Caffeine Cafe - Seattle

This is one of those times that I really want to talk about what an amazing experience I've had at a restaurant, but at the same time I am a bit afraid to because I kind of want to keep it my own little secret.
Why would I keep it a secret? Because I know as soon as I start telling people about it, and they go there, this place will be packed and hopping on the weekends.
Yes, it is that good!

Today was the first day that Caffeine Cafe opened their fairly new restaurant for brunch. Since a good brunch place without an hour long line on Capitol Hill is nearly impossible to find, I was pretty excited about the prospect of a new option. I brought the family down a few hours ago to try out the new brunch menu.

First of all, the atmosphere of the place is just beautiful. It had a lot of fantastic, colorful art pieces on the walls. It has very modern, yet warm furniture and great lighting. One could easily see it as a set in a movie or as a cafe that the Sex and the City girls would be meeting for one of their trademark brunches. It was obvious that someone took great care in putting this place together and that they had impeccable taste.
Caffeine Cafe is a little off the beaten path as far as location goes, but because of it's location there was tons of street parking. (Major bonus in Seattle!) We were able to park without a problem right in front of the door!

Darian and I ordered waffles, mine had a berry compote and Darian's had apples and walnuts. They were beautifully presented and tasted as good as they looked! Usually waffles are a little too heavy, and as much as I like them, I leave feeling like I have a rock in my stomach, but this one was just right. I also noted that the topping to waffle ratio was perfection, so much so that neither Darian or I needed to touch the extra syrup the waitress supplied us with.




Jon had a very classic two egg breakfast plate. He said that the potatoes were exceptionally yummy, his plate was also put together with great care.
The people who were leaving the table next to us highly recommended something called a Two Eyed Monster. It had sausage and peppers, which I was not in the mood for this morning, but I really want to try now that I have seen what the chef can do.

The staff were super sweet, the chef even came out and answered some questions for us. Jon had noticed some really intriguing looking sandwiches on the menu board and the chef was happy to answer his questions, he even wrote down the name and address of the meat supplier he used because Jon wanted to know. Jon was really impressed with the whole experience. (I have a feeling that Jon will be getting some take out sandwiches for lunch during the week!)
We will be going back quite often, or at least until everyone else finds out about it! For Caffeine Cafe, I hope that time is very soon, because for as much care and heart they have obviously put into this place I think they really deserve to have their business take off and do really well!

*****
Caffeine Cafe
1809 Minor Ave #101
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 838-7441
Open all day M-F
Now Serving Brunch:
Sat-Sun 7:30AM-3:00PM
Belgium Waffles
Frittatas
French Toast
Mimosas

Remembering James Polk

On my way home today I was stopped by a familiar Real Change Vendor in a spot where another familiar face has been missing for a few weeks now. Before I had a chance to ask him where James has been (He is the guy we usually buy our Real Change paper from) he asked me, "Did you hear the news about James? He passed away. I just found out today."
I had not heard the news, and even though I was not surprised by it, the news weighed heavy on my heart.
James was a very kind man. He was one of those people that would always smile when you walked by. It could be raining and cold and he would still be cracking jokes!
I didn't know a lot about him. I only knew the sorts of things that the most casual acquaintances could know. I saw him in passing nearly every day and always stopped to talk at least for a minute.
I knew he loved orange juice and orange Popsicles were his favorite flavor. I knew he had very kind eyes and a sweet smile. He was always warm and welcoming. I knew he had been through some hard times in life and he was just like the rest of us, doing what he had to to get by.
I guess that isn't a lot if you really think about it, but it is what I knew.

Almost every day on my walk home from work he would say, "Well, you look nice today!" followed by, "You should tell your husband to take you on a vacation. Perhaps the Bahamas or Jamaica?"
Then he would point out the articles on the front cover and explain to me in his own way why he thought I should read them.
He was a simple fellow with an almost childlike quality to his speech, but he always sounded pleasant and happy. When we saw him outside, my daughter would always grab a dollar from me at the registar and run ahead of me to buy a paper.

My family became very attached to seeing him every day over the years, so whenever he would not be in his usual spot for a few days in a row we would become concerned. Even though he was a younger man and he always seemed chipper and happy you could tell by the yellow that was slowly darkening the whites of his eyes that he was not in the best health.

The last time I saw him was probably the last day he worked a few weeks back. He told me that he had been in the hospital and that he had been very sick, but he thinks he is doing better now. The light in his eyes that was normally there was not quite as bright as it usually was, and his voice was a little less cheerful, but he still smiled and he still told me "You should tell your husband to take you on a vacation!"

This is the Obituary that was in the Real Change paper this week:
JAMES POLK
This weekend brought sad news to Real Change, when we were told that one of our vendors, James Davis Polk, had died. The cause of death, according to his sister, Juanita Mae, was a liver ailment. He had been staying with a cousin in Tacoma, recovering from a stroke earlier this year when he died Sun., June 10.
Born April 14, 1961 in Hattiesburg, Miss., James only spent three months there, before his family moved to Seattle. From then on, this city was his home.

A popular vendor since 2001, who sold papers on Capitol Hill, at the QFC located on E. 15th Ave., James was beloved by customers for his sense of humor and winning smile. These traits were parlayed into one of his most endearing selling strategies: gently teasing potential buyers by referring to them as Bill Gates or Paul Allen.

All your thoughts were clean and clear...

Tonight we went to the Radio8Ball show with Andras Jones and Jon as the musical guest. The premise of the show is that everyone in the audience places a question in a box. The questions are chosen at random. Not every question gets picked, but as luck would have it, last night my question was picked second! So I had to get up on stage, ask my question and spin the wheel.

My question was: Should I go back to school this year?

My answer was:
AT LEAST FOR NOW

Friday comes with little warning
Saturday is close behind
Then you sleep in Sunday morning
Monday back out on the line
Bitter friends go passing by you
They pretend that you're not there
It's their affection they deny you
So you pretend that you don't care
You're not to blame 'cause you were never
Made aware

Chorus
(that) it all comes back
In good time and that's a fact
It's all right--at least for now

A healthy dose of deep depression
Keeps you comfortably smug
Life without you can't imagine
It's become your favorite drug

Once you had your own direction
And all your thoughts were clean and clear
Now gazing at your own reflection
Makes you want to smash the mirror
You can never listen but I know that
You can hear

Chorus

You can always worry
You can always think that you're wrong
But never say you're sorry
For something that you've never done

The weight of the world is on your shoulders
You've seen so much and your so young
But you'll have to wait until your older
To understand all that's been done
Stand your ground because the battle has
Just begun



Missed this one and want to catch the next show?
July 17th at CHAC with Central Services
www.radio8ball.com

(I made a couple of videos of the show as well, will get those posted to youtube soon!)

What's new on the Pretty Red iPod?

This week's downloads:

Smile: Charles Chaplin

Between The Bars (Elliott Smith Cover): Madeleine Peyroux

Trust in Me: Siouxsie and The Banshees

Via Con Me: Paolo Conte

Back To Your Heart: Dinosaur Jr.

