Passed along from another friend…guy sings puppies to sleep. Awwww…I would have embedded it, but apparently the guy doesn’t want people to embed stuff on their sites for whatever reason.

Today was Rob’s 33rd birthday. We spent the morning having our DirecTV fixed by a wonderful tech named Frank. After the storms (I really don’t know which storm, but I am assuming it was the storm after the flooding sometime and probably the same storm in which our wireless router got fried) both of my receivers stopped working so I have been relying on Hulu to get my Shear Genius and Baby Borrowers fixes. Today, Frank installed a HD DVR and life is getting back to normal.

Anyway, after Frank left, Rob suggested leftover pizza for lunch and I countered since it was his birthday, we should go out to the Cheesecake Factory. So, off to the mall it was after a much-needed shower by yours truly. We sat outside, had a nice waiter and they brought out his Peanut Butter Cup cheesecake with confetti sprinkles and “Happy Birthday Rob” written in chocolate sauce with a candle. We took the 1974 SuperBeetle convertible that my dad so generously is loaning us for the summer (there’ll be a separate post with pics in the semi-near future) up to the Fashion Mall and had a nice late lunch and bought Rob some new kicks. I call them his driving shoes because they have thin soles so he can really feel the mechanics of the stick-shift Beetle and where the clutch actually kicks in. I have always worn thin-soled shoes when driving stick shift vehicles because it is something ingrained in me by The Wag at Frick’s Driving School in Mishwaka where I took driver’s ed eons ago. Anyway, it was raining in Anthropologie and the store was closed (I am assuming as a result of yesterday’s downpours), and we stopped in the Sharper Image- which is going out of business that advertises 50-70% off, but is really just normal prices because they mark it up before they mark it down- and laughed at the prices and what was left.

After we left, it was off to the Urgent Care for me as I am developing an ear infection which I just thought was from sleeping weird and maybe with my hand under my head (sometimes I do this and I wake up with a sore ear) until I noticed the right side of my throat hurt when I was swallowing. Just prior to 6 PM must be the perfect time to get to the Urgent Care because I was checked in without a wait and when I came back out to meet Rob the waiting room was full. I guess people get home, eat, and then go to the doctor. After that it was off to CVS where this lady told me I looked so happy and healthy and commented that the car probably contributed to that (which is totally true- it is like Prozac riding around in that thing).

Then I got home and watched some TV, ate some Parmesan breadsticks from Papa John’s (seriously the best breadsticks from a chain pizza place ever available), and saw that my cousin April started a blog about my Grandma and her paintings. That chick is so stinkin’ cool. It’s always cool when you grow up and you realize there are people in your family that you have stuff in common with and you’d probably want to be friends with them even if you weren’t related.

So, it was a good day. And because I’m not leaving you with a photo, I do want to leave you with this super cute doggy video. I could watch this guy’s YouTube video’s all day:

Happy 4th of July. It was a good day all in all. Got off to a rough start since I didn’t sleep well, but the day ended well, as I ate really good watermelon with Rob as the sun went down. I hate fireworks that people do at their homes though. I’m kind of a curmudgeon that way.

Anyway, this song is doing great things for my mood right now, and I thought I’d share it with ya. Enjoy the UK’s Doves with probably one of my favorite songs of theirs “Pounding”.

Cats don’t like water normally. Usually they will do anything they can to avoid it. Some cats will splash in really shallow water (like ours), but they sure as heck don’t like being submerged. I give you the bathtub kitty.

Robbie Williams - “Angels”
When I was watching this video today I couldn’t help but singing along at the top of my lungs while Rob started organizing his stuff we had to evacuate. The version on the DVD I was watching has Bonnie Raitt taking on the guitar solo. It seems more appropriate though to show tis version from Glastonbury Festival 1998. As with Woodstock it seems that teh weather is always a little wonky at the festival, and it is kind of a running joke that if you go, it will involve people mudsliding in their swimsuits (or naked) at some point. Well, this performance by Robbie was during a break in the rain an the sun started peeking through and I thought it was totally appropriate for what we’ve been going through here.

And as a bonus, because I think every day deserves a Kylie Minogue song, here’s “Spinning Around” with Kylie workin’ her famous gold hotpants. Like Madonna, Kylie excels at booty-shakin’ pop/dance music. I just wish I had her butt to shake.

I have been attacking my closet with a slow and steady pace. Sunday night I started going through my closet. I needed something cheesy and mindless to watch and our DirecTV box is out in the bedroom, so I grabbed our Apple TV from the living room and brought it in the bedroom. I tested out the movie rental feature by renting 27 Dresses. It was exactly the kind of light-hearted, predictable rom-com that I was in the mood to watch. If you can believe I had 22 black dresses in my closet ranging form casual to dressy and my goal by the end of the movie was to halve the number of LBD’s in my closet. I am proud to say I achieved my goal.

Yesterday I got rid of more dresses in various colors.  While undertaking that feat, I streamed episodes of AMC’s Mad Men on the Apple TV.  I love the show and am so excited for the new season on July 27.  Plus, the costuming is so wonderful and I imagine myself to be as hot as Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway (the redheaded office manager), so it made it easier to let go of clothes that didn’t make me feel great.

