if you're looking for some music to go along with your holiday fun, npr posted a thanksgiving mix (songs for stuffing) that i've been enjoying very much today while sipping spiced cider at work. i thought i'd pass along the info. you can stream the playlist here.
i'm looking forward to seeing my parents, camber, emily, jason & paul! i hope you all are able to enjoy turkeyday with people you love.
the last 3 places I've lived have been 3 bedroom multilevel homes... needless to say, downsizing to a 850 square foot single level two bedroom home has been interesting. It's a good change, because really I have entirely too much stuff for a 25 year old, and should not require more space than my lovely little home of el tenino provides. however, getting rid of things is more work than it should be. more advantages to living in a smaller place: i can communicate with anyone inside without having to leave any given room at a time. vacuuming just became ten times easier. and remarkably, ziggy has been incredibly well behaved. i guess the less space he has to cause trouble, the better. (i suppose the backyard is helpful as well...) i realize after writing this, the benefits of a smaller place all lend themselves to my laziness. which, depending upon how you look at it, is a good thing, or a really bad thing. because really, do i need more reasons to be lazy? probably not. but i'll take them just the same.
how does They Might Be Giants do it?! they're just so stinkin awesome. and it looks as if i'm going to be able to attend a performance by them tonight! i thought i'd share one of their podcasts, that's especially for rugrats. (Liam- i thought you'd like the pirates!)
i don't know anything about the opening band, guggenheim grotto, but they have this rad stop motion video:
exciting news! as of this weekend i will no longer be a burbanite, but will be joining the ranks of portlanders in a cute little neighborhood called sellwood in the southeast part of town. i can't wait! goodbye 20 minute commute and horrible rush hour traffic... hello biking to school & work! i meet with the landlord tomorrow for finalizing the lease, so hopefully all will be in place to get moving in the next few days! farewell beaver-town. it's been a swell run... but other than awesome neighbors i'll be leaving behind, you won't really be that missed.
The craziest news stories always seem to come from Florida. This one is pretty great... sorry eddie ates, but being fat just isn't a good enough defense for murder. Can you imagine if had actually worked?!
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I'm going to work on tracking one of these down for all those fools who are always full of excuses for getting out of a night of dancing with me. (and maybe one for myself because, well, it looks like fun.)
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Apparently I need to be watching a lot more women's soccer... these ladies are vicious! New Mexico's #15 is certainly not someone I'll seek out to pick a fight with anytime soon.
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I've always been really intrigued by phantom limb pains.
This makes the prospect of losing my hands seem not so bad.
as if i have my head perpetually stuck in something; in this guy's case, a bird feeder.
With midterms out of the way i'm slowly being able to shake the anxiety associated with what has been my daunting to-do list the last week or so. i awoke this morning with nothing on my schedule until 1 (my new job! my first that involves me sitting in front of a computer with internet access all day! this could be dangerous...) and was able to be super productive, which is not something my mornings consist of, as I generally like to stay useless and in my pajamas as long as possible. (I'm a lady of leisure in training!...and I have super comfy pajamas.... check out my rationalization skills! BAM!) I'm quite pleased with my ability to join the world of useful people (did i mention i worked out too?! because i did. let me say it again, because it really is quite the feat... i worked out!) and realized that running errands in the morning provides me with a great deal of hilarious people watching. I had to go to Costco to get a passport photo to replace mine which has sadly been MIA for far too long. (I was hoping for a slightly better photo than the one on said missing passport, but ended up looking slightly like quasimoto... but that's besides the point. I've long since given up on the hopes of being photographed like a normal human being.) While I waited for them to be developed, I watched as a little boy (3 maybe?) tried to shove an entire hotdog (a costco hotdog at that- have you seen those weenies?! they're HUGE!) in his mouth as his mother just stared in disbelief, not even trying to stop him. I'm glad the kid didn't choke, although maybe it would have taught his mother a lesson that it may be a good idea to intervene when your kid is trying to shove mass amounts of food in his mouth at one time... (criticizing other's parenting skills is so easy when you don't have kids.) anyway... perhaps this is my first of many productive mornings to come. just don't hold your breath.
something you can hold your breath for is great music.
because here it is:
These are two of my favorite groups, both from iceland, that I am lucky enough to be able to go see tonight! B. Alexander being the boyfriend extraordinaire that he is bought me tickets for my birthday and I couldn't be more excited. I'm a bit disappointed by Múm's last album as they seem to have moved away from their more experimental spacey/ghosty feel and moved onto a much more pop sound. I like certain pop music as much as the next bloke, but in this case, it just isn't as great as what they've released prior. I just hope they play a good amount of old stuff, too. If you aren't familiar with Sin Fang Bous, I HIGHLY recommend you do so. Sin Fang Bous is Sindri Sigfússon's side project from his other band, Seabear, who is also fantastic and you should definitely also check out.
the fall daylight savings change is AWESOME. Especially the day after my birthday. As I enjoyed an extra hour in bed this morning I did utter a silent thank you to george w.... probably the first and last time that will happen.
Somehow ben & I were able to finish our Halloween costumes that turned into quite the ordeal. We had a lot of fun constructing them, but have decided next year we will go for something much less ambitious.
David Bowie and Steven Colbert both had a new species of spider named after them recently. So we did the only reasonable thing and went as the spiders and their namesakes. I think we pulled it off pretty well- I was actually recognized as David Bowie, which only happened twice last year with my costume. Apparently I don't hangout with enough people that are familiar with Dr. Who, which I really should do something about. How can you not love the Doctor?!The first few pictures were taken at the end of the night, so my faux-mullet and duct taped boots were starting to fall apart, but I think you get the idea. Thanks to Chelsea for lending me an awesome jumpsuit!
Here we are as Aptostichus Stephencolberti and HeteropodaDavidbowie.
This was my favorite costume of the night (besides the other David Bowie I ran into).
She was a jellyfish. The pictures doesn't really do it justice- she had glow sticks around her tummy and head... and my favorite part- plastic jelly sandals!!! I was very impressed.
I hope everyone had a lovely Halloween and thanks for all the birthday wishes!
My neighbor, Matt, recently found this little (well... rather large, actually...) sucker in our neighborhood a few nights ago. He and Ben had a good time feeding the fellow some beetles-- it was pretty amazing to watch him in action. He is quite the diligent spider- even when the web's been demolished, it is faithfully rebuilt by night.
I wish I was a bit more skilled in night photography to catch him action, but Ben went back later and filmed him, which turned out really cool. I'll have to swipe some of his footage to share later. Despite their creepiness, spiders are pretty rad little creatures.... and it was great motivation for my Halloween costume!