I Saw You

The paper I work for has a section in the back where they have "I Saw U's"
I've been reading them since I moved to Seattle. I even did a little art project using them once. I would cut out and scrapbook interesting I Saw U's. I did this for YEARS. I have a pretty great collection.

I've even got a few over the years. One from a door guy when my band played at a certain club. One from some girl who saw me in a bookstore with my kid. A few from old boyfriends and even funny ones from old friends/coworkers who moved out of town.

I still stop by the webpage every day to see when they get updated because I think they are really fun to read (And not all of them get printed). I LOVE when I find one for one of my friends and I get to be the first to tell them they have one. It is just a silly little "thing" that I do.

Anyhow, someone just posted one that I thought was really cute.

Here it is:
girl at bookstore, procrastinating
you picked up a Kosinsky novel and something by Updike. Wish you felt like procrastinating a little more, I wanted to make out with you in the back stacks.

When: Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Where: capitol hill
I saw a: Woman
I am a: Man
Date posted: Thursday, June 7, 2007

If you want to read more, the link is here (Be careful, it is addictive!)

Guest blogger:

(Darian & Zack kitty when they were both just kittens.)

I don't usually let other people post on here, but Jon wrote a comment about Zack kitty that is so sweet and moving I thought it needed it's own post.

FROM JON:
Jeez....

It was so strange.

Michelle was out for the evening with our good friend Licia and I was home with Darian. I'd finally come around to the school of thought that maybe it was time to take him in to the professionals...and, I knew if I did take him to the vet that they would more than likely say it was time to put him down.

So, before Darian went to bed, I told her to say her goodbyes to Zak. With many a delicate pet to his head and many a tear from her, she did just that.

An hour later, Zak stumbled by our dinning room table, just under the gerbil cages, and wouldn't get up. I went to his side, hoping to get a look of recognition from him, maybe one of his trademark, familiar meows, but he was totally incoherent and shaking like a tree in a strong wind - that is, if the tree was having unbelievably bad dreams. Calling his name did nothing but make me sadder and drive home the fact that this was the last time we would be together while he was alive.

I was holding Zak's frail head in my hand when he took his last breath, a moment I will never forget. I hadn't cried like I did since Gala, sweet kitty, passed away just over a year ago. They were both the greatest.

I had Zak almost 20 years, longer than I have known many of my friends. He was one of a kind, a true original. He was always sweet, always happy to see you, and he had the coolest set of "eyebrows" I've ever seen on an all-white kitty and a crooked, “Cubist” or "Picasso-like" tail I've never seen before or since. He LOVED "people food" and I can still see the way his nostrils would flare every time we'd bring home fresh orders of teriyaki chicken, his absolute favorite I am sure. That's when he would unleash a fresh batch of those trademark meows I mentioned....again, one of a kind.

I take comfort in knowing that Zak lived long, loved life and was more than loved in return, and I'm glad that we were together when he went. He was more than just a cat or a pet to me - he was a force of nature and a true friend. We all missed him the instant he was gone.

All of your questions will be answered...

Pointless rambling weekend post #9678:

This weekend really felt like the first days of summer to me.
I woke up on Saturday morning, before everyone else in my house, with way too much energy so I decided to go jogging. I was a little self conscious at first because I am the least graceful person in the world while running. I stomp when I run and I never know what to do with my arms. Basically, I look like a spaz. So, one would assume that would mean I would just run on side streets where I would not be seen, but NO! With the recent beatings and muggings in the hood right near my house, I have changed a lot about my walks to and from work as well as where I would or would not run. I am less afraid of looking like a spaz in public than I am of getting mugged.
I wandered down the street for a while when I reached the hospital campus. I realized that the campus is pretty large and busy with people in front and back. So what I did was I would walk down the front and sprint up the back.
The only people who would see me run are at the hospital, and I figured if they were there on the weekend, they probably had better things to be worried about than what a spaz I looked like.
I lapped the building like this for well over an hour. I really thought I might throw up at one point, but then I got to a point where I started kind of laughing/crying. Mmmm endorphins!
It felt good.

After the spazzy jogging session I went home and showered and then announced to my family that we were going to the beach!!
The beach was heavenly! Darian even went swimming! I sat in the sun and read and listened to my *iPod. I am a full shade darker now to boot. (*Best new iPod download: Nerdy Boys by Candypants www.myspace.com/candypants )

Sunday started at around 4AM for me due to some sort of commotion from one of the neighbors that woke me up. It seemed to be some kind of argument or something. Jon said it sounded like a loop of the same two voices saying the same things over and over again. Why can't people fight between the hours of 9AM and 7PM? Why does it always have to be in the middle of the night? Seriously!
So, I got up and watched a movie to try to drown out their voices (I watched Little Children) and got the day started on a very strange note. Good movie, just kind of surreal at 4AM with a domestic dispute coming from the next room. Ah, the joys of beehive living in the city!

After the movie I wandered around the hill looking for garage sales and whatever else for a few hours. Then I sat in front of a coffee place with outdoor seating and read for a while.
Sunday eve we went to Licia's and buried our sweet Zack kitty. I'm happy to know that he is resting at a place where there is so much love. She is going to plant a pretty Hydrangea bush over the spot.

Today, as of just after midnight, it is raining.

RIP Zack Kitty

Our poor old Zack kitty passed away tonight. He was almost 20 years old. He will be missed.

I'm not a baby machine...

I guess I'm at that age where I am expected to start nesting and having babies. I'm entering my third year of marriage, I'm turning 33 in a few months and I am at the average age that women are having babies these days. Why am I even thinking about these things? Well, because my email and junk mail are telling me to. It turns out that all of those websites you look at while you are wedding planning save your info and right around 3 years after you are married they start to nail you with baby making stuff. I've been getting a barrage of emails about joining "New Mommy Groups" and "What to do to get ready for baby" and I've been getting things in the mail for nursery catalogs and diaper services. I want to call every one of their customer service numbers and inform them that my 'baby' is almost thirteen years old, my childbearing days are long behind me and to go pester someone else.
Is that all we are to the marketers of the world? Are married women between 29-34 just babymakers as far as they are concerned? Don't they understand if I had more kids now I would literally be raising kids for my entire adult life?
Don't get me wrong, I love raising my daughter, it is the best thing I have ever done and I could not be happier with how great she is turning out. I'm a natural when it comes to parenting. But I would like to, at the very least, try and see if I can excel at anything else as much as I have at being a parent.
I would love to go back to school in a couple of years, maybe go into medicine like I always dreamed. Or maybe travel around the world a few hundred times and finally finish that book? Or maybe just work at a cafe and take life day by day meeting new and interesting people, or maybe finally make that movie I've got rolling around in my mind's eye.... The possibilities are endless and I am entering the prime of my life!
Raising children is a huge responsibility and should never be taken lightly. Just because I am really great at it doesn't mean I want to have a bunch of children I can't afford. To me, that would be terribly irresponsible.

