Yay for Pavo day!

I had a lovely turkey day figuratively and literally. I can't remember a holiday where I looked around the table and saw nothing but beautiful women. When Jon called and I told him who was there he said, "Wow! Now that is a pretty table!"
Indeed!

Jon's mom was at our house and had everything in the oven before Melissa and I were even out of bed. The food was super yummy, some even said it was the best turkey ever! She is the greatest! I wish she lived closer. I bet with her great cooking (mmmmmm pies) I would probably get good and round in no time at all!

The only bummer was that Jeannine's contact decided to go crazy at the last second and she was blind for the day. 'Tis OK, I decided to be lazy and not get dressed up for the day, so it worked out well.
We all ate mass amounts of food and afterwards we had Darian and both of the beautiful Ramadan girls playing Dance Dance revolution. It was quite spectacular!

Melissa and I tried to watch the Muppet's Chrsitmas after everyone went home, but I was not feeling well so after I turned it on for her, I went to take a bath. Instead I got sick. But I must say as soon as I threw up I felt a million times better! First Thanksgiving I actually ate till I puked! Crazy. It must be something about getting older. Can't hold my booze or my food anymore!

All in all it was a really good time and I am really thankful for the lovely people who came over and shared it with me. It really made having my husband away not so bad.

Speaking of him, he called and said he was doing some DJ thing for a party in Sweden. They said he could play anything he wanted, so when it was Jon's turn he said he played about 20 songs off of the two mixed CD's I gave him for our anniversary and his birthday! It was like I was in Sweden DJing with him! Awwwwww...
Apparently I have good taste in music as well because he said a lot of people were asking him about songs they really loved but had never heard like Rosie Thomas- Wedding Day (Which she dedicated to Jon and I a few days after our wedding at her Showbox show!)

Oh- this morning, I ate pie for breakfast!

Cutest Pavo Day email EVER::

I should be in bed…

I should be a lot of things.

Friday was cool. We went to see The Divorce and Harvey Danger. They both played well, but the soundman wasn’t doing anyone any favors. The mic kept cutting out completely or getting louder through both bands. That was really annoying. I spoke to one of the guys from The Divorce this morning (also happens to be my friendly neighborhood barista) and he said they were cutting out in his monitors as well. It was obviously armature hour as far as the sound was concerned. The show was in a tent and they only served beer. (Yuck!) The major upside; I got to see two great bands and I was happy to hear how well the new members of HD have meshed with the band. (and it was free!)

Saturday was a blur. I really didn’t do much of anything. Darian and I watched The Skeleton Key. Not too bad, not too great, just right for a cold Saturday night.

Today:
My neighbors alarm was going off really loud this morning. Nothing like waking up ass early on a Sunday, being forced to beat on the wall after your phone call doesn’t work, only to have the alarm turned off, and then calm down get just on the edge of sleep, and have the alarm start going off again.
All I am saying is if an alarm is going to go off that loud and that long there best be a person in need of an ambulance! I am thinking of having their bedroom soundproofed for them for Christmas. It made for a VERY cranky Michelle this morning. Jon called and I about bit his head off. I explained what had happened and called him back after I was caffeinated. A visit from Jeannine and life was all good again.
After I got over my initial crankiness, Jeannine and I decided to take a trip to the pet store. I have this vision of a gerbil complex I have wanted to build. The other day I bought the biggest aquarium, the trick was how was I going to connect this huge 3 foot x 1 ½ foot aquarium to the 4 story complex they are already in? The answer was simple, after trips to two different pet stores and a trip to the office supply store for foam core and a blade.
I am thrilled to say I have crafted the greatest Gerbil palace of all time. I will take a photo of it and post it at some point. Those two little critters now live in a complex that is about 4 feet long and has 4 stories and is connected by some very complex tubes that even have a loop-de-loop. Yeah, they are styling! It took them a while to venture over to the larger area, but after they investigated the tubes a few hundred times they finally went through them and are now having a great time running between the two places.
All I could think since I got them was, “If I only lived 3-4 years, would I REALLY want to be confined to a teeny tiny cage with nothing but a wheel to entertain me?”
The answer is NO! So I have built them a Gerbil Palace where they can live out their golden years.

This is why I should not own pets. They make me feel guilty and that guilt leads to palaces for rodents; cute fuzzy, gerbally rodents, but rodents nonetheless…

Lost and found 47 years later...

Strange thing happened today. I went outside to move my car since it was parked in a two hour spot and the neighbor clued me in he saw the dreaded meter maids snooping in the hood.  There was a letter wedged into the top of the driver’s side door.  It was very intentionally left there for me.  I take the letter and look at the address.  It is addressed to someone in Renton, WA and it says Air Mail all over it.  It has the super thin paper like letters from Europe have sometimes.  The name on it is Mrs. H.S. Eastman.

I think to myself, “That’s weird, it must have been on the ground and someone thought it belonged to me.”

Being the overly curious little kitty cat that I am, I could not help but take a look at the letter since it was already opened after all.  I start to skim over it and realize it is a letter to “Grandma” from a woman who is thanking her for watching her kids while they are traveling.  Mentions having dinner with friends in New York, one of whom writes for Life Magazine!  Then she is going over all sorts of day to day family things and then mentions how Thanksgiving went for them.  I went back to the first page and realized it was dated “Nov. 28^th” I thought, “Wow, this must have sat in someone’s car for a year!

I then read more and it says, “For Thanksgiving they went on a club tour and went to a place called the Copacabana (a dinner theatre) The Village Barn and The Hawaiian Room of the Lexington Hotel.  She writes, “They were all different and very interesting!”

I start thinking this sounds all too Rat Pack and decide to look at the post mark.  This letter was mailed November 29^th 1958!! It was mailed via Air Mail with a 7 cent stamp from NYC!

 

Some interesting facts from the letter:

It was written on stationary from the Hotel Algonquin on 59 West 4^4th Street, New York 36, NY

Click here for the very interesting hotel history.

 

It mentions two of their friends they are hanging out with; Paul O’Neill apparently a writer for Life Magazine and Chuck Garrett also some kind of writer. (Both of whom I have found online)

 

It was signed by Hazel & Steve.

 

1958 means they missed Martin and Lewis by a couple of years, but after a little google investigation seems Peggy Lee was playing there at the time as well as Tony Bennet!

 

She ended the letter by saying they were on their way to DC next. 

 

 

Now what to do with this very fascinating piece of history?  Why was it stuck in my car?  Was it meant for me? What are the chances that "Grandma" is still alive?

Holy Satsuma Batman!

Those wee oranges that I LOVE LOVE LOVE are in season and on sale for $3 at QFC starting this week! It is one of the reasons I love this time of year. I am so happy!

The problem with dating musicians...

There are songs out there in the world that were written about me during times where I could have been described as a girl behaving badly. It was never intentional, I was just a victim of my own head/confusion. BUT, I was wrapped up in a relationship with one musician or another at the time and now there are these songs...
I think they are great songs, and some days I can listen to them without even blinking, but some days the guilt sets in. The cringe of knowing that you hurt someone and now that time will always live on in a song. It is like you can never run from your mistakes when they have been so eloquently recorded, you can't just throw them away.
The funny thing is there are more love songs than angry songs and the love songs sometimes have the same effect on me.

One year down & it is still freezing in here!

Today is my one year anniversary at my job. It doesn't seem like I have been here for a full year, but I have. That means I have vacation time/sick days again! Thank goodness, because I was starting to loose my mind knowing no matter how sick I get I don't get to take a day off. My last illness following the NYC trip was dealt with by large consumption of Dayquill and Nyquill and forcing myself to make it through each day.
I have learned a lot in the last year. Less about advertising and more about people. I have always worked in positions where I deal with some part of the public on some level. This job has opened me to a different audience than the last job. The last job I spoke to a lot of retail buyers and sales people and snowboarders. This job I deal with a lot of apartment managers, musicians and a certain type of random Seattlite that I just can't categorize (unless I use the phrase bleeping crazy)
The office politics are also quite different here than any place I have ever worked. All I will say on a public forum is that I have seen a different type of office dynamic than I ever knew actually existed. It has had its ups and downs, but I finally feel like I figured out how to work with/in the dynamic. I just had to let go of every notion I had of working in an office from before and start from scratch. Not a bad thing, just different.

I've also learned that no matter where you work, large or small corporations, they will never get the office temp right and it will always be freezing in the office!

The only real let down was that I didn't move up to more vacation at one year like I thought I would. It turns out that that doesn't happen until two years. I guess I didn't read the fine print.

I wanna sleep with common people...

So last night they re-ran the episode of Friends where they were making their celebrity top 5 lists. (For those of you not in the know, that is 5 celebs you can sleep with when you are in a relationship without getting into trouble)

I recently came up with a variation of this list called "24 hour boys" (which Jeannine and I thought would also be a pretty fun band name) Basically it is a list of the top 5 boys you meet after you get in a relationship that you wish you could get a 24 hour free pass with. I would share my list, but then I would have to keeeeel you. So instead I will share my Celebrity top 5 as of today (I am fickle, it changes)

1- Julian McMahon
2- Robert Downey JR
3- Ralph Fiennes and/or Joseph Fiennes
4- Antonio Banderas
5- Angelina Jolie

My life in pictures.

