Apparently I forgot I had a blog for the month of July.

Here's a brief sum-up (based off of the only pictures I have on my camera from that dark period of time).

My mom came to down and Heather made some tasty lamb.







I went to a free Crowded House show at The Masonic Hall.





And a free Neko Case show at Summerstage...





And then got our Harry Potter books at the Borders Midnight Ball.

Rita Skeeter was there.



And these people debating whether Snape is evil or not.



We were maybe a little tipsy. This coffee cup may have been filled with beer.







We got interviewed by CBS news. Thankfully it didn't make it to air.

I'll be better next month, I promise. Another Emily and Sam road trip is coming up. Get excited. Woo hoo!

Not gonna lie, I was not excited to be at work today. Holidays should not be allowed to fall on Wednesdays.

BUT I did have a fun holiday.

Tuesday night we brought back ye olde karaoke night.













Um. Yeah. I believe that was at the climax of "It's All Coming Back to Me Now"...I'm theatrical, what can I say? Between that, "Nasty Girl" and "Nookie" I had my bases covered.

I dragged myself out of bed the next morning to head to Coney Island & watch history go down at Nathan's.



I'm definitely a French's mustard girl. Represent.



They retired "Badlands" Booker's "jersey." It was huge.



And then he "rapped." Andy reminded me that he was on Trading Spouses a few months back. I don't think he's stuck to the diet.



I was so excited to be there and vocalized it. The guy in front of me was all "Wow you sounded like you were almost genuine just then" and I was all "Uh, I was. I realllly love competitive eating."

I'll never forget getting to be there as Joey Chestnut won the mustard belt.



Here he is (yes, that little speck in the background) raising the trophy in victory.



It wasn't so much our normal turnout for the rooftop party what with the rain, but a good time was had by all.



Heather & I happened to mention at the sausage memorial that we had never "shotgunned" beer so we sought to remedy that.



Our party wasn't really that rowdy, I swear!





Ah, yes, another "Sam spewing out alcohol" shot.



What's the Fourth of July without encased meat?



In closing, I think I should win some sort of award for the soundtrack I created for the actual fireworks. Let's just say it included:

1) The Chipmunks singing "America the Beautiful"
2) Aaron Carter's "America A-Oh"
3) "The Thong Song"
4) Van Halen's "Jump"
5) "America, F*@K Yeah" from Team America, World Police

and, of course, "America" by Neil Diamond...amongst other things.

Okay, seriously, time to get some sleep for Pete's sake.

The sausage memorial Saturday at Moonshine was a rousing success!

But, really, how could a sausage memorial NOT be a success?

We had a good turnout, and even managed to get a couple guests that weren't somehow related to us or our friends - that pretty much made my life. Sad but true.

Heather and Keil kindly went to Fairway and got a buttload of food for the occasion and we got there early to set up. Moonshine kindly let us takeover the back patio for the evening.



It's all about the little touches...I printed out pictures of Ralph Stayer and Bob Evans and made a little shrine to them. I also put out biographical handouts...



...Oh yes, and sympathy cards to be signed and sent to the companies (I highly recommend clicking on that photo and reading the messages. Brilliant.)...



...and I made t-shirts - which came out in VERY limited edition because I ruined the iron on the 4th one...Yes, that's a sad face with a sausage frown.



We went a little overboard with pork products...



Apparently the irish like their brats with a "wee bit 'o garlic"



We had pretty much the entire Johnsonville & Bob Evans product lines. Tunes were provided by the awesome radio cooler.



Can you think of a sight more beautiful?



Keil took the helm...



..And soon everyone was enjoying some good old-fashioned encased meat. Mmmmm.