My Visit to Craft Central. With wine and lobster and pancakes.

A couple months ago I found out that I was going to have a SURPRISE! week of vacation to take so I flipped through my mental Rolodex and tried to figure out where I should go and what I should do. I either needed to go *with* someone who could take time off work or I needed to go visit someone who could take time off work, or at least who didn't work the standard 9-5 M-F.

Who can I visit, who can I visit?

OMG! I CAN VISIT KARI AND ERIC!!!!

Kari is a very, very dear friend to me and has been lead cheerleader on TEAM ELIZABETH for as long as I've known her and Id never been to visit her and her husband in western Massachusetts so I emailed her and was like "Hey! Any chance I can sleep on your couch for a few days in a few weeks?" And she was like "OH.MAH.GAH.SHUT.UP."(Except she probably said something much lovelier than that because that's the kind of lady she is.)

And then suddenly, my ass was on a plane (three planes, actually...bargain ticket = two stops, which I wouldn't normally monkey around with but I had all the time in the world, so why not get to know airport bars all around the country??) headed for Hartford, Connecticut.

I'd like to take a moment to point out that I happened to miss one of my flights, but not because I was in the airport bar -- I was actually sitting at an adjacent gate with white noise in my headphones, focusing very hard on getting caught up with my blogging. I set my alarm so I would for sure not be late but OOOOOOOPS. Instead of setting it for 20 minutes before takeoff, I set it for 10 minutes before takeoff and since they close the doors 10 minutes before takeoff, I was SHIT OUTTA LUCK.

THANK GOD there was actually a later flight to Hartford but it was sold out so I'd be #1 on the standby list except that "Ms Holt, it looks like your bag was not removed from the flight, so it will meet you in Hartford."

Now, ignore the whole SECURITY SECURITY SECURITY issue that brings up and consider the more pressing problem:

If I didn't get on that flight from Chicago to Hartford, I would have to spend the night in Chicago. There are worse places to be stuck, but I would be stuck in Chicago IN SWEATPANTS (that I SWEAR TO YOU I only wore because I was going to be flying from San Jose to Denver to Chicago to Hartford and for once in my life decided to put comfort first) and without a change of clothes or a toothbrush or anything that might inspire me to get out and see more of Chicago than my (theoretical) room at the airport Hilton.

So I did what any of my friends would have done: I went to the airport bar closest to my new gate (a terminal away), had a glass (or two) of wine and ate some bruschetta next to a man who spent the entire hour we were adjacent to each other returning calls from people interested in buying the motorcycle he had just listed on Craigslist.

And then because the Gods of the www were surely not going to punish me for missing my plane because I was busy blogging, I got a seat on the flight (for a $50 Good-Job-For-Messing-Up fee) and I met up with Kari AND with my suitcase in Hartford (it did appear to have been on the flight I actually took, so I don't get why that Chicago chick was forcing me to think through all the worst case "In Chicago Without Pants" scenarios) and all was well.

Kari writes books about the business of crafting (and for reals, I wish I'd paid more attention back when I was in the "Should I go for this jewelry business opportunity thing?" decision making process because I would have learned a thing or two about how screwed I was gonna get when tax time came) and is also a photo stylist and their home is filled with all the AWESOME things you'd expect a photo stylist/handmade/local artisan enthusiast to have. She made me miss all my art and my wonderful little things that made my apartment in SF so exactly perfect and there were multiple things I warned her she should frisk me for before I left because I could not be held responsible for my actions.

But before I even made it in the door and saw the eclectic charm of Kari and Eric's apartment, I was warmly welcomed:



A few weeks earlier I mentioned to Kari that rinoculas were my #1 favorite flower so I was tickled to see these sitting next to the couch with a little "Welcome Elizabeth" flag stuck in them:



The plan for the next day was for Eric to go to work and for Kari and I to stop at her favorite cafe for coffee and then drive down all of her favorite country roads. And that we did, with a few stops for pictures and a lots of talking about life and love.



And speculating about what this sign might mean:



(She tells me there used to be a bigger one that was only out like one Saturday a month or something, but that it has been replaced with this one. Does it mean that there are gypsy swingers there or something??)

And posing in front of the World's Largest Milk Bottle:



(You know I love me a "World's Largest" anything!)

And driving through a town where the homes are kept in the exact same condition/style/everything as they were in the 1700s (I think?). The same town where a FANCY AND EXPENSIVE boarding school exists and looks like something out of a movie.

Some kids walked in front of us and I was like "OMG those are probably rich kids, right?" And so we Googled the school (whose name is escaping me right now) and determined that YES, THEY WERE FOR SURE RICH KIDS because the tuition was like $45,000 a year. They looked just like regular kids, but I was fascinated that they came from a world that is SO UNLIKE anything anyone over at Lincoln High School might know (GO LIONS! THE BONE STAYS HOME!).