I am married to photographs. I read message boards to try to “be there” to see it through other people’s eyes. We squeeze in a weeks worth of conversations into one hour phone calls on Sundays. I let go to hold on.
These are ways I try to keep it together while we are apart.

Sometimes it really sucks.

The incredible shrinking tour…

One piece of good news is that the last leg or the European tour is getting smaller. The guys are working on getting it lean and mean. This means when Jon leaves again after New Years it won’t be until March like it looked like a while ago. I have to admit I am as relieved by this as much as I am sure a lot of Euro fans will probably be disappointed by this news!

Why Can't I be You?

It's payday!
So far I have:

1- Paid my student loan.

2- Bought sexy new knee high boots. They are vintage, brown leather and too cute! I LOVE them, I am wearing them right now and they fit perfectly. Now my boot collection is that much closer to being complete!

3- Ate some of the best tofu Phad Thai drowning in peanut sauce ever. Yum!

What I want to do:
1- I want to go see Pride and Prejudice so much! I LOVE Jane AustEn!

2- I also want to see Walk the Line because I love music related love stories especially ones that make me feel all squishy and remind me of the rock-n-roll love story that is my life. (Have I mentioned lately how much I miss that guy)

3- finish my laundry so I can quit writing laundry related posts. (I so want to make some sort of pun about not airing my dirty laundry publicly, but I am trying hard to refrain from this.)


Many strange dreams last night about furry footwear, ex-co-workers, girl cults and Croatia. I will let you use your imagination, because I certainly exercised mine with this dream. It would have confused David Lynch.

Little by Little - Harvey Danger

I have had a few weeks now to get to know the new Harvey Danger record intimately and I love it!
I am really looking forward to seeing them live in support of this record. (Nov 18th is the next Seattle show) If you chose to take advantage of the free download and not buy the CD you are totally missing out! My most favorite song on this record, the one that gets the repeat button the most and has become one of my top ten favorite songs for 2005 is not on the free download! You have got to dig deep and buy the disc for this one.
It is a song called Cold Snap. I love it because it sounds so different than everything they have done in the past, it shows Sean's range to a point where I didn't even recognize it was him the first time it came on. It has a totally sexy vibe to it that just gets under your skin. I love it, love it, love it. So go out and buy it, you will love it too!

But now I sit when my new wife talks...

Things are going better than expected these days. I have been sticking very close to home and doing a little bit of work each day to get things closer to being "Holiday ready" whatever that is.
Laundry is scary on the weekdays as I found out last night. Now that we have moved into daylight savings, it is dark by the time I get home. Our laundry room is in the back of our building, you have to go outside and around back down these creepy stairs behind the dumpster. The room has these little cages that are storage areas that look more like a spooky torture chamber.
Let's just say, a girl with my imagination who's husband is away can really work herself into a serious case of the willies. I nearly killed myself running back up the stairs trying to rush back to light and safety. I may have to take a hiatus on finishing the laundry until the weekend when I can do it in the light. (Like most things laundry is also better with the lights on! Mragh!)

It has been insanely cold and I have not even started on making scarves this year. I have not been feeling inspired. I go through phases with my artistic adventures. Sometimes I am a painter, I am CRAZY about painting and producing pieces, one after another. I work very fast and they are actually pretty OK for what they are. I get all into it and get lost in it and then one day I am over it. It is like being possessed for short periods of time. That is the only way I can explain it. The same goes for music, writing, crafting, drawing, and pretty much anything else you can think of... I am truly a Jane of all trades master of none.

The only consistent thing about my brain is when I see new things, anything, my mind always asks the question "What could I turn that into?"

bring it baby!

I'm gonna shoot you!

This weekend...

I think I pretty much wore the same PJs all weekend and didn't leave the house once. I slept on the couch and Darian and I ate as if food did not have calories.

I did TONS of laundry, so last night we slept in clean yummy smelling sheets and this morning I had a whole new wardrobe to choose from when I got dressed. It is amazing how if you go without doing laundry for so long, it is almost like going shopping when you finally get around to it because you find clothes you forgot you owned.
Sadly- even after polishing off a roll of quarters and then some I still have laundry that needs to be done. Mostly blankets and towels are left, so I will be working on those throughout the week.

I also have some plans for switching some things around in my bedroom that I am quite looking forward to. I think it will give me the illusion of more space. Basically I am readying our little place for the upcoming holidays and all that entails with family and friends floating through the house.

I finally got a chance to have a conversation with Jon that lasted more than five minutes. That was nice. We ended up burning through two hours worth of phone cards. (Big thanks to his mom for providing the phone cards as a Halloween gift!)

Oddly enough after all of the family drama from last week, both my mother AND my father called me yesterday. I talk to my dad all of the time, but I rarely speak to my mom as she is super busy right now with her house and her work at the hospital. I think it is funny because I have always felt my parents have some strange intuitive thing that makes them always call me on the same day whenever something is going on in my life where I need to speak to them.
They actually shed some light on my feelings about the whole holiday situation for me. I guess when I was growing up the holidays were always very tense around my house because they always clashed on what the proper way to spend a holiday was. My whole "no pressure/loose go with the flow holiday" vision that I remember so fondly was apparently full of tense undercurrents.
My dad always thought holidays were a good time to go hunting with the boys, she always thought they were a time for family to all be together, in the end they were just a time that everyone painted on a smile and rushed through with very little pomp and circumstance. That must be why I seem so ambivalent when it comes to the holidays. I was taught from a time before I can even remember consciously to just put my head down and try to get through them as quickly and painlessly as humanly possible. That would explain why they make me so terribly uncomfortable as well.

Interesting.

Bragging Rights...

Here is the lastest work by my ever so talented little girl.

I sure wish I was in this sunbeam...

....

It's hard to believe
how many times I've watched him
tear it all down and start over again.
He's afraid of success if he might have to share in the glory.

"Did you have a nice trip?"
she asked with a knowing look in her eye.
The answer falls the same way the question fails to convey what's really going on.

There's a girl with a drink in her hand
who screams "I'm wasting away"
but they all raise their glasses, "Salut"
and pretend not to see it.

He stripped his life of everything
in the name of freedom
Now he slips back into the same pair of comfortable shoes
and calls them new and claims to be happy.

She fears what happens next
after love and after death
she shakes and anticipates disappointment

There's an emptiness that comes with the rain.

Things that make me happy

pretty eyes that smile
thrift store treasures
freshly dyed hair
foot rubs/ back rubs from my honey
those little match boxes with wooden match sticks in them
music with great hooks
singers with soul
fun time with my daughter
manis and pedis
warm fuzzy kitties
good friends who sleep like dead people and don't steal the blankets
flirting with pretty boys to pass the time
scents that remind me of people
the day he comes home
Brach's cinnamon bears
pears, cheese and good red wine
songs that understand
movies that make me cry
music boxes that play haunting melodies
being on the list
free CD's in the mail
overnight trips to random places
trick or treating with my girl
perfect text messages
feeling like I made a difference
unraveling a mystery
keeping a secret
feeling loved

Britney and Number One

Let me be someone else for just one night and we will go to many parties...

Last night it was the Jell-O shots that did me in. Jell-O shots? What am I 18? But they were yummy so I don’t care.

I got to see one of my favorite bits of local eye candy, so that was cool. Britney and I chatted up a dirty ninja who's wet suit left little to the imagination. I was refered to as "Number One" all night. I think I looked more like a trekki with huge hair. Photos to follow.

I shot a girl in the butt with a sticky dart and turned L Ron Hubbard into my own personal dart board. I hit Tom Cruise a few times. I drank PBR (Again what am I 18?!?!)

Creepy Russian guy tried to feel me up. He was about to get slapped when Ben Lashes called him over and I managed to escape without physically hurting anyone. Thanks for the interference.

I got told about 3 times I "Looked great for my age" WTF??? Don't ask me how old I am if you are going to follow it with that sort of comment. I know you think it is sweet but I think it makes me sound old which I am not.


My head aches this morning (or afternoon) whatever you want to call it. I need at least three days to recover, someone call my office and let them know.

I can't wait to see L Ron Hubbard's pictures!

more lyrics to songs I am working on- I need to get new strings on my guitar this weekend

This time it breaks on me
like waves to the shore
the water rises
but can't escape.
It curls and froths
then evaporates
like all of the frozen winters between then and now.

Forever is a broken promise.
As impossible as the distance
and as impractical as this very existence.
But there it stands
the immovable force
that binds us
and is so easily undone
by the whims of Distance and Death.

Today I could get close enough to touch the sun
and win.

in all of my randomness....

So it has been confirmed to me that there is a third leg of the Posies tour in Europe. The person who told me said "Don't kill the messenger" but in a way I am mad at him. Totally irrational, but true. It's not personal and I will get over it. Probably because I don't know him at all so it is easier to be mad at him than be mad at them. I am thinking of unsubscribing to all things Posie related so I don't have to hear about any of it anymore. Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away faster. It doesn't help that I have barely spoke to Jon since he left because of the time zone difference. We made a date to have a long chat on Saturday.

