"and then i end up making music"

FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANTLY::: Tom Hanks has a twitter. a real twitter. the real tom hanks. i just discovered this when one of my Crash Queen sisters retweeted something that he had posted. this is very exciting. do we all know that i have an enormously huge crush on him?! yeah cause i do.

anyways, if you are on twitter and want to start following Mr. Tom Hanks, you can do so here.

yep. that was the most important thing i have to say today. it's all downhill from here.

no, just kidding. this is a photo post. i have lots of great photos to show you!!! i know how people love looking at pictures. at least, i do.

but first, to give you a bit of an update:

i'm at work! that's right. my real work. we have gotten a new resident! after 3 months of zero residents.

Sunday night i had a feeling it would be the last time i'm in the house alone for a while, so i savored it and turned my music up really loud. i'm a wild one.

i've been having a really hard time sleeping and it's driving me crazy. the past three nights it has taken me like, an hour to fall asleep. i'm just not tired enough. and i haven't gone to bed until like, 4:30.

and then this morning! i went to bed at 4:30. didn't fall asleep until around 5. had to get up at 7:25 because there was an electrician that needed to fix a light in my apartment. i got back into bed at around 8:30, and again didn't fall asleep until around 9:30. dislike.

and then i set my alarm for 11:40 to get up for staff meeting, which was at 1.

alarm goes off at 11:40, i hit snooze, alarm never goes off again. thanks phone! you are awesome.

so i wake up at 12:29. YIKES. and in 30 minutes i manage to:

- wash my hair
- get dressed and ready
- straighten my hair

i was pretty impressed with myself.

anyways. the point is, i'm having trouble sleeping. i'm pretty tired right now, so here's hoping that tonight i will be able to fall asleep at a somewhat normal time.

IN OTHER NEWS:

guess what last night was?!!? opening night of Les Miserables in London! starring...who? oh yeah, NICK JONAS. as Marius! i'm still upset about this. i read that this morning and thought, "i couldn't believe society actually let this happen."




yep. there it is. from L to R: Joe, Nick, Kevin. ohhhh kevin why aren't you married to me!?

so, i decided i needed to youtube this because i was pretty sure that someone would have gotten either video or audio from last night. so i youtube'd 'nick jonas les mis,' and yes, someone had gotten audio.

and it was 'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.' and i cringed at the thought of a Jonas singing this song. and then i listened.

ummm. okay. i'm not saying that Nick Jonas has a good voice...but.........

he has a pretty good voice. i was kind of in shock. expecting whiny sounding Nick. at first i was like, "oh, that's not him they just took another recording." but then i listened closer...and you can kind of hear his speaking voice come through at parts. so, i think it really must be him.

i actually still can't believe it. thinking about it. why can't he sing that like in the band?!

OK, JONAS BROTHERS, HERE'S WHAT YOU SHOULD DO:

switch your entire focus and become a Broadway Cover Band!!!!! omg why has no one thought of this before?!! IT'S BRILLZ!!!!! wow. um, who's managing them now? because it needs to be me immediately.

so, click on that link and listen. the whole thing is like 10 minutes, but the first part is 'Empty Chairs' and that's the part you should listen to.

so maybe Nick Jonas as Marius won't be as bad as i thought. although, i know for sure he's no Josh Young. the best Marius i've ever seen.

IN OTHER JONAS NEWS:

Season 2 of JONAS premiered on Disney over the weekend!!! did i watch it?? no because i don't have cable. :( so far, it's been the worst thing that i've experienced all week. yeah, i'm pretty lucky.

hmmm..what else? nothing, i think.

OH, in case you're interested (and you should be), Kara bought the first River City Extension record thinking it was the second one. this turned out to be a good thing. i got the songs from her AND I LOVE THEM.

i went in to the listening process with the mindset, "nothing could be as good as their second album."

um, but it is. it's a little more creepy than the second record. sometimes a bit dark. i REALLY like, 'It's no Ha-ha-ha.' that's where the subject for this entry comes from. i also really love 'Nautical Sabbatical' and 'Elephant.' 'Elephant' kind of scares me at the end, but i love it.

it's kind of like Pirate music. not like Somali pirates. but like, fictionalized pirates. nice and funny ones. that wear red striped shirts and cut-offs. is that what pirates wear? that's what i think they wear.

ANYWAYS, the point is, i think River City Extension is good pirate music. it's kind of a wild celebration with oceanic images. i don't know. i guess it seemed like a better idea in my head. they just sound like the kind of band that would be playing on the deck of a ship. during a storm.

River City Extension would go down with the ship. that's what i think, to bring in a Titanic reference. they would keep playing. and it would be good music right to the end.

and that's the RCE part of the blog.