Being a parent has been an amazing adventure, but I don't want that to be my only adventure. I've only got this one life, I need to make the most of it.

Whoas. Another new low.

I have no idea what possessed Courtney Love to think this was a good idea, but here is a new ad campaign for Doc Martins with Kurt Cobain selling shoes from a cloud up in heaven. It is almost as bad as when I saw scenes of my beloved, Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face pieced together for a freaking Gap commercial! (Ms. Hepburn was one of the classiest ladies of the last 100 years, she was a style icon! I highly doubt she would wear Gap jeans much less be trying to sell them if she were alive today!)

As for Kurt selling shoes; that man did the most selfish thing a person could do when he pulled the trigger and left his infant child behind with a drug addled mother. I don't care what he meant to music, his image doesn't need to be selling any vanity products to today's youth. If Courtney wanted to use his image for anything maybe it should be donating it for promoting suicide prevention or something useful like that?
But, I guess she would not make any ca$h from that now would she?

Just a quick post this morning to say....

Happy Birthday Mom!

Now here is some cuteness for you:

loves
xoxox

Big Love

This is the time of year that I start renting full series on DVD.
Mostly for two reasons;
A: All of my favorite television shows go on their summer hiatus
B: I'm not particularly fond of hot weather. I grew up in some of the coldest places in the US. I wilt in heat and would prefer to stay home in my skivvies, with a fan pointed directly at me, while sipping Mohitos and watching DVDs. (Wow, that paints a pretty picture doesn't it? I'm really not that lazy. Am I?)

Last week I started watching a series I've been very curious about called Big Love.
I know, the title totally sounds like Plus Sized Porno doesn't it? Well, it is quite the opposite. It is a series about a Polygamist practicing Mormon family in Utah. One man, three very different wives, and a whole bunch of unremarkable kids.
Nearly every episode starts with some kind of HBO style sex scene which I think they do to try to keep it less vanilla, but other than that it is pretty... well... vanilla.
In the first few episodes I was getting pretty excited that it was going to be good, but now I am on episode six and I am already bored with the main story line.
They have introduced Juniper Creek which is, for all intent purposes, the Mormon Mafia. It has quickly turned into The Sopranos light. There isn't as much of the threat of death implied as there is the threat of excommunication. (Oh No's!!)
I'm finding myself not really liking any of the characters with the exception of the crazy mom Lois (played by the creepy and talented Grace Zabriskie) who I think I like because something about her character reminds me of some of my relatives. And I like the oldest daughter character, Sarah (Played by Amanda Seyfried) because there is something bewitching about her almost unreal doe eyed expressions. She's so striking looking it is almost scene stealing and the director takes advantage of that by giving her scenes where she uses batting eyelashes and coy head cocking more than actual dialogue.
Mid way through episode six I found myself wanting to hit fast forward to get through it faster. I'm going to try to wade through the rest of season one because I already rented it, but it will probably be with one eye on the screen and one eye on my laptop... Who knows, maybe it will pick up soon? It has not reached irredeemable for me just yet, but it is quickly getting there.


Next up I will be catching up with one of my favorite shows, Curb Your Enthusiasm. I can hardly wait!

Lost and Found update!

So, I wrote this blog back on Saturday, November 19, 2005.

Click here for the original post.

It is about a letter I found stuck in the door of my car. It was a letter from November 29th, 1958!

Today I got a comment on the post that was very interesting and cleared up some of the mystery:

At 12:02 PM , Steph F. said...
Postscript to your blog: Steve and Hazel Eastman were my grandparents..I was just surfing to look up some articles on Steve as he passed away Sunday May 20th at the age of 96. That New York trip sounds about right; they relished air flight, his hobby was restoring airplanes for the Boeing Museum of Flight, and they made sure they were on the inaugural commercial flights of the 707, 727 and 747. As of last month Grandpa was still campaigning for a seat on the first commercial flight of the new 787, and he also got a little press from his 94th birthday skydive out in Redmond a couple of years ago. He knew how to party! Grandma Hazel made it to 92 and passed on a few years ago, now Steve is with her again.
Best Wishes, Steph F. Seattle.


Wow! Almost 50 years from the time the letter was sent, it managed to make it's original destination, get carried around until it somehow ended up in the door of my car, I post it's contents on the internet, and a couple of years after that I get the back story and they sound like they were very interesting people who lived full lives!

Crazy!

I'm going to see if I still have the letter, if I do I will try to get it back to the family it belongs to.

I'm still baffled at how it ended up stuffed in the door of my car. I guess that part will remain a mystery.

My top 6 commandments of blogging

1- Thou Shall Not drink and blog. This is the golden rule. Nothing good has ever come from drinking and blogging. And even though you may delete it the next morning the second that you realize what you've done, I guarantee that the ONE person you didn't want to read it had insomnia that night and has already committed every embarrassing word to memory.

2- Thou Shall Not complain about work on their personal blog. It is one thing to post shows or parties your office might be sponsoring, but never write about how you are mad at your boss or your failed office romance or whatever it is people write about work on their blogs. I've read an uncomfortably high number of blogs where people were caught writing about work and were reprimanded, or worst, fired for doing so. (Probably not a good idea to blog during office hours either) Always write with the assumption that your boss and your mother is reading every word and you should be OK.

3- Though shall not slag off one's own family no matter how far removed you are from them. You may have some hayseed cousins that you have heard a million crazy stories about. Stories that you love to tell at parties when the "You think your family is crazy, well listen to this!" subject inevitably comes up. Those stories are fine for parties, but if you write them on a blog, that will be the week that the hayseed in question buys a computer, and guess where the first place he goes will be? That's right, your blog!

4- Thou shall not post anything that you would not want the world knowing about on a blog. I don't care if you do LJ or you have a Myspace and you switch it to private/friends only. There are so many blog search services nowadays that will show at least a portion of ANY entry on the internet, private or otherwise. Any person with a little tech savvy has already discovered these tools and has read your "private" blogs. Nothing on the internet is ever private. (And this goes for Myspace as well, even if your profile is set to private AND your blog is private, your blog is still readable if the person knows the right service to use.)

5- Thou shall not blog details about where your children go to school, where they catch the bus, their friends names, photos that show details of places they may frequent. This should go without saying, but I read a lot of parenting blogs and you would be floored by the amount of information people post about their children's lives. (And this is true for teens with blogs. Don't give a possible predator a map to your day to day life. Blog with caution!! I can't stress this enough!)

6- Thou shall not complain about your relationship. You may think that a nice little passive aggressive blog targeting your partner in life is the way to go to get your point across, but it is really a bad idea. You must remember that not only your partner is reading this but so in your best friend, mom, cousin, boss, co-workers, guy who sells you coffee, their ex, your ex.... (You get the idea) enough blogs like this every other day when you get your nose bent out of joint and suddenly people will think your relationship is a joke and you won't understand why no one seems to respect the person you have decided to share your bed with. (Or you for putting up with them for that matter.) You won't understand why people don't invite you on double dates and none of your friends and family seem to like your significant other. Sadly, you will only have yourself to blame. If you are mad at him/her and don't have the balls to tell them face to face, maybe writing a private email to them is the better way to go. Keep in mind that people tend to have a much longer memory for the bad stuff than for the warm and fuzzies. Why do you think scandal magazines are so popular?


