Here we go...

Alright, I know it's been too long since I last updated but I haven't had much time to. Hopefully I can stay on top of this because now I'm feeling overwhelmed with how much I have to do in this post.
So let's get started:
We left off with the last fishing tourney. A couple days later I went into the city only to realize it was an Allerian alumni reunion.

Miranda seemed to be doing well and has adjusted to her new home. I apologized for her being forced out as a casualty in the Alleria Duck Hunt but she seems to be happy with her new life. Good for her.

Don't worry Moe! I remember you!
Our first resident to leave, good old Moe, is still as sweet as ever. I miss him.

For some reason, Winnie seemed a tad bitter. She doesn't seem to have as fond a memory of her former hometown as others. That's okay, nobody remembers her anyway.
As soon as I got back into town, Marcel dropped the bomb on me.

Noooo! Not our innocent, sweet, fun-loving, friend Marcel! Marcel is such an integral part to the breezy laid back atmosphere of our town. What would we do without him?
After that, we headed down the path to the late Spring picnic. Yes, us Allerians have picnics in the evening. The cool Spring air keeps our macaroni salad at the optimal temperature.

I spilled the beans to Static and Deena about Marcels' plan to move. They were shocked! We each took turns explaining to Marcel why he should stay. Deena made a good point. Why move when all your friends live all so close together in the same town? I think Marcel got the point.

Yay! Marcel is sticking around!

Awwww. That gives me that warm fuzzy feeling inside. What a happy ending.
The day after the picnic, Deena approached with her own decision. Apparently our Marcel intervention made her think twice about her life in Alleria.

Well, who am I to stop her? After all, it's still Duck Season in Alleria. See ya, Deena!

All this moving drama exhausted me. I decided it was time to go visit Gracie at GracieGrace and see if I couldn't get a good style evaluation from him. I came prepared with my pink zap outfit and a fresh pair of shoes from Kicks.

Woooooot! Finally, Gracie gave me his approval! In celebration I decided to splurge. Why not honor Gracie himself and get the full Gracie outfit?!

Awwww, yeah. Look at me, I'm hot shi---....oh. Oh geezus. This is one gaudy look. But....I feel so posh. I finally fit in with the elite.

And look! I can wine and dine with the best of them. I can appreciate fine art!

I feel right at home in the swank HRA model room of Kashi from Kashton! Woooo....

I even turn heads arriving back in town! What wonders a gaudy new outfit can do! Aw yeah.

I even got the approval of Snake.
Yes, your eyes are NOT deceiving you. Snake wore a dress for a day, before switching back to his unexplainable favorite Alleria shirt.
Hey, we don't judge here in Alleria. We embrace. Snake is Snake. And that makes him awesome.

Speaking of my pal Snake...
Remember how much of a sore loser he was during the last fishing tourney? How his unbridled passion for competition masked his complete failure at actually catching any fish? Well, I decided to give to charity (Chump Charity, that is) and send my extra silver trophy to the guy.

Awww, how sweet, right? Well, last weekend on Flea Market Day I paid a visit to Snake to check out his goods. And look!

How nice! He had the trophy proudly displayed in his residence.
But he was quick to try to sell it to me.

You've got to be kidding me! Pshaw. That's Snake for ya. I still love him.

MY flea market went well.

That dark dank room turned out to be a profitable dark dank room.
Welcome to Sarah's Fish Emporium!
Boasting a tuna, a coelacanth, and many fish I picked up the night before, I ended up making just under 100,000 bells. That's a lot of money to me! Many people may scoff at that but I was excited. When I told Blaire, she wasn't that impressed and let me in on a little secret:

Pssh. Well, some of us don't like the wheelin' and dealin' of the stalk market. So Flea Market Day is one of the only opportunities to make big bells with little effort.
I was a little worried with how the economy is in the crapper right now. Would my fellow Allerians shell out the big bells to buy some fish?

Aw yeah! I'm 100,000 bells closer to paying off my mortgage. Then I can start working on the town improvements. I know the town has been wanting a fourth bridge (we already have three because of the uninhabited island) but the only person willing to fund it is me. But not until my house is completely paid off!

Static has been lobbying Rob for a new sports stadium. Slow down, buddy. Maybe move to Portland where the mayor is eager to build stadiums the city doesn't want. (OOOHH, ZING! Yay for local politics references!)

We've had our share of visitors lately. Yesterday, Wendell showed up hungry as ever but I didn't fork any food over. I didn't have time to find room for another pattern.
Pascal dropped by earlier and I finally remembered to give him a scallop!

Of course he gave me an item I already had cataloged. But I always like following his path down to the ocean.


Mostly because it's fun to throw rocks at him.
Pete dropped by and continued telling about his creepy love affair with Phyllis.

I smell a restraining order in the future.
And Saharah stopped by with her carpet scam. Damn her! I was able to mooch 3 old floorings off my neighbors. Three! Most times I can't even get one! And what does she give me? Two mosaic tiles and a shanty mat. I'm not kidding. Screw her. She's not welcome back to Alleria.

And true to her word, Deena packed up and left.

