Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Home

Well I'm in love with THIS, that is for sure.



These lyrics are knocking me right between the eyes.

Her:
Alabama, Arkansas
I do love my ma and pa
Not that way that I do love you

Him:
Holy moley, me oh my
You're the apple of my eye
Girl, I've never loved one like you

Her:
Man, oh man, you're my best friend
I scream it to the nothingness
There ain't nothing that I need

Him:
Well, hot and heavy, pumpkin pie
Chocolate candy, Jesus Christ
Ain't nothing please me more than you

Both:
Ah, home
Let me go home
Home is wherever I'm with you
Ah, home
Let me go home
Home is wherever I'm with you

La, la, la, la, take me home
Mother, I'm coming home

Him:
I'll follow you into the park
Through the jungle, through the dark
Girl, I never loved one like you

Her:
Moats and boats and waterfalls
Alleyways and pay phone calls
I've been everywhere with you

Him:
That's true
Laugh until we think we'll die
Barefoot on a summer night
Never could be sweeter than with you

Her:
And in the streets you run a-free
Like it's only you and me
Geez, you're something to see

Both:
Ah, home
Let me go home
Home is wherever I'm with you
Ah, home
Let me go home
Home is wherever I'm with you

La, la, la, la, take me home
Daddy, I'm coming home

(talking)
Him: Jade
Her: Alexander
Him: Do you remember that day you fell out of my window?
Her: I sure do, you came jumping out after me
Him: Well, you fell on the concrete, nearly broke your ass, you were bleeding all over the place and I rushed you out to the hospital, you remember that?
Her: Yes, I do
Him: Well, there's something I never told you about that night
Her: What didn't you tell me?
Him: While you were sitting in the backseat smoking a cigarette you thought was going to be your last, I was falling deep, deeply in love with you, and I never told you until just now

Both:
Ah, home
Let me go home
Home is wherever I'm with you
Ah, home
Let me go home
Home is where I'm alone with you

Him:
Home
Let me come home
Home is wherever I'm with you

Her:
Ah, home
Yes I am home
Home is when I'm alone with you

Her:
Alabama, Arkansas
I do love my ma and pa
Moats and boats and waterfalls
Alleyways and pay phone calls

Both:
Ah, home
Let me go home
Home is wherever I'm with you
Ah, home
Let me go home
Home is where I'm alone with you

Monday, August 30, 2010

Bored

With summer on it's way out, I'm trying to figure out what winter activity Colorado can introduce me too once it's too cold and icy for any of the things I am doing now.

Maybe snowboarding? This is my friend Alex, I totally think he can teach me to do this too.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Hippies

Last week was kind of insane. We have a sale after every Olympics to get rid of all the extra gear we end up when the Games are over and we invite all the athletes, USOC employees and staff from the local National Governing Bodies. Needless to say, it's a giant event and guess who had the pleasure of running the thing?

I was tired yesterday. I slept for about ten hours which was really nice, got a haircut, helped my friend Heather move and did a visit for church. But I felt guilty all day that although I had been running around like crazy all week, I hadn't really done any kind of good exercise in six days and for sure hadn't done anything active that I enjoyed. So when my friend Tom mentioned while we were lifting boxes out of a U-Haul that he was going to do the incline that night with some people, I invited myself along.

Turns out Tom and his three friends were in outstanding shape and I probably had no business trying to keep up with them, but there I was and I certainly wasn't going to complain or lag behind. I ended up shaving about five minutes off my usual time which felt good mentally but made me feel like my heart, lungs and maybe even kidney were going to explode at the top. By the time we got up it was already dark which meant we ran down the trail by moonlight. Aside from the risk of tripping on a tree branch or rock you absolutely cannot see, running downhill at night is every bit of thrilling. We got down to the bottom and decided that even though we were sweaty and smelly, we should reward ourselves with a really great dinner. We sat outside and ate delicious things and talked about all sorts of things. I love meeting people who go from being strangers to friends almost instantly and that's exactly what happened last night. After dinner we decided we weren't ready for the evening to end so we slipped over to the playground next to the restaurant and played on the swings, hung on the monkey bars, climbed a tree and went down the slide. At about 11, totally worn out and doing a little stretching on the grass, a group of scruffy hippie looking kids approached us and asked if we were doing yoga. We said not really but we can! So we formed a big circle and started a late night yoga flash mob. It was a perfect way to end such an organically fun night.