Now, Blog on my friends... Blog on.

Adios

An animated video I created for one of Jon's songs. I was just messing around with an idea I came up with late in the afternoon and became a little obsessed with it until it was done. Now I can sleep...

There is gone and then there is gone...

Every now and then, out of the blue, memories pop up in my path and ruin my day like a car wreck. You are just cruising along and WHAM, you get hit in a blind spot and you are down for the count.


Today it was the thought of my first boyfriend. He introduced me to coffee and a lot of my favorite music and he taught me Italian and Polish phrases (He was fluent in several languages as he only moved to the US when he was 11, yet he spoke perfect English and had no accent.)
He liked going on adventures in our city. On our first date he found out I was not fond of heights so he convinced me to conquer my fear and took me on a date to the tallest building in Anchorage. He found a way for us to sneak on the roof and he held my hand as we stood as close to the edge as possible. It was as terrifying as it was exhilarating. That is where he kissed me for the first time. He said since I was brave enough to do something that frightened me, he would be brave too.
He told me stories of places in the world that he had seen and lived that I have yet to see. He painted pictures of a world outside of our small town that I never imagined but could not wait to be free to discover on my own.
We planned a three month trip to Belize the summer after we graduated. We bought tickets and got shots and studied all of the areas we wanted to explore, but at the last minute I chickened out. I cashed in my ticket and he went without me. While he was gone I got together with a man who eventually became my daughter's biological father. While he was gone, he rediscovered his love of travel and life and he heard an inner calling that lead him to travel all over the world again.
I moved to Seattle, he got married, I had a baby and moved back to Alaska, he moved to Seattle.... two ships in the night. We stayed in touch for the first couple of years, but over time the calls and letters were fewer and farther between.

We grew up and became very different people.

Eventually I moved back to Seattle. I would run into him around the hill every few months. I was all Rock-n-Roll mommy, while he had morphed into a totally happy, earth loving, hippie. He had become really involved in yoga and meditation, and drum circles and that sort of thing. We had very little in common anymore, but we enjoyed seeing one another in passing. There is a certain comfort in knowing that someone else shares your positive memories of youth no matter how different you become as an adult.

Years later I heard that he vanished. He had gone to another country to teach English and in his first few days there he went missing. They searched for him for a very long time, but nothing ever came of it. There are a few theories on what might have happened to him ranging from an accident and getting swept away by the river to being murdered for his US Passport.
Whatever happened to him, he is gone. And not the kind of gone that allows your heart to mourn when you lose a friend to death and you go to their funeral, you grieve and you move on. I've been through that sort of death so many times, the process of mourning is a fixture in my heart now. It is a part of me.

This kind of gone is a question mark. An unfinished book. An opening that leaves room for hope and imagination.

When he creeps into my consciousness I see him meditating in a mountain monastery for tens of years losing track of time and wandering back for our twenty year reunion surprised at his "Death" status in the US. I see him slipping and hitting his head during a hike and losing his memory and starting a new life with a wife and children, a clean slate. I see him joining the CIA with his multiple languages and love of adventure and being forced to vanish for national security purposes.
But what I never see, when I think of him, is dead. I never see gone. I only see him as just not here right now.


Missing Since May 21, 2003

I'll Never Leave You

Last evening we went and saw Nelson Sings Nilsson. This is something that has only been performed live three times as far as I know, and we have managed to see all three of them. Our lovely friends Mark & Suzy are visiting from the UK right now and they said they wanted to "See things they could not see at home"
It was a pretty amazing show, so much so, we ended up staying for both sets.
I made some Youtubes of it. I actually got told that I could not make videos, which I didn't realize was the case as I didn't see any signs posted anywhere and nobody bothered me at The Posies show the week before, so apparently I broke the rules by taping parts of this show. Oops. (You actually hear me get called out on one of the videos.)
There was a really strange Bollywood type opener on the 2nd set. I suppose that was good for the type of music it was, which isn't a type of music I've ever heard outside of a yoga studio, and the strangest mix with Harry Nilsson covers, but it was interesting. I will post a video of that later today when I get it up on Youtube. For now I have about 6 songs already posted, still have 3 more to post. Check the out HERE if you like!

Here is a photo I took when I borrowed Suzy's camera. This just proves to me that I REALLY need a high end camera ASAP!

Beautiful

This is a music video I made with the help of Posies fans from Dear23 & Myspace who donated their photos to the cause. The whole thing was shot using the video function on my little digital camera. The outdoor shots were from New York & Seattle.

Happy Mother's Day!

For all of the good mommies out there!

Last Night...

Everyone Moves Away

Fun little iPod Meme

I think everyone should do it. (I did actually follow the rules so there are some pretty weird songs on there, but that is what came up, so I'm not gonna justify it.)

RULES:
Get your iPod or mp3 player and put it on shuffle - press play and listen to the song. Name the song & Artist. Use ONE line from each song to answer the questions. No cheating, and try to keep the answers at least somewhat truthful!!


1. What is your life like right now?
When the Lights Go Up- Jon Auer:
"If you you think no one sincere appreciates then let me tell you before it gets too late."
 
2. What is your biggest fear?
Dear God- XTC
"Dear God, don't know if you noticed, but...
your name is on a lot of quotes in this book,
and us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look,
and all the people that you made in your image
still believing that junk is true."

3. What is one thing that would make you happy?
All Medicated Geniuses - Pretty Girls Make Graves.
"Just a smoke screen we're all liars, better to stew in discontent than to admit we’re wrong

4. What is your biggest secret?
Bottle Up & Explode- Elliott Smith
"The last time you cried who'd you think was inside?"
 
5. Who are you in love with?  
Circuit Breaker - Serverna Park
"But now I know I can't go back"
 
6. What will your future be like?
Van Morrison- Days Like This
"Mama Said there'd be days like this"
 
7. What is your family like?
The Blue Nun- Beastie Boys
" What's The Secret Peter
Naturally I'll Say Its The Wine
Mmm It Does Go Well With The Chicken
Delicious again Peter"
 
8. What is something that makes you feel sad?
Secret Squirrel- Robb Benson
"I can't wait for the day that I can see you without feeling guilty"

9. What was your childhood like?
Gone- Ben Folds
"I know that you went straight to someone else
While I worked through all this shit here by myself
And I think that you should spend some time alone
But if you won't
Then you won't
And I will consider you gone"

10. What is school like?
Union Station- Gavin Guss
"The shameless promotion just eats you away,
no one to sing for and nothing to say,
every other motive diseased or perverse."