I am listening to music that I am very proud of right now. It took me a very long time before I could hear The Fraggle's voice but now it doesn't phase me.

Oh and they are working on our bathrooms here at work today so I have to walk down to the second floor if I need to use the potty. That only sucks because we already have limited amount of toilets for the amount of people in the office, when you cut that in half you get lines. I get shy and can't go if there is someone waiting outside the door. I know, stupid, but true. If I even imagine someone can hear me tinkle in the toilet I just can't do it. This means I must not only walk down to the second floor but I must actually walk down the street to the coffee shop to pee.

I wish the bakery by my house would hire me and pay me what I make here. That would be so cool.

I am going to go shopping at Value Village downstairs today for my lunch break. I am looking for a couple of things for Darian. She has made some requests and today is payday after all.

This is totally movie theatre weather.

I am going to Las Vegas as soon as I find a cheap ticket. I am going to visit my good friend Melissa and I am bringing Darian with me. If you see any tix for the weekend for around $100 let me know!

Laundry will be done this weekend. I am not sure how, or when, but it will be done.

Right now the sun is trying to kill the moon.

I can't stand how much I miss him this time. I am not handling it well at all. I slept on the couch last night just so I didn't have to sleep in our room. I hope they take more than just a three week break in December because I really can't handle another three months in Europe. I can deal with the states a lot better at least then I can fly and see him on the weekends.

I feel like I am just sitting on the edge of crying all of the time right now. But I don't because I know no matter how much I cry it isn't going to speed up time and make him come home sooner.

Another long wonderful weekend:

Thursday:
Posies played Neumos. Their first club show since the new record came out. Not only were they featured in an amazing 3 page article in the weekly, the show was packed! I was pretty out of it at first because I made the mistake of taking a nap on the couch before we left, so when we first got to the show I had the weird dreamy feeling were you feel like you are walking in slow motion while everyone is on fast speed. I was in dire need of a coffee, but didn’t get one before we left.
As I floated through the place I saw so many people that I was really happy to see but suddenly felt very overwhelmed. I grabbed a diet soda for the extra jolt and went to the green room to wake the rest of the way up before trying to be social again. It totally worked, I was ready to go.
I LOVED the show! The guys played like rock stars, made a lot of inappropriate jokes from the stage, drank Jager-bombs, and played a long set with two encores. The crowd danced and sang along. My favorite part is when Jon got on the drums and just he and Ken covered one of my favorite songs off of Failure. I have never seen him do that before. He can play drums and sing like he does it every day too! My multi-talented hubby still surprises me!
Got home late, got up too early the next day for work. If I had time off I would have taken it but I used up the rest of my time off for the NY trip, don’t get more until mid-November! Wha!

Friday:
We rented a car for the Bellingham trip. It wasn’t the same car as we rented the last time, it is some sort of Honda. I am not sure I still like that one as much as the last one, too loud on the freeway and one of the rear speakers was blown. Next time I am going to make sure we take it for some sort of test run before we rent.
The drive was nice, Jeanine came along with us since she has never been to Bellingham. We all chatted on the drive up and listened to the mixed CDs that Chris mailed me the other day. We also listened to the new Broadcast Debut CD that Jon worked on. I have a good feeling about those guys, the record is really very cool!
The in-laws were there when we got to the club. They went outside with Jon to chat. I stayed inside because Jon had just purchased drinks for Jeannine and I and well I was not dressed very weather appropriate.
When they came back in we did get the opportunity to catch up and I met Ken’s mom when she came to say hello to Jon’s parents. In fact I have met the parents of all of The Posies on this tour.
The show was a lot of fun. We scouted out our spots at the front of the stage in front of Jon. I had one girl fighting me for position while she took about 18000 pictures of Jon trying to get the “perfect shot”. It makes me laugh when I am at shows and no one knows that I am Jon’s wife. I am standing at the front of the stage, and people who are trying to get “noticed” push their way past me, sometimes say rude and obnoxious things, and are just all around catty thinking I am some kind of groupie competeling with them for position./ Then, sometime near the end of the show he usually does something or says something that tips everyone off that we are married, then all of a sudden their whole attitude changes. Suddenly they are all smiles and sometimes even apologize for the rudeness and say, “Oh I didn’t know!” as if that made it OK.
One girl in the bathroom cornered me and asked, “So you are Jon’s wife then?” (This was right after he pointed me out, or um, my cleavage out, from the stage) I said, “Yes.”
Then she said, “Well then if they are married why don’t they wear wedding rings? I looked earlier and I didn’t see any!”
In other words, what she didn’t realize she was saying because she obviously had a few was, “I was checking out the hands of the singers to see which one was up for grabs.”
“OF COURSE they are wearing rings!” I answered, “I know for a fact that my husband never takes his off, you must not have been looking hard enough! And as for Ken, his it tattooed on his finger so it is impossible that he is not wearing his!”
She then mumbled something about not needing another drink and left the bathroom.
At one point during the show Jon announced that Jeannine’s birthday was that weekend and was going to say happy birthday to her. I told him she was in the loo. So then he had the whole audience say “Happy Birthday Jeannine.” And then he had the whole audience say “Get out of the bathroom Jeannine” and then when they were in the middle of saying “How’s it going in there?” she walked out and had no idea what was going on! Then they all said happy birthday again, I caught her up on what she missed and she blushed and laughed.
Near the end of the show the guys started pulling people up on stage. Jeannine got up and I was drug up along with the pack. I hate dancing on stage especially to “You’re the Beautiful one” since it REALLY is not a dance song! So I did my cursory 2 minutes and snuck off as soon as possible, but Jeannine stayed up and totally got her boogie on. It was quite spectacular.
After the show was over we found a huge bunch of helium balloons left from a party they had there earlier. I asked if we could have them, the boss said yes and Jeannine, Dom, Matt and myself proceeded to suck the helium out of all of them. Even Ken and Jon came over to join in. Too much fun!
The drive home was long and I had a lot of trouble keeping my eyes open. Jon put in some comedy CD about hippies and tiny two inch people. I am not sure what it was but it was funny. No matter how I tried, I could not stay awake.

Saturday:
We woke up early which was difficult because of our late night, but necessary because we had a birthday party to throw for our beautiful little girl that afternoon! After a jumbo coffee we got the house all set up. We did Karaoke and Dance Dance Revolution. We ate chocolate cake and ice cream. Darian loved her gifts and her party. It was a really nice family day, and Jon and I both enjoyed having the house full of giggly voices and happy little kids. It is one of the best things ever! I accidentally fall asleep around 9PM though which was a bummer because I meant to go to Jeannine’s birthday celebration for a few minutes at least and give her her gift, but sleep overcame me and the next thing I knew it was 3AM and way past last call. I hope she forgives me.

Sunday:
We ran around and did some shopping. Jon was trying to get everything he needed before he leaves tomorrow. Darian got a new watch that she was very happy about. I almost had Jon buy me a beautiful Michael Kors purse that was on sale, but both Jon and Darian vetoed it. They didn’t think it was as cute as I thought it was. Oh well. He did buy me my favorite unbearably hot cinnamon gummy bears! Yum!
We have been trying to ignore the fact that he is leaving for Europe again tomorrow. It is hard to, but what else can we do? He is off getting some last minute things done right now while I am writing this. I am so over this tour. If I didn’t have all of the responsibilities as I do here and if Darian didn’t have school I would totally take her and join him, but it isn’t going to happen. Weekending in the US is a lot easier. There is some talk of Japan this summer though and we will for sure take Darian on that trip with us, but that doesn’t chance the fact that he is leaving tomorrow and will be gone again until the middle of December.
He did bring me some beautiful calla lilies a few minutes ago and put them in this really cool red blown glass vase he bought for us the other day. Always the sweetheart! I am so happy that I married the love of my life!

I found my dad on the internets!!!

he is in this photo I snatched from the Oranger site:

see here- my pops rocking out

He is very young looking to be my dad I think.

I am freaking tired!

What time did my head hit the pillow last night? 3AM
What time did I get up? 7:45 AM
What time do I get off work today? 5:30 PM
What do I do when I get off work today? Start all over again.

I love The Posies, I really do, but I need some sleep!

so tired. so very very tired.

I hear McDonald's is hiring jerk!

When I was 19 and became a single mom, all the odds were against me, but I worked really hard, put myself through school. Took one crappy job after another until I had enough experience to get better jobs and now my life is really great. It was not easy, but I set goals and made things happen.
Darian and I were walking home from the store after making a few purchases for things she needed for school in the morning. We are having a great conversation and she is in the middle of trying to explain something to me when I hear someone shouting at us. I am trying to ignore them and then I hear it more clearly as it was approaching fast.
It was someone shouting, "Excuse me, excuse me, exc-u-u-u-se me Ma'am!" TOTALLY interrupting my daughter and what she was telling me.
I finally just shouted over my shoulder, "I don't have any money!"
And suddenly the desperate/sad tone in their voice vanished and the pounding sound of running feet stopped and they said, "Oh, OK."
This person was going to chase my child and I down the street late at night in hopes to what? Get money from me? When they are healthy enough and capable enough to shout at me and chase me down the street, I think they can be healthy enough and capable enough to get a freaking job.
I am a very empathetic person. I have a huge heart and will usually go out of my way to help people in need, but this is where I draw the line. I've worked in a grill and flipped burgers to get by in my time. If I can do it, so can they!

Props to the folks who deserve them this week...

Even though they are the biggest competitor of the paper I work for, I have to give them big props for showing the love to my boys.

http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0542/051019_music_jukebox.php

10 years ago today-

My friend called in and won tickets on the radio to see a rock show in Anchorage, Alaska by answering the cheeky question "What color is a red light?"
After she won the two tickets instead of thanking the radio station, she asked if she could have two more to bring all of her friends. (Only she would be brave enough to do that!) After a brief hesitation they granted her wish.
That show was for a band called The Posies. We knew they had put out a record called Failure some years before but we did not know they had put out any records since then. When she first told me I was going to this show with her, I must admit I thought she meant the band who wrote that Monkey song, but after a while I figured out it was that band who wrote that I may hate you sometimes song off of my favorite mixed tape.
Since I had not really gone out because my daughter had only just turned 1 year old the day before, I was quite hesitant to go to the show. I never really did the rock show thing at that point. I was way more into going to goth night at dance clubs. (That statement makes me laugh now, because you could not drag me into a goth dance club and rock shows are my life! Funny how things change.) After much convincing on my friends part I gave in. She did almost get in an accident trying to get home to her phone to try to win tickets after all! (This was a little before everyone had cell phones in their cars. heck, this was nearly before regular/non techi people had the Internet!)
I got my dad to agree to watch my daughter and my group of 4 mommy friends got all dressed up and went to the show. It was like Mommy and Me goes rock-n-roll! Three of us had children under 2 and the 4th, our friend who won the tickets, her daughter (My daughter's half sister) was almost 5. Got it? Good.
The club we went to was a place called Gigs music club in Anchorage. It was an all ages club that had a designated beer garden style area upstairs.
The ladies wanted to go up to the beer garden to avoid the overwhelming amount of crazy teens there. I don't think I had ever seen that place so packed before or since. I was told later the show had been sold out. They had a three night stint there and this was day #2 the next night was supposed to be a strictly 21 and over show.
My friend who won the tickets and I were stopped dead in our tracks when we saw someone that we thought momentarily could have been the jerk of an ex that we had in common (The reason our daughters are half sisters) Upon closer investigation, it was not him, it was one of the band members. (Later we found out his name was Ken.)
A few minutes later she spotted another boy talking to the ex's doppleganger, but this one she fancied. We could tell was not anyone from our tiny town (As we knew all of the cute boys) His name was Brian. She didn't talk to him, but was able to figure out he was in the band.
The rush down to the stage started a few minutes later and we went down to secure our spots. The place was packed. The only standing room was all the way in the back or the little "secured area" to the side of the stage. This venue also had these huge monitors that were the size of a table top sitting in the front of the stage. My friend grabbed my hand and worked our way up to the secure area on the side of the stage. Security was a little lax here so no one harassed us (It was Alaska after all!) The band got on stage and started playing. We were on the side of the stage where this cute boy with purple hair was playing. He looked like a purple haired Antonio Banderas. We also noticed he was wearing a wedding ring almost immediately so the fact he was cute mattered not. One of my friends, determined to get a better view of the drummer decided she was going to climb up on one of the big speakers and start dancing. There was plenty of room, you could have easily fit two people on them, and moments later my other two friend proved this by jumping on the other speakers on Ken's side of the stage.
Seeing as I am not the worlds biggest exhibitionist, I sort of ducked back to the side of the stage and watched my friends get their boogie on. The band was rocking out and jumping all over the small stage. Jon was flinging his guitar chord all over the place, which was quite a bit longer than he needed for this sized stage. The next thing I know it flings out and whips me right across the face! He saw what he did and looked me in the eye with a really horrified apologetic look. I just shrugged it off and he kept rocking.
A few more songs later my crazy friend grabbed my hand and pulled me up on her speaker. I figured they had been doing it for the whole show I could at least take a chance and give it a go. Of course the minute I get up on the speaker the next song is REALLY slow! (I found out later it was a song called Coming Right Along) MAN ALIVE this song was slow, so I busted out with the serious slow moving Goth moves! Oh yes! Contorted body and flailing hands, the whole nine. Thank God my friend dancing next to me was the same, so it was dandy. If you are familiar with this song you might also know that it lasts like 10 minutes, or at least that is what it felt like when I was trying to dance on that speaker! By the time the ended the song, I was ready to get back on the floor. The guys left stage, came back for an encore and then disappeared down the hall to the side of the stage where I got hit in the face. At the end of the hall there appeared to be some kind of small greenroom area. My friend, determined to investigate the drummer situation a little more thoroughly looked at me and said, "Wait here a minute!" and took off down the hall and disappeared into the small room.
I stood there waiting, at this point a little annoyed because I had already been away from my baby longer than I ever had, and I think I was still feeling a little conspicuous due to the silly speaker dancing and just the fact that I was still not completely used to my body since having a baby. (I never really had boobs before and at this point I was a nursing mom and I was sporting quite a top heavy look if you know what I mean! Another thing I have totally embraced over the years but made me feel very self-conscious at barely 21.) So I was just generally uncomfortable. As I stood there staring down the hall getting increasingly annoyed, the guy who looked too much like my ex came up to me and said, "Hello, hold this for me!" and handed me a large Slurpie cup. I took the cup more out of shock than anything and stood there while he vanished into that back room as well. I looked in the cup and realized it was full of beer. I hate beer, so it would do me no good, not to mention the fact this was an all ages show and this was not the designated beer area. The last thing I needed was to get thrown out of the first club I went to after turning 21 for having beer in an all ages show. I don't know if it was the fact that he reminded me of the ex or the fact I was just on crazy postpartum hormones, or that I got smacked in the face that night but I was over it.
I stood there fuming when I caught a glimpse of purple hair, I grabbed his arm and he turned around, I said, "Hey, this belongs to your friend, will you take it please?!"
He said, "Oh, hey, I wanted to talk to you! I am so sorry for hitting you with the cord..."
We chatted for a bit. I don't really remember what was said, but I remember this distinct feeling of being pulled in, sort of like being hypnotized. That is the only way to describe it. I was having an internal monologue about the fact that I could not be interested in this guy because he was married, but there was undeniable chemistry while talking to him. I could literally feel something in the world shift. The night progressed and there was a lot more talking and hanging out. One night turned into the next four days, it was all very innocent though.

It was still several months down the road before we even kissed for the first time, but that moment, on the side of the stage at a rock club in Anchorage, Alaska that no longer exists, over a Slurpie cup full of beer that was not ours is when we locked eyes and spoke for the first time and the rest is history. (A long drawn out history with years of craziness, ups and downs, distance, doubt, questions, silence, other relationships, music....)

That moment ten years ago was the first paragraph on the first page of the history of us.


Angelita - Jon Auer SFTYOOD:
"It was a beautiful sight
all in the blink of an eye
like at the end of the night
when the darkness turns to light.

With the promise to be
You kept it burning for me
Like the sun in July
when it hurts too much to see...

You were the only one who knew all of the hell I put you through
you were the tested tried and true...
Angelita
You were the only pair of eyes clear enough to recognize
you were the first to realize
Angelita

I kept you hidden away
seven years to the day
The 27th of May...
You were beautiful then
you're astonishing now
as much as life will allow...
Angelita

Oh Idaho...

Boise was pretty cool, of course the best part was getting some serious quality time with my man, but there were other highlights!
It was fun being in another state and having all of The Posie women together. Dom was feeling a little under the weather, but she was hanging in there like a trooper and Christine was being her normal sparkly self.
The flight there was uber bumpy, but there was a nice guy seated next to me who chatted me up and kept my mind off of the fact that I was fearing a little for my life. I don't recall having a lot of experience with small planes. At least this one was a small jet unlike the prop plane on the return trip. Never again!

I arrived and the weather was stunning. The town looked sleepy and every third person I ran in to had to ask me some ridiculous question about my hair. "Is that permanent? Is that real? Where did you get that done? Do you do it yourself?"
Or else random compliments that were delivered in a tone that said to me they were surprised they liked it,
"Wow! I REALLY like your hair color! It looks really good on you!"
OK, I know I can't give an example of the tone that these were people were using but the best example I can come up with is imagine the above sentence being delivered as sincerely as a person might say
"That third nipple in the middle of your forehead is surprisingly attractive!"
and I think you will get what I am saying. I started to feel quite self-conscious by the time I checked in the hotel.

