientific questions in sentence form.

I think it's fine, because no one thinks I'm a hardcore Biology student, I'm just being educated about our trip.

We're going to Peru to see Machu Picchu and then we go to Ecuador and visit the Galapagos. And snorkel with the sea lions. And hug and kiss them maybe.

I'm happy that a wet-suit or spring suit is on my school supply list. And binoculars.

But I have to drive (a car, not a bicycle) kind-of far for my class.

My Grandmother lives half-way between my home and my class, so on the way, I stop and hang out with her.

For my drive, I fix my iPod up with new Podcasts and Playlists. I'm adamantly No Phone Zone when driving.  This podcast of Alec Baldwin interviewing Lena Dunham was great, and covered one leg of my journey.

Today we were watching Hillary. My grandma was so pissed that some of the men were disrespecting her. My Grandma was fingering the costume jewelry she was wearing and using a pick on her hair in a feisty way. I loved how pissed she was. She's 89.

This past weekend, Me and Bonnie went to this Rally for Reproductive Rights (pro-choice rally) and it made me miss my volunteering at Planned Parenthood so much. I miss being confident and pleasant to the patients who are coming in for a variety of things, totally not-necessarily abortions, while the pro-lifers are all bent out of shape.

Here's Bonnie having fellowship with a friendly feminist.

Jocelyn Elders spoke at the rally and said clever things like "The vows of abstinence break far more easily than latex condoms."

It's really special living in Little Rock, I think. I love having the Bill Clinton Library as a part of my life and I love that these former people from his administration are a part of the community. 

The Arkansas Blizzard of 2012

Now that we live here, Arkansas had their first Blizzard Warning announcement ever. Ever. It was the deepest snow in 86 years or something crazy like that. We always laugh and say Oh, no, it never really snows in Arkansas. 

Snow means Bonnie the dog is wearing shoes to protect her deliciate, furry little paws. 

This better not happen again for another 86 years.
It was really pretty the first morning but now it's just a cold icy-patched mess. 

A cool dude did donuts in this parking lot. 

Glad I saved some of my key winter items. 

Luckily, with the crazy way Arkansas weather works, it could turn around and be really warm any moment now. Any moment now, OK? 

My Flickr set of all my blizzard related photos is here. 

I can't shut up about the xmas tree farm

Now that we live in the country (Arkansas) we're doing some down-home-y things. We thought it would be cute and novel to go to the Christmas Tree Farm and boy, was it terrific!

We drove to the outskirts of town (we had no idea where we were or where it is- you would have to GPS this for yourself) We drove past some of those yards with rusty cars on blocks in the front yard and arrived at this fabulous place - Motley's Christmas Tree Farm.

We went on a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning. They have gardens of different kinds of trees and trees in pots that you can re-plant. The awesome kick in the pants was the petting zoo! They have a jazzy little petting zoo.




We were overwhelmed with our choices and walked around for quite a while to choose the right one for ourselves. Then we decided on a bushy, tall, skinny, wild one and Matt sawed him down.





They had tractors with hay-ride-ready trailers attached to carry us and our tree to the entrance.


Matt looks so funny to me with his huge beard these days. I forget the beard is there and it's like he's in disguise and he's like Why are you laughing!?
I was also impressed with how fast he sawed down the tree with that little saw.


They put him in a tree shaker and wiped needles off of him with a toilet bowl brush :)


They wrapped it in ropes and loaded it into the back of Matt's truck. This tree was also less than $30 which we thought was an amazing deal compared to buying 3' tall trees in NYC for more than that.

We left before the pig races started, but I heard they wear sweaters sometimes.


Then we got home and remembered that it had to fit into the elevator.

I fell ovah

About three weeks ago I had my first bike crash. I fell over. At an intersection. When the light turned green. (on my single speed, not my road bike.) Trolley tracks got me! It wasn't that embarrassing for whatever reason. Suspension of disbelief? I fell the fuck ovah and my bag spilled in the street but I did not and do not feel that embarrassed about it.

I know you have to hit the tracks perpendicular but I hit a curved one going not-fast-enough and bitch flipped me. I was fine but tore my pants and got bruises from hell. People saw me, ran over and put me back together and had the shit back in my purse before I knew it.

So my first crash was a best-case-scenario crash.

How did I manage those years riding in scary big crazy busy NYC and never crash? Wow!

Here's more old information- 

I rode in the Halloween bike ride! I built myself some ears and put on an old dress. A lot of people were taking pictures and I was camera-lazy and thought one would surface and never found them so this is about it:

Arkansas Sights on Bikes

I used to have all these words and thoughts cooking in my head and blogging here was this outlet, like touching my finger to a socket and the words and thoughts would flow out, but that's not the case these days so here are some pretty photos of sights we saw while on a quick school-night bike ride on the 17 mile Arkansas River Trail in North Little Rock and Little Rock.

