Holy &%^$!!!

I came to the realization this morning that I've totally let myself go. After quitting roller derby, all the weight I have lost and then some has come back. Maybe I should turn this blog into a fitness/lifestyle change blog and get some cheering on and support? I know my husband is really intereted in working out.

After Labor Day, I'm joining a gym and really watching what I eat. First, I have to go put all of the chocolate in my manager's office. HE HE.

beLIEve

I was reminded today of the best concert I've attended to date .. Sept 10, 1992, Ames, IA -- U2 Zoo TV. It's on VH1 Classics right now and of course I'm going to watch it and feel 17 again. Man, how time flies. I begged my mother to let me drive three hours to the show. My brother was going so my mom was pretty much OK with me going but of course my brother wasn't going to let me hang out with him so my boyfriend went with me.

The U2 Zoo TV tour had to be one of the most expensive concerts to put on with it's theatrics, video screens and massive stage. It also best captures one the 90s best albums -- Achtung Baby.

I don't really know what comes second concert wise. Probably U2 Popmart at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. I was 10th row with my cousin.

Third? Radiohead at Red Rocks June 2001.

Time to sit back and enjoy.

Cupcakes!

I've been just as obsessed with cupcakes this summer as the band Wilco and a few weeks ago I came across this recipe via yumsugar.com. It just so happens that I have been growing lavender all summer. Two weeks ago, I cut some of it and dried it on the countertop and today, I made them....



The frosting is basically one pound bag of icing sugar, stick of butter, 1/4 cup of milk and a teaspoon of real vanilla extract with a sprig of dried lavender.

How did it taste? They were yummy and buttery and moist. My next cupcake adventure will be these.

p.s. I will be bringing these to the office tomorrow.

If only it were a week later ...

I was greeted with this announcement this morning:

Wilco:
OCT-11
OMAHA, NE
ORPHEUM THEATRE
WILCO Pre-Sale begins Wednesday, August 29 @ 10 a.m. via WILCO Tickets.
Public On Sale begins Friday, August 31@ 10 a.m. via Ticket Omaha

Why would I want this show one week later ... my friend is getting married the following week and I've been really considering visiting in Oct vs the holidays when it's cold and just hurried and to attend her wedding. I'm pretty sure I could drag my brother to this show if it was a week later. Darn it. Sometimes the stars don't align the way we want.

Anyway, so that you guys really don't think I'm a freak (well, maybe I am). Wilco isn't my favorite band -- it's one of many. I've been known to travel for U2, Radiohead, Phish, Arcade Fire, Flaming Lips to name a few. I think I'd travel to see Rilo Kiley who I'm really into now. My husband calls this the "U2 syndrome" meaning in a few months, this obsession will go away and I'll wear the cd out in the car.

Speaking of husbands, my husbands gets kudos today from me. I went on a long walk with the dog to come home to a clean kitchen. He never does that. Next thing you'll know, he'll be doing his own laundry and putting it all away.

I can't tell

Today I have the day off and I again, have no idea what to do with myself. Is this a sign that I'm a workaholic?

I'm trying to break your heart

I had this whole post full of basically Wilco song titles but I am tired and cranky and miss my dog so this is what you'll get:

The highlights:
* We got to Edgefield right at the sound check and listened from the balcony. What we didn't know until after the fact .. it was an OPEN SOUND CHECK. So we could have gone in and listened.

* Edgefield is a really cool place. Winery, bars, gardens, brewery. The downside is that it doesn't have A/C and most rooms shared a communal bathroom which sucked in the middle of the night when you had to pee.

* We meet a couple from Sonoma who we hung out with the whole time. It was cool to swap concert stories and discuss all matters Wilco.

* I drank way too much wine. When I went to the bathroom before Wilco started I realized that I could barely walk. Today I'm paying for it.

* Wilco played a two hour set and we were 20 ft from the stage. I really really wanted to go up to the front but we could see the whole band no problems so why head up front.

* Jeff Tweedy's voice sounds better since he's given up smoking

* Jeff Tweedy told a few stories. One how he was hiking that day and was judged by a fellow hiker for checking his Blackberry.

* There was a shout out for Breedlove Guitars because he plays one now

* There were two encores. One that included California Stars w/Scott McCaughey on keyboards and Peter Buck from REM on electric guitar

Here is the set list which was pretty diverse:


1. Either Way
2. You Are My Face
3. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
4. Remember The Mountain Bed
5. Handshake Drugs
6. Pot Kettle Black
7. A Shot In The Arm
8. Side With The Seeds
9. Shake It Off
10. War On War
11. Impossible Germany
12. Too Far Apart
13. Jesus, Etc.
14. Walken
15. I'm The Man Who Loves You
16. Hummingbird
17. On And On And On
Encore 1:
18. Bob Dylan's 49th Beard
19. The Late Greats
20. Hate It Here
21. I'm Always In Love
22. Outta Mind (Outta Sight)

Encore 2:
23. California Stars (w/Scott McCaughey on keyboards and Peter Buck on electric guitar)
24. Heavy Metal Drummer
25. Via Chicago
26. Spiders (Kidsmoke)

The best show I've seen this year. It's probably one of my top 5 in my life time. I was so bummed when they ended but it had to sometime.

Starbucks' raspberry summer drink is comparable to Robitussin

So there is a discussion on Starbuck's Gossip that the iced raspberry mocha tastes like Robitussin. I totally disagree. The drink is cool, refreshing and pretty darn tasty. I will say though that after weeks of drinking them, I'm ready for pumpkin spiced lattes. BRING ON FALL!

My latest addiction are the Ole Nutty Marion Bars that Goody's sells. Yum!

Did you know?

Did you know that the vagina is a very hostile place for sperm? Only when cervical mucus is present it is not a hostile place. Yea, I didn't know that either.

Getting me through the day ..

The New Rilo Kiley is streaming today on myspace.com. I've been waiting three years for this! I'll be rocking out in the office -- oh yeah.

Thing that I'm not looking forward to ... doctor's appointment that I had to make this morning.

What weekend?

This is my day:

Clean the house
Pick up yard debris that's piled up all summer (Brian better be doing this)
Walk the dog
Grocery shop
ROLLER DERBY

I better get cracking.

Renegade Rollergirls

I'll admit it, I miss roller derby. I'm half tempted to start back up after my summer break is over. This summer with the new job and the events we put on, I would have never made it to practice. As a fan of roller derby, I'm pretty excited about tomorrow's bout btw the Oregon Renegades and the Arizona Renegades. The Arizona Renegades are the original no hold barred league which has spawed 5 leagues across the country. Here are the details of tomorrow nights bout via hackbend.com. This is the derby event of the year you don't want to miss.

The reason I'm not pregnant ...

I saw this today and called Brian. Eureka! I found the reason I'm not in the family way. He always is on the couch with his laptop. I think I'm going to buy him one of these.

p.s. I blame Joey for my addiction to the Sugar Network.

What three items would you bring?

Yesterday's brief, yet scary wildfire posed the question "If you house was on fire, what three items would you grab?"

So tell me, what three items would you grab? My answer will be in the comments.

Wild fire

Over lunch I went to TJ Maxx to find some cute shoes. When I walked out to get into the Jeep I noticed high flames and smoke atop Awbrey Butte. For the second day in a row a neighborhood is being evacuated due to wild fires. Jon had a camera and posted this on Hack Bend. As I told Joey in the 28 years I lived in tornado country, I didn't heard one emergency broadcast system message. I move to Bend and I hear three evacuations in one month.

Get better Nels

this story scared me. get better Nels because you're not canceling the ptown show.

Hans is closing

Yea, front of the business section ... after 24 years, Hans is closing. They have the best desserts. How sad is that?

Green bean caprese salad

I've been into cooking veggies from the Bend Farmer's Market. This week it was green bean caprese salad from the South Beach Summer Cookbook. It has gotten rave reviews in the household and will probably be a summer staple just like the regular caprese salad.

Here's receipe

12 oz green beans (blanched - bascially boil the beans for 3 mins and then submerge in ice water for one min so they stay green and crispy.)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 garlic clover, pressed
salt/pepper
2 tablespoon roasted pine nuts (saute in a pan w/ a little olive oil until toasted)
1/3 cup fresh basil chopped
8 oz of fresh mozz cheese, cubed

Basically mix it all together and chill it for two hours. It's so good and refreshing on a summer day.

