Amazing concert on Monday night! It was probably one of my favorite Jimmy Eat World concerts. Last year was great (I’ve really never seen them perform a bad set), but for some reason, at this concert, I felt so happy, alive, energized, and super-excited for every song! they played ‘Bleed American’, and it was really exciting to hear a few songs that I’d NEVER heard live before (‘Cautioners’ and ‘If You Don’t, Don’t). After that, Jim joked “Now, we’re going to play ‘Clarity’ backwards!” and proceeded to play ‘Goodbye Sky Harbor’ – WHICH IS ONE OF MY FAVORITEST SONGS! It’s funny, when I first heard the song, I remember thinking that I’d never get to hear it live, because it was such a complicated (and long) tune. Now, I’ve heard it 3 times (Clarity x10 tour Feb 2009, Sept. 2010, and Sept 2011) and it’s so fantastic the way they worked it out! Jim uses this delay-type doo-hickey (yep) that records his live voice over itself, so they can do the neat harmonies and such. It’s hard to explain, but it’s SO COOL.
(performing ‘hear you me’)
Anyway, unfortunately, Tim had to leave for a business trip right after the concert, and he was gone all week. Marco and I were quite busy, and I’ve been exhausted trying to work, take care of Marco, cats, dog… I ended up eating late dinners and spending about 30 minutes sitting down. Ugh!
Tuesday night:
Pad Thai and reruns of Gilmore Girls
Wednesday night:
Pizza and Rolling Stone magazine (Oh hai, Jon!)
Thursday night I folded laundry and read blogs while catching up my The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
Still busting a gut over the Radiohead special on Monday’s The Colbert Report. Hipster paramedics!!
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Dr Pepper Presents Stephen Colbert’s Rocktember with Radiohead | ||||
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As you can see, I know how to party. Ke$ha is soo jealous.
so tired. bed time now?
Tonight is the Jimmy Eat World concert, and I am SO PSYCHED! They’ll be playing all ‘Bleed American’ tracks, plus a few more songs to round out the show. ‘Bleed American’ is not my favorite album, and purists will tell you it’s their most commercial (yeah, it is, but it still has good songs, and I’m going to rock out to it with a full heart and a one, two, shimmy-shimmy-shake).
For those of you unable to attend tonight, here’s a few tracks from the album:
Bleed American
Sweetness
I’m hoping they’ll play this version of ’Your House’:
Cautioners
Whee!! This will be my 11th Jimmy Eat World concert, which is super awesome.
Just occurred to me: I can grab more merch for Marco! 
But also…yesssssssssssss!!
Lookie what I FINALLY got in the mail (happy birthday to meeee!)
I’m a little concerned over the rumours flying all over the interwebs about changes made to the movies, and am keeping my fingers crossed that Yoda still looks like the Yoda I love on VHS (yep, still got ‘em), only slightly less grainy. I know that you live in Northern California, George!! *shakes fist*
I can’t wait to watch this with Marco!
And people say nothing good ever comes in the mail.
I love the post office. My local branch has the nicest people ever! They smile whenever they see me, ask me how work is going (they remembered that I got promoted), and always tell me to have a beautiful day.
How can you hate it? Plus, they have stamps! I love stamps. Yes, I am a nerd. This is not news, readers. But I actually use my stamps, thankyouverymuch. I’m not one of those weird collectors. one day i’ll be rich and have books of stamps okay
I was geeking out at the Post Office when I saw these, and they are currently in use for my outgoing mail:
{poor NASA.}
The new Pixar stamps might be purchased soon:
Further nerd news: WTF Netflix?! So disappointed in you.
OK, I need to talk about something that will up my cool quotient…
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is just a week and a half away! OMG OMG OMG. HUGH LAURIE!!!!!!! I might faint.
Whoops. That didn’t help. LOL
Today’s music is brought to you by the number 9 
John Lennon – Number 9 Dream
Damien Rice – 9 Crimes
Nena – 99 Red Balloons
fyi – IF YOUR EARS ARE SENSITIVE TO CURSE WORDS, JUST SKIP THE NEXT VIDEO.
