from there to here

It started with this...

I'm always looking for videos of First Aid Kit that I haven't seen.

They are officially my favorite Swedes.

Which led me here.

And I listened to this...

oh my.

More of that please.  So I went here...

And here...

And these lovely sisters' voices sang the day to the night without my even noticing.

Amazing.

sunday

lots of staring out the window and daydreaming

feathers drawn and waiting for color

sitting on the front porch with Lucy so she can get her vitamin d

and listening to this album on repeat

don't forget

It is, like, totally cold in my house right now and my fingers are frozen and I am having trouble typing.  But I do have a little something to share.  I discovered a band called 'Smoke Fairies' this week.  They are rad and make for great art-making music or just turned-up-really-loud driving music.  Check them out here.

This past weekend was spent in Kansas City with my family celebrating my dad's birthday.  Good times.  And my nieces are both so much fun and so adorably gorgeous.  I love them so much (and yes, I do tend to use the word "so" a lot).  If you could only hear the way Raghen says "Aunt Dana".  It's awesome.

Peighton (the most sensitive little girl - which I love - with the biggest heart, who is obsessed with Transformers) and Raghen (who is currently loving jumping and likes to copy whatever big sissy is doing/saying)

  

And speaking of awesome, I came across this today...

Kerry Doyle / Super Swoon

Great advice and people everywhere will appreciate that about you.

good stuff

My dad is back from India and he's feeling great.  His birthday is this Sunday. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!  I love you!

I donated a painting to the Omaha Domestic Violence Council for their annual awards luncheon and raffle.  It's the first agate I've painted and I think it turned out pretty great...

'Love Never Fails'

 Spring is here!  HAAAAA-LLELUJA!  HALLELUJAH!  HALLELUJAH!

And I can't stop listening to the new Radiohead.  So so so good!  This song is my fave.  Such a killer beat.

Oh, and be sure to look up on Saturday evening to see the super moon!

Yay for the weekend!

sigh

I started out my week in a pretty good state of mind but as the days went by my mood started to dwindle and now I'm feeling a little bummed out.

Right now my dad is traveling in India and is really sick which makes me sad.  Then there's the news of the devastating earthquake/tsunami in Japan.  Very sad.  And, although this is not really very important, there's a particular album out now of some very beautiful music, but after I really listened to the words I found that they were singing something that just goes against what I believe and now I can't, in good conscience, listen to their music anymore.  Sad and total bummer.

I don't even know why exactly I'm writing this blog post now.  Am I trying to bring everybody down?  Not intentionally.  I guess I am just venting.  Sorry. 

Not everything has been a complete downer this week.

There's this video (sorry about the commercial) that I love because she has an amazing voice - but mostly I think I like her because she looks just like my beautiful friend, Jyme, who I miss very much.

Then there's this video.  Thom, you are so wonderfully strange.  

This painting I love so much.  I wanted to buy it but unfortunately funds are tight right now.  Still, it is so lovely and it reminds me of where I used to live in California, see...

And finally, this quote, which Jen of Swallowfield digitally enhanced.

Ok.  I'm going to go paint now.

happy friday.

sunshine, fleet foxes and painting

The title says it all.  That's my day today.  

i give

Well, it's still snowing but somehow it's not having the drowning effect on me today that it was yesterday.  I'm so tired of the weather having such a hold over my mood.  I just give.  

I suppose the music I've been listening to this afternoon is elevating my mood. 

   

I love this song so much.  It has been on serious repeat while working on an art project today.  I don't know how many times I've listened to this song over the years but I can't get enough.  The studio version is so good, as well, and in my opinion, maybe the best first five notes of a song ever.

And I'm not even going to talk about Robert Plant circa 1973 except to say, oh my...

a few facts and some randomness

It's cold and snowing (fact).  Yuck (opinion).

I have been having the weirdest dreams for the last several nights and I'm not sleeping well.

I'm working on a project I promised a charity and it's down to the wire (I'm a serious procrastinator).

Walden Media and 20th Century Fox completely ruined The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (I know you're thinking this is an opinion, but no, it is a fact).

Radiohead has a new album out (I'm listening to it as I type).  

Fleet Foxes has a new album coming out on May 3rd!

CAT POWER!!!! has a new album coming out sometime this year!

Despite the good news about Cat Power, I am feeling kind of down again.  And the being a morning person thing seems to be o.v.e.r.  

My PC died and I am working on this little tiny Eee PC (which is super annoying) and so I probably won't blog again until the new computer arrives.

I'm going to go do some laundry now.  It is midnight after all.

morning people

Morning people.  Seriously, what's up with them?  Those people that rise at 7:00 a.m. (even on a Saturday) and are so happy to be awake with the birds and are so chatty and smiley before anyone's even had their coffee.  How do they do that?

I've always been a little jealous of them.  They definitely get the benefit of more daylight hours.  I am not a morning person.  No matter how badly I want to be, I'm just not.  I usually am the most "alive" starting around 9:00 p.m.  I get more done late night than any other time of day, whether its laundry or art work or whatever.

But the last few days my internal clock seems to be changing.  I've been waking early with energy and happy to see the sun rising.  I've been getting all my housework done before 10 a.m. and have the rest of the day to be creative.  And I've been sleeping better at night.  Its weird.  I think it has something to do with the springlike weather that is finally here (or maybe its those vitamins I started taking a couple of days ago?).  I've been so down in the dumps and ready for winter to be over.  Now that it seems spring is here, I'm coming out of hibernation and soaking up all the fresh air and sunshine that I can.  I don't believe this morning thing will last.  This has happened before and at some point I go back to being a night owl.  But until then, I am enjoying being a morning person.

And I've been loving this song (an awesome cover of the Beatles' "Julia") all week.

Doesn't it make you sort of wish you were a "Julia"?

yes yes yes

Fleet Foxes has a new album coming out!

And a tour!

Sweet!

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues by subpop

feeling gloomy

UPDATE: treadmill + increased heart rate = endorphins = me, less gloomy


The gloom of winter is getting to me.  It’s weighing my spirit down.   Way down.

I need sunshine.

 

In the meantime, I’ll try to distract myself by counting down the days till U2 (Denver, 5.21.11).

110 days.  I can’t wait.

obsessed with cat power

I'm currently obsessed with the music of Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power.

And by currently, I mean I’ve been obsessed with her ever since I discovered her music this past summer.  It pains me that I didn’t know of her earlier when I could have seen her live.  Serious ouch.

Moon Pix.  Get it.  Trust me.

I don’t know what to say about the video I posted above, but the song is magical, just like Chan.

Dear Chan, if you happen to read this, please have a show somewhere.  Anywhere.