Songs for Adrienne

I heard a song today that made me decide to take a musical journey for Adrienne. Think of it as a road trip for the soul..... a roadie, if you will.

I should start at the very beginning, but I didn't listen to Restless Heart. But here is a little Restless Heart just for her (I picked a song at random).



So, there is one band that has been like a thread for our friendship; stitching our lives together in a common theme. The theme of which was getting really stoned in college (COME ON, WHO DIDN'T!?). And the soundtrack to our 9 month stint in higher education in Wyoming was Sublime. Oh, the memories that we created, and then promptly dispersed into a smoky haze above the heads of 2 college girls (and one college dropout, hehe). Adrienne wrote me a whole letter about 5 years ago for my birthday detailing every memory she could find, most of which I didn't recall until I read them. I could put about 30 songs up and give a story for each one, but this one is near and dear to my heart. It was sung to me under a kitchen table, by the one and only Miss A, after a boy was mean to me and made me cry. An a cappella version broke out at the party, and we seem to sing it when one of us needs a little extra dose of love.
Sublime- Garden Grove


Next up, another throwback to the old college days. Can you believe I never experienced any Bob Marley before Adrienne popped a scratched CD into her portable CD player and we cruised her little Nissan around town? I can't believe it. One of my favorite lines, and memories, is "we'll share the shelter/of my single bed". For two girls sleeping in twin size beds the idea of sharing it with another person, especially a boy, was very appealing. Oh, we're older and wiser now, and I can tell you honestly that having a boy in my single bed was never the poetic experience Bob promised, but I still love it.

Bob Marley- Is This Love?



The song I heard this morning that prompted me to revive the long musical post was Joni Mitchell. This is yet another musician I was introduced to in a Nissan Altima. I love that Joni started out with a sweet, high soprano and later got raspier and more hoarse with age and smoking, much like myself. This song, out of a bunch I could choose from, reminds me of Adrienne the most because of the reference to silver. If you know either of us, you know that we don't do gold. And if there was a place called the Mermaid Cafe I would buy her a bottle of wine. We'd laugh and toast to nothing and smash our empty glasses down. I'll stop now.

Joni Mitchell- Carey



I couldn't post a blog about the music we shared without throwing out Janis. Oh, Janis, she really narrated a lot of the scenes in the fun times we have had. I'll never forget our trip to a cabin in the woods, the trip there, and wailing Janis in the passenger seat of my little Subaru hatchback while everyone wailed with laughter and requests to make the madness stop. I know Adrienne was brave enough once to sing this song karaoke, and I hope one day to force her into a repeat performance.

Janis Joplin- Me and Bobby McGee



Okay, so Steve Miller Band is an OLD band, which carries the theme that Adrienne and I were born about 25 years too late to enjoy the music that later became the stuff we made memories to. I used to hate the song "Swingtown" because it just seemed really dumb. I've since gotten over that, after a stern talking to from my dad, but it's not one of my favorites. Adrienne and I had to drive a turkey or a ham or some kind of frozen animal to Lame Deer once to drop off for my mom, and on the way back we listened to SMB. She mentioned how she imagined that our parents probably listened to the same song on the same stretch of road heading back to Colstrip. Now she gets to make the same drive daily, listening to Bob and Tom and her books on tape. This song is EVERYBODY'S favorite, and we had the pleasure of seeing reggae superstar Half Pint do his own dread swinging version of this song in Boulder, CO if February of 2000. Enjoy!

P.S. Steve Miller really reminds me of a very young version of my musical father-in-law in the video.

Steve Miller Band- The Joker


I've got two more videos, then I'll halt this Magical Mystery Tour and make it a two parter at a later date. The first one is by the Long Beach Dub Allstars, which is Sublime minus Bradley Nowell plus Opie and Ras1, two guys that they got to replace him for vocals. This is the concert that Adrienne, Krystal, Riaz, Scott, and Levi and I piled into a big old brown Lincoln and traveled 414 miles to go see. It was an amazingly fun concert, since they played a million Sublime classics. This was also the night of the "bunk" acid that Scott and Levi took that ended up not being bunk. So much fun, so many memories.

Well, the fascists at youtube have disabled linking the ONE SONG I could find that I wanted to put up here, so go find it for yourself and listen to it. It's called Trailer Ras.

