You're amazingly from here

I watched Taking Woodstock tonight. Although nothing can replace Almost Famous (in my book), this movie came pretty damn close. I think that I am just enamored with the 1960s in general - the music, the fashion, the free-spirited mindset, and everything in between. I never really knew much about how Woodstock was born. Before seeing the movie, I definitely did not comprehend the magnitude of it: a half of a million people attended the festival! I couldn't even imagine what it would have been like to experience it. Times were certainly different back then, that's for sure.













I can't believe that today is the last day of 2009. They year "2010" sounds so futuristic. My hypothetical children are probably going to think I'm an old dinosaur for being born in the 1900's.

As for resolutions go, I don't make them, so I don't have one. Usually, New Year's resolutions have to do with bad habits and I'm not ready to give up on all of mine yet. Besides, I don't believe that behaviors can be flipped on and off like a light-switch. I think that they change gradually over time.

Wishing you all a happy New Year! Try to avoid the roads and please be safe!

Until next year,

XX

Home is wherever I'm with you

The past couple of days have been action-packed with family activities. Usually around this time of year, we drive to Palm Desert for a few days but this year, my mom thought it would be a good idea to go on a "stay-cation" instead. I'm all familied-out.

It's time to unwind with some evening inspiration:


Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Home
Like it? Download the track here for free.

The mall is stupid

Around this time of year, I feel lucky to be Jewish. It means that I don't have to be burdened with the stress of buying Christmas presents for everyone and their moms. I went to the mall yesterday to spend some Channukah gelt... bad idea. Never in my life have I seen a mall so jam-packed. I hit up my favorite spots - Anthropologie, H&M, Forever XXI, Victoria's Secret... there wasn't even anything cool to buy, but for some reason everyone was buying shit. I'm pretty sure I was the only one that left the mall empty-handed.

From now on, I think I'm just going to avoid malls altogether and just stick to thrift stores and online shopping. You can get much more original stuff that way anyhow.

Tonight I am going downtown to see The Nutcracker with my mom. When I was little, I used to put on the soundtrack and dance around the house in my tutu with my magic fairy wand. Awwwz.

I was losing faith for a quick minute there that I wasn't going to make it through finals week alive. The past few days have been a total blur. If we are friends on Facebook, you might have come to the conclusion that I had completely lost my mind. Here are some of my favorite status updates from this past week:

December 11th at 7:28 pm: calculator fingersex...mmmmmmm

December 14th at 10:30 pm: finding comfort in the fact that I only need a 46% on my final tomorrow to still get an A in the class.... wait... maybe I should be drinking instead right now...

December 15th at 9:03 am: A thank-you note to final exams: Thank you for the puffy eyes, the caffeine overdoses, that one dream a couple nights ago where I was traversing through a storm of numbers in a shifty raft made of broken pencils and bits of string, an empty stomach, giving me the amazing will to average 14-16 hrs/day in bed (sleeping and studying), and the sardonic cynicism! All of my friends are totally jealous.

December 15th at 12:05 pm: if anyone has seen my biological clock running around, could you please tell it that i'm looking for it and that i miss it dearly?

December 15th at 10:39 pm: you know it's probably time to do laundry when A) you are wearing 3 kinds of patterns, B) you are wearing bathing suit bottoms, C) you are wearing your ))<>(( shirt, or D) all of the above

December 16th at 2:58 am: what do you do when it's 3 in the morning and you're in bed with the lights off and starving with little to no energy to make food? microwave a piece of frozen bread, put a slice of cold cheese on top and roll it into a taquito. yep.

...and my personal favorite:

December 16th at 6:24 pm: WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU FIND OUT THAT YOU DON'T HAVE A FINAL THAT YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD (THAT YOU WERE ABOUT TO START STUDYING FOR)?!?! ?!?!?!?!?!?! DRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK. SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE WINNNNNNNNNTER!

Needless to say, I'm relieved it's all over now. I probably could spend the next two days straight sleeping. However, there are things to do and people to see!

I'm putting together a Channukah wish-list. I haven't gone on a shopping spree in ages and after that semester, I think I earned it! Here are a few things that I have my eyes on:

1) Saddle Shoes


2) Baseball tees because they are so comfy and you can never have too many.



3) A new I-pod because my vintage, 2nd generation, 30 GB I-pod (that is entirely full) that has a battery life of 15 minutes just isn't cutting it anymore.

4) A fur vest


5) A toy camera

This picture really puts me in the mood for jelly beans...

That's all for now! Time to cuddle up in bed with my little beasts!

make my heart go pitter-patter

I found this blog last night called Le Love. Run off of submissions, the blog is dedicated to love, in all shapes and forms. Since unearthing this beautiful concept of a blog, I decided to share with you a few things that make my heart go pitter-patter:

Pretty cute animals:





Pretty presents:


Pretty girls and boys:






Pretty Brigitte Bardot:





Pretty music video:


Pretty hair:




Have a beautiful day!
Oh, and in case you were wondering, I'm making a moderate amount of progress on my puzzle... so far, no missing pieces!

Good Night Neverland

Despite the bitter cold (it's presently 6 degrees in Boulder and the forecast has followed a similar below-twenty-degrees pattern for the past three days or so), the weekend was enjoyable. When it is below freezing temperatures and the town cozies up to a thick blanket of snow, I feel very misplaced. I am not a cold-weather creature. If it's snowing, I could stay in bed all day watching movies, reading books, and drinking tea. Today however, I braved the wintry chill (and spent approximately 20-25 minutes brushing snow and scraping ice off of my car) to get some lunch and do some grocery shopping. I spent the rest of the afternoon/early evening cleaning and rearranging my apartment. I added these coasters I found at the thrift store yesterday to my butterfly wall collage in my bed-room:



At the thrift-store, I also found the most amazing puzzle in the whole wide world for 99 cents:



I haven't done a puzzle since I was a little girl. I actually cleared off my coffee table and started it tonight. As I was separating the edge pieces from the rest of the puzzle, I found some really cute fragmentations:



The puzzle has over 500 pieces, so it's probably going to take me awhile. When it's complete, I want to mount and frame it. I just hope that all the pieces are in there!

Also played a lot of music this weekend. Here is my newest video, a cover of Bon Iver's Creature Fear:



It's time to get back on a somewhat normal sleep schedule.

"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"
-Alice in Wonderland

I'd Rather Dance With You Than Talk With You

One of the best-known and most characteristic forms of postmodern dance, contact improvisation (CI) is a dance technique in which points of physical contact provide the starting point for exploration through movement improvisation.

Contact improvisation can be practiced as concert or social dance form. In the social setting contact improvisation meetings are called "jams" in which participants can participate or watch as they choose. The name is perhaps derived from the "jams" of jazz musicians, who come together to spontaneously explore musical forms and ideas.

Contact improvisation is often practiced in duet form but can also be performed in groups or as a solo using physical objects (floor, walls, chair, etc.) as the point of contact. As many teachers say in introductory classes, the floor is your first partner.
Contact improvisation techniques can include weight transfer, counter balance, rolling, falling, suspension, and lifting.

This is some seriously sexy shit.
...I want to try this with Noel...