april 29, 2009 1137pm

Dan Edwards sent me quite possibly the cutest photo I have seen in a while. I really want a baby lamb that will never grow big. Maybe a dwarf lamb? Do they make those? It seems like you can get anything in mini form these days. Maybe I will bring one back from England...

I went to Marfa, Texas this weekend with Meredith and Kristen. It was a nice trip. When Drew and I made our 23 hour trip to South West Texas, we did not make it to Marfa. I wish I had a place out there and could stay for months at a time. West Texas is great. There is a quiet out there like I have never heard before, and a darkness that soothes the soul. We arrived late Friday night and basically found our rental house and crashed. We then got up before the sun was up to drive about 2 hours south to some hot springs. We made a pit stop on the way to snap some great sunrise photos. I love sunrise/sunset. Then we headed back to Marfa, had some pizza and checked out the Chinati Gallery. Afterwards we walked the town a bit, visited a great thrift shop and ate some foods. Meredith got a bit tipsy at dinner, as did I, and heckled some girls at the DQ that we kept running in to all day long. hehe. Saturday night we checked out the Marfa lights. I guess we saw them. Blinking lights in the distance that randomly would appear and then leave, sometimes in slightly different places. It was a bit cloudy though, so I bet you could see them better on a clear night. Sunday we got up late, had brunch at the Austin St. Cafe. The cafe is owned by a couple that also lives in the house that holds the cafe. That would be the ideal life for me. Then it was home. 6 more hours of driving. I would have to say that the drive home was the best. Kristen broke out the IPOD and the old 90's jams. Bust a Move, Third Eye Blind, Dixie Chicks... and so on. I miss hanging out with girls.

Last night we had a family dinner at the house. It was actually supposed to be a going away dinner for our friend Scottie, who may be moving back to California. It was great. I made some Butter Bean Veggie Burgers and roasted rosemary potatoes. Drew made meat brugers, and Lindsey made milkshakes. We all drank and stayed up talking on our great porch. i love nights like that. And I love my friends.

april 20, 2009 1126pm

here is an excellent blog written by my friend trevor, who lives out in terlingua, texas. we stayed on his land when with our tents. tent city, texas. once again, i am far too lazy to write about the amazing events of a significant event in my life, so letting you read about it through someone else's eyes will have to do.

drew and i went to the old settler's festival this past weekend. currently, i am slightly inebriated, so i will limit my talk about it, so i do not divulge some of the little secrets of the weekend. it was fun though. i would do it again.

oh, and i bought a ticket to england for july. a one week trip. someone told me to not get my hopes up. it was followed by a 'jk' which was probably a fake 'jk'. the only hopes i have for england are to eat some real fish n' chips and drink some yummie beers in real english pubs.

april 17, 2009 407pm

i just made a raw kale salad with ginger-tamari dressing. it has carrots and golden raisins in it as well. so good. i have been planning on making it for quite some time, but now it is something i have to make. my hemoglobin has dropped to a pretty low level. i have not been the best eater this year in general. first it was not really eating at all, and now it is just surviving on almond butter sandwiches alone, and not eating enough greens and beans.

i bought a cute apron to wear while cooking. it has chocolate cupcakes all over it. so good. actually, i did not pay for it. when i got to the register the girl at central market looked real upset, so i basically asked her if she was ok and chatted with her about how customers can be mean. she casually put the $29.99 apron in my bag. and told me i looked nice. SCORE!

drew's new dating partner, raina rose, has a cutecute dog named hopey. she has been staying in our house today. the kittens have never met a dog before. i was real excited to see their reactions. jabba reacted the most with a crazy arched back and hissing. is it mean that i find entertainment in the fear of my cats?

i went to a metal opera called Arthuriosis last night. my friend mike played bass in the metal band and zach played lead guitar. he came out in all his metal leather hottness and did a rad/cheesey guitar solo in front of me (we were on the front row). hehe. it was fun. they have two more nights, so if you are in town, you should definitely check it out.

i saved this for last, because it is rather depressing and may annoy people. i know that groups that activist can sometimes be off putting, but this disturbs me. i have been crying quite a bit this semester. not from being depressed about my life, but from this sociology class i am taking called 'capital punishment in america'. lately we have been reading articles about people in prison or death row, who were eventually found to be completely innocent. i went to a death penalty panel a few nights ago, and again, cried my eyes out. there were family members (kids included) of people who are currently on death row or have had a family member executed. One woman got up there and described how hard it was to tell her brother goodbye for what was thought to be the last time. he was hours away from being executed, and was granted a stay. all i could think about was my brother stephen, and saying goodbye to him. this woman was holding back teasr. uhg. it was heart breaking.

