Ask Me Why You Should NEVER go to Schoen Place Auto in East Rochester, New York

Surprisingly, there isn't enough room in a blog to explain how after a couple of weeks, over $1,000 the car has just as many problems as when it went in...

A Night of the Unexpected!!!

Le B.A.R.C. (Bohemian Arts Revival Cabaret), Lollypop Farm, the Humane Society of Greater Rochester's fundraising gala.  It was amazing!  Sword swallowing, baudy women, contortionists and so much more.  


  
The entrance.  If only I had a pic of the guest as they walked in.  I think we really lived up to the motto of "a night of the unexpected."









before opening



So red!



I wish I had more time to fiddle with my camera to take better pictures of the evening.  Sorry...



Here I am with Joanna, who's all over the news today for our rescue of eleven more horses from Riga, New York



VIP cocktail event before Le BARC in the main lobby of the Memorial Art Gallery



Juggling.



All the lights in the chandelier.  Details in everything.  It was like going to the theater for a show and ending up on stage






Aerialist on those ribbon things on the boulevard






Contortionist! 



Escape artist with baudy woman!






People actually had to leave the room when he dislocated his shoulder to get out of the straight jacket.  



The whole time this was going on I was thinking "oh no, what is she going to do to our donor?"  It only got worse when the whip came out.



Making final adjustment to the rose before she whips the bud off



Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.



I forget what was going on here.  I'm thinking magic.



Sword swallowing!






The live auction by Pam Sherman, the Suburban Outlaw.  



Norma and Andrea Holland.  Norma is a local news anchor and Andrea is a comedian/video producer.  They were hilarious and I guess they got their outfits from a theater in Chicago.  Norma and I also share a love of coffee. 


  
Here's where the real work gets done.  Checking out all the auction items and everything else at the end of the night.



This is what was happening outside the window during check-out.  At the end of the night, people were already asking "how are you going to top this?"  Good question...



All good things must come to an end and here are some of the guys lugging out the trees...


It was a great night.  Thanks to all of our guests, sponsors, volunteers, artists, staff, and anyone else that made this such a wonderful night.  



The Lilac Festival in Highland Park.  It has seriously rained in Rochester for about a month and a half straight.  It's rained so much that they had to cancel several days of the Lilac Festival, which is about 10 days long.  We finally made it out on the last day and it even rained then...



Megan and I went back to the scene of the crime for the first time.  This is the sunken garden at Warner Castle in Highland Park, which is maintained by the Rochester Civic Garden Center.  This is wear we took our wedding photos almost a year ago.



The art fair portion of the Lilac Festival



handsome carriage



Tomorrow afternoon, I will be saying "I knew her when..."  This is Minnie and she's going to be Lollypop Farm's "Pet of the Week," which means she'll be on TV tomorrow and on all sorts of things.  She's 15-24 lbs (depending on your source of information and easy going, friendly, loves dogs, and food.  And, I like her too much to keep her in our office any longer.  Hopefully, she'll get a forever home tomorrow!



Ok, Minnie is done with the photo op.  Whoever gets her will be very lucky!

Megan's Birthday Blowout!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN!  She thinks she's so clever because she blew out the candles without letting me capture it.



You can tell by the look in her eye...



What do you do when it's cold and rainy on your birthday?  Go to the STRONG MUSEUM OF PLAY! http://www.museumofplay.org/



Did Rachel get really tall or did Megan shrink in her old age?



My favorite action figure.  His name was something like "Johnny No Hands."  I like that you can give him hands, hooks, or a toilet plunger...



Wait, Ghandi action figure is now my favorite toy.  Nothing like pretending to fast to beat the British



Serious business



The mini-Wegman's grocery store is a hit with the kids.  Maybe after a couple more visits, I can get Tachel to pick out the items I like and grocery shop for me instead...



Hosting a cooking show



Mmmmm...  Delicious!



Now flying a helicopter



I don't know who most of these kids are.  Maybe one of them is the one I said "Happy Birthday" to and he responded "Who is this?  What are you talking about?" while on a can phone.  I guess that wasn't the phone Megan was on.



"Tornados" an original play by Rachel Lee Dork.



Man, it's hard to get a cab in Sesame Street.  As you can tell, we get in a lot of trouble.  And, don't remind Megan about me blowing a spit wad at a neighboring table accidently at a local diner not long after this...






It's either the Giant from Jack and the Bean Stalk or Andre the Giant Angel.  I forget...



Rachel and Rich in the fairy tale house



The Berenstain Bears.  A favorite of mine growing up and surprised kids even know what they are.



TO THE NERD ROOM!



Megan vs. Donkey Kong



Rich remembering when they had these at the 7-11



People Magazine isn't something I expected to find at a Toy Museum, but whatever.  The cover story is still relevant today, I guess...



Megan Bell Doll



YIKES!  No wonder I haven't slept well since the museum



Tachel and the Bear



Megan and I along the Genesee River.  No pics of when we went to the Memorial Art Gallery since you can't take photos of the art inside.  Some interesting stuff though.  The upstairs was pretty amazing.  Went to a few restaurants.  Made chips and cheese and drank margaritas while trying to hook up the DVD player to the internet.  I'm sure we'll figure that out.  



Flight Wine Bar in the Corn Hill Neighborhood of Rochester.  Pretty swanky place.  The wine was very good (and I'm not a wine drinker).  



HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN!  I hope you had a good birthday weekend despite losing your car for about a week (and counting) and not getting the latest Harry Potter movie!!!



A few pieces of other business.  Man, look how sunny it was when we went to What's Ur Scoop?  Remember what the sun looked like?  There was a time when it didn't rain in Rochester.



Nothing like hanging out at Lollypop Farm waiting for a food delivery and hanging out with a horse until it comes.



United Way's Day of Caring volunteers from a bunch of organizations like Xerox, Rochester Institute of Technology, and many others who came out and worked very hard on Lollypop Farm's landscaping.  Looks great and smelled like fresh cut grass for quite a while!


That's it for now.  Just waiting to see if Megan will ever get her car back.  The gas sensor failed and the headlights just stopped working.  It didn't seem like big issues, but we're still without a car and no one seems to know how to get the headlights to work without setting the car on fire (add a fuse box to the tab).  I remember why I decided to stop owning a car again...