Sorry for the disappearance – we made a secret trip to Louisville this weekend to surprise Andy, and I was afraid that he’d connect any little tiny mentions of anything and figure out we were coming so I didn’t warn you that I was about to go missing. Sorry VD, et. al.

We are currently in the ‘Burg for an extra night because our car needs a new thing-underneath-that-is-not-the-tailpipe-or-the-muffler-but-that-is-making-it-loud-because-it’s-broken. I don’t have my camera cord with me, but here are some things that are not photos:

- I love my brother from another mother, and so does Hazel, OH MAN so does Hazel. She loves her uncle like none other.

- I love my Cara – friend since birth, rarely seen since we both moved away from WV. Even an hour and a half laying on a hotel room bed chatting is great.

- I have spent hours and hours in the Etsy forums trying to get caught up on some SEO problems (maybe?) or some sitemap problems (maybe?) or some meta tag problems (maybe?) and trying to figure out what those things are and trying to figure out why we aren’t showing up in google and what to do about it if it’s something only we can fix and not EtsyCorp. Oy. I have either learned a lot or unlearned a lot – I’m not sure yet.

- One of my old Toronto coworkers bought a necklace from me and had no idea who she was buying from. Small world, eh?

- For some reason I have better luck at the Gabe’s in this town than anywhere else. I went to see if I could find some more of these 49 cent tulip tealight holders (fail), and since I had left Hazel with her papa and grandma I decided to look through the clothes. As in… clothes that are my size, not hers. I found an amazing 50s housewife dress for eight dollars. Amazing. Way too big for me, so I sent Maggie a frantic text & photo (so’s not to be one of those people talking on the phone in the dressing room) to see if she could help me take it in. She said yes, and I ran to the checkout line with a quickness. I can think of less than ten clothing items I have purchased for myself since Hazel was born, and man is this dress good. Just you wait. I love Gabe’s. I never would have been able to settle in Toronto without a Gabe’s – I can’t live without it. Erin and Andrea who? Foggy Hogtown what?

- I think there were other things, but right now I just want a bowl of Lucky Charms, which only happens on Plum Street.

(Just kidding about that other thing you know – I love Erin / Andrea / those boys way more than I love Gabe’s… way more than I love most things in life, in fact.)