Rubber Duck (8/365)

Focus (7/365)

How Did I Get In This Bubble?

Check it out! I learned how to make photos look like bubbles today.

Original photo:



New photo:

Cool eh?

And I can make my brother look much scarier:

Jer Bear (6/365)

Stinkerbell (5/365)

Stretch (4/365)

Mill Ruins (3/365)

Teal Windows (3/365)

Mamma B (2/365)

Red Scarf (1/365)

365 Project

I'm anti New Year's Resolutions, but I have a few things I'm really excited for in 2009. One of them is a 365 day photo project I'm working on. I'm trying to really work on my photography skills and learn some Photoshop, so I figured I would challenge myself to take and edit at least one photo for each day of the year. And I'll be posting them all on here for all to see. Which means that I'll be blogging semi-regularly (Amazing!).

The End of the Year is Just an Excuse to Make Lists

One of the best things about the end of the year is being able to make lists for all sorts of things that happened in the past year. Best movies, worst phrases used by politicians, most tragic fashion ensembles... you get the point. But my favorite thing to make lists for is music. I love delving into the past year of music and coming up with lists of my favorite albums, favorite songs, most beautiful lyrics, biggest disappointments. Most of these lists are mental lists, but I thought I'd at least share one of them with the Internets. So here are my 10 albums from 2008:

1) Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend

I almost didn't give this band a chance to show me how good they really are. I had heard a few things about how they were overrated and it wasn't until my sister brought this CD home that I actually gave it a listen. And I loved it! Great, catchy melodies infused with weird African-ish rhythms. The lead singer's voice is perfect and the simple, innovative instrumentation lets it shine through. I could listen to this CD over and over for months.

Must have tracks: Mansard Roof, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, and M79

2) Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes

This CD takes a very close second to Vampire Weekend. Their music is gorgeous, lush, folk rock. All of the songs manage to sound dense and wide open at the same time. When I listen to this CD I feel happy, empowered, nostalgic, and invigorated all at the same time, and their lyrics contain some seriously beautiful phrases.

Must have tracks: White Winter Hymnal, Blue Ridge Mountains, and Ragged Wood

3) Volume 1 by She & Him

I sincerely hope the title of this album implies a Volume 2 somewhere in the future. This CD is a collaboration between M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel, the actress in Elf and The Happening. Usually when movie stars try to cross over into music it's a disaster, but Zooey Deschanel is the exception. Her voice is hypnotically rich and the songs are perfectly written.

Must have tracks: Sentimental Heart and You Really Got a Hold on Me

4) Re-arrange Us by Mates of State

This CD is one gigantic love letter. My heart swells and I get a little euphoric while listening to it. I've never been a fan of this husband/wife duo until this CD, but I cannot stop listening to them. It'll make you want to dance, I promise.

Must have tracks: The ReArranger and Get Better

5) The Stand Ins by Okkervil River

I've been a fan of this band for a while and was excited to hear this album after their fantastic record, The Stage Names, came out last year. It did not disappoint. The lyrics are smart and poetic like usual and Will Sheff's vocals keep me coming back for more.

Must have tracks: Lost Coastlines and Pop Lie

6) Furr by Blitzen Trapper

This cd contains my absolute favorite song from the last year. Furr (the song not the album) is all about a boy who turns into a wolf, then a man, then a wolf again. It sounds silly when describing it, but it's a beautiful folk tale put to a fantastic melody. If you can stop listening to Furr on repeat, the rest of the album is good too :)

Must have track: Furr

7) For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver

All of these songs were written during a secluded winter in Wisconsin and when you listen to their songs, you can really feel the coldness of winter coming through. But in a good way. Every song is very quiet, very intense, and very good.

Must have track: Skinny Love

8) Rockferry by Duffy

She has an old school Billie Holiday sound to her voice just like fellow Brit Amy Winehouse. I listened to this CD on constant repeat after buying it because I loved it so much. It's one of those CDs you can blare in your car and sing at the top of your lungs to.

Must have tracks: Mercy, Rockferry, and Stepping Stone

9) Sleep Through the Static by Jack Johnson

A lot of Jack Johnson fans didn't like this record; I disagree with them, I think it's his best one yet. It's more melancholy than his last three records, but just as soothing and more heartfelt. And don't get me started about the song Angel. It's one of the sweetest love songs I've ever heard. I know I'll keep coming back to this CD because it's like comfort food in musical form.

Must have tracks: All at Once and Angel

10) Gossip in the Grain by Ray LaMontagne

I don't know if anything he puts out can ever top his previous album, Till the Sun Turns Black, but this is definitely a valiant effort. Ray has one of those voices that is both raspy and lush at the same time. I was lucky enough to see him live a couple of months ago and I was blown away by his voice all over again. It slays me. And while I'm talking about this record, I'm wondering why I didn't put him at a higher number on my list. It's so lovely.

