the surface

Dear Friends,

Just a few things to talk about today.


#1: I talk about Bored to Death a lot. Mainly because Jason Schwartzman is the star, and I will love him forever. Like, forever. And I guess I talk about it like it's the best thing ever. Well, because it is. And that was not just a poll of me, it's a nationally recognized FACT.




This is a photo I took of the "Must List," featured every issue of Entertainment Weekly. It's a list of things you MUST watch, read, listen to, go to, whatever. And what is number one? Oh yeah - BORED TO DEATH. NUMBER ONE.

HOW GREAT is that?! Um, sooooo great. So, now you must watch.



2: If you are ANYWHERE in Connecticut tonight, you must drive to Hamden to The Space and see Breakthrough Frequencies, my friend Holden's band. I wish I could have gone, but I have no extra time off work. If you can't make it out, however, you can at least watch their pretty awesome music video for their song, 'Blood=Water.'



3. Last night I slept for 13 hours.



4. Last night while sleeping for 13 hours, I had a dream that I was at the three Crash Kings shows that I'll be at (PA, NY, DC) and my mom was there too, as well as our neighbors, the Demers family. And also, my CK friends, Ryan, Jo and Anna. We were in DC and Crash Kings were about to go on. And they were playing in this train station. Kara wasn't there because she was catering a party for the Demers family, except they weren't there. But then there was a problem and they needed to leave, so they asked my mom if she needed a ride back, and she said, "no, I think I'll stay." BECAUSE, my mom secretly wants to see Crash Kings very badly. But they keep not playing in Boston on days when she can go.

Great dream, right?! I can't wait for the day when my mom comes to a Crash Kings show with me. Portsmouth didn't count, because Tony was in a bad mood the whole time and there was hardly any music.



5.



If you look very close, you can see a little Ruby Tuesday face under those blankets. This was the scene when we woke up this afternoon. Early in the morning, or sometimes late in the morning, Ruby Tuesday always crawls under the blankets and sleeps right up next to me. It's official: she's the cutest thing in the world.



6. Jim's Pancakes. I love this guy and I wish he was my husband. Kind of. Actually, I wish he was my personal chef. Yes, that's what I wish. He is a pancake artist. Well, technically he's just a normal dad, but he creates beautiful pancake art!!! My favorite is the Pancake Carousel, the Pancake Airplane, the Pancake Ferris Wheel and the Spaceship Pancake. Seriously - CHECK THIS OUT. You will be amazed, as I am. And, this guy, Jim, has maybe the cutest little daughter ever.



7. Children love Crash Kings. I think Tony would be very happy about this, since he's always talking about making Crash Kings music accessible for kids to learn. But it's true - children love Crash Kings.

Please view these children covering, 'Mountain Man.' They're really quite good. And adorable.

And then, please view this child making the next "official music video" for 'Mountain Man.' This one's pretty funny. And also adorable.



8. My friend Keith and I have been exchanging music recommendations, and he recommended that I start listening to this band called Blitzen Trapper. I'm pretty sure I have heard of this band before - but I REALLY like them. You should start listening to them too. I get kind of a 'Bob Dylan' vibe from the guy's voice.



9. I made cookies tonight.



10. I think that's all! It's been raining a lot. It down poured all last night and all day today. I like it.


Anyways. Any cool plans for the weekend? I'm doing nothing special. Just working. And, that's probably it. Lame, right? Right. Alright, well, I hope everyone had a great week and is having a fun, exciting Friday night. I'm not. I'm actually working right now. I was planning on grocery shopping a bit today, but, was called into work instead. So, that's that.

I'll talk to you all later! Take care.


loveLOVE!

"Wake up you sleepy head, put on some clothes, shake up your bed"

SLEEP? HA! yeah right. no, julie, not tonight.

So, remember how like, ALL through the previous entry I was like, "OMG I CAN'T WAIT TO GO TO BED???" Yeah - that didn't happen.

Semi-emergency at work and whatta ya know, I'm staying up until 6am.

Everyone remember the last time work surprised me and I had to stay up all night? (This is not including times where I've had to stay awake and monitor newborns.) (This is like, 'hey, I can't wait to sleep - oh wait - actually there's an emergency and you have to be awake all night.)

IT WAS THIS TIME. Last January. It was the night where I realized how sexy and gorgeous I found Tony. Staying up all night will do that to a girl. Or, staying up all day. Actually, it's very easy to think of Tony as sexy and gorgeous at any time of day.

SO. Here's what I've done so far:

- learned about Taylor Swift's procedure for writing songs about former boyfriends (thanks, Glamour!)
- took a quiz to find out 'which type of perfume is best for me.' (Romantic type. Because I'm a romantic.) (Thanks, Glamour!)
- texted Kara a lot and planned our sister tattoos.
- emailed my friend Oscar in Sweden. Who recently started a blog. Which everyone should now read.
- facebook messaged my friend Keith, from high school who i hadn't talked to since high school but it turns out we have a lot in common.
- heard a train go by
- heard a baby laughing and for a minute thought, "i wonder if that's a ghost baby, or a real baby?" It turned out to be a real baby. It's kind of creepy when babies suddenly start laughing in the middle of the night. Add a super old creaky house and you've got yourself a scary movie!
- drank some coffee

That's it! That's not really a lot of things. I've been here for 3.5 hours. All that took me 3.5 hours. I still have 2 hours to go until I can go to sleep.

Ok. I just got really tired. I can hear Ruby Tuesday running around upstairs. It sounds like a team of Gorilla Juiceheads running. She's so loud. (Gorilla Juiceheads - Jersey Shore reference, anyone?)

I started listening to music. I didn't have any music playing, because I needed to be alert. But then I started to be less-alert and more-sleepy. So, I put on some music.

Actually, after using that subject line again, I wanted to listen to the Crash Kings cover of that song. David Bowie, 'Oh, You Pretty Things!'

So, I'll be awake until 6am. Work until 8am. Then be not-working until 3:30pm. Then be working again until 8am. I'm guessing that in the not-working time, I will be sleeping hardcore. No, not just normal sleeping - HARDCORE sleeping.

I was in the middle of watching Glee when I was interrupted to stay awake all night. I think perhaps I'll finish watching it. Ohhhh I love Glee.

Also, these headphones make my ears itch really bad. I don't like it, but they're good headphones.

Ok. ONE MORE HOUR. And then I can sleep. WIN. I can totally pull this off. Poor Ruby Tuesday upstairs all by herself! She's hates being alone!

OK! I'm heading out now. Meaning, head out of the blog.

OMG. YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED!! Kara is FACEBOOK CHATTING with me!!! She's at work right now. On break. (She's a baker, so she goes into work super early.)

Tonight was the first night I EVER signed into Facebook chat, and I was expecting everyone to be messaging me. Because apparently I think I'm a lot more popular than I actually am... But, nobody was chatting with me, so I was sad. But then she started chatting with me!!

I should really IM people more. But, I never think to sign into AIM. Weird that I ALWAYS used to be signed in to talk to everyone.

Maybe I'll sign into Facebook chat more often. If you are on Facebook and ever want to talk to me, you can. I'll allow it.

And if you ever want to IM me, my AIM screen name is: totesbrillz If I am ever signed on, again, please feel free to say hi.

ALRIGHT! I hope everyone has a nice day! I'll be sleeping through it. Until I have to be awake again.

I'll talk to everyone later! Take care!


lovelove.

james cotton superharp

hi guys.

at work now. bored. really tired. sniffly, too. i'm worried that i'm getting 'part 2' of the cold i had last week.

James Cotton Superharp is this musician coming to a local theater. actually, he already came. last weekend. but, i like his name. and i saw it on the brochure, and made it my subject.

i feel like this is going to be boring. especially as i don't have very much to say.


i'm really tired. it took me forever to get out of bed this morning.

so, we went out to wal-mart this afternoon. i had to pick up a 2 year old from daycare. he came with us. i was watching him because his mom was away for the day. he was good. he kind of screamed at me when it was time to eat dinner, but eventually he calmed down.

but now he's asleep.

i wanted to take a bath tonight, but it turns out i'll be working all night. eh, that's okay.

i bought my first Crash Kings ticket online today! I'll buy the rest when I get paid next week. SO EXCITED. This time we're doing:

- Philadelphia on 10/29
- NYC on 10/30
- Washington, DC on 10/31

SO EXCITED. a lot of my Crash Queen friends have been going to see them recently, since they're doing their big tour and it's getting me REALLY PSYCHED.

love.that.band.so.freaking.much.

