diamonds and babies and cars

moving day.

2010-02-03T14:06:00.001-07:00

i'm getting bored with blogspot.
so, i'm moving here.

same blog, just @wordpress.com.

see you there.
me.

benefits in black and GOLD!!!

2010-02-01T16:10:00.007-07:00

as i am about to leave my current job, we're trying to take advantage of the few and far between benefits that come with the job. my favorite benefit, by far, is the fact that i work while everyone else plays, ergo i play while everyone else works. i love going grocery shopping at nine a.m. on a tuesday morning, or going out for dinner and drinks on sunday nights, when everyone else is home gearing up for the work-week, and everything seems to be on "special." this weekend housemate and i took saturday night off to enjoy another benefit of my job: free hockey tickets to the local college games. it was a really close game between the CC Tigers and the St. Cloud Huskies (?) but CC pulled it out at the end of the third period for a 6-4 win. housemate wanted a picture with the zamboni- his "all-star" player of the night. but the crowd favorite was the pee-wee game held between periods. so cute.

more.later.
me.

red rock canyon

2010-01-25T20:25:00.004-07:00

housemate and i had the morning off, so we took casey and his friend boyd hiking through red rock canyon. it was a perfect colorado winter morning- super sunny but still a little cold.

it was still pretty icy on some of the trails. housemate decided to take the dogs skating.

i didn't go out on the ice (as i'm not a rule-breaker), but still managed to lose it on an icy trail and will likely have some gnarly bruises tomorrow to match the scraped elbows and sore bum.

due to the gorgeous weather and the spring-like bouquet i came home to yesterday, i think we're just going to skip february all together and head straight into march. sound good?

more.
later.
me.

conan

2010-01-24T16:47:00.004-07:00

so we're shaking things up at the white shack this week. after much debate, i've decided to accept an offer to start a new full time position with a financial company here in the springs march first.

the debate has gone back and forth- i won't bore you with details, but i will say they aren't offering me the position or salary i want to start, but if i stick it out for two years, they will.

this sounds cheesy, but after all my debating, it was conan's goodbye speech last friday that convinced me to take a chance with this company.

by the way, i don't think i've seen anyone exhibit this much class in quite a while. i was really impressed...

more.
later.
me.

wii?

2010-01-12T23:21:00.003-07:00

mom and larry got us a wii for xmas. i know we're a little behind the times, but man is it fun. housemate decided to make dinner as a gesture of thanks (think: macadamia crusted sea bass with shitake mushroom risotto and roasted veggies) so that they'd stop by and enjoy the excitement with us.

lissie

2010-01-08T10:22:00.003-07:00

winter.
ugh.

at least the sunshine's out here... making sixteen degrees look good, anyway.

i'm on a lissie kick today. she's a midwest girl who's relocated to CA and has recorded her first EP, Why You Runnin'? You can hear a myriad of influnces, everything from jenny lewis and (my favorite) grace potter to a suggested emmylou harris, but i'm hoping her first full length album will prove to have a more unique sound.

i'm also hoping by the time she releases the full length, someone will have convinced her to ditch the glasses....

more.
later.
me.

out to dinner

2010-01-05T10:29:00.006-07:00

housemate has made numerous friends at his current place of occupation in the past year. Most of these friends have, like housemate, picked up some sort of culinary degree/hospitality knowledge/sommelier certification on the way to their current position at the hotel. while i enjoy all of housemate's friends for any number of positive personality traits, what i really love is when they invite us over to dinner.

housemate's friend Greg did just that last night, the occasion being that his canadian "friend" (read: girlfriend) is in town for the week. we are so accustomed to a solo Greg, we were thrilled to meet this girl about whom we'd heard a great deal. in hindsight, i should have prepped a few questions for the pre-dinner new person small talk. because... i know jackshit about canada. truly. as i started asking her questions, i realized i could only name two canadian provinces, and i had a feeling that her hometown (vancouver) wasn't located in either.

i thought i was in trouble last week when i struck up a conversation with housemate's nepalese friend Rishi, but you'll be as shocked as i was to discover i know more about kathmandu and the himalayans than i do about our neighbors to the north. i stuck to generic questions like when would be the best time to visit (did you know you can ski AND surf on the same day in vancouver!?!) and did she like being canadian?

thankfully, we started with wine early and dinner quickly followed. in addition to being the sommelier for one of the only five-star restaurants in the state, Greg is an awesome cook. i'd tell you what he served if i could. i know we started with miso soup made by miss vancouver and then proceeded to a pork entree with port wine dried cherries + glaze. either the cherries or the entire dish had a french name that i tried to repeat numerous times, until i suddenly realized i sounded a bit like this, and stopped myself:

apparently the cotes du rhone that Greg had picked to pair with the pork was corked, so we did a sangiovese instead. i was grateful, to say the least, that no one asked me to try the corked wine first. i guarantee i would have deemed it delicious and poured for everyone at the table, only to be told that it had "gone bad," thus revealing the sad fact that i rarely drink wine that has a price point in the double digits, and couldn't tell an oxidized sip from a heavy tannin to save my life.

at this point, you're likely thinking the theme of the night was what a mess of a dinner guest i happen to be. which COULD have been the theme, had the canadian not inadvertently saved me.

i wish i had a picture of the canadian to illustrate why, after a couple glasses of wine, we all should have switched to coffee and gone to a picture show, instead of deciding that we'd do a post-dinner drink (or cigar, in housemate's case) at the local martini joint. in lieu of a picture, i'll share this: miss vancouver discovered she'd put on 20 pounds in college when the scale under her feet displayed three numbers for the first time in her life. she's since dropped about fifteen of those pounds.

in other words, the girl was a literal lightweight.

which explains why all our sophisticated discussion went out the door and was replaced by a half-hour discourse on gays and legalized pot in vancouver. followed by canada excusing herself for the washroom at around 10, and remaining m.i.a. for the next twenty minutes. Greg requested that i go fish her out of the one person bathroom, which entailed some awkward moments of banging on the door, coaxing her out, and telling the twelve clucking girls lined up at said restroom to go sit down.

no one of legal drinking age should be allowed to weigh under 120 pounds. to be fair, she recovered nicely for the ride home. had it been me, my carsickness would have kicked in and the car would have been much, much worse for the wear.

my one contribution to the evening was some relatively decent music. "Redbird" is a group composed of three singer-songwriters(Peter Mulvey, Jeffery Foucault and Kris Delmhorst) who release a self-titled compilation of very folksy originals and covers in 2005. it could get a little boring after a few listens, but it made for great dinner music.

more.
later.
me.

an etiquette question...

2010-01-02T21:52:00.002-07:00

so...

a couple months before christmas, housemate's sister contacted us with a request for christmas wishes. we replied that, while we couldn't wait to go shopping for housemate's one-year-old niece this year, we weren't really in the financial position to do gifts for everyone, so could we maybe wait until a future date to do presents for his sister and brother-in-law?