The Hotel was great, all of the cab drivers were super chatty and sweet. No scary revisit to Boston cabs.
We were in Darius' home town so we were treated to the best dinner at his mom's place. There was Indian food galore. The place was full of like 20 of his family friends. It was awesome! They have such a beautiful house as well!
After dinner we went back to the hotel for a little down time together before Jon had to go play his show. We hung out and caught up and stuff and then when we got the call we wandered across the street for the show.
They were playing with a band that night called Hopewell which I suggest any Posies fan check out. I really liked what they had going on. Cool music. they were doing a spot on Bowie cover when we arrived. The music was very cool. I wish they were playing the Seattle shows because I think they would have done quite well here! I will be looking them up on Myspace and adding them ASAP! (You should too!)
The venue was weird, it was like a mall of bars or something. The stage was blocked by this big pole so you really had a skewed view unless you stood right in front. The building was also hosting a class of 1985 reunion that night Shelby and I were having fun people watching and trying to figure out who each person was in High School. For a moment i toyed with the idea of going down and grabbing an unused name tag and pretending I was the foreign exchange student that no one remembered. See if anyone pretended to know me, I bet they would! But I figured I would not quite fit in the class of 1985 just yet, I was the class of 1992 after all!

When we arrived at the club, Jon left to the restroom and I was immediately accosted by this couple that were so excited by the color of my hair they thought it gave them licence to hug me not once, not twice but three times, one being a sandwich hug! I kid you not! I just thanked them and ran off as quickly as possible. They seemed nice enough, but I am just not a big fan of unsolicited touching. Maybe I didn't get hugged enough as a child or something? Whatever the reason, hugs from friends, fine and dandy, sandwich hugs from random strange couples, no thank you! I am not that kind of girl!

The run down of the show itself:
The number or people who paid: I would guess around 30
The number of people who wandered in from the reunion: around 25
The number of sandwich hugs I received: 1
The number of people who told me they think the singer guy likes me: 4
The number of people I said "I hope so since I am married to him": 3
The number of people who asked about my hair color: I stopped counting
The number of times I considered dying it black that night: At least 6
The number of songs played: 13?
The number of times Matt walked off and I wondered if he was coming back: 1
The number of Oranger fans that showed up and were upset there was no Oranger: 8
The number of encore songs: 3
The number of fans there named Mary: 1
The number of picks Jon gave away: about 5
The number of people Mary made kiss Jon's pick: 3
The number of people who told her no: 1
The number of times I thought she might faint when Jon looked at her while singing Suddenly Mary: 4
The number of girl fights: 1 (and I missed it!)

The next day we wandered around and found out the city is pretty much a ghost town and every place there closes on Sunday. We ended up going to the mall and doing a little shopping but more hanging out together.

All in all it was a fun trip!

Now I am gearing up for my very Posies week...

Boise or Bust!

Jon wants me to go to Boise still. He doesn't care what it costs. I have a ticket reserved that he will pay for by midnight tonight. I woke up this morning and the glands on my neck are swollen, I think my cold has morphed into something worse like an inner ear infection. I feel like my ears have water in them. My doctor won't be able to see me till monday, he told me to go to some US Healthcare place which to me sounds like the equivalent to McDonalds doctor.
I am trying to decide if I just tell Jon, I am sorry, I must stay home as I am afraid my ears will 'splode on a airplane right now or just hope the swelling in my left neck gland is gone by Saturday afternoon.

Jeannine saved me by agreeing to play mommy for me for the night. I love her and owe her bigtime for this!

inspiration...

I want to taste the world
before it slips away
and play with things
before they break
and show you things
you've never seen
and watch your eyes
in the reflection of all new things

Would you taste like imagination?
or memory?
or bits of broken everything?

Because I saw what could have been,
and stopped before it ever was,
it never was
it never was...


Your shadow makes me lonely
and my secrets kept you safe.
Expression and excess turning to exasperation.

I've swallowed what you never taught me.

All I see is borrowed time
and these ghosts that follow me.

Let me play the advocate
and you can be the treason.
Divide me
times three
to find one whole person standing.

Silliness on the bus...

There I was, standing at the bus stop waiting for my ride home. The bus pulls up. I wait for the people who are getting off to exit so I can get on the bus.
The first guy gets off the bus and says, "I love your hair!"
I say, "Thank you!"
The next guy gets off the bus and says, "Wow! Your hair is really cool."
A few more people exit without incident.
Then the last guy gets off, looks at me and smiles and says, "Wow! I LOVE your hair! Now you better try not to burn the whole world down!"
I said, "I will do my best!"

What I want to know is what is it about my bright red hair that screams I am a pyromaniac?

Guitar go boom!

Jon just called me and told me he accidentally totalled his guitar, just happens to be the guitar I gave him for Christmas last year. He said he threw it up, he went to catch it and missed, it hit the floor and he thought, "Oh god, my wife is going to kill me." So he decided since it was already broke, he would go all rock star on it and obliterate it.

Oh well, boys will be boys. Maybe next Christmas I will buy him a neck tie.

Epiphone RIP
2004-2005

Some of the photos from the road.

After the NJ show watching the merch booth.

Jon and the doggie at NYCD

update -o-rama

Finished updating about the posie tour- added it on to the previous post.

Swoon...

Jon called me last night from the show and held the phone up so I could hear Lou Barlow sing Legendary. Swoon. I love that guy! (and I love Lou too!)
Today The Posies will be staying at my dad's place after the show.

Happy Birthday baby! 9/29 NYC

My Posies tour- One day at a time...

Wow- The last five days are going to be really hard to write about because it felt like we squeezed in five weeks in that short time frame.

Day 1-
Arrived in NYC early in the morning. Got to the hotel and found out that check in time was not until 3PM (It was 7AM) we had requested early check in but there was nothing available yet. They suggested that I leave my luggage up in the closet and check out the neighborhood. I decided I would change and then give up my bags and head to a nearby diner that looked promising.
After beautifying a little I went to the diner. A lot of suits there on their cell phones eating alone. I was feeling quite conspicuous with my bright red hair and sparkly scarf.
I sat down at a kitchy little booth and started looking over the menu. A man walks up and leans in and says, "Here, breakfast is on me." and hands me a gift certificate for this place. I say- Wow! Thanks! and he vanishes.

The waitress comes up and informs me that this paper will get me anything on the menu and a coffe and OJ. She says, "What a nice man!" I say, "Indeed!"
I have an omlette toast OJ coffee and leave a huge tip. Welcome to NYC!

I then set out on checking out every store on our block, figuring out the best places to shop when Jon gets to town, pinpoint all of the nearest espresso serving coffee joints for the next morning and a nearby bakery to get Jon a piece of birthday cake the next morning.

I check back in with the hotel, still no room open. Bah! So I decide I am going to get my nails done. This was a BRILLIANT idea! I go to this place and get the best manicure I have ever had. they soak my hands in real rose petals and spring water. I get a hot towel treatment and while I am sitting at the dryer she gives me a full neck and shoulders rub!!! All for the measly price of $8!!! Seattle could learn a thing or two from NY!

Try the hotel one more time, the nice lady at the desk does have a room for me! Yay! I am so happy!

Jon checks in by phone, tells me to take a nap and then go to the venue to meet him around 6PM I think this is a fine idea. I decide to take a bath first. I strip down and am jamming to the MTV tunes. I am dancing around my little room when I realize there is a small crowd forming at the window directly across from mine in the next tall building. I guess dancing around naked on the 25th floor didn't seem like a problem to me. Well, that was a mistake. I was in NY for 5 hours and I already managed to flash at least 6 unsuspecting business men! EEK! I closed the shades and took my bath and fell straight to sleep.

When I got up and got ready for the show, I went to the front desk and asked them about getting a decent priced cab to take me to New Jersey. They set me up with a $40 town car. Nothing like cruising through the big city in a little limo! Woohoo! I felt like rock royalty. (It doesn't take much to get me excited)

Jon was standing outside waiting for me to arrive. I planted big old kisses on him and we went inside. Maxwells was a super cute little bar/club. Pretty small, but totally kitschy. I was told the first ever baseball game was held outside the club. interesting. The place seemed to have a lot of history.

They served me a fantastic grilled cheese sandwich and fries. Nummy! They were not even on the menu, they made them up special for me.

Then we went down to TBD Tunes for an in store. It was a really cool little venue all painted silver. They sang without mics and played acoustic guitars. I was blown away. It has been a long time since I have heard them like that. I was so impressed I almost got choked up. (It was probably the jet lag) They played about a half dozen songs and plugged the show and new record. We hung out for a while, got some CD's and then headed back to the venue. I insisted we got a cab since the hike to the CD store was a lot longer than my 4 inch heals were going to replay after walking all over the city that day already and only getting about 3 hours of sleep. It was a $5 cab ride so I was cool with it.

I love the Deathray Davies! They have been opening this leg of the tour and were such a fun band! Their songs are super catchy and they are so cute! Much love for these texas boys, you must check them out sometime. I know they are on myspace! http://www.deathraydavies.com/
Next was Oranger (http://www.oranger.net/ also on myspace). I have never seen them live and was very much looking forward to it since I have known Matt for a while now and I really like the CD. This venue was a little small for them as they seemed a little loud for me, but I have to say I was impressed with Matts vocal abilities as I never really heard him sing until these shows. Also a cute band and totally good mesh with The Posies. Really they had a perfect bill with these three bands traveling together!
I only caught a few songs of each set this particular night because I was so tired and there was no place to sit in the band room. Jon and I snacked on french fries and many people were buying us drinks. I was ingesting many stoli vanilla cokes. Yum.