OH OH OH OH OH!!!!!!! I KNOW WHAT I'VE BEEN MEANING TO TELL YOU FOR LIKE, TWO WEEKS!!!!!

You know my friend David? I went to Hampshire with him. Currently he lives in Cambridge, MA with Emily. WELL, he's like, a totally famous font designer! And he just released this awesome font called, 'Trilby' and it got a SUPER GOOD review!!!!

YOU SHOULD READ IT!!!!

I've had that tab opened in my browser for seriously like, 2 weeks. And I kept forgetting to share it with you!!! GREAT!

'Hot Rod' is playing in the living room right now. SOOOOOO good. Like, seriously, hilarious movie. See it.

Hmmm what else?

Wow, I seriously can't wait to go to sleep tonight. I also can't wait to see Ruby Tuesday.

This morning I was eating cereal and she was trying to get it, as usual, and then she just stuck her paw right in the milk and pulled out a piece of oat. She liked it. She likes all food.

Anyways. I have to go do some work so I can go home at 9. CAN'T WAIT.

Ok, hope you're having a good night! Sorry this was kind of lame - except for the David link. I'll talk to you later!!


love!

Happy Birthday, John Lennon! Love, Julie and Maria

I haven't spoken with my BFF Maria about including her in this entry, but I'm sure she won't mind :)


Today is John Lennon's birthday! Everyone is making a huge deal about it, and it got me pretty excited. So I thought, "Hm, how can I celebrate John Lennon's birthday?" And then I remembered the time that I went to NYC for the day to visit Maria. We went to Central Park to Strawberry Fields and the Imagine memorial. And I had the brillz idea of lying on the ground and trying to get our picture with the word 'Imagine' in the background.

I feel like I post these pictures all the time, and I apologize for that - but I love these pictures. This was a great day. Even if it was like, January and we were totally FREEZING on the cement.

(This was when I had blonde hair, btw.)










It took us awhile to get our faces with the whole word, but EVENTUALLY, we did it. Again, good thing it was January, and nobody else was around. Seriously guys - it was freezing.

ANYWAYS! Happy Birthday, John Lennon.

Now, for the musical portion of the entry, let's all watch the Chris Cornell performance on Conan O'Brien last year, when he sang 'Imagine' and Tony from Crash Kings accompanied him on the piano.

It's really a beautiful video.

Tony's mom told me that this day was very exciting for the entire family :)

YES.

So, yeah! This concludes the John Lennon portion of the entry.

But not the Tony portion.

So, last night I was getting into bed and I suddenly had this URGE to listen to 'It's Only Wednesday.' Why? I don't know. I mean, duh, it's a great song and I love it. But why, at 4 in the morning, would I suddenly want to listen to it? IDK!

Luckily, I didn't even have to get out of bed, because I have this song downloaded to my phone. So, I sat in bed and listened to it. Wow - great song, right?

Many people think this song is about childbirth. Or, someone being pregnant. And when we asked Tony what it was about, he conveniently didn't want to talk about it. Saying no more than it was "about a girl, and New Zealand." Does Tony have any gorgeous, half-Kiwi babies? We may never know.

BUT! I must have somehow channeled these thoughts into my subconscious, because I had an interesting dream. And now I will tell you about it.

DREAM:

My mom and I were wandering through Andover, MA trying to find a good place to go skiing. (Crash Kings influenced dream much?)

And instead of finding a place to ski, we ran into Tony and Mike's parents. And their mom started telling us about her grandchildren, so I inquired further. She then told me that Tony had two little boys, Brandon, who was 4, and Marshall, who was 8 months.

Brandon and Marshall.

My mom mentioned something about a girlfriend.... and then I woke up. RANDOM. I woke up and was like, "What? Marshall? Really, Tony?"

Weird and strange - I KNOW. But! I feel like you can't blame me for dreams, but I have not yet acquired the ability to control them, therefore, it's totally out of my hands.

And, I kind of love that the two boys were named Brandon and Marshall. Even though I'm maybe not crazy about either of those names individually, together, as brother names, they seem to go well together.

Alright! That's it. This concludes the dream portion of the entry.

I'm at work now. Hanging out. I think we're about to watch the movie, 'Knowing' starring Nicholas Cage. I thought it was a scary movie, but the girls assure me it isn't.

I went out this afternoon to the grocery store. Bought some lettuce. Some tomatoes. Some turkey. Some...pasta sauce. Yep. And I went to the band. I mean, the bank. The band would have been way cooler. But no, it was the bank.

OK! I'm about done. I think this was a pretty good entry. I enjoyed writing it. And, it made me realize that I'm in a good mood today. I'm wearing a dress. And I'm in a good mood. I hope you're in a good mood too!

Take care, friends! Be well! I'll talk to you later :)



You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

I started writing this on Saturday, and now it's Thursday.

hi friends!

at work now. still sick. actually, i'm sicker than the last time i talked to you. thursday night was totally miserable. i had the worrrrrst headache and was sneezing all over the place. i didn't get to sleep until after 3:30am because i couldn't lay down, due to the terrible headache. i made some chicken broth, drank it, and felt a little better after. enough better so i could sleep, at least.

friday was also misery. spent on the couch, watching Grey's Anatomy, snuggled on the couch with Ruby Tuesday.







Yep. that's what happened. i don't know if you can tell, but in that middle phone, she's licking her lips. OHHHHH WOW. yeah, she's just the sweetest thing ever.

OK. a few things:


1. Remember the clock story from a few weeks back? How I had two clocks in my room, and I set them at the same time, but then days would go by and the "red clock" would be like, two minutes faster than the "white clock?" Remember that story?

WELL. When I last updated, I think, the "red clock" was like, 35 seconds faster, or something. WELL NOW - the "red clock" is like 2.5 minutes faster than the other clock!!! Can you believe it?!?! I CAN'T. It's so crazy to me!!


2. I made corn bread last night and I swirled honey through the batter before I baked it. It's delicious.


3. Blog change!! You might have noticed, but I changed the font color on the blog!! Why??? BECAUSE!!!!! (get excited!) I received an email from a new friend in Sweden who reads the blog and is a Crash Kings fan! And he told me that the font was a little hard to read in the color it was in. So - I changed it!!!

HOW EXCITING IS THIS?!?!?! So excited. I hope he's reading right now, because I was SUPER EXCITED to get his email! And through the BLOG EMAIL ADDRESS located on the left of your screen!! You (yes, you!) can email me at any time using that address!!!

GREAT! So great.



SO! All the above was written last Saturday. Now it's Thursday. The 7th of October. And I'm continuing.

I started listening to this band, New Politics, as recommended by a Crash Kings junkie friend of mine. She saw them... last week? Two weeks ago? And can't stop listening. So, I figured I would check them out too! And YES! They're great. You should start listening too!


Something else that I can't stop listening to: Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream.' UGH - it's so addicting. But, in listening to it like, a thousand times a day, I realized it's actually a pretty romantic song. Sexy. I like it.

OH! And in a clock update, (I know, this is fascinating to you guys), the red clock is now FOUR MINUTES faster than the other clock. Wait, four minutes? Or three minutes. Hm, now I can't remember.

Wow, this is embarrassing since I was so excited. I'll give you an update when I'm near the clocks. I'm at work again now.

We got a new resident yesterday! Now there are 3 girls, 2 babies. And BOY - tonight was FREAKING LOUD. Just like, screaming all the time. But now the sweet sounds of Zac Efron's voice is on, as they're watching 17 Again. :) Zac...

The past two nights I have been awake until 6am. Last night was actually 6:30am. I don't know why.