(and by future date, i meant christmas 2010. or, possibly even 2011.)

along with some cute toys we picked out for said niece, we sent a few little nothings- some soaps and a silly book- as trinkets for his niece's parents to unwrap christmas morning.

about a week later, we get a box from housemate's sister that was filled with wrapped gifts. housemate was, understandably, excited about this surprise arrival.

i received a lovely scarf, a yummy smelling candle, and lots of socks. (you can never go wrong with new socks, as far as i'm concerned.) i thought this was super nice and really quite perfect.

housemate received 6 new shirts and 2 new sweaters. they're all really nice. the problem is that they're all size XL. if you've met housemate (or even seen a picture of him) you'd likely be able to tell that he's a size L at best. i mean, the kid rocks his 32 X 34 gap jeans like there's no tomorrow.... XL doesn't really fit into his vocabulary- at least not at this stage of his life.

so what's a girl to do? there are no tags, no receipts. do i tell his sister, and ask if possibly there are receipts to go with these clothes? do we just donate the clothes to goodwill, as we live in different cities and see them maybe twice a year? and if we choose the latter, what do i say in the "thank you" card? it was such a nice gesture, but.... i don't want to seem rude, but telling them thanks and that he loves them (which, if they fit, he would) runs the risk of them continuing to buy him clothing in that size, which i don't think he'll be wearing for a while.
on the flip side, i also don't want them to feel that all was for naught. we sent his father a pair of slippers, AFTER calling his mom to make sure we were purchasing the correct size, and got a call the day after christmas from his father telling us they were too small. i felt terrible.

being an only child, i'm just starting to dip a toe into this siblings relation stuff. i need advice.

what to do?
help. please.

more.
later.
me.

casey and the electric toothbrush

2009-12-30T21:50:00.003-07:00

housemate and i got some snazzy new sonic toothbrushes for christmas, so being the giving person that i am, i decided to let casey have the old battery-powered toothbrush.

he spent the next half hour making sure he got all those back molars. i couldn't be prouder....

more.
later.
me.

iowa, through and through

2009-12-22T11:24:00.003-07:00

our friends rebecca and david brought casey his first (and likely best) gift of '09 the other day:

it's casey's first piece of "clothing" so he's just not quite sure about it, but housemate thinks it's the coolest thing ever.

rebecca made the sweater- apparently in austria, everyone takes a knitting course in school. which is funny to me, because i don't think we even had a home ec. requirement.

now if i could just get her to make him a COE sweater...

re: the tree.

2009-12-16T21:22:00.007-07:00

i was determined to cut down a tree this year.

we missed the deadline last year.
well, we didn't exactly miss the deadline.
we drove all the way up to the forest service in woodland park to obtain the $10 permit that would grant us access to all sorts of delightful debacles out in the forest as we searched for the *perfect* tree as snow lightly fell.

upon our arrival at the not-so-easy-to-find forest service office in woodland park, we were politely informed that permits must be purchased in downtown colorado springs, approximately seven minutes from our home and forty minutes from where we currently stood.

we didn't have time to make it all the way back home and then up to woodland park for a second time that day. the next weekend was the last weekend to tree hunt, and we were both working double shifts.

alas, no tree.

so this year, i SWORE up and down that i would not miss the deadline, and i would not miss the address for tree permits. we had the day, we had the building, we were ready to go.

then it snowed.
a lot.

again, no tree.

in lieu of making it through another christmas in a woefully undecorated shack, housemate sprang for a tree at one of those tree farms. i was initially hesitant, as this was NOT IN THE PLAN.

but then i saw our tree. a 6' tall, 6' wide, balsam fir.

he's beautiful. he smells like heaven. he takes up half the shack.
i'm in love.

on a slightly related note, i packed up all the presents this week and shipped them out. is it just me, or did my presents end up looking more appropriate for a spring baby shower than for a family christmas?

whatever. they're in the mail. really, that's all a girl can ask for at the end of the day.

more.
later.
me.

amanda knox

2009-12-04T13:17:00.004-07:00

i've been working on job applications all morning, but it seems every hour i'm compelled check cnn.com to see if the jury has reached a verdict for amanda knox.

have you been following miss knox' trial? it's provided such an interesting glance into the italian legal system.

the gist of the story is this: amanda was an exchange student from seattle, studying in italy for a semester. she lived with another exchange student from england, named meredith, and she acquired an italian boyfriend along the way. one evening, meredith was brutally murdered, and the italian police took amanda and her boyfriend into custody. after over twelve hours of questioning from the italian authorities (in italian, and without an attorney or any advocate/translator with her), amanda broke down and confessed to having been at the murder scene- her apartment- on the evening of the murder. so the italians threw her and her boyfriend into a trial that should end today. as a side note: the italians have already convicted a "drifter" with a drug abuse problem, whose dna was covering the apartment and the victim's body, with the murder.

what's interesting to me, is that in the italian courts, you can be convicted with reasonable doubt. not so in the american courts- everyone's watched a legal drama where the defense asks the jury whether they have even the slightest doubt that the defendant could have committed the crime, because in the states, reasonable doubt carries the day as the burden of proof in a case like this.

it's unlikely anyone will ever know exactly how that night played out. the only real evidence against miss knox is her own confession, obtained after a series of hypotheticals combined with what i can only imagine was a very tedious and terrifying interrogation. but the story the prosecution is trying to sell- that american amanda and her italian boyfriend, along with the random drifter, were involved in a drug fueled orgy with meredith that resulted in a brutal slaying, seems unlikely. especially considering miss knox is without a history of any violence. the story is writhe with reasonable doubt- there isn't a single piece of physical evidence that ties amanda or her boyfriend to the crime, and no one seems to have found the slightest hint of a motive. at the end of the day, the prosecution seems to have built an entire case on the following three facts: (1) amanda and her randomly chosen roommate didn't get along; (2) amanda had sex with her boyfriend and they smoked pot; and (3) once the police were interrogating her, amanda started making shit up because she was scared.

i'm staying away from the italian legal system, if that's all it takes to be considered a first-degree murderer....

more.
later.
me.

'tis the season

2009-11-27T22:52:00.004-07:00

maybe it's the warm weather. maybe it's that i'm no longer in school and therefore no longer VERYAWARE of impending finals. maybe it's just that i'm no longer interested in keeping pace with all the insanity.

whatever the reason, once again i've been dragging my heels regarding the impending holidays and the arrival of winter. thanksgiving was gone in a blink this year, and once again, all my dragging hasn't provided much competition for the unarguable logic of time. housemate woke me at four this morning, reminding me that this was our first (and also unarguably, our last,) black friday as participants. yup. we did it. we showed up at best buy with all the crazies pre-dawn for a chance at a super deal on a new computer. ours committed suicide weeks ago (the screen carried the message "WRONG MACHINE" for at least three days before i finally laid the poor system to rest) and we'd been waiting for this day to replace her.

i'm writing this from the snazzy, and unbelievably silent, new computer. the best part is the monitor. while i wasn't overly concerned with the size of it, i have to admit it's lovely to be able to see what i type. (the old computer abandoned all attempts at a clear picture years ago....)

and so, christmas came early at the white shack this year. we're looking forward to a month of seeing friends and family, and helping our little white shack shine brightly to celebrate such a beautiful time of year.

more.
later.
me.

taos

2009-10-27T21:36:00.004-06:00

housemate turned the big two-nine last week. since we've been so unexplicably busy this month, we decided to ditch colorado for new mexico, and spend some time just enjoying each other's company.

although it sounds lame & cheesy, i'd just like to make a plug for roadtrips with your best friend. awesome music (read: tom petty, kings of leon, ryan adams, common), gorgeous southwest scenery, the tastiest mexican food ever experienced, and getting lost with someone who makes you laugh so hard you're honestly afraid you might pee your pants. can't beat it with a stick.

more.
later.
me.

best day of the week?