i know many of you are thinking 'well, if they killed someone, they deserve to be killed'. an eye for an eye, right? well, the trouble with that is, this man is on death row, and HE NEVER COMMITTED A MUDER. yeah. he was in the car outside. he had no idea that his friend was going to go into the convinience store and shoot a man in cold blood, and yet, texas feels that it has the right to kill this man? can you imagine, being on death row in texas (23 hours a day solitary comfinement, two 6 minute phone calls a year, no contact visits) knowing that you did not kill anyone. knowing that the state of texas knows you did not kill anyone? texas is the only state that has this 'law of parties' as being death penalty eligible. there are currently 2 house bills that are trying to get rid of this law as a capital offense. just something to think about. the state of texas is killing innocent people, in our name.

april 12, 2009 1036pm

drew and I got back from terlingua, texas a few hours ago. i am beat. that update will come later this week. we both have so many photos to sift though. it was amazing though. it was well worth the 5 hour drive.

robert has been so kind as to let me use his car if i need it. i took socrates to the doctor friday morning. he has been suffering from allergies for quite some time. i should have taken him in earlier. he sounds kind of cute with a stuffed nose. he almost sounds like a pug when he breathes. and his sneezes are adorable. the doctor checked him out and said everything was fine with his lungs and heart. he said that his throat hurt? not real sure how he figured that one out, but he is the professional, not me. anyway, he ended up giving him a shot of steroids for 40 bones and sent us on our way.

i made some green goddess enchiladas, a recipe by krys kagan. i added a few things to it. they had a cashew-avocado filling (i added some black beans to get some fiber) with a tomatillo green sauce (i added half a mango to make it a bit sweet). they were great. the roommates liked them too.

trey and i found this neatly altered stop sign near his house. well, he noticed it first, but i had the camera. this is more clever than the ones i have seen that say 'stop bush'.

alexa woodward is in town! she had her austin cd release at the cactus last wednesday with some say leland. the day before we all took the bikes out and rolled up to bouldin creek café 9 people deep, all on bicycles. it was cute.

here are some photos from alexa's cd release at the cactus cafe wednesday. that room has the best sound, and i am not saying that because i work there. if you have never been to a show at the cactus cafe, you should make a point to do so one day.

drew and i went to the kagan's to have our passover seder meal for the year. krys' husband, josh, is jewish. with the exception of drew, we are all vegetarians, so we had a vegetarian seder. it was actually vegan, which was great. well, except for the sour cream that we mixed with apple sauce to dip our potato latkes in. yumm. i played with arthur and adam quite a bit while we were waiting for drew to make his latkes. arthur and i danced to some neil diamond (the jewish elvis, as krys tells me) records. arthur loves to dance. and he also likes to hold my phone and hand it to me when i get a text or call. such a good secretary. he said my name quite a bit. i cannot believe how big he has gotten. i have been low in spirits over the past week or so, but being with arthur and the kagans made for a bright moment in my dark thoughts. i should do that more often. you cannot help but smiles when a child is doing a cute little dance and is looking at you with eager eyes, hoping you will join.

april 07, 2009 143am

whoever said distance makes the heart grow fonder was and is full of shit. it is more like distance makes the heart grow weak, so that the mouth can barely speak. feist said that. she has some wise words, that one. how are you supposed to stay close friends with someone in england (i.e. dan edwards)? it is not possible. you have your life. they have their life. life goes on. lame.

i am making green goddess enchiladas for a pot luck tomorrow. that is how much dedication i have to giving people good food. i am up at 1am making food for a department pot luck. a department i am not a part of and for a birthday person i hardly know. i.heart.cooking. i am going to make a real batch for the house wednesday, so a photograph will come from that.

the first family meal went well. a few more people came than expected, but there was exactly enough food to be eaten by all. i made the vegan philly cheeze steaks from kys kagan's site. yummm. a few of us biked downtown to see master pancake theatre do 'the fellowship of the ring'. i would venture to say that this pancake was one of the funniest by far. so many gay jokes. (not that there is anything wrong with that) so good.

