We're teetering on the edge of summer here in Atlanta, as crazy as that is to believe in March. But summers here, while famously beautiful, are also notoriously short, and the temperature has already creeped up to 80+ more than a couple of times. There's a part of me that can't enjoy how gorgeous it is now, because I know it will only get hotter from here - and a girl can only be so naked in public! But I'm trying to silence that part of me as much as possible because, for now, it's gorgeous walking around weather, especially when you've got a sundress as easy and light as this one. Plus, with all of this light, and the color and perfume from the wisteria, the dogwoods, the azaleas, a girl can't help but submit.
All of these pictures were taken in my neighborhood. Not too shabby, right? I have a lot of issues with Atlanta, but it's harder to remember them in Spring.
This outfit is what I plan to wear for the rest of summer, more or less: simple dresses and simple flats or sandals. This delightful little number is from Twenty Seven Names, and the bag is a collaboration between Fieldguided and one of my new favorite online boutiques, Summerland. I already had the Kate Bush tote that everyone has, but when I saw this Stevie Nicks one, I just couldn't resist. Is it possible for a girl to have too many simple, well-made totes featuring heart-centric lyrics by fierce and awesome lady music icons? I think not! Another thing I couldn't resist? Pairing this tote with this innocent little heart-print frock. Subtlety, my friends, is extremely overrated!
This picture (above) was taken right before Bruce decided to go nuts...as he is wont to do....
Happy Valentine's Day, lovelies! I'm at work right now, but looking forward to a lovely and mellow evening with my two boys, Matt and Bruce - one of whom is officially a doctor now, as of last night! (Can you guess which one?) It's a big week for us in the Homebrew household. Matt successfully defended his dissertation last night and got his PhD, today is Valentine's Day, then he leaves tomorrow for a conference and comes home Saturday morning - the morning of my birthday! Poor guy. I should probably be especially nice to him tonight, huh?
This is my Valentine's Day ensemble, if you couldn't tell, what with my PINK and RED screaming at you. I got this lovely dress from the Greedy Seagull, and I love it. I love the color (lovelove the color, in fact), I love the texture, which the photos here don't do justice to, but it's an amazing mohair open weave with pink and red and lavender. Love. And these shoes, well, don't even get me started on my love for these shoes. I'm so full of love, you guyyysssssssss!!! Valentine's Dayyyyyyyyyyyy!
As for the hair - look you guys! I did something with it! This was my attempt at a 60s, Bardot-esque bouffant. Pretty pathetic, huh? Actually, it's pathetic when you think of what I was trying to do, but I think for what it is (whatever that might be!), it looks pretty good.
Why am I making that face? Because I've got a sassy little surprise, that's why....
Tee hee! It's my first garter. American Apparel makes a pretty cheap one, which I thought would be fine for my first test-drive (especially since I splurged on some other unmentionables....) I must say, it's pretty fun to be walking around all day with one of these things on - it really does feel like I've got this naughty little secret (which I suppose is not so secret anymore, whoops!) A note to any of you lovely readers who might want to get one. The AA one is well-made and while nothing special in the prettiness department, is perfectly attractive and will get the job done, as it were. But unlike many other AA items, this actually seems to run true to regular adult sizes. I went with the medium, which is a little loose, and it's been sliding down ever so slightly all day. So take note!
Outfit Details:
Dress: vintage
Shoes: DV by Dolce Vita
Stalkings: AA
Garter: AA
Happy Valentine's day, you all! If you're single, I hope you have a lovely Anti-Valentine's Day party coupley people aren't invited, or that you've got some wonderful pampering planned for yourself and have an expensive bottle of champagne chilling as I type this that you intend to share with no one! And if you're coupled, I hope you have a fun night planned of whatever makes you unique as a pair! Whatever your view of Valentine's Day, I hope you take it as an opportunity to send some love out to the universe and, most importantly, give some love to yourself!
Sometimes it's good to contextualize goals within a broader or narrower context, depending on your need. In thinking about my resolutions and goals for the year, I kept thinking about the idea of feminine tropes and how we as women relate to them, either buying into them - sometimes willingly, sometimes unwillingly - or actively trying to work against them. While stereotypes of any kind are generally harmful, I was thinking about how they could be spun into positives; how awareness of how we may or may not be perceived can help us to take control over how we want to be perceived. Of course, it would be best if everyone could just take everyone else as they are and get to know them free of biases or preconceived notions. But until that magical day when unicorns fly out of my ass, these are some of the ways I'm making sexism work for me!