Summer, can't you stay forever?

Monday, August 23, 2010

Firesale

One of my very favorite phrases on earth is "have you heard of this band? I think you would like them." Another one of my favorite things on earth is making a new really good friend. So you combine the two of them and well, this girl is pretty much in heaven.

I have NO IDEA how this artist escaped my radar screen-especially since one review said Florence and the Machine is what it would sound like if Adele and Kate Nash had musical offspring. I love those two and now I love Florence so much I'm not listening to much else. And it doesn't hurt a new friendship for someone to nail my tastes so well. This is my favorite track off the album "Lungs" but really, it's loaded with good stuff. Her voice is so awesome it makes me wish I could trade everything I was good at for that one talent.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Meet the Fockers

Sister came this weekend.



And she brought husb.


We had a delightful weekend and I am pretty sure I can count on Emily to post more and better photos than I have so I'll just direct you to her link at some point.

We always have so much fun together, it's delightful to have someone around who wears clothes I can steal and who laughs the same way I do and who likes to drink Diet Dr. Pepper late at night and sleep in like I do.

So I wasn't sure how it would change a sister visit now that she's hitched and all. This whole "brother-in-law" thing is still a little new. You would think that having three biological brothers would mean it was no big deal to add another Y chromosome to the family. But I'll confess I was a bit apprehensive. Even when I talk too much, or cry when they tease me, or say stupid things or post to Facebook too often-my brothers are still required by family law to like me. A brother-in-law is under no such obligation and since I really prefer that people like me rather than simply put up with me, I wanted to win Aaron over.

I'm pretty sure I still talk too much and he will probably never quit teasing me about how much I love to update my status but I'm definitely sold on brothers-in-law. Aaron came in handy for finding a breakfast spot, getting us out on our bikes, answering ALL my computer questions, providing my weekend teasing quota, taking endless photos AND helping me finally buy a television which I still can't believe I waited almost a year to do. He's good for my sister and maybe the weirdest thing about the whole weekend was how it didn't feel weird at all to add him to the mix. My siblings sure have done a terrific job choosing mates-I certainly have my work cut out for me if I intend to bring one board.


It's friday and I'm in a particularly good mood for a variety of reasons-but the one I will share with all of you is that my sister-in-law is bringing nephew to town this weekend and I'm pretty excited that I don't have to share them with the rest of the family! I found this clip of 13 great songs from 2009 that I can't stop listening to-every single one of these is worth looking up on it's own. I'm OBSESSED with that Discovery song "So Insane." Check it out and happy weekend!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Tantrum

Two things I love to do on a cross-country flight:

1. Read the latest Vanity Fair cover to cover
2. Catch up on all the podcasts stacking up in my iTunes

Last Sunday night I was flying to New York and after I finished hearing what Angelina thinks about "Brad, the kids and giving up acting", I turned on the KCRW's Top Tune podcast. The first song was a new LCD Soundsystem track that was pretty good but I was still browsing the magazine a little bit while I listened. And then. What happened next was one of those things I absolutely love about music and one of the reasons I never get tired of it-a song burst into my ears that made it next to impossible to sit still in my seat. I have been on this neo-soul kick recently and this little tune hit me right between the eyes. It's by a little band called Fitz and the Tantrums and the album doesn't come out until later this month so you'll have to settle for this little live version.




I'm now officially OBSESSED with these guys. Perfect perfect summertime music.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Last Goodbye

Obviously I would love all my siblings regardless of how impressive they all were.

But sometimes I look at all of them and think "hot damn! what a family! Because sometimes my little sister's perspective on life is brilliant.

And sometimes my younger brothers kick butt at hard things.

And sometimes the baby is brave and sells her art to strangers.

And sometimes the one just younger than me who thinks he's just older than me is terribly google-able.

That's some DNA worth selling right there. I may be on a bit of a hiatus next week...headed to NYC for some work meetings and to check in with some old friends. And to satisfy that little itch for crowds and shopping and men in suits that COS can't quite scratch.

Monday, August 02, 2010

Six O'Clock

I had a party for myself when I turned 30. Because you can do that kind of stuff when you get old. My friend Mark brought his poor married guy cousin to the party and said cousin spent most of the evening talking to my mother in the kitchen. They were the only married redheads at the party so it was fitting. My mother discoverd that cousin was a musician and within a few weeks, we had developed something of a family fan club. In the past few months, he and his band The Madison Arm have covered two of my favorite songs and they are both just beautiful. It's rainy in the Springs today and kind of grey, these are fitting songs for the slightly moody state I am in.





The fact that this guy isn't famous kind of confuses me frankly.

Sunday, August 01, 2010

Class of 94

My mom recently moved into a house with less storage and so I have re-inherited all of the boxes of childhood memories that have been sitting in her basement for about fifteen years.

If you have been out of high school at least ten years, I will tell you that a very funny evening activity is to take your yearbook, look up boys you had crushes on or people who intimidated you and then find them on Facebook. Take note sophomore self-in fifteen years most of these guys you are losing sleep over will be someone's dad and you my dear will be quite fulfilled with what has happened in your own life.

High school was a funny time for me. I wanted what just about every adolescent girl wants-boys to like me and to be popular. I failed spectacularly on both fronts but reading my old yearbook messages, it is nice to remind myself that apparently I did have some good times and some fun friends.

So high school has been on my mind this week and then we watched Pirate Radio last night and that fabulous soundtrack got Otis Redding on my mind. Which obviously led to me looking up one of the greatest scenes in teen cinematic history-Duckie's performance of "Try a Little Tenderness" in "Pretty in Pink".



It has bothered me ever since I reached adulthood that Molly Ringwald's character ends up with the jerky rich kid at the end of this movie instead of the Duck-man. The story goes that the original plan was to end the movie with Andie and Duckie together but test audiences HATED that and so they changed it and she kisses Andrew McCarthy in the parking lot (one of the WORST kissing scenes EVER by the way). This after he was a complete loser and backed out on dating her because his popular friend disapproved. I get so mad every single time I watch it that audiences were so stupid in the 80's that they wanted her to end up with the rich, handsome dude at all costs. Any girl who was ever 16 and complaining about why the cutest boy in the 10th grade didn't notice her probably heard her mother say at least one hundred times, "you will be so surprised when the boys you think are nerds now turn out to be the best adults."

I watch Pretty in Pink now and I think that Duckie probably grew up to be a really interesting adult and Blane (Blane!!) is probably mostly bald and boring and having an affair with his secretary. Which is not to say that kids who were cool in high school are all lame adults. Pretty much all the rest of my siblings managed to climb about ten rungs higher on the teenage food chain than I ever did, but it is wildly interesting to me to look at where people are now and to see how little your High School popularity index has to do with, well, anything. But what also occurs to me when I watch that movie, or when I browse the old high school yearbooks, is that perhaps it's precisely the ratio of struggling to feel good about yourself you do at a young age that corresponds to how you "turn out". As Jack once told Liz on 30 Rock, "I don't know what happened to you as a child that led you to develop humor as a defense mechanism but I'm grateful for it."

I hope my future daughters realize that I'm going to be advocating for boys like the computer club president or the captain of some totally uncool sport. And probably teaching my sons to do a REALLY good Otis Redding impression.