Last night I had a dream that Crash Kings tweeted and it just said, 'Brothers' and then there was a link after it. And I remember being really excited that there would be a super adorable pic of Mike and Tony when they were babies or something. BUT THEN - I woke up. How HORRIBLE?!?!?!? That sort of thing should be ILLEGAL IN DREAMS. Where is Leonardo DiCaprio when you need him to get you back dreaming so you can click on the Twitter link!?!?!!?

Or actually, where is Leonardo DiCaprio when you need him at all? Why isn't he just around me all the time? I think I like that plan.

But, I found some new Crash Kings interviews on Youtube. One of them is like a super long phone interview with Tony. It's like, 4 parts. I'm going to post the interviews in case anyone is bored and wants to listen to sexy Tony for like, 40 minutes. :)

TONY INTERVIEW:
part one
part two
part three
part four

ANOTHER INTERVIEW WITH TONY:
Interviewer asks some different questions, which is cool.

MIKE AND TONY LOOKING GORGEOUS TALKING ABOUT JOHN LENNON:
brothers

MIKE AND JASON BEING KIND OF AWKWARD:
cuties

WHOLE BAND LOOKING SEXY ON A COUCH:
lots of gorgeous smiles


YES. My eyes have been busy feasting :)

I just learned something interesting at work:

THIS MONTH, October, has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays, and 5 Sundays and that only happens every 823 years! Cool, right? I wonder how long it took the person to figure that out. Or maybe it was a computer.

Anyways. I should get going. I am at work, after all.

NO PLANS for tomorrow! Friday! Work on Saturday and then maybe home for the day on Sunday.

My cold is FINALLY gone. Did I tell you I think it was more borderline flu? Or sinus infection. It was BAD. And almost unlike any other cold I have had. And trust me, I'm seasoned on my cold knowledge.

This past Tuesday night I became re-certified in my ability to hand out medication. Cool, right? I think so. I like med training, I think it's really interesting to learn about all the different types of meds and how they affect your body. How they enter your body, etc. Same with when I took that class on drug abuse, I really liked that.

In bad news: I'm behind on Jersey Shore.
In good news: I'm LOVING this season of Bored to Death.

So, there's a pretty good chance that I'll be in Washington, DC for Halloween!! What should I dress up as?!!? I'll consider ANY and ALL suggestions. And ideas? I haven't dressed up since my last year of college, when I was Che Guevara. And Kara was Fidel Castro. MAN, we rocked.




YEP. So great.

ALRIGHT! I actually have to do work now, so I'm gonna go. I PROMISE I'll be better about updating.

Have a great night! I'll talk to you later! Take care, be well!!


LOVE!

"it's like i'm pressed on the handle bars, of a blind man's bike."

It's been a long time since my last update. I know this. I feel bad about this. I've been meaning and wanting to write to you all, but I just haven't had any energy. I've been like, half sick. I thought it was because of allergies, because I ran out of allergy pills the same day I ran out of money. So, I was unable to get more. Then, I got a paycheck, but I kept having to work weird hours and not really sleeping, so I didn't get to the store.

But now, it seems like it's just a cold or something. Even though I've taken both allergy medicine and cold medicine and neither seem to be working. Hooray.

This week is better than last week in terms of sleeping, though. Last week I had the monitor on all night, and was waking up like, 10 times. This week, it's only sporadically, which means I can sleep for long periods of time without waking up!

Last night I slept from 2am to 8am!!!!!! I WAS IN SHOCK. No phone! No monitor! No Ruby Tuesday kisses!

Anyways! On to better stuff.

I had such a fun weekend! I went home early Saturday morning. Brunched with mom and Kara. Then, Kara went to work and my mom and I drove to Newton, MA FOR RYAN'S GIG!

Yes, my friend Ryan had a real live GIG. Jazz, klezmer and everything in between. It was so fun! All these great types of music being performed by wonderfully talented musicians. And Ryan was the featured vocalist! My favorite was the Ladino song in the second act. That was soooo fun!

UGH, but guess what?! I forgot my camera! I realized this while standing in the lobby waiting for the auditorium to open. UGH I was so disappointed. However, Ryan's friend Liz who came to us for the Crash Kings show in Portland, ME was also there, and she got VIDEO! So, hopefully, if it's okay to post the videos online, you will be able to see the show!

I'm excited for videos, because I really enjoyed it. YAY RYAN!!! And she was totally famous after! There was like, a line of people waiting to talk to her. It was awesome.

It seemed like a long drive home after. We stopped at McDonald's for a pick-me-up. It was fun. No only because it was a fun event, but because it was fun to be out doing something with my mom.

On Sunday, we basically just relaxed around the house. Always fun. Family time, watching the Patriots game.

Can I just say something? I hate sports. Yep, hate 'em. Don't understand them, don't care to understand them, don't care about the players, the teams, whatever. I know a lot of people like sports and like rooting for their teams. That's fine. Do that. Just don't involve me in it. K, thx.

Kara came home with me Sunday night! I was happy about that. I was even more happy that she finally agreed to watch The O.C. with me. I had been trying to force her, but she kept resisting. Then! She finally gave in. It was a good day. And - she loves it!

So, I'm excited about rewatching the entire season. NICE.

And total last-minute - I ended up having Monday night off. So, that was nice because it broke up the driving. Monday night we got chinese food and went to the gym. And watched The O.C. Nice night.

Tuesday morning I woke up early to be back at work in time for staff meeting. Kara brought home iced coffee for me, so that was nice.

Tuesday was a long day. Work from 12:30 to 10pm. I went to bed early. Wednesday was spent lounging around with Miss Tuesday. She's very cuddly all the time. Wednesday morning she curled up in bed right next to me and stretched out on Buck. SO CUTE!!!

I feel like there was something important I had to tell you. Or, that I was meaning to tell you.

The other night, I had a dream that Kara, my dad and me, went to Los Angeles to see 3 Crash Kings shows! But, one of the shows was going to be Crash Kings performing 'Seasons of Love' from Rent. Yep! Crazy, right? I think that's all they were going to be doing, was just performing that one song. I was excited about.

Last night I watched this movie called Ondine. Starring Colin Farrell. Set in Ireland, about a fisherman who pulls his net up one day and there is a woman in it! She's alive, though. And then Colin Farrell's little daughter starts believing that this woman is a Selkie, a seal that can turn into a person. And then there's all this folklore that makes you believe that maybe she really is. And then the Selkie and Colin Farrell fall in love.

It was okay. Kind of slow, but interesting. Really pretty music. And also, Ireland.

Tonight! I'm either going to watch Killers, starring Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher, OR continue to get caught up on Grey's Anatomy, which I'm very behind on. Exciting, eh?! I might go with Grey's. I watched an episode before work, so I'm kind of in the mood. Plus, they're shorter than a movie.

Man, I'm just feeling worse and worse. It feels like the cold medicine did nothing. Bummer. Also, I had a baby spit up on me and sneeze on me and cough on me. And drooling everywhere. And I wonder why I'm sick...

I bought a bottle of that O Water. Lime Lemon flavor. Remember the O Water? Kid was giving away free samples in Harvard Square when I was there beginning of August? (for the Crash Kings show at the Middle East.) And I tried coconut and it was delish. Well, they were on sale in the grocery store the other day so I thought, "hey! it's the O water! I'll buy one!" And I did. It's supposed to be like, a healthy sports drink. It's pretty good. I like it because it's not crazy colors or anything, it just looks like water. Also it tastes good.

So, last night on Facebook, I was looking at the tour schedule of Crash Kings, just to REALLY REALLY make sure there were no dates before the two ONE MONTH FROM NOW for me to go see. (there really aren't.) But, an ad on the side caught my eye. It was like, 'Enroll in jewelry making school!' And I was like, "what? People can go to jewelry making school?"

And, yes! People do. It's this school called the North Bennet Street School in Boston and it's like, a serious jewelry program. Not just like, 'put the beads on here...' type of thing but like, 'lets melt down this gold and turn it into a ring' type thing. Cool, right?