When to confound
Women aren't good with money
I hate this one in particular, perhaps because I've exemplified it all too often. I've had my fair share of debt and overdraft fees due to buying one too many dresses or having one too many $11 cocktail out to dinner with the girls. And while I've got my head on straight a bit more, I still have a hard time being really practical and clearheaded with my finances sometimes, or about thinking long term. I'm not exactly sure how this stereotype came to be - because people think our little lady brains can't handle math or figures of any kind? Because we were kept out of the bread-winning and financial side of life for so long that it's still thought we can't really handle it? Because the money women were allowed to handle would be an "allowance" for household expenses and maybe a little frivolous treat for themselves? Because women are the more frequent victim of looks-based shaming and pressure, making us more susceptible to the idea that we have to spend money on clothing and make-up and things to make us more desirable in all realms of our lives, from the personal and romantic to even the professional? I don't know where it came from, but I don't like it. And while I can rail against the injustice of it all - you wouldn't condescendingly call a man who isn't perfect with his finances a typical man, would you? - I'll be much more effective in my fight (not to mention in my life in general) if I do it with a flawlessly balanced check book.
Women aren't up on current events
Similar to the above, I guess we're too busy reading fashion magazines and blogs and checking our hair to bother reading the New York Times, amiright??Or perhaps our little lady brains again can't grasp the nuances and subtleties of world politics or economic policies. Again, this one really frustrates me, because I'm not someone who is ambivalent to the world around me, and I do care about politics and the world. But sometimes I *am* reading fashion blogs, or I'm knee-deep in articles and chapters I have to read for school and I come home too late for the News Hour that the day's headlines do often get away from me. Again, it's obviously unfair - if a man hadn't heard about a given current event, most people wouldn't automatically assume that he never pays attention to the news, whereas I often feel the pressure the know about everything that's going on in the world, lest the one time I don't my inquisitor assumes that I simply don't care about such things. But I do believe it's important to know about the world and be an informed individual with defensible positions and opinions, so this is an instance where I'm willing to take up the challenge and fight through example.
Women are obsessed with how they look
A truly double-edged sword, we're expected to "take care of ourselves" and "look presentable," yet we get shit for being shallow if we're worried about our makeup or we take "too long" to get ready. Men pretend to hate makeup, but only because they don't like fun makeup that calls attention to itself. Meanwhile, they glorify this idea of being "natural looking" while we women roll our eyes, knowing that the "natural look" involves at least as much makeup and probably twice as much time. And I'm not trying to bash on men here - it's not their fault really. They think they're being helpful by telling us they don't like too much makeup and we should look natural, blah blah. But what they're doing by doing that is telling us that the makeup we DO enjoy wearing - the crazy eyeshadow, the intense cat-eye, the deep red lipstick - doesn't look good, and that the "natural look" is what they prefer, meaning the "naturally pretty" look, which make us feel like we have to buy into this myth of looking pretty and perfect and dewy all the time. Remember that scene in Bridesmaids where Kristin Wiig gets up out of bed and puts on some makeup and fixes her hair before crawling back into bed and waking up Jon Hamm, so he believes she just looks like that all the time? Yeah, it's like that. See, we're obsessed with how we look because everyone seems to have an opinion about how we do or should look. It can even make it hard to make sense of our own feelings on the matter - do I wear makeup for other people? Do I dress a certain way to be desirable or project something to other people? Or do I do it all for myself, because I like it or think it's fun? My guess is that it's some mix of all of those things. This one is a little bit harder to actively confound, but I think a very strong sense of self goes a long way toward at least dismissing the idea that we're all slaves to what other people think of our appearance. If you can answer immediately and with conviction why you wear makeup or dress a certain way or, even better, if you can dismiss the question entirely and tell the person to mind their own goddam business, then I think you can keep on keepin' on.
