Adventures in FloHo

I spent the weekend in Florence, Massachusetts, aka FloHo, where Sarah lives. FloHo is part of Northampton (I think this is right - it confuses me. It's sort of the British model with villages in towns, etc.). I had a really good time, and it was fun to meet Sarah's friends and her new girlfriend, Patty O'Brien. Random note - could her name be any more Irish? Beth wanted me to say "top o' the morning to ya, Patty O'Brien" when I met her, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Sarah and I giggled about it all weekend though. :)

In surprising news, my flights out east were all on time. I made my connection in Philly with no problem, and my flight into Hartford was actually early. When does that EVER happen these days? Air travel is just not fun anymore. In fact, it's often the opposite of fun - miserable. The planes are full, you have to fight for space in the overhead bins because no one wants to pay to check their bags, and flights are always delayed or cancelled. Every time I have to buy a ticket with a layover, I fret about actually making the connection, especially on short weekend trips. If a non-stop flight is available, I seriously consider purchasing it even if it's $100 more. Sad, but true. The airlines are a disaster, and yet we as consumers have no viable alternatives. Boo.

Anyway, after my surprisingly successful travels on Friday, Sarah picked me up and then we got dinner from Bueno y Sano, a local burrito place in Northampton (NoHo). It was delicous! Then we went over to Larissa and Heather's house, Sarah's friends, and we watched a movie. I loved their house - they have done all the remodeling work themselves, and I swear it looks like a Martha Stewart/Real Simple house. Beautiful. They even had great Christmas decorations and a tree.

Saturday morning, I was supposed to participate in a walk for a local safe house, but I woke up with a migraine. I slept in while Sarah walked and Patty ran, and eventually I felt better. We ran some errands, and then we went to a place called Judie's. Judie's is famous for popovers, and they were quite good. After dinner, we went to the local debut of a GLBT movie called Tru Loved. It was quite cute, but it always amazes me how bad the acting is in most GLBT films/TV shows. The main character, Tru, did a decent job, but some of the others were quite painful/humorous to watch. Sarah thought it might be because most GLBT movies are low budget, but many low budget movies aren't horribly acted. I just don't get why we can't do better. Maybe someday.

The movie experience was rather unique. It seemed like every lesbian in NoHo was there, and they all seemed to know each other. It was a like an odd family reunion or something. While it seems like such an environment would feel welcoming, it actually felt sort of off putting. Perhaps it's because I'm not from there, or perhaps it's the fact that they all seem to know each other's business. I'm guessing that everyone has dated everyone too. Idk, the whole thing was just surreal! NoHo is an odd place for that same reason - it's like if Chaska was a gay town. I'm not sure why I felt uncomfortable or why I found the whole thing funny, but I did. I need to do some more self exploration of that, as it doesn't make sense that I would feel uncomfortable in an all lesbian environment. Internalized homophobia perhaps? ;)

After the movie, we went to a neat coffee shop in town with some of our fellow movie goers. I really liked the place, but I skipped all drinks due to WW and because I don't really like coffee. One small victory in a weekend filled with food disasters!

On Sunday, we all slept in a bit and then went shopping in NoHo. I love shopping in NoHo for some reason. Lots of little cute shops filled with things created by local folks and non-local folks. Just really cute stuff, and I love it. After shopping, it was time for a quick lunch and then it was off to the airport. The weekend flew by, and I was sad to go. This time, I seriously considered whether I should move out there...I miss Sarah, and I'm tired of the bitter cold (it doesn't get quite as bitter there). I do think NoHo is too small for me, but perhaps Boston. Maybe some day...

Back to the airlines and air travel - here's a funny story about my return trip home: My flight to Philadelphia was on time, but then we were stuck on the runway for a LONG time because a plane broke down and had to be towed away. We sat there long enough that I started to worry about missing my connection, but we finally started to move forward. I made my connection, and then when that plane landed in Mpls (25 minutes late due to the disabled plane forcing all the planes to be late), they didn't have a jetway ready for us. They also couldn't find a jetway driver. What the heck? LOL. I finally got off the plane and headed home.

Really, the travel mishaps weren't a big deal, especially considering I've been through much worse, but I can't remember the last time I flew without some problem. It's like the airlines are held to a completely different customer service standard - or perhaps they just don't have any at all. Yuck. At least my plane wasn't the disabled one - those poor folks might still be in Philly!