Hey hey,

We uploaded a collection of Justine's Vermouth flyers.

Check them out here

Once upon a time, Justine wanted to go to Costa Rica. She conducted some research on the web, sat down with her guitar and wrote a song about it with hopes of inspiring Steve to accompany her on the trip. She stumbled across a blog describing a Costa Rican vacation of three college girls who wrote that some iguanas chased their car. Justine liked this image so she put it in her song with these lyrics: "I wanna see the iguanas, Baby. I wanna see if they'll chase our car."

Justine had a blank book for lyrics and she decided to decorate it with a collage. She created a little scene with a stage and some curtains and a few other artifacts and was searching for an appropriate object to place  in the center. As she was flipping through a magazine, she stumbled upon a car ad that featured a bright green Iguana. Well, this was perfect so she put it in the center of the collage.

Coincidentally, a couple of days later, Justine's mom happened to make a collage and mailed her a color copy of it just for fun. It had the exact same iguana in the center... [insert twilight zone music here]

A few weeks after that, Justine and Steve traveled to Costa Rica. It was a great trip. They encountered a few iguanas and thought they were weird and interesting.

That could have been the end of the story, but a week after her return to Santa Cruz, CA, Justine was startled and amazed to find an iguana on the sidewalk in front of her house. The iguana was very cold and could hardly move. So, she got a big cardboard box and coaxed this creature into it. Then, she collected all of the table lamps from the house, put them in the bathroom (the smallest room of the house) and turned them all on to try to create a warm environment. Within 2 days Justine received a free aquarium, a stand, and a heating pad from various sources who just happened to be passing by. She looked up at the sky and cursed, "I only said I wanted to SEE the Iguanas, I didn't want to OWN one!" She posted a notice at the local SPCA but no one reported a lost iguana. So... Justine named her Gretchen.

Eventually, she wrote a song called "Gretchen the Iguana." Gretchen grew and grew and Justine built a big iguana condominium for her out of redwood and Plexiglases and decorated it with lots of plants. She's about 8 years old now and still living with Justine and Steve, who usually refers to her as "your creature."

The End