Women feel bad about their bodies
I've addressed some of my feelings about this in a previous post, but one of the biggest problems with this one is that we do feel bad about our bodies! Ashamed of our sexuality, ashamed of our weight, ashamed of any number of particularities about the shape or size of our thighs, breasts, ass, knees - it's insane! Where as the previous one has to do with our faces and our clothing, and ideas of beauty and projection, this one goes deeper into our feelings about sexiness and sexuality and our relationship to our own physical forms. And believe me, I know it's hard to wade through, and I'd be a giant liar if I were to stand here right now and say to you that I never ever feel bad about my body or wish that I could change x or y about it. But one thing I can tell you is that I try my absolute damnedest to not complain about it out loud or participate in the fucked up sorority of body bashing that bonds so many people - women especially - together all too often. "God I feel fat" "You are NOT fat, I'm the fatty!" "No way, I WISH I had your thighs!" "Well I wish I had YOUR boobs" "OMG we hate ourselves together! Let's go punish our bodies someway by going to a cruel workout class we don't feel like going to or binging on cupcakes or drinking green tea for dinner together!" Forget how this even makes us look as women to talk this way, it's straight up damaging. And then there's how all the sexual messages we're sent effect our relationships to our bodies, thinking we have to conform to certain expectations of our sexuality, be they to either deny it completely or perform Cirque du Soleil-esque porno theatrics in the bedroom, spending so much time thinking about these supposed shoulds of our sexuality - to wax or not to wax? and how much???? - that we're barely able to be cognizant of the ares and the wants. And, look, as we all already know, it's no easy task - I've had an eating disorder, my weight has yoyoed, I used to spend nights crying because I wished so hard I could look more this or be more that, and I won't even talk about the, um, relationships I had all through college to try and find validation through boys and sex. And those feelings still surface sometimes, of course they do. But to some extent, I believe this is an area where if you act "as if" things will change. Tell that mean voice inside you to shut up. Tell that mean voice outside of you, even if it belongs to your best friend, to shut up. Walk through the world as though your skin fits you like a favorite sweater. And I think once you start acting like you don't care, you'll see how stupid it all is and you actually won't care. And once others see that you don't care - and see how much happier you are not caring! - they might give it a try, too. In my own little way I get to test this out at the swimwear store everyday, and while I don't think I'm completely changing the relationship that my customers have with their bodies, it's amazing what it can do to either just ignore or laugh off the body hating comments they try and spew out. Once they see I won't participate, they start to get over it, even if it's just a little bit, and even if it's just for the time being. Can you imagine a world filled with beautiful body-confident, sexually-realized women? We'd be effing unstoppable!
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Those are my thoughts on when to confound stereotypes to be a better version of myself. Any stereotypes you can think of that might serve as great motivation? What about stereotypes that we should embrace?
Well, that's it. It's legitimately cold. Yesterday it never got above 35 F and at night it was around 20 F. We even made an emergency trip to Lowe's for a space heater. Luckily, I have a good amount of cold weather accessories that have been collecting dust here in Atlanta and itching to see the light of day, including this fabulous coat from the wonderful Female Hysteria vintage, which I discovered through the equally wonderful Fancy Fine blog. And of course this hat. Perhaps I've mentioned before, but I used to have the most perfect vintage mink hat that fit me perfectly, was the loveliest blond mink and looked wonderful with everything. It has been lost in one or another move, and I've mourned it ever since. This hat is hardly a replacement - it doesn't fit *quite* as well, and isn't quite as versatile - but it's lovely nonetheless. I got it at my favorite vintage store in Atlanta, Stefan's, which is, as far as I can tell, the only true vintage store in all of Atlanta. Thankfully, it's a wonderful store, with the nicest people working there and the loveliest things, all fairly priced, in my opinion. This hat was quite expensive, but when I tried it on I was hemming and hawing and one of the older ladies said "well, of course I can do better on the price for you" and she did - to the tune of a 60% price reduction! So of course I was hemming and hawing no more!
I must say, now that it's actually cold, I do much prefer the cold to the heat. It's so much nicer to relax under a blanket and in a nice cozy sweater. It's not going to be staying this cold here for long, however. Oh well. My coats will enjoy the fresh air while it lasts!
Oh, and a question about static cling. I swear I never had to deal with static cling to this extent when I lived on the West Coast. Any of you savvy ladies have any good tips for minimizing the effects? My beautiful dress was clinging to my arms and tights all day when I was inside.
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a lovely NYE, whatever you had planned, and a lovely first day of 2012. I had a superfun NYE - we had just a few close friends over to our place and talked and drank (too much!) and played games - my favorite kind of evening! I had a little too much fun, though, and wasn't paying attention to how much drank and I guess I didn't eat enough because I spent most of yesterday with the worst hangover I've had in a LONG time! Some extra sleep, gatorade, and a greasy breakfast (if you can call it that at 1:30 in the afternoon!) more or less cured me, and then we just had a lazy rest of the day which was nice, followed by pho for dinner (which is a magic cure for anything that ails ya!) and then a movie (we saw Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - excellent!) So, despite the start to the day, I really can't complain and consider it a good start to 2012.
