The Essential "Butt" Rules of Camping

For over 50 years, my family has gone camping in Northern California for two weeks every summer. The vacations began when my mother was 5 and she went camping with her mother, father, and two brothers. Since then, the number of campers has grown. Every year, we have come together: family and also friends who have become like family. Some years, we have definitely passed the 100 camper mark. Yup, this trip has turned into a multi-generational hootenany and we wouldn't miss it for the world.

Did I mention where we camp? Well, it's this tiny little lake, a real gem. You probably haven't heard of it. Butt Lake? Not Butte. Not Buck. BUTT. It was named after a lovely man with the distinctive name of Horace Butt. For years, I tried to avoid saying the name. I think I even wrote a 3^rd grade paper entitled: “Butterfly Lake.” But, now the gig is up and I kind of even love the name. Eventually, you've just got to be proud of your Butt.

So, straight from the Butt, here are some tips useful tips for camping.

THE RULES OF CAMPING

1. “Rule Number One: Don't shoot me.” 
   
   
   
   
   
   It sounds simple. It is simple. Don't shoot me. These are the words that my father says to anyone who goes target shooting with him, but I think it's just a good rule of thumb. Don't shoot me. 

2. Embrace the beauty of nature. See the colors. Smell the smells. Hear the hears. Feel the feels. Rainbow connection it up.

3. Turn off your goshdarn phone, you moose head! Here is your chance to get away from it all, so don't botch your getaway. Turn off your phone; get rid of your computer; pretend “texting” is just an old fashioned term for leaving notes in peoples lunch boxes.
   
   
   
   
   
   These young teens (Chelsea and Lo) were initially bored...
   
   
   
   But this boredom soon led to the invention of a new brand of literate fly swatter.

4. Stock up on the necessities (donuts, marshmallows, trashy magazines).
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   At the lake, we like the simple things, but we also like to experiment. The day we discovered the nutella-graham cracker correlation...it was a good day. This year, we instituted “Butt Shake Hour.” Essentially this is what you do: get a cup, get a scoop of ice cream, get some milk, mix, enjoy. We just get crazy. Crazy, I tell you! Here are some of our favorite food combos:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   From Top Right Clockwise: Swedish Pancakes, Assorted Cakes, Taco Salad, Selection of Entenmann's Donuts

5. Get your game on. This year we played a lot of Monopoly (I was winning right up to the end...blast you States Avenue) 
   
   
   
   
   Matt (left) is losing, while I am winning!
   
   
   The Venuti Family also introduced us to the wonders of “Paper Telephone.” Here are the rules of Paper Telephone (aka pictionary without the social anxiety). If you don't like reading rules, just jump down to the drawings of marshmallows.

a. Hand every player a stack of papers (index size) equivalent in number to how many people are playing. For example, if you have 8 people playing, each player should have 8 pieces of paper.
b. Number your papers 1-8
c. Put your cards in orders. Start with number 1 on top and have number 8 on the bottom.
d. On card 1, each person should write a term (catchphrase, image, song title, movie title, quotation, truism etc.). This is in writing. We are not drawing...yet.
e. Each person then passes their pile of papers (with #1 on top) to the person to their right or left.
f. The person to the right or left (you pick) will take that term and draw their own unique artistic representation of it.
g. Here is the important step so listen up: Take card #1 and place it at the bottom of the pile. Card #2 (aka the picture) should be on top. This pile is then passed to the next person. They will look at the picture only and write down their title/term for what they are seeing.
h. The game goes on. Switching between drawing and interpretation.
i. At the end, when the piles have navigated the circle, you will all share the journey that your original term took. Believe me there will be some doozies. Marshmallow reunion forever!

 Yes, the Dragonfly is carrying a shank made from a toothbrush in a prison cell.

3 blind mice become 3 cool cats do a well choreographed dance routine

6. Locate your floatation device. Every year, we float down the Feather River. I tell you, there is nothing like taking a group of plastic dragons and inner tubes down a river. But, you've got to be safe. Seriously. You need a lifejacket and proper shoes. Then pretend you're Meryl Streep and you're in the The River Wild. We've all got to get our kicks somehow and being Meryl Streep is a great technique for this.

 Ian and his dragon prepare to take the river

What's around the river bend?

7. Soak in local culture. Butt Lake is located about a half hour away from the town of Chester. Someday I shall name my son or daughter Chester and he or she will be President or a really good speller or maybe even both. I really like Chester. It's a small town with a big heart and did I mention that there is a lot of great food?
   
   
   
   Check out this old fashioned soda fountain at Lassen Gift Co. They make the best milk shakes in the world.

Knotbumpers is the place to go for sandwiches and lumberjacks.

Who could not love the Burger Depot? Their burgers and their signs are poetry.

8. Get crafty. This was the year of the friendship bracelet and the tattooed table cloth. To make your own tattooed table cloth all you need is a sharpie, a vinyl cloth, and a sardonic wit.