11. How is your love life?
On and Off Again- Sondre Lerche
"I've come to fill you up
I've come to taste the price I'll pay
I've come to leave a note
I've come to see you on and off"

12. What is something that excites you?
Down to the Well- The Pixies
"Been thinking to myself
and if a life's not long
what matter does it make
if there'll be favorite songs playing in my head
when we go down to the well"

13. What is something you love?
Love Will Tear Us Apart- Joy Division
"Yet there's still this appeal that we've kept through our lives
Love, love will tear us apart again"

14. What is something you hate?
Bubble Pop Electric- Gwen Stefani
"I'm waiting patiently
Anticipating your arrival
And I'm hating
It takes so long to get to my house
To take me out"
 
15. What is something you find attractive in the opposite sex?
She's Electric- Oasis
"(S)he's in a family full of eccentrics
(S)he's done things I never expected
And I need more time"

16. What is your best memory?
Ba Ba Ba - Ivy
" I dream you are blind.
I stare into your eyes.
You see only white.
Or is it black, I can't decide?"

17. What is something that can make you laugh?
You're aging well- Dar Williams
" And all I could eat was the poisonous apple
And that's not a story I was meant to survive"

18. What is something you're guilty of?
Can't Keep It In- Cat Stevens
"You've got so much to say, say what you mean,
mean what you're thinking, and think anything."

19. What's the most fun you've ever had? (HAHAHAHAHA)
Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
"You stand in the front just a shakin' your ass
I'll take you backstage, you can drink from my glass"
 
20. What's something you want to do before you die?
Today- Joshua Radin
" you looked right through me and there was no one else
I sat beside you and became myself"

21. Something you want to say to your best friend:
A Question of Lust- Depeche Mode
" My weaknesses
You know each and every one (it frightens me)
But I need to drink
More than you seem to think
Before I'm anyone's
And you know"
 
22. Something you want to say to your crush:
Mr Brightside- The Killers
"I’m coming out of my cage
And I’ve been doing just fine
Gotta gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all"
 
23. Something you want to say to someone you hate:
Is She Weird- The Pixies
"your heart is ripshot
your mouth is everywhere
I'm lyin' in it"

24. Something you want to say to someone you admire:
Wake- Heatmiser
"you know one wound just wants to turn into another"

25. Some last words you would like to give:
Episode Of Blonde - Elvis Costello
"She was a cute little ruin that he pulled out of the rubble
Now they are both living in a soft soap bubble"

The Hurdy Gurdy man!

Donovan was there! Here are the only photos I have so far, but there were several photographers there who said they would send us more. As you can tell everyone was looking at different cameras. I spent some time with his lovely wife Linda who I really enjoyed hanging out with. Jon and Donovan had an instant mutual admiration that might lead to some cool musical collaberation down the road. I won't say anymore than that right now, but I will leave you with these fun photos!
(Thanks to Jon Bahr for the photos!)

The New York trip was amazing!

We had such a great time, the hotel was perfect and the weather could not have been better. Got to catch up with some old friends and got to make some new friends. The only downer was on the third day when my camera decided to stop working. The memory card was corrupt or something. Anyhow, we fixed it by getting a new card, but I'm sad that I lost all of the photos from the first few days because they were some of the best days!

I will make a proper post about the many exciting things that happened later this week.

I made a few vids of Jon's Union Hall show, so I will post those here.

Golden Blunders:


Coming Right Along:


You Used to Drive Me Around:

Things I am looking forward to...

Tribeca Schedule:

Tuesday, May 1, 2007
3:00 p.m. – Kenna
3:40 p.m. – Yerba Buena
4:20 p.m. – Rhett Miller
5:00 p.m. – Glen Hansard
5:40 p.m. – Jimmy Webb

Wednesday, May 2, 2007
3:00 p.m. – Alice Smith
3:40 p.m. – Martha Wainwright
4:20 p.m. – Mary Gauthier
5:00 p.m. – Glen Hansard
5:40 p.m. – Donovan

Thursday, May 3, 2007
3:00 p.m. – Jon Doe & Exene of "x"
3:40 p.m. – Matt White
4:20 p.m. – Jon Auer
5:00 p.m. – Donovan

Friday, May 4, 2007
3:00 p.m. - Ben Lee
3:40 p.m. – The Slip
4:20 p.m. – Jon Auer
5:00 p.m. – Adam Schlesinger & Mike Viola
5:40 p.m. – Goo Goo Dolls

"The Tribeca/ASCAP Music Lounge is located at Canal Room, 285 West Broadway at Canal Street. The lounge is open to credentialed Festival filmmakers and select badge holders May 1 - 4 and features four to five artists daily. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. daily, with performances beginning at 3:00 p.m. "

Marc Chagall "birthday"

Just because I think it's pretty.

Meat is murder?

I’ve been getting a little more color now that I’ve been taking Iron pills and eating things rich in iron. My vegetarian friend said that when she was told she was very anemic she just ate a ton of beef jerky for a few weeks. I decided it could not hurt to try (and it could not be that bad if I got the blessing of a veggie, right?)
Even though I can’t remember the last time I actually tried to eat beef jerky, I went out and bought a few different styles and flavors. Mild, spicy, teriyaki, thin sliced, thick sliced, cubed, shredded, in the shape of a stick… you get the idea.
I was really starting to feel like a carnivore again. I always tell people that I could never be a Vegetarian after growing up in Michigan and Alaska because those are both places that most people drive trucks and those trucks have gun racks and those guns are used for shooting things that people eat. I’ve eaten my fair share of gamey tasting meats. I’ve had it all; from Moose meat in my spaghetti sauce to bear burgers to venison jerky and I can honestly say I don’t care for any of it. I’m not even the world’s biggest fan of cow, but at least with that it doesn’t have the gamey aftertaste. (Must be all of the delicious hormones?)
So here I am snacking away on this dried and salted cow thinking of how I come from a long line of hunters but I know I could never kill something unless it was a kill or be killed type scenario.
I thought of my little fury pets and their wide, fearless eyes when they look up at me and how very attached I am to each of them. I thought of all of the beautiful wild animals I’ve been *thisclose* to in my life thanks to my Alaskan upbringing and how I saw nothing but a perfect Zen peace when I looked in their eyes. And as I am chewing away on my stick of meat I am wondering why I am not a Vegetarian.
This lead me to rereading an article that was written in the paper I work for by a writer named Brendan Kiley. The article is called Urban Hunt.
When it was first described to me in a sales meeting before it came out, I have to admit, I was a little grossed out by the idea.
I thought, “OK, I know we do a lot to be on the cutting edge and all of that, but now we are killing cute fuzzy bunnies just for a story? Isn’t that just taking it a tad too far?”
I decided that I probably wasn’t going to read the article and just try to forget I ever heard about it. But then this issue came out, and my curiosity got the better of me and I had to read it. I found myself completely engrossed after the first few paragraphs.
I’ll admit that the bunny in the bathtub scene will give me nightmares, but how he described the emotions that followed, how he tied in the death of his ex-girlfriends father, some news about his mother, and how he honestly portrayed what it means to kill something made this article something that was actually really beautiful and sad and left me thinking about things for a long time when I was finished reading it.
It didn’t leave me enraged about dead bunnies like I had anticipated, it left me thinking about when I sat and watched my Grandfather die, and all of my friends I have lost over the years, and just how short and precious life is, and what it means to have the power to take the life of something, and the circle of life, and the food chain, and how it all ties together. At the end of the day, I’m really happy he wrote it because of the things it made me contemplate and what it made me remember.