2009-10-15T19:16:00.001-06:00

new sock day.

and it even fell on a thursday.
thanks, housmate.

more.
later.
me.

lucky...charmed...i'm sure.

2009-10-07T22:29:00.004-06:00

housemate's parents visited last week. although the reason behind the trip wasn't all that wonderful, the trip itself was a hit. we spent an afternoon up in cripple creek, touring the molly kathleen gold mine (which was as awesome as i remembered from my fourth grade field trip...)

and i gambled. for the first time ever. i believe after almost two hours, i walked away with a dollar loss. but let me tell you, i was up. WAY UP. it's just so hard to leave when you're winning big. :)

.

oh how i wish summer would stay and our grass would be eternally green...

hip.hop.

2009-09-21T19:47:00.004-06:00

One of the best features of moving in with housemate has been my immersion into the world of hip hop.

I love a lot of music. But I'd never spent any time with hip hop. In fact, I likely would have grouped it with rap and left it alone, as I've found I have a hard time making any connections with rap, much like heavy/death metal. To each his own....

I'm lucky housemate opened my eyes to such great stuff by bands like N.E.R.D., The Neptunes, and Lupe over the past two years- I'm sure I never would have gone beyond the well known singles without his guidance, and missed some really great albums.

Housemate's got me hooked on Kid Cudi these days. Like most of the hip hop that I've grown to love, Kid Cudi throws around phrases that make me blush, even after multiple listens. But I've discovered it's easy to ignore the slightly appalling choice of subject matters once you get into his first studio album, Mr. Man on the Moon, due to the fluid mix of fluctuating beats and layered vocals. Granted, with Kanye and Common on your side it'd be difficult to make a bad album. But to get those two on his side, I'm thinkin' you'd have to be relatively good from the beginning....

Kid Cudi - New Music - More Music Videos

more.
later.
me.

another wedding weekend.

2009-09-14T10:16:00.004-06:00

a friend from high school got hitched this past weekend in the springs. she was a beautiful bride, and we had such a good time getting to participate in all things wedding!

my friend emily was a bridesmaid, so she and her boyfriend reed came out from chicago to spend a week in colorado. we loved having them here, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that she'll consider taking the job that she was offered while here so we can have more friends to play with this winter!

more.
later.
me.

us.

2009-09-08T14:37:00.003-06:00

I don't believe in anything but myself
I don't believe in anything but myself
But then you opened up a door
You opened up a door
Now I start to believe in something else...

more.
later.
me.

miss molly jane...

2009-09-03T21:23:00.003-06:00

i drove to iowa for a couple of reasons this past weekend.

mainly to see maggie and mike and harvey and molly.

is it strange that i spent the entire drive back scheming up reasons to move back to des moines just so i'd get to babysit once a week?

more.
later.
me.

[and the world spins madly on]

2009-08-20T22:25:00.001-06:00

more.
later.
me.

74th Street

2009-08-15T13:15:00.009-06:00

my uncle sold my grandparents home last week.

my mother says it's a good thing.
she says a young family with a couple of kids bought the house.

i kind of wish i could tell them...

my grandpa built that house. he designed it and he built it. he was a civil engineer, so he was pretty good at that sort of thing.
he and my grandma moved in when they were a young couple with two kids, after he came back from the war.

my mom grew up in that house. she played kick-the-can in the street.
she snuck out while my grandparents held bridge parties.
she left that house at eighteen to start a life of her own.

i spent my childhood summers at that house.
i helped grandma in the garden, year after year.
i celebrated every birthday out on the back deck.
under the maple tree.
i used to sit on that porch swing for hours with my grandpa.
and wait for my cousins to come play.
i woke up every christmas morning in that house.
i'd sneak down to the basement before i thought anyone was awake to see what santa had left.
inevitably, my grampa had already had a fire going, and coffee brewing.

when i was in college, i'd drive down to visit my grandparents.
i stood in that living room after my grandpa's funeral.
i listened to my grandma crying across the hall.
i didn't know how much you could miss a person until that day.

i lived in that house during law school.
i spent hours in my grandpa's old basement office, studying until i couldn't see straight.
i'd have to wear mittens and a fleece because my grandma refused to turn up the heat.
i listened to her upstairs.
and prayed she wouldn't come down to drive me insane.
she did anyway.
i remember packing up my things after graduation, so grateful to be out on my own.
the last time i saw that house, i remember locking the back door before i left. and thinking my grandmother had been locking that same back door every day for the last fifty years.

housemate and i like to throw around the idea of a house of our own. although i expect it will be a while before we actually start making offers, i hope we find a house that was as loved as the little house on 74th street....

more.
later.
me.

henry clay people

2009-08-14T22:18:00.002-06:00

it's friday night.

i'm home nursing a corona and marveling at how much easier it is to clean the kitchen floor with an actual mop, instead of the bucket and sponge i generally use. on top of all that, i've had these kids on repeat for the last hour:

which tells me:
(a) i've totally lost any semblance of a social life, and
(b) i kinda like this band.

more.
later.
me.

peanuts and cracker jacks

2009-08-13T14:43:00.003-06:00

housemate took me to my first major league baseball game last monday up in denver. i've seen a number of iowa cubs and cedar rapids kernals games, but i've never seen the big leagues.

good weather.
good hot dogs.
good beer.
good times.

(except for the part where the cubs lost. i could care less, except housemate is a big chicago fan and it would have been fun to see a win. i guess i'll have to wait for wrigley for that.)

more.
later.
me.

kings of leon

2009-08-08T22:07:00.004-06:00

housemate and i were discussing music on our way to a laid back saturday morning breakfast downtown.

we came to two conclusions:

(1) neither of us are able to sit through nirvana these days. housemate says it's because cobain's stuff is just too damn depressing. i say it's because the music wasn't that phenomenal to begin with. maybe they were just doing something new, and happened to be at the right place in the right time? i'm not sure. we both definitely have a certain nostalgia regarding the band, and find their contribution to the 90s scene very important, but i feel like there were a lot of bands at that time producing better music. secondly;

(2) kings of leon is arguably the best true rock band recording at this time.

more.
later.
me.