It's also a school that you go to if you want to learn how to build a piano! I looked at all the pictures because I was totally fascinated. KIDS BUILDING PIANOS. There was one photo of a guy INSIDE a piano. Like, with the cover off. And kids tuning pianos. Oh, it was unreal. I think pianos are one of those things that you just don't imagine being apart. Like, a person. Not like a bookshelf, where lots of those are put together and taken apart. But a piano! So beautiful.

I read up about the program and the school for a long time last night. And then, I woke up in the middle of the night randomly thinking about it. It'd be like, a 2 year program. Like, back to school. Which, I would be super excited about.

The problem is, I don't know if I want to do it because I think it sounds interesting and I'd like to learn more, plus I want to go back to school, OR, if I want to do it because I actually want to become a jewelry maker/repairer. Ya know?

It says that it involves very tedious work, which I like.

I don't know. I guess because still after going to a four year school I have no idea what I want to do at all, it's like, why not? And then I'm like, "well, it's expensive and you have no money. And you already have $40,000 in loans to pay back. And you're not sure if you want to do it because you think it'd be fun, or if it's something you actually want to do." That's why not.

I mean, I kind of like the idea of being a person who makes jewelry. Like, with a workbench and important tools. But then I'm like, 'is that reality?' and then I'm like, "what is reality? why can't you become a jewelry maker if you want?!'

And then I just get mad at myself and everyone else. It's been happening a lot lately. I just feel frustrated all the time. EXCEPT, when I'm with Kara. Why? Because she's my sister and she's the best.

Anyways. I guess that's it. I still feel like I have other things to talk about, but I can't think of them now. Bummer, because I feel like I was in a bad mood this whole entry. Sorry.

Alright, I'm going to go do something else now. I'm at work, so options are limited.

Hope everyone has a great night. It's been raining here all day, which I'm very happy about because all that nice weather was starting to make me mad. I love the sound of rain. It sounds like when someone drops a string of beads and they fall all over a floor.

No plans for tomorrow except going to the grocery store and maybe the post office.

OHOHOH!! Did everyone watch the season premiere of Bored to Death??! Season 2!!! It was totes hilars. I laughed so hard when they were talking about how nobody reads anymore and then George was like,

GEORGE: I bought a Kindle, but then I dropped it in the tub.

Ohhh yeah, I laughed a lot. So funny. #schwartzmanlove

Alright! Talk to you soon! Have a good night!



love,
Julie

SLAP THAT BASS!

I was having a Crash Kings video watching party last night in honor (actually in my state of withdrawl/depression) of having it be the longest I have gone without a live show, and so I was watching the playlist of Crash Kings videos from when we saw them in Portland, ME.

IN MY OPINION: Best concert ever. Or, that we've seen from them. I thought everything came together to be quite perfect. Energy wise? It would probably be the Middle East show from August. With the Mercury Lounge show from May coming in second.

YOU GUYS - this will be the FIRST month I HAVEN'T seen Crash Kings. Since December! I've seen them at least once a month. AAGGGOONNNYYYYY!!!!!! MISSERRRYY!!!! HORRORRR!!!!

Anyways. What was I saying?? Oh yeah! I was going to relate this back to the subject of this entry.

SO, while I was rewatching the videos, I can't remember what song it was in... but someone yells to Mike, "SLAP THAT BASS!!" I laughed to myself.

I'm sure they were referring to the lines from the movie, 'I Love You, Man,' and not the classic Gerswin song sung by Fred Astaire in Shall We Dance. Either way - I laughed.

SO! I've forgotten to mention some things that I wanted to mention. Let's begin:


1. I've had this article opened in my tabs ALLLL FREAKING WEEK. And I keep meaning to post it, and then I forget. NO, it's not the Hanson article from last week. (this kind of situation happens a lot. Hence why I always have like, a billion tabs open.)

REMEMBER MY FRIEND HOLDEN?!? In the band Breakthrough Frequencies?! I see him when I go to The Space. Well, he posted this article to Facebook the other day and I was so impressed by it, that I saved it and said, "I have to post this for MY friends!!"

So, you know how sometimes people will interview big shot music people and be like, "what is on your iPod right now? What songs inspire you?" WELL - this newspaper from New Haven, CT asked Holden those very questions!! And he answered them! Like a big shot music person!! I couldn't believe it! I was like, "wow! I know that guy!!" Super cool.

So, please check out the article here! Holden talks about his fave songs and songs that inspire the sound of Breakthrough Frequencies. NICE. That's a win.


AND IN OTHER EXCITING FRIEND NEWS....


2. RYAN! Yes, my friend Ryan, has a GIG tomorrow night!!! Saturday night!! And I'm going!! Super excited about this. One of her music teachers has an awesome band and they asked Ryan to sing with them! YES. Here's the link - it's the first concert listed. Jazz, Yiddish and Beyond!! I can't wait. I really enjoy some good klezmer. I'm gonna try and get my mom to come with me, but she doesn't know that yet. Not sure if they'll allow cameras or what, but if they do - get ready for some great pictures! I'm totally going to be like an excited mom. I'm just so excited for Ryan! A gig! With a real band!

Also looking forward to some sweet jassss music. Also looking forward to the clarinetist. I think there'll be one. And as a former clarinetist myself, I enjoy watching it in action.

Ha, actually, I hated playing the clarinet. Why did I do it for so long? I remember in 6th grade I used to talk about randomly leaving my clarinet places. Throwing it off of a bridge, I think, also.

Yep. Dedicated music student, right here. I was a dedicated choral student. I remember when I was a junior in high school, I had a day where I had dance class in the morning, then treble choir, then chamber singers. What a great day, right?! The best. Ohhhh I loved chamber singers. And treble choir.

And the jellyfish. (anyone get that?! the jellyfish!!?? REMEMBER!?! any former chamber singers reading?!?! anyone!??)


WELL. That might be all I have to talk about. Two excited friend things!! Pretty awesome. I know I spend a lot of my time talking about gorgeous rock stars, but now it's MY FRIENDS who are the gorgeous rock stars!! Nice!

Did I mention my sleep schedule last night? I'll take some time to do that now:

- finally fell asleep around 4am
- woke up at 5:32am
- woke up at 6:15am

that's it! And I'm still awake! And it's currently 9:18am. Friday. 24th September. I'm working right now. From 8 to 11ish.

I'm sleeping with the baby monitor on, so it's always an extra struggle to sleep. Most of it usually happens during the daylight hours. Except on days when I'm working. Like right now. I'll probably take a nap when I get done with work. Assuming I'm tired.

If I fall asleep when I'm not tired and I wake up for some reason during the night, I will still not be tired. And it will take me a while to fall asleep. And then most likely, I'll wake up again, and STILL not be tired. This will continue until I am pretty exhausted. And then I'll sleep all day.

Anyways. Enough about my messed up night schedule. I have no idea how I could work a real job. Or, a job with "traditional" hours. I guess mostly likely I won't be sleeping with baby monitors in my bed.

ANYWAYS. I have to go pick up a resident at work and bring her to an appointment. So, I'll talk to everyone later! What a great entry, right?! Yes! I have great friends. And these are new friends. What great new friends! Talented friends. I think I hang out with the right crowd.

Ok! Have great Fridays! I'll talk to everyone later! End of the week hooray!

Enjoy the day!!


LOVE!

I started writing this on Tuesday... but then didn't finish until Wednesday...

It's Tuesday!! My favorite day of the week because:

1. It's the second part of the first name of my cat that I love so much. Seriously guys, she's the best.

My least favorite day of the week because:

1. I usually end up working from 12:30pm until 10pm. Which makes for a long day.

But! I had last night off. I knew I was going home for the day on Monday, and I also knew that my boss usually stays overnight on Mondays. This is handy in situations where:

1. River City Extension is playing a show on Monday night and you need the night off (which happened back in August)
2. You know you won't feel like driving home

I went with option number 2. So, I emailed her quite early in the day and asked if she'd be interested in working the overnight. And she emailed me back and said, "I would love to!" YAY FOR ME. Because, I got the night off. And Kara was so happy she almost started crying. :)

So! We had a fun sister day. It's fun having a sister who likes to bake and cook. For example: I got home and (semi-jokingly) said to Kara: You should make us breakfast sandwiches and homefries.