Must have tracks: Let It Be Me, A Falling Through, You Are the Best Thing, Roses and Cigarettes.

These albums were also great and totally worth checking out:

Acid Tongue by Jenny Lewis

Tell Tale Signs by Bob Dylan

Feel Good Ghosts by Cloud Cult

Simple Times by Joshua Radin

Carried to Dust by Calexico

Woot! Woot!

Woot! Woot! Haha, I just woot wooted. So lame. But I can't help it. I'm allowed to be lame and silly on such a great day. GObama! GObama! I wish I could show you the GObama dance my brother came up with to celebrate. Did I mention that awesome lameness is genetic?

Awesome lameness aside, I am of course ecstatic about Obama's victory tonight. Less ecstatic about my local races in Minnesota however. Things are up in the air with our senate race between Al Franklin, Norm Coleman, and Dean Barkley. I'm betting a recount will occur because the margin is so close between Franklin and Coleman. Also, my pick for house representative was bested by the amazingly awful Michele Bachman (of YouTube fame for proposing a media witch-hunt). That race makes me sick to my stomach.

Still, it was a good night for America and I'm extremely hopeful for the country. I truly believe and hope that Obama will reach out to Republicans and other country to work with them to get at solutions. I thought both McCain and Obama's speeches were just beautiful and I hope people will take their messages of unity to heart.

Fall Colors

Hi, it's me, the absentee blogger. Here to show you fall pictures of the marsh that lives across from my neighborhood. Isn't it pretty? It's MUCH better in the fall than in the summer when all of the mosquitos are out in full force.

8 Ways to Hi-Jack a Meme

Over the past year or so, I've gotten out of the habit of writing on my blog frequently, or even semi-frequently. And I keep thinking about shutting it down completely. But I think I've decided to keep it up and use it to post pictures and keep in contact with a few people. That being said, I don't really know if I'll be blogging in here more than once or maybe twice a month. At least for a while. Maybe I'll decide to really resurrect it in the future. But in the meantime, my cousin Lyndsi tagged me for a meme and I figured I actually do it since I haven't done one in a while. And then I kind of hi-jacked the meme...

8 TV SHOWS I LOVE TO WATCH
1) How I Met Your Mother: I'm so in love with Neil Patrick Harris. So stinking funny. He mesmerizes me. Oh, and the show is pretty genius too :)
2) Veronica Mars: Dear CW, I will never ever forgive you for canceling the best dramady ever created and keeping trash like Smallville going. Pathetic.
3) 30 Rock: The cast and writing are pure comedic gold
4) The Daily Show/The Colbert Report: Ummm, yeah, Jon Stewart is pretty much my hero and it's always great to be able to laugh at right wing nut jobs through Stephen Colbert.
5) Pushing Daisies: Clever, beautiful, genius, weird. I can't wait till it comes back on next week
6) Arrested Development: Dear Fox, just like the CW, I will never forgive you for canceling one of the best shows ever to grace TV screens
7) Dexter: Creepety creeptastic
8) Psych: A show that definitely does not get enough credit for the fantastic duo that is James Roday and Dule Hill

8 THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS
1) I suffered through an intense 3.5 hour final in my real estate class. My teacher is sadistic.
2) I watched my dog mope around the back yard. Everyone is out of town except me and he DOES NOT take well to people leaving him.
3) I introduced my mom to the genius of Pushing Daisies
4) I thought about tackling the mountain of homework I have this weekend
5) My sister gave a speech about how awesome I am in her speech class. You're awesome too Lizbrith!
6) I bought a suit and nice shiny shoes to go with it
7) I hung out with my brother
8) My little sister got her driver's licence on the FIRST TRY! Watch out Twin Cities, here she comes!

8 NEWLY DISCOVERED SONGS I LOVE
1) Sideways, by Citizen Cope
2) Valerie, by Amy Winehouse
3) Ocean Stone, my Chris O'Brien
4) Your Ex-Lover is Dead, Stars
5) Old News, Dr. Dog
6) Plus Ones, Okkervil River
7) Dearest, Buddy Holly
8) If I Could Write, Sam Phillips

8 THINGS I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO
1) A new president
2) Getting a job that allows me to travel
3) The release of Ray Lamontagne's new CD
4) Making pies this Thanksgiving. I'm going to be at home with my fam for the first time in 7 years.
5) Getting a new car
6) A new president
7) Did I mention getting a new president?