(lost souls and fishing bowls)

2009-08-07T22:36:00.003-06:00

this isn't really the place to do this, but it's honestly the only place i have.

i just got home from work. it's late and it's quiet and i've got a a sleepy puppy keeping me company until housemate gets home and pulls me out of my head and into the present.

it's the seventh of august.
you are thirty years old today.

these days i wouldn't know how to contact you if i wanted.
which i don't.

but this will be the first year in the last nine that i won't be there to raise a glass, or to at least call with birthday wishes.
to say i hope you're well.
to say that i'm so glad you came into this world thirty years ago.
to joke that i can't believe you've made it this far.
i was sure you wouldn't emerge from your twenties in one piece.

it's the seventh of august.
i swore once, no matter what happened, i'd always call on your birthday.
things have changed around here.
i hope things have changed for you as well.

wherever you are, it's a million miles from me. and we've become the best of strangers.

for all i've forgotten, i think today will always be your day in my world. i've got the band on the radio and a drink in my hand just for you. wherever you are and whatever you're doing, i hope you're well.

happy thirtieth kid.
me.

An Open Letter To The Moron Of A Police Officer Who Wrote Me A Freaking Parking Ticket This Morning...

2009-08-06T21:28:00.005-06:00

Dear Officer Peters,

It's me.
The girl in the red CR-V who you erroneously pulled over at 9 a.m. this morning.

I just wanted to clarify a couple things, now that I've had a good twelve hours to really analyze your motive in writing me a ticket.

1. I swear on all that is holy that the speed limit on Woodmen Road used to be 45 mph. If I had any idea of where previous speed limit records are kept, I'd have physical proof. A google search for changed speed limits in colorado came up dry... with the exception of a report from the city website which informed me colorado springs netted $5.2 million dollars in traffic tickets last year, and another half million in parking tickets. Which tells me you people need more to do with your day.

2. Going 48 in a 40 which used to be a 45 IS NOT an acceptable reason to pull me over and then ask me if I know why you're pulling me over. When I said I had no idea why you pulled me over, what I meant was I had no idea why you'd pulled me over. I wasn't being smart. I was baffled. Frankly, I still am.

3. Remember cutting me off when you asked why I was up in the Rockrimmon area and I tried to explain that my mom had two broken bones in her leg, my stepdad was in North Carolina, and I was spending over an hour a day commuting to and from her house between my two jobs to take care of her because she is ALL ALONE and can't get up a flight of stairs without help because her leg is SO swollen that they haven't been able to put a cast on it yet? Yeah. About that. You're an asshole, buddy.

4. I will most certainly be at that court date. When you said I wasn't required to show up, I got the feeling you didn't want me to show up, which solidified my desire to show up. I realize it was only 1 point on my license, but I will get that point removed, even if I end up having to pay the city $110.

5. Speaking of which- why do I have a $95 ticket with a $15 service fee? Who do you think you are? Ticketmaster?

6. Maybe this is beside the point, but it's worth mentioning nevertheless. The 1970's moustache you're using to hide the genetic equivalent of an orthodontic train wreck isn't working. Even behind the helmet you wouldn't remove. It's not my fault your parents didn't get you braces forty-some years ago.

7. Regarding the helmet- why did you give me a pamphlet on motorcycle safety with my ticket? You're the one on a bike. Not me. That just doesn't make sense.

8. I've learned in the last few years that karma exists. And you, Mr. i'llgivehertheveryfirstspeedingticketshe'severhad, are a sitting duck for a little karmic retribution. I only wish I could be there to see it...

Love.
Forever and Always.

Jessica J. Williams. (aka Petitioner...)

hike-a-like-ing.

2009-08-01T15:00:00.002-06:00

(such a pretty day for a hike up columbine trail this morning)

more.
later.
me.

it's just another song about the rain.

2009-07-30T22:04:00.006-06:00

favorite bands.
i have one.
i love a shitload of music.
but, for many of us, there is one band that's been there since the beginning.
for me, it's adam and his band, the counting crows.

housemate and i went up to see the band at red rocks last night. i had to get myself a little revved up, as it had been pouring all day, and the rain continued as we drove into morrison.

nevermind the rain. it was, without question, the best concert i will ever see. they played their brains out for over three hours, along with augustana.

the thing about falling in love with a band at thirteen is they become part of your life. when i heard "august and everything after" i just remember thinking, for the very first time, that someone else got it. someone else understood what i felt. i was in the back of a van riding up to a rehearsal in denver, trying to pay attention to the eight other people surrounding me, but feeling silently detached all the same. i'd never been able to explain having this sense that i was standing just outside my own life. i constantly felt throughout my childhood and well into my teens that i was somehow standing outside everything, looking in but unable to really be a part of what was happening. as happy as i am today, that feeling seems to come and go just as it did when i was eight or twelve or twenty-two.

i love the band's energy and melody and the roots rock feel that they're generating these days. but mostly, i love hearing lyrics that so eloquently remind me that i'm not the only one standing outside her own life, looking curiously in.

coming up on the twentieth anniversary of "august," adam and dan and immy and charlie just killed it last night. they opened with van morrison's "caravan," and never looked back. i spent the evening fluctuating between tears and goosebumps. it was that good. i had really questioned buying tickets, as they seemed so expensive and i tend to get a little anxious with 9,000 people surrounding me. i'm so glad housemate insisted we go. it was the highlight of my year.

more.
later.
me.

joe.

2009-07-27T21:25:00.002-06:00

joe purdy makes my day, every day. he should make your day, too.

more.
later.
me.

whaddaweek...

2009-07-23T21:51:00.004-06:00

this week has been bit of an emotional roller coaster for the white shack.

it all started saturday with K's wedding. K has truly been one of my best friends since i was all of twelve years old. it's been nice being back home, as housemate and i have gotten to know his fiancee (now wife!) and were able to attend the wedding up at the sunbird.

the weather was beautiful, albeit a little windy as they said their vows:

bauer was a perfect ring bearer:

and housemate and i were the kind of silly you end up being when you're at a wedding where you know almost NO ONE, besides the bride, groom, and the groom's parents who are all too busy to keep an eye on you. we were borderline making up fake identities by the end of the night.

sunday was super-relaxation day. i spent most of it outside loving the sunshine. we went to see the new johnny depp movie (very good) and out for sunday evening cocktails with the guys.

monday afternoon i was at work when i got word that our community had lost two of its most vibrant members. Ed and Gwen Rudolph were killed in a car accident in wyoming, after another car swerved to miss a deer on the highway and hit them instead. i graduated high school with their daughter morgan, and while i haven't been in contact with her since graduation, i had been fortunate to see Ed and Gwen on a regular basis for the last six months at the restaurant. i was originally hesitant to talk to them when i saw them, as it doesn't feel so glamorous to be waiting tables with a law degree. it seems that often when i run into people from high school (and/or their parents), i get an earful regarding how brilliant the last ten years have been. it can wear on a girl. avoiding the whole scene is generally the way to go.

but it was different with Ed and Gwen- just as i remembered from spending time at morgan's house in elementary school, they were so kind and so engaged when you spoke with them. Ed was nothing but encouragement when i finally admitted that i'd passed the bar and couldn't find a job that i wanted so i was waiting tables to make sure all the bills were getting paid. and Gwen's eyes were literally sparkling a couple months ago when she whispered to me that their daughter was pregnant as the rest of the table was discussing entrees. whenever they came into the restaurant with guests, they would introduce me to everyone at the table and ask if anyone knew of a law office that was looking for an environmental attorney. and when just the two of them came in for a kettle one and tonic and dinner, they seemed so relaxed and always looked so classic. it has been such a joy getting to know the Rudolphs in these last six months. the news, even to a mere acquaintance, was totally devastating. there aren't words. we've been thinking of morgan and her family all week. i know that they will have the courage to celebrate what amazing people Ed and Gwen were this weekend.

after a very low week, we got good news today... in the form of Molly Jane. seven pounds, fourteen(?) ounces of McGill wonderfulness.
it sounds like it was an exhausting twenty-four hours for the entire crew. grateful to hear that mama and baby are both healthy and resting this evening.

more.
later.
me.