Jay-Z – 99 Problems
The Beatles – Revolution #9
I love George Harrison. I don’t know that I can REALLY pick a favorite Beatle, because they were all so wonderful and different – but George was special. Referred to as ‘the quiet one’, he was also the youngest – he joined the Quarrymen when he was 15!
I think part of it is because Christopher (my godfather – for lack of a better word; I’m not baptized, but there’s no other term that comes close to his importance) looks a lot like him. I remember the first time I saw a picture of The Beatles, and I thought Christopher WAS in the band.
1987
Anyway, Martin Scorsese made a documentary film about this extraordinary musician, and I can’t wait to see it. ‘No Direction Home’, the Bob Dylan doc, was really good – so I expect this will be pretty rockin’. Literally. Yep. I said it.
And my favorite Harrison composition:
Who said George didn’t sing great pop songs!? This song is just awesome – and I love the video:
Remind me again?
Oh yeah…
’Monday, Monday’ by The Mamas and The Papas
‘Monday Morning’ by Death Cab for Cutie
‘Monday Morning’ by Fleetwood Mac <3 x infinity
Hope you enjoyed the playlist!
Peter Gabriel has come up in conversation 4 separate times in the past week, with 4 different people… I figured it was a sign that I needed to bring him up a little bit more. I don’t know much about his Genesis days (other than the fact that he was band mates with Phil Collins), but I sure do love his eclectic sounds as a solo artist.
Peter’s (is it ok if I refer to him by first name? it feels so intimate, like I know him personally or something) music is not for everyone; I freely admit some of his stuff has been too Progressive for my taste. However, since I do like quite a bit, I call myself a fan and have arranged a little playlist for you to sample!
In no particular order:
You MUST know this tune…
Tim may think I’m a nerd, but I just love this song. One of the best music videos ever made!!! Even with all of the technological advances, I still love watching this one.
Kind of a controversial song, but it is still classic:
I remember laughing at this song when I was a little kid; I thought it was funny that he talked about monkeys!
Of course, can’t forget this perfectly romantic, lovely gem:
I heard this one on an episode of ‘House’, and I LOVED this version! I don’t really like Arcade Fire, but Peter totally transformed this song!
Another awesome collaboration – this time with Youssou N’Dour
Closing off with a funky tune:
Loving the new Death Cab for Cutie album, ‘Codes and Keys’. Have you given it a whirl yet?! Because you need to. Really. I’ll wait…just do it fast.
My regular readers know that when I get a good album in my hands, I will listen to it over and over and over until I’ve pulled it inside out and worn it as a hat. The last album in my CD player was Mumford & Sons’ ‘Sigh No More’ – and it was there for almost 2 months. :-)
It’s so lovely to listen to – perfect ambient sounds to back Ben Gibbard’s wonderfully tremulous voice. Fans of Death Cab will enjoy this offering, and those of you that are fans of The Postal Service will likely be pleased with the fare. Basically…just get it already. I first got into Death Cab in the spring of my Senior year of high school. I listened to ‘A Movie Script Ending’ so many times on my Winamp (OH YES! I HAD IT JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE THAT WAS COOL), I drove my family members a little nuts.
Anyway…back to the new stuff. I was pleased by the album, especially since I was not exactly thrilled by ‘Narrow Stairs’; I kind of felt that album was pretentious (sorry). But the guys made up for it!!
Track Listing (bold titles are especially good):
1. Home is a Fire
2. Codes and Keys
3. Some Boys
4. Doors Unlocked and Open
5. You Are a Tourist
6. Unobstructed Views
7. Monday Morning
8. Portable Television
9. Underneath the Sycamore
10. St Peter’s Cathedral
11. Stay Young, Go Dancing
I can’t decide if this is my favorite song off of the album, or if it’s this one:
Anyone else SO SURE that ‘Monday Morning’ is TOTES about Zooey (Ben’s adorable wifey)????
P.S. I wrote a guest blog for one of my loves, Adrienne (AOG Daily) – all about workplace fashion! Check it out HERE.
Here's my June media post!Books: I finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and read Bossypants by Tina Fey. I like Tina; I think she’s intelligent, witty, and adorable. But, I didn’t think her book was as hilarious as I was expecting. It was good, but some of the stories she shares were just plain boring.
Yesterday, Copperfield’s Books had a 30th birthday party, and everything in the store was 30% off! I purchased a present for my godfather, and a new book for Marco. For myself, I snagged the last copy of P.G. Wodehouse’s Just Enough Jeeves, which is a collection of two novels and several short stories all about Bertie Wooster and his wonderful gentleman’s gentleman, Jeeves!
I love the BBC series ‘Jeeves & Wooster’ (Hugh Laurie & Stephen Fry, together again!), and am excited to finally read this!
Movies: I haven’t attended a movie since “Hanna”. Next weekend I’m going to see “Midnight in Paris” at the Cameo. Today, Tim is going to see “X-Men: First Class”. Marco and I will probably chill with some puzzles and crayons
Music: Same stuff I always listen to! I haven’t heard the new Death Cab for Cutie in its entirety yet, but I like the song “You are a Tourist”.
Television: ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ and ‘The Colbert Report’. Summer is *kind of* here, which means that besides fake-news shows, there’s precious little else on. ‘Castle’,'Psych’, and ‘House’ are off until fall. No word on ‘Burn Notice’, ‘Mad Men’ won’t return until next year (!), and Showtime has not announced an official date for ‘Dexter’ (though the list of guest appearances grows strong…)
If you’ve got a recommendation, do share!! Hope your Sunday is relaxing. Go forth, and eat some gummy bears.
Wednesday night I attended the long-awaited concert at the Warfield in San Francisco. Unfortunately, Tim could not join Micaela and I in enjoying the beautiful music! 
He had to work really late on a phone issue, and couldn’t make it.
I started listening to Iron and Wine after I saw the movie ‘In Good Company’; the song “The Trapeze Swinger” plays during the end credits, when Topher Grace is running on the beach. After almost 10 years of enjoying Sam Beam’s music, I finally got to see him live! It was a very exciting event for me.
I couldn’t take my camera with me, but I do have a few iPhone pictures to share:
He changed up some of the songs, so that a slower tempo song became upbeat, more jazzy… Sam told us audience members that he didn’t want to just give us the songs we could listen to at home. I agreed and disagreed; I fell in love with the sounds on the album, but I did enjoy his new versions of some of my favorites! His voice was AMAZING! All appreciation I had for his recordings became heightened by the knowledge that he sounds just as good, if not better, live.
The last picture is of Mr. Beam singing “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” without accompaniment (other than a few spare notes on his guitar). I gotta tell you: I felt shivers in my spine. It was so freakin’ awesome. Thanks to Adrienne for keeping an eye on my boy while I attended the concert!
Marco’s birthday AND birthday party were a beautiful success. I cried, we all laughed, and I smooched Marco about 100000 times. I have a 1 year old child! Wow.
He looks so much like a big kid now!
Carrot cake cupcakes with low-sugar cream cheese frosting! I made these for Marco’s classmates and teachers. The recipe for the frosting called for cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and 1 whole box of powdered sugar! Ewww! I put in half the sugar, and the flavor was perfect for the carrot cake. I may share with you my super-secret-but-not-very-complicated carrot cake recipe. But I might not. We’ll see… LOL
Marco’s party was a lot of fun! We had about 28 people at our house, and they all wanted to talk to, cuddle with, and kiss the birthday boy, and Marco was a total champ! He even took a few steps for his family and friends. I’ll post more pictures of his party later.
Roux also celebrated her first birthday (May 26th), and she was happy with her very own tuna cake!
ALSO!! Our garden is doing very well, and we’re finally getting lawn in our backyard! It’s so exciting to see the green shoots. Proof of my gardening skills:
My very own strawberries! Small, but delicious. I feel like a real farmer! LOL, not exactly…but it is fun to grow my own food.
Speaking of food, I almost forgot to mention my big decision: I decided to become a full-fledged vegetarian! After 3 1/2 years of a mainly meat-free diet (chicken only – no fish, fowl, beef, or pork products), I finally took the plunge. I’ve been ENTIRELY meat-free for 2 weeks now. It’s a little difficult, but I managed! I didn’t give up dairy products, though! More power to the vegans out there, but I love cheese too much.
Phew! That’s what I get for slackin’ on the posts!
What have you been up to?? I hope you have wonderful weekends!