8 PEOPLE THAT I WANT TO BE LIKE WHEN I GROW UP
1) My little sister
2) Thurgood Marshall
3) Cesar Millan
4) Jon Stewart
5) Ruth Bader Ginsburg
6) The Gilmore Girls
7) Tim Russert
8) Barack Obama

State Fair Part 1 and Protesting the RNC

I took a political sabbatical from politics after the Feb. 5 primaries because I couldn't stand to watch two leaders I admire, respect, and would vote for running against each other. It was like a train wreck I just couldn't watch. But now, I'm back in the game. I've been following the candidates and listening to their speeches all along the campaign trail.

And now, my sister and I have decided to participate in the protests organized during the Republican Convention. I know, I know. You must be thinking about the crazy stigma most protesters carry with them. But I think taking part in a 10,000+ people protest is a fantastic life experience. I can't wait! But first we need to decide what our protest signs are going to say. I've done some extensive googling and here are some of my favorites. Unfortunately we can only use four of them so you need to tell me which ones you like the best:

1. How many lives per gallon?

2. Regime change begins at home

3. How did our oil get under their sand?

4. Iraq: Get Out, Iran: Stay Out, McCain: Keep Out

5. Whose God do you kill for?

6. Making war for peace is like making love for virginity

7. Liberty and Justice are so pre-9/11

8. How can you oppose universal health care and be pro-life?

9. Public Ignorance is Corporate Bliss

10. There is more to religion that Pro-War, Anti-Choice, and Homophobia

Or maybe I should put something like JOHN STEWART FOR PRESIDENT in the hopes that I'll get on tv and John will realize we were meant to be together. Or maybe that's a bad idea because the other protesters will think I'm not serious and beat me up. No good.

Anyway, the fam and I went to the Minnesota State Fair twice this past week. Did you know that it is the largest state fair in the United States? It pretty much rocks. Anyway, I took a bunch of pictures and will put the ones from the Miracle of Birth Center (cute baby animals!!!) up today and the rest up tomorrow.

Soundbites!

Okay, I had all these ideas floating around in my head about what I wanted to blog about tonight, but it's really really late and I have to get up early tomorrow and take a test. So this is going to be just a short blog. Sorry :(

But I wanted to share with you two quick, FANTASTIC quotes given in the last 48 hours from two of my very favorite political people.

John Stewart talking about the media's coverage of Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic Convention:

"She's a democrat. She must PROVE she loves America. As opposed to Republicans who everyone KNOWS loves America. They just hate half the people living in it."

And on a slightly more serious note, this next quote comes from Bill Clinton's speech at the convention. If you didn't get the chance to watch his speech, it is WELL worth the 20 minutes... click here. I thought it was so eloquent, so very inspiring, and extremely touching.

"People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."

Hanging Out With The Animals

I've been meaning to post these pictures for a few weeks now, but as per usual, I've been neglecting my blog. But here they are. St. Paul has a lovely FREE zoo and conservatory that we like to hit up once in a while. The conservatory is always my favorite though. Isn't it pretty?

Then we headed over to the zoo. Here's the clan watching those precocious monkeys:

And the precocious monkeys putting on a show:

After the monkey house, we headed over to the butterfly exhibit, always one of my favorites:

And of course, we couldn't leave without posing with the fake animals.

Olympic Thoughts

It's late, I'm still kind of sick, and I have to get up mega early tomorrow, er... today, but I just wanted to share a few quick thoughts about the olympics so far.

First of all, holy crap! Did you see the 400 meter relay race that Michael Phelps was in? If you haven't seen it yet, I'm sure there are already clips of it everywhere. It's definately the most exciting race I've ever seen and probably ever will see. I almost peed my pants while I was watching. PS - Michael Phelps' abdominal muscles also leave me shocked and awed.

Second, after watching some of the gymnastics coverage, I've decided that Nastia Liuken is the most amazingly beautiful athlete I've ever seen. Not in the way she looks, but in the way she performs. She's so graceful when she's out there in the spotlight. It's as if she's the Michelle Kwan of gymnastics.

And lastly, how amazing was the opening ceremonies?! Each segment was just as jaw-dropping as the previous. It boggles my mind how they managed to choreograph so many people in so many different performances. Wow! Those Chinese sure know how to put on a show!

Okay, off to bed now.

Cough Cough Sniffle Sniffle

Yes, it's that time of year again, when I seem to come down with a cold that tries to turn into Bronchitis. Last year it succeeded in derailing my training schedule for a few months because I tried to keep exercising at first. That was pretty stupid. This year, of course it came on the week when I HAD to be in school for tests and other unmissable things :( I decided to stay home today though. The cold has started to move into my chest and I just don't want to make things any worse. So it's lots of rest for me today. Fun fun stuff...