Gordy

2009-07-17T18:34:00.002-06:00

“Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.”

maggie wrote that quote on a card she gave me once- i've often thought about it when looking up at a clear night sky.

it should be just such a night here in colorado, and we are looking forward to spending the evening out under the stars, enjoying the summer with some dear friends. no doubt little william gordon (or "gordy," as i like to refer to him) will be peering down from one of those openings with a smile. we'll be sure to light a candle for his first birthday, wishing, as always, he was down here too...

caiti-kins...

2009-07-16T10:04:00.002-06:00

housemate's sister sent some pics of his niece.
they made my day:

so freakin' cute.

more.
later.
me.

cool wHip?

2009-07-06T08:50:00.003-06:00

i poured myself a bowl of cereal this morning, only to find we were out of milk.

housemate was long gone, and i didn't didn't have the motivation required to get dressed and go to the store before 8, so i decided to improvise.

i ate half a container of cool whip instead.

should be a good day....

more.
later.
me.

twentyeight

2009-06-30T22:25:00.009-06:00

if my actual birthday is any indication, twenty-eight is going to rock.

we spent the afternoon with some of my favorite people here in the springs, grilling and enjoying some great music and bocce ball. i am the queen of throwing balls across our yard.

housemate and our neighbor were intrigued by a sassy squirrel as the party got started:

then neighbor, being the good texan that he is, decided to do something about sassy squirrel:

i was in no way involved. i was too occupied with bocce ball and corona.(it was an air pellet gun, btw...)

i wish i had more pictures, but the camera battery died an early death monday afternoon, only to revive late in the night.

thanks to everyone who showed up, including this guy:

and this guy:

and these guys:

and the nyens and the willis' and the terrafrancas and the neighbors.

and those of you who called or sent a text. (especially miss mel who always calls on my birthday- i think it's one of the only times during the year we really get to catch up!)

i felt loved.

more.
later.
me.

p.s. housemate got me tickets to grace potter in boulder tomorrow night. don't think i won't remember to bring some extra batteries for the camera THIS time....

cah-razy

2009-06-18T10:53:00.002-06:00

it's been a tumultuous-ish week around the white shack.

thank jesus for brett dennen.

more.
later.
me.

cut. and paste.

2009-06-09T22:41:00.005-06:00

bad news:

my favorite magazine is in trouble.

trouble with a capital T. that rhymes with E. that stands for enough of this crappy economy, already....

Paste is the most brilliant publication promoting great music (among other artistic ventures) with national distribution today. truly. in the last three years of being totally addicted to Paste, i have yet to read an article and consider it lame in any way. before Paste, i was an avid rolling stone reader. right up until rolling stone took a page out of the saturday night live playbook, and started sucking. which must have began sometime after wenner traded cubicle blow and vodka swigs for quotes like, "a neat office is a good workplace and a neat desk reflects an orderly mind." who knows. i say it's rock and roll. go back to the 10 x 12 format. go easy on the politics. stay away from brittany. maybe smoke a little hash in the janitor's closet. it'll be good for the magazine, i promise.

anyway, i left rs and drifted aimlessly through its contemporaries for a few months (blender, spin, etc.) before landing at Paste. edited by joshua jackson, the magazine started out as a quarterly, but by 2006 it had become a monthly gem. the best feature of the magazine was the sampler cd in every issue, loaded with 20+ songs by artists reviewed in that month's edition. thanks to housemate, i became a certified subscriber when we were living in kansas city, and i couldn't wait for my copy to arrive in our little brass mailbox. last month in his editoral, mr. jackson gave a nod to "the lean times," citing the effects of the advertising downturn that seemingly all printed publications fear the most. Paste's plan of attack, he explained, was a modified print schedule (meaning regular issues would only come out every other month) with some small-format special editions to come out in the "off" months. i haven't seen a magazine in my mailbox for june yet, and now i learn that Paste is holding a donation drive to keep the magazine in print. further, rumor has it that the writers for Paste have all voluntarily taken a 20% hit to their salaries.

what to do? i am holding my breath, making my small contribution to the fund, and hoping that this magazine, like all important independent ventures, will be able to ride out the storm.

anniversaries and such....

2009-06-03T20:01:00.005-06:00

a year ago today, housemate and i decided to brave some treacherous weather (think: imminent tornados) for a trip to wayside waifs, to adopt our puppy. this is casey and housemate as i was signing papers to take the quiet, meek little puppy home.

although we weren't planning on celebrating his first year with us, casey thought it'd be appropriate to hoist himself up on the counter and get a few mouthfuls of cookie dough into his stomach before i could get to him and basically throw him off. you'll be pleased to know that i made the choice not to beat him senseless because, well, maybe he deserved a treat on his "anniversary."

(i'm kidding there. i don't actually beat our dog. i do, from time to time, use words with him at a very loud decibel that could constitute abuse. but anyone who has a "very smart" (i.e. mischevious) dog knows how that goes.)

happy one year, casers. you make me smile every single day.

in other news, i'm LOVING my new thao nguyen cd, "we brave bee stings and all." i believe it's her first release on the indie label "kill rock stars," but don't quote me on that one.

the girl is quintessential indie rock. there's a lot of fast-paced finger-picking that goes with an off-kilter melody and some pretty brilliant lyrics. she plays with her band, "the get down, stay down" based now out of virginia, although i think when she recorded this album she may have been in san fran. a couple of weeks ago our local public radio station played an interview with her from studio 360. the interview included a chat at her mothers laundromat. i was so impressed with her interview, i bought the cd without listening to a single song. it is, by far, one of my favorite albums of the year.

if you're not convinced, listen to the interview on studio360.
you'll dig it. i promise.

more.
later.
me.

connor.

2009-05-23T21:49:00.004-06:00

i know everyone knows connor oberst these days, which is FANTASTIC, considering the kid basically started his own record label (saddle creek) in the smack-dab-middle-of-the-country (i.e. omaha, nebraska) while recording songs in his basement (or so the story goes...).

but i was listening to the first bright eyes record i'd ever heard this morning("Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground") and it reminded me of this video, which always makes me smile.

happy memorial day weekend!

more.
later.
me.

bed head.