The place was damn near filled to capacity by the time the guys went on stage. Ken convinced me it was a good idea to run the merch table. I said only if I got a chair out of the deal which Jon arranged. I was happpy to see that when the guys played songs off of older records people would come up and ask me what record it was of of and see if they could buy that one! Yay! Too bad the stuff from the Geffen days wasn't available. Told them to check out Best Buy.

Sold a few shirts and CDs. I got to meet Ian and his wife Cait in person. They are such a pretty couple. We didn't get much of a chance to talk this particular night, but I totally chatted them up the next night. Hopefully they will be coming to Seattle soon for a visit! Yay! More on them later...

They sang Happy Birthday to Jon right after midnight and we snuck out shortly after the show to go back to the hotel and passed out. Oh beautiful sleep! How I love thee!


Day 2-
Jon's official birthday! I woke up earlier than Jon and got dressed and out the door before he was up. I went to Starbucks and then to the Bakery to pick up a slice of cake for the boy. I brought this all back to the room and woke him up and said Happy Birthday!
He was a little bleary eyed but smiled and worked his way out of bed. I waited for him to shower and get dressed. We drank our coffee and shared the cake and headed out. We revisited the diner that I had been to the morning before and ate lunch. I ordered a burger this time. The thing was the size of my head! I could only eat half. Jon had a very nice looking BLT.

After filling ourselves up I took Jon to see the store that sold designer men's shirts for under $5. It was some form of close out store and on the same block as our hotel. We found some great shirts for Jon as well as picked out some really fun ties. I have one favorite in particular, it is a tie that looks like a peppermint. I will post a photo of it soon!
We then traveled down to a shoe store where Jon bought a new pair of black converse with red stitching. Super cool. and then to my new favorite store: H&M. I bought some pretty cute stuff that I will have to break in at upcoming Posies shows.

By the time I made my final purchase at H&M we had to get to the Bowery Ballroom for load in and sound check and then off to NYCD for an in-store. The Bowery folks were nice enough to reserve a table for the show, so I once again managed to avoid having to stand in my very high heels.

We had some time before the in-store and Ken said he was going to find coffee. I told him I would go with him. We ended up walking REALLY far and only finding a Starbucks. Ken didn't want to drink their "burnt" coffee. (I tend to feel the same way, but noticed Starbucks was the only espresso choice many times in NYC) I finally told Ken that I was not going to keep looking and I was heading back to Starbucks, burnt or not. He gave in and went with me. We picked up the coffee for Matt, Joe and tea for Jon and headed back. Ken wanted to stop off at a wine store and pick up a nice bottle of champagne to toast Jon's birthday with. Then we went back.

We grabbed a cab to NYCD. It was a pretty long trek and our cab driver apparently just got his license. I was writing my last will and testament in my head as we were narrowly escaping death over and over again as he cut across roads and so on.
We got to NYCD and the place was quite packed. There was even a very large dog in attendance that ken kept going on about. The dog was loving all of the audience attention. Jon made a joke about how the second they started playing the dog was trying to head out the door. Too funny. We got more CD's and I got to meet the owners, very nice people. We had to take off to make the Ryko dinner at a place called Mexican Radio. (I had that song stuck in my head for 12 hours at least due to the unfortunate name of this place!)
We got there and they were serving the best Sangria I have had in a while followed by pitchers of margaritas! I started with two glasses of the Sangria and matched that with two and a half glasses of margarita while nibbling on a very salty chicken enchilada. needless to say by the time we finally arrived at the show I was already pretty toasty.

The show started up and everyone was having a great time. I went up to the dressing room to find a computer so I could send a little happy birthday greeting to my friend Chris. and then Jon checked his email. Our old friend Sean Haskins showed up and I got to catch up with him a bit. It was great seeing him! I love that guy!

Then it was time for The Posies to go on. I went up to the reserved seats for the first half of the show. The set was tight and I was a lot more awake than the night before. The crowd was a pretty good size and everyone seemed to be having fun. People kept buying Jon shots for his birthday but he has sworn off the hard stuff on this tour to save his voice. He is a strictly white wine guy right now.
At the halfway point the guys got on the floor to play a few rockers, I decided to go down to the front of the stage at that point. Everyone was dancing around and stuff. Great fun. The guys decided they wanted everyone to get up on stage for the last song. Jon insisted that I get up. Trust me, nothing sounded better than bouncing around in high heels after walking around all day! (sarcasm intended there) But when Jon said "It's my birthday!" I had to give in. How could I say no to my boo? So up on stage I went with about 15 other people. as soon as they started playing and everyone started bouncing around I managed to sneak to the back and watch from just off stage. Joe gave me Jon's guitar to give him for the changeover. At the end of the song I brought his guitar he gave me a big kiss. Awwwww....

After the show I got to talk to Ian and Cait more. I was already pretty tipsy and they made the mistake of asking how Jon and I met. Man is that a long story and they managed to stay awake through the whole thing! (kidding) they were actually super sweet about it and both got really excited about it and said it was a great story which made me even more warm and fuzzy. We chatted about all sorts of stuff and it ended in me inviting them to come stay with us in November. I hope they come! I love them! Cutest couple ever! (Ian is also a fantastic musician, I will have to find a web addy for him and post it so people can hear samples!) *edit* http://www.myspace.com/ianmcglynn

Ken gathered everyone over at the merch booth where Jon was winning salesman of the year awards. Then he ran and got the fancy champagne he bought and passed out teeny glasses full to everyone to make sure they had enough to go around. he poured Jon, myself and himself pretty good size cups full though and then he made a very sweet happy birthday toast to Jon and said, "We have now officially known each other for 23 years!" Jon looked very moved and he gave Ken a big kiss on the mouth and they said happy birthday!. It was really pretty moving, too bad I had run out of film in my camera!

The champagne pretty much was the last thing I could consume for the night. I can't be held responsible for anything that came out of my mouth at that point. Luckily Jon was smart enough to get me out of there and back to the hotel. I was having giggle fits in the cab back and at some point around 4AM I thought it was a good idea to try to find an Internet connection. Instead I just sent drunken texts to Jeannine and passed out shortly after. No more tequila for me!

Day 3-
I woke up early with a fantastic hangover. I slipped out before Jon woke up again under the guise of “getting coffee” I thought the Macy’s next door opened at 9AM so I was out the door by 9:30. I wandered over to Macy’s and was very sad to find out they didn’t open until 10AM so I decided to go to H&M one last time (twist my arm) I tried on a few things that I didn’t the morning before and found two great tops and a bunch of really cute socks in fall colors.
I wandered over to Macy’s when they opened. I picked up the Ralph Lauren Silver cologne that Jon loves. They had a special going where I got the spray, aftershave and deodorant as well as a free Ralph Lauren travel bag. I had them wrap it and brought it back to the hotel with a couple of Lattes, vanilla for me Soy for Jon. He woke up to gifts being spilled on him. He seemed delighted.
We got our stuff together and headed out. We had to meet the rest of the guys at their hotel about 6 blocks away.
We hung out and waited for the guys to show up, one by one they filed into the hotel all looking not quite awake. Then Joe pulled up outside with the van and trailer. I was pretty impressed that he was driving that thing through the city! I would have never been able to do it! They were getting things situated and we all ran down to the hot dog vendor for breakfast. Yummy.
We were off, on our way to Northampton, MA. It was a beautiful drive, lots of great East coast scenery. I would say it was about two hours but I wasn’t really watching the clock so I could not tell you for sure. I napped a little and just watched out the window the rest of the way.
As we rolled into town I could not help but notice what a picturesque place it was. Very ideal in a lot of ways. I had to giggle when I realized we were driving down Pleasant Street and every other place was called Pleasant Market or Pleasant Deli and so on.
When we arrived at B-side records everyone woke up and poured out of the car. The guys there were super sweet and very welcoming; they gave us all t-shirts right away. (In fact I am wearing mine as I type this!) It was going to be a little while before they did the in-store, so I decided to take a wander down the ideal streets to get a feel for the place.

I went into quite a few little stores, picked up some coffee and then wandered into a store called Faces. I loved this store, it was a cross between Urban Outfitters and H&M but super inexpensive. I bought a great top and sweater that I ended up wearing to the show that night.
Jon called my cell to ask where I had wandered off to and told me they were about to play so I went back up the street and found my way back into the store. It was another remarkable acoustic set by the guys.

After the set Jon and I wandered through this idyllic town. We went from store to store, perusing clothes, books, shoes, jewelry and so on. Jon bought me a couple of really adorable scarves and a pair of earrings. We decided to try out a Tibetan food place as neither of us ever had Tibetan food before. We had chicken curry and a plate of dumplings. Everything was very clean tasting and really salt free, delicious. The dumplings were the best. They are something that I am sure I will find myself craving at some point. I guess I will have to see if there is a Tibetan food joint in Seattle someplace!