AND THEN SHE DID! Like, she just made them. Started chopping potatoes and onions, boiling the potatoes on the stove. It was unreal. And did she ask for any help from me? No. Bonus!

And then I came up with the brillz idea that we should cook a nice dinner for when my mom got home from her day of work, which was going to be presumably horrible, as it always is. So, then we start thinking up recipes and Kara decides she wants to make lobster bisque and shrimp scampi. Shrimp scampi is one of my mom's faves. I had never had it before.

So, we went out to buy ingredients! Stopping first at Dunkin Donuts for a quick coffee break, which was cut short when a bee landed on my sweater. Then we decided we needed to leave.

Don't blame me! I'm a wimp because I've never been stung by ANYTHING. EVER.

Then we headed to the grocery store and stocked up on necessary ingredients and unnecessary ingredients. It was fun. I like running errands with Kara. Whatever we do, we have fun together.

Then we went back to the house and Kara immediately started cooking. I made a deal with her that if I downloaded every Ke$ha and Taylor Swift song that she wanted, we could put it in a playlist with music that I also like. (Mainly, Crash Kings.)

My big job was to open the bag of salad and put it in a bowl. Not only do I hate cooking, but I don't think Kara would have trusted me with any of the fancy things.

And - everything turned out DELICIOUS. Like, so delicious, you wouldn't even believe it. Like, NO, you won't even believe how delicious this food was. Restaurant-worthy.

We had a nice mother, daughter, daughter night. It was super fun, actually. Then! We all watched the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars! THE SITUATION! Audrina! Bristol! So good!!

Afterwards, me and Kara watched music videos on Demand. Which, is more fun than it sounds, maybe.

Something I can't believe is how popular music videos still are. Like, there's really no place to watch them on actual TV, but people still get super excited! And they're still super elaborate and fancy. I would have thought music videos would have dyed out when reality television overtook MTV and Vh1. But, no! People still love them.

So, we started out with Crash Kings, 'You Got Me,' which is a nice family, friendly video. Kara wasn't happy we had to watch it, but I really insisted. Then we moved onto Ke$ha and Katy Perry. And Lady Gaga. And Taylor Swift. And more Taylor Swift. And then some more Taylor Swift.

I tested Kara by asking her if she could choose one to be her girlfriend, who would she choose, Ke$ha or Taylor Swift. She chose:

GIRLFRIEND = Ke$ha
BEST FRIEND = Taylor Swift

We lead an exciting life.

So then, after all the Taylor, I insisted that Kara need to watch the 'Hey Bulldog' video that Crash Kings made, because she's never seen it. So, we got on my laptop and watched it. And she loved it! She said,

KARA: That was really good! Why can't all their videos be that fun?!?!

I KNOW, RIGHT?!! So fun!!! She looveed the air piano part with Tony at the end because she recently confessed to me that she plays air piano at work every time 'Waiting for This' (that song by Hanson mentioned a few entries back) comes on. NICE, right?!

So. Moving on.

Last night I made a great dinner. I really have no food in my house, so the next few days are going to be kind of scrounging ingredients together to make something good. But last night, I took out the rice and decided I wanted to make it coconut lime rice.

So, instead of boiling the rice with water, I boiled it with coconut milk and lime juice. Then I threw in a couple splashes of that Dole Pina Colada juice I had. DELISH. But, be careful because the rice seems to burn more quickly when it's cooked with coconut milk.

Then, I heated up some black beans. Mixed them with some lime juice as well.

Then, I warmed up some little tortillas in the microwave. I really wanted a sauce to go with this meal, because I love sauces. So, I took out:

- soy sauce
- pina colada juice
- sweet and sour sauce
- hawaiian marinade

and mixed small portions of each together. Voila! Sauce!! It was pretty good! I put the rice and beans in the tortilla and topped it with the sauce! Quite delish. I put a little too much sauce on, so it was kind of gooey, but still good.

And then this afternoon for lunch, I mixed the rice and beans together, heated it, and threw in some golden raisins and mandarin oranges. Great! I really liked that. Tonight I'll probably make the same, only add in chopped mango.

I love putting fruit in rice. It's very enjoyable to me.

Anyways.

I also started re-watching The O.C. I know what you're thinking, "didn't you just finish watching it?" Ummm.....kind of. Yes. It hasn't been very long, you're right.

But now! The Fall shows are starting. GLEE!! That was Tuesday night. I'm going to watch it tonight and I'm VERY excited.

I'm kind of tired today. I slept a long time last night, but it was very interrupted.

- went to sleep around 1:45am
- woke up at 4am
- woke up at 5:32am
- woke up at 6:15am
- woke up at 7:05am
- woke up at 7:55am
- woke up at 10:32am
- woke up at noon
- woke up at 1:20pm

and THAT'S when I finally got up. I'm sleeping with the baby monitor on again, so sleep is always pretty rough. And also, there were a lot of phone calls this morning. Which always confuses me. Why does anyone need to get in touch with anyone before like, 9am?

So, I was sleepy today, so I took it easy. I was also feeling bad because I was gone all day Monday and worked all day Tuesday, so I hadn't spent much time with Ruby Tuesday. She gets upset if I'm gone for too long, so I wanted to just spend the day with her.

It might sound crazy, but it's not! I swear it's like she's a baby. But better!

Anyways, tomorrow is the big Crash Kings day. Day 49. Since December 13th, 2009, Thursday, 23 September 2010, is the LONGEST I have gone without seeing them live. It's NO WONDER I've been itching to see them so badly. And I STILL have to wait another MONTH. Ohhh it will be so horrible.

But! Some great shows in between including:

- Blood Feathers on 7 October in Boston
- ZOX on 9 October (or maybe it's the 10th...) in Providence

Both of those shows are possibilities. Wow, those dates are coming up pretty quickly, aren't they? Yikes. I should get my plans together.

Time is SO WEIRD when you're not in school.

So, I'm listening to The Shins right now, and quickly realized that I have doubles of almost every one of their songs. How did that happen? Weird. What is the band that reminds me of The Shins? Black Bells? No. That's the band with Ben and Austin. BROKEN BELLS! Yes. I think that's them.

WAIT A SEC.

I just learned some interesting, guys. The lead singer of Broken Bells IS THE SAME GUY as the lead singer for The Shins!!! THAT'S WHY they sound so much alike!!!

Man, I have a lot of these moments. Like a few months ago when I was like, "wow, that singer Morrissey sounds a lot like the lead singer of The Smiths." Lo and behold - SAME GUY.

Am I the only person who doesn't know these things?! Man. And when I find out, I'm just so amazed!

It's like, amazing to me when people from other bands are in other bands. Kind of like the guys in Black Bells. Haha. Wow, that was a confusing and funny night. Also, an awesome night.

ANYWAYS.

So, tomorrow I'm wearing my pink Crash Kings shirt. It's been decided for a while now.

Also, we're having a fire safety group tomorrow night! I'm excited about that.

Alright. I'm going to go heat up my delish supper and watch GLEEEE!!!!!! I'm so excited I can't even stand it!!!!!

Ok! Have a great night! And a great Thursday!!! I'll talk to everyone later! Be well!


<3,
J.

a couple spooky things

1. HOROSCOPE for today, Sunday, 19 September, 2010.

In the shower, during breakfast, on your commute, while you work, this question keeps nagging you: what if I were doing something else with my life? Longing for change is perfectly normal, but while sometimes you can shrug it off, perhaps these days call for taking that desire a little more seriously.


2. Remember Darren? The guitarist for Phantom Planet who I have a crush on? Yeah. I remember Darren. Well, him and his girlfriend did a cover of 'Killing Me Softly,' and I think you all should listen to it because it's quite good. It's very sexy and spooky. Plus, what a great song, right?! Who doesn't love that song? Great! So it's decided - you'll have a listen!




(You may now continue having a great day.)

'don't forget about the things that make you feel free'

Hello!

So, today is one of those days where I do nothing. I watched the movie, 'The Bounty Hunter.' Yesss the one with Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston. Whenever I watch a Jennifer Aniston movie, I always watch it during the day, so that if it's totally horrible, there is still a chance for the day to be redeemed after the movie is over.