2009-05-08T16:36:00.005-06:00

i've been saying for the last year that casey doesn't need a bed. because, well, he's a DOG. he's already stolen two of our blankets and claimed them as his own. he has a crate with padding. a bed seems over the top to me.

housemate has disagreed with my logic from the start, and began voicing his dissention when we moved into white shack with wood floors in the bedroom. i'm not sure when casey started creeping into our room to sleep, but i don't think he's really doing his job as a watchdog while trying to curl up on my pillow. accepting the sad truth that casey wasn't going to be standing guard at the front door every night like a good little doggie, when i found a bed for less than twenty bucks i quietly succumbed.

i'm not entirely sure of a few things with the bed, namely (a) that we got the right size, and (b) that casey understands the concept of "curling up."

i have a feeling i'm going to be looking for a matching pillow or some sort of ottoman for the dog bed soon.

ugh.

more.
later.
me.

maydaymayday!

2009-05-01T23:41:00.003-06:00

in case you were wondering...

casey is an abused puppy.

IT'S MAY!
to ring in the best month of the year, we spent the afternoon breaking in housemate's new softball glove in the front yard, and then enjoyed the evening out on our front porch with some wine (for me), cigars (for housemate), and our neighbors.

god. bless. summer.

more.
later.
me.

this girl's the shit.

2009-04-27T21:12:00.004-06:00

i've been around a handful of people i'd consider "downers" lately. people who whine. people who are grouchy for no real reason. people who are rude. you know the type. these kinds of people have a way of getting under your skin if you aren't careful to avoid them. thus, i've been feeling a little down lately.

one thing i like to do when i feel myself getting senselessly grumpy (besides listening to some kickass music)is check up on meaghan, a girl i found in the blogging world. meaghan was a 28 year old law student who started feeling ill during her second year. after months of becoming sicker and sicker, but still attending classes because doctor after doctor told her it was all in her head, meaghan was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer. long blog short, meaghan went through a lot of pain and a lot dark days before she kicked cancer's ass.

i like meaghan's story, of course, because it has a pretty happy ending, all things considered. she's doing all sorts of good acts to make sure other people don't have to go through her ordeal. but i also like her story because i can relate to a little piece of it. sometime around october of my third year at law school, i too started feeling ill. at first, i brushed off my total lack of an appetite on stress. stress from school, from working two jobs while in school, from breaking up with one of my favorite people whom i saw every day in total heartbreak at school, all while living in the basement of my crazy grandma's house.

after that i started chalking up random dizzy spells and the 7-8 dropped pounds in a couple weeks to a lack of protein, which was due to the lost appetite and constant nausea. but then one sunday evening as i was getting "healthy, protein and vitamin rich groceries" (mom's worried orders from 800 miles away) at hy-vee, i got so dizzy in the produce section that i literally had to sit down on the ground and hang on the leg of the grocery cart for support. a very nice hy-vee employee came over and i said something about low blood sugar. he had a bottle of orange juice handy (imagine that); i recovered enough to buy the orange juice and whatever else was in the cart, and went home. the next day i thought i felt better. i walked into the starbucks on the way to school and while waiting in line, i blacked out. the next thing i knew the four people in starbucks were helping me up and i was literally begging them not to call for help.

i'm like that, you know.

for the next two weeks, i had numerous appointments at my local emergicare clinic (as i didn't have a doctor in des moines.) during that time, i gave a lot of blood, spent a lot of time sitting in waiting rooms, and watched as more than one doctor came in, examined me, and looked just plain confused. at one point my clinic doctor, dr. teeter (which i thought was an excellent name) started asking me silly questions. questions like what day it was. and if i could repeat the alphabet backwards. and if i could walk across the room in a straight line. did these people think i was just wasted this whole time? the thought (and the total lack of sleep) had me giggling in the clinic. until i realized dr. teeter didn't think i was drunk.

no no, dr. teeter thought i might have some sort of brain tumor.

and this, thankfully, is the only part of meaghan's story that i share. it's the week that they were scheduling me for CT scans and MRIs and all sorts of appointments at a whirlwind speed. i was so sick and so exhausted and trying so hard to keep up at school. i called work and i remember my boss saying something about "medical leave" so that i wouldn't fall out of the computer system, in case i wanted to come back. i sat on my bed in the freezing cold basement at my grandmother's house as winter approached, feeling so lonely and so terrified. it was one of the darkest times i had experienced. luckily, i wasn't in the kind of pain meaghan was in. because, of course, i wasn't the kind of sick that meaghan was.

at the end of the day, dr. teeter discovered that the tumor he was testing me for was actually a viral infection in my inner ear that i'm still not sure how to pronounce. it has a name... vestibulitis something or other. the name doesn't matter. it was an ear infection that caused a whole slew of other problems, and it all got blown out of proportion due to the fact that (a) my blood is apparently very secretive and (b) i like to think i can handle EVERYTHING BY MYSELF when it comes to personal issues. anyway, like any virus, outside of some gnarly ear drops and some pain medication, there wasn't much to do but sleep. and boy did i sleep. i think i slept all of thanksgiving with my mom by my side for the whole weekend. suddenly i wasn't so lonely.

which is why this blogging stuff is so great. if you aren't the best at sharing your life with everyone who will listen (or sometimes, even with your best friends as much as you want to) you have a place to come and figure out that no matter what's going on, you're not the only one. and you get to be grateful for other people's accomplishments. people you don't even know. like meaghan. she went back to law school AND graduated AND passed the bar. some people sit around and complain about nothing. some people conquer mountains.
and me? i'm off to go be grateful for the people i do know and ignore the downers. which i think falls somewhere in-between. ;)

more.
later.
me.

yamagata

2009-04-19T14:53:00.003-06:00

it's a lazy sunday here in the springs. such a strange weekend it's been- we went from massive snowstorms on friday to a wave of sunshine this afternoon. casey moe and i are getting excited for our favorite month of the year (MAY!) at the white shack with a corona and some old rachael yamagata tunes... so we thought we'd share:

more.
later.
me.

Harry Potter.

2009-04-17T10:58:00.003-06:00

SO...

a couple weeks ago this kid jasper, whom I only really know in passing, comes up to me and says, "you look like a female harry potter."

i think i said something like, "i do my best," and walked away, because that really isn't a compliment and i wasn't sure how to respond. but the more i thought about it, the more i thought it was a rather rude and random thing to say.

then i saw a picture taken of housemate and i over easter weekend.

jasper wasn't so far off, apparently....

more. later.
j.

easter: 3D

2009-04-13T00:16:00.005-06:00

for easter, housemate and i decided to go see monsters vs. aliens in 3D. the movie was okay. the 3D effects were cool. and the 3D glasses we got to take home? best two dollars and fifty cents i've ever spent....

hope your easter was as enjoyable as ours.
more. later.
me.

babies and dogs...

