German Love

Starfucker is a Portland based quartet. Synth pop best describes their sound I think. For obvious reasons they are changing their name to Pyramiddd.
They are playing tonight at the Crystal Ballroom and then they are off for a stint in Europe.
(P.S. Looking for a show in Portland mid November, Friday or Saturday night if anyone hears of anything.)

Pumpkin Carving Fun

Ben and his best two girls, Arielle and Fiona.








Ben's pumpkin is the one with no nose and one heart shaped ear :)

My Hours In Portland

Getting lost is an opportunity to see things you wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Fireflies by Owl City

Owl City reminds me a lot of Deathcab For Cutie and Postal Service, both
Ben Gibbard's babies. It is in my estimation very thoughtful, easy listening music that most people will enjoy.
Fireflies reminds me of when I was a little girl and everything was possible because I believed in magic. I would sneak through the forest around my house trying to catch fairies. I reveled in my imaginings and it was the best part of my childhood.
I remember the first time I saw real fireflies in Alabama. Hundreds of little twinkling stars dancing around the trees. I had finally caught my fairies.
I love it that this song recalls these feelings.
Click for video: Fireflies

Wants

We've all thought it. Upon putting our freshly bathed babies into their snuggly footy pajamas, "Why not me...why can't I have some footie pj's?"
I WANT THEM!!

Mmmm, It's Fall.

When it is Spring, that is my favorite season and when it is Fall, that is my favorite season. I can be fickle and easily swayed by the seasons. But right now I am ardently in love with Fall. The chilly, smoky, delicious Fall. I suppose you might say I am a tactile person because when I really like something I want to caress it, taste it or other such things that you can’t really do with a season. However I will make my favorite soups and breads and cookies. I will wear my yummiest sweaters, scarves and coats.
I will curl up with my favorite good book and listen to the clever wind swirling the leaves around my windows. I will watch my trees change from green to crimson seemingly overnight.
I love this time of year. I feel as though I am in the honeymoon phase, pleased and satiated, smiling widely.
Blow wind, fall leaves and catch me up in the magic.

Who Would Win?

One of my best friends has a son named Sam who is friends with my boys and who also rides to school with us everyday. He sometimes talks about things that bring out strong feelings in others, which I rather enjoy because I love a good argument in the morning! Today's topics of discussion were 1. His statement "war is always bad and there are no bad guys so war is not needed" and 2. Who would win in a battle between Darth Vader (Sam's Halloween costume), Harry Potter (Marcus' Halloween costume) and Indiana Jones (Ben's Halloween costume).
Now everyone has distinct feelings about war, their justifications, their disdain of etc...Because, conversationally it was a safer topic, I decided to focus more on the battle between fictional characters.
Knowing well all of the characters listed above I quickly deducted (in my humble opinion)that even though in my heart I would be rooting for Indiana Jones, Harry Potter would invariably kick ass due to his ability to simply utter 'Avada Kedavra' from his little wizard lips. He would first take out Vader before he unleashed his force powers. That leaves Indiana Jones (my personal favorite) who would stand there twirling his whip, looking around for a large boulder (and hoping there wouldn't be any spiders under it) to maneuver onto Harry Potter somehow. If Harry hesitated or was distracted by his hat envy, Indiana could remove Harry's wand with his whip but this is probably far fetched. Because Harry would be expecting that. So inevitably Harry would accio Indiana's Whip and I would like to think he might get creative here and turn Indiana into a spider or something but it is more likely that he would just Avada Kedavra his as well.
Feel free to share you own thoughts.

David Bowie-Quicksand.

Delicious...

A Peek Inside My Head

I am perpetually jealous of my husband’s dreams.
He is always flying, driving race cars and saving the world by blowing up bad guys.
While I wander lost, through far off villages trying to figure out how to stick-on my face that has somehow fallen off. (How do I come up with this crap?!)
But last night I finally had a speed themed dream.
I was laying in the North Umpqua on my back with my two sisters (I have no idea who these girls were, creations of my subconscious.) after floating for a bit I caught the current and shot down the river (luge style) twisting and turning, occasionally feeling rocks graze my feet.
Eventually I reached my destination, the mouth of the sea. The sun was setting; it was glorious with its oranges and purples. I paddled to shore and realized I had beaten my usual time. Normally that trip would have taken 3 hours; I did it in 30 minutes. (and without a boat or life jacket, oh the wonders of it all!)

A Jaunt Back to 1995

I fondly recall riding back from Portland listening to this while watching all of the fields pass by and drifting in and out of an easy dream.
It was early summer and we visited the Tulip Farm, it was beautiful and my whole life was ahead of me.

Another visit back to my youth...Labyrinth

I still love David Bowie...On any ordinary day I don't find men who wear tights and make-up sexy but in this case I do...anyway Dance Magic Dance!



*Note* Thinking back this had to have been the first musical I ever saw...that explains it, David Bowie started this fixation of mine!

My Song (quite literally)

There are a few songs containing my name or variations of it and my favorite, by far, is "Amanda" by Boston.
It was written in 1980 by Tom Scholz but it didn't find its way onto a record until 1986 when it was the first track on the long awaited album Third Stage. The band incurred 12,000 hours of studio time during the making of this album, taking roughly 6 years to complete.
This song was Bostons only #1 hit.
Some more interesting tidbits:
Post MTV, this song defied the odds and hit #1 on the charts without a video.
Brad Delp sang this song and it was overdubbed so that he harmonized with himself.
This song features Scholz's Rockman Amplifier which he invented specifically for the sound he wanted on this album.

I remember hearing this song as a little girl and just knew he was singing to me.
(Being born in 1979 sad to say, my mom didn't name me after the song.)
What girl doesn't love a serenade? Anytime I feel the need all I have to do is listen to this song.

Shoe Shine

Last night on the way home from grabbing dinner, I glanced out my window and saw a homeless man sitting on the ground shining his shoes to beautiful perfection.
I then felt an array of emotions.
First amusement, then irony, sadness and finally, understanding.
I rarely see a homeless person take pride in or value anything apart from the bag that holds their cans.
Perhaps his mind was lost and he was in another time shining his shoes, I don't know but it made me happy to see it nonetheless.
Even someone who has nearly nothing can have a determination to keep one thing that shines.