We were already FIPs, but now we're card-carrying.

In Michigan, in the summertime, there is a huge influx of tourists from Illinois and Indiana, "getting away from it all" on the shores of Michigan. And, despite the influx of cash that comes with them, in many of these quiet beach communities, there has long been some resentment at the invisible part the year-round residents played.

They cut you off in their SUVs without a second glance, they shove ahead of you in line at the grocery store with full carts for their vacation homes when you're holding two items in your hand, they tend to park wherever they want, blocking driveways, sidewalks. They are just oblivious.

So, over the last twenty years, they earned the moniker of FIPs or " ________ Illinois/Indiana People" (you can fill in the F).

Well, about five years ago, Brendan and I came across this little tiny ramshackle cottage in New Buffalo, MI a beach town about twenty minutes from where I grew up. We really wanted to buy it and fix it up, but the place was a total wreck. It was going to be about 400 square feet of total rebuilding, and now that we've lived in our own fixer-upper...we've come to realize that would have been a serious miscalculation.

But, last weekend we decided to go see a place two doors down from it on the same little road, and we decided to buy it. There are only five cottages on this tiny dirt road, and it's so adorable. (You actually own the road.)

And when we walked in, I knew it was meant for us. You know that feeling?

It's so great. You can walk to town, you can walk to the beach, you can walk two blocks to the library, four blocks to the gigantic farmer's market, restaurants, bars, ice cream. And, its actually about twice the size of these pictures b/c the previous owners have basically extended it.

Here it is:






Isn't it the cutest thing ever??

So, anyway, now we're getting a smaller place in Chicago. But who cares?
Yay! You'll all have to come visit and stay!

Cutting Edge 2: Electric Boogaloo

I must say, the much-anticipated sequel "Cutting Edge 2: Going for the Gold" left me a little cold...and not just because of all that ice skating.

First of all, unlike the original, starring Moira Kelly and DB Sweeney, it lacked the conflicted, yet magnetic and compelling chemistry between the main characters that really carried the first film.

Unfortunately, in this rendition, their characters (played by totally different and somewhat crappy actors) are only there because they've spawned some sort of ice skating prodigy. They serve no real purpose.

My feeling is, if they couldn't get the original actors why include them at all? The only thing they ended up doing for the movie plot is make me wonder how many Fudgy the Whale cakes Doug Dorsey had eaten since we last saw him.

And, it's not like Moira and DB are all that busy nowadays. You could have combined the two salaries for the movie and maybe gotten one of them to put in a five minute cameo.

I also didn't really buy that since 1994 Kate Mosely and Douglas Dorsey got married, and managed to have a child old enough to drink, but young enough to compete in the Olympics. I did, however, believe that they probably built an ice rink complex for both hockey and figure skating. (That would be just like them...those crazy kids.)

What the movie needed, ultimately, was a Pemchenko--not only the fabulous ice skating move that gave the original characters a shot at Gold--but the coach character. A no-nonsense Russian who would whip them into shape, in a friendly fatherly way.

And where was the ever-driven multi-millionaire father/grandfather character? He should have at least put in an appearance clutching an empty medal case to add to the building dramatic tension...even if he is too busy starring on Lost now.

I think, though, the biggest loss from the original to this sequel was the inherent class struggle that enriched the drama of the first film, setting it against the backdrop of the winter Olympics and on an incredibly even (and slippery) playing field. He, was a come-from-nothing, work-in-the factory hockey player, with a fat bald brother who owned a bar called the Penalty Box. She, with such wealth and pedigree that her father had actually built her an ice skating rink on their estate, and her boyfriend's name is Hail or is it Hale? Hayle? Not sure.

In this version, the surfer X-games angle was interesting, but are we meant to compare her cool Northern ice prowess/work ethic as a direct dichotomy to the hot Southern California surf/slacker/valet parker scene? Sasha Cohen is from Laguna Niguel. That doesn't really fly.

It's also supposed to take place in Torino, but we already know the Russians won the pairs. It's, like, totally fake.

So, in conclusion...I give it 1/2 a star...mainly because the stunt skater did do a sort of cool trick at one point...and the main actor had his shirt off half the movie so you wouldn't miss his tats and tough guy puka shell necklace.