2009-04-10T22:28:00.004-06:00

housemate's parents, sister, and niece have been out to visit all week. housemate's dad promises to send all the good pictures once he gets them downloaded at home, but until then, i have casey's first baby experience caught on tape. i was using the video feature on my digital camera, so it's really almost to dark to even see, but casey cracks me up so i'm posting it anyway.

more. later.
me

{adele}

2009-04-02T22:21:00.005-06:00

so i know i was all about continuing a "thursdays with CC" post a couple weeks ago. i missed it last week because i was up at 6 am trying to figure out how to get kate to the springs without having to drive through a snowstorm to pick her up in denver. and this week, i'm just too stoked on my adele cd to pay any attention to CC. maybe it'll be a monthly thing....

i'm sure you've heard adele. she just snagged a couple grammys, she's showing up on every late night show this side of the atlantic, (to be fair, it isn't her first round of american late night, as she did a few stints last summer,) and i'm sure at least one network has decided to use her as background for a pivotal scene in a medical DRAMA.

but her cd "19" is breathtaking. modern and smokey in a way that the other brits we've been hearing quite a bit of lately (read: lily allen, amy winehouse, kate nash, duffy, etc.) can't touch. don't get me wrong, i feel the same way about lily allen that i did three years ago, she's funky and fresh, and i dig her stuff. but adele manages to lay it out in such a classic way, that when the rest have faded we'll still be hearing her. she's the nina simone that our generation missed by a good thirty to forty years. she covers both dylan and sam cooke beautifully, and there are four or five original tracks on the album that really shine (including "right as rain" and "hometown glory"). but "chasing pavement," the first single we really got a taste of in the states, is the song that sends goosebumps up and down my being every time i hear it.

i love "right as rain" also. her timing is gold. she sits back on the melody and lays a few cents flat in a way that makes me hold my breath just to to see if she's going to hit the note on pitch in time. when she nails it, which she must do every time judging by the three million live youtube videos. i get chills. by the way, this is a 9 a.m. radio show in france, and the girl is on top of it. totally nuts.

go get a copy.
more. later.
me.

spring break visitors

2009-03-29T12:55:00.011-06:00

we had two visitors at White Shack this weekend.

casey's guest is miley (as in cyrus?). housemate, being the genuinely helpful person that he is, agreed to a free seventeen day dogsitting stint for little hannah montana while her owners are overseas. i was not so keen on the idea, but in an attempt to even up the growing disparity between housemate and i's appearance of being kind and helpful individuals, i kept my mouth shut. and for the first twelve hours, as miley cyrus loved up on us and played with casey, i gave myself a pat on the back for not vetoing housemate's decision. even when miley cyrus started jumping up on all the furniture, peeing on the carpets, getting into a can of her treats and vomiting them up a few hours later, i reminded myself that she's a dog, and these are things that (not very well trained) dogs do.

however, last night around midnight, i let the puppies outside in the snow to do their business before bed. thinking that it was awfully late and cold outside, i assumed they'd be quick to come back in. i was correct about casey, however miley saw her chance and she was gone. as i ran block after block in my pj's looking for the runaway, i was trying to figure out how to tell housemate's friends that i'd lost their dog . discouraged, i went back to the house and threw a leash on casey, who practically dragged me to miley, three blocks away. he stopped in the middle of the street, barked, and she popped out from behind a tree. who knew little casers had a future in search and rescue?

White Shack's other visitor was kate. she flew in on thursday, getting the last flight into the springs before the snow shut denver and the springs down for the day. the weather was awful for pretty much her entire visit, so we spent the days shopping and drinking. we're pretty good at entertaining ourselves.

i managed to convince kate (with the help of a little red wine and some "pond scum" martinis from 15c) to lift the trap door in our house and take the stairs down to the enormous creepy crawl space.

nancy drew's got nothin' on my kate-ums.

more. later.
me.

thursday throwdown

2009-03-19T09:25:00.004-06:00

SO. the best day of the week is thursday. say what you will, argue all you want about your TGIFridays or lazy saturday mornings or looking forward to wednesday-hump-day drinks with the girls, but THURSDAY is the day to beat. always has been. if i need to explain the multitude of reasons why, let me know. otherwise, i'll just assume everyone agrees and we can move on.

to celebrate the weekly gift that is thursday, i'm starting a CC posting ritual. (which may only happen this week. we'll see....)

this is rain king in seattle last year, with augustana opening.

also, housemate's sister just sent some pictures of niece caiti enjoying the miami sun last week, which were so cute i couldn't help but add them to the thursday post.

more.later.me.

and... we're ONLINE.

2009-03-14T23:18:00.007-06:00

something moderately incredible happened in the white shack (a.k.a. my house) this week. housemate got internet.

i know. as the rest of the world has been online for the last decade plus, the news isn't all that titillating. but when you consider that we've existed almost exactly a year without a connection to the outside world, save the five TV stations our rabbit ears strain to provide, the shiny new modem from Qwest (perched on the "computer desk" we rescued from the kansas city dump) may as well be a handheld nuclear reactor.

i can't say this was totally unexpected. i blame housemate's free fall into the web on colorado springs' lazy excuse for a library system. we were spoiled with the kansas city public library's free wireless internet on flat screen monitors at the plaza branch, just a few blocks from our apartment. i could walk along the shops, cross brush creek, and be at the library in 15 minutes.

see all those windows? i used to sit at a computer and enjoy the air conditioning while looking out over the plaza on beautiful summer days as i searched for employment or sent my VERY IMPORTANT e-mails. it was borderline blissful, as library experiences go.

the downtown branch of colorado springs' library system leaves much to be desired, and after multiple attempts to utilize the unreliable internet connection in a room filled with the better half of the springs' homeless population checking out questionable sites, housemate had enough.

unnecessarily long story short, i'm getting back in touch with my favorite podcasts and enjoying job searching from the comfort of the living room. i can't believe we've gone an entire year without it. cable, on the other hand, may never be allowed back into the house. no matter HOW much i miss MTV and "the hills."

more. possibly a lot more. later.
me.

middle cyclones

2009-03-09T16:20:00.003-06:00

neko's new album came out this week, titled "Middle Cyclones." it's getting all sorts of kudos. i've only heard a bit of it, so i'm posting a song from her last album, "Fox Confessor..." love it!

more.later.
me.

austrians and enchiladas

2009-02-27T14:12:00.008-07:00

if i could give you one piece of advice that no one ever gave me, it would be this: live with someone who knows how to cook.

i don't mean someone who can follow a recipe. i don't mean someone who knows the food channel lineup. i mean someone who KNOWS how to cook. who may happen to have a culinary degree. who can walk around a grocery store and throw items in the cart seemingly at random, then throw those items into a bowl or a pot or a food processor and produce a dinner you couldn't pull off in your wildest dreams.

i happen to live with such a person.

we had the austrians over last night. well, technically only one of them is austrian. the other is from michigan. but because they are soon moving back to austria, i will consider the michiganian (?) an expatriate and call them the austrians. all in the hopes that we will get to visit.

(the austrian and i at jack quinns)

(housemate and the soon-to-be austrian, across the table....)

anyway, housemate made fresh salsa, spanish rice, and some exquisite enchiladas. he makes chicken enchiladas with green chile sauce (above) and beef enchiladas that pack some heat. my roll in dinner was to set the table and cut limes for the coronas. i forgot to put out napkins. and i sliced my finger open on the limes. twice.

thankfully, i live with someone who can not only cook, but also does nice work with napkins and knives.

more. later.
me.

on the road again

2009-02-24T14:37:00.003-07:00

I’m obsessed with the PBS series, “On the Road Again.” Have you seen it?

