chilaquiles

you should eat these.



if you have never heard of chilaquiles, just know that it is a mexican dish, often served for breakfast [though you can top it with anything and eat it anytime]

Ingredients:
-1 dozen corn tortillas [preferably stale - so if they're fresh, throw them in the oven for a few minutes to dry them out], quartered or cut into a pizza pie, depending on the size of your tortillas
-corn oil
-salt [sea salt is best]
-2 cups salsa [there are homemade recipes you can use - either red chile sauce or salsa verde if you actually have the time. me, i just used El Pinto salsa! much easier for a sunday morning impromptu brunch]
-5-6 eggs, scrambled
-1 can of black beans
-cheese of some sort [i used cheddah, you may prefer to use a legit mexican cheese product ie. cotija cheese or queso fresco]
-sour cream [if you are unlike me and like it]
-cilantro
-chopped red onion
-avocado

ok. so. here's what you do.

-generously coat a large saute pan with the corn oil [about 1/8 inch] and heat on medium-high heat. when the oil's nice and hot, add your cut tortillas and fry until they are golden brown. remove your newly formed chips and place them on a paper towel-lined plate, so as to soak up all that oil. sprinkle a bit of salt on the tortillas.

-leave about 2 Tbsp of oil in the pan [or clean the pan out and start fresh..but this is all ending up in the same place, so may as well recycle] and add the salsa, letting it cook for several minutes. once your salsa is looking nice and cooked up, add your chips. gently turn over the tortilla pieces until they are fully coated in the salsa. let em cook for a few minutes more [chips will be a bit on the soggy side].

-remove from heat and add your scrambled eggs, your beans, and the rest of your garnishes.

this recipe is good for 3 hefty servings. MMMMM!!!

cash for clunkers? more like eff you.

To Whom It May Concern:

I have owned my 1992 Saab 900 for seven years now. I saw it for sale on the side of the road and knew instantly that it was to be my car. I loved it so much, the woman who sold it to me gave it to me for dirt cheap – she just wanted it to go to a good home. And that it did. My 239,000 mile car has taken me up and down the east coast, to and from college, to concerts, and on road trips. Most recently it has made its way from New York to California, where I currently reside.

Now, I love my car. Ever since I walked into the bank at 17 years old and took out my entire savings to purchase this vehicle, I’ve dreaded the day that I would have to part ways and move on. And as I’ve gotten a bit older, I am still no less attached to my car, but I have come to realize the practicality of my situation…

My car is 17 years old.
My car gets 15 miles to the gallon IF I’m lucky.
My car leaks 2 quarts of oil every other week.
My car only has one cooling fan left.
My car has never had working air conditioning.
My car’s brake pedal will stick if you do not pull up on the pedal with your foot before exiting the car.
My car’s battery will die if you have forgotten to pull said brake pedal up.
My car’s automatic antenna has not come up in years. And my tape deck has just recently stopped working.
My car will not pass California’s smog test.
My car’s exhaust system has dropped out onto the road while driving. Twice.

My car is NOT eligible for the Cash For Clunkers program.

Please, will somebody explain to me WHY this is the case? Can we look at the title of said program for a moment, here? If my car is not a CLUNKER, then please, pray tell, what is?
Ohh, you say a clunker is a 2004 Mazda-RX. I see.
[pause for you to re-read what I just wrote]

Now, putting aside the mere fact that I think that my year, make, and model of car is beyond eligible for this program of yours, can I tell you what is really making me tick? Do you want to know the one thing that is getting real deep down in there and just grinding my gears? It is this: the fact that one day, just about three weeks ago, my car WAS eligible. 18 mpg, baby. And then, as soon as I decided that with this financial help, I might finally be able to take a step towards helping myself [and let’s not forget my environment], somebody [coughEPAcough] decided that the original fuel economy ratings for the vehicles were not accurate. Uh, “the original fuel economy ratings were not accurate”…right, that’s what I said. Anyway, somebody decided that the numbers that have been up on the fuel economy website, that people have been using to determine their eligibility, were going to change.