I didn't hate 'The Bounty Hunter.' I guess that's all I really have to say about it. I didn't hate it.

The movie also included two songs by Ke$ha. So, you really can't go wrong.

Um,

AW. Ruby Tuesday just threw up all over her favorite toy. Son of a gun. She's been eating cardboard like it's nobody's business lately. I don't understand it.

Hold on.



This was basically how the day was spent. Snuggling on the couch. Doesn't she look like a baby there?? Her face looks so young!

Ok. Throw up is cleaned up. Toy is washed and in the drying rack in the sink. Eventful!


ANYWAYS. Onto much less-gross things! Actually, sexy things!

I feel like I really haven't talked about Crash Kings in a while. With the exception of the Crash Kings/Jersey Shore crossover episode. Which was AMAZING. I guess because I haven't seen them in 43 days, I haven't talked about them. Have I? Am I just being totally lame and don't even realize that I'm talking about Crash Kings when I'm talking about them?

Whatever.

I don't know if you remember when we saw them at The Middle East downstairs back on August 4th. I remember. Because it was awesome and amazing. Well, I'm not sure if I talked about this, but there was this woman photographer that came right up to the front of the crowd just before they started playing and said she'd only be there for the first two songs, but then ended up staying there the whole show. And she was pretty annoying. Pushing her way around. Standing in front of us with her camera. It was uncool.

BUT, then she released the pictures she had taken that night and I RESCIND ANY HOSTILE FEELINGS I EVER HAD TOWARDS HER. Why??


BECAUSE OF THIS:::



AND BECAUSE OF THIS:::




yes. YES. That happened at a show I WAS AT. Do we need a moment? Let's take a moment and enjoy that last photo.

*
*
*
*
*

YEP. MIKE. Also, look at that great smile!! Ohh, it makes me very happy. You should totally check out the rest of the photos, including a great blog entry. AND YOU CAN DO THAT HERE.


Last night after writing my RCE show review, I went back and reread the blog entry from The Mercury Lounge, the FIRST time I saw them. Ha, it was exciting. It's just funny because I had no idea who they were. I make reference to Joe and call him, "the guy in the red sweater."

Anyways, that entry also includes the Crash Kings show from Portland, Maine, where we had the great hangout sesh with Tony on the couches. And then that super drunk girl came up and was groping him. And he broke the piano string and gave an extra string to Ryan. That was a great Tony night.

I think because I want to go to a Crash Kings show so badly, I am reliving past shows through my blog. This is why it's good to have a blog. So you can live in the past!!

Buuttt, Crash Kings just did a two-song session at EastWest Studios for Cambio Connect. And... umm... it's pretty great. Like, really great, actually.

They performed 'You Got Me' and 'Mountain Man.' I would encourage you to watch 'You Got Me.' OK, WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET YOU TO WATCH THAT VIDEO?!?!

Think of whatever it may be. Then imagine me doing it. And then watch the video. GREAT!

There are some really beautiful shots of the guys. And of the tattoo:




Love that. Guy wears his heart on his hand.





Also, that. Screenshot from the video. It's like, them playing interspersed with them being interviewed. There's also reallllyyy cool footage of Tony whammying. Or, Tony playing the clavinet. But, it's just a really great angle.

ANYWAYS.

AH. I can't believe I still have to wait over a month to see them again. And it's not even close! It's Philadelphia and then it's NYC.

I just remembered the time Ryan and I drove down to West Chester and Jason recognized us on the street and said, "You made it!" Because I had tweeted to them telling them that we were driving down from Boston and to not start without us!

I've told you all this already. I'm just having a night where I want to talk about it all. And since Ruby Tuesday is asleep, you guys are all I have.

But, speaking of Crash Kings playing in West Chester.... RIVER CITY EXTENSION IS PLAYING THERE TONIGHT!!! Probably RIGHT NOW. RIGHT as I WRITE this. Same club.


Alright. I guess that's all. I'm going to go watch Jersey Shore now. Last week's episode was so good. The big throwdown in the kitchen between Sammi and JWOWW.

OKAY! Hope you had a great week! Let's hope for a great weekend! I'm working tomorrow. No plans for Sunday.

I might make tomato soup now. So, that's good. I was going to make pizza, but then remembered I don't have any sauce.

OH OH OH OH WAIT!!!!! Don't go just yet.

I have had this article opened in a tab ALL FREAKING WEEK, and I keep forgetting to share it with you. TONIGHT! I'll post it, and then I can finally close the tab.

It's an article my dad sent to me. It's from NPR!

Hanson: Timeless Pop.

WORD, NPR. True that. TIMELESS!!! If you read the comments on the article, someone even talks about still listening to their Christmas album every year!! BEST CHRISTMAS RECORD EVER.

Hanson, man. They're so good, and so under appreciated. Maybe under appreciated is the wrong term. Misunderstood, maybe. People have this idea they're this total boy-band. That statement is only true because they are all boys and they are in a band. FACT. But they're a great rock band! Talented guys who happen to be totally gorgeous.

And, you should watch their unplugged performance of 'Waiting For This,' which they did for Billboard.com. Even KARA (yes, my Hanson-hating sister) LOVES that song. She was kind of miserable through the whole Hanson concert I dragged her to, but she still talks about how awesome it was when they performed that song.

Ok.

1. Crash Kings
2. River City Extension
3. Hanson

Great blog post, eh?!? I'd say I've successfully fan-girl'd out. ♥

So, have a great rest of the night. I will. Have a great tomorrow. I will. And I'll talk to you later!!!


LOVE!

'I have been shaken by your sensitivity.'

Guess what?!!? I SAW RIVER CITY EXTENSION AGAIN LAST NIGHT!!!!

SHOW #5!!!!! I realized that when I was watching them and became very proud of myself. I believe they have become the band I have seen the second most! SO COOL!!!

#1: Crash Kings (15 times)
#2: River City Extension (5 times)

AWESOME! I don't know if everybody realizes this: but I love River City Extension. They are great as a band, and great as individual people, which makes the whole experience so amazing.

They were playing at The Space, in Hamden, CT, which was where we saw them back in August! Super cool place filled with super cool people that just hang around. We met up with Ben again! And Gonz and Holden! Did I tell you about these people we met last time?

Jo was friends with this awesome kid Ben for a while and then they both realized they were RCE fans! He's been a fan for a long time. And, he's overall an amazing human being. I met him last time at The Space, and he was there again last night.

Holden and Gonz are these two guys we met because they were handing out CD's from their band, Breakthrough Frequencies, which you all should check out!! We met up with both of them again last night! Cool kids.

Great seeing everybody again!!! For real.

Also met new people including, Cold Guy, Guy Who Bought a Basketball T-Shirt in Portsmouth, Record Pressing Guy, and Flaming Tsunamis Guy Who Took an Hour to Leave. Great people! Cold Guy was the best. And, at the end of the night we caught him playing a melodica on the stairs. He says he carries it around, "just in case." Nice.

So, it was a super cool show, because hardly anyone was there! But not in a bad way. In a 'let's all just relax and listen to great music' way. People seemed to love RCE. (Duh.)

We started out sitting on the floor in front of the stage while they opened with, 'Today, I Feel Like I'm Evolving.' I was super excited to hear that one, because it's one of my faves and I'd never heard them play it live before. But then, Joe said something like, "let's all get ready to dance and party," so we had to get up and dance.




Joe, Mike, James and Nick!!



Sam, Patrick (not Kevin but we called him that the whole night anyways...), Jenn, Joe and Mike!




Joe and Mike!! How awesome is it that I actually got some great shots of Mike?!!? SO AWESOME!! He was telling us after how excited he is to turn 21 in a few months. Yay!! I like Mike. He's super nice and I'm glad we've gotten to talk to him the last two times. Last night he was super tired, but still fun!! And - what a great drummer!!!!!




Mike, James and Nick!!!!! Bunch of great guys, right there. I'm glad I caught Nick rocking on his djembe.




Whoa! What a hottie! Such a great picture, right!? Except for that creepy mask staring at Sam.