For some reason, when I watch something on PBS, I think I’m the only person on earth seeing it. It’s likely because for the entirety of my pre-teens through mid-twenties, no one in my demographic was listening to NPR or watching PBS. Well, no one was admitting to it anyhow. There’s some sort of void that occurs in the PBS world after the age of, say, ten. When we were little, we all watched Sesame Street. Who isn’t familiar with Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, and how to count to ten in Spanish? Really. Anyone born between 1970 and now who says they can’t remember the Sesame Street theme is a flat out liar. Further, I’m sure you’d be hard pressed to find a girl who missed the annual pledge drives where they played the entire series of “Anne of Green Gables,” night after night. Whether it was the influx new and improved channels as cable became a household necessity, or the fact that PBS doesn't specialize in programming for anyone over twelve or under fifty, no one my age seems to be watching public broadcasting these days.

So, I thought my housemate and I were the only ones who’d seen this secret show, until I found out that Oprah had stars of “On the Road,” Gwyneth Paltrow and Chef Mario Batalli, on her own show last week. So much for brilliant obscurity.

“On the Road” films GP (as Mario likes to call her), Mark Bittman (a cookbook editor and journalist for the New York Times), and some hot Spanish actress eating their way through Spain. The show is delicious. They drive across the glorious Spanish countryside and wind through the back streets of big cities, stopping along the way to dine on what I can only imagine to be insanely delicious Spanish cuisine. I like to pull my hair up in a loose bun, grab a glass of wine, and repeat every Spanish phrase that rolls effortlessly off the travelers' tounges.

The season is over, but PBS replays the episodes all the time. And if Oprah isn't teasing me, it sounds like there is going to be a sequel.... ¡tan excitando!

more.later.me.

{P.S.}

2009-02-20T16:07:00.004-07:00

on the beach. michigan city. indiana.

more.later.me.

{Dear Chicago}

2009-02-13T14:25:00.007-07:00

Dear Chicago,

you'll never guess
you know the girl you said i'd meet someday?
well i've got something to confess
she picked me up on friday
asked me if she reminded me of you
i just laughed and lit a cigarette, said that's impossible to do...

life's gotten simple since, and it fluctuates so much.
happy and sad and back again, i'm not crying out to much.
i think about you all the time- it's strange and hard to deal
i think about you lying there, and those blankets lie so still

nothing breathes here in the cold, nothing moves or even smiles
i've been thinking some of suicide, but there's bars out here for miles.
sorry about the every kiss, every kiss you wasted bad

i think the thing you said was true
i'm going to die alone and sad.

the wind's feeling real these days. yeah, baby, it hurts me some.
never thought i'd feel so blue- New York City, you're almost gone.
i think that i've fallen out of love,
i think i've fallen out of love... with you.

Ryan Adams has been one of my absolute favorites from the first time i heard him. this isn't a post about Ryan, it's about a trip this past weekend to Chicago. but the entire time i was there, his song "Dear Chicago" from the album "Demolition" ran through my head, weaving its way through train stops and airplane rides and a long walk along lake michigan's shore during our trip to the lake house (see picture above). the lyrics are pure poetry. i'd post a youtube of it live, but none of the videos do the song justice. i love Ryan's lyrics because they often tell a complete story and at the same time, each line is layered with meanings and universal truths that go beyond the story. i won't bore you with my thoughts on each stanza, but i will say that i like how he uses the cities ambiguosly- is he really talking about chicago, or is he using it as a representation of a past love? it works beautifully both ways. one line in particular: "asked me if she reminded me of you, i just laughed and lit a cigarette, said that's impossible to do;" totally kills me. on one hand, i love the idea of a girl asking him if she reminds him of chicago. we often define ourselves by where we grew up, or where we choose to live as adults. the question is so narcassistic, and he laughs it off, because of course how could one girl embody such a tremendous town? but he laughs it off in a way that makes you more interested in where his mind goes when she asks the question, than in the girl asking the question. on the other hand, chicago could be representing someone else entirely. someone he left, someone he made pretty angry.

anyway. Chicago. my housemate and i went last weekend. we spent the entire six days with his sister, her husband, and their new baby girl Caitlin Murray McClain. we fell head over heels for her...

we caught up with jon and amanda, and emily and reed our first night in the city at a mediterranean restaurant for drinks and dinner. i hate that the people i love have to live so far away...

we spent the weekend at andy's sister's lake house, in michigan city. the weather was gorgeous for february, which allowed for some fun walks down the beach.

all in all, it was a perfect holiday.

more. later.
me.

Textile Art.

2009-01-31T14:33:00.006-07:00

my friend katy is an interior designer who gets all kinds of free samples. when i moved to my apartment in kansas city, just a block from one of my favorite clothing + home furnishing stores where i couldn't afford so much as a coffee mug, she brought me some fabric and told me to stop whining about what i couldn't buy and get creative.

we moved before i got a chance to do anything with the fabric samples, but i stuck them in the moving van and away to colorado they went. i just finished some wall hangings:

and some pillows, which casey thinks are pretty great.

i'm pretty stoked about the venture. i used canvas stretchers for the wall hangings, which cost under $10 in all, and the filling for the pillows was also around $10. isn't katy the best?!?!?!

p.s. is it strange that i think dog clothing is cheesy, but i have no qualms about throwing a scarf on my dog whenever it's a little chilly out? :)

more. later.
me.

amazing grace

2009-01-27T17:27:00.002-07:00

If I could be someone other than myself, I'd be Grace Potter. Because, well, she's the shit.

The End.

mein freund

2009-01-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

why can't i remember any german? i spent six years in junior/high school taking the stupid class. i even took a semester in college. and yet, when i tried to write a catchy title to this blog "auf deutsch" ("in german," i think) everything i tried included a word i either couldn't remember or couldn't spell. ugh.

i do know that "mein freund" means "my friend" (on the 50/50 chance your friend happens to be a boy, anyway) and tom freund is a helluva musician. have you heard him?

his latest release is called "Collapsable Plans," and is produced by ben harper with jackson browne chiming in on a couple tunes. he was on "Last Call" the other night and i couldn't remember where i'd heard his name, until i realized he's: (a) an NPR standby; and (b) friends with Jessie Baylin, a so-cal girl with a great set of pipes who's pretty easy on the eyes.

you can tell from the first listen that he's a true songwriter. but i really love it when he gets on his bass and starts to jam. check out the song "Digs" from a previous album.

more. later.
me.

it's a song

2009-01-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

the name. of the blog.

it's a song.

diamonds and babies and cars.

it's an old counting crows song.

well, that's not entirely correct. it's actually a song by a band called "The Himalayans," circa 1991. adam duritz was the front man of the Bay-area based band, which broke up when his side project, "Counting Crows" signed to geffen.

"Diamonds and Babies and Cars" isn't really that great of a song, but something about the title makes it run repeatedly through my head some days. adam duritz is a pretty brilliant guy. you may disagree. before you do, however, check this out:

http://tyrannosaurusrecords.net/therabbithole/index.php?paged=3

it's his forum for all things he finds interesting. i find them all pretty interesting too.

more. later.

me.