Anyway, tonight was skirt and pant purge night.  So first I started with YouTube ABBA videos, but I was getting tired of finding a new one after one ended.  Rob suggested hitting up our DVD closet.  There was no ABBA, but there were tons of other musical goodies.  I tried to watch Later…with Jools Holland on DVD, but it kept screwing up.  So, I moved on to Kylie Minogue’s Body Language DVD.  There were some skippable moments, but overall it’s a joy to watch.  She has such great style and  she’s just so cute (well, when she doesn’t look like Joan Rivers).  

Anyway, when that was done, there was more work to be done in the form of folding clean laundry, so I popped in this Michel Gondry video anthology I have.  Side A is pretty good, and I’m not familiar enough with his earlier work or the artists he worked with to be interested in Side B yet- maybe another night.

I have been watching the videos going chronologically backward starting in 2003 with the White Stripes “Hardest Button to Button”.  I like how Gondry riffs on repetition in this collection.  Visually, he uses two different views or combines takes and has lots of dreamy repetitive people walking around.  Anyway, Michel Gondry is one of the things on the list over at Stuff White People Like.  I do recommend at least heading over to YouTube and watching some videos.  They are such nice eye candy and he definitely has a unique point of view and even when using the same “gimmick” of repetition in a few videos, he manages to keep it fresh.

Here are a couple of my favorite videos:

“Come Into My World” - Kylie Minogue - Kylies EVERYWHERE!

“Let Forever Be” - The Chemical Brothers - Hard to tell on YouTube, but uses video and film in a nice contrast.

“The Hardest Button to Button” - The White Stripes - Just a great pairing of simple visuals that really work with the music…

Yes, I like this Jesse McCartney song “Leavin’”.  Although it’s weird to me that he references a Gulfstream G5 Jet and that we’re in a culture where lots of people know what that is. Nevermind, I guess people know what 737’s and whatnot are, so I guess it’s not TOTALLY weird.  Anyway, this video makes me feel 14 again.

And here’s a weird fact for you: this kid also wrote the Leona Lewis song “Bleeding Love” with that dude from that OneRepublic (”Apologize”) band.

And tonight Rob had to come in my office and tell me to keep it down because I was dancing around to this song by the Ting Tings- “That’s Not My Name”. It makes me happy:

Let me just tell you- Alex is just so stinkin’ cute!  She’s got the world by the balls right now, and I don’t even know if she knows it.  So much to be excited for in her future! She’s entering the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State in the fall.  Her favorite movie right now is Breakfast at Tiffany’s so we tried to do an updated version.  Unfortunately the only jewelry store in downtown South Bend has moved.  I’m pretty happy with how these turned out.  Hope you all enjoy these!

continue reading "Here’s a Slideshow of Alex’s Senior Pictures"

Well I got a new computer and a new webcam this week, so I figured I’d give you a video installment of Stuff I Learned or Did This Week.  Actually, it’s more of a reflection on change and cycles and a couple things I learned.  Next time, I promise not to babble so long (5:43 yikes!).  The videos kind of weird.  I should probably get a different program for that in the future.  But for now you can just pretend like you’re on the phone with me and I’m talking your ear off or something.  My next videos won’t be so surreal looking and slow-mo.

Anyway, enjoy!

This week I had quite a few observations and learned some random things:

1. I realized that if I can avoid buying the display pair of shoes at DSW or Marshall’s or wherever, I need to.  I bought a super comfy pair of Adidas shoes last week and this week upon wearing them, I realized that the right one is considerably looser than the left, probably from people trying them on at DSW.  But the were the only pair anywhere close to my size, so there is that.  But it’s kind of disconcerting to walk around with one shoe that’s almost falling off.
2. We went to First Friday in Fountain Square last night.  Saw our friends the Cocaine Wolves and saw some art.  Kind of meh on the art we saw.  A couple gems, but on the whole pretty mediocre.  Perhaps Mass Ave had the better art scene.
3. I walked around my property and took some pictures of the first signs of spring.  Plus, I wanted to document how shabby my property looks, so I can measure the impact of the spring cleanup.  Those pictures will come in a future post.
4. The Pioneer Woman posted a new chapter in her Black Heels to Tractor Wheels love story.  Seriously, if you haven’t read these, you should start from the beginning.  Here’s a link to all of the posts by chapter form the beginning.
5. Just think, air travel used to be a luxury.  I can’t believe 3 airlines went out of business this week.  I am curious to see what will happen with the Open Skies agreement and what will happen when some European airlines can run some flights in the USA.
6. What April Fool’s Story did I fall for? Annie Leibovitz moves her photos to Flickr for $25 mil
7. I ended up at the Melody Inn during the Ron Paul info night. A guy sang a song called “Big Bad Ron”.  We made up Ron Paul lyrics to his other songs.

We’re going to Chicago on Monday.  I am going to a photo workshop, and Rob will be doing some record shopping (he has been dying to do some record shopping since we got the bookcases out in and he purged some records as he was filling it).  He’s going for quality over quantity.

And I will now leave you with what has to be one of the most ridiculous campaign videos ever.  Watch it all the way through: