A Journey To Hogwarts

One of the things that is difficult for me to understand is the lack of coffee shops in Seattle that are open LATE. Most coffee shops that I've come across close around 8 p.m. . . . 8 PM! What is THAT all about? Even in Austin, coffee shops stay open until 10 p.m. (at least from what I remember). There's even a Starbucks in Round Rock that's open 24 hours (drive through)! And up until recently, my neighborhood has been devoid of any truly local coffee shops—at least since I've lived here. But then my friend Kayleigh shared this gem with me . . . oh don't worry, you'll understand the pun in just a second . . . THE JEWEL BOX CAFE at Thornton Place. It's like 4 blocks from where I live, just across the street from the new movie theater.

This place is wonderful! They have great coffee, a swanky cool atmosphere, and they serve some yummy crepes and sandwiches. Ever since I found out about it, it's become my frequent hangout. I lovingly refer to it as Hogwarts cause the inside of it looks like something straight outta Harry Potter. It's so great that I now have a nice local coffee shop to come to. Today is just absolutely beautiful so I knew I HAD to come and get some yummy coffee and a sandwich. Here are some pics of my new hangout:

enjoying the beautiful sunny day

the entrance, the fireplace with couches in front of it

since it's so nice outside, they opened up the garage door side

the ordering bar

The bonus feature? IT'S OPEN LATE!
I have a feeling that many a script/song/project will be worked on here :D

Pictures Of You

For today's post, I thought I'd share just a few pictures I've taken around the city lately.

It's a sidewalk . . . reserved for people with HUGE bodies and tiny heads

FACT: i CAN'T tell you how to get to Sesame Street.
But i CAN tell you how to get to Narnia

No really. We don't mind!

One of my youth girls made this out of Jenga blocks during hang time

Looking out at my neighborhood from the 2nd floor
of the Barnes and Noble on a BEAUTIFUL evening! :D

VIDEO BLOG: Welcome To England

Miss California

I'm gonna take you to my boxcar on the beach
I'm gonna hang the sun above your bed
and soak your hair in bleach
You'll be missed, Miss California
You'll be kissed by only me
When they can't find you
You'll turn into a mystery
but you're no mystery to me

I call on Jesus but he heard I hurt his little girl
Yeah with my reckless stare
I've been so unfair misplacing my affections
She had a reason not to take me back into her care
Oh I'm just a stray dog now
I can't beg or bow
Just give me some direction

- Miss California by Jack's Mannequin

I got to hang out with some great women last night and talk about love and marriage (goes together like a horse and carriage). Coming from a broken home, I find that I have "every right" to not believe in love, to not believe that marriage can work, but it's just not the case for me. I'm not sure if it's just my natural defiance, but I have the biggest hopes for the success of marriage. I believe it IS possible for two people to journey through life together, with all of its ups and downs and work together to make their love and life worthwhile. I consider myself lucky to be surrounded by amazing men and women who remind me that it IS in fact, still possible and worth it all.

One thing we talked about was the dynamic of bringing two sets of everyday life and emotions into the mix. For instance, how the course of one person's day may be contrary to the other person's day, but when you come home, you bring your day with you and all the emotions associated with it. There can easily be a disconnect—that point when you want to shut down and just go home, not say anything, just walk around like a drone, and call it a night—instead of spending quality time with your husband or wife.

Admittedly, it's harder for women to disconnect from the day, and thus, we have the greater tendency to "not want to talk about it," or give up because "you just wouldn't understand" what we went through that day, and we can just go through daily motions to make it through another day. Oh the joys of (in general) being more emotional than our male counterparts.

One really tangible challenge I walked away with was from a story that one of the women shared. It was a story about a guy who would always carry a tape recorder with him, and on his way home, he would record himself talking to the recorder about all the burdens and junky stuff that happened during the day. He would then pull into his driveway, and before walking in the door, would erase the tape. He would get all the junk and stuff out of his mind, and was then able to walk in the door, ready to focus on his wife and family, not burdened by the weight of mundane life. I realize there must be a balance of talking about life with the love of your life, but some things really CAN get in the way—even in platonic relationships.