Flash-forward to the day the program officially commenced: July 24, 2009. Combined Estimated New EPA MPG: 19 mpg

"EPA changed the way it calculated fuel economy ratings starting in Model Year 2008, and has estimated the revised ratings for Model Years 1985-2007. Therefore, as described above, eligibility is determined by the revised ratings rather than the original EPA sticker on the vehicle. Since the revised ratings reflect a lower fuel economy, vehicles that would not be eligible under their original EPA rating may qualify for trade-in." [pg. 33 of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Final Rule of their Requirements and Procedures for Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Program]

Uh, say that again? Vehicles that would not be eligible under their original EPA rating may qualify for trade-in? What about the cars that WERE eligible and now are NOT? Where is your defense for that??

This is absurd. I am absolutely fuming. I no longer understand what this program stands for. I knew a big chunk of this was to boost the economy, but I really really wanted to think that this program was created, at least in part, to help out the average American like myself who honest to goodness owns one heck of a clunker. Forget your silly “to the 4th decimal” revised ratings. And your 25-year age restriction. This program is NOT what it was supposed to be for a LOT of people. I came into 2009 with a whole lot of hope, and what some may even call respect for “you people.” Now, however, I see things as they are: not fair.

Sincerely,

Jessica Neilson

when a mouse eats a cookie

last night i was up in matt's room when i heard chris yelling at my cat to come downstairs. apparently she had "dropped it at the top of the stairs." i opened the door to see what "it" was, but before i could get there, a small mouse darted in through the crack in the door and scurried into the closet. the closet FILLED with stuff. the closet that acts as a depository when we try to clean the room in a hurry. awesome.

chris came bounding up the stairs with a flashlight, and we found the little critter under the shoe rack.



after setting eyes on this tiny creature shivering in fear, i decided i must have it as a pet. i quickly snapped back into it and realized that could not happen. i then tried my hand at capturing the little fellow, but as you can see,



he was so intent on NOT being caught, that my efforts proved fruitless [i have never seen a mouse hide like this].

so instead, i spent the next hour creating a trap for this tiny mouse so that he could not go far, and so that matt could help me when he got home. i spent until 2am creating barriers and traps made of towels, sheets, trader joes bags, magic hat boxes, and priority mail flat rate boxes. after an hour, i was sweating and about to fall asleep. i did not want the mouse leaving the closet, though, so i propped myself up on some sleeping bags and sheets [that i had cleared out of said closet] and kept watch. i felt like a prison guard. except not.

i tried real hard, but matt walked in the door sometime after 2 to find me sprawled out on the floor, flashlight still on, eyes closed. lucky for me, my immaculate barricade had worked, and mr. mouse had not gone far. matt and i spent a bit more time chasing him back and forth behind various pieces of furniture, until the mouse made a dash for it. he leaped over my fortress and started to run around the closet. i took this opportunity to run out myself and slam the door behind me, leaving matt, his snowboarding glove, and the mouse to fight it out.

i heard some rustling, some laughter, some "he's in my wallet!" and before i knew it, matt emerged, victorious, the tiny rodent quivering in the towel he was holding. we brought him on down the road and let him go under a street light, where he scurried away, hopefully safe and sound, to his little mouse family.

isabella

i like the name isabella.

i also like it when it comes as a pizza. with mozzarella, pears, onions, and gorgonzola.

la buca for lunch.

also, i tried truffle for the first time.

[who knew that specially trained female pigs are used to seek out truffles because the fungi give off the same scent as sexy boar saliva?]

thanks, magic.

i am starting week 3 of my gymming.
i have never enjoyed working out.
never.
but i can't get enough of this place. it's like a playground.
where else can you do your body good AND watch jeopardy???
i suppose in your living room..but i don't have that kind of self-control.

i joined 24 hour fitness because they were having a killer promotional deal at the end of july.
i just did it, and i started going, and i haven't really stopped to think about it all quite yet. and that's fine with me. i think it's actually starting to become a habit [what do they say? do something for 2 weeks and it becomes habitual?]. i find myself mid-day craving the gym, and this excites me!

i also like 24 hour fitness because they sponsor The Biggest Loser, and i have a secret [no, not secret] obsession with that show. i've been going to the gym in sherman oaks. one of the 'Magic Johnson signature clubs.' whatever the fuck that means. i think that just means there are huge ass pictures of him ALL over the place. anyway. sherman oaks can be kind of hoity toity, and this particular gym is located at the outdoor galleria [which has like, 3 retail stores and 356 restaurants], so i was a bit intimidated the first time i stepped through the doors. big-breasted women and immaculately toned men make up the majority of this club's population. but how wrong i was to assume i would be laughed at and looked down upon, in my $1 jetrag shorts and my 7 year old gray new balances. everyone has been beyond friendly and helpful and all around pleasant. someone is always holding the door, or saying 'thank you' when said door has been held for them. everyone keeps to themselves [except for the guy that asked me how much longer i'd be on one of the weight machines. screw you. wait your turn.], and there is rarely a wait for the cardio machines, as there are about 29482395 of them.