CRASH KINGS PART OF THE BLOG:

my mom called me yesterday evening....

MOM: Ok, I wanted to call because I've been trying to track down something for you....
JULIE: Umm....yeah...?
MOM: I can't confirm this yet, but I've tried to find out as much information as I could....
JULIE: Okay......
MOM: I think Crash Kings are playing in Portsmouth on 24 July.
JULIE: What?! Why do you think that?!
MOM: Well, I was driving home and heard a radio advertisement and they said, "featuring Crash Kings," so I listened closer and it was an advertisement for this event called Hook Fest, at the Red Hook Brewery, and they said Crash Kings are playing...
JULIE: Really?!?
MOM: Yeah. So, I got home and had Kara go onto their website....
JULIE: Who's website?
MOM: Crash Kings and the Hook Fest site, but there's no information, the only band listed is Blues Traveler.
JULIE: Whoa, they're pretty big....
MOM: So, I called the Brewery, but they're closed today. I'm sure I heard them say Crash Kings.
JULIE: WOW!! I can't believe you did all that!!! You're so excited about this!!!!
MOM: Well, I knew you'd be excited!! And, wasn't I just saying, 'I wonder why Crash Kings don't play in Portsmouth?'
JULIE: Yep, you were just saying that.
MOM: And now look!!
JULIE: Wow, that would be so amazing.
MOM: I know!

YEP. that happened. you should have heard my mom on the phone. it was amazing. she was so stealth sounding!!!!! it was so funny. AND GREAT. how cool would that be? um, so cool.

so, i sent a tweet to the guys asking them if it was true. i don't really expect response because they never responded to me asking what time they were playing in Chicago. ah well.

BUT! i went onto the website for WHEB, which is the radio station sponsoring the event, and THEY have Crash Kings listed.

UM, AWESOME. yep. a lot.

so, i'm going to force my mom to come with me. and kara too. and ANYONE READING THIS THAT LIVES IN THE SEACOAST AREA!!!!! for realz, you gotta come.

IF ALL GOES PERFECT THIS SUMMER (and i mean really, really perfect) I WILL SEE CRASH KINGS:

- 21 July in Colorado Springs
- 24 July in Portsmouth
- 3 August in Boston

DEAR UNIVERSE, PLEASE BE PERFECT!!!!!!! kthanks.

alright. now i guess we can move onto the photo portion of the entry. ar you excited?!!?! YOU SHOULD BE!!!


the first pictures are from a night when Kara and i went into the bakery and worked together. I am a self-named honorary bakery assistant. we would go in at like, midnight and stay until 5am or so. yummmmm there'ssomuchgoodfood.....




These are the cupcakes we made in honor of Flag Day!!!! Really, Kara made the cupcakes and frosting and I just sprinkled on the blue jimmies.




Kara and me!! it's a bad picture of both of us, so that's why i'm posting it. amazing that we have TWO BAKERS in the family, right? i mean, what are the odds?! and yep, i wore my glasses that night :)




BAKERY CASE!!!!!! every single thing in that case was made FROM SCRATCH by my sister, Kara. and see on the middle shelf to the left of the cakes, there are cups of tiramisu? and see how there's a red sign in front of them? that's the sign that says, 'AWARD WINNING.' because remember a few months ago when Kara's tiramisu won BEST TIRAMISU in Wells, Maine (but really in the whole northeast.) YEP! my sister is a famous baker. :) and i'm her honorary bakery assistant.




mmm....look at those blueberry muffins. don't they look great? don't they look like they could be award winning some day?? um, guess who made those? ME!!!! that's right, ME. your truly. i made those muffins from scratch. i also made coffee cake muffins and chocolate chip muffins.

and kara couldn't believe how much better mine looked than the ones she makes. it's true. she says i take more time on mine so they look nicer. TRUE STORY. i know you don't believe me, but it's true. i made those muffins.




CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY PIE!!!!! kara loves baking pies! who knew?! and at first she was just making blueberry and apple pies. i told her that was boring and so ON-THE-SPOT i came up with this pie:

- melted chocolate spread on the crust (supposed to be chocolate crust, but kara already had normal crust made up)
- raspberry filling
- chocolate drizzled on top!

YUM, right?! best pie ever!




AND I MADE THE FILLING!!! the raspberry filling! i put raspberries on the stove with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and some other stuff and then mixed it with a cornstarch-water mixture. brillz. i was really proud of it.




AND THEN!!! i made these cinnamon twists!!!!!!! don't they look great?! i know, i know they do.


i couldn't believe kara let me make all this stuff. she said i did a really good job. i love going into work with her. it's so fun. in between baking we have dance parties.


