I'm not much into health food, I am into champagne

allow me to share some videos

2009-11-08T21:28:00.005-06:00

the following videos aren't related in any way other than that they entertained me recently.

sign of the apocalypse-bacon cheese doughnut burger-this guy is PISSED!

penelope has been my favorite part of snl for the past couple of seasons. this one is from last night's episode and it's just as amazing as all the rest.

this is from the blind pilot show last week. it's a cover of gillian welch's "look at miss ohio" and it is incredible. it's a great song and i especially love this cover of it because i can tell that they really like playing it. god, i love them.

ow ow owwww

2009-11-08T17:58:00.002-06:00

last night i did some wrastlin' with my nephew. piggy back ride type stuff, rolling on the floor, you get the idea. then when i was getting ready to go out last night i started to have a little bit of shoulder pain. it has only gotten worse in the last 24 hours. the entire right side of my neck/collar bone/shoulder (from front to back) is soooo sore.

i've been rockin' the heating pad on and off all day but it's not really doing anything. ibuprofen isn't doing anything either. i feel that i probably need to see a doctor but the fact that it's sunday evening severely limits my options. i don't think i could handle sitting in a waiting room for hours on end. i guess i'll try to sleep through the night tonight and see what i can do tomorrow. ughh this sucks.

awesome bloggers invade austin

2009-11-05T22:52:00.004-06:00

this morning i read jenn's blog about a possible blogger meet up in austin in april. i blog a lot but i'm not super active in the blogging community. i would like to be but i guess i haven't found by niche. oh well. anyway, that blog post that jenn made got me thinking about my favorite places to take visitors when they come to austin.

first, i LOVE to take out of towners to vivo to enjoy their delicious margaritas. they seriously make the best margaritas in town!

next, it's always fun to catch a movie at one of the alamo drafthouse locations. who doesn't love yummy food and booze while enjoying a movie?

if the opportunity presents itself, one should always take in a concert at stubb's! overall, it's my favorite venue in austin. i can't even count the number of awesome shows i've seen there.

for a great, unique brunch experience you can't get much better than the south congress cafe. of course, i also loooove the brunch at nomad! but if you go to the south congress cafe, you're within walking distance of some really fun places! like hey cupcake! yummmm!

it's always pretty cool to support local businesses. i'm a big fan of the north loop area, personally.

and now here's a list of my favorite "watering holes" in town:

the side bar

club deville

mugshots

bender

barflys

liberty

i'm more into the dive bar scene than anything else so that's pretty much what all those places are. if you're looking for the unce-unce dance club, you'd have to ask someone else for recommendations. and if you want to hang out with 21 year old frat daddies and sorostitutes, you'll also need to ask someone else for help with that. actually, i guess i could provide a list of all the places that i avoid. ha!

oh and honorable mention goes to the one bar that's actually on 6th street that i have spent a lot of time in: jackalope, if only for the helldorado!

all pictures in the post were taken by yours truly (except for the drafthouse logo)! it was fun to be able to use my own images of all these places! i'm sure there are more places that i'm forgetting but these are really my absolute favorites.

a train story

2009-11-03T20:32:00.004-06:00

the mother of one of my best friends wrote a children's book! it's called a train story and i think every child should have it!

dolores and a couple of her kids were in town this past weekend selling the book at the texas book festival and we picked up a copy for my nephew.

isn't that adorable? we LOVE the book because it's a fun story and the illustrations are fantastic. this book is great for kids of any age! i also personally think it's great to be reminded of just how fascinating trains can be for kids (and adults!). so if you're looking for a christmas gift for that special kid on your list, snatch this up for them!

i didn't forget!

2009-11-03T20:20:00.003-06:00

i've just been super busy today!

the race is tomorrow!

2009-10-31T10:30:00.002-05:00

the race for the cure is tomorrow morning! i have exceeded my personal fundraising goal and our team has DOUBLED its goal of $1000. i am so pleased with that! i can't say thank you enough. i am in awe of how many amazing people we have in our lives. you guys are so great!