i'm feeling really great about doing this for myself. i would always say 'i don't have time' or 'i can't afford it.' but the truth is, i've been making time. and i found a couple of extra dollars. i just never had any motivation to get up and do it. and i still don't quite know what it was that got me off my butt [mm, it just may have been gwen stefani's abs...] but whatever it was, THANK YOU!

i love the gym.
and i especially love starting every work out with the song below.

mariahhhh.

and this one.

i'm really getting back to my mid to late 90s lady roots.

Mariah Carey - Always Be My Baby
Uploaded by mario_cam. - More video blogs and vloggers.

i'm real.

i forgot how much i loved this song.

04 - Jennifer Lopez feat. Ja Rule - I'm Real
Uploaded by Miamoto_Namikaze. - Explore more music videos.

happy we-landed-on-the-moon-40-years-ago day

i don't know what i would have used for a rocket if a music library hadn't sent a usb disguised as a bullet.

i did it

there were 100 cds on my desk this morning.
over the past few weeks i had let them pile up to an absurd extent.
today was the first day i had [almost] nothing else to do, and i came into the office determined.
determined to listen to and organize the shit out of this music.
and i did.

my girl

i wish some of my lady friends were closer [geographically] to me than they are.
most are in new york. or massachusetts. or new jersey.
closest one is in washington, still a 17 hour drive away.

and while gchat and facebook make it relatively easy to stay in touch, it's not like having one right down the road, or better yet, right across the hall.

just last night, after getting in a little tiff with matt, he suggested i talk to a girlfriend of mine, to get her perspective [at least somebody knows what i need..] so this morning [thank you, gchat] i did. and she told me that i was crazy.

every so often [more often than you may think] i find myself getting nostalgic for my girl time. i have a wonderful life out in california. a wonderful job. a wonderful boyfriend. wonderful friends. [two] wonderful homes :) but there's something missing. and try as i might, i just haven't been able to forge the same female-female relationships i had back at home, back at school. and i miss them.

i can't call kristina and meet her at the white rabbit after dinner and munch on vegan nut bars over a discussion about how drastically our lives have changed over the past few years. or drive to maria's and have just a little bit too much to drink and crash on the basement floor with my head undoubtedly in another friend's feet. or go to nina's to sit in her 2nd bedroom and watch trash tv all the while answering her next inevitable question about my sex life. or run down to holly's room and jump on her bed with some stupid development in my life that only she would get THAT excited about. or sit around with kasha, drink wine, and gossip about the music department until we decide we're bored and we should probably get in the car and drive to vermont.

these are the things i miss.

i miss kristina being the only person i can truly talk to about ANYTHING. i don't know if she knows that.
i miss maria being just a little too perfect and me [ME!] feeling like the "bad" girl when i'm around her [ME!!!].
i miss nina yelling at her parents in chinese while i'm on the line and i miss that the first thing she ever wants to talk about is sex.
i miss holly being as sweet as a friend can be and sometimes pissing me off just because she's so goddamn chipper.
i miss kasha getting me into trouble and knowing that whenever i'm with her something unexpected and truly memorable is bound to happen.

though, i suppose these things haven't changed. they're just not as conveniently located as they used to be. but these people and these attributes are still there. and when i need them, i know where to find them.

we're gonna rock the night away

michael jackson is dead.

and i am not OK.

grey in la

Grey In L.A. - Loudon Wainwright III

day of decision? how about day of dumb.

yesterday was the big day.
the day that the california supreme court decided what to do about prop 8.

not only were they to decide whether or not to uphold the november 4, 2008 passing of this ridiculous-to-begin-with proposition, but they were also to announce what was to happen with the 18,000 same-sex couples who had been married between may 2008 [when the high courts deemed marriage legal] and november 2008 [when we took their rights away]. the fact that they even had to debate on what was to happen to these couples was shocking to me. really? there's a CHANCE [however slim] that you could actually take these rights away from people after YOU were the ones that gave them to them in the first place? and forget who gave who any rights - just the fact that someone, anyone, would even consider reVOKING them?? that's like saying "hey jess, i know we said you could own that property. but...we've changed our mind. the general public has spoken and, frankly, doesn't want you to have that land anymore, so..well, sorry..if you don't mind we'll just take that riiiiight back, yep, there we go.. greeeat, thanks. peace!"

anyhow, i don't need to go on TOO much of a rant there, because the court did vote unanimously to keep these marriages legal.
good.

unfortunately, however, the court did decide 6-1 in favor of upholding the prop 8 decision (<--- great latimes article that may explain things a bit clearer than i) made in november. the decision was made based on the fact that the prop was put on the ballot in november as a "limited amendment" to the constitution and not a "wholesale revision," which would have required 2/3 vote from the legislature before being placed in the public's hands.

what is scary is that the court defines "an illegal revision as a measure that changes the structure of government, not one that takes away individual rights." soooo...does that mean that if i wanted to take away a gay person's right to go to the beach..or a latino person's right to drive...or a female's right to hold any job she is qualified to hold...i could? i've just gotta get it on the ballot and make sure people vote? because, like you said, taking away any of those rights wouldn't affect the structure of california's government. therefore, those would not be improper revisions.
hmmm....
dangerous words, court. dangerous words.

"For the court to see only structural changes as those requiring a greater majority is perhaps the worst feature of the opinion today," said Pepperdine University law professor Douglas W. Kmiec, who voted for Proposition 8 on religious grounds. "It makes it much too casual for individual rights to be withdrawn." (latimes)

in my experience out here in california so far, one thing has become clear: you cannot let the public vote on social progress. you just can't. people are too set in their ways, too scared, to let social change happen by their own punch of the ballot card.
what do you think would have happened if, back in 1954, the matter of desegregating schools had been put to a public vote?
i mean really.
what do you really think would have happened?

vaca. now?

i need a vacation.

you know you need a vacation when your job consists of sitting at a desk listening to music, and you need a break from that. i have probably the best job ever. but i literally can't listen to anymore music. everything sounds the same. norah jones? persian rap? same shit.
i need a week in the woods.

maybe it's just because i had a really great long weekend and i'm still stuck in relaxation mode.
or maybe it's because it's wednesday and wednesdays just kind of suck.
or maybe it's because i have my period.
or maybe it's because i'm beyond exhausted.
or maybe it's because my ear hurts.
who knows.
what i do know, is that i've peed at least a dozen times today. i can't stop. ok, maybe not a dozen. prolly more like eight. eight times. nah, nine. i'm trying to drink more water, but when i do this, i am rendered incapable of performing any activity without taking a bathroom break at least every 30-45 minutes. ugh. there better not be any traffic on the way home.

ha.
who am i kidding.

epic fail.

i ate.
after 22 hours.
i couldn't do it.
i didn't WANT to do it anymore.
i realized that what i was doing wasn't worth what i was trying to achieve. i have decided that what i really want is a cleaner, healthier body, and that i can achieve just that by eating healthy and being more active, which is what i plan to do. so if nothing else..this silly 22-hour liquid nast diet cleared all that fuzz from my brain.
fuck fasting. UGH.

i was fine until i got home from work and sat down to watch the bachelorette, during which, every 2 out of 3 commercials were for the olive garden. at this point i had already downed [and threw up] way too much salt water in an attempt to flush out my system. having to stand in the bathroom and drink even more of this shit was so disgusting and ridiculous that even though i was able to keep the 2nd batch down, i was in no way excited about it. at the very least i thought i'd get a good flush and be able to make it through the night. but nothing happened! i sat there all night and nothing happened. i just felt GROSS. i called matt to complain about how i was feeling and he told me to eat.

so i went to the grocery store and bought a bag of granola, strawberries, bananas and almond milk, brought it over to hermitage and had the best bowl of cereal of my life.

take that, stanley burroughs.


the master cleanse, jessica style. much better.

eat me

recipe for delicious veggie lasagna with tomato sauce and chard [or spinach!]:

i've made this a few times and every time i eat it all way too quickly. it is SO tasty. i've always made it with chard, as in the original recipe [thanks, nytimes] but on saturday i used spinach instead because i had SO MUCH in my garden and this was the best way to use it up. they are both DELISH [swiss chard is probably a bit cheaper]
anyhow. with that said...