This is the last one, I swear. I heard Jack Johnson for the first time when his first CD came out and we put it in the listening bin at Hastings. I was working inventory at the time so I popped it in one morning while we scanned all the books or cds or whatever we were scanning that day. I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT. Just a few notes into the first song I knew that this guy would make great music. I debated on putting up two songs, so I'll do them both. One is my fave from the first album, and the second is what I assume Adrienne's is, after she demanded it be played on an August night in 2007 when a lot of beer had been consumed.

Jack Johnson- F Stop Blues


Jack Johnson- Bubble Toes


I'm sure Adrienne will think of more songs I didn't even remember. I love you, my friend. I'm glad that you've known me since we were little girls in the man-camps. I hope you had fun reading this.

Getting ready for the transition

So, it's going to be February in just a few short days, and are you ready for the DTV transition? That's right, folks, if you were previously LIVING UNDER A G.D. ROCK and had bunny ears attached to a tv built into a wooden console (the only type of tv justified in still having bunny ears) you had better look at getting yourself a fancier setup. As of February 17th, 2009, television networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX are switching their signal to digital from analog. This means you need a tv with a built in digital tuner, an external tuner, or GET SOME G.D. CABLE WHYDONCHA?!

February is going to be a busy month, so hopefully it goes by fast. Thad catches up to me in age, Superbowl Sunday kicks off the month, and god-willing that Punxsutawney Phil doesn't see his shadow and I see spring that much more quickly. I'm ready for spring, I'm ready for rain and green and leaves and flowers.

In baby news, we are 8 weeks and 3 days along, according to the nurse that gave me an original due date of FEBRUARY 10TH. I almost pooped, although I knew it wasn't right, because that would be the perfect due date for my impatient self. Despite the fact that the fetus would come out like a kangaroo joey and I'd have to put it into a pouch and keep it safe for a while. That was disturbing imagery, I'm sorry for that. We didn't hear a heartbeat yesterday, which is fine and nothing to worry about, although I was really hoping. So I'll be in to see the doctor at 11 weeks (or 10 weeks and 5 days, this is so confusing) and we'll try again. I hear finding a heartbeat on the second pregnancy can be tough. But I also heard you start feeling the baby earlier because you know what you should be feeling. Can't wait for that.

Oh, and Elora turned 2 on 1/19! She had some friends come from out of town (Cecilia and Margaret May, Tanner and Felix's kids) and we had cake, ice cream, and pizza, and they played and played until Elora was plum wiped out. She is starting to sing, she loves the alphabet song, she knows her numbers pretty well for being 2, and I don't know if I mentioned this before but she is A SASSY LITTLE CHILD. Holy moly, she's growing an attitude like her mother. Argumentative just for the sheer fun of it, into everything she knows she shouldn't be, and then she does something like getting behind me on the couch and rubbing my shoulders (while saying "shoulders", no less) and every thing that was previously bugging me to within an inch of beating her is wiped away, and she's smitten me again.

We don't know her feelings yet on having a sibling, but I did ask her yesterday while she was talking to my mom on the phone if she wanted a baby brother or baby sister. She said sister, so for what that's worth she wants a sister. My mom also said "oh, well, I guess if you don't have a boy this time you'll have to try again", to which I replied "ABSOLUTELY NOT". Uh-uh. Two. That's my limit. One per parent when it comes to vacations and family outings. Two is manageable, and one day if we ever feel like we need more chicks in the nest I'll either a) let Thad bring a girlfriend home for a polyamorous relationship (as long as she cleans, cooks, and babysits) or b) he'll have to come around to the idea of adoption.

My feeling has always been that there are so many kids out there that need homes it wouldn't really be fair to not give one of them a home and the love that they are in such desperate need for. I'd even like to look at foster care one day, but I want my kids to be old enough to be out of danger of sexual abuse, which is unfortunately a real part of my fear when it comes to bringing a child into our home. But my parents were both very open with their home, we tried several times to bring in foster children, but a lot of those situations involved kids that just needed additional care in addition to the foster home they were currently in, and so we never had a permanent fit until 10/13/2000. My mom brought home a little Northern Cheyenne girl, only 6 months old, and she became my sister. That little girl is going to be 9 years old this year, and she lives with my parents. She loves playing with animals, High School Musical, and Spongebob Squarepants. Soon she will be legally adopted by my parents, and I hope that one day I can provide the same change for someone else.