We decided it was time to head down to the show. I was getting pretty sleepy since I was still sporting a bit of a hangover from the tequila fest in NY the night before. I thought it would be best if I didn’t drink too much at this show. Jon bought me a Malibu and pineapple juice. That was a perfect chaser for the Tibetan dinner. We watched the Deathray Davies put on a great show and then Oranger went on stage. Jon told me he had to go do an interview so he left me at the bar with a fresh drink. Before he left he introduced me to the kind folks we would be staying with that eve. Ilyssa made sure to warn me that they had 4 Dobermans. But they seemed nice enough and I was certain that any dogs they had would be of the sweet variety so I was not worried. About half way through the Oranger set I decided I had to go outside to let the cold air wake me up a bit. I have never been happier there was an early curfew on a show.
I went outside and walked around the block. The temperature had really dropped. I was very happy I had purchased the cozy New England sweater earlier that day and decided to wear it!
I didn’t see Jon anywhere, I figured they must have gone to a coffee shop to do the interview. I went back to the club and ran into the singer Dethray Davies. He was sporting his hat and glasses that eve and I told him he had a Ben Folds thing going on. He was very sweet. We ended up gabbing about our significant others. Turns out he is happily married as well so we exchanged out “stories” the second time in two days I got to tell Jon’s and mine. I really enjoyed hearing about his as well. Don’t believe the hype people, there are happily married people in rock!
When I saw the Oranger guys coming outside I knew it was time to go back in and catch The Posies. They played a very short set. The club was right across the street from the local police HQ so they had a very strict curfew/sound ordinance.
After the show was over the guys went outside to sell the merch from the back of their truck. Apparently the club wanted a percentage if they sold it inside. Too bad it was freezing outside and the guys were wet with sweat! I brought Jon’s coat out to him and dug his scarf that I made for him out of my bag and wrapped him up so he didn’t get sick. There they were hawking their wears in the dark from the street. (I got photos to prove it)
We packed up and made our way up to Kurt and Illysa’s place, or at least we started to but Ken noticed his bag was missing. It turned out it was packed up in one of the other bands things. We tracked it down and went to the hotel to retrieve it. After our late start we finally hit the road. The drive was a little scary and dark with big trucks that didn’t like sharing the road, but we made it to our hosts place in one piece.
Their place was something straight out of a bed and breakfast catalog. They had even set aside a beautiful little room with a big fluffy bed for Jon and me to have all to ourselves. It was perfect and we both slept so well. I could have probably stayed in that bed for a week!


Day 4:
Woke up the next morning to a picturesque New England landscape. I was the first one up. I could not believe how it went from freezing to BEAUTIFUL in such a short span of time. The sun was beaming the place smelled of bacon and fresh brewed coffee. Sigh. It was totally vacation!
I got up and wandered out in my Powerpuff Girl PJ's and poured myself a cup of coffee. I found our host slaving over bacon and huge slices of French toast. I went outside to investigate the area a little more as it was pitch black when we rolled in the night before. They had the cutest painted pony that I paid a little visit to. So here I am, in my PJ's and slippers sipping coffee and petting a painted pony, not very Rock-n-roll but very cool nonetheless!
The rest of the guys wandered out not long after and we all took our turns checking email and taking showers. It was a truly rejuvenating experience. I kept telling them they needed to turn the place into a bed and breakfast. They totally could, but I guess it would be sort of weird having strange people stomping through your house all of the time. Regardless, I am grateful for their hospitality and hope we can take them up on their offer to visit again someday!
After my shower and third cup of coffee we all got in the van and hit the road. It was about a half hour drive before we rolled into Cambridge. I was expecting more from this prticulr city, especially after experiencing the beauty of North Hampton the day before, but I was very disappointed. I found the city to be ugly and dirty and not very friendly.
The first thing that happened was we got out of the van and stumbled right in the middle of a screaming match between what looked like a homeless guy and an Asian woman yelling at him in broken English about how she gave him food and then he came back and hit her friend? I didn't know what to think of it. Once we established that it had nothing to do with the club and the guys opened the back door for load in, i wandered inside to check the place out. The Middle East seemed like any other club in the daytime. Empty and smelling of stale smoke and beer. It had a nice look to it though and seemed to have a pretty decent sized room.
After doing my initial walk through I decided I would head down the street for my usual "check out the local stores/colour" walking tour that had been doing in the other cities. I step out the door and head down the street when Jon yells at me to "Get back inside."
I looked at him and asked, "What?" As my husband is not one to order me around I was pretty confused by his sudden command.
He told me again, "Get back inside now, go in and wait for me!"
Something in the tone of his voice told me I had better listen, but I also thought he better have a really good explanation for talking to me like that.
Well he did. No sooner did I get inside the club did he cell on my cell phone and explain that the guy who was fighting with the Asian lady when we arrived has started talking to the guys. He was hovering around or something and the guys asked him to take a hike. I guess as he was wandering and not leaving he pulled out a huge hunting knife. Darius called the police and the guy was quickly picked up. Jon just didn't want me wandering out there until the guy was picked up.
Once Mr Personality was taken away I got the green light to go check out the hood, so I did. The stores were dirty and unkempt. They had a thrift store which I noticed on the ride in and was pretty excited about checking out, but it was more like a shelter exchange than a thrift store. I didn't find anything there I would want to buy. One would think that being a college town there would be more, but really it was pretty scary. There was a shouting, spitting, or mumbling to themselves crazy person on every block! I made it about 4 blocks down the street before I decided it was not a neighborhood I wanted to be wandering around in on my own. So I went back to the club.
Seems I got back just in time because they had just served up Humus and Falafel and Pita, Yum! I snacked and then watched Sound check. The sound guy seemed really on task. he took a lot of time making sure the vocals were on top of the guitar sounds. I was impressed by how he seemed to take his job very seriously. It was a pretty live room, so it was good to see him taking his time.
After sound check Jon and I went out into the neighborhood for a little wander. We came across one store I missed on my initial investigation which turned into the only store we purchased anything in. I have a real weakness for cheap dangley earrings and sparkly scarves which this store had in spades. Jon bought me some goodies and a shirt for himself and then we went to find coffee. Starbucks again, and again it was WAY too hot and not done well. I swore that I would write a letter to Starbucks corporate office when I got home demanding a refund for all of the burnt Lattes I had on the East Coast. I still might. What a waste!
We took a short nap in the van and headed in to watch the Deathray Davies as it was their last show. Near the end of their set everyone got on stage and they had a 3 band Jam. The guys were hanging from the rafters (Literally!) It was pretty funny. The same thing repeated for the Oranger set as well as the Posies set.
This particular Posies set was probably the liveliest/craziest of the bunch that I saw of this leg of the tour. The guys literally trashed the stage and then Joe got it set back up so they could trash it all over again. There were several time where the guys defaulted to using Matt's Mic because they had knocked theirs into oblivion. They never missed a beat, and it was seriously some pretty amazing balls out rock-n-roll! It was the perfect show to leave on.
After the show the guys were being rushed to get out. Seems Cambridge has some law where everyone HAS to be out of the club by 2AM no exceptions. Everyone was trying to say good-byes and trying to get things out the door.
There were the usual hangers on. In fact I found a small group of scantly clad girls trying to hide away near the back door. I decided they were probably up to no good and took it upon myself to tell them it was time to hit the road. They looked less than pleased with me. Jon said it was because even though the words that came out of my mouth SOUNDED polite, it was very obvious they translated to, "Listen band hussys get the hell out of here!"
He was probably right, I tend to put the lean on people without even realizing I am doing it when I think they are up to no good. But they did leave, so I guess I had some effect. In fact they marched down the street in a huff. My heart was breaking for them, it really was.
In the van ride back to the hotel I got to sit in the middle while a drunk Matt and a drunk Ken volley really funny jabs at each other back in forth. At one point there was candy corn being thrown. It was all pretty funny, but in the "you had to be there" sense so I won't even try to go into detail about it. Jon said it was like watching a tennis match sitting between them.
We get back to the hotel, the guys to settle down for the night, and for me to wait about 45 minutes before I was off to the airport. There were moments on the trip that reminded me of being back in Alaska in the house full of men that I grew up in, the hotel was one of those times.
Jon was fading fast so we called the cab and said our so longs. I was already missing them all as the cab was pulling away and thought that was the end of my adventure, but much to my dismay it was not.


Day 5:
The cab through Boston to the Airport was one of those moments in my life where I really thought there was a great possibility that I might actually die. After a few pretty frightening sexual harassment type experiences in cabs over the years I now always make sure to make a mental note of the cabs license, name and cab number as soon as I get in. This cab had none of these things displayed.
He asked me several very pointed questions about what I was doing in Boston, if I was visiting family and so on. All the while I was noticing just how dark the streets there seemed.
Just about the time I had started to realize this guy was giving me a hard core case of the willies, he jumps on an off ramp and tells me he wants to take me on a little diversion because "We have time"
I immediately whip out my cell phone and start dialing Jon, get his VM and proceed to pretend to be talking to him on the phone anyway.
I am trying really hard to see street signs in the dark so I can yell to the 911 operator where I am and I am having absolutely no luck. I am in a scary ass cab, on a very dark street in a city I know NOTHING about. I was mortified!
The cab driver starts telling me, "You know the old nursery rhyme Over the river and through the woods to Grandmothers house we go... Right?"
I say, "You know I really should be getting back on the main drag and getting to the Airport."
He says, "No, I want you to see this." and he proceeds to pull off into this dark wooded area. At this point my finger is hovering over the 9 on my phone.
He pulls up to this colonial style house and stops the car. He points to the river and explains that this is the house the poem was written about. he tells me there is a plaque if I want to get out and read it, it is just up the drive.
It is pitch black outside. I thought I was gone, that was it, start saying my prayers and preparing for the great beyond. I was looking up and down the street for any sign of other people and slipping my heels off so I would be able to sprint. I had my escape route mapped out in my brain and decided I would take chance and directly confront this guy.
In my best stern mommy voice I say, "Listen, I don't know if this is intentional but you are seriously freaking me out with this detour. Get this cab back on the street NOW and get me to the airport!"
I decided at the very least if he was some kind of killer, he would realize I was not about to be an easy victim.
Without a word he started the car back up and got right back on the road. I practically threw my money at him when we got to the airport. He told me to have a nice trip and that was that.
The rest of the day was uneventful, lots of sleeping on planes and so on. I got home hugged my girl, called my man and fell asleep for the next 17 hours.

