My sister and I have been doing the 12 hour drive between New York and Detroit for over 6 years now. We know it like the back of our hand. We know that there's a city somewhere in Pennsylvania called "Scotrun" which we misread every time and giggle (think male anatomy). We know that the trucks in Pennsylvania are psycho and Toledo is a dirty dirty city. We see signs for many things along the way: The Land of Make Believe, The Little League Hall of Fame, Cracker Barrel...but we aren't tempted to stop at any of these places. The only billboard that has ever given me the sudden urge to veer off the road and take a small detour from the trek home advertises what I have always been certain must be the greatest place on earth: Beef jerky Unlimited. The beef jerky outlet. An entire store filled with jerky. I always figured it must have been a mirage. My eyes playing tricks on me on the homeward stretch just past the Michigan border. The sign boasts "over 30 flavors of beef, turkey, pork, chicken and wild game jerky" and it has haunted my dreams. You see, my sister and I typically do this drive overnight, which means we never pass the famed Exit 6 during the scope of normal business hours. I have never visited the jerky outlet, my dream store. Never, that is, until today. Yes, folks, I have now crossed the threshold of this former "Land of Make Believe." Beef Jerky Unlimited exists and it's beautiful.

Heather and I got there around 10 AM. We pulled into the parking lot, dusted the dog hair from our nappy sweatpants, and wandered inside. The store was empty when we entered save for about, well, 30 large barrels in the middle of the floor filled with different jerky. A large man wearing wranglers and sporting a mustache shortly came out from the back room to greet us. I think it can pretty much be guaranteed that he was surprised to see us. He definitely looked a bit confused at the presence of two young girls first thing in the morning at the jerky store. Obviously the first thing out of his mouth was, "So, where are y'all from?" We were clearly not from around these parts. He gave us a brief tour of the jerky and invited us sample anything we'd like. I tried some of the "beer flavored" beef jerky and it was damn good (I'm told it's the favorite of the local kids as well), so I got some of that as well as some teriyaki beef, honey BBQ pork jerky and a BBQ sausage stick. Yum. Hands down the best jerky I've tasted.

Folks, it's your lucky day...there's a website. For all your jerky needs please visit www.beefjerkyunlimited.com -- and how!

And now, for your viewing pleasure...jerky art as created by me.

I just got back to Brooklyn. I think my Christmas tree is dead. I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to droop like this...

What would a trip home be without:

a) a trip to Buddy's Pizza

b) at least one trip to the 'Bou (Caribou Coffee that is.)

I got both in today- yahoo! Of course, we had to get the same weirdo waiter we had two years ago at Buddy's (Zach) who likes to touch us and flirt with us in a totally uninvited creepy way. We like to call him the Hobbit... Turns out he went to Hebrew school with Lauren (or is it Wanda?). He insisted he knew me too ("What's HER name?") but Tracee told it to him straight. We knew he had sadly been working at Buddy's for the past two years...
Of course there were two kids from high school at Buddy's and we didn't say HI to either of them...I made a lot of eye contact with Matt Cohen, but it was mostly cause for the first hour I couldn't figure out if it was him or not...I think I weirded him out, cause he went over to talk to Brooke Germansky and he didn't come say hello to us...I love how Lauren and I are still totally afraid of kids we went to high school with and it's been 6.5 years...you would think we would be over the trauma by now, but apparently it never goes away. I got some Dum Dums for the road though. Cream Soda...yummmm...

We ended up having to go to the Caribou at 14 mile (which sucked cause that increased our chances of running into more people from high school). Katie Ambrose was there. I totally didn't go over and talk to her. I guess I just like to avoid the awkwardness as much as possible.

Tracee also saw some dude (who we call "Boston") that Jill Buffington set her up on a blind date with in 9th grade...he was weird and kept emailing her all the time and stuff afterward...

I did, however, get the trivia question right and therefore received 10% off my white chocolate mocha...How many days is Hannukah celebrated?(8 duh) and are the candles lit from right to left or left to right? (right to left)-- But, seriously, how many people in West Bloomfield DON'T know the answer to that???

Here we are outside our favorite chain...yes, most 24 year olds would maybe go to bars or something, but old habits are hard to break, and we were bigtime nerds in high school...



We got Luchi to make it out for the SECOND DAY IN A ROW (record-breaking) and she even brought the little bro (who is now, scarily enough, a sophomore in high school), He talks with a deep voice and uses full adult sentences. It's so weird.
Here are the happy siblings:



Lauren doesn't like getting her picture taken, but Tracee loves Lauren...



Where was Haley? I have no idea, but after the guilt trip she gave ME for not returning calls, I can't believe her candor at totally ditching us tonight. We are SO even.

Look at me go-- 2 new posts in one day! Thanks, parents, for getting me a digital camera...I'm now officially part of the 21st Century.

Today I met up with my friends from high school and went to lunch at Olga's (it's a Michigan thing), but only after withstanding a severe guilt trip from Haley about never returning calls (see, readers, it's not just you). This was about the 14th guilt trip I've gotten this month about such behavior, and I'm really beginning to feel like a horrible person/friend, SO (fingers crossed) I really think I might change my ways this year...

After lunch, Haley took us over to the good ole West Bloomfield Public Library where her mom is the head of the Children's realm. Yes, we are big nerds. Yes, this library was awesome. The new library is huge and they have lots of fun things for kids (and 24 year olds) to play with. Here's the group (Me, Tracee, Haley and Lauren- and Tracee's boy toy Wes) having a fun time in the storage room...



Then, miracle of miracles, we were actually able to get in touch with the elusive Meghan Luchi, so we just had to drive over to her mom's house and see her while we knew we could. Good thing we caught it on camera, it may never happen again!



And here's Haley just being her hot little self. As her boyfriend's brother said, "I could tell she was totally a nerd in high school, but she's a hottie now." I'd like to think that's the best way to be...

Yay! I got a digital camera for Christmas! Lucky you. That means now I will be one of those annoying photo bloggers. I'll be all "Look at this really neat rock I saw on the street today" and "Look at this bum I saw peeing outside my house." Yeehaw.






Isn't my niece adorable? Yeah. I like golden retrievers better than babies.

And here, people, is what I look like when I actually put on makeup. Whoa.