As for me, I don’t know that I will ever be a vegetarian, but I do know that I won’t ever hunt for fun, or eat things that are gamey. And when I do feast on the flesh of animals I might just take a moment to thank the animal who gave his life so I could enjoy a nice Chicken Masala or a handful of Teriyaki jerky.


Meat is Murder
-The Smiths

Heifer whines could be human cries
Closer comes the screaming knife
This beautiful creature must die
This beautiful creature must die
A death for no reason
And death for no reason is MURDER

And the flesh you so fancifully fry
Is not succulent, tasty or kind
It's death for no reason
And death for no reason is MURDER

And the calf that you carve with a smile
Is MURDER
And the turkey you festively slice
Is MURDER
Do you know how animals die ?

Kitchen aromas aren't very homely
It's not "comforting", cheery or kind
It's sizzling blood and the unholy stench
Of MURDER

It's not "natural", "normal" or kind
The flesh you so fancifully fry
The meat in your mouth
As you savour the flavour
Of MURDER

NO, NO, NO, IT'S MURDER
NO, NO, NO, IT'S MURDER
Oh ... and who hears when animals cry ?

A few of my favorite things...

The girls and I were having a day of beauty this weekend and we got to talking about our favorite products. The standards that we always use and would be broken hearted if they suddenly stopped selling them. I decided I would compile a list of mine on here. It took me years of trial and error and drawers full of hardly used drug store buys until I found these perfect products.

Here is my girly list of favorite things in no particular order (A lot of the Lush products are boy friendly as well!)

Bare Minerals Makeup. It took me years to find the perfect make-up. I've tried it all and none of it worked like I wanted it to. It either looked too fake or felt too thick or made me break out. Then one day I saw an infomercial and thought "Why not? I've tried everything else." and I bought it, used it, and have never looked back. It changed my skin for the better. I don't even need to visit my Dermatologist anymore! I've since turned several of my girlfriends on to this amazing stuff and they have all fallen in love with it like I did. This is the first product I've ever used where I wanted to write a letter to the company thanking them for inventing it.

Afterlife by Lush: It is amazing lotion for my face and neck. I use it every morning and every evening. I'm entering my mid 30's and don't have any crinkles yet. I guess it must be doing it's job!

Lay It On Thick by true blue spa- I use this on my hands and feet before bed. I combine it with moisture gloves & footies by Victoria's Secret. I wear a lot of impossibly high heels that tear up my feet and I work in an office where I use a lot of hand sanitizer to avoid the bugs that tend to get passed around offices that dry out my hands. This treatment for my hands and feet is a heavenly indulgence that keeps them soft and smooth!

BedHead After Party and Superstar are my two hair styling standards. I have a lot of hair and this combo gives it great volume as well as leaves it silky soft and smelling yummy!

My fragrance, body soaps, powder and lotions are all Karma by Lush.

Face cleanser is Coalface by Lush.

Around my eyes and lips I use Creme de la Mer. It is really expensive so I use it very sparingly.

No Brain Scans needed!

I got my results back from the doctor and he says no brain scans needed. It turns out I am Anemic after all. This explains why recently my lips were starting to match the color of the rest of my face. I mean, I appreciate a nice Goth glow, but it was getting kind of out of hand. I was so ghostly on Thursday afternoon I scared myself a little when I passed the mirror and people kept asking if I was feeling OK.

But, I have to ask, is it wrong that when I was going to the store to pick up my iron pills for my anemia that I HAD to listen to Bauhaus: Bela Lugosi's Dead on repeat there and back?

I guess there really is a song for everything.

Bela Lugosi's Dead
White on white translucent black capes
Back on the rack
Bela Lugosi's dead
The bats have left the bell tower
The victims have been bled
Red velvet lines the black box
Bela Lugosi's dead
Undead undead undead
The virginal brides file past his tomb
Strewn with time's dead flowers
Bereft in deathly bloom
Alone in a darkened room
The count
Bela Logosi's dead
Undead undead undead

To whom it may concern: It is springtime. It is late afternoon.

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.
-Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007

Easter weekend update...

We started the weekend with a little rock. Jon, Dustin, Gavin and I decided to hit Ye ol' Crocodile cafe to catch Robyn Hitchcock & V3 with a little Sean Nelson & MNME opening. Sean looked a little nervous beforehand, but once he got on stage he got his groove on and it went really well. I was happy to hear live versions of songs I've only ever heard before on Myspace. That was certainly a treat.
RH was good. This show was a lot more mellow than the last time I saw him. I was thinking maybe they were dialing it back because they were conserving energy for the tour they were launching with that show? Or else it was just getting late. I still really enjoyed the show nonetheless. It was good enough that we actually discussed maybe seeing it again in Portland on Saturday for a minute. That was mostly because it was so beautiful out on Friday that if Saturday were the same it would have been perfect road trip weather. No such luck though. Saturday was kind of grey compared to the perfect summer day Friday had been.

Saturday morning we went down to the SakuraCon since my darling daughter really wanted to go. The line was nearly three hours long so I convinced her to go on Sunday instead when I knew it would be a lot less crowded.
That eve Jon and I went to see The Ego and The Oracle. This article describes what it is pretty well if you are not in the know. Basically *Andras Jones and a band are on stage with a box full of audience questions. A question is pulled at random from the box, a wheel is spun (much like the wheel of fortune wheel) that has song names on it. The answer is an interpretation of the song that is chosen at random. Andras is really great at interpreting positive things out of the random answers. It was a good time, and by the end of the show Jon had agreed to be the band for the oracle in June. I'm looking forward to it.
(*Random fact: Andras was also the guy who played little spiky haired hottie in the lesser known Nightmare on Elm Street 4. You know, the shoe in as the next Johnny Depp who had the big Karate scene with Freddy. I loved those movies so much back in the day.)

Sunday was a full day of SakuraCon. Lots of really great costumes and very devoted comic book fans. My favorite part had to be the two guys in line behind us at registration. They were doing the perfect impersonation of the comic book guy from The Simpsons while critiquing costumes of their fellow Con attendees. But the thing is, I don't think they were trying to impersonate him. If I could have recorded their conversation I would have. It was pure comedy.

"But, Aquaman, you cannot marry a woman without gills. You're from two different worlds... Oh, I've wasted my life. "

My little prodigy!

We got the new report card today! My girl's teacher says that she excels in every subject and she is way above grade level and she thinks that we should consider letting her skip a grade! It is an amazing report card. I am so proud of her!