AWESOME, right?!!?!?


and now! comes a special section where i photo document my efforts to defrost my horrible freezer.

this is the WORST-SITUATION FREEZER. it's a tiny box at the top of my fridge. no, it's not a separate part like normal fridges. and there's only one temperature thing that controls both the fridge and the freezer. WORST. so, if the dial isn't turned up high enough, nothing stays frozen. and if it's turned up too high, the whole thing will frost over.

and i let it go waayyyy toooo loonnnggg. the whole thing was frosted over. you could barely fit anything in there. for realz. and so i decided it was time to take on the job. and i figured you guys would just love to come along for the adventure.

(also, it was totally boring and took a total of 3 HOURS and so i felt like you all were there with me because i was taking these pictures and thinking, 'i can't wait to tell my blog friends!')


JULIE DEFROSTS HER FREEZER:





these were the tools i used.

- plastic container to hold the already removed frost. (it's blue because this was the same container i used to bail out some of the overflowing teal water from when i dyed my jacket teal.)
- bamboo spatula (didn't really work that well. and it looks pink because i also used it as a dying tool when i dyed some t-shirts pink last summer.)
- metal ladle, used to scrape up the frost and also act as a chipping device
- sharp knife, used as a replacement ice pick.




THIS WAS THE SITUATION. such a big fail. the frost on the sides had to be at least 5 inches thick.

and, there was a huge ice pack that i had put on the little tray under the freezer, which then froze to the tray, and the frost grew around it. i was also on a mission to retrieve the ice pack.





this was my method. boil a pot of water. stick it in the freezer. shut the door. wait a bit. come back. chip away.

so, that's the smallest size saucepan i have. and look how it barely fits in the freezer!! guys, it was bad.




starting to make some progress.....




becoming more square-shaped.




yep. it was like the deck of Titanic.





then i came up with the 'bathmat/towel method.' this kept the floor from getting too wet.




ice pack finally came out!!!!!! success!!!! that took A WHILE.




and this was the final product. yep. freezer won. i never actually reached any of the original freezer sides. but, after three hours i got tired. my hand was numb from chipping. my feet were numb from standing on ice.

it's definitely an improvement.

eh, i guess there's not much else to say. FREEZER WON. kind of a let down at the end, i guess.

well it was a good adventure.


HM. ok. i think that might be all for now.


oh! i watched The Blind Side. loved it. laughed. cried. 5 stars.

last night i watched Monster's Ball. i had seen it when it first came out, and then saw a trailer for it on something recently and decided i wanted to see it again, because i really didn't remember it.

so i watched it! yeah, great movie. i had forgotten kind of everything that happens. but, as i was watching it the plot slowly came back. i totally didn't remember that Heath Ledger kills himself. (spoiler!) that was surprising and really sad.

tonight i have Pirate Radio to watch. unless i'm too tired....in which case i might just watch an episode of Friday Night Lights.

i have to go to the post office tomorrow. other than that, that's pretty much it.

i'm working tonight, and then again thursday 8-11am, and then possibly a double shift on sunday, which would be 8am until 10pm. but actually, 10pm saturday night until 8am monday morning.

now that i haven't been getting a paycheck for like, two months, I NEED ONE. badly.


oh! also, i decided that i'm getting the tattoo i want as soon as i can afford it. yep. it's decided. i'm going to do it. i want it. and every time i see someone with a tattoo, i am envious. so - it's happening.

also - my toilet is broken. hopefully getting fixed either tomorrow afternoon or thursday sometime. it's still usable, it's just annoying.

at first, it was normal working, except it would never stop running. so, you'd have to shut off the water valve. and then turn it back on so the back could fill up, and so forth.

but now, the flushing has broken, so you have to do it manually, by sticking your hand in the back. and also, once the back fills up with water, it immediately drains again.

so, i have resorted to the ol' standby method of pouring water down the toilet in order for it to flush. it's annoying. but at least it still works. it just makes things more interesting.

AND! i told you the electrician came this morning! he fixed a lamp! in the 'cave room.' which is the front room as soon as you walk into my apartment. it has slanted walls and no windows. and there had been this light fixture hanging from the ceiling that didn't work. and there was no working light switch.

so, this electrician came over. fixed the hanging light socket. REPLACED the bad switch. AND NOW - there's a working light (with a switch) in the cave room!!!! it's pretty cool. it's now the second switch-operated light in my apartment! the other one is in the bathroom. nice!

hm. i have a feeling that now i'm just telling you random things to waste time.

ok, i'll stop.

i hope everybody is having a great week! i'm hungry right now. i might make cornbread tonight.

maybe i'll talk to you later, but, maybe not. probably not.

ENJOY the rest of your day!!!! talk to you soon.



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