I love New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. I'm a sucker for anything that involves making big plans, setting goals, looking ahead, and dreaming about how great the future can - nay, will! - be. I pride myself on being pretty self-reflective and committed to being a better version of myself and changing for the better. Obviously I'm far from perfect, and there's no such thing as perfect because we're all beautiful individual snowflakes and you can't please all the people all of the time etc. But, as far as I'm concerned, I've improved quite a bit over the years, and actually enjoy thinking about how I can be better, according to how I define it and according to my own strengths and weaknesses.
I consider the process of self-improvement to be a constant one, and I often set mini goals for the week every Sunday or Monday, but grouping things in "years" has its place and New Year's resolutions are a nice way to carve out longer term goals to help you shape the following year, and even to get the ball rolling on larger projects. It's also just a great time to reevaluate, check your progress, and strategize or re-strategize. So here are some of my personal New Year's resolutions.
I actually was vegan for a good many years, and vegetarian for a few on top of that. While I won't get into my reasons for ceasing here (perhaps in another post), I will say that my veggie eating has definitely fallen, and I think I've been able to feel the effects. It isn't because I've suddenly gone totally bacon crazy going back to eating meat (though that's maybe part of it...), but that the most convenient foods are - sadly - often foods with meat in them, and with work and school, I've allowed convenience to win out too often. But back when I used to drink green smoothies for breakfast and steam whole kombocha squash for salads and bean dishes, I felt a lot healthier. So I plan to simply choose more vegetarian options, eat a higher volume of veggies again, with the goal of having more all vegan days a week, or at the very least be vegan until dinner a good portion of the time. Luckily, Matt - who was himself vegetarian for a spell - has been feeling like he has been eating too much meat lately, too, so he's also on board! I'm excited about whipping out my vegan cookbooks again!
Blog More
This year! This will be the year that I really wrap my head around this blog. I feel like I have made progress - it's just been a little bit slower than I maybe thought it might be. But progress is progress, and I'm going to keep that going. So yeah! Get stoked!
Give More Time and Energy to my Music:
PJ Harvey by Seamus Murphy
I've always let myself ride waves of inspiration, then just pretend that it doesn't bother me when nothing comes. But I've never been particularly good with setting a schedule for myself to be creative. It's always been something I've never quite understood, in fact - the Muse doesn't just come when we call her! ...does she? That's the thing, most successful writers or creators of any kind actually work at it. Because sometimes she will come only when you've been working for awhile and have gotten some of the shit out of your system. And maybe I've just been afraid of that - all of the shit that comes when you force it and that you have to work through. But if you always stay afraid of the crappy stuff that everyone produces sometimes (not everything can be a winner!), then you'll rarely get to the winning stuff. And I can't deny anymore how much happier I am, how much more myself I am, and how much richer my life is when writing and playing music is a part of it. So this year I will be more diligent with my creative efforts. I know how much satisfaction I get from it (the most), so it's time to let go of my fear of being bad and just do it.
I'm definitely the messy one around here, and I'm sure Matt would appreciate any progress I made on this goal! But I could also just do to organize and arrange my own space better. I have all of this fantastic clothing and these shoes, but it's all stuffed haphazardly into the closet or in drawers, which makes putting fun outfits together more of a chore than it needs to be. I would also certainly be much more productive and much more put together if I took the time to create an environment that was more conducive to that.
Be More Patient
Patience has never been a strong suit of mine, and I pretty much fail in all definitions of the word. I'm like a little child when it comes to holidays, wanting to open presents early, and I complain when things take too long, I'm a pain to go grocery shopping with, and I get frustrated with people who don't get things quickly or make small mistakes. As I put it to Matt the other day, "I don't really suffer fools, and I could probably afford to suffer them a bit more." Over the years, I've become a strong, independent, outspoken person, which I'm proud of, but I think I've been so afraid of being marginalized as a woman that I've overcompensated in some ways - often I'll take a stronger stance on something in an argument than I really believe, just to show that I'm not afraid to take a strong stance or stand up. But real security means knowing when to back off, I think, and trusting yourself enough to know that you don't have to have a strong stance or be loud just to show people that you're a smart or tough person. And I think patience and magnanimity have been somewhat sacrificed in the name of my getting tougher. I'm at the point now where I can afford to relax a bit and cut people some more slack - niceness and strength don't have to be mutually exclusive!