That leaves Alleria with one duck. Back to a safe level. Even if it's the terrible Mallary.
Deena's good-bye letter left me feeling a little guilty that she was another casuality of the Alleria Duck Hunt.

Gah! Why must these always be so sad?! Farewell Deena. I hope to see you again too. As long as you aren't living here.
And even before the dirt had settled, I was already looking to recruit somebody to fill the open spot. And look who I spotted wandering the city!

EEEEEEEEE! It's Chevre!
Oh, what I would give to be graced with her presence in Alleria. *Sigh* She's so darling. (Can you tell? I love Chevre!)

Phew. Looks like everything is caught up. Before I wrap this up, I'll leave you with my favorite thing. Some of my favorite recent quotes from neighbors.

Um, what?

Yeah. Being stanky makes you irresistible, Mallary. Sure.

Deena and Rhonda in the War of Who's News Was More Boring And Unimportant. Maybe that's why Deena left. She was kind of boring and unimportant....

Hahahahahahaha. Yeah Teddy. It probably is the sweatpants.

No silly dialouge here. I just like the picture. Looks like I'm about to fall in.

Turn up the bass!

Yesterday was the Black Bass Fishing Tourney in Alleria.
I wasn't sure I was going to participate since I've already got my trophies. Why be a show-off? Why not give somebody else a chance?
So I started off casually fishing, not worrying about being in first place. Until I ran into Snake.

Excuse me?
What's with the attitude, buddy?
So I started getting a little competitive. "That Snake, he needs to be put in his place", I thought. I know he's a jock and he thrives on competition but that was just rude!
With each of us going back and forth it turned into a war. A trash talking war.

I was pulling black bass out of the water left and right. Running back and forth, turning in new fish trying to beat my own record of 22.0 inches. Then Blaire came out of nowhere and did me one better, literally. 22.1 inches. Gah! That's just wrong!
I ran into Snake once again.

As the sun slowly started sliding down, Snake was starting to lose his temper. He hadn't beaten any records! I started to wonder if he was actually catching anything. Was Snake all talk? Was he trying to boost his confidence and luck by talking smack to me? It wasn't long before I overheard him talking to himself.

Ohhh boy. What a cheater....er, what an idiot. Chumming the water? Are you serious?
That's about the time that I wrote Snake off. He's no competition. He's my buddy but he's definitely not the brightest bulb in the world.
Snake and Blaire weren't the only other ones participating in this tourney. Antonio tried his best also.

Oh yeah Antonio? Kind of like this?

I rule.
Honestly, Antonio didn't have much of a chance. That was pretty evident when he let me in on a little tip.

Poor guy.
Even Marcel tried to get into the spirit of competition.

Marcel was nowhere near the river. I tried giving him a push towards the right direction but he just ended up getting mad at me. Darn you Chrissy! I still love you, Marcel.
After all the trash talking, cheating, and general spirit of competition, I won.

And with that, I'm thinking I should probably retire from the rigorous Alleria Fishing Tourneys. Maybe give Snake a glimmer of hope.

But the fishing tourney wasn't the only thing happening yesterday. I was able to also catch a few things I've been looking high and low for.

Since the only time I do a lot of river fishing is during the specific fish fishing tourneys, I found that the catfish is actually located in the river. You see, my guide says 'pond' and I assumed that to be the little bodies of water scattered throughout town. No. Those are 'holding ponds'. The pond the guide is referring to is the areas in the river that are wider. So, now that that is cleared up I caught quite a few of those feline fishies.
The next one was something I've been actively looking for in the river.

I'm glad that the fishing tourney forces me to stay looking on the river. Even though every time I passed the river I would keep my eyes peeled for the 'goldfish shadow', it wasn't until yesterday that I managed to snatch one up.
And finally! The most exciting catch for me.

FINALLY. This little camouflaged insect has been tricking me for quite some time now. I know he hides on white flowers but every time I would let my guard down and move quickly around areas I knew had white flowers planted, one would inevitably be hiding and would fly off before I noticed. I spent a lot of time sneaking around, trying to spot one of these boogers. Yesterday, I just happened to be moving along at a quick pace and stopped in my tracks when I saw him. I'm glad the search is finally over. Can you spot which one he's on?

When I skipped over to the museum to hand him over to Blathers, he explained how disgusting it is when you pick up a flower and accidentally touch the underside of the mantis's belly.

Oh. My. God. Blathers has some underlying issues with bugs that are worse off than I thought. Whenever you hand over a bug he always freaks out but this was the worst reaction I've seen. He needs some help with that. I tried comforting him all to no avail. Poor guy.

After all the excitement of catching fish and bugs, I decided to pay a visit to the poor creatures to whom I've served a life sentence to in the Alleria museum.

Stuck in overcrowded tanks, this is what they will see for the rest of their lives. Sorry, water friends.

I snuck off to the city to see if anything interesting was going on.

It was raining so I guess the storm front that was hanging over Alleria the past week has moved onwards. Since there wasn't any watering done yesterday, I'll see if the rumor is true. Supposedly if it's dry in town and raining in the city when you visit, all your watering will have magically been done. I guess I'll find out today.