we made breakfast saturday morning. i invited kristen coale over (long time high school friend) and the girl that is subleasing my place, amanda. she worked for the republican national party in D.C., but believe it or not, she is really laid back and funny and interesting and not crazy. drew made pancakes from the kerbey lane apple whole wheat mix he scored at another masterpancake show. i made some veggie apple maple sausages. i was not real crazy about the apple in the sausages. but they were still tasty. i will probably leave the apple out next time and up the maple syrup.

this was quite the weekend for cooking over here. sunday night drew did a trial run of the vegan version of potato latkes for our passover seder meal with the kagan's thursday. traditionally, latkes are served for hanukah, but they are so delightful that we decided to include them for passover. drew insisted on me trying them with sour cream+apple sauce mixture. i was skeptical, but it actually tasted great. i think i ate about 10. i was really full of potatoes by the end of the night.

april 03, 2009 203am

i went to see the flatlanders play a short set at waterloo records on tuesday. it was a cd release gig, though i did not buy their new album. i am a skeptic with their new tunes, but i do love them. i did not get off work till 5pm, and the show started at 5pm, so i was a bit late. i arrived and they were at capacity, of course, along with a line that snaked around the building. i thought for sure i would not be able to get in to see any of the show. just as i was passing the front doors to take my place in line, my friend kerby, who works at waterloo records, poked his head outside to check on the crowd. he looked at me and said 'hey, you want to get in?' me 'yeah, of course' him 'meet me at the side door'. good timing kerby. it was short set, but nice to see. they play the cactus in early june, though i will be working the bar and unable to enjoy the actual show.

we are having our first family dinner cooked by chef marylamb tomorrow night. i am making veggie philly cheese steak sandwiches. i have the veggie lunchmeat ready. i will make the hoagies tomorrow along with the other things. i am excited. kryskagan made them a little while back and they looked super tasty. we are also going to make breakfast saturday morning. before we were roommates, drew and i would usually have some sort of food together for meal number one on saturdays. now that we live together, i think making breakfast will become more of a routine.

our.living.room.

i just spent the past 4 hours reading about the death penalty ( i am taking a sociology class about capital punishment in america). it makes me really sad. and angry. there are some fucked up things that have gone on with it and are still going on today, such as botched executions and the execution of innocent people. in 2006, texas wanted to force medicate a man (steven staley), who was convicted of murder in 1991 and sentenced to death, so he would be competent enough to be executed. he has been diagnosed with severe paranoid schizophrenia and hospitalized almost 20 times since he has been in prison for psychotic episodes. the US still executes people with severe mental illness despite its prohibition in the international community. yes, he deserves to be punished for his crime, but he would have to be medicated just so he may understand why he has been condemned to die. how is that right? make someone 'better' so you can kill them? gotexasgo!

march 31, 2009 129am

the current weather has been perfect for porch time. it seems that our balcony is the place to hang out around the house. we just open up the windows, bust out some tunes and drink a few brews. quite ideal actually. i cannot tell you enough how happy i am living here and it has not yet been more than a week.

last friday i got rained/hailed on as i walked without and umbrella to school. i was on my way to take a test, which made things worse. i went to the bathroom to freshen up a bit when a girl in a wheel chair comes in, just as soaked to the bone as i was. she said 'you got caught in it too, eh?' i said 'yes.' then she said ' well, at least you can walk around and your pants did not get as wet as mine.' i stood there in the discomforted silence, looked down at my soaked jeans and mumbled out something about how mine were pretty wet, well, except for my ass. not really sure why it was dry. then i rushed out. talking about awkward. geeze. what do you say to that?

i think i am unable to open up to people. well, new people. new boys the somehow drift in to my life. it was not always that way. i just do not know how to express myself anymore. i enjoy the company, but i feel quite disconnected from my feelings. like my heart is growing cold. it is a bizarre feeling. i have always been one to wear my heart on my sleeve, and now it is tucked far beneath my tissue and battle scars, not wanting to surface.

love.this. a short clip that will provide an agreeable laugh.

march 28, 2009 416pm

well, all the moving is done. i stilll am not sure how andrew found the streangth to get the washer and dryer up here, but he did. the incredible hulk, that one. it was interesting to wake up in the morning and have other people around. this is going to be a fun house.

march 25, 2009 1142pm

i found out today that my brother michael, who i have not seen in YEARS, was in fort worth staying with my grandma for 2 FUCKING WEEKS and not one person in my family thought to let me know. michael has been all over the place with the air force. he went to iraq for a year, korea, germany and now he is back in korea. seriously, i think my family has forgotten about me. they even had a 3-way birthday party for michael, stephen and my stepbrother. did they invite me? NO.