We eventually made our way back to Leeds, picked Eric up from work and then all headed over to a seafood shack that had just opened up for the season. We picked up dinner and went back to Casa de Kari & Eric to eat our fried food and drink the two bottles of wine I brought (and then some):



Somehow the conversation got around to my life list (which I keep on my phone) so I read it to them. One of the items was "Eat a lobster roll" so Eric was like "LET'S GO TO MAINE TOMORROW AND GET YOU A LOBSTER ROLL!" And I was like "OKAY!" And he was like "And while we're at it, let's drive through all the New England states in one day just to say we did!!" And I was like "OKAY!"

And a plan was hatched! A plan, I should mention, that is WACKY to a California girl who can drive all damn day and barely make it to the next state.

And then suddenly we were getting up early-ish, hopping into the car, stopping at Dunkin Donuts, and heading to Rhode Island! I'd never been to Rhode Island before so I had to at least go to the bathroom there (my own personal guideline for whether or not I'd been to a state -- AND AIRPORTS DON'T COUNT, ERIC!). I'm pleased to report that I not only used the bathroom at a Providence Starbucks, but I also bought a couple of items at a store we stopped in -- so now I can say I've PEED AND PURCHASED in Rhode Island! (For extra been-there'edness)

Rhode Island, CHECK! Now on to New Hampshire (via Boston):



Lizzie V., we couldn't stop but I totally thought of you!

Once in New Hampshire, we had delicious lunch at a kooky little place with a very hipstery waitstaff and all your Crazy Aunt [Whoever]'s stuff hanging all over the walls. I took a BPPOTD in New Hampshire and everything!



And then we crossed a bridge and BADA BING, we were in Maine:



We went to THE place for lobster rolls (as seen on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, even!) that was also, very conveniently, just across the Maine/New Hampshire border. I was still pretty full from lunch but DAGNABBIT, we came all this way for me to eat a lobster roll and a lobster roll I was going to eat!



So I ate it. And it was good, but my favorite part was the bread. I've always thought that lobster is a perfectly tasty protein but just not that it's THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER. I always figured it was because I wasn't getting FRESH, KICK ASS lobster but now that I've had FRESH, KICK ASS lobster from THE place to get lobster, I think I'm safe in saying that it's just not my thing.

Life list item: CHECK!

PEE AND PURCHASE in Maine: CHECK!

From there, we took the long way home, by way of Vermont.



I don't believe I peed or purchased in VT, but that's fine because I'd already been to Vermont.

So there you have it: Massachusetts, Rhode Island (btw, we did not see DJ Pauly D), New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont in one calendar day...and if you count the fact that I was going to fly out of Connecticut the next day, I went to all six New England states in 24 hours. They're all ADORABLE and QUAINT and TEENY SMALL. And dude, they really do love them some Dunkin Donuts.

Later that night we went out for dinner (if you're keeping track, my fourth full meal of the day) somewhere in Northampton (which was interesting because I happened to be reading a book about a woman whose lesbian lover while at Smith College -- also in Northampton -- got her into drug trafficking and then ten years later, when she was engaged to a man, she had to go to federal prison for that crime) and on our way there we came across this egg in a planter:



It was just a few days before Easter so at first we thought maybe it was an unfound Easter egg, but nope!





I love that kind of thing. Not so much that I'd learn to knit so I could pay it forward, but I love the idea of vigilante art. I don't know if she put it anywhere yet, but THIS IS ME MAKING A MENTAL NOTE TO FIND OUT!

And then, after a brief stop at a local bar and a quick trip to a nearby park to try to find what would have been my first (of many failed) Geocache (another fail), we took our frozen asses (and full bellies) back to the apartment and went to bed.

I was due to go home the next day but I REALLY REALLY wanted to see Kari's studio. You see, now that she's the NUMBER ONE CRAFT BOOK WRITER ON AMAZON (true story, yo...but also something she's bashful about when you tell a store owner, but I maintain that without that key piece of information, Kari might possssssibly come off as the Rainman of local artists, handmade products, etc, particularly when having a conversation with that store owner about local artists and handmade products) and since she's working on another book and other projects, she has the luxury of a studio where she can go every day to write and do her thang.

It's in a big, mixed use warehouse type building where apparently lots of artists, writers and all sorts of other types of people have office/studio space. AND LOOK! A cartoonist whose cartoon I've actually seen and would look for (back when I read the paper) has a space there tooooooooooooooooooo:



I loved Kari's studio SO MUCH that I was inspired to come home and create an office out of the spare bedroom so that I could focus on accomplishing all the things that I'm been putting off (read: writing the damn book already...also an item on my life list).

Also, I'm pretty sure I need these birds:









They'll help me write my book.

So after breakfast (um...peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes?!!?) and the visit to Craft Central, it was time to go to the airport to begin my long ass journey home. Hartford to Cleveland to Houston to San Jose. Yikes. No missed planes this time.

Kari and Eric (and puppies Charlie Parker and Baxter too!) deserve my most heartfelt thanks for a really, really wonderful visit. The trip got me all fired up and inspired and was a WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL way for me to spend my surprise vacation.



xoxo.