S'more - 1 = S'less

9. Plan group activities. Most years, we end up caravaning to Susanville (about an hour away). We eat Jack N' the Box and go to the movies. We tend to see the least “serious” film option possible. In fact, we now call any blow-em-up-best-friend-is-a-monkey-inappropriate-comedy-complete-with-model-chipmunks-directed-by-M.-Night-Shayamalan-esque film a “Susanville” Movie, even when we don't see it in Susanville.

Max wants you to go to Jack N' the Box

 Delightful Angela from bigintheminiworld

The cutest couple ever: Matt and Claire. Claire wrote the best post about Butt Lake on her blog. Check it out!

 "Yes, sir, Captain America!"

 My cousin Callen

Aaron has his game face on!

10. Spend time together. It sounds hokey, but I feel really blessed to have this tribe of miscreants that I consider to be family. The fact that we get to spend two weeks out of every year together is just the icing on the cake. I realize now that some of the best moments of my life have been spent around campfires with these yokels. A lot of good has come from the Butt. So, I guess the lesson of this post is to grab some friends, buy some junk food, and set out for the great outdoors. 

Lovely ladies Lynn and Mom hanging out in Humbug Valley

 My awesome cousins Lo, Stephen, and Brian with the wonderful 

Grandpa Warren!

James and Callen looking chic in the back of that pick-up

Goodbye, Butt Lake. Until next year!

Smorgasbord Monday

Is it still Monday? Yes! Well then, the time has come the walrus said for a weekly helping of internet delights!


First off, breakfast. It is the most important meal of the day and apparently also the one with the most slow-mo. This video is totally haunting and will leave you shouting, "3 second rule!" Watch and see.

Ever take a color personality quiz? Hop on over to http://www.colorquiz.com/ 

Apparently, a lot can be learned by the colors you are drawn to. Take this quiz and find out if the results are accurate for you. Turns out, I long to be more spontaneous and impulsive. So, that's why I ate that Worther's Original I found in the bottom of my purse today. Clearly, I was craving spontaneity and the taste of pennies.

(image via imdb)

Speaking of insanity: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Directed in 1963, by none other than Stanley Kramer (director of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Inherit the Wind, and Judgement at Nuremberg). This guy knew how to direct an ensemble and what an ensemble this film has. It is a who's-who cast of comedy legends (Ethel Merman, Buddy Hacket, Spencer Tracey, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar...the list goes on). Basically, when they were shooting the film, actors kept on showing up on set and asking if they could play too (Jack Benny what are you doing here?) 


I was six when I first saw this film. I had just had my tonsils removed and was recuperating on my living room sofa. I watched this next scene and laughed till it literally hurt. My mom came in when she heard the gurgling sounds of painful mirth. I don't regret a moment of it and so what if I'm now an unfortunate mute (just kidding...never make fun of mutes). In this scene, Phil Silvers character has convinced these two gas station attendants that Jonathan Winters is an escaped mental patient. They are trying to capture Winters. Actually, Winters is playing a sweet tempered truck driver pushed to his limits in a cross-country treasure hunt. Your basic, simple plot. Watch. Enjoy. Have a great week and try not to throw anyone through a wall :)

How to Pick Restaurants and Influence People

Boston has kidnapped my sister. 

Let's take a step back. When I was 9 and my sister was 7, my mother decided that we should both learn how to play the piano, but I didn't want to learn how to play the piano. So, for Christmas my sister got a piano and I asked for a gameboy and I got a gameboy. My sister is now attending the Boston Conservatory of Music where she is receiving a Masters in Music. Where am I? I am  here: living with my parents, ill-tempered, and non-musical. Yes. I took the road less traveled and that has made all the difference. So, this summer I followed Hayley's path which is full of music notes and New England, but in my opinion doesn't have nearly enough gameboys.


Boston is a grand old town-easy to navigate and filled with clam chowder. When you visit Boston you must (absolutely must) visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Located near the Fenway, this stunning jewel box of a museum sits on the park and watches the world go by. You might never know from the its exterior that within this simple brownish-gray building is an Italian villa complete with hydrangeas, Boticellis, and tapestry upon tapestry. It's a dignified riot and who doesn't like one of those?

Basically, Isabella Stewart Gardner was a grand dame of Boston society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She collected art, but only art that she liked. Isabella liked art. She was a Red Sox fan. She loved to travel (on her desk, to this day, remains a jar of sand collected in Egypt). She was besties with John Singer Singer Sargent. Basically, anyone who was anyone who visited Boston was going to end up at Gardner's Backbay home/villa/Renaissance Palace. When she died, she willed her home as a museum with a big endowment, but the endowment will be withdrawn if anything in the collection is ever moved or changed. Yep, she was a bad-ass.


