t h e (c h l o e) c o n s p i r a c y: Rantsy Antsy Pants

Ah, so. As I'm sure most of you already know (assuming you follow my aimless ramblings on twitter) (and if you do, I sincerely apologize) that I'm currently off on a little road trip at the moment, heading back "home" to South Dakota to celebrate with my gramma for her 80th birthday.

Gramma Chloe Conspiracy is turnin' 80! It seems like just yesterday, she wasn't....um 80. Yow. :(

When I originally hatched the plan to do this it was December and unseasonably sunny and warm in Colorado. Pile into my car with a chihuahua or two for a 12 hour roadtrip to South Dakota to surprise my grandma? Nooooooo problem! Husband couldn't come with so I'd be doing it alone, darnit, but I've done the trip alone before. It's EASY PEASY, you guys--download a mindless Sophia Kinsella audiobook, set the roadster on cruise control, and done.

Well I've never done the trip alone before at the end of fucking February, when the snow comes down hard and whips wickedly across the flat terrain and vulnerable highways of Wyoming. Oh Wyoming. I'm not very smart, am I?

So needless to say a 6 hour trip today (I'm first heading up to my mom's in the Black Hills to spend the night to chop the journey into two days) took about seven, except you know--I am not actually at my mom's. I am only in Lusk, Wyoming, stopped for the night due to feeling sick after eating five big boxes of Hot Tamales due to stressful eating because I WAS PRETTY SURE I WAS ABOUT TO DIE AFTER SLIDING HERE DOING 45 MILES PER HOUR THE WHOLE WAY.

I'D SWITCH THE CAPS OFF BUT MY HANDS WON'T STOP SHAKING AND TRIGGERING IT back on.

Lusk is a bit of a funny place. Husband and I have been through here dozens of times as we head back and forth between Denver and South Dakota, and it always surprises us as to how quaint and tidy it is. Small towns in this part of the world aren't exactly known for being picturesque, and anyone who has been through the smaller towns of Wyoming (or Nebraska/South Dakota for that matter) probably knows what I'm talking about. This is the last frontier, after all--and with it comes a certain pride full of everything wild, dusty, and unkempt. This includes both the people and their houses, too. Yeehaw?

Lusk is different though; it's as if the entire town (population: 1,629) is full of cookie baking grandmas. Houses are bright and clean, lawns are trimmed and well-kept, and the main drag through town is wide and prettily paved....when not covered in snow. I (literally) slid into a hotel here, fearful of what I might find, but the room is just like the town. Petunia has her own bed, her own room even and TV with 300 channels of Direct TV, but of course is choosing to steal mine. She hates watching Jersey Shore alone:

If there is a good spot to be stuck in Wyoming, I suppose Lusk is it. And so I've decided to take a little break from jumping on the hotel bed(s) with Petunia and screaming the lyrics to Destiny Child's hit 2001 song "Survivor", much as I imagine the pioneers did hundreds of years ago and that Charlie Sheen is doing right this moment on his little vacay in the Bahamas because a little bit of Beyonce is the ~~wrong way~~ only way to heal a mind, to do a quick update on this old blog.

And while you don't get an update of what I'm wearing today (trust me: driving all day in bad winter weather does not a cute outfit make) this is what I wore this past Saturday while furniture shopping and watching my nephew play bball during much warmer weather.

I will admit that I'm a little obsessed with my snake necklace at the moment, mostly because it's so light that I often forget I'm wearing it. And it's fun! Hissst: