Year in Review

This year, I: 

• got my first DSRL
• took 9,500 photos with it
• finally visited Portland, OR
• made new friends who live far away (no surprise there)
• drank too much in Portland
• and Florida
• started wearing only dresses
• and cut my hair short again
• lost and gained weight. Rinse, repeat
• almost mastered the art of pita bread making
• became serious about photography
• and decided to build a portfolio to show potential clients
• had my first (free) photo session with a friend and his daughter
• spent my first Christmas away from my family
• met the guy I want to marry (and will marry)
• spent way too much time away from him and missed him like crazy for over 100 days
• and met his wonderful family in the space of two weeks (phew, that was a lot of family members and friends!)

Feeling worn out

 These past three weeks have been a little difficult for me, emotionally. I'm starting to feel better, and to get more sleep. Until last summer, I had never had bags under my eyes, but they have since then established permanent residency under my eyes. I had a hard time sleeping when I was in Vancouver because there was a lot of light filtering through the blinds, and I would get fewer than 5 hours of sleep a night. I also went out a lot, and my last couple of weeks in Portland were spent waking up at godless hours of the night to email a guy who was 9 hours ahead of me. 

  Since I've been back, I've been waking up three or four times a week, and not falling back asleep right away. Add to that anxiety about whether I should start a business or not, and I'm a complete mess. I've decided to take better care of myself, exercise, get more sleep, forego late night or early morning conversations with Brent that made me miss out on an hour or two of sleep, and use some much needed decongesting eye cream from Nuxe. 

This decongesting eye cream feels amazing under puffy eyes. I'm open to other suggestions that have worked for you.

 Nuxe and Caudalie are my favorite skincare brands. I have combination skin, and my skin breaks out often, so for the past few years, I've been trying many different products. I can't say that I've found the miracle cure, but I'm hanging in there and staying faithful to those two brands. I know that they're not harsh on my skin, and they have very soothing products. When I was looking for face wash for sensitive skins yesterday, I decided to try this one : 

It uses acacia honey and peach extract and smells and feels lovely. 

 I also purchased this hydrating oil, but mine is for combination skin. It felt incredible on my face. 

 You apply it on its own or combine it with your moisturizing lotion (Crème Fraîche by Nuxe in my case). 

 I'm also drinking more water and green tea, especially these teas. 

Thé vert au Tibet

Thé à l'Opéra

Sweet Shangaï. 

 Mariage Frères has been my favorite brand of tea for a couple of years now. I always heard my friends rave about their Marco Polo green tea, which seems to be their most popular tea, but I only started drinking tea from that brand myself when I was looking for some decaf Earl Grey. I'm also a big fan of their Thé des Impressionistes, Thé vert Provence and one of their rooibos teas, Metis. If you live in the U.S, Dean & Deluca carries many of their loose leaf teas in the beautiful tin above. 

 Hopefully, these steps and you know, worrying less about what I want to do with my life, will help. At least, the skincare products will make my skin feel and look like less of a mess, and my body will start thanking me for hydrating it more and detoxifying it. 

Once in a while, I like doing a music entry. Yesterday, I was intrigued by Heather Browne (of Fuel, Fire)'s post about a Pacific Northwest invasion. As a Pacific Northwest aficionado and lover of West Coast bands, I decided to check out the bands. I knew I could trust Heather because we both love Blind Pilot, Band of Annuals, Ryan Adams and Pete Yorn, and boy, was I right to click on those links. 
I was blown away by the song "Bootstraps" by Drew Grow and the Pastors' Wives. But the revelation, if I may call it that, came when I listened to the song "Coeur d'Alene". At first, I thought if was part of "Cats and Dogs" because the two songs blend seamlessly. The final notes of "Cats and Dogs" blend into the first notes of "Coeur d'Alene". That's a genius move. 

The Head and the Heart seems like it incorporates the best of Band of Annuals (from SLC) and Blind Pilot (from Portland), while remaining completely original. The lead singer's voice does to me what Jay Henderson of Band of Annuals does to me: it soothes and moves me at the same time. It's sexy, emotional, and yet detached, and from another time.
Some of my favorite lines in that song are,

"What will become of these gestures that we made
I've given up my Bible, you moved out of state"   *

"Give you three bucks for your sympathy 
and another for a cigarette
The interaction feels so cold"

"So kiss me in the back room where the music plays
I know that it's not over"

My favorite moment, because of the intensity of the singer's voice when he sings that last line, is,  

"Break down the corridors
La-da-da, da-da-da da da
Break down the corridors
La-da-da, da-da-da da da
Messes that I haven't tried to clean up in a while"

If you don't fall in love with the piano part after that line, then you can't possibly love life.

Also, how can one put much resistance when someone sings,

"You're in my soul now
 you've gotta waste away with me
my mind's made up, I'm stayin' here with you,

There's no use knowin'
which way the wind is blowin'
my mind's made up, I'm doin' this, I'm doin' this with you"

There's nothing I like more than a song whose rhythm picks up mid-song. That's the case in Down in the Valley. Add male-female harmonies ** and a piano, and I'm ready to declare my love for the band by jumping on a couch on national television. 

"Bootstraps", the first song I truly loved, is by Drew Grow. It's noisy. It's buoyant. It's joyous noise the way I like it. The lyrics are short and punchy, 

I drank alone for a fortnight
a yellow year by dim light.
"I'm Born again!"
Brand new jeans down to cut-offs,
and cigarettes on rooftops,
Chain it up. Chain it up.
I tell myself I want it,
I tell myself I need it.
Every time I get it this is how I'm wound up.
Play it loud. Play it loud, get it on.
(...pulling on the bootstraps)"

The band's website describes their sound as "soul, alt-gospel, garage rock". Sometimes, it's reminiscent of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals' best moments on This is Somewhere (I'm thinking most specifically of In The Meantime, Oh Mary and Mastermind), but more testosterone-filled -- though Grace Potter's music is pretty ballsy too-- mostly because of the gospel influence. 

It All Comes Right" is another song that immediately struck me as special. The chorus is full of "oh whoa whoa oh whoa whoa" blending together male and female voices, in a heavenly sound.

My favorite lines are, 

"Honey, make me a promise
the kind that holds true.
You carry the ark and I'll carry you" 

The last line is sung in harmony by the lead singer and the background vocalist, a woman. It makes the line especially amazing because it sounds like they're promising each other what he wanted her to promise him.  Throughout the song, the background vocals are to die for. They'll stay with you after the song is over. 

FOOTNOTES:

* I don't know why but the line "you moved out of state" or its variation "you moved out of town" always makes me tear up. It moves me like no-one lyric. Every time a song has that line, you can bet I'm going to stop doing whatever it is I'm doing when I hear it.

** Male-female harmonies are the reason why I love Band of Annuals, Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Adams and Whiskeytown so much. 

Today is the second day of summer and while it was sunny earlier, it's been kind of gray since 3pm. After our staff lunch, to which I brought (a delicious load of) raspberry almond bread, I went outside to hopefully get a slight tan but 5 minutes later, the sun went away. I was left to wander around in the backyard where I found these little pretties.

 

I've been busy thinking about the logistics of my upcoming trip. I'm still not sure exactly where I'm going to stay after the first couple of days in Seattle. I know I'll be taking the train down to Portland, but that's it. 

For the past few days, I've been listening to a lot of Court Yard Hounds, Johnathan Rice and Coconut Records. 

My recent plays

- Court Yard Hounds - Then Again

- Johnathan Rice & Jenny Lewis - End of the Affair

- Coconut Records - Saint Jerome

- Band of Horses - Laredo

- Johnathan Rice - What Am I Going to Do? 

- Court Yard Hounds - Fear of Wasted Time

- Coconut Records - Wires

- Wilco - Via Chicago

- Court Yard Hounds - I Miss You (the music is better than the really simple lyrics)

What I'm looking for 

Songs about travels. Or airports. Or hotels. I want to create the perfect playlist for my really long journeys in the next couple of months. 

Been away

This is what I've been doing while I've been away. 

And even though I've been listening to podcasts about political philosophy and international relations a lot, I've also been listening to music, mostly on CDs. 

These are the songs I've listened to the most these past couple of weeks. 

This is what my mixtape would sound like 

if I had any tapes left and didn't use iTunes or Spotify.  

   Got an new power plug for my record player yesterday afternoon. I was a little worried to turn the thing on because I wasn't sure the turntable was working, but it is. I listened to my new She & Him record all evening. I'm seriously in love with that thing and with the record. I'd listened to the album several times, but on shuffle mode which is so different. It sure made me feel better and helped me cope with having a sprained ankle which hurt like hell all day yesterday. I also listened to the entire Women & Country album streaming on Jakob Dylan's MySpace page. I hate MySpace but I'm glad they made it available. My copy should be there on Tuesday or Wednesday, so I won't have to accept the god-awful quality of their upload. I'll write about the album when I get my copy. 


   Now, on to Volume Two. 

• At first, I wasn't a big fan of I'm Gonna Make It Better, but now I love it. I always sing along to -

"Running away from you is 

just like running a business"

    even though it's a super ridiculous line. No-one could have gotten away with it but Zooey Deschanel. Anyone else would have gotten ripped to shreds by music critics. 

• Sing has fantastic lyrics like - 

"Talking on the phone and watching Cribs, 

he doesn't know what kind of guy he is. 

     He's got a gold-plated ceiling and a tv show

 A broken heart and he doesn't even know"

     and a great chorus that I can't help singing along to.

• I just read the lyrics to Home and if they don't make you smile, you're cold-hearted

"I could be your state and 
I could be your nation

It doesn't get better than home, 
now does it?

I could be your welcome, 
I could be your greater

I could be sweet 
and I could be sweeter

I want to be where 
your heart is home

I want to see you with 
the light in the morning

There's never been such 
a beautiful warning to me"

• But the song that makes the smile the most and makes me want to dance and go back in time to the 1950s and diners and school dances is Ridin' In My Car just because M. Ward's part makes the song 1,000 times lovelier than it already was. I like the aloofness and hurt in his voice. It's like he doesn't just sing it, he acts the part too. Maybe I'm influenced by the In The Sun video where he acts aloof and oblivious to the girl madly in love with him.

For a good while today, I looked for that essay in The White Album where Joan Didion is in the recording studio with The Doors. 

I earned points for my credit card purchases and redeemed them for two €10 iTunes cards that I received this morning in the mail. I bought these songs with my iTunes credit: 

• Big Star - The Ballad of El Goodo
• The Band - The Weight
• Ike & Tina Turner - River Deep Mountain High 
• Jefferson Airplane - Somebody to Love

I really loved A Serious Man. I'm sure 

I had a big stupid smile on my face during 

the whole thing.The opening scene is bound 

to make you love that song even if you don't

particularly like psychedelic rock (and I've never

really liked it). I also don't really like Grace 

Slick's deep, booming voice. So basically, it's one

of those songs that's really catchy, but I still

find myself wondering "but why?"

• NRBQ - Ridin' In My Car

I'm pretty much always the last one to jump

on the bandwagon, any bandwagon for that 

matter. I instantly fell in love with She & Him's 

cover of this song on their new album, so I tracked 

down the original. It's pretty damn great, but I'm

very glad that for their cover, Zooey and Matt 

decided that it would work best as a duet. Matt's 

voice coming on is the most pleasantly surprising 

thing on the album, and I find myself waiting for it 

on the original. 

• Pixies - Allison
• Pixies - No. 13 Baby
• The Replacements - Unsatisfied
• Ryan Adams - Rip Off
• Stevie Nicks - Edge Of Seventeen (*)

I've listened to it so many times 

on Spotify that it was time I bought 

it. It's impossible not to sing along 

or tap your feet to this one. 

• Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty - Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (*)
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - American Girl 
• Warren Zevon - Mohammed's Radio (live) 

This pick stems from a mistake I made. I have

the attention span of a goldfish. During the 

Californication season 2 finale, I googled

the lyrics to a Warren Zevon song (Keep Me In 

Your Heart) and then I must have listened to 

Mohammed's Radio and liked it a lot because

I remembered that song to be Mohammed's Radio

for months. I listened to Mohammed's Radio on

Spotify for months, and then today watched the

first few minutes of the finale, only to realize

it was a different song. Since I liked the scene

as much as the song, it's a disappointment to find

I was mistaken all these months. I remedied it by

also purchasing "Keep Me In Your Heart", which is 

a more fitting song for the scene anyway. 

• Warren Zevon - Keep Me In Your Heart

The most poignant thing about this song is

that it was recorded as Zevon was dying from 

cancer. You get so used to songs about loss that

you tend to forget that some are actually written

about death as opposed to, more metaphorically, 

about breaking up. 

Favorite lines: 

"If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you

any less" and "you know I'm tied to you like 

the buttons on your blouse"

• Wilco - How To Fight Loneliness

This song is on the Girl, Interrupted OST, but 

I didn't remember that it was because I didn't pay 

attention to the soundtrack the many times I watched 

the movie. I have it on VHS, so it's not the most 

convenient way to watch it again to see when it's 

played. I found the soundtrack on Spotify

a few weeks ago, and was surprised that they would

put such a "new" band on the soundtrack because

the movie is set in the 70s if I remember

correctly. I find the opening verse is haunting.

"How to fight loneliness, smile all the time, 

shine your teeth to meaningless and sharpen

them with lies"

• Wilco - Sonny Feeling
• Traveling Wilburys - Handle Me With Care

• The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - This Love Is F*****g Right

Last year, before SXSW, I downloaded

NPR's preview shows and then promptly

forgot about some of the stuff I'd listened

to. A few months ago, I don't know how or 

why,I stumbled upon The Pains on the iTunes 

store and listened to the 30 second previews of 

their debut album. Then, I added the album to 

my Spotify playlists. I figured it was time 

I paid to listen to these songs. I'm not usually 

into this kind of noise pop, but I really dig 

"This Love is F*****g Right".

• The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Tenure Itch
• Lynyrd Skynyrd - Call Me The Breeze

Just like "Mohammed's Radio" reminds me

of Californication (see corrections above), 

Call Me The Breeze reminds me of Love is a Mixtape 

and a part I could quote if my brother had given 

me the book back. It was about there being 

nothing in the world like riding in a car with 

a Southern girl singing Call Me the Breeze at 

the top of her lungs or playing the piano solo 

to that song with the aforementioned Southern 

girl on a roadtrip. FYI, I'm serious, I want 

the book back!

(*) Damn iTunes for having higher prices for Stevie Nicks songs. 

What I didn't buy: €200 worth of music that's piling up in my iTunes wishlist.