When I'm reminded how much power the words I speak and the attitudes I adopt affect my relationships, it wakes me up to the realization that I can change things and I can make everyday life a bit easier. I notice that when I get home to my housemates, I face the same dilemma: I've had a long day and I'm SO ready to just disconnect and go to my room and check e-mail and all my various social networking sites. And then I remember the times when we get together as housemates and how much fun we have just talking together and doing random silly stuff. These housemates of mine are my friends, and I get to see them every day, which may be why it's so easy to take them for granted. But they matter, and I realize I need to train myself to change some of my habits to devote time to them, and my other friends. If anything, it'll be good practice, and as I've heard a thousand times, "PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT." There is a balance, and now I'm reminded to challenge myself to find it and live in it.

Banana Republics

Last night me and the housemates got together for Banana Time! What is banana time you ask (I didn't really know what it was either)?

Basically, you cut a banana open, insert chocolate, wrap it in foil, bake it for a bit, and then open it up and add whip cream and ENJOY!

We had so much fun making these and talking about random stuff. One of the funnier moments to note was talking about the canvas portrait that's hanging in our upstairs hallway. It came with the house that we all rent and it's a painting of a chick in her undies. We were talking about how funny it is that we only have 2 pictures hanging on our walls in the house—the chick in the undies painting, and a framed picture of a beach scene. As a joke, I kept saying that whoever gets married first, I'm going to give them that painting as a wedding present—just so they can keep a piece of the house with them! I'm not really going to, but it was fun to laugh at the thought.

Anyway . . . here are some pics from our Banana Time:






Also, another random fact I will share. 99.9% of the time, if whip cream is put in arm's reach of me, it will end up on my face. Here's a pic of me getting ready to shave my whip creamed face with a spoon:



Fun times never end! ;)

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I questioned today why our society adopts certain standards. Mainly, I questioned why our society doesn't see pajamas as professional attire. I mean, sure, they're not so "static" and "plain" but that's the fun of them! I think I'd actually get MORE work done if I could wear my comfy jammies. I mean, at my current job, I can wear sweats, which are nice. But my sweats are not fuzzy and colorful like my jammies.

I think it would be so great to see a lawyer show up to the courtroom in jammies. I mean, if it's a guy, I'm hoping he'll at least wear boxers—anything else might just be nasty . . . let's get real: guy thigh=ick. I think if I searched out my heart of hearts, I wouldn't pass judgement on my doctor if she was wearing jammies while taking my bloodwork—heck, it might make me LESS afraid of needles!

Wait! Doctors! That's it!! I could be a doctor and wear scrubs—they're the best things next to p.j.'s!! The only thing is that I'm afraid of needles, and I don't want to go to school to be a doctor, and I'm pretty sure the only relief I'd bring to the clinic would be comedic relief. Think: Patch Adams . . . without the medical knowledge, or college experience, or cabin in the woods. On second thought—strike that. Instead, envision this:

Dear Corporate America:

I like you—really, I do. But lately we've been seeing life from two different perspectives. It's not anything that is seemingly detrimental to our relationship, but in any good relationship, there is give and take. I love that you let me do what I love while still being able to bring home the bacon. There's just one thing we don't agree on and that's professional attire. I know that you're partial to the whole starched dress shirt and creased khakis or slacks, but let's get real. No one REALLY enjoys wearing those things. They're expensive. They're uncomfortable. They are extremely high maintenance.

You know what sells cars? You know what will make people WANT to buy your thousand dollar product?

A smile . . . and THESE!


Now I know what you're thinking, a little over the top. But you know what people are lacking? Smiles . . . and pajamas. Look, I'll give you a couple of days to think about it, but I'm hoping you'll see my side of things, even for just a moment. I really am thankful that you make yourself available to me and you have helped me become a better person and taught me some astonishing things about the things I love to do. I simply implore you to consider letting loose. Doctors shouldn't be the only ones having fun rockin' the casual wear. I'm only looking out for others. Let love in. Start with Corporate America jammies.

Love,
Amanda
Lover of pajamas and coffee

Who's with me?!?

Bullet With Butterfly Wings

I just watched Shutter Island and I gotta admit, I feel like a rat in a cage. Seriously, I thought I had the plot nailed down in my head, and it turns out I had certain aspects, but I had NO clue it was going to end the way it did. And the way it did end left me baffled,with so many questions. It kind of reminded me of watching The Prestige and walking away and going, "What just happened?" I'm definitely going to have to watch that one again. I gotta admit, when I first saw the trailer I thought it would be a typical psychological thriller, which I love, but I wasn't expecting much. But it really surprised me. There were some serious jump moments where I (no joke) jumped back in my seat and put my hand on my heart to "steady" it. This movie is definitely not for the faint of heart—it's pretty graphic. I've always been fascinated with the human mind and behaviors and psychology, so it fed that part of me tonight. All in all, very enjoyable!

One major way I could tell it affected me was that afterwards, I walked across the street to The Jewel Box Cafe, which I now lovingly refer to as Hogwarts . . . cause it seriously looks like it inside . . . and I opened up my laptop and noticed that one of my icons that was normally on my dock was missing. And I seriously was like, "Am I losing my mind? Did I just pretend it was there? What is going on?" I think when a psychological thriller leads you to question your own sanity AFTER the movie is over, it's done its job. Job well done, Shutter Island, job well done—I salute you Martin Scorsese, Leo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, and Ben Kingsley—you've made a quality film

Letters From The Sky

Yesterday was a whirlwind day. As you can tell from the previous post, the morning was filled with tragedy on a broader scale. But my personal afternoon was marked with success, relief, and elation. For the past four months, I've been managing a big project for the company I work for. It is a 128 page journal that consists of articles jam-packed into every available space possible to get the maximum content, while still maintaining readability. The thing that made it especially challenging is that the editor-in-chief for this particular journal has been sending all of her edits and corrections via correspondence. She lives on the east coast, and I work on the west coast. And if the time zone issue wasn't tricky enough, the co-editor lives in another state, not on the west coast, and has been sending in HER edits around the same time. So timing, mixed with conflicting ideas and edits, and a rushed deadline can be very overwhelming! Normally when I work on journals at work, it's all done in-house, with the editing team readily available to work with me to make things work. This project was almost solely my "baby." My in-house editors were busy with their own projects, and my bosses were pushing for a speedy release of the journal, while also including their "final say" on the content. This equals A LOT OF CHANGES.

So after a lot of hard work and making it through stressful days, all the while, learning to hone my craft through it all, I was successful in meeting my deadline—even down to the last comma. Right before (no seriously, like 10 minutes before) the courier came to pick up the package, we looked over everything and noticed that we had missed a comma. My boss said it was okay to just ignore it, but my dedication to the project, and need for excellence in my work, forced me to run up the 3 flights of stairs to get to my office, fix the file, reprint the page, and burn a new CD, run it all back downstairs, and package it up for the courier to pick it up. And I got it done JUST in time! I had the BIGGEST adrenaline rush I've had in a while. I seriously did a "happy dance" as the courier walked out the office door with our project package in his hands.

So I got the job done, and took off of work early. I decided that it was cause for celebration! One of my absolute favorite places to eat is the Red Robin down by the waterfront where I can sit and enjoy my Clucks & Fries and look out at the beauty of Puget Sound. I got to watch the sunset and then I went for a walk around by the pier, enjoying the sound of the water and the reflection of the lights onto the water. Here are some pictures from yesterday afternoon and evening.

Enough For Now

I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.

- Joseph Stack
(pilot who crashed his plane into the Austin IRS building this morning)

There are parts of me that wishes I could clone myself. I could clone myself and seek out the most hurt and anguished people and be a friend. Then I realize I am only one person, meant to be that one person, and even though I couldn't help that man this morning, I can help someone each day so that the "needle never breaks the camel's back" for that person.

I think it's safe to say that "life isn't fair" and that "times are tough" but when I think about the pilot who crashed into the Austin IRS building this morning, I think about what it means to "take matters into your own hands." The thing about taking matters into your own hands is that you have to realize that most of the time, the only things you're holding in your own hands are your own bitterness, rage, malice, pain, and bent towards vindication. Your own hands can only hold so much and usually, the things that get left out of your hand include: family, friends, the standard of society, innocent lives, and maybe even that one person that may have helped you out of your situation in a few days time.

After reading the note that Joseph Stack left behind after burning down his own home and crashing his plane into a building, I was left with wonder. So many questions, so many accusations, and so many thoughts about where this leaves our society. I distinctly remember various points in my life when grown-ups would say, "Violence doesn't solve anything," "We don't hit," "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." I don't know if the blame for Joseph's behavior is going to be shifted to the sadness of the daily news, or to the recession, or to MTV, or if they will 'discover' that his parents were 'terrible' parents who never shared those life lessons with their son, and thus will be cast by low-budget actors in an upcoming Lifetime Channel Movie. I personally think it speaks to our ability as human beings to make choices every day—Joseph made or didn't make many choices along the way and ultimately, his choices led to MAJOR damage. And with today's events, I feel pain for that one person who doesn't see this as a tragedy, but as a beacon of hope that one day they can plan out something so that their voice can be heard . . . regardless of who else it affects. I hope that day never comes.

When I was growing up, I did a lot of stupid things. My parents, God bless them, definitely had some issues to work with when it came to me. But I have come leaps and bounds from who I was as a teenager. Through the years, I've learned how to grow past mistakes, how to respond when I am mistreated, how to take a few moments to think my choices through. I'd be lying if I said I made ALL the RIGHT choices ALL the time—but I make an effort. I have a lot of help along the way, of course. I just wish Joseph would have let someone in to help him along the way.

To say, "I wish this never would have happened," is a given. But it's definitely given me (sadly) yet another opportunity to think about how I'm responding to others around me and how I'm dealing with issues in my life, and who I need to let in, and who I need to help when they can't help themselves, and where those lines lay.

Moodswings and Melodies

One of the perks of my job is that from time to time, I get to take breaks and draw! It's so much fun and very therapeutic. Sometimes when the workload is overwhelming, it's good to get in a bit of a disconnect. Anyway, I thought I would share some of my fun drawings with you guys :D








Now QUICK—take a five minute break and just doodle something for FUN!! :D

The Little Things You Give Away

I don't think I've done this in a while, but for today's post, I'm going to link to another blog post that I think is worth reading. Here are things it will do for you (with a 95% GUARANTEE):

1. Make you smile.
2. Make you cry.
3. Make you think about the people in your life that mean the most to you.
4. Make your heart hurt.
5. Put you in the writer's "shoes" so to speak—it's very well written
6. Make you cry some more.
7. Make you realize the beauty of life
8. Make you realize that sometimes the best blessings look different than we planned.
9. Make you smile some more.
10. Make you want to share love with someone in need.

(thanks to Kelley for the link)

CLICK HERE IF YOU DARE

We Belong

(photo taken at the EMP Taking Aim Interactive Photo Booth)

The Experience Music Project has a new photography exhibit running right now featuring Rock and Roll photography:

EMP|SFM is proud to present Taking Aim: Unforgettable Rock 'n' Roll Photographs Selected by Graham Nash. This dynamic new exhibition, organized by Experience Music Project, showcases some of the most memorable photography in the history of popular music, as chosen by legendary musician Graham Nash of supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash, who is also well-known as a photographer, collector and pioneer in digital imaging and printing.

As guest curator, Graham Nash, brings his rich musical history, keen eye and storytelling skills to an exhibition of 98 rock 'n' roll images taken by 40 of the world's greatest music photographers, including Anton Corbijn, Lynn Goldsmith, Annie Leibovitz, Jim Marshall, Neal Preston, Mick Rock, Francesco Scavullo and Nash himself.

As I walked by each and every photograph, my love and passion for both photography and rock and roll music was re-awakened. The images were beautiful, painful, inspiring, and each truly evoked more than a thousand words surrounding the day and age they were taken in and what they represented. This photograph taken by Annie Leibovitz, of Emmylou Harris standing by a pond holding her guitar was my favorite:


It's simplicity and beauty just overwhelmed me. The power of one person, living in their element, sharing their dream and their heart with others through such a powerful art form is so stunning to me. All the time and talent and energy that one person can put into making their voice heard, and inspiring others to open up and talk about life with others is such a wonderful part of the arts. I remember seeing Plumb live in concert once and one of my favorite things that Tiffany Arbuckle said was, "Even though a lot of the songs deal with heavy subjects, it's real life. It's real hurts and real struggles that people have, and if all I can do is be a voice that opens up doors for others to talk about real life with someone else, and learn and grow from it, then everything I'm doing here is worth it." That, to me, is music. True music. True talent. True art.

To see more images from the exhibit, CLICK HERE.

All You Need Is Love

Have chalk, will travel. That was my motto this afternoon. I woke up this morning thinking about how much I love my neighborhood and I decided I wanted to do a little art project this afternoon around my neighborhood. I wanted to leave little sayings and encouragements about love, to share the love on this widely celebrated day of love. My friend Sean made a great point this morning on Twitter:

Valentines day is overrated. everyday should be valentines day for your sweetheart!

In some respects, I agree. The fact that I don't have a sweetheart makes it kinda different for me though. However, I figure that instead of wallowing with melancholy in the fact that I am single (as many people I know are), and don't have any people that I'm romantically connected to in my immediate circle of friends, I wouldn't waste an opportunity to share love with people in my neighborhood :D

Here are some little love notes I left around my neighborhood :D










There are more, but in order to see them, you'll just have to take a walk around my neighborhood :D

(I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You

So tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I'm sure some of you are planning on doing something special with your significant other :) One of my favorite concepts ever is the mix tape. I love creating mix tapes of my own as well. So in honor of that special day of acknowledged love and chocolates, I made my own mixed tape for you with some of my favorite love songs. If you're the kind who likes to dance with your significant other, but can't think of some great romantical tunes to dance to, here is my Valentine's Day Mix Tape you can use for song suggestions:

TROUBLE by Ray LaMontagne


SOMERSAULT by Zero7


TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE by Boys Like Girls (feat. Taylor Swift)


GREEN APPLES by Chantal Kreviazuk


I THINK I'M IN LOVE by Justin Nozuka
(technically this song isn't out until March, but you can get a free download here)


THE ONLY EXCEPTION by Paramore


YOU AND ME by Lifehouse


IT'S YOUR LOVE by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw


SHE IS LOVE (acoustic version) by Parachute


THEY WEREN'T THERE by Missy Higgins
(i JUST uploaded this onto Youtube, so if the audio gets pulled, please forgive me and then go listen to the audio HERE)


THE BEAUTY OF WHO YOU ARE by Marc Broussard


HAZY by Rosi Golan



BETTER MAN by James Morrison


COME AWAY WITH ME by Norah Jones


FADE INTO YOU by Mazzy Star

Champagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends

Okay, so by far, one of my favorite people to talk to is Kelley Rowe. She's hilarious and she lets me be as ridiculous as I need to be so that I can sift through my mess of a brain that functions at 90 miles a minute.

For instance, today I shared with her an article about the Olympics and how North Korea and South Korea aren't going to march together in the Opening Torch Ceremony. I told her I thought it was dumb, mainly because I'm more of a peacemaker and I think it's silly that they won't march together. Did I mention that Kelley also keeps me grounded in reality when my idealistic whimsy attacks?