Follow that Old Golden Rule
In a similar vein to the above, I also often expect a lot out of other people, but I wonder how much I'm really following my own expectations. I might want Matt to do more romantic things, but do I do romantic things? I might complain that my friends don't call me enough and I'm calling them more often, but is that really true? Am I really doing the things that I expect others to do for me? Am I always really behaving the way I expect others to behave? I plan to concentrate more on what I can do rather than what I expect others should do - and I have the suspicion that the latter may end up following from the former, anyway.
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2011 was also a year of new happenings and new favorites. Here are some of my new favorite little things that became a regular part of my life in 2011 and that I look forward to more of in 2012!
Coffee Shop Breakfasts
Certainly it's not that I've never gotten breakfast from a coffee shop before 2011, but 2011 was the year of me getting really into coffee shop breakfasts. It's pretty silly, and at times not particularly healthy or cost effective, but it's been a good way for me to spin a negative - having to go to work, not having times in the morning for a leisurely breakfast - into a positive. My Caribou Coffee breakfast sandwiches and large coffees represent a little treat every morning. And I'm often alone for an hour or two at work when I'm the first one in, so it also allows me to have a mellow respite, checking in with blogs, sipping my black coffee and nibbling my breakfast, just doing my own thing, before coworkers and customers descend upon me.
Ballet Bar Classes
Late last year, a Pure Barre studio opened up a few stores down in the same strip as the store where I work. I'm always looking for a way to mix things up, fitness-wise, to help counteract boredom and give my body a little shock. When it's mixed with the convenience of being right next door to work and having a session right before I have to go in AND giving me a good neighbor discount, then that's all the sweeter. It's pretty funny, because I end up working out with a similar clientele to that of the store (i.e. rich Atlanta housewives), and it's strange being the only one with visible tattoos and bangs (seriously, I don't think I've seen a single set of bangs on another woman in the studio ever - isn't that weird???), but it's a damn good workout. There's an intense arm section in the beginning and a lot of ab work (very much like Pilates), so you get a full body workout, but the emphasis is on the thighs and the butt, which is great because a) while I have no real issues with my body nowadays, I wouldn't *mind* if my athletic thighs got a little tighter and trimmer and b) those are big muscles, so really whipping those into shape revs the old metabolism up much more than just lifting and working on the arms (which means more food - yay!) And I gotta say, it's far from night and day, but I've noticed some targeted results, as well as feeling overall a little leaner and meaner.
Advancing in My Yoga Practice
Wheel
I've been doing yoga for about three years now, but I hadn't pushed myself to take more advanced classes before this year. It's been really satisfying seeing my progress, and while there are still many things I can't do (I'm a long way off from Scorpion pose), there are many things I can do now that I couldn't do before (it's still wonderfully satisfying every time I push up into Wheel pose.) Best of all, seeing how far I've advanced in my practice so far makes me realize that with continued practice and if I keep challenging myself, those other poses are within my reach - Scorpion in 2012, perhaps?
Scorpion
Girl's TV Nights
This year, two girl friends and I started to get together about once a week to have drinks and catch up on TV watching. Of course, the TV was just an excuse to get together regularly - sometimes we'd barely pay attention to the show, since we'd be catching up and talking. Other times, we'd all be kind of tired from the week and would just settle in together to relax. It's nice to carve out set times and regular meets like this, because with life being so busy and hectic, it can sometimes we hard to make plans. Our weekly TV nights are a way for us to not only make sure we all see each other regularly, but it's also time that we've set aside to relax and get away from the rest of the hustle and bustle of our daily lives.
Jeans
Some of you may have noticed that I'm generally more of a dresses girl. Part of that is because I just like dresses, and they're kind of more my personal style. But it's also because I used to HATE shopping for jeans. I could never find any that fit me perfectly or that I thought looked that great. This past year, however, I was determined to find jeans that I liked. And after much agonizing I figured it out - mid- and high-rise jeans are the solution! I'd been struggling so long with low-rise jeans because they are, by far, the most common and I just thought I didn't have a body for jeans, but turns out that size and fit is pretty consistent for me as long as the jeans have a higher rise - amazing! So now I have three pairs of jeans that I love - a pair of black J Brand mid-rise skinnies (which I want to get in every color, I luff them so), and two pairs of Court for Bona Drag jeans. I'm still probably more of a dresses girl, but it's definitely nice to be able to switch things up!