Lula said today we would be talking in code....

Which is fine by me. Here is my code:

I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN!

Thank you very much.

oh and I am flying to New York in 8 hours. Woohoo!




i'm sure you understand. ;-)

Happy Birthday Mr President...

I created a little "birthday card" for Jon on his webpage for his birthday this week. Please swing by and sign it if you like! Thanks!

http://www.jonauer.com/happybirthday.html

Got video?

http://rykodisc.com/video/theposies/small.html

Check it out! It is the new Posies video for your viewing enjoyment!

Boohoo.

The last of the gerbils is gone. If my gerbils were people CPS would have locked them up by now.

Making my list and checking it twice...

I am doing things to get ready for my trip on Tuesday. Figuring out what to bring, making checklists so as to not forget anything. I am very much looking forward to seeing my husband and to seeing four back to back Posies shows!
This has led me to creating a list.

Things NOT to do when attending a Posies concert (By Michelle):

1-Sing louder than the band from the audience so that everyone can hear you during the softer parts. It isn’t a three part harmony, and lord knows I will pay to go see your band if you are that good of a singer.

2-Don’t go so crazy in the front row thrashing around that you smack the mic stand and almost take out one of the singer’s front teeth. Those things are HARD, so please thrash, just do it within a reasonable distance of anything that has the potential of making my husband look like a Jon-O-Lantern!

3-I don’t care HOW MUCH you have had to drink; spitting booze into my husband’s mouth is strictly prohibited.

4-If Ken strips, don’t take that as a sign that you should strip as well unless you are a swimsuit model. One act of public nudity is enough to try and divert your eyes from other hairy guys joining in leads to several years of therapy.

5-If Jon hands you his guitar while on stage don’t leave with it! Also, don’t have a conversation with him about it while you are holding it. I don’t know if you notice, but he is in the middle of a song and wants you to toss it back to him when he gives you the signal.

6-If you see something backstage that looks like it might be lyrics or anything else scribbled out by the band that is NOT a setlist, don’t think it is OK to take it, because it isn’t.

7-(edited for adult content) ;-)

8-Don’t throw stupid crap up on stage like your shoes, your toys, your ice, your cups, or whatever other random shit you think would be funny to throw on stage. It isn’t funny.

9-Don’t heckle the guys incessantly. Maybe a little banter once is funny, but if you run your mouth between every single song, it gets old really fast.

10-Don’t stand around like a lump on a log! Dance, get your boogie on, go up on stage when they invite you and show that you are having a great time! I promise, the better the audience is, the better the band plays!

The perfect birthday mixtape....

I made three versions of Jon's birthday mixed CD, but I think the third time was the charm. That was the perfect one.

The first one had a couple of songs that I didn't realize were on the anniversary mix until after I burned it so that was trashed.

The second one I had amended that but then felt like there were a few obvious oversights (Wonderwall being one of them. Long story behind that one, but it has lots of happy memories for us) and after playing it a few days in a row decided to drop a few songs because they didn't "feel" right for this mix even though I love them.

So I did some moving around and adding and subtracting of songs and today I finally have the perfect, most meaningful birthday mix CD (That I can fit on an 80 minute disc) for my honey!

Greetings In Braille 3:50 The Elected
Honey And The Moon 4:44 Joseph Arthur
Wonderwall 4:18 Oasis
Natural One 3:09 Folk Implosion
A Girl Like You 3:55 Edwyn Collins
Since You've Been Around 3:18 Rosie Thomas
Vanilla Sky 2:46 Paul McCartney
Somebody 4:36 Depeche Mode
Lipstick Vogue 3:31 Elvis Costello
Sugarhigh 2:37 Coyote Shivers
Anything, Anything 3:21 Dramarama
Mental 4:01 Eels Beautiful Freak
Bright As Yellow 3:33 The Innocence Mission
Erase-Rewind 3:38 The Cardigans
hidden track 3:51 Russian Teammate
Last Tide 2:55 Sun Kil Moon
You've Been Loved 4:11 Joseph Arthur
The Sound of Settling 2:14 Death Cab For Cutie
Wild World 3:19 Cat Stevens
Stations 4:14 Denison Witmer
Homeward Bound 2:29 Simon & Garfunkel
Feel Good Inc. 3:43 Gorillaz


OCT 19 I will have known him for ten years. Wow! So hard to believe, it feels like just yesterday!

The Power of Three....

We have THREE gerbil babies today! Yay! Let's hope this batch makes it!

I think we should name them after the Charmed sisters or the three stooges...

You've been loved

I love the weather today, crisp and sunny. In my book this is perfect weather. In fact, I would be thrilled if this was the climate year round with a little rain now and then to keep things blooming and clean. (Because we ALL know how bad Seattle smells when it hasn't rained in a while!)

Why does it seem every time I am getting ready to fly somewhere there are loads of plane crash news on the television? Did you all see that thing about Jet Blu last eve? My god! at least everyone landed safely! I fly out on Jet Blu next week! Makes me a little squirmy thinking about it. I am thrilled to be finally hooking up with my man though! I miss him so much.

Today was picture day. My daughter is not a big fan of picture day. She is a very lovely girl, but when faced with a camera and told to smile she makes the strangest faces. Cocks her head to the side closes her eyes and smiles without showing teeth. It looks so odd. I don't know why she does it. It reminds me of that Friend's episode where Chandler could not smile right in photos. It is a mental thing. She also hates the amount of time it takes to get ready in the morning on picture day. She doesn't like having to stand still while I do her hair and add a little mascara to her eyelashes to make them pop better on camera.
Make-up is the secret to good class photos. The first few years we didn't use anything and she always looked a little sick and washed out under the bright lights. Last year I used a little light powder and some mascara and she was picture perfect. So now we will do that ever picture day. It only makes sense. They use the same big bright lights as a pro studio.
I am surprised they don't provide some kind of makeup for the amount they are asking for their packages! They are not cheap! And let me tell you, there is nothing like spending $50 on a package of photos where your kid looks nothing like themselves! I would prefer going to Sears and paying $9.99 at least they let you pick the photo you pay for!
Oh, and this year, they snuck the class photo into every pack! Charming. You HAVE to buy one, no choice! All I am saying is since I am paying the extra $$ for it one of her classmates best become famous someday so we can sell that sucker to Extra! :-)

I HATE Homework!

Why? Look at the name- it is WORK at HOME! No fun since I WORK at WORK all day. When I go home I want to veg out and eat a leisurely dinner, chat with some buddies and then chill out with my kidlette.

So last night, Darian and I sat down and started doing homework. I thought it would be a piece of cake since she is technically in the fifth grade. Boy howdy was I ever wrong.
This was some advanced math! Seriously folks. I HATE math, I swear I cheated my way all through math and then in college our professor was totally OK with us using a calculator so I went out and purchased the best scientific calculator ever and could even do complicated Algebra on it. It took a while to read all of the instructions, but I am good with that, I just don't have any patience for the "Show your work" part of math, but give me a machine and I will find an answer!

Anyhow, this had fractions and algebra and square roots and all sorts of fun stuff.
WTF! There were like 14 pages of it!

We went through all of the pages, did an awful lot of googling a little bit of cheating and got through it by 11:40 last night. YES- my WHOLE NIGHT was spent on math homework with a short break to go to the store and get dinner and one more to chat with Jon on the phone briefly.

In between problems I was looking up tutoring places and pricing them out. I was ready to hire someone on the spot! I was stressing because most tutors listed in the phone book are like $45 per hour!

Too much suck!

The best part of this story: After I was ranting about how if this is how this new teacher was I am going to change classes and so on. She gives me the rest of her papers that needed to be filled out and signed and sent back.
As I am going through the papers this little note falls out of the pile:

"Dear Parents-
You may notice the math homework is stuff that the children may or may not even be familiar with. This booklet was copied straight out of the high school standardized test. The children only need to do 3-4 problems from the booklet so I can get an idea of where they are at. They may need to ask for your help with those problems."

WHAT!!!!!!!!

So basically after we finished the ENTIRE 14 page booklet we found out that we only needed to do 3-4 problems!!!!

Darian and I laughed so hard we cried and then went to sleep. We were still laughing about it this morning!