A lawn-mover-esque aircraft over hay bales.


My spandex bike look. Pink/Black/White 4ever.


I can never capture Matt smiling on camera - he makes a scowl at my camera but I caught him while biking.




I don't feel that great about this outfit. The butt-pad shorts feel DISGUSTING but it's a must for road bike times.


I'm still not on clips yet and I don't care.
Matt used to obsess about getting a bike-storage situation in our apartment but I actually like them parked by the window like decoration. They stay.

My first job

Monday I spent the day at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. It was held in the Arlington Hotel this year, because the Malco theatre got damaged in a storm.



The Arlington Hotel was my first job. The hotel is a historic place and Al Capone would visit there in his hey day, and they had/have a big suite dedicated to him. I was a breakfast waitress. It was my first experience of being around adults who were not teachers or the parents of my peers. It was the first time grown-up ladies taught me things about their lives without censoring themselves.  Some of them were older and had lived pretty rough lives.

One of my bosses there was the first real live gay person I was aware of in my life.
I worried about him and wondered how his family treated him and never dared to ask.

I had to be there by 6:30am and wear a tuxedo shirt and black bow tie. I had the first experience of learning that employees enter through a dark, smelly back area- never the gorgeous front entrance.

That summer I had my own money, but I was too tired to stay up late and enjoy the freedom that came with being an employed person. I was 17. (This was 1997)

The following summer, the summer between high school and beginning college, I had a better position in this hotel. I worked in the guest services office and wore and even frumpier uniform. I would ship things back to guests that had been left behind in rooms. I ordered flowers and booked golf and dinner reservations and updated the info board in the lobby with plastic letters.

I got my first taste of being given tickets and invitations to events and complimentary dinners as a perk of my job. I was now eighteen.

I spent most of my money on decorations for my college room and I took my first trip where I rode a plane. I went to California with my high school sweetheart. My favorite memory of that trip was going to thrift shops and record stores in Hollywood in the middle of the night.

This past Monday, I went to the hotel as a visitor. I saw some documentary shorts and I saw two full-length films. That's a lot of films for one day, I think. I enjoyed being there, but more because I like historic places, I think.

I thought about my history with documentary films. When I was in college one of my professors assigned us to go see some art-related films and write little papers about what we saw. I fell in love with documentaries immediately. I love stories that are the opposite of glossy Hollywood stories. Real people and stories. Bravery and struggle and triumph in corners and for people that don't always garner mainstream recognition.

When we lived in North Carolina, I loved going to the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. I went on to volunteer on that festival. One of my favorite memories is when Eugene Jarecki found out I was from Arkansas and interrogated me about that. I loved the attention and didn't completely realize what a big deal he was/is.

The body of questions that comes from a Northern Person/Eugene to an Arkansas Person/Me follows this rough outline:
1. Tell me everything you love/hate/know about Bill Clinton
2. What is the Bible Belt? Is it real?

I love participating in this discussion. 

In New York, I went to things, but TriBeCa Film Festival was kind-of too much for me. Really complicated and actually didn't consist of the smaller documentaries I love for the most part.
Films weren't really my entertainment focus during our time in NYC anyway.

I'm happy to be back in the small cozy towns where I can easily go enjoy a day of films.

My best high school friends who mostly likely do not read this blog will correct this entire post and point out that my actual first job that I was hired to was at KFC/Kentucky Fried Chicken when I was sixteen. I worked there for 4 hours and was so grossed-out that I didn't eat there again for TEN YEARS. 

How I spend my days

I need to tell the curious internets what I'm doing with my life in Arkansas. 

Dear Internet, 

I've been spending my time volunteering at the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Center/Library. I love it. I love the people, I love the subject matter. I'm very happy to be there. I was asked to be a docent (tour guide) so I had to study like I haven't studied since I had to take actual final exams in college (over ten years ago!) My husband has never seen me study like this. I'm very proud to be a docent and learn everything I possibly can about this institution. 

I've split my time giving tours, volunteering on lectures and events and recently I worked on a naturalization ceremony. It was very special and moving and made me cry several times, it was so precious. 

147 people from 38 different nations became citizens. It was moving and precious and I'm so honored to have been in that room. Most were dressed up and brought their entire families or handfulls of friends. 

It was a lot like a graduation ceremony, except it's a legal proceeding facilitated by a judge. 

They stepped to the microphone and announced their name, country of origin, and some gave excited charges or simple a "God bless the USA!" which were all greeted with rousing applause. They shook the judge and the mayor's hands and received a certificate and other American paraphernalia. There was a little reception outside with refreshments for them at the end. 

I give tours and volunteer on lectures and events like this one. I'm getting an amazing American history education and the other volunteers and employees are so wonderful. Most are adorable and funny too. I've even spent some time "off-campus" with a favorite lady. 

There is a dress code. Scarves are involved. I've been researching how to tie a scarf tutorials.

But that's how I'm spending my days here in Little Rock. I've been back living here for about three months and in month two, I got myself back to the point where I keep my schedule full.  Reaching the full google calendar schedule status was a happy day. 

When too clean is a bad sign

See how this bike rack is clean and perfect?
It's not banged up. It doesn't have a rusty bike skeleton chained to it.
It doesn't have a hint of spray paint or a faded sticker.

It's brand new and shiny.


While it's nice to see this, and the other plentiful perfect racks, I am reminded of this. Arkansas ranks the lowest of the states in bicycle commuters.

Sad! But hopefully, it will get better.

Sorry for the trash can, but take pleasure in the extremely clean small town feel.




I rode about one whole mile to see Harry Belafonte speak at the end of a screening for a documentary about his activist life. It was really wonderful. I had no idea what a major role he played in the civil rights movement.

Field Trip: Historic Central High School by Bike

I made the long-overdue trip to the Little Rock Central High historic site & visitor center. I enjoyed the peacefulness that the middle of a week-day brought to the streets. I rode on the sidewalk a teeny-tiny bit but mostly the streets are wide enough that there's room for all of us. 

Mural of the Little Rock Nine. 

Bike rack all to myself! This bike rack, like many in Little Rock, I feel, is so fresh and new that I feel like I'm the first one locking up here. Ever. 

I've got on overalls and TOMS and a big LeSport Sac bag. 

The museum part was great, but my favorite part, and where I spent about two hours was watching these little oral history documentary films that they have in kind-of a phone booth setting. You can sit on this big bench and dial up the documentaries in chronological order and they're narrated by the Little Rock Nine and other people who were involved. I learned so much. I didn't realize the crisis went on for over a year. I always had it in my mind as a quick event, but oh, no. And even though there were army guards outside the school, the Little Rock Nine were bullied beyond comprehension all year long inside the school. Even anyone who was nice to them really, also got bullied.

Those students were really so young to be so amazing and brave. I'm glad I went.

This was an excellent field trip by bike. I ran errands, visited this historic place, then stopped off for lunch. I sat outside because I was so sweaty and gross. 

Tiny excursions by bike

I am still not in the mindset to go for joy rides on my bicycle. But I did go for a joy-jog on Sunday on the same path. I have to have a mission, no matter how small. Saturday morning I biked across the river to the Argenta Farmer's Market. It's legit, and I'll be back there soon.

I sat down and ate breakfast, bought goat's milk lip-balms and eggplants and more.






I rode down the very quiet Main street using the empty parking spots as my bike lane.

I'm studying for a new volunteer gig and I needed index cards so I decided that there was somewhere I could get them by bike (most stores that would offer stuff like that involve a highway that I don't deem suitable for my bike rides)

I locked up at the USA Drug store and got my index cards then basically took myself home.

I think of the San Fran bike blog girls when I ride around the trolley tracks.




Building blocks of tiny excursions.

Oh, wait! I had a big bike date planned last Thursday but Matt had a seriously flat tube and we had time constraints so we drove but a Little Rock bike date almost happened. 

Southern Saturday - The Lassis Inn

After reading about The Lassis Inn in Garden & Gun magazine several months ago, we've been dying to go there. Saturday night was the right time to execute this very classy date.

Yes, we shared a 40oz at the suggestion of our lovely waitress. Yes, there's juke-box music. Yes, we ate fried catfish dinners. I used hot sauce. It was a good time. I didn't stress over what to wear. It was really cute and extremely southern. I don't know if we'll frequent on our own but this is the kind of special place we will bring guests. 

DIY Times - Decorative Art

I suspected I would start making things when I got on Arkansas time. Out of necessity, I made some decorative art.

I followed this DIY for this one.


I'm really happy with it because it works no matter which way the canvas is turned and your eye keeps moving. And there's glitter. I kind-of totally free-handed the shapes, so I could continue to clean it up. It looks good in photos.

Next project:  I needed to cover this big column and I love this Marimekko pattern, but I don't live down the street from a Marimekko store anymore, and sometimes I'm impatient and didn't want to order the fabric online and then make a stretch canvas, so...  This was much cheaper anyway.


I read that the artist made the shapes to look like chunky cut-out circles so I used masking tape to make a similar effect and try to have sharp edges.



I just used acrylic paint for both of these. I never felt like I had the time or space to do things like this in NYC. 

Peaceful creatures

What have I been doing?

Organizing shelves


Blanching tomatoes


Hanging out with Bonnie


Going through old treasures


not studying


I got Bonnie this western style collar from a nice lady on Etsy


Perfect for an Arkansas dog!
I don't see the dog collar listing, but I'm sure you can contact her for a custom order, as I sort-of did for the font and colors and such