I also mixed up South Beach curry chix salad for lunch this week

Brian, wanna film me doing this..

Not porn folks but the "Elvis Cupcake Challenge."

I have been into cupcakes lately courtesy of yumsugar.com.

I need words of encourgement here. Who wants to eat an Elvis Cupcake on camera? Any takers?

I have hit overtime and have to leave work early today. I never know what to do w/ myself when I have an afternoon off.

hmm

Wow, I haven't posted since Friday. Where has the time gone? Well, Saturday I did wifely duty things while my husband hung out at a music festival. Sunday we hiked some trails along Cascade Lakes and make dinner with a friend and watched Flight of the Concords. Monday was work, daily hike along the Deschutes. OH! and the most exciting news, I got the new South Beach Summer Cookbook. Oh wait, that's not exciting. The geek that I am went through it and mapped all the recipes I'm going to try. I'm definitely hitting the Farmers Market tomorrow, yo.

Yes. My. Life. Is. Boring.

Wilco is 14 days away.

Make-up!

If you live in Bend and LOVE good quality make-up, DolceVita is your place. They sell Smashbox, Stila, Bare Essentials, Shu Uemura and much more. I would have given this place an A+ if they sold Du Wop but they don't sell it. It's like a mini Sephora in downtown Bend and I discovered it during Art Walk tonight.

2007 is officially the year that I discovered make-up so I'm totally stoked about this. My mom raised me only to wear mascara so this is really new at being 32 years old. I'm into eyes and lips right now because I have good skin and don't need foundation yet! If only I could get my eye NOT to twitch anymore.

Anyway, back on track, check this place out. It's pretty cool.

Charlie hits the river trail!

No fructose for you!

My favorite thing to do each week is hit the Farmer's Market. I pick up fresh tomatoes (Brian loves the cherry tomatoes and I love the heirlooms, such a decadent buy), lettuce, berries. My new favorite thing to pick up are bagels from the Bagel Stop. I've been on the search for months for whole wheat bagels with no high fructose corn syrup and I finally found them this week. I bought 6 and froze them and have one every know and then. I guess I thought I'd just share that.

Anyway, I'm debating flying to Omaha for Thanksgiving. Holidays in Bend are depresssing and I need family around so we're toying around with that. We'd have to fly out of PDX because airfare is pretty much sold out of Redmond. Plus, Mariel and Vern are flying in to Omaha and it's nice to see them. They are fun!

Weekend plans? I really don't know. I want to hike Tam McArthur Rim but I can't figure out how to get there! I'm sure I can find it on the internet somewhere.

Something really cool ...

You have to check out this blog call "I Wish I Was." Pretty genius idea, don't you think?

Charlie's Oregon Tales

If you haven't checked this out, click here:

More from Baker City

When I have time, I'll write more about Baker City and our thoughts on this little town. But until them, I'll send another post our dear friend wrote about our trip.

Woah!

There is a wildfire burning SE of Bend near where my in-laws live. The plume of smoke was amazing yet scary. To read about it, click here.


photo courtesy of wendy

I really don't have time for this...

Crap, I was deleting some old blogs and well, I accidentally deleted all my blog posts for the past three years. Oh well, I guess. I'm an idiot. Good thing I did a lot of cross posts on myspace. I guess this is a good way to get rid of all my negative posts and start positive.

Can anyone tell me what the deal is with facebook? Joey and I would like to know.

I've been pretty busy. So busy, I don't feel like I have a moment or night at home. I would really like to go to roller derby practice but I can't make it happen. I've missed walking the butte twice this week. I miss Shawn. I miss Ann. Hell, I miss my husband. I miss skating

Going to Baker was a blessing for my soul. It was just awesome to just sit and not go go go go go. Some take this as "I don't like them." Sometimes, I just want to sit and relax.

Today I was reminded by a key chain someone gave me that is inspirational to me .. "The person who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." I'm only 32. There is still time.

If you want to hear about our trip to Baker City, read here. I don't have time to blog about it right now.

(after reading this, I have realized that this post wasn't too positive. I'll try better next time)

wooops

Um, I just accidently deleted my blog. YIKES! Time to start over, I guess.