wishbone clover

Stuff to do in Boston

Chief and I are visiting my family in Boston over the holidays. As great as it is to see everyone, I understand how this could seem like a Not Vacation for my husband -- let's say that my family is as quirky as anyone's and leave it there.

Fortunately for Chief, we'll be checking out a couple of swank luxury hotels while we're in Beantown (see my posts on Uptake for the review in January!) I also plan to take advantage of staying in the city itself to do a little more sighseeing than usual.

My travel writer rule of thumb is "Three To See". I like to pick three must-see attractions to hit during a week long visit. That gives us goals, but not so much pressure that it seems like work.

This year my Boston Three To See are:

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

For a certain kind of kooky kid growing up in Boston, this is the house you hope you'll grow up to live in -- an art filled villa in the middle of the city. Also, it's the scene of a dramatic art heist, allegedly perpetrated by master art thief Myles Connor. Growing up I actually met Myles a couple of times, because his mom knew my grandmother, and he knows my mom, and Back East everyone knows everyone. So much story connected to this museum! Also, great art!

Plus, this is one of the few places I haven't brought Chief in our 12 years together. It's gotta get seen.

Dinner in the North End, followed by Cannoli from Mike's Pastry

Everyone in my family will have a different opinion about where we should have dinner. Plus, I'll always be happy hitting the Original Pizzeria Reginas for a couple of perfect slices. Where we go will be a game day decision, and I'm not worried about it. The important thing is the cannoli (or lobster tail, which is also excellent) we get for dessert. My dad is friends with Mike, but even if we didn't have the family connection, that's where we'd go because it's the best.

Mummies at the Museum of Fine Arts

This was a tough one. I've been to the MFA about a garilllion times. I also love the Peabody Museum over at Harvard, where I've been a bajillion times. In the end, I'm going for the comparison museum trips: we hit the amazing Egyptian wing at the Met in NYC last June, Tut is here in SF at the De Young, and the classically perfect MFA mummy display, plus their current "Secrets of Tomb 10A" rounds it out perfectly.

This year I even bought a Boston guide book, which I'll be reading on the plane, so the plans could still change. But for now, this is the plan!

*Photo: A giant Pharoh statue from the Met. I'll be taking loads of pix in Boston!

Wigs In Cages

Obviously these wigs had to be locked up. Otherwise some (like ME) would steal 'em. Because OMIGODYOUGUYS, I love fake hair.

Photo taken at the totally sketchy "flea market" near my sister's house in North Carolina. I was in heaven, although I did throw away the $1 lipstick because it tasted like a crayon.

- Cat/BadKitty

PS, does this picture remind anyone else of that old lady porn mag, "Grey Box"?

Nun Fashion in Michigan - A Photo Essay of God's Wives' Closet

During our 40 Whatever/Ford-y Whatever trip through the glorious Great Lakes Region, my BFF CityMama & I were compelled to make an unplanned stop at the Cross in the Woods Catholic Shrine. Even though it was God's Will that we found it, we didn't feel like walking through the woods to see the actual "Cross" (because ew, woods + walking = no thanks, dirty!) but the stop was totally worth it just to experience the most wonderful and terrifying collection of dolls, possibly in the world.

It was a very special doll museum, containing over 300 dolls, in varying sizes, wearing horror movie expressions and dressed in the habits of nuns -- and priests -- from around the globe.

To my dismay, none of them were for sale, not the dolls or the costumes! And they were frustratingly well protected against crazy chicks who would have risked God's Wrath by shoplifting them, or even just experiencing the magic by running our their curious fingers over the embroidered "Jesus" whipples.

Spoilsports. But we took pictures. A lot of pictures.

Hey, We're in God's Wives' Closet!

Yes, that's the Mother Theresa habit on the far right. Take a good look, because that's as close as you're going to get to a Nun of Color in this collection. Apparently most nuns are white.

It would have been nice if Sally Field could have signed the Flying Nun costume below, but no such luck.

We learned that the best nuns are fully accessorized, with special embroidery and chunky beads.

