Showing posts with label happy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label happy. Show all posts

San Diego on a Sunday

Spending a couple of days down in San Diego for absolutely no reason at all. There is no occasion. There is no agenda, really. I hope to get to a yoga class, to an elliptical, to the pool. I hope to read a book. I might take the ferry to Coronado... I am going to eat some crappy food and probably some salads if I can find a Whole Foods or health food store. I am going to drink some cold beer. (oh! I already did that!) Isn't it funny how we have to schedule time to do nothing? The view from the hotel room could be enough to just keep me in bed though...


sunset.

Our San Francisco/Sonoma Trip!

So - if you've ever been in my car you know that I love me the TV on the Radio. When they announced their spring tour I was bummed to see that their only LA date was Coachella, so that meant no other play-y in LA-y (and Pomona is just too far.) So when I saw that they were playing in Oakland over Memorial Day weekend I had one of those lightbulb moments and decided we needed a good road trip!

We arrived in San Francisco around lunchtime and took the bus up to Amoeba - I LOVE taking public transportation. I'm not sure if I would love it so much if I had to do it everyday, I'm sure the novelty of it would wear off, but when we are traveling I really enjoy it. We have sort of made a tradition out of buying CDs at local indie record stores while on vacation and I was happy we fit it into this trip. (purchases included Jason Lytle, Au Revoir Simone, Reatards, and two Nick Cave Re-issues)

I found a good deal at the Hotel Palomar, it is a Kimpton hotel, and they are quickly becoming my hotel chain of choice. Comfy beds, and really loud flushing toilet and a shower that didn't drain very well, BUT I would totally stay there again, centrally located and did I mention the comfy bed?

We had some TASTY crab-deviled eggs and a couple of beers before dinner by the water at MarketBar in the Ferry Building, (side note: I don't think I have ever, in my almost 15 years knowing my husband seen him SO excited over a group of shops). Beers and deviled eggs. yum.

Then..

Guy booked us a really yummy dinner at Ozumo Sushi. The Hanabi and Futago were amazing. Everything was great. Including the Sapporos.

After dinner we headed on the BART to Oakland to the recently renovated Fox Theater - it's one of those historic, crazy buildings with really amazing architecture. We had 5 or 10 more beers and were treated to an amazing show by one of my favorite bands.

Saturday morning was a little rough (see mention of beers above) so we got a slow start out of town and eventually made it to Santa Rosa where we checked into our hotel and had a really great lunch at Omelette Express-- soo yummy



Our home base for the wine tasting trip was Hotel La Rose - small, quaint, in the heart of their little historical area and the bed was really comfy... (comfy beds are crucial to my traveling happiness in case you couldn't tell - it has to be firm, not too firm and big enough so that 6'4" husband does not cut into my side of the bed by sleeping diagonally on small beds)

After fueling up on sandwiches and iced tea and when I finally began to feel human again it was time for some wine tasting! We hit a good amount of wineries in the Forestville, Sebastopol and Windsor areas (favorites are marked with a handy asterisk - man I love those things)

Hartford Family Winery
*Harvest Moon
Hook & Ladder
*Woodenhead
DeLoach
Dutton-Goldfield/Balletto Vineyards

Harvest Moon was probably my favorite of the day, and not just because they had a really awesome chocolate lab named Charlotte. Woodenhead had an amazing deck with views of the valley and a woman who worked there was from LA and her parents lived in the same house in the heart of Hollywood for the last FIFTY YEARS. I loved that.

That night we had dinner at El Dorado Kitchen in the Sonoma Square. Note: when traveling check to see if the town where you booked dinner is having any events, like a jazz fest, that could make finding parking near-impossible

ANYWAY - it was really good - I had the truffle risotto, Guy had short ribs. And for desert we had a S'Mores tart. mmmm...

Sunday morning we woke bright and early and without a hangover (yay) and went to breakfast at Parkside Cafe - oh. shit. yum. Chicken Fried Steak and the Country Benedict were both great and not too heavy. Really tiny place with really amazing food.

We walked around the Windsor Farmer's Market and some antique fair thing in Healdsburg before starting day two wine tasting at:

*Stryker
Seghesio
Papapietro
*Dutcher Crossing
**Preston
Mazzocco

Stryker had a remarkable tasting room, beautiful grounds, some horny snakes, and two guys working - one was lively, engaging and outgoing and the other was his total opposite. Guess which one we got?

Preston is an organic winery, with pigs and chickens and cats and bread and olives and really yummy wines. It was totally my favorite of the trip.




OK. Dinner. I booked us a nice dinner based on online reviews and a Michelin rating. So we walk into this old Victorian House/Restaurant and there is classical music playing, unchipped China on all of the tables, salmon colored walls, DRAPES, and a snooty hostess and I have a mini-panic attack. Where did I book us?? Guy calms me and the Goose and tonic calms me and we sit to eat. OH.MY.GOD. It was BY FAR one of the most amazing meals of my life. Go there. As soon as possible. Life is short people.
Madrona Manor
We had five courses of amazing food paired with fantastic Sonoma wines and Champagne, along with things like parm-reggiano churros, pea Vichyssoise amuse-bouche (actually I don't really know if vichyssoise is usually a SPECIFIC kind of soup - this is how much I didn't deserve to be eating there, anyway - it was cold and I only know what amuse-bouche is because I watch Top Chef - see you CAN learn things from Reality TV). We also were given raspberry/hibiscus crushed ice to cleanse the palettes (the texture of the ICE was amazing) - a mini creme brulee AFTER we finished the desert that we ordered, and a handful of chocolates and carmels AND 2 bags of caramel corn to take on the road. soooooo yum.

The whole weekend was awesome. Yay for vacations. I am working on the next weekend getaway now: Ojai. Have never been there and have always wanted to go. I plan on lots of relaxing.

This is how I listen to music. What?

Many years ago my then-roommate and still-good friend, Jodi, got into my car for the first time in a few months and said "You're listening to this cd again?" My answer was - "No, I am listening to this cd still." It was Tindersticks - Curtains and it was sooooo nice.

In 1984 and 85 when I was listening to Purple Rain I refused to listen to side B until I knew every single word on side A. what? (man, I can't EVEN tell you how excited I was to finally to get to "I Would Die 4 U" (U. Iwould. Die4. U. sing it with me. U. Iwould. Die4. U. complete with hand signs. U. Iwould. Die4. U.).

Now, with no side A's or side B's to create goals and no turntables in my car (where the serious, loud, private music appreciation happens) I have had to perfect a new system for my OCD music listening madness.

I listen to it all the way through a couple of times. Wait, first I BUY the CD - crazy concept doncha think?

Ok - Again.

I listen to it all the way through a couple of times. Usually by the third listen I will have identified one or two songs that are really catchy, have a line or two that is really beautiful and/or is a song that I feel would be a challenge to learn all of the words - White Stripes "Hotel Yorba" comes to mind (Well its 1 2 3 4. take the elevator. at the hotel yorba. I'll be glad to see you later. all they got inside is vacancy). I TOTALLY mastered this song. Only it took about 30 consecutive listens. AND I probably had to pull the car over at one point and read along with the lyrics. When I get stuck in one place in the song I will start the song over. Sometimes I get to the end of a song and remember how much I liked the chorus, or a certain line and will go back to the beginning of the song. Eventually I master the song or come close to it and move on to the next song that interests me until I've made my way through the entire CD. The problem is - and it's only a problem if you ride in my car a lot - is that this can literally take months. I am lucky enough to have a really short commute and I can MAYBE get through 3 listens of one song during a one-way trip to work.

So right now I am obsessing over learning TV on the Radio's first full-length CD - Desperate Youths, Blood Thirsty Babes and if you have even KIND OF listened to TVOTR's lyrics you know that their shit is fucked up. Fucked up in that FUCK these guys are amazing, genius, insane and inspiring all at the same time. So yeh this will take awhile. Apologies in advance to those riding in my car who don't like track 2, 3, 5 and 7 which I am working on right now. (Leave your treadmill power trip behind. I will be your one more time if you will be my one last chance. - fucking beautiful.)

I have never been able to really get the whole Black Lips "Navajo" from Good Bad Not Evil. That one is hard. Maybe some day I'll go back to it. I have the first and third TVOTR cd's to get through first though. Oh and the EP. shit.

We like wine

We went wine tasting over New Year's Eve. It was big fun. We hit a few new wineries and found a couple new favs - Four Vines and Le Cuvier and of course visited old favorites - Halter Ranch, Turley.

Here are 200 pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Wine Tasting 08

Quote of the year

"we have a smart and moderate president elect who's african-american and has a beautiful family and who hung out with punk rockers when he was in college? it's like waking up and finding out that every crappy top-40 station in america is now playing tv on the radio and the bad brains"

from moby's 11/14 facebook blog

Music

Update: another good reason not to make top 10 lists, I made the original WIP list back in July and half those bands I don't even listen to now. huh.


Since I was ridiculed many years for only putting 1 album on my "top 10" list I have not made another list. I felt totally justified in proclaiming that Sophtware Slump was so good that it woulda been THAT much better than whatever I could have made 2 - 10. I felt it was a strong statement. Other people, my husband, didn't agree. So whatever. I figure no one gives a shit what is on someone else's top 10, they just want a reason to tell you what's on theirs. The only reason I ever look at someone's list is to make judgements (come on, we're being honest right?) and (less likely) look for new music. If I see something on a lot of lists I may seek it out...

but today as I was rocking out in the car, I figured that since I have a whole tag for "lists" I should use it! And if I make an evolving top 10 list during the year come January I won't have to struggle to remember what I liked and I will already have my list so that you can judge me.

here it is... (I think I was just inspired to make another list; reasons why I have comments disabled)

in alphabetical order by the second letter in the first word:

Jay Reatard, Matador Singles '08
Kanye West, Graduation… it came out in 07, but whatev. I’m lovin it in 08.
The Black Keys, Attack & Release
Gossip, Live in Liverpool
The Kills, Midnight Boom
Times New Viking, Rip It Off
King Khan and The Shrines, The Supreme Genius…
Gnarls Barkley, The Odd Couple
Mudhoney, The Lucky Ones
newest addition in bold

huh, couldn't come up with 10. I'm sure I forgot some. Don't hate. It's my list. You don't have to listen.

the list will evolve assuming something else I like comes out this year, updates in bold. I have high expectations for the Jay Reatard Singles, Clinic and, Spiritualized

Nick Cave news. omg. omg. omg

FUCK YEH! So, without seeing even a trailer, I have already determined that The Road is going to be my favorite movie of the year and will probably get into the Top 5 (behind Pulp fiction and fighting for placement with Goodfellas, LA Confidential and Purple Rain) and since it was a John Hillcoat film I sort of assumed Nick Cave would, at the very least, be on the soundtrack. Soooo happy when I read the news that he'll be doing the score, that is going to be fan-fucking-tastic. I can't wait.

So to recap the awesomeness that Nick fans have to look forward to in the coming year:

1) The Road w Nick score source
2) Reissues - make that Deluxe Reissues! says who?
3) A new book! Now I just need to finally finish the last one! If it's on the internet in Canada it must be true

yay. I win.

Where can I buy some perspective?

I was thinking today about that scene in Purple Rain where Prince is talking to a puppet and the puppet says to him "Life's a bitch" (except I remembered him saying, "Man, I don't know, life's a bitch" but when I looked it up online that didn't appear to be right, ANYWAY).... I don't know why I thought about that, could be because I'm too hard on myself for losing my credit card, losing my driver's license, forgetting (for 1 day) to pay my credit card bill, and not realizing I needed a smog check on the car (all things I have total control over and are not "life's a bitch" kind of things) or could be because I just heard about someone at work who passed away (which totally is a life's a bitch" kind of thing). And I was gonna write about that here and then I thought NO! I am not gonna write about something negative. (I'm trying here). But I am feeling a little unchallenged and brain dead so I thought I would go online and just see what random writing exercise Live Journal has up. BTW - I have never done this before I just know they have it and figured it would be a good way to challenge my unchallenged brain. again, ANYWAY, today's writing exercise is:

"What's the most romantic thing you have done for someone?"

srsly? you.have.got.to.be.FUCKING.kidding.me.

talk about kicking a girl when she has no reason to be down. I am pretty sure I have never met a person as unromantic as I am. bah. what the fuck I say, what.the.fuck. Maybe tomorrow's topic can be "write about the last 4-course meal you prepared for your husband" or "how did it feel the first time you changed your oil" or "write that first Iron Man triathlon you finished."

Anyway, I have a fantastic husband, a new kitty, two old, fat lazy and awesome cats, a pretty sweet job and live in the best city anywhere with the best friends a girl could ask for so fuck off live journal, I don't have to justify my OCD, ADD, unromantic, unchallenged self to you assholes.

Don't be a prik

Home made prik khing! NOM!

Right Now!

  1. i am STOKED over getting the news about a new TVOTR cd- FINALLY! even though honestly I am still not tired of the last one
  2. can hear Guy making dinner and am flip flopping between feeling like the luckiest girl alive and guilty cause i'm in here fuckin around
  3. thinks picasa rules, and really only needs it to be wireless to make me that much happier
  4. i kinda sorta kinda want an iphone. don't tell Guy. i love gadgets. and their apps look awesome. gonna try and wait it out to see what BlackBerry comes up with. damnit.
  5. i have 1 night till i have to geek out with the nerds and am sooooo overwhelmed with shit i need to do at work and home. bah.
  6. loves the Dodgers right now. 12-2 in the 4th. hah! (err, not loving the error just now...might just want to delete number 6 before I even publish this---BAH, 12-3)
  7. feels bad that Guy has to go to jury duty tomorrow but thinks the plan of wearing one of my t-shirts, reading Are You There God, It's Me Margaret, while carrying a disposable camera in one hand and an oversized rubber ducky with a rainhat in the other hand should be a good way to not get placed on a jury
  8. realizes that she's writing these the same way she writes her Facebook status and that needs to stop

THIS is what Muzak should sound like!

So I had a dentist appointment that involved drilling and "cracking sounds" so I decided to listen to the sound of my music instead of the sound of teeth cracking. I put it on shuffle and below is what I was given... I don't know the names of any songs, just artists....oh and I gotta say this is a genius way to get through a dentist appointment - it wasn't so much the music, that was actually sort of a pain in the ass, since I had to keep asking him to repeat himself when he said anything, but it was a great distraction having to remember all the bands before I could type them out...

A Tribe Called Quest (awesome way to start)
Placebo
Gossip (My new favorite)
Outkast
Black Keys
Headcoats
Marcy Playground
The Hives (note to self, delete the Hives)
Arab strap
Sts9
Jeremy Jay
Galaxie 500
Oasis (see The Hives above, unless it's Definitely Maybe)
Doves (booooring, sorry fans of Doves)
Converge (mmmm, I don't know... Andy suggested this one - better for when I am angry at work I think)
Kiss (oh - we're almost done and this is a perfect way to end, shutting down)

Cooper turns 1!

He had the BEST carne asada at his party! unfortunately for Guy he had to miss it.... I had enough for both of us, twice.



here's the link, in case the slideshow no worky worky for you http://picasaweb.google.com/cindymvaughn/CooperSFirstBirthdayParty

music

MAN! I've been trapped at my computer all afternoon because Zune made me FANTASTIC autoplaylist and I have not been able to drag myself away... I mean, obviously, I will like it cause it's all of my music, but it's playing all the music I actually WANT to hear right now and music I didn't even know know I wanted to hear... I have only forwarded through 2 or 3 songs and that's just because some of Guy's Built to Spill seeped in....

I need to hurry and log off though because Bleck Beck is coming up... good night now... going to see Chocolate Genius now, which the Zune knew because he played a song for me.