THANK YOU!

a perfect thursday night

2009-10-30T21:47:00.004-05:00

last night was one of the best nights i've had in a while. it started with bonnie and i hanging out at my sister's house. nels was being particularly adorable, as is evidenced here. he was so taken with bonnie! he sat there with her for several minutes. most of you don't really know nels so you don't know how huge that is for him. he NEVER sits still. he's constantly on the move. then we went to pick up jason and we all had dinner at freebirds. we headed downtown to meet up with everyone before the blind pilot show. we decided on shakespeare's' because it's close to the parish. it's a pretty douchey bar but if you're there early in the evening it's not so bad. apparently their thursday special is $5 liquor pitchers. WTF?! how is that even legal? yowza!

the show was absolutely fantastic. it was the 5th time i've seen them this year and definitely the best. i wish i could drop everything and travel to see some of their shows. they're so talented! and omg, SO friendly. they're seriously the best. they let us take all of these ridiculous pictures with them.

and if you need proof of how awesome they are, just watch this video!

north american halloween prevention initiative

2009-10-28T09:38:00.002-05:00

for the past few years, the thing i get most excited about around halloween is that i can watch/listen to this song a lot and not feel weird. you know, sometimes you want to listen to christmas music in may but you can't. anyway, the north american halloween prevention initiative put out this song in 2005 as a benefit for unicef. i love so many of the artists involved with this song!

wordless wednesday

2009-10-28T00:10:00.001-05:00

i'm trying it!

2009-10-27T06:02:00.005-05:00

my friend jenn over at she says the darndest things does this every week and i thought i'd give it a shot. i can't say that i'll do it every tuesday but i'll try my best!

a plea for help!

2009-10-26T22:48:00.007-05:00

the race for the cure is this sunday and i think some of you still haven't made donations! honestly, even the smallest amount helps. finding a cure for breast cancer is something that is important to me, and should be important to all of you. it's a tough fight and there's no way it can be done without the support of LOTS of people. so please make a donation if you are able.

also, if you would like to host this little button on your own blog, or even make a blog post about where to make a donation, i wouldn't hate you!

and thanks again to those of you who have already donated. you rule the school!

a week in pictures

2009-10-26T20:42:00.001-05:00

in case you haven't noticed it on the side of this here blog, i am taking a photograph a day for a year. anyway, i was just reading back in my blog from several months ago and i came across the post where i first mentioned this project. i had apparently toyed with the idea of posting the week's pictures every sunday. what a fun idea! i don't really know why i didn't do it and to be honest, i don't even remember having that thought. but it's not too late and i believe i will start doing that now. so here are my pictures from 10/18-24:

nels and his critter sized broom

a beautiful day captured nicely by my toy camera app

aaaand a rainy day

i seriously don't have a clue!

nels being the cutest baby ever

the vivo patio kitty

rachel and david after thrill the world in all their creepy zombie make up

an addiction i haven't even bothered to fight

2009-10-26T00:32:00.002-05:00

it's time for me to be honest with you about something, dear reader. i am hopelessly addicted to line up. what is line up, you ask? i think it's best if i let the pictures do the talking.

i somehow stumbled upon this free app one day a few weeks ago and it's been a downward spiral ever since. i play it in bed when i should be sleeping, i play it during my lunch break at work, i even play it during crucial baseball games! this has got to stop. but i don't know if i really want it to stop. i played it on and off during a couple of the alcs games and i think it helped ~calm my nerves~ or whatever. oh i don't know, that's probably just some excuse that i'm making. kind of like saying, "i can quit anytime!"

let this be a warning to you all: do not download line up. i know the fact that it's free is mighty intriguing (at least i hope i'm not the only one intrigued by free apps) but it's not worth the time investment that you'll end up making. trust me.

a new york state of mind

2009-10-25T23:28:00.001-05:00

i, along with MANY other fans, have been waiting years to see the yankees go back to the world series. it is finally happening! i've been hearing all year that this is their year but i have tried not to get my hopes up because i've been let down so hard before. i would be lying if i said i wasn't worried about the phillies. they are a scrappy team that can pull together wins against the best of opponents. i know that they're the defending world champions and i'm sure they want to win the world series pretty badly but i think the yankees might want it more. they're dying to win another world championship. they have a great team of players with a great mix of talent and passion and they're ready!

before the last out, mariano rivera got this look on his face that made me think he was showing the tiniest bit of emotion. he never gets worked up, he never lets his emotions show. after the last out he was all smiles and it was the most beautiful sight. when all the players were in that jumpy-bouncy pile mo ran up and jumped on everyone. i couldn't believe my eyes when i saw that the person who did that was wearing number 42. i guess if there was ever a time to let the world see how excited you are, tonight was the night.

ahhh the post-game show is on and jorge and mo are both up being interviewed with all their kids standing with them. it's adorable! woah, sorry about that distraction. anyway, i guess this is really all i have to say right now. i'm extremely excited, albeit a tad nervous, to watch the world series!