Loving that light blue suit! And the modern, low-maintenance hair do! Also, who decided which sightless mannequins needed to wear glasses?

Random Pics From the Road

I'm a "San Francisco Travel Expert"!

Through my travel writing at UpTake, I was invited to do my first podcast, an "Insider's Guide to San Francisco"! The very cool Addison Schonland from IAG, a travel and aviation consultancy, interviewed me today, posted it 20 minutes later and it's already been downloaded a bunch of times.

Addison helped me avoid screwing up too much, but I did:

• say that Healdsburg was 2 miles (not hours) north of SF
• forget the name of Bodega Bay
• pronounce "room" like "rum," a Boston accent thing that Chief always points out and I always deny. Now he has proof!

It's 20 minutes long, which I understand is time commitment in this busy world. But I tried to make it entertaining -- I even bring up naked people near the end. Enjoy!

- Cat/BadKitty

Julz Rulz - Be Badass and Cool When Driving a Muscle Car

Among other activities, last week I raced down to North Carolina to visit my sister and meet her new husband "Sgt Hottie" -- he has great legs!

Julz and I always have the best time hanging out together -- as her husband says, "Julie is good company." She also has her own set of hot legs, and a badass attitude, which is how she gets away with wearing those aptly named Daisy Dukes.

Yes, I said aptly named. Note the car on which Julz is leaning: a Charger Dodge Challenger (thanks Alex, for catching my slip up!) the one with the 6.1 Hemmie under the hood. Not ringing any bells? Try to imagine it with a more colorful paintjob, like orange, with a confederate flag painted across the top.

It's a goth General Lee! Cool, right?!

Plus it has cup holders for her morning venti iced coffee with skim milk and 2 pumps of sugar-free vanilla, aka "The Julz." Order it by name next time you go to a drive thru Starbucks in North Carolina. They'll know exactly what to do, and you'll be (nearly) as cool as she is.

- Cat/Bad Kitty

UpTake Travel Blog is Such a Cool Gig

UpTake Blog Network from UpTake Networks on Vimeo.

UpTake, the travel site for which I write (for whom? it does seems like an entity some days) about hotels made this amazing thank you for all of its (her?) bloggers.

It's a video tour of all of our personal sites! With a cute song, from Frisk. Fresh. Freette. FEIST! That's her name.

Whew, that was a rough five minutes of memory digging and googling!

And thank you UpTake, for the video link love.

Photo Friday - More From Monterey

Jellyfish!

Flipperman!

Rocks and sky.

All pix by me, luckycatphotography.com

Flying Monkey of my Dreams

One of the best things about our visit to Monterey is that we went to the big antiques barn one street back from Cannery Row. They have all kinds of emerald green glasses, funky jewelry, and a whole booth filled with Wizard of Oz paraphanelia.

I really, really wanted this flying monkey cookie jar, but it was $175. On sale. There was also one of the Emerald City, complete with a full rainbow. Even marked down, that one was over $200.

When we saw the rainbow later that day, I said to Chief, "See? It's a sign that I need to go back and get that Emerald City cookie jar."

"No it's not," he replied.

And then we talked about the other stuff. He always knows how to distract me in the moment, but I'm still dreaming about having my very own flying monkey.

Rainbows, Ponies and Tattoos

Chief and I went to Monterey this weekend for a little getaway that involved a smoke alarm and (nearly) flashing the maid.

We also saw this amazing rainbow over the Bay. It stretched so far that we could see both ends!

While we enjoyed a romantic rainbow moment, Chief and I had this (totally typical) conversation:

Chief: Girls love rainbows and ponies.

Me: Yup. Or unicorns.

Chief: And guys with tattoos.

Me: Yeah, a lot of them do.

Chief: Who cheat on them.

Me: Well (big sigh) girls are dumb.

Chief: With their sisters.

Me: Yeah, and with their best friends, too.

Then we both shook our heads, then went for fish and chips and brown drinks called "Steinbecks".

It's good to be with someone who really gets you.