Pat and Jenn!! Pat is so much fun to watch because he's always smiling.




Even MORE MIKE!!! It's hard to get pictures of him because Joe is usually right in front of him, so I really embraced the opportunity :)




Joe and Mike!



Before Joe started 'Friends and Family' he told the story about how he wrote this song for his future wife, to give to her on their wedding day. Sweet story, always. But, last night he said,

JOE: I wrote this next song to give to my unborn wife as a gift on our wedding day.

and there was this pause and then the whole rest of the band said,

BAND: UNBORN?!?!
JOE: ... I couldn't think of the right word! It's not that one, though...

It was funny.




Love it! Mike, James and Nick!



Now, for these next two photos, I don't want to alarm you. You'll have to prepare yourself. Prepared? Good. Because....



James is on banjo!!




And Jenn is on bass!!! Switch!!!! This was for 'Letter to Lainie,' which I hadn't heard them play since the FIRST time I saw them at The Mercury Lounge. So great. Jenn also plays trumpet! Yeah, she's kind of awesome.

Also, has that creepy cat object always been above that speaker? Hmm...





Sam, James and Kevin! I mean, Patrick! Haha.




YEP. That was the awesome show. I realized I pretty much named everyone in every single photo for you. Sorry. That's just so you get to know them by name! That way the next time YOU'RE at a River City Extension concert you can say, "Oh hey, Nick! I recognize you from Julie's blog!!" I'm sure he'd be happy to hear that. Just don't say it in a creepy way.

BUT - we missed Dan again. No awesome trumpet :( No awesome Dan :( Hopefully next time, he'll be there. But, while onstage, Joe said,

JOE: We're missing one of our members tonight. Dan. He usually plays trumpet. But, you wouldn't have known that unless I told you... which I just did...
SAM: Julie would've known!

:) Yep.

Oh, what a great show. I really like the way 'South for the Winter' is live. I really love that song in general.

Got to hang out a lot with the band after. Ya know, cause they're awesome like that. Jenn showed us her tattoos and a super cute video of Joe's cousin's dog, Boss, on her iPhone. Patrick played songs and videos for us on his laptop. James told me he'd get the band to play in my bedroom, since I had driven 4 hours to see them.

The night ended with me, Jo (who I picked up along the way! Yes, she was here the whole time!!!) and Patrick sitting on the steps of The Space, which had long been closed, listening to Suburban Legends on his laptop. Then, very slowly, the large RCE van pulls up in front of the gate. Patrick says,

PAT: Oh, I guess everyone's leaving!

He gave me and Jo a group hug. Double hug? Triple hug?? IT'S STARTING TO LOOK LIKE A TRIPLE HUG!!

Then, EVERY SINGLE BAND MEMBER jumped out of the van and we all hugged goodbye. Not collectively, though. But that would have been awesome. And I got kisses from James and Joe.

WHAT A NIGHT. Awesome band!!! AWESOME. BAND.


And then, Jo and I were off! We left right around 12:30am. I dropped her off at her house in Manchester around 3:30am. Then I got gas and a coffee and continued driving North!!! Arrived home to a very excited Ruby Tuesday at 4:38am. Nice!

Then! I couldn't sleep. I was still so excited about all the awesomeness that had occurred. Didn't get to sleep until around 6am.

And I'm still tired! Hopefully I'll get to sleep early tonight. SO - I'm gonna go. I'll update you more later!

Take care! Have a great Friday!! Talk to you soon!!!


LOVE,
Julie

CRASH KINGS/JERSEY SHORE CROSSOVER

I promise I'm not creepy. I don't know how I come across these things, but I feel like it happens a lot.

Remember back a few months ago when I was watching Jonas L.A. and saw that Nick was wearing a shirt that Tony from Crash Kings also has? If you don't remember, you can read about it here.

I kind of freaked out because it was so exciting.

WELL. IT HAS HAPPENED AGAIN. With Nick and Tony?? No. EVEN BETTER.

Dear Tony,
Why do you have such awesome clothes?
Love, Julie.

(ps: come back to boston soon! i'm starting to go crazy.)


OK. LET'S GET RIGHT TO IT.


Please take a look at these screencaps from last week's episode of JERSEY SHORE:





Here we have The Situation,




And here we have Vinny. It's very easy because they're names are right on the screen. Easy to tell them apart, because, WEIRDLY, they're wearing the same shirt.

So, I guess that in itself is the first super weird thing. Do they share clothes? Did someone mix up the laundry on GTL day??

Anyways, they are wearing a red shirt with the periodic table on it. Kind of a memorable shirt, because it has the periodic table on it.

NOW, please take a look at this picture I TOOK from the Crash Kings show in Providence, RI on 4 February 2010:





No freaking way? YES FREAKING WAY.

That's Tony, wearing the same shirt.

I couldn't believe it. Can you believe it?? What are the odds?? And also what are the odds that Tony has the same shirts as people on embarrassing TV shows that I watch. Of course it couldn't be like, "Oh, Tony has the same shirt as these fancy people on this important news story..." No. Of course not.

It's Jonas L.A. and it's Jersey Shore. And of course it's ME who is obsessed with both of these shows.

LOVE IT! Yeah, I love it.

Also, these past two days I've been kind of itching for a Crash Kings show. And I figured out that since December, the most I've ever gone without a CK show is 48 days.*

* It was 48 days between the December and January shows, and also 48 days between the June and July shows. WEIRD, right?!

Anyways, TODAY, it's been 39 days since my last Crash Kings show. And there are no shows in the next 9 days. SO - it's pretty epic. At least I think it is. On day 49 I'll have to wear my Crash Kings shirt. It will be a hard day.

ANYWAYS - Tony, you need to become a fashion icon ASAP. Oh wait, clearly you already are. He's got the goods, and he knows it. :) As do the rest of us...

OK! That's the big news. You may now continue having a great day. Talk to you all later!


♥,
Julie

girl, he geeked up

Has everyone heard this song, 'Pillz?' (that's "pills".) I can't even describe this song. It's by Gucci Mane. It might be the worst song ever. Here are some of the incredible lyrics:

"Iz you rollin'? Iz you rollin'? Iz you rollin'?"
"Bitch I might be. Bitch I might be. Bitch I might be."

That goes on for about 10 minutes.

I can't even... I just don't know what to say about this song.

Yesterday Courtney and I took the two residents to Six Flags. The part I was dreading the most was the car ride, because I knew all we'd be listening to was hardcore hip hop/rap. Lil' Wayne is a GOD in this house. Like, seriously. They might actually pray to him.

I can't tell you how much I now know about Lil' Wayne. So much. So much Lil' Wayne information is taking up my brain. It should be illegal.

So, this song 'Pillz' by Gucci Mane came on the mix about... Oh, I don't know. Maybe three times. Maybe only twice. I have no idea. All I know - is that I don't like it. It's like, WHAT? Does this man, Gucci Mane actually listen to his music? Does he know what it sounds like?

If I ever saw a Gucci Mane concert, I might have to go up to him and steal a line from Mercedes on Glee. The scene when Puck is talking to her at her locker and she says,

MERCEDES: I'm gonna have to stop you right there because I'm starting to get embarrassed for you.

Like, SERIOUSLY, Gucci Mane. Please stop. That's all I have to say.

ANYWAYS.

The Six Flags trip was success. I was SO HAPPY that Courtney ended up coming or else I probably would have been miserable.

First of all: How badly did I want to get off exit 20 and stop in at Hampshire College? VERY BADLY. I probably could have convinced them that hanging out in the Airport Lounge all day would be just as fun as Six Flags.

(OHHHH I MISS HAMPSHIRE.)

So, we arrived at Six Flags around 11ish. The girls immediately split from us. They wanted to ride on all the rollercoasters. Courtney and I? Not so much. Our first stop?

AIRBRUSH TATTOOS.

Yep! They had an abundance to choose from. Lots of dolphins. But we decided we needed super hardcore ones.

I decided on this little beaut:




On my left forearm, which is where I want to get my real one. Though not of a skull... But, doesn't it ROCK?!?!! Ohhhh yeah, I really love it. I showed it to the residents and said, "NOW you guys will listen to me!" I'm totally hardcore now. Yep. Awesome.

Courtney got an awesome skull with like, a red devil horn. She got it on her upper arm, because she's starting a totally great new job this week and didn't think it would be the best first impression. Haha.

We were totally owning that amusement park yesterday.

We went on the:

- teacups (twice. once with the residents - which was the most crazy fun thing ever. they spun that cup SO FREAKING HARD. we must have looked like crazy people with all the laughing. it was awesome.)
- scrambler (ALSO AWESOME.)
- balloon race
- bumper cars

We got Italian ice! I got watermelon flavor. Yum! Courtney got cherry! We got fries! Yum!

There was also this Glee Karaoke stage. So, at the end of the day, when we were all exhausted and our feet hurt, we sat and watched terrible, terrible karaoke. It was awesome. I SO BADLY wanted us all to do a song, but nobody else wanted to do it with me. LAME! I think we totes could have rocked some Britney. Or MILEY.

But, the people singing were mostly horrible. I mean, I give them all the credit in the world for getting up there in front of a giant amusement park and singing. But, terrible. I think the highlight was when a girl got up to sing 'Get the Party Started,' the classic Pink song. But, turns out, she only wanted to dance to it, not sing. So, she totally got up there and very badly danced to just the karaoke music.

It ended up being a fun day. Though by the time I finally got home, I felt totally dead and had a bad headache.

Anyways.

I decided I wanted to get caught up on Private Practice, since I stopped watching it for some reason mid-season. Same with Grey's. I think I'll get caught up on that after. TAYE DIGGS. I would probably argue that he's one of the most beautiful men ever. In the world. And also one of the best-dressed. Yesss. And he's been with Idina Menzel since they met in the original cast of Rent back in 1996 and now they're married and have a beautiful baby boy. I just love them.

But, Private Practice. Man. It's crazyness. So much drama. The one where the parents had to choose which twin daughter to save with the cord blood of their new baby boy?? TEARS! Yikes. And then the sisters were together... OH MAN. MORE TEARS. It's so ridiculous, yet so dramatic and emotional.

That's basically how I spent today. Also, caught up on Jersey Shore. Talk about YIKES.

SAMMI - such an idiot. I can't stand her. I can't stand her face.

Love Vinny. Love JWOWW. Love Snooki. Kinda love The Situation too. I think he's gotten so funny! Can't wait to see him on Dancing with the Stars. Is he really a star? Um, I guess so? I read somewhere that he's going to make around 5 million dollars this year. I also read that he gets paid more money per episode of Jersey Shore than Anna Paquin gets paid for True Blood. Crazy? Yes.

Anyways.

I'm excited because I have a DAY OFF this week!! Like, a real day off. Not just 14 hours where I don't have to work. But a REAL DAY OFF. Like, over 24 hours. NICE. And! I'm going to see River City Extension!!!! OMG SO EXCITED. SO FREAKING EXCITED. We're going back to The Space, in Hamden, CT! Loved it there. Super cool venue.

Alright! I'll talk to everyone later. I'm going to go eat pizza now! There were like, 4 pizzas delivered to the house today from someone who frequently donates pizza, and NOBODY wanted it! So, I totally took one. Another staff took one too. Good pizza too. So, I'm going to eat some while watching Private Practice.

LAZY DAY! Loves it. I slept for 13.5 hours last night. True story! I went to sleep at 1am and woke up at 2:24pm. I had to get up twice:

1. To feed Ruby Tuesday at 5:34am
2. To let the 8am staff into the house at 8am

But, I fell back to sleep VERY QUICKLY after both of those times. Lots of driving + Six Flags + too much sunshine = sleepy Julie.

Alright! Hope everyone has a great start to their week! Can't believe it's like, mid-September already.

Ok! I'll talk to you all laterz. Take care. Be well. Enjoy!


Love,
Julie

gotta have that funk

OHHHHHH BOY.

I don't know. I've been non-stop working, it seems. Let me complain:

I started working at 10pm on Sunday night. Worked straight until 11am on Tuesday morning. Had a 1.5 hour break, where I ate some cereal and took a nap. Then had staff meeting from 12:30 to 2:45. And now I'm working 3:30pm until 8am.

8am will be GREAT. Ohhhh yes. I guess I didn't really realize it until Monday night, when I was excited to get into bed, but then realized I still had to get up early again for more work. NOT FUN.

But Wednesday I have absolutely no plans. I'm going to relax.

I had to make like, a million phone calls today. Didn't like it.

In other news:

--- I finished season 1 of Glee! Better late than never, eh? MAN. I don't know what it was - but I was pretty much crying through the last five episodes. Especially the Neil Patrick Harris one (which I think might have been my favorite of the whole season) and the finale.

But - Idina Menzel mixed with 'I Dreamed A Dream' from Les Miserables - YES - that brought the tears. Just because it was so beautiful. And I simply LOVE Idina Menzel.

Also, I'm very happy about Jonathan Groff. Basically happy that he is a human, because he's a hottie with a great voice. His duet of 'Hello' with Lea Michele was beautiful.

CAN'T WAIT for Season 2!!


--- This morning when I got back home and didn't have to work, I ate some cereal and then took a nap. And little Ruby Tuesday was so happy!! As soon as I got back into bed, she came running down the hall and jumped up with me. She's so cute! And then I lifted up the covers and she crawled right under and fell asleep. And she was still sleeping there when I had to get up and go down to staff meeting at 12:30. She's the best!!!


--- Ohhhh I'm tired.


--- I think I might watch Rent tomorrow.


--- I'm going to Six Flags on Saturday. Yeah, kind of dreading it. I'm not an amusement park person. I don't like rides. But, I'm taking the two residents here, so I'll get paid for it. And I won't have to pay for my ticket. Or food. So, it's really just a day I have to get through. I have no idea what I'm going to do the whole day.


--- I like the new iTunes logo. Version 10.0. Thoughts? I can't even remember what the old one looks like.


--- Ooooo maybe I'll make pancakes for supper. Or, maybe I'll be too tired and just make a sandwich. I hate cooking. I wish I could employ Kara as my personal chef/baker.


--- Sooooo excited for next Wednesday! Going down to CT for more RCE! I'm really excited to have the night off and to get away from here. Not to get away from Ruby, though.


--- OH. I KEEP MEANING TO TELL YOU ABOUT THIS AMAZING SAGA I'M GOING THROUGH. And I usually forget - but not tonight! Oh, it's a great story. An epic story filled with war and bloodshed, tears and.... CLOCKS. That's right - clocks.

You see, I have these two clocks in my bedroom - my iPod alarm clock and my CD player alarm clock. The CD player clock has a red digital display, so we'll call that clock 'red' and the other clock 'gray.'

So, one night a few weeks ago, I accidentally stepped on the power switch to my power strip on the floor, shutting off the power to my room. This meant that both clocks needed to be reset. So, I reset the gray clock to be 3 minutes faster than the red clock.

THEN, one night last week, I happened to look at the clocks and notice that the red clock was ONE MINUTE FASTER than the gray clock. Amazing, no?

And then last night we had a mini-power outage. All the power went off at the same time, in the whole house and on the whole street, and then about 5 minutes later, everything came back on again. Which meant that the two clocks should have been back on at the same time.

But when I finally got upstairs to my bedroom, I checked the times, and the red clock was still about 5 seconds faster than the gray clock.

ISN'T THAT CRAZY?! You have no idea how incredible I thought this was. That one clock would be fast enough to actually surpass other clocks in time. AMAZING! And why? Shouldn't all clocks be on the same time rhythm? It made me think that I was living in a time warp.

Ok, so maybe there was no war or bloodshed in that story, but I think it's pretty weird. Don't you? It's weird, right?



--- Ok. I think that's pretty much all. For now. Things have kind of been work, work, work lately. Or, at least that's how it feels.


Hope everyone is having a great week! Enjoying the cool weather. I certainly am. GOODBYE SUMMER. I am not sad to see you go. NOT ONE BIT.

Alright! Have great nights! Talk to everyone later!!!


love,
julie