In fact, I will make this analogy:

Isabella Stewart Gardner is to Art as Chuck Norris is to Life 

hanging out with the stone lion museum guard

In 1990, the museum became even more well-known as the site of the largest unsolved art heist in U.S. history. You can read more about that debacle here.


Where was I? Food. Another wonderful thing about Boston is the food. Boston has great grub. The culinary highlight of the trip for me was definitely The Daily Catch in the North End. It's so tiny that it is more of "pin" hole in the wall. I had this killer fettucine alfredo with squid ink pasta. We also had the squid ink pasta with oil and chopped up calamari and heavenly butter. I died and went to heaven, but had to fly back down to tell you about this meal. 

going, going, gone

I have a very particular method for choosing restaurants when I travel. It might sound crazy, but food is a major part of the trip for me. Been on any main street in any major city lately? Notice how all the stores are the same (the Gap, the Gap, the Gap...baby Gap). Yes, there are lots of chain restaurants, but there will always been those one-of-a-kind-back-alley-paper-placemat-mom-and-pop-local-homegrown restaurants in any city you visit and they're where you eat your memories. 


Here is how I cross-reference and organize my food hunts:


1. Chowhound: This is a site for foodies, so it can be a little elitist. Perfect for finding hidden spots and "best of" lists.


2. TripAdvisor: Targeted towards tourists, but sometimes you just want to be a tourist. This site ranks restaurants based on popularity and classifies them according to "type" of diner.


3. Yelp: Everyone uses yelp. Everyone. But, that gives it a home court advantage. Locals write about their favorite haunts, but beware the overly used 3 star rating. This site also offers great help with hours, location and menus.


4. Individual restaurant sites: ALWAYS check out the menu. I repeat-ALWAYS check out the menu. Nothing is worse than finding out that a place is way out of your price range or worse still...is vegan (I kid, but only slightly).


5. Word of Mouth: Friends and families are great resources, but find your food "twins." These are people who like food that you like.


6. Follow your nose, follow the line: I was once on the tube in London and got off 5 stops early because I smelled something delicious wafting down the stairs. I discovered the world's best orange and chocolate cookie. The nose wins. Likewise, be an individualist, but when it comes to restaurants, follow the crowd (especially when it comes to street vendors).


Again, this method is not for everyone. It's time intensive and a little crazy, but also a little fun. Check one site, check two, ask friends, sniff frequently. Here are some of my favorite finds from my Boston eating-extravaganza.

Tasty Burger near the Fenway. Juicy burgers and neat atmosphere. 

Oatmeal "Hard" Yogurt from J.P. Licks. The best yogurt that I have ever had. It tastes just like a scoop of oatmeal cookie dough!

Clam chowder from Atlantic Fish Company on Boylston. It has the best bread. Fluffy. Gooey. Warm. Also, it just feels like Boston. The whole place is filled with dark wood and shiny surfaces, but it also won't break the bank (especially if you stick with the bread bowl).

I'm smiling because I am wearing my new blue dress I bought for the trip. This was also my last piece of clothing in my overpacked suitcase. Yep, I wore everything I brought...a first! Also, I'm smiling because I'm about to go to Legal Seafood. Legal is a chain, but it has award-winning chowder. Scrumptious!

We went to the Summer Shack (my best friend KD's suggestion) for the best crab cakes of my life!

What better way to close out our East Coast party than a trip to the grocery store for some midnight Boston Cream Pie and tabloid reading. Thank you Boston! Thank you KGB, Lo, Hayley, mom, and Susie. You were the best travel companions that a girl could ask for! 

Smorgasbord Monday

Time for Smorgasbord Monday and a buffet of petite web-delights! Let's nosh! 


"Hey You Guys!" These art prints by Jerod Gibson @ 37 posters are blowing my mind. I've got my eyes on this perfect representation of my favorite film The Goonies. WANT.

(via pullpinhold)

I really relate to this next video "David After the Dentist." See, between the ages of 8 and 12, I had 6 baby and 4 adult teeth pulled. That's a lot of teeth and a lot of trips to the oral surgeon. After the last round of extractions, my dad bought me a tetherball set for the backyard. I think he figured he'd save money if I just smacked myself in the mouth with a hard plastic ball. There is nothing sadder than an awkward pre-teen playing tetherball by herself. Nothing. God, I love tetherball and I love this video. 

Funny ladies, represent! If you have not seen Bridesmaids yet, then what the heck is wrong with you? It was hands-down the best film (comedic or otherwise) of the summer and that is largely thanks to the genius of Melissa McCarthy. Her performance as "Megan" was the stuff that legends are made of. I'm talking layered, 3-dimensional, hysterical, fearless character work. Proof (as if we needed it) that women can not only get the joke, but also the laugh to go with it. Read this article from GQ about why Melissa McCarthy is changing the way women are being portrayed in Hollywood.

(via GQ)

So, here's to a Labor Day filled with baby ruths, missing teeth, and funny ladies. Hope you had great one!