extreme makeover: blog edition

2009-10-25T16:33:00.001-05:00

every few months i decide to overhaul the ol' blog. i guess it kind of comes with the seasons. this time i made a collage header, something i haven't had on here before. i like it! the new color scheme is pretty warm, so i guess it's a "fall layout" or something. anyway, if you read my blog through a reader or some rss feed, you should come check it out in all its over-designed glory. i'm actually pretty proud of it though. i didn't have to use a blog template website or anything. i hate those because they always have a ridiculous icon or banner telling everyone where the design came from. well, guess what people, this design came from my brain! it might be simple but i'm okay with that. i don't want to have a busy blog. those give me the creeps.

where the wild margaritas are

2009-10-24T12:23:00.001-05:00

my margarita partner in crime, bonnie, came up to austin yesterday afternoon for a little date at vivo and the drafthouse. we split some nachos, had some margaritas, and saw where the wild things are. oh, there may have been mimosas at the movie as well. it was a great time. it was really nice to sit and catch up, it's been a couple of months since bonnie has been to austin. have i ever told you guys about the margaritas at vivo? they are so delicious! i always get the mango strawberry with no salt. they use real fruit instead of the nasty flavored syrups that so many other places use. it's not unusual to suck a chunk of mango up your straw while enjoying one of these bad boys. mmm!

the movie was beautifully made. obviously, there wasn't much of a storyline to follow because the book is only 10 sentences long. i did cry a couple of times and i'm not ashamed of that. bonnie and i both heard the guys sitting next to us sniffling. everyone i know who has seen it cried so i was expecting the worst. i guess i managed to hold most of it in until the end. it's not one of those movies that's just sad for the sake of being sad though. there is a lot of beauty and happiness as well. i recommend it to just about anyone!

now i'll leave you with a photo of one of my beautifully delicious margaritas.

Testing a blog app

2009-10-23T00:03:00.001-05:00

Is this thing on? I'm testing an app that will allow me to blog from my iPhone. Fun!! And I can post pics directly from the phone as well. Thanks, Jenn!

-- Posted from my iPhone

a couple new pictures

2009-10-22T18:15:00.004-05:00

i thought it was supposed to rain today. apparently i was w-r-o-n-g because it is GORGEOUS out there! 70ish and sunny, without a cloud in the sky. this is the type of weather that people live for. anyway, i just wanted to quickly share these pictures of my nephew that i took today. he is just the most adorable person on the planet!

oh woe is me

2009-10-21T21:07:00.001-05:00

so i have to complain about something real quick: now that i have an iphone, i NEVER use my actual computer. what does that mean for you people? it means i hardly ever blog. i doubt that anyone really cares about that but i guess i do. another thing, i've been doing this project 365 since april and i got SO FAR BEHIND on it because i used to be in the habit of uploading a picture from my laptop everysinglenight. for the first couple of weeks that i had the iphone i still uploaded every day but that quickly fell by the wayside. i just spent the last 30 minutes catching it up. i hope to never get that far behind again!

i need to start using my real cameras more. the camera on the iphone is nice, for a phone, but i have several hundred dollars worth of camera equipment that i should be using! i have the next 4 days off work so hopefully i'll get inspired and motivated to take some damn pictures. although, i doubt i'll be taking many (if any) tomorrow because it's supposed to be another rainy day. rainy pictures are bad.

another thing about spending ZERO time on the computer is that i'm so far behind on reading blogs. it's awful. i'm sorry, y'all! i just hate reading blogs on my phone so i don't do it, then when i sit down at my computer, i get distracted after about 5 minutes (which ain't enough time to catch up on everything!). some of my friends do all these cool weekly blog activities that i would love to participate in but i know i'll drop the ball the second week or so. who knew that getting an iphone would actually give me an F in internetting?

let me tell you about my friend robin

2009-10-21T20:09:00.001-05:00

i have this amazing friend named robin. i met her through our mutual, badass friend, kelly. robin is one of the most wonderful, special people i have ever met in my life. i constantly feel lucky that we made our way into each other's lives. she is kind, giving, hilarious and absolutely beautiful (with gorgeous loooong hair!). needless to say, she is a very important person in my life. sometimes we go weeks or months without seeing each other but we're always in contact in some way or another and we can catch up without skipping a beat.

a little less than 2 months ago robin was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. she's had a knot on the back of her neck for a few years now and each time she saw a doctor about it, they told her it was stress/tension and prescribed muscle relaxers. well, she finally saw a doctor who was concerned by this knot, now almost the size of a pear, and he ordered imaging tests. it turns out that the "knot" is actually a tumor, a sarcoma. more imaging revealed that it has metastasized down her spine and into her lungs. i was dumbstruck when i learned this news. it's been hard for me, and all of us, to think about but we have to address it because this is happening. this is not pretend.