She is a very cerebral kid, and I know she feels like school is too easy most of the time, but I worry that if I let her skip a grade she will go from being top dog to being small fry. In the long run giving her a lot more competition for possible scholarships and so on down the road.
And even though she is mentally mature enough for the harder work, how does that work emotionally? She is very mature, and wise beyond her years in a lot of ways, but I remember what a social nightmare school was and I'm not sure if she would be ready for all of that drama all at once. It is especially hard for girls and even harder for smart girls who are not boy crazy.

A lot to ponder for sure, but I could not be a prouder parent. :-)

I really am made of sugar and spice and will melt in the rain…

Disclaimer: I’m going to whine here. Stop reading if you don’t wanna hear it.

All last week I was feeling all oogy so I went to see my doctor on Thursday. He said that he thinks I might be a little anemic, so he took a bunch of blood and told me he would let me know next week.
Basically, what has been happening is my brain was not connecting with my words. I was thinking one thing and something totally different was coming out. It seemed like some kind of mild aphasia.
For example, when I was thinking “oatmeal” I said the word “coconut” and I kept forgetting things right as I was about to say them. It happened often enough and enough days in a row for me to know something is wrong. Anemia makes sense since I've lost so much weight recently, and it happened so fast. Probably just need some stronger vitamins or something.
He said if that is not the case then we will do a brain scan of some sort next. I’m hoping that it doesn’t come to that, because that doesn’t sound like fun at all. But if I do get my brain scanned I really want to keep copies of the pictures. I’m trying to figure out how I will be able to swing this. Even if they just let me take a photo of the screen that would be fine.
If anyone has any tips, let me know. How often do you get the chance to take photos of the inside of your head?

Yesterday I thought Fish and chips would be a good idea for lunch. It has been months since I have eaten anything deep fried. I didn’t think it would hurt. I was wrong!
About an hour after eating it, that familiar pain of glass churning in my gal bladder came back. It was horrible, and got progressively worse throughout the day.
I didn’t end up doing anything I had planned to do yesterday evening because I was pretty much laying in the bathtub contemplating walking over to the emergency room and telling them to just take it out already. Screw this whole natural health idea of cleansing my body and keeping my organs. That shit hurts!
I really thought it was going to explode on me. After getting a few minutes of on and off sleep in the bathtub I took some pain meds and got a heating pad and propped myself up on the couch. I found that if I sat up in a certain way it hurt a little less.
After watching the sun come up, I finally drifted off to sleep. At some point around noon, Jon woke up and found me out in the living room. He sent me to bed where I managed to sleep until about 2PM.
I woke up with the pain in my stomach much more manageable, but the pain in my head from not drinking coffee yet was pretty intense at that point. (When it rains it pours!)
I sent the kid to the café to grab some black tea since I thought coffee would be too harsh on my poor tummy and started my day.

I had promised to take her to go see that skating movie that is out. It is an SNL comedy thing. Can’t even remember what it is called right now. She seemed to like it, but I really didn’t like it at all. If the seats were more comfy at the theatre I would have probably slept through it. (I did try) Needless to say, I don’t recommend it, unless you are 12, or a stoner, or a man. Lots of obvious “haha” jokes if that makes any kind of sense.
Just not my thing, therefore I’m sure it will be a huge hit and massively successful.

My life as The Big Orange Splot.

"Our street is us and we are it.
Our street is where we like to be, and it looks like all our dreams."

When I was just a wee lass this was my favorite book. It is the first book that I remember reading over and over again after I first learned how to sound out words.
The story is all about being an individual in a world full of sameness and how diversity is OK.
I just ordered a copy of the book for a friend's little girl who is getting to be the age where I think she will appreciate it. (You can get it on Amazon for next to nothing)

I guess what I am trying to say is; if you have a child in your life that is just learning to read, or that enjoys books with big bright pictures, this is a great one! I highly recommend it.

Just looking at the cover makes me get a little misty. Where does the time go?

Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man...

Things I love this week:

Songs: Since I got my pretty red iPod for Valentines Day I've been sort of going crazy with the iTumes downloads.
This week my most favorite download is the live version of Ben Folds covering the Elton John classic Tiny Dancer. I can't stop listening to it!
Usually live recordings drive me crazy. All I can hear is how I would have mixed it differently, or where I would have placed the mics, or how I would have boosted this and put more of the room mix here and tried to compress that a little... But every now and then I get a live recording that really captures the essence of something. By far, the best 99 cents I've spent in a while!
Biggest guilty pleasure download: Shoop by 80's sweethearts, Salt-n-Pepa because it makes me wanna shake my booty.

Speaking of music...

Best Software Download: a friend of mine turned me on to something that has changed my life.
Audio Hijack Pro
For the price of two CD's you can get this awesome little bit of software that will let you record ANYTHING that streams online. This means you can record any of those songs on Myspace that are not set for download. (Not that I would do that because that would be illegal, just saying that you could.) In theory one could use this to make MP3s from any live radio stream, any Myspace profile that have unreleased versions of songs up, or even your Skype conversations, making it perfect for Podcasting!
It is really easy to use and super user friendly. Just be warned, if you use the FREE DEMO version to try it out, the MP3s you create with that are set to self destruct. I tried to add a demo one to my iPod and it froze it, causing me to reset the whole thing and reload all 1000 songs. This does not happen with the paid version! (Sorry PC users, this is Mac only software for now)

Speaking of people who have recorded a frustrating amount of unreleased songs that I would love to get my hands on... (Like my segues here?)

Books: I finally picked up local hero Sean Nelson's book, Court and Spark. It is always cool seeing your friend's name on a book jacket, but even better when you actually, honestly love what they wrote. I have always liked Sean's writing, but I think this book proves that he's got the chops to jump from journalist to novelist without breaking a sweat if he ever wanted to. (Not that I ever doubted him)


Speaking of people who used to be film editors...

Travel: We just booked our tickets for the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC. I'm really excited to spend some quality time with my favorite city again. I've been looking over the festival website and it all looks pretty awesome. Jon is going to play a couple of showcases for people, so this is as much a business trip as it is a mini break. I'm also looking forward to spending some major quality time with my beloved H&M store (Why isn't there an H&M in Seattle? WHY?!?)
Who knows, maybe I will get really lucky and get to meet Mr. Robert De Niro. But what do you say to a living legend? (Anything will be better than babbling about jalapeno poppers like I did at Shatner when I first met him.) Must repress urge to say, "Are you talkin' to me?"

The word surreal keeps coming to mind.

There is nothing that will give you perspective faster than breaking bread with the two men in your life (That you are not related to) who know you the best.
That is what I did tonight.
On one end of the table was one of my oldest friends, and the only other guy who has shared (or should I say endured) a living space with me as long as the man I am married to, who was sitting at the other end of the table. It was great, more than a little funny, and it left me reflective. You really can’t be anything but 100% yourself when you are surrounded by the people who know you the best and know you at your worst. It is both liberating and a little unnerving.

Thus far the last 6 months have been very “This is your life” for me. I’ve spent time with friends and relatives that I had not seen in years and gone over memories I have not thought about since they were made.
There's been a parade of the past floating through my life and it's all been very... um... educational.

Does this wig make me look smarter?

Right now I am trying to figure out what I will be doing at my next hair appointment because it is a time for a change. Since my favorite hairdresser of the last several years is moving out of state in May, it has to be a big one. I figured there is no better way than to try it on for size, so I pulled out a couple of wigs in the styles I am considering and played around a bit.

Most of my life I was a blonde. When I was young it was a super light blonde bleached by the sun. After we moved to Alaska, and we had less time in the sun, it started to get a little darker. By the time I was around 11 I started dying my hair because my color was such a non-color. I was told the color I had was in the blonde family. My hairdresser called it ash. My honest hairdresser called it mousy. He said we either needed to throw some highlights in it to make it brighter or just go for something rich in the red or the chocolate family.
I got highlights and saw how different it made me look and feel. It just made everything seem cleaner and brighter, so I kept going lighter and lighter until it was really blonde again.
As it got lighter, I noticed something else changed. People started using new words to describe me that I had never heard before. I heard Bubbly, Gregarious, Flirty, Flighty, and Air headed. (There were more than that, but I am sure you get the idea.)
I was finding that I was actually getting quite the reputation for being a “dumb blonde”. For the most part, I’ve never really cared much for what people think about me, so it didn’t bother me until I started to realize that the people I wanted to take me seriously were among those not taking me seriously.
At that point I was getting very involved in political clubs at school. I was going to marches and rallies, and really working hard to change the world. I hung out in art/coffee houses with people who shared my interests and people who would, in many ways, become my mentors. I was more interested in books and music than in boys. I was doing a lot of writing and joining and winning essay contests. But I noticed that, for me, it always seemed twice as hard to break through.
On more than one occasion, after I got a new friend to a place where they were comfortable enough to be candid with me, they would eventually say something along the lines of, “You are not anything like I thought you were when I first met you. At first I thought you were kind of bubbly and maybe even a little dingy, but you aren’t like that at all.”
I decided it was time for the anti-makeover if I ever wanted to be taken seriously.
So what did I do? I cut all of my hair off and dyed it black.
Then the strangest thing happened. I no longer heard words like Bubbly, and flirty, instead I started hearing words like; Dark, serious, brooding, and Goth!
All because of a pair of orange handled kitchen scissors and a $7.99 box of drug store hair dye!
Since then I’ve been changing my hair color every couple of years whenever the mood strikes my fancy. It’s been pretty much any color you could imagine and then some. I've rather enjoyed the new "personas" that come with each change.


Here are a couple more shots from my wigging out session just for fun. (They were all taken the same night, just changed the outfits and the wig.):

Top 5 worst pick-up lines I've heard

Amie asked, so I will answer:

1- I either need to get you to relax around me or I will just have to get you really drunk.

2- Can I buy you a drink? (Then turns to the waitress) Excuse me, what is your cheapest beer?
(1 & 2 were said by the same person)

3- (Pointing to my boobs) Are those real or are you wearing a corset?
(Said by some random guy at the Bad Juju when I was ordering a drink at the bar.)

4- If I told you that you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me? (Emailed to me by one of my bosses at a company I used to work for. He was really old and gross.)

5- If you give me a kiss I will give you a raise! (Said to me at an office holiday party by the CFO of the same company I used to work for after he drank a few shots.)


And people used to wonder why I hated dating so much...

The Good Life...

Have not been too inspired to write much of late. I've certainly had some good news and good things happen. I've been pretty busy and so on, just not inspired to write long flowery prose about it. So I will write the quick bullets and if I feel like elaborating later I will.



- Jon went to Australia for the majority of February. He had a good trip. He has returned home safe and sound.

- One of my oldest and dearest friends moved back to Seattle. This has improved the city by about 105% for me.

-Brought said friend to see Awesome (A band Jon has been doing some work with recently) He really enjoyed them, as I knew he would. If you are not familiar, you should check them out.

- Commissioned the art for my new tattoo. I'm pretty excited about it. It is going to update an old one that I have on my shoulder. I got it when I was 20 and to me it looks like I got it when I was 20.

- Sebadoh played and I saw them and damn near exploded from happiness. (If you don't know this already, and if you know me at all you probably know this, but Sebadoh is my most favorite band in the world. They are the reason I even got as interested in music as I am now. If you look at the younger bands that I love, most of them have Sebadoh influences. I pretty much started playing guitar because I heard a Lou Barlow ballad and said, "I want to write songs like this!" Still can't write songs as great as his, but at least I can play guitar now.)

- MY DADDY IS COMING TO TOWN! (His flight lands in about an hour) I am so excited! I have not seen him since my wedding, and that was a loooong time ago. (The photo on this post is he and I in the 70's)

So those are the highlights.

I heard it through the grapevine...

It has been brought to my attention that a relative of mine is very upset with me for something that I wrote on here. I looked over the particular blog entry in question and didn't see anything wrong with it.

When I asked what it was exactly that upset them this is the answer I got:

"Well, I didn't actually read what you wrote, but someone told me about it."

I'm speechless.


“Imagine books and music and movies being filtered and homogenized. Certified. Approved for consumption. People will be happy to give up most of their culture for the assurance that the tiny bit that comes through is safe and clean. White noise.”
-Dialdar Chuck Palahniuk

This is just like television, only you can see much further.

I grew a perfect sunflower in the garden in front of my apartment. It was so perfect it almost didn't look real.
I had spent so much of my time and money on my little 3x8 patch of dirt, planting flowers and bulbs and seeds. Adding a birdbath and a feeder. Weeding it and watering it every day.
It became something that people would stop to admire. Little old ladies would catch me out there in my gardening gloves pruning and planting and weeding and they would chat with me about the colors I chose and how Jon brought some of the bulbs all the way from Holland. It attracted pretty birds and tons of butterflies. It was my very own little oasis in the middle of the city.

Right in the middle of the garden grew one perfect sunflower. Bright and happy surrounded by reds and purples. I didn't even plan it that way, it grew from a random birdseed, which made it even more special. Like a magical little thank you from the garden for taking such good care of it.

One morning I woke up and went to water my garden. I found that someone not only broke my birdbath but they also picked the sunflower. There was nothing left but a little stumpy stem sticking out of the ground.

After that I let the garden die. I just completely neglected it. I let the weeds take over, and let the summer heat dry up the flowers and I let everything die.

Now there is nothing left but a lot of dirt.

I keep wondering if I should bother trying to plant anything this year. I keep trying to find the desire to start over again. Just because I was angry about what someone who didn't even know me, did to me, I let the whole thing go to waste. I let all of it die. All because some random passerby decided to steal my sunflower which never really belonged to me to begin with.

How do you start over again?
Is it possible?
Will it ever be the same again or is it possible it might be even better this time?

It's a girl!

Meet Carys Lynn Price. Isn't she cute?

What Does 200 calories look like?

This website has been passed around the office recently. Interesting to actually see 200 calories. Really puts the whole 1300-1500 calories a day thing into perspective! Here is the link: 200 Calories