emily cactus left austin yesterday for nevada. she is going to be a grown up and work a real job. the job sounds cool. good luck emily!

i discovered something quite tasty and petite at the whole foods marketplace. they make these little cookie sandwiches for $0.49 with a small amount of chocolate ganache filling. omg. and the cookies are soft. love.it.so.much.

the last thing i made in my kitchen on 6th street was a sweet basil pesto tapenade from veganomicon. the ingredients were fresh basil, olive oil, walnut, garlic, maple syrup and lemon zest. simply lovely. it made a great sandwich spread. i made it for a sandwich potluck at work. i did not have enough bread, so i made some tortilla and added the spread with some fresh spinach. yummmm.

i spent my last night at my 6th street place tuesday. i spent it on the couch, as i had to move all my things to the bedroom to make room for amanda's (the subleaser) things. i came home today and found my little socrates had made himself at home on her bed.

march 24, 2009 1200am

last night i ended up at flipnotics to see mcmercy. i did not know it was going to be some sort of old time string band lineup put together by my friend howard. i love old time music, thanks to dan edwards. it was a nice night. they moved the stage outside. there was anice breeze a blowin'. two great string bands played. then mcmercy. a great end to the craziness of sxsw.

i gave my number to guy-who-is-always-smoking-cigars-outside-his-apartment today. it was one of those "hey, we should get coffee sometime" things on his part. and me, being nice said "yeah sure". i mean, it could be harmless. but he could totally be wanting to bone me too. we shall see. either way, not even a little interested. i just like people. i just want to be alone sometimes most of the time.

here are my favorite sxsw photos of this year. the rest are on facebook. you can check them out in all their glory.

march 19, 2009 1231am

why do i allow small things to get to me? for instance, i was forced to wear a dumb blood center shirt today and it pissed me right off. definitely made my first hour at work terrible. i could have just choose not to let it bother me. weird.

i went to see colin gilmore play with his dad, jimmie dale gilmore, at the threadgill's up north last week. i really just went to see jimmie, but it was good to see colin as well. jimmie dale gilmore has a voice like a song bird. it.is.beautiful. you need to look him up if you have not heard.

i had not seen the kagan family in a while, so we met up last friday for some coffee and then a china market trip. both krys and i enjoy making foods that require 'exotic' ingredients. the heb or whole foods will charge you twice as much for these items, such as rice noodles and rice vinegar. lame. adam is getting so big. he turned 5 months on tuesday! yikes. we are going to celebrate our half birthdays next month with a pizza party and cupcakes. we are also going to have our vegetarian passover meal next month as well. the kagans are jewish. andrew is going to come along as well. it should be fun. good excuse to get to eat kys' excellent foods.

friday night was the big mcmercy choir show. the electric mountain rotten apple gang played as well as country willie. i started to pregame at the gingerman because, believe it or not, their non exotic beer is cheaper than lambert's. and better. i of course did not eat any dinner, so i was drunk after 4 pints. everything went well, until i started to talk really dirty, really loud. but more like middle school boy dirty and not porn dirty. i was entertaining, apparently. i usually prefer to be the one laughing at someone like me.

sunday was another great vegetarian potluck with the kagan family. i hope to host a few at my new place one day. the theme was magnum p.i.e. yep, PIES! i have been looking for an excuse to make a cherry pie since december 2008. so, of course, i made a baddass cherry pie (a mixture of various recipes i found online). à la mode, of course. i helped andrew make a peanut butter chocolate pie from veganomicon. it was yummie. very rich. krys made a vegan quiche (i really thought there were actual eggs and feta in that thing... such goodness to my mouth!) and a portobello pie. pamela brought sheapard's pie, a favorite savory pie to all. andrew and i literally spent all day from 10am-4pm making the pies. making things from scratch is one of my favorite things to do, but it can be time consuming. therapy for me in a way. i felt a bit weird because i always cook alone, and never talk, so i was not much of a conversation for andrew, who took 2 naps during the course of the day. he did a great job though. i am not very good at explaining cooking. it just makes sense to me.