her family lives in lubbock and they have been in and out of austin and houston since the day robin got the news. she was able to get appointments with a great team of doctors at md anderson, which is probably the place to be if you have cancer. she went through several weeks of tests and then found out that she needed to be in houston for 3 weeks to do chemo. her mom and older sister were with her for the first week, which was rough to say the least. after the week was over she was cleared to come home for a couple of days! she has moved back to lubbock to continue the rest of the treatment but i was lucky enough to see her on saturday night. i hadn't seen her in several weeks so part of the time was just spent catching up, but the other part was spent crying. i'm not going to lie, i am worried. and i am sad. i am sad that i can't be there for robin while she's going through this. i know she's not alone, she has the greatest family on the planet taking care of her, but i'm still bummed that i'm so far away and that there's nothing i can do for her.

last february, the night before i had a bone marrow aspiration, several of us went out to dinner at hickory street. a man drew a picture of all of us sitting around our table. when he came up to show it to us, we all dismissed him pretty quickly because we thought he wanted us to buy it from him. he gave it to us and everyone agreed that i should have the picture because i "needed" it the most. as you all know, my bone marrow aspiration came back clear! on saturday, before i went to see robin, i knew that that picture now belonged to her. she started crying as soon as she saw it which, of course, made me cry. hopefully it works its magic on her :)

susan g. komen race for the cure

2009-10-13T16:51:00.001-05:00

as some of you may know, my mother is a breast cancer survivor. my family history includes several cases of breast cancer on both sides. i suppose the least i can do is participate in the race for the cure here in austin on november 1. it's because of organizations like the susan g. komen foundation that we've come as far as we have in the battle against breast cancer. the more money we raise, the more they can research and find a cure! i know that these are some tough economic times but literally every bit counts. if you could, please make a donation! i will be dragging my butt out of bed at the crack of dawn on november 1 to walk these 3 miles. won't you please help motivate me by giving a few bucks?

thanks!

i'm alive!

2009-10-11T14:37:00.001-05:00

wow, it's been almost 2 weeks since i last updated this thing. sorry! i've been so busy lately that i just haven't had the time to sit down and write about anything.

last saturday my friend robyn got married! she's been dating ricky for NINE years so it was about damn time! the wedding was fantastic. it was rainy but that didn't stop the reeds from throwing a kick ass party. it was catered by sambet's and i have to say, it was probably the best wedding food i've ever had. deep fried turkey, red beans and rice, etc. AND instead of a wedding cake they had a bread pudding bar! it was so delicious. they had traditional, chocolate, and pumpkin bread puddings with several toppings. we decided that we're going to have to make pumpkin bread pudding for thanksgiving this year because it's so much more delicious than pumpkin pie.

after the toasts i had to book it downtown for grizzly bear at emo's. what a show! i didn't think they could get better than the show at the parish back in june but they did. it was breathtaking. i can't even think of the words to describe it. if you haven't seen these guys, i highly recommend you do. it's such an amazing experience!

on sunday i went to see bon iver at the paramount and that was another show that left me pretty much speechless. it's definitely something that has to be experienced. reading about it just doesn't do it justice. i got goosebumps/tears in my eyes multiple times. for a couple of days i was pretty sure that i just wanted to live the rest of my life inside the paramount, watching bon iver. i still think that would be a nice way to spend the rest of my time on this planet.

so, needless to say, it was a really wonderful weekend. there were some low points but the high points definitely out weighed them. on monday i spent the entire day either sleeping or thinking about sleeping. when i went back to work on tuesday i felt terrible. i was beyond exhausted. it didn't make much sense to me because i had definitely caught up on any sleep that i might have missed. well, tuesday night i figured out what my problem was. are you ready for this, internet? i was bit by a brown recluse spider, in my sleep, probably on sunday night. gross, i know. i actually found the spider in my room tuesday night, shortly after discovering a weird bite on my leg. so that would explain the exhaustion and the general crappy feeling i had for a few days. i'm still feeling pretty fatigued but now i think it might just be a reflection of our cool, gray, rainy weather.

on thursday night, my bff and i headed to the cedar park center to see wilco. i will never understand why they agreed to play there but whatever. the seats were uncomfortable but the sight lines were great. i could see everything, even glenn! i never get to see glenn so it was pretty exciting for me. wilco definitely didn't let a weird venue bring them down. they rocked that place for close to 2.5 hours and played 27 songs. it was fantastic! i always forget just how much i love those guys until i see them live again. jeff talked about several things, one of which was that he wished they were playing 2 nights in austin. i think maybe that's why they played such a long, great show, to make up for the fact that they only had one night here. whatever the reason, i'm so grateful that they did. it was a really fun night.

