A Tuesday Tune

So I was considering today what song I should post, and my iPod played 2 Rhett Miller songs in a row.  I feel that was some sort of sign.  I tried hard to pick which video, but apparently the man hasn't made many actual videos, so it was hard, and I eventually went with the song I wanted over the "quality" video.  So you have... no video?  Just listen.  How intelligent, and informed, and clever he is.  "Fugue state..."  Love this dude.

Also, FYI, Rhett and I have the same birthday.  Just some worthwhile useless knowledge that you'll never learn on Jeopardy!  Virgos are awesome.

Niagara Falls, USA

I spent 4 days last week outside of Buffalo, NY for work.  It was full of overwhelming computer information and delicious, unhealthy food.  We did take some time out one night to see what we could of Niagara Falls.  It was getting dark, and was extremely cold and windy.  The lower walkways were closed due to ice and the frozen spray whipping off the falls was our inspiration to look very quickly and go... my face hurt just looking at it!  I will go back someday and have the full experience - Canadian side, Maid of the Mist, the whole thing - on a warm and sunny day.
Regardless of the brief visit, I was still awestruck.  The water was incredible, and even from my obstructed view, the power of the falls was not lost.  Even in the quiet months, when the town was so clearly empty, and the tourists are gone, the water carries on, and it is enormous and beautiful.  All the lights and man-made distractions on both sides of the river, the casinos, the shops, can make it easy to forget the reason those things are there.  It's nature that brings the tourists, and someday when we are gone, that incredibly simple, incredibly powerful wonder of nature will still be exactly what it is: falling water.

Isaiah, 7 months

Little Zay is getting so big!  He's curious, alert, babbling, growing.  It amazes me when I see how children learn so much in such small time.  This baby is a beautiful marvel, I'm so glad I get to hang out with him and his family!

Happy Birthday, Jacqi!

Last week, we celebrated Jacqi's 30th birthday!  They held the event at a small restaurant in West Chester.  Steve's mom made the cake (which was perfectly delicious), they had Greek appetizers, and I learned that I don't really like gin and tonic, even with TWO limes.  It was a lovely night!

Currently

Loving:  My new iPhone!  I'm trying to declutter my life, and focus less on "things" and more on life.  But this THING is something I've waited a long time for (upgrade!).  Merry Christmas to mee!!

Reading: I went to Barnes and Noble to get my mom a giftcard for her Nook, and left with Best American Non-Required Reading 2011.  It's one of my FAVORITE parts of the year, and I was very delayed this time around. (Borders' closing was a real blow to my not-used book-buying.)  Excited to spend part of my January holed up and reading.  (If you don't know about BANRR, it's a collection os all kinds of publications from the previous year, edited in part by Dave Eggers (of McSweeney's, etc.), and in part by a board of high school kids in LA who are all part of 826 Valencia, a non-profit tutoring and writing center for children in a number of cities across the country. It's a great organization, it's also a really great collection of every kind of publication you can imagine.  These kids read fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, chapbooks, blogs, etc., and pick out the most intriguing, interesting, ground-breaking, best.  READ IT.  Then order this year's edition, like I'm going to soon.)

Watching: I watched Giant this week, starring Liz Taylor, James Dean, and Rock Hudson.  I adore a good old movie with pretty dresses.  

Listening to: Lana Del Rey's Born To Die (The Paradise Edition).  I have a habit of being obsessed with one album at a time, and right now, this is it.  Over and over, until I know the words.  It's not as hard with this one, since she uses the same phrases a lot:  "party dress," "take [my/your] body downtown," and some version of "drive fast" appear in most of the songs.  Some of the words are too trendy for me to really like ("Be young, be dope, be proud..." Really?), and some of them are too clearly just to get a reaction (the flavor of your lady parts... not a necessary detail, Lana), and some don't actually make sense (I can not understand what the song National Anthem is trying to say.  Is she a song?  Is she money?  Is she success?  What?).  But you know what?  I'm still obsessed.  I still like this album way, way too much.  There's just something about it, the feel, the words (when she does it right), the stutter she incorporates into (at least) 3 songs, but adds to it somehow.  It crosses a line between singer/songwriter and pop singer, but still stays this side of interesting.  She mixes just enough glamour into the grit to make the album a little shiny, a little broken, a little desperate, and very catchy.  

Thinking about: Exhaustion.  I always feel guilty feeling completely run down when I haven't earned it.  I'm always thinking that I just don't know how to keep my eyes open and my head up, and then I think, wow, you didn't just go on a death march.  Quit whining.  And then I think, I'm sick!  I deserve to feel tired!  And then I just feel guilty again, because I'm not all that sick.  And you know what?  There will come a time, probably soon, when I can't sleep again, when I'm up all night.  So I need to remind myself to be thankful for being exhausted, to be grateful for what I have, no matter how small.

Looking forward to: The new additions to my (extended) family that will be here in the summer.  I got some more baby news this week, and there is very little else I love more than a baby.  I am so excited to have tiny people to shop for, and to see the TWO new mamas in action in just a few months.  I know both of them are going to be great, in their own little ways.  Please, one of you, have a girl?  Thanks.

Making me happy: This card from my friend Sarah.  I really, really, don't want to put it away with the rest of the decorations.  I think it's a Winter Decoration.  It's going to stay out for a few more months!

Inspired by Dani at Sometimes Sweet.  :)