Well, it's a work day, so I am going to get ready to go to work. Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Up late

I'm up late tonight, much later than I usually stay up. I'm a little wound tight from work, and bringing work home with me, but I'm eager to feel like I've gotten 2 out of 3 things I wanted to do accomplished.

Side note: I'm drinking some tea I got from Adagio Teas. It's called Foxtrot, and the website give the following description:

"Like the dance that inspired its name, our Foxtrot tea is an overnight success that will leave you giddy with joy. It is an herbal cocktail of Egyptian chamomile, South African Rooibos and fresh peppermint leaves. A soothing blend of familiar tastes that produces a pleasantly original combination. It is entirely caffeine-free. The spring in your step is due entirely to its enticing taste."

I must say, it is really good. It's got a minty-ness that is really mellow, and a bit of a licorice bite, it almost turns sweet the longer you wait between sips. And it's like a little sun, such a cheery yellow in my glass tea cup. Under track lighting it is truly magnificent.

Anyways, on with the grind. I'm hoping the warm caffeine-free tea will help me be ready for sleep any moment now....... oh........ there it is...... g'night!

Hey Golden Globes.... go fuck yourselves.

I've cried at nearly everything I've seen on the GGs tonight. Especially the Steven Spielberg tribute. This whole "crying over everything" mess has got to end soon. I'm going to need to by stock in Kimberly Clarke.

Bawling my eyes out

Yesterday Thad and I watched a movie that I'd been wanting to see for a while. Once is a movie that about 2 people that meet unexpectedly and start making music together. It's funny, surprisingly, and the music is WONDERFUL. I cried at the end of the movie, and then I cried on the way to work when my Zune, ON RANDOM, played the song "Falling Slowly" about 5 blocks from work. "Falling Slowly" ended up winning the Oscar for Best Song, and I don't even know all the words and it makes my cry. Have a listen and tell me if you don't tear up by the end, I DARE YOU! Especially with the lyric "Take this sinking boat/and point it home/we've still got time"..... I'm misting over just typing it.

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone! Happy New Year! I know I'm 6 days late in making this statement, but let's just pretend that I was much more on the ball than I actually am.

The New Year has been pretty interesting so far. But let's go back to the make your own sushi party I mentioned at the end of the last post. Adrienne would be pretty pissed knowing these pictures exist and weren't posted, so I'll narrate only the little bits I remember above each picture.

This right here is the spread. It was a pretty big table of goodies.


Sticky Rice.... pretty self explanatory.


The orange stuff is roe, and the yellow stuff is pickled daikon radish.


This is a huge plate of some finished rolls. So good!


We left the party early due to a small medical emergency with another attendee's child that really kind of put the breaks on the party. Not that it was their fault, it's actually probably better that we left when we did, it was getting late.

So the New Year arrived, and Thad's folks came with it. They came up on Friday and Thad's dad helped him put in two florescent lights in the basement, and a LIGHT SWITCH! We've lived here nearly 4 years and a year ago the light cord snapped off and we just left it on (with an eco-friendly lightbulb, of course). So that's a big change, the light is almost blinding.

Saturday morning started with the cinnamon rolls from the last blog, and they were just as amazing the second time around. This time I halved the icing recipe, and that was just enough. I put Elora down for her nap, and Thad's mom and I snuck out to do a little shopping. I got fresh blueberries at Costco, and some chorizo at World Market for a recipe I saw on Nigella Bite's 7 years ago.

Saturday night meant lasagna, and Sophia came over and played. Sunday morning was the perfect morning to try making homemade, fresh blueberry pancakes. I scoured the internet for an idea of how to make thing... do I cut em up? Slice em? Throw them in whole? Warmer and warmer, my search finally landed on a site that suggested tossing handfuls of blueberries in the batter once it was on the griddle. No pictures, sadly, but the next time I make these I will definitely get some pictures up.

Well, I'm pooped, and rightly so. Thad and I, and Elora too, are going to have a new addition to the family. Granted, it's still early and I hesitate to share the news, but since it's something everyone I know is aware of it seems pointless not to include this little bit of news. We're over the moon, really really really excited. I haven't had a chance to start hoping or dreaming or planning, I'm just enjoying knowing I've got a little peanut growing in there.

Well, much love to everyone, I'm going to finish watching Hidden Potential on HGTV, then bedtime!