i just got home from the most wonderful brunch ever at nomad. i've been there a few times for brunch but it's been several months since i was last there. beau and beth have really stepped up the menu and it is unbelievable! let me tell you, that double chocolate peanut butter waffle is just as good as it sounds! everything was so delicious, i can't wait to go back very soon. if you like brunch (and who doesn't?!) and live in austin, you seriously must check this out. it is worth every penny! and i'm a cheap so that's saying a lot.

phew! so now you're caught up, sort of. i have other things to discuss in individual blogs but i just had to get all of this out now. i hope i never go 2 weeks without updating again!

my new boyfriend

2009-09-28T21:33:00.001-05:00

on saturday night i went to liberty with erin and alicia. and we found my new boyfriend. ladies, keep your hands off my man. i know you all want a guy who can pull off booty shorts but you'll have to go find your own. and you should only be so lucky to find a man that also wears a studded belt with his booty shorts. i mean, BE STILL MY HEART.

obviously you should click on the picture to enlarge it. and ignore the fat elbow. i wish i had a better picture to share with you guys but this will have to do...until the next time i see him out.

love is better than a warm trombone

2009-09-23T13:12:00.002-05:00

i've written a little about this in the past but it's been on my mind recently so i'm going into more detail.

several weeks before sxsw it was announced that gomez and the decemberists would be playing a free show at pangea on st. patrick's day, the night before sxsw officially began. i could not have been more excited! until i found out that the only way to get tickets to this free show was to wait in line at waterloo records on the morning of march 16th. if you didn't already know, i work in retail and was already taking off wednesday-saturday of that week to attend the festival so there was no way i could take any time off to go get ticket for the show. and, of course, those that waited in line for the tickets could only collect one. i was beside myself. i finally decided i was just going to call in sick on march 16th (which is also my birthday) because i HAD to have a ticket to this show.

the ticket drop was to take place at 10:00 am and we knew that people would be there crazy early so we debated how early was too early to show up. i think we ended up arriving around 6:30 but i can't remember exactly. we were only about 15 people back in the line so we knew we would get tickets, it was just a matter of keeping ourselves entertained for 3+ hours. that wasn't too hard since there were quite a few of us there: me, dana, jeremy, alicia, phoebe, rachel, david and a couple of david's friends. we talked, did crossword puzzles and drank birthday mimosas. yes, david went to whole foods and came back with champagne and orange juice. it was so much fun! eventually they opened the store and we all filed in to get our one ticket.

at that point, it was only about 10:15 am and i probably could have gone into work for the rest of the day but i was exhausted because i woke up super early that morning. i went home, took a nap, and then went to vivo for my birthday dinner.

the next day i worked until 6:00 or so and then headed to meet dana and jeremy to go to the show! on the way downtown we found out that getting into the show was also on a first-come-first-served basis. soooo they possibly gave away more tickets than they had room for? awesome! we ended up cutting in line with rachel and david to ensure our admittance (shhh! i hate cutters but there was no way i was risking not getting in after all the time i had already invested in this show). the doors opened at least 30 minutes later than they were supposed to. i was getting really impatient because at that point, it had been, like, 20 months since i had last seen gomez. i was ready! they finally let us in and the show was great! the open bar was nice too. haha!

now, the real point of this blog is to share these videos with you:

airstream driver which features several shots of audience members looking rather silly. the first time i watched this video i held my breath, hoping that my face would not appear on my computer screen.

love is better than a warm trombone which is surprisingly without crowd close-ups until a little over 3 minutes in. yes, that is yours truly, double-fisting free drinks. and while it may appear that i'm "cheersing" the camera man, i'm actually posing for meghan's camera that none of y'all can see. and wait, that's not all, i'm in it again just a few seconds later. there are no other audience members in that video. none. just moi. why? at first i was humiliated and i was glad that i was the first of my friends to see it because that meant i could decide whether anyone else saw the video. then i realized something, it's kind of funny. and the more i watched it, the funnier it got. and the less embarrassed i was. so i decided to share it! and no one made fun of me, at least not to my face. so now, dear weblog, i'm here to share the video with you. be gentle, it's my first time.

white light/white heat

2009-09-20T12:14:00.007-05:00

first thing monday morning i headed to my local at&t store and purchased a white 16gb iphone 3gs. i love it! i knew i would. i mean, how could i not? my old black ipod was named black betty so i had to come up with a name for this guy. white light/white heat is what i decided on, partially because it gets a little warm while the battery is charging but mostly because i love the velvet undergound. here are the apps that i've been using the most:

i really love camera bag and toy camera! they were definitely worth the $2-3 that i spent on each of them. here are some of my favorite pictures created with those apps: