the final days! 30+1 handknits project goes out with a bang...

what a great month december has been! excellent family and friend get-togethers, trips, vacation time at home, getting things done, setting up plans for the future... and, of course, the 30+1 handknits project. i can't believe i made it the entire month - and didn't run out of my own handknits to wear every... single... day.

people keep asking me what kind of project i'm going to do next. i'm not sure yet, but i know part of it will be a new homesteading blog (seeing as we have chickens coming in march, plans for a green-roofed shed, and a garden that's going to be off the chain in 2012). that's not really a project with a set end date, like this one, but it's where my focus will soon be, i'm sure.

for now, let's bask in the glow of a new year and bid 2011 (and the 30+1 handknits project) adios, amigos.

12/30/11. day #30, Diminishing Rib Cardigan by Andrea Pomerantz. i'm not a huge fan of this sweater (part of why i waited until the second to last day of this project to wear it). it always makes me feel like a giant, walking square. as in the shape, not as in "uncool." anyway...


you can see where i ran out of one dye lot of yarn on the sleeves! we'll pretend like it was on purpose.




12/31/11. LAST DAY! day #31, Great Gatsby Dress by Mari Lynn Patrick. i still can't really believe i knitted this dress, what with its laciness and drapiness and fitting and teeny tiny yarn. to ring out 2011, we got some of the best tacos on the planet (monon food company in indianapolis), then headed over to the tap room early for a couple of fine indiana beers, then hit up the homestead for some wood chopping / fire building / cuddling action. a nice, peaceful, low-key evening to close out a truly fantastic year. 


day #31!




here's to 2012 being a great year. my wishes for 2012 are to use more coupons, start raising chickens, and become emily haines of metric. that's not too much to ask, is it?

i will be with you when you lose your breath...

i spent the weekend on the jersey shore, of all places, wandering the beach, eating lots of good food, scooping up multiple scoops of ice cream, drinking coffee, chatting with coffee shop owners/patrons/their dogs, and galavanting up and down a massive wooden boardwalk under looming, windy, out-of-season beach houses.

why, you ask? well, duh - jeff mangum of neutral milk hotel was playing a solo show for the first time in ages. at the show, someone yelled out at one point, "you saved my life." i think that sums up how people feel about neutral milk hotel and this one damaged dude.

"oh, comely," from 1997: oh comely, i will be with you when you lose your breath chasing the only meaningful memory you thought you had left.


and he really did blow us away. i smiled a lot and sang along almost the whole time. it was better than i could have hoped. he played "little birds," which was painfully beautiful and which he had played live only once before, years and years ago. give it a listen: http://walkingwallofwords.com/previously-unreleased-track.html.

and then there's "jersey shore gone wilde." i have no idea how this has escaped my notice until now. drop it like it's hot, girl:

 

i'll probably just have to listen to some jeff mangum live and solo for a while. there really aren't any recordings surfacing just yet from this recent show, but a girl can dream. i might have to look into the all tomorrow's parties festival he is curating in england in december... wouldn't that be a dream?



i was so glad to get home, though, to my cats and my chris. :) of course, this morning i woke up with a sore throat. but oh well. the weekend was fantastic, the leaves are in full fall color, and things are good.

a taste of lotus fest, anyone?

bloomington's lotus world music fest is sort of a big deal - at least in bloomington. i don't know if anyone else in the world has ever heard of it... but i suspect some have. this is a "so i don't forget to check into this band more" type of post. from sweden, i give you, MOVITS!

have i become someone who goes to the symphony?!

why, yes. yes, i think i have.

we went to the indianapolis symphony orchestra last night - my first trip - to see CARMINA BURANA. it was amazing - full choir for the final part, hilarious (and incredibly talented) operatic folks, a very talented orchestra (which was fun to watch in itself, since i used to play the cello). the coolest thing? we just got the youngest maestro ever to lead a big city orchestra, and he was showing his stuff in full force. his first public concert was a week ago, and there he was, leading the whole huge SOUND coming from the stage without using a page of sheet music. seriously - this whole piece, not a page of sheet music in sight.

i might have a little crush.

here's the indianapolis choir's flash mob of carmina burana at the airport earlier this year:


i think the ISO is going to have some exciting things on the horizon! can't wait to see more.

such an infamous freedom, such a militant peace...

i just can't get enough of this (not at all recent) beautiful song lately. two gallants, "waves of grain."


and for more beauty, take a virtual trip to wyoming. i don't think my own eyes could see it this amazingly. eric hines, "wild wyoming, a summer of sunsets and dark skies."

Wild Wyoming, A Summer of Sunsets & Dark Skies from Eric Hines on Vimeo.

i also really freaking love green tomato hot dog relish, which i have canned a metric f*ckton of this summer.


and our new perennial garden is pretty rad, too. my drawing, of which i was very proud:


and the initial planting! we've put in a couple of bushes on the corners, and it'll look better as the plants grow.


i also recently made some new friends at the indiana state fair:








and chris ate a doughnut burger (the bun is two krispy kremes):


oh, and i made a friend at the zoo, too. oh, buddy!

long time, no see... video version...

it has been a wild, awesome, fantastic summer. things just keep getting better.

rather than recount all the awesomeness (and since this blog morphed into a blog of general-awesomeness-and-things-i-like quite a while ago), we'll just go with that. music that makes me smile. things that are pretty/quirky/hilarious/just plain wrong. this will have to be the video version. photos to come in a future post, i think.

matt and kim, "daylight." i dare you not to smile.


jay-z with a cat in the back of a dirty restaurant i would probably frequent.


soul train! i want to dance and dress like EVERY PERSON in this video.


elliott smith, "angeles." it makes me miss him to listen to this.


i've recently been introduced to old school star trek - just finished the first season two nights ago! this is a clip of george takei (aka sulu) being freaking awesome.


john hopkins is pretty rad, too - "insides," live at the ICA. a friend turned me onto him recently.


and please, please, please - if you are reading this, PLEASE click the following link and select "i am under 21." i promise you will not be disappointed at the magic that ensues: black acre brewing co.

i love my father, and i love him well...

alexi murdoch, "someday soon."


happy father's day, daddio!

is this a sign i'm getting older?

because i get my music tips from npr lately - gold panda, "you"...


and i get great joy in things like harvesting worm poop...




and i like spending my sunday mornings drinking coffee and researching native trees and planning gardens...


and i get really excited and take way too many photos at orchid shows and conservatories...








and i like to spend weekend nights wandering the canal at sunset...


i may be getting older, but all in all, i guess it's not so bad.

papa watches me on google alerts, hi dad!

das racist, "sit down, man."


and from the indianapolis show - awesomeness!

Das Racist - "Who's That? Brooown!" from MonkeyEatsMonkey on Vimeo.

also, i'm sad i missed this show: cap'n jazz reunion in chicago last year.


and other stuff...


spring is my favorite... and fall... and summer... aw, shoot.


whatever... we have easter eggs!


we also have monuments.


oh, and we have new sweaters!


yes, we do.

aerial photos and music soaring to the sky...

things i like today: amazing aerial shots of our little world.






bassnectar, "timestretch."


junior boys, "in the morning."

i don't hardly know her... but i think i could love her...

current jam: crimson and clover.


just got done with a trek through the eastern caribbean.


and i am happy.

heartbeats and apples...

today's jams: the knife, heartbeats. i just love the little 70s-looking kids skateboarding in some quintessential california neighborhood.


mirah, apples in the trees.


chris and i are going to look at houses in broad ripple on thursday! and a week from today, i will be sipping a pina colada in roughly 80 degree temperatures! hopefully with three - count 'em, THREE! - little umbrellas in it.

without sound, who would i be?

it's maybe a little weird, but music is ALWAYS something i don't think twice about spending money on, traveling for, whatever. i almost, ALMOST bought tickets for the flaming lips' new years show this past year. the only thing keeping me was the insane car ride back the day after and then having to go back to work. i bought tickets to see jeff mangum of neutral milk hotel (anti?)stardom in new jersey this october with a very special friend of mine with little extra thought. and ARCADE FIRE is playing a show at an outdoor indy venue soon, and tickets go on sale this saturday. you'd better bet i will be sitting at my computer all queued up at 9:55 am.

so i just bought two tickets for chris and me to see these dudes play in indy on april 1: das racist. i pretty much love the ridiculousness, and i can't imagine missing this show. it's rare that indy would get a show when chicago doesn't - but aw, yeah, das racist, you know where the honeys at.


i also scanned in some old photos last night - from, like, a decade ago. weird - those times define me in a lot of ways, but they also seem SO LONG ago. here i am with sparky, the stuffed animal bighorn sheep one of our volunteers at rocky mountain national park gave me on my last day of work, in moab on the drive back to SF.


the summer of 2002 was a happy one. i hiked roughly 30 miles a week on my days off at rocky mt. np. this is me hiding in a rock shelter someone built on top of mt. chiquita, rocky mountain national park. my parents have this pic framed at their house.


a somewhat unfoggy view from my house in san francsico towards the ocean.

wily dancing and cheetoh paint!

i am pretty much in love with this video. and thom yorke. radiohead's "lotus flower."


the president of risd also happens to be amazing. wait until about halfway through when he starts talking about "eye meat" and amber waves of french fries and cheetoh paint!

things i LOVE - baby gorillas and ridiculous-awesome rap...

ZOMG, first baby gorilla steps! unadulterated, uncut cuteness.


and, conversely, ridiculous-rad rappers COMING TO INDY ON APRIL 1. das racist! case in point: "this is panic attack rap."

happy vday!

a few songs to get us through the day - enjoy!

harold and maude, the end scene. we went and saw a screening of this last night. such a beautiful, heart warming, heartbreaking little movie.


morphine, "in spite of me."


jawbreaker, "busy."


flaming lips, "do you realize?" (live at the iu auditorium).


and who doesn't love hot air balloons in rapid motion?

i'm going to jersey, baby!

my very wily friend, carrie, alerted me to this amazingness: all tomorrow's parties festival, curated by portishead. most notably, on monday there will be a solo show by jeff mangum of neutral milk hotel. this is a band i remember very distinctly dancing frenetically (and probably drunkenly) to during my college days. he hasn't played a large, public, live neutral milk hotel set in over a decade. until... NOW.

tickets went on sale this morning at 9 am EST. by about, oh, 9:15 am, the solo show was sold out. and my wily friend and i procured 4 tickets between the two of us! aw, yeah...

"in the aeroplane over the sea."


"ghost."


"my dream girl don't exist."


looks like i'll be heading to new jersey in october! SO EXCITED! i love these types of trips - on a whim, with excellent people.

that's how it starts...

lcd soundsystem, "all my friends."


other sights of late: a wild chair at the french lick resort.


the amazing dome in this little middle of nowhere southern indiana town:


hiking in the snow at morgan-monroe state forest:




boombox getting cozy. it's hard to tell which end is which when he cozies up.


other cool stuff: sounds from the week - the forgetters, my favorite rock band boyfriend's new band! IT'S A DEATH TRIP, BABY.
videos of wonderful music stuffs here!

all things go...

i forgot how much i love this song - i heard it today on the radio driving home, and it made me so happy.

sufjan stevens, "chicago."

ladies is pimps, too...

it's almost 2011! let's continue with the middle to latter parts of 2010, shall we? because those were awesome.

in honor of the new year and wearing a strapless dress for the second time in my life, we have jay-z, "dirt off your shoulder."


pharcyde, "drop." this video was recorded in reverse. brilliant.


you can hate if you want, but she's so darn fun to watch. and the lyrics?! i mean, for REAL?! my co-worker's eight-year-old loves this song and really thinks she has a staff of some sort with a disco ball on the end. adorable.


and a beautiful song from my wayward youth. yo la tengo, "last days of disco."


well, shoot... one more... i may have posted this already, but it's amazing. and hopeful. and sad. and perfect for a new year. arcade fire, "wake up."