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What did you love about 2011? What you looking forward to in 2012?
This year, it seems that I really loved a lot more songs than I did albums. Perhaps it has to do with so much time spent in the car or at work, but most of my music-listening has been individual tracks on the local college radio station or on Sirius XM U. I wasn't as awesome as I have been in the past with actively seeking out or keeping tack of new music this year, especially with trying to start a band of my own (an effort that's hit more than a couple of snags....), and I've been much less on top of the pop musicz this year (despite the ballet "barre" classes I've been taking!) but here are my favorite 20 tracks of the year, for what they're worth, in a very rough order - and just in time to add to your last minute NYE playlists!
Neon Indian - "Polish Girl"
I flipping love this song. Just. Love. It. The video is pretty great, too.
Jens Lekman - "An Argument With Myself"
It was a close call between this track and "Waiting for Kirsten" (and for some reason I just have a thing against putting two songs by the same artist in a list like this...), but in the end I went with this track because it's just so Jens - clever and old-school Bacharach-style poppy and weird. Oh, I luff him. Please, Jens, tour in a city I'm living again.
St. Vincent - "Cruel"
The whole album is really challenging and cool, but this track stands out, with it's great pop sensibility and crazy guitar.
M83 - "Midnight City"
This whole album is amazing, and, again, I could have put a couple songs on this list but blah blah am weird about that. I had to go with this one in the end because it's so gorgeous and perfect for driving at night and catchy as hell. And also, perhaps, because of this guy:
tUnE-yArDs - "Bizness"
I was blown away when I heard tUnE-yArDs for the first time. "Gangsta" was the first song I heard, and I was convinced she was a he by the voice; something in the delivery and tone and the otherwordliness is so beyond gender, yet, I guess because of my own assumptions, I assigned "male" to the crazy experimentalism of the track and wild versatility and lower tone of the voice. I was quite pleased to be wrong! The whole album is rad ("Powa" is a mega-sexy song and almost made it on the list instead), but "Bizness" makes me want to get up and dance as wildly as they do in the video.
Beirut - "Santa Fe"
I won't lie: I only half-way got into Gulag Orkestar and I didn't even know there was an album in between that and Rip Tide (again, "reasons why this is not a music blog!") But there were songs I really love on Beirut's first album and they were the more sweet and melodic and sing-along-able ones, like "Postcards from Italy" (which is the song that everyone likes but THAT IS FINE WHATEVER IT'S GOOD.) "Sante Fe" has that same singalong melody with a slight tinge of melancholy, but with a fuller sound. And the video is just about as wonderful as the song.
Kurt Vile - "Puppet to the Man"
Kurt Vile was another new artist for me this year, and this is my favorite track off of Smoke Ring For my Halo, one of my favorite albums of this year.
PJ Harvey - "The Last Living Rose"
PJ Harvey is an undeniable badass and I think a lot of girls in their twenties and thirties have mega crushes on her - understandably and justifiably. She was one of the first modern female artists that I really got into and to show me how ladies were representing and pushing the envelope in the indie/alternative/[whatever] music world - something that was very inspiring for me when I first started writing and playing music. The new album is (obviously) awesome, though I only acquired it recently and haven't had enough time to sit with it. So far, though, this is my favorite track with it's slow, classic groove.
Lykke-Li - "I Follow Rivers"
I think "Little Bit" was a theme song of sorts for me in 2009, haha. I've enjoyed the way her voice has kind of filled out and gotten stronger (both literally and figuratively.) I like "Get Some," but there's something about when she says the "I'm your prostitute" line that just feels kind of silly to me, instead of sexy. Call me crazy! But whatever, I like "I Follow Rivers" better - the melody is just fantastic.
Cut Copy - "Take Me Over"
Dancey throwback goodness as only Cut Copy can do. I recommend seeing them live if you ever get the chance. It's a stupidly fun time!
Fucked Up - "The Other Shoe"
Matt and I saw these guys live with a friend and while Matt kind of hated it, I thought it was basically amazing (Matt's and my musical tastes diverge slightly at some points, haha.) It's [kind of] hardcore and he's growling, yet you can sing along! And it really is fun to sing "dying on the inside" over and over again...is that messed up? Well if it's wrong, I don't want to be right!
Atlas Sound - "Te Amo"
I was not very familiar with Bradford Cox's ouevre before this year, though I knew a couple Deerhunter songs, and even had an album of theirs (though that means very little with me when it comes to really being familiar with an artist - I've collected many albums over the years, far beyond my capacity to listen to them all in that time!) But I've really dug the Atlas Sound tracks I've heard so far and especially this one.
Drums - "Money"
Quite simply, this became my theme song upon hearing it.
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - "Senator"
Is part of the reason this is my favorite song off of Mirror Traffic because it says "blow job" over and over again?....maybe....Are there few people in the world nowadays who can bring out the intense fangirl in me like Malkmus can? Yes, very few indeed.
Radiohead - "Lotus Flower"
As I foolishly was with quite a few awesome artists, I was a Radiohead denier for awhile. But, as everyone knows, they're awesome and this song is no exception. Also, can we talk for a moment about Thom Yorke's dancing? I mean - those hips! No, seriously though, there is something about this video (maybe just the hat?) that reminds me of a totally cracked out version of the "Make 'Em Laugh" number from Singin' in the Rain...just...think about it for a sec.
Los Campesinos! - "By Your Hand"
Great lyrics, catchy melody; this song is up there as far as songs that were stuck in my head this year go, as well as for lyrics I was tempted to use as blog post titles.
My Morning Jacket - "Victory Dance"
It doesn't hurt that I saw these guys live and they opened with this song, which is maybe one of the best opening numbers EVER. I don't even know if this is really my favorite track on the album, but I do love Circuital and it's a great opener and these guys definitely put on a beyond epic live show. AND I got to see Neko Case open for them - when is SHE going to put out a new album???
Wilco - "Born Alone"
This is possibly my favorite track on Wilco's solid - if not particularly exceptional by Wilco standards - new album, perhaps for the simple reason of Nils' guitar. Also, when Tweedy hits that "faaaaate" note, it always makes me smile.
Nicki Minaj - "Superbass"
It doesn't hurt that I can rap the whole thing (which is so fun), but in my view this song deserved to be a huge megahit and I never minded hearing it come on the radio if we were listening to the pop stations at work.
Drake - "Headlines"
I do a great Drake impersonation that, if for any reason I ever want to piss or alienate my husband, works like a charm. But the real Drake does it better than I do (though my husband still isn't a fan!)
Well, that's my list! Anything I forgot (can you read my mind for me? It's very possible - 365 days is a lot of days to remember!)
What are your favorite tracks of the year? Anything inclusion or omission here please, puzzle, or pain you? Do share! That's what comments are for!
I have a thing for getting clothes that I kind of can't wear very often. When I was in my band in San Francisco I amassed a whole impractical collection of party dresses that were really only appropriate to wear during shows, as I didn't go to nearly enough parties to justify it. But when those special occasions come around, you've got to have something! So there's a place in every closet for those items that don't get much wear, I think, and in the case of my closet, it's a very large space.
This dress is a perfect example. It's kind of hard to get away with wearing something like this in any other context than that of holiday cheer and festivity. And even then, a dress like this still elicits many a comment from random passerby - "My! Aren't you festive!" Yes, yes I am. Though just as I don't really need an excuse to wear red velvet, I'm not sure I need much of an excuse to wear forest green wool and white mink, especially when it comes in such a perfectly made vintage dress. At any rate! The dress made me smile, seemed to make others smile (and maybe laugh, a bit), and it was the perfect dress for the pre-holiday celebration Matt and I had last nigh - what more do I need from a frock?
We exchanged a couple of gifts and opened up the lovely gifts my parents sent us, which for me included a Kindle Fire (!!!), the best blanket in the world (pictured below) and quite a few other lovelies, as well. Matt and I have only exchanged a few of our gifts for each other, but those have so far been a book of Tomas Transtrommer's poetry and Joan Didion's new book, Blue Nights (which my parents also got me!) for me, and two Muppet movies (hehe) and Bukowski's Ham on Rye for him. I was also greeted upon my arrival from work with homemade egg nog AND penne a la vodka. A lot of cream, wasn't that? you may say. Yes, but so so good. And besides, tis the season to get one's grub on, amiright???
Just a few images from our festivities last night, including our tiny tree and the aftermath of the present opening frenzy. We're off on a crazyearly flight tomorrow to go to New Jersey to see Matt's family, but hopefully they'll be a delicious legit New York bagel on the other end of it for me. I'll try and pop by while we're gone, but happy holidays to all in case I don't!
