to the yukon

Today, I leave for my yukon adventure. It should be fantastic! Yay for vacations, all around!!!

I hope to relay stories to you all of drinking whiskey with bearded northern men, and hopefully no stories of encounters with bears.

Here, a picture of me and Senor Numero Dos. Yes, he is my traveling partner, as always!

Cowabunga, dudes

HAHAHAH. This is so awesome, one in D-Town, one in H-town, Peeps and I both like to hang out with the Simpsons!

Though I had popcorn with Homer as you can see, so we are WAYYYY tighter.

If you haven't seen "Knocked Up" yet go see it! Also the soundtrack is good, "Strange Weirdos" by Loudon Wainwright III.

Travel Buddy!

I stole this from Lizzie's blog--very fun! I've got a lot more places to go yet, that's for sure!

All married up

Stacy got married! There was flair, of course. I was the reverend, and it was quite the great day! Picture to the left are Karoline, Kate, Julia, Me and the bride with the sequin cape.

There are many more pix too, of course!

the long winters and stand-alones

I have a strange but deep appreciation for a good, non-creepy stand-alone mustache.

Last night going to the Bluebird to see The Long Winters, The Broken West and Stars of Track and Field, I witnessed a grand stand-alone.

The lead singer of The Long Winters (John I found out from Bridget and from the band's website), had a somehwat stand alone, but it was thick and red and awesome, so even though he also had a little stubble, it still qualifies as a stand-alone. On the other hand, the main keyboardist for Man Man, who I saw Monday night in Boulder (see Bridget's review) had a black, thick, scaryish stand-alone. Still awesome, but a little much for my liking.

Regardless, I appreciate the stand-alone.

At any rate, enough about stand-alones. Last night the show was quite fantastic, I'm still in the "I'm-so-happy-from-seeing-a-great-show mood" today. All three bands were great, but The Long Winters were far my favorite. Put-them-in-your-pocket-and-pull-them-out-whenever-you-need-a-lil-pick-me-up favoite types. They played their last song with a few kazoos, they reference purple rain, they talked about the seediness of East Colfax. And they played some great indie-popesque songs. My favorite song, Cinnamon, was also on the Wedding Crashers soundtrack. Hindsight was also a highlight.

I had a great time.

I also found from perusing the band's website that their drummer, Nabil Ayers, is co-owner of Sonic Boom Records, which is Seattle's "it" indie record store, or so I am told. And a friend from Seattle gave me a t-shirt from there last year, so now I am cooler through several degrees of separation.

Check out Bridget's review--hers is great!

Remember there is never enough Purple Rain. Or kazoos.

take me out to the ballgame, hold steady

Thanks much to Bridget for pointing me in the direction of The Hold Steady's take on Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

So fabulous!

Read the interview here and see a clip of them recording the song. If you click the link above you can hear the song.

Yay for bearded men who love the Twins! (That is the dude from the Hold Steady)

I will be in Houston this weekend and will be going to an Astros game, but will likely be wearing my Twins hat. Awww, yeah. And did I mention, 3-0 baby???

Day 2

Baseball opening day was fantastic on Monday--the weather was perfect, the beer was cold and the hot dogs were, well, hot. Only problem was, the Rockies didn't win.

However, when I got home I was elated to find that the Twins game was on ESPN2, and they won, and I love them. And since I see so very few of their games on the tele or in person during the season, unless I pay the bucks at the bar or fly to the cities, it was quite the treat.

Also, yesterday the Rockies won AND the Twins won, again. That makes my Twins 2-0, baby. They are on the way to the AL Central crown fo sho.

I have tix to today's afternoon Rox game but I gotta work instead. So sad! But I will be in Houston this weekend to see the Astros play the Cards, so that should be a grand time indeed.

Opening Day

Today is the best day of the year.

Otherwise know as Opening Day. I love baseball, and I love Colorado, and though I don't love the CO Rockies as much as my Minnesota Twins, I still relish in the fact that I get to go to my fourth opening day in as many years at Coors Field. Not to mention the fact that it will be around 70 degrees today, and I will be wearing my Choo Freeman jersey (even though he is now a Dodger, and I think not on the active roster).

I will have a hot dog, I will have a beer, I will sing during the 7th inning stretch, and of course cheer.

Bring on the small ball!

wooooo

There are seriously, never, never, never, never NEVER enough pictures of purple hippopoatami. Or hippopotamus, in this case.
But where is Batman?

3 albums worth giving a listen

Or at least I think so.

I've just been listening to the newMaria Taylor album, Lynn Teeter Flower. (You should be able to listen to the album from that link). Like most first listens, for me I don't listen to the lyrics much, but I love the sound of this album. A shame I will miss her show at the Hi-Dive in Houston on April 6, but if you are in town, I say go. go. go to the Hi-Dive and see her. I saw her months ago put that was pre-Lynn Teeter Flower. I predict a grand showing.

The new and first (I think) Albert Hammond Jr. album (you can listen to it if you follow that link to his MySpace page), Yours to Keep, has also been in the rotation this week. I'm going to check his show out Saturday nite at the Marquis. He's the guitar player from the Strokes, and, dare I say, I like his solo album better than the Strokes stuff, though theirs is good, too, no question, but I like the sound of this Albert fellow.

Last, The Mountain Goats Get Lonely. I've listened to this often since I first heard of it, but it's quite to my liking. Get Lonely is my favorite song, though Wild Sage isn't bad, either.

yadda yadda. that is all.

lalala

So I have been doing things lately, but they mostly involve work, and I often forget my camera, so not a lot of postings going on. However I will try to remedy my ways.

In the meantime, if you are still checking this, and are into music, you should also check Bridget's blog, because she has allll the best local music stuffs on her blog-o-rama.

Cheers for Thursday and no work on Friday!

Thriller Wedding

I have several friends who are getting married this year, beginning this summer in June. I think that those of us attending can think of an even better dance than this one



But this one is pretty awesome. It may be hard to beat.

Put your thinking caps on and dust off those dancing shoes.

Skiing the Beav and Grassing It Up

Kate and I skiied/rode Beaver creek last Saturday (01.20.97). The snow was pretty great, which is a lot to say since it hasn't been the best snow season ever so far. Perhaps the highlight though was meandering through the Ritz Carlton which was at the base of the area of the mountain we were perusing.

The bathroom had no paper towels, only wash clothes, and lotion. It was pretty classy. We proceeded to sit in the fireplace area with the other high-rollers, and discovered a margarita that we could all afford, at a meager $125.00.

Later that night, a bunch of us from our condo headed over to Keystone to Grass It Up with the Grass It Up Bluegrass band. Quite the time was had, indeed.

A few of my favorite pix of the evening include Big Johnny shaking it in the overalls; a dance that appears synchronized with me and a dude from Kansas, but really wasn't at all; the happy sack prize goddesses; and of course the GIU boyz.

More pix are on my ofoto!

Remains

You can listen to the new Alkaline Trio album, Remains, on myspace right now. It's not released until Tuesday:

http://myspace.com/alkalinetrio

I like Alkaline Trio. They make me run faster, very often.

Check it out!

Sappy Song of the Week and Super Bear

Occasionally, I get stuck on a song and like to play it over, and over, and over, and then over again. Usually it is a sappy song. This week, it's Joshua Radin's song "Only You." I think this is a cover. It is pretty, it is simple, and I like it.

You can see him playing it on You Tube here.

Lyrics are here.

Oh Sappy Song of the Week, I love you so hard. Super Bear loves it, too.

Colorado 2008!

Yes, it's true. It was announced today that Denver will be the site for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. So exciting! In years past I used to very interested in politics, having internships in D.C. a few times. I feel the political embers stirring inside me with this announcement. I can picture myself getting caught up in the hype--being in the Pepsi Center as the signs are being waved and the confetti flying. Remnants of past student government and college political science classing stirring?

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

Regardless, it is great for Denver and Colorado economically, destined to bring in tourism dollars. And I can't help but be excited that I may be around here then to share in the political rambunctiousness! It's only been 100 years since the last time D-Town hosted a convention, after all.

Merlot Pollo

When I got home from work tonight, I thought it would be a great idea to see what Betty Crocker suggested for dinner, based on what I had in the house.


I tried to make this Chicken Nice dish, but I didn't have most what Betty recommended. So instead of white wine, I used leftover Merlot, and instead of rice, I used a tortilla, and came up with some delightful Merlot Pollo fantastico.



Directions:

• Throw in whatever red wine you have


• Sautee some chicky in that


• Take out the chicky


• Add, red, yellow, and green onions; Red, yellow, and green bell peppers, and some squash from New Year's Eve for good measure


• Throw in some Italian seasoning, and half a jalapeno pepper for good measure


• Toss the chicky back in


• Wrap it in a tortilla and serve!


• and....Voila! Merlot Pollo Fantastico.

It actually tasted quite fantastic, don't hate til you try it darlings.

Vail

On Saturday, Kate, Maggie, Justin and I ventured west on I-70 to ski at Vail. Vail is beautiful, and quickly becoming my favorite place to ski.

We had a beautiful, snow-filled day, and it didn't get unbearably cold until around 2:30 when I thought the left side of my face might fall off. But the right side of my face stilll had an unmistakable glow.

The Holiday

Last night I treated myself to popcorn, Cherry Coke and a movie. The biggest treat was the movie itself--"The Holiday" which I had been hoping to catch since I first saw the previews.

It did not disappoint me.

I'm sure you cynics out there are thinking, it's a cheesy, romantic comedy, chick-flick.

And you'd be right.

But it's also one of those movies that is long (2 hrs 15 min) but doesn't seem long. It makes you smile at the end. And for anyone who's ever fallen hard for someone who really wasn't worth it, it emphasizes you aren't alone, and you are so, sO, SO much better than them, anyway.

Plus, it has Jack Black, who can make you laugh. And Jude Law, who can make you swoon. I now understand what the Jude Law hype's been all about. He looks quite fetching in this film. Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet aren't so bad, either.

The movie made me laugh, made me cry, and was full of pretty people with problems that all meet some level of resolution. After all, that's why we go to the movies, like this, right? For some hope in this crazy, mixed-up world?

In a word, fantastic!

Happy New Year!

It's a new year, thus a revamped blog. Thought I would change it up just a bit.

Here's me in the New Year, celebrating with Senor and a martini.

More to come!