Here is our conversation from earlier:


Kelley: ...good grief
well you know
i kind of support that
north korea has chosen to isolate itself in open aggression against the international community. as warm and fuzzy as the olympics are, we shouldnt pretend that the situation isnt what it is. i would think it was silly if it was only an expression of disunity at the olympics. but its not...its representative of a real-life situation. north korea has been testing missiles meant to carry nuclear war heads in the sea of japan. it is open hostility against japan and the rest of the world. their actions cant be without repercussions, even ones that seem petty

Me: i just think it's all silly. all of it.
also, i'm scripting a movie about it where one of the competitors from North Korea falls in love with someone from South Korea. I'm going to make their team colors blue vs. red. And I'm going to nickname one of them Shark and the other Jet. Then I'm going to add in a plot twist about getting a golden pendant to a shop called Middle Earth. The working title is: OLYMPITAR

Kelley: lol
you are so ridiculous
OLYMPITAR...
will there be a boy wizard working in the shop in middle earth?

Me: of COURSE there's a boy wizard!
how do you think Shark and Jet get together in the end??
crap. now i've spoiled the movie for you
sorry

Kelley: ...magical spell?

Me: i'm not telling . . . it would be too big of a spoiler

Kelley: awww

Me: hehehehehehe
. . . let's just say it involves a magic potion called Eywa

Kelley: eeeh
creepee
or is it... treepee
hmm

I think it should be a mandated law that everyone have SOMEONE they can just be ridiculous with :D

What It's Like

Most people don't like meetings. I, on the other hand, look forward to meetings. It's so easy for me to get tunnel-vision and so focused on my work that I forget other people are around me. Meetings give me a chance to see other people and have social interaction . . . that's not on a computer. It's great!

I love gathering with others and sharing thoughts, ideas, setting goals, etc. It's very therapeutic. Every Tuesday, at my work, we have a publications meeting. We talk about what each of us are doing, and we do some brainstorming for the next issue of our main journal, and we share artwork. We also have SO much fun laughing at some really ridiculous things.

For instance, I'm the youngest person on the publications team. My other co-workers are a lot older, and don't always understand all the inner-workings of technology and computers. Well, they do, but have a hard time conveying it in a way that our Tech guy, Hugh, can understand. At our last meeting, we talked about computer issues. Here's how it went:

Co-Worker: When I put in or try to link text in my InDesign it does a weird wrap thing where it won't look right on the screen and it throws everything off.

Hugh: Like when you put it into a new document? Or when you open a certain document?

Co-Worker: No. It happens on a lot of documents in this specific journal. I try clicking on things and nothing works.

Hugh: Wait. So what tools are you using when you place the text?

Co-Worker: I don't know, just the normal stuff.

(Then Hugh looks at me, confused)

Me: When she opens the document, there's a formatting error that's causing the text that she's placing to force a text wrap effect on it and it shifts the layout so she can't work on it. We've tried to adjust the settings but they all seem normal and I don't know if it's isolated just to that document or not, because none of the settings I adjust are making the problem go away.

Hugh: Oh. Okay.

Co-Worker: Yeah, what she said. Amanda's my translator.

We then all BURST OUT laughing!! It's not that I'm a translator, things just get lost in communication. Then we went around and my co-worker in charge of the meeting asks us to go around the circle and share some great reports on what we're doing.

Co-worker: Alright, K—, you want to share a great report on what you're working on?

K—: (facetiously) No. What if I want to share a terrible report?!?

Co-worker: Oh, okay. Sure, tell us a terrible report. How are things?

K—: Oh you know, pretty sh***y.

At this point, we are all laughing so hard! Like I was seriously bent over laughing!! It was so funny!

Today at our morning meeting, Hugh said that yesterday he was kind of dreading going to another meeting, but our meeting actually made his day better and he had so much fun. He said, "I should know better by now how much fun I'm going to have in these meetings."

I agree! :D

The Lights and Buzz

I'm finally done editing my photos from the Jack's Mannequin show!

Okay so for reference, music is my football . . . and seeing Jack's Mannequin in concert is like the Super Bowl! I had SO much fun rocking out with a bunch of JM fans :D

Also, I got to meet Andrew McMahon and I got to talk to him about music and inspiration and his passion for writing and it was just sooooo cool! He is one of my all-time favorite song writers. He truly has a gift for song writing and I glean from his stuff all the time! He also encouraged me as a writer and gave me some words of wisdom to keep me focused and grounded so that I could keep pursuing my passion. Needless to say, (but I'll say it anyway) getting to meet one of my musical heroes was just soooo amazing!

It was great to go to a show and support this music I love and dance and shout and sing along with all the songs that have helped me get from various Point A's to various Point B's in my life. Andrew said this during his little talk during La La Lie, but truly, music connects us—at least it does for me.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the show and 2 videos I recorded. After that are 2 other videos taken by other people, but they were just too great not to share! He has so much passion and energy and his showmanship and charisma are just so wonderful to me! I love to see when artists really get into what they're doing and don't care how crazy they look or may seem. :D

That's right folks, I was THAT close!! :D

I love when he dances on his piano!

I also love when he jumps off his piano! so fun!

Not only is Andrew tons of fun, his BAND is tons of fun. This is Dr. J's (his bass player) amp. He brings the figurines with him to EVERY show and they get to 'join him' on stage, just chillin' on his amp. So fun!

Me and Andrew McMahon!

VIDEOS FROM THE SHOW:

(disclaimer: some of these are obnoxiously loud. consider yourself warned)

DARK BLUE


LA LA LIE


BLOODSHOT


INTO THE AIRWAVES

Bittersweet Symphony

I just realized that I'm about to lose one of my best friends to one of the most amazing endeavors ever. And by lose I don't mean they're dying or anything, I just mean that contact will be slim to none—and that's hard for someone like me who enjoys the convenience of constant contact with friends (it's my sole purpose of having facebook/tumblr/twitter, etc.)

But soon my friend Joshua will be leaving the United States to travel to Kenya, Africa to serve the people there. I've know Joshua for about 10 years and I've gotten to watch him grow in character, talent, and I've also gotten to see his heart for people grow as well. It's going to be bittersweet when he leaves, but I know it's the right thing and I know that what he's doing matters.

I consider myself blessed to know people who are unafraid to do daring things. I went to lunch with Joshua when I was home for the holidays and I got to 'hear his heart' for the people in Kenya and I am so excited for all that he is going to do.

One thing he is doing to raise funds before he heads out is to sell some of his beautiful artwork. These are the prints he is selling:




(you can see larger versions HERE)
I'm going to buy one later this week after payday. I think I'm going to buy this one:



I'm 100% sure it will be the BEST $20 I've ever spent. Supporting friends warms my heart. Supporting friends who are living their dreams and making a real difference warms it even more!

If you have a spare $20 and would like to give it to a worthy cause, please e-mail Joshua at joshua77177@gmail.com and let him know which one you'd like and he will let you know where to send the dinero. I know it may seem like a ton of money in our current economy, but if you can, you should. His photography is beautiful and the work he is doing is meaningful.

I'm On A Boat

This past Saturday, I got to go with Kayleigh to the Seattle Boat Show! Now, for the record, I've never actually been to a Boat Show, so I had no clue what I was doing or planning to see, but I knew I'd have tons of fun hanging with Kayleigh. :D

Here are some pics from our day:

WE'RE ON A BOAT!


You goin' my way?

Kayleigh in the restroom on the boat

Me in the restroom on the boat

You know, just in case someone thinks about stealing Kayleigh's coffee ;p

That's what they call me

My pirate ship

The Ferrari of boats . . .

The hot dog stand man who offered us weed. We settled for hot dogs instead ;)