-1 generous bunch of swiss chard [or spinach] - whichever you choose to use, make sure you have about 1.5 lbs of it. this shit cooks down like no other.

-salt

-1/2 lb lasagna noodles [regular or no-boil]

-2 T plus 1 t extra virgin olive oil

-2 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed

-2 pounds fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced, OR one 28 oz. can of chopped tomatoes with the juice [this saves some time and money and is just as tasty]

-pinch of sugar!

-1 large basil spring [fresh is best, though when i'm in a pinch, i've sprinkled a bit of dried basil flakes]

-freshly ground pepper

-1/2 c. fresh ricotta cheese [kristina, you can find a substitute, i'm sure :)]

-1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan [or more, if you're like me]

1. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil while you prepare the greens. Tear the leaves from the stems and wash thoroughly. Discard the stems [or do with them what you will]. Prepare a big bowl of ice water.

2. When the water comes to a boil, add the greens. Boil 1-2 minutes [from the time the water comes BACK to a boil] until tender, but still bright green. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and transfer to your ice water. Drain and squeeze out excess water. Chop coarsely and set aside. Now boil your lasagna noodles in the same water [unless using no-boil!], adding a bit more water if necessary. Remove the pasta from the pot and toss with 1 t of olive oil in a bowl.

3. While noodles are boiling, heat 1 T of olive oil over medium heat in a wide, nonstick frying pan. Add the garlic. Cook, stirring until it smells tasty - about a minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, basil, and salt [begin with 1/2 t and adjust for taste later - i can tell you now you will probably need a bit more than this]. Bring this mixture to a simmer. Let it simmer, stirring often, until it has thickened, 15-20 minutes, depending on the amount of juice in the pan. Taste and adjust seasonings. Remove the basil sprig. Stir in the greens and remove from the heat.

4. Preheat the oven to 375. Oil your baking dish and line the bottom with a layer of noodles. Spread half the ricotta over the noodles followed by half the tomato/green sauce. Sprinkle on some parmesan. Add another layer of noodles and top with the remaining ricotta and the remainder of the sauce. More parm. Finish up with your last layer of noodles and MORE PARMESAN! drizzle the remaining olive oil [about a T] over the top. Cover the dish tightly with foil. Bake 30 minutes, or until bubbling and the pasta is tender.

5. Take out, let cool [for a hot sec], and EAT. MMMMMMMMMMMM.


what i wish mine looked like.

mr. clean

i am master cleansing.
yes, i am drinking the lemonade.
the lemonade that crazy people drink.
with syrup and cayenne pepper.
perhaps i am crazy.

this cleanse is recommended for 10 days.
there is no way in hell this girl can last that long without food [how can that even be good for you?], so my goal is to get through friday. that would be 5 days. we will see.
really, i just want to beat william [who tried it last year and made it 13 hours].

anyhow - i consider myself to be a faaaairly healthy person..i try to eat my fruits and veggies, and i don't pig out on fast food ALL the time...but for every salad and grapefruit that i eat, i make sure to supplement it with a burger from Habit or animal fries from in 'n out. i can't help it. and i don't want these delicacies to disappear from my diet forever! i just need to feel what it's like to not eat them for awhile..to not WANT them for a while..and i'm hoping that this cleanse will give me a fresh start. my idea is that after i clean out my body, i'm going to want to keep filling it with goodness, and to stay away from the burgers and the beers and the fries [at least more than i do now]. don't get me wrong, i LOVE my food. LOVE. LOVE. food. and i don't plan on sacrificing all of my favorite foods. there's something real special about diving into a big juicy burger from habit, with grilled onions and pickles... i just want to learn to eat them in moderation. and i want to start exercising. basically i just want to give my insides a fresh start. i'm at a really great place mentally right now and i want to feel the same way about my internal physicality.
so for all of my vital organs - this is for you. [i hope.]

[iunderstandthiscleanseismostlikelyaloadofhippiebullshit]

update 3pm: text conversation between matt and i

m: wanna get habit tonight?
m: oh wait....nevermind
j: ..i hate you.
j: evil, evil boyfriend.
m: luv you
m: :)
j: yeahhhhh yeah. whatever. jerk.
j: you'd better watch it. i've got shit to do today and can spend allllll day plotting my revenge.

...and i will.

happy birthday, matt! [blowguns are illegal in california]

my boyfriend's birthday was on sunday.
this was also mother's day.
mom got flowers.
matt got speaker stands and a blowgun.



after sleeping in [matt got the day off!] we did presents, watered the garden, and lazed about. dt and erica made us tasty tasty breakfast sandwiches and we sat outside on the back patio and devoured them. the boys went inside and played with the blowgun while e and i hung out back until the gun made its way outside. we had our fun and then realized that it was already 3 and we had to get to the beach. matt and i went to el matador up in malibu. once we got to the water it was mighty chilly, so we laid around doing crosswords and then took a walk through the caves and down past the fancy shmance malibu beach homes.

we stopped at trader joe's on the way home to do our shopping for the week. it's so cheap. and so good. we got home, showered, grabbed tim and katya, and went to indian for din din.

heart of india cafe is the best place around. their mint chicken tikka is divine, and it's the only place i can find one of my favorite beers - yeti. mmmm. the only concern i have with the place is that it is NEVER busy. if there are 2 other parties when we're there, that's a good night. i'm worried it will go out of business. that scares me. what will we do without sunny and sehti??
so we eat there. all the time. i mean, if we don't go, they could go under! [or so we tell ourselves..this is how we justify going there wayyyy too often] dinner was good except that they started putting CHERRY PASTE STUFF in their kabuli naan! wtf, heart of india?? that shit was NASTY. it tasted like naan filled with medicine. i thought our server fucked up [he's new. andd...weird.] but when i asked sunny, he said they just started doing that. ew. next time. kabuli naan sans cherry shit.

i saabed us home and we had surprise birthday cake. tim picked up a delicious chocolate raspberry cake earlier in the evening. i had plans to bake a cake, but then matt got the day off. YAY! after cake everyone went outside and blowgunned for a bit. i hit the beer can. then all of the food i had eaten finally hit my stomach and i went into sleep mode. crossword to fall asleep, and the day was over.

what a lovely, lovely day.


the blowgun is probably one of the cooler things i've ever gotten for anyone.

dt and erica agree.

avett salvation [and other things. but not much.]

what a GREAT WEEKEND!

friday i went over and saw the avett brothers at paramount. they played an acoustic set for about 25 people. paramount served milk and cookies. i felt like i was in my living room. my living room in heaven.
after the show, i spoke to the brothers avett and asked if they remembered chris and faith [garden st. cafe] - they remembered them well, and even remembered the name of The Black Swan, where they played a show in 2005. HOW did they remember that? even I sometimes forget the name of that bar. they talked about how much they enjoyed that show and that they'll never forget it.
...clearly.
after being a grade-A nerd [that's what nerds do, right? get grade A's? ...bad joke, bad joke...reaalll bad joke. ugh i'm sorry.] and posing for a photo and getting my poster signed [what? you got a problem?] i floated back to work. i finished up the day, went home to work on matt's gift, aaaand....i think that's it? i don't remember. i bet i'm going to end up like my mom and not remember what i did 5 minutes ago.

saturday was a gorgeous day. i worked on matt's gift [which were SPEAKER STANDS. I CAN SAY IT NOW BECAUSE HIS BIRTHDAY HAS ALREADY COME] allllll day. dt and erica helped me a boatload. i thought i was going to need their help for a half hour just holding some pieces together for me while i did the assembly. boy was i wrong.

3 hours later we were finally finishing up. rather, dt was finishing up. he was kind and let me drill some of the wood together, but i fucked up. twice. ugh. seriously, everything that could have gone wrong with these things during the process, did. the wood was not cut at the measurements i wanted, the first coat of stain dried weird, a bug dried in the paint on one of the pipes, i didn't have the right size drill bit, the screws i bought were too long and kept breaking, i had tim drill the initial holes in the wrong spot, the sand paper i had was too gritty and left scratches, the store didn't have really fine sand paper...i could go on. but that's what makes them so special..right? labor of love. labor of love.



as soon as these were finished, i ran around to get ready to see THE AVETTS with danny. we trained it to hollywood & vine and got in line. we walked in and scooched in front of a group of too-cool-for-school kids sitting on the floor in front of the stage. the opening band [magnolia electric] played...boooooring. i thought i was going to like them, until i realized that their 40 minute set may as well have been one really long song. and really, guys, don't smile. no need. your performance isn't affected at all by any emotion you may see fit to portray. at this point there was just one girl between me and the barrier up front, and i didn't want to look at her curly hair anymore. i asked danny how much money he thought it would take for the tall guy next to her to let me stand in front of him. after standing there for a good 45 seconds, rocking back and forth, mouth twisted in contemplation, i thought maybe i would ask mr. red shirt what the chances were of me standing in front of him. but danny got to it first.
"hey man, i have a huge favor to ask...would you mind if she stood in front of you?"
"ohh not at all! go for it! blah blah blah"
thank yous and hugs ensued.
as did utter disbelief at my location.
first row.
dead center.
are you kidding me?
the 4 friends around us were real great, and we struck up conversation while waiting for the show to commence. they'd seen them 8 times [native north carolinians] so thankfully it was no skin off their back to let me scoot up front.
the show started and i couldn't stop smiling. in the song 'salina' they mention poughkeepsie. it's real quiet, just scott singing a line about ptown, and as soon as he said it, i yelled at the top of my lungs, "YEAH POUGHKEEPSIE!!!!!!" like a grade-A [F?] moron. they all looked down at me and laughed. seriously, who the fuck from LA is from poughkeepsie? if they hadn't recognized me before, they definitely knew i was there after that outburst. heaven. the show ended way too soon. i could've listened to them all night long. they were unbelievable. the show was life changing for danny, and i'm glad.

i would have been more than content with my location behind miss curly, but being where i was really made the night special. i was the girl that i always wish i was when i go to shows. and i caught scott's bandana at the end. matt thinks it's gross. i think it's beautiful.

beautiful day

i reckon yesterday was gosh darn close to perfect.

i woke up a wee bit late and laid in bed talking to matt for awhile before i ended up actually leaving the house. i fed the hungry cats and watered the garden [which is doing wonderfully, i might add] and hopped in my hot-ass car.

i listened to my bicycle mix on my way to work, which put me in a superb mood, since the songs in that mix are nothing but 'smile and be happy' songs.

for lunch yesterday i drove over to larchmont. finding a parking spot is always near impossible, but i found one...and it was free... ok, so it was blockbuster's customer parking only..but i was only a second! i ran across the street to my favorite bagel joint, sam's bagels, and ordered a hummus sandwich on a toasted everything bagel. it was perfect. i also realized i still had money on my starbucks card and so after being cornered by a canvassing man on the street and telling him that "i'm sorry, i support amnesty international, but i cannot give you a monthly donation, no way no how" i ordered myself an iced mocha. perfect lunch.

soon after i ate, john came into the office and told me that they were doing birthday cake in the main building at 4. each month peermusic does cake and ice cream for all the birthdays in that particular month. nobody knew it was my birthday [i don't work in that building, and i didn't tell anyone] but they soon found out [when i said to them "hey..it's my birthday, too.."], and everyone sang to me. the cake was so yummy and it was nice to take a little break with everyone.

i came back to my office, stuffed with treats, and finished up a bit of work. a little before 6, i got a call from columbia, inviting me to an avett brothers showcase [today!!!!!]. i got off the phone, freaked out a little bit, and drove home. traffic was an absolute bitch, but i made it.

i went inside for a few minutes, bummed that my birkenstocks hadn't arrived in the mail yet, hopped on my bike, ran to Jon's for some chocolate chips, and went over to hermitage. i met tim's lady friend from the ukraine and worked on matt's birthday present for a bit. then tim told me he was making CHICKEN TACOS. i was bummed because i thought i'd miss them. i was meeting matt and feldmann and foxy at the movies and figured the tacos wouldn't be ready in time [tim is an AMAZING but very slow chef :)]. but tim and katya were hungry! so tim got on it and i had time to eat tacos!!!! I WAS SO EXCITED, THEY'RE MY FAVORITE FOOD. really. they're the reason i eat food.

i biked home after dinner to grab my car and i saw a box lying on my chair in my room. my birkenstocks!!! AHHH!! they feel like a second pair of feet. they're so comfortable. i took a few minutes walking around the house in them and then booked it to the movie theater. i got there 3 minutes before the movie started. STAR TREK. IT WAS SO GOOD. seriously. i didn't get a SINGLE inside joke in that film [all you trekkies out there, you know who you are] and i still thought it was absolutely wonderful. i was so entertained. it's 2 hours and 15 minutes of action. in space.
...can it get any better? go see it. it's dark knight status.

then matt and i came home, made some midnight mac n cheese and called it a night.

boy. what a great day.