one last thing. i made some apple crumble muffins from vegan with a vengeance for a work potluck monday. we got a new blood banking system, so we spent all of our 8 hour day learning all the fun things and snacking. i had tuesday off, so of course i took advantage of the day to do my long run (9.4 miles) and bake! i baked some sassy sandwich bread from la dolce vegan and veggie turkey lunchmeat from vegan dad. i made veggie lunchmeat from vegan dad last summer. i used the lunchmeat to make some tasty bbq sandwiches to impress dan edwards. i think it worked. he said he loved it anyway. i will be moving in a week, so sandwiches will be my staple till i can get my new kitchen in order. then it is on like donkey kong. i will have two great roommates to feed. and 3 more in the unit downstairs. yip!

march 11, 2009 440pm

i went to deposit a large amount of dollars today. most of which were actual 1 dollar bills. i have been saving up tips and have not had the time to get to the bank. i somehow managed to squeeze them all in the envelope. i went to put it in the box and the guy at the desk said 'whoa! what do you have in there?' i was temped to say 'oh, you know, red marbles. they are going to be worth a great deal one day' but stopped myself. what the fuck else would be in the envelope dickhead? he probably thinks i am a stripper. fuckface.

it is official, i am a REAL dallas mavericks fan now that i have a shirt. my ex mike gave me an old mavs jersey (he is a terrible terrible spurs fan) but it was a trick. it is michael finely's old maverick's jersey, and he is now a san antonio spur. my friend trey bought me this one. it is super sweet.

trey had his birthday dinner last week at ruth's chris steak house. i joined, along with others, even though i do not eat steak. i actually ended up getting some fish, which was ok. it was not my birthday, so i cannot complain. good times with friends is always nice though. drew, jeremy and scottie met us after at bull mccabe's. due to the management change, bull's is in a sad sad state. i really liked going there on a week day and having a nice guinness in a pub atmosphere. now it is trying to be more 'club' like, which is way lame.

i finally made some real food sunday. i have been surviving on chocolate chip cliff bars and almond butter sandwiches for a while now. i made butter bean veggie burgers with home made buns. krys gave me both recipes. this veggie burger recipe is my new standard. they were great. and, the homemade buns were totally worth it. they were warm and soft in-my-mouth just out of the oven. i have been intimidated by anything that requires yeast for quite some time. not really sure why. i am working at getting over that.

i will leave you with something cute to have on your mind...

march 06, 2009 1218pm

i want to start off by saying that i realize images from feb 11 and before then are not loading... long explanation, but it will be fixed once i have the hours to spend and maybe when i get CS4 on my macbook. and not in this windowless computer lab.

lots of things have been on my mind and stressing my brain lately. including MOVING! those of you who have known me all or some of the 5 years i have been in austin, i have been quite the ramblin' gal. moving every year it seems. well, it is that time again. i am moving to the annie street arts collective, right above dan grissom, lindsey and jack tuggles. i am super excited. we will own that building. OWN IT. now i just need to solidify a sub leaser for my place, and i can be 100% excited about it all. all of my adult life i have had 2 living situation fantasies. one of which is to live with my grandma. i love that woman. she cooks like a little french woman should and has a cute house. sadly her home is located in ft worth, texas. i have no desire to make that move. the other fantasy is to live with boys. boys that i will definitely not be hooking up with. i will be living with andrew pressman and robert steel (none of which are gay, there are other reasons i will not be boning either of them). it will be quite the bachelor pad. but i am quite the bachelor. so it works.

i have not really written about my little ones in a while. lately, they have taken to this box near my window that contains my small record collection. there is only room for one kitten, so naturally, they battle for it. wrestle is probably the best verb to use. jabba usually wins, but not in this photo. by the way, how can you deny the fact that i have the cutest fucking cats EVER? really.

the cactus has had some great shows come through in the past month. it is our 30th anniversary! i was able to see guy clark, in the actual cactus! that man is a legend. he was badass. and richard thompson. so good. one of the nights richard played, this guy made garrett and i some dollar art. a donkey and a dachshund. cute. i enjoy what customers at the cactus do for me. draw pictures of me on bar napkins. make dollar art. try to hit on me (that one is just funny to see). give me tips.

speaking of the cactus, griff, my manager, pulled out this old school resignation from a girl that worked at the cactus some time ago. though, it is more a resignation drawing... so good. she finished up her stuff at the door and then handed the drawing to griff and never came back. i do not see why she would not want to come back... (in case you cannot read the text, from left to right it reads: LATER. YOU SUCK (most of the time). I QUIT (for real this time). BOOK SOME BLACK SHOWS.) hehe. i had a good laugh for about an hour.

some say leland had their cd release back in february. i have been a slacker on the updating so here are the photos from that.