Random Recollections from Europe...

1. a lot of planes, a lot of busses, a lot of metros, a lot of walking.

2. my pack is currently lost in boston somewhere. at least it made it to the US.

3. i had to constantly resist the urge to reach into my bag and check my phone for texts and messages. i didn't even have my phone on me. bad habit.

4. there was a falafel place in london called "just falafs" which i thought was so funny. get it? like "just for laughs"? say it with an english accent. ha, ha, ha.

5. they have this great service in london called "scooter man" where you go out and get wasted and this guy comes with his scooter, folds it up and puts it in the trunk, then drives you home in your own car. brilliant.

6. in notting hill i found the travel book shop from the film, found this awesome mural that is just like the cover of thom yorke´s eraser, and bought a tea set i saw in the window of a resale shop on portobello road.

7. in our search to find a cool place to go out at night we accidentally ended up at gay/lesbian bar as noted by the short-haired woman singing constant craving loudly and the rainbow flag on the patio, but we had already bought drinks at the bar. what are ya gonna do? then we went to this cool club that played indie/alternative rock and where charlotte hatherley was supposed to be guest dj-ing, except it ended up being a hang out for 18-21 year olds. finally we found a good pub (the hawley arms in camden town) that is supposedly the favorite of amy winehouse, pete doherty, kelly osborne, kirsten dunst, etc. no celebrity sitings though. sorry girls.

8. i can kind of speak spanish! yay! (forget about icelandic though)

9. madrid has the nicest airport ever. who knew?

10. we tried this awesome drink in madrid that i love: calimocho. red wine mixed with coca-cola. mmmm.

11. i went and saw some flamenco dancers.

12. i went and saw some art too. at the prado. and the reina sofia modern art museum.

13. we went to the weirdest bar. an irish pub with a disco ball, playing eurotrash dance music, and showing brit pop videos in madrid. with a historical museum in the basement. messed up.

14. people in spain make out in public a lot. on the metro, on the street, at the club. everywhere.

15. my feet were in the mediterranean sea :)

16. visited some works of Gaudi: la sagrada familia, park guell in barcelona.

17. traveling with a picky vegetarian is worst! bagels, pizza, falafel, fries, repeat.

18. iceland looks like you're on the moon. moss covered rocks and craters covering the surface. volcanoes. waterfalls. geysers.

19. in Þingvellir national park, we were sort of on both the american continent and the european continent at the same time. it's where the two continental plates meet.

20. it was chilly and windy in iceland, but the locals were wearing flip flops and tank tops. i had to buy a wool scarf. it's also very expensive there. we bought groceries instead of going out and ate mostly ramen and cheese and crackers.

21. went to the blue lagoon spa. it's created by the leftover water from a geo-thermal power plant the is mineral rich. sounds gross, but it was awesome. like sitting in a giant, natural hot tub that makes your skin so smooth.

22. went into damon albarn's bar in reykjavik. kaffibarinn. it was ok. again, no celeb sitings.

23. saw both the sunset and the sunrise over reykjavik harbor in only a 4 hour span. crazy.

24. everyone our age in iceland is married with like three kids. no lie. it's just the culture there. they are the hippest parents and kids i've ever seen though.

25. saw some icelandic bands at an outdoor festival: vonbrigdi and minus. they were a little hard for me. petur ben was good. and so was ampop (kind of keane-ish, and the singer is pretty hot). tried to see the guy from mum play later on, but missed out.

26. tried some brennivin, traditional icelandic liquor. whoa.

27. good to be home.

i guess that's it for now. i will try to post some pics at some point.

lost and found

i'm so happy!

i was cleaning my backroom for jackie and jeff's party tonight where i came across a bag full of cds that have been missing for almost a year!!!

-bowie
-springsteen
-stills
-walkmen
-rilo kiley
-shout out louds
-brendan benson
-slgtm
-classic country gold
-2 norah jones cds
-a partridge in a pear tree

ok. so, so happy. that's all :)

? Hablas espanol ?

Whoa. I just booked flights to Reykjavik, London, Madrid, and Barcelona. Crazy.

Cold Day!

11:26pm - The time on Sunday night that I knew school was cancelled for Monday...

27 years - The number of years the person who called me has been teaching without school
ever getting cancelled the night before...

3 degrees/-13 windchill - The temperature outside...

69 degrees/66 actual - The temperature my thermostat is set at vs. the actual temperature in my house...


So. There are 100 things I could be accomplishing on my day off today. Going to the gym, going to the grocery store, going to the mall, etc.

But. Do I leave my house???

when you stick a song on a tape, you set it free

i am sort of obsessed with the new book i am reading love is a mix tape by rob sheffield.
a) it is a great, great love story
b) i am in love with the concept of the mix tape and always have been

i haven't made one in years, but i remember sitting in front of the stereo for hours trying to achieve the right combination and best flow as i pressed pause and deliberated over my next selection. mix tapes were essential when i was driving around the 85 chevy celebrity that still had a tape player and before digital music and cd burning were common. in fact, my 93 grand am had a tape player at first too, and it was a big decision to replace it with a cd player. i had wanted a combination, but they weren't easy to come by and they weren't cheap either. so that was the end. my last mix tapes included stuff like rusted root, sarah mclachlan, guster, indigo girls, tori, dmb, the cranberries, and (strangely) arrested development and the cure. funny.

anyway, you should read the book.

and make me a mix.

Rochambeau!

I think it went something like this:
A Kevin Smith look-a-like has one ticket for sale for the sold out (damn Canadians) Sloan show Saturday night. Ticketless Jackie, Emily, and Sarah have gotten two-thirds lucky and scored 2 tix from Chris and Leslie who can't make it. But I still need a ticket so I don't have to miss the show and turn around and drive home. Kevin Smith is swarmed by hopefuls in the alley next to St. Andrew's. People are begging. We even offer him twice what he's asking for. He shows integrity when he refuses to sell for anything more than face value. And it comes down to myself and another guy who only need a single ticket. Kevin Smith proposes we Rochambeau for it.
The crowd looks on.
I go paper over rock.
We both go paper-paper.
I go scissors cut paper.
I am the Rochambeau champion! I won rights to the ticket
fair and square!
It was awesome.

New and Improved!

I bought a new couch and loveseat last night!!! It's super soft and comfy :) Just don't ask me how i'm going to be able to pay for it...

The funny thing is that when I got home after shopping, my living room was empty. It's actually happening. My roommate is moving out.

Hello Walls

After my little trip to Nashville, I have to say I have a new-found appreciation for the sound and history of country music. One of the first things we did when we got to Nashville was go to Roberts, one of the honky tonk bars, and have some dinner and listen to the band. Every bar on the strip has a country/honky tonk band playing at all times. When you are out on the street you just hear all these country sounds coming out of everywhere. The only other things on the strip downtown are boot shops, BBQ joints, and country music record stores. By the way, I bought a cute little cowgirl shirt. You know, with the snap buttons and embroidery and stuff. They're actually super expensive, but I got mine on sale.

Anyway! We saw Ryan Adams play the Ryman Auditorium on Tuesday night. Now, I'm not a super fan or anything like Matt is, but it was a really great show. I wish I had known more songs, but it was still awesome. He played a lot of countryish songs. My favorites were the ones I knew off of Heartbreaker like "Sweet Carolina" and "Shakedown on 9th Street" which I keep calling "That Lucy Song" cause I can never remember. But the best part was the auditorium which Matt already sort of wrote about. I read somewhere that it has the second best acoustics in the world. And it's set up like a stage with an ampitheater of church pews surrounding it and a balcony above with stained glass windows behind. We went up to the balcony on our Nashville bus tour the next day. There is really no bad seat in the house. I was trying to compare it to something in Detroit, but I just couldn't even come close.

We also went to the country music hall of fame on Wednesday. I've never even been to the rock and roll hall of fame! It had some pretty amazing things in there like Elvis' car which Matt said was like the first pimp my ride. It was painted with crushed diamonds and fish scales and had a tv in the back seat. We didn't have a lot of time and I felt rushed (because I like to read everything), but it was still cool to see all the displays. I bought a 2-disc set of classic country music hits that was fun to listen to in the car. We spent a lot of time driving around Nashville just checking it out. As always, I wish I had taken more pictures...

Sorry, I missed your lollapalooza deadline Liz :) I've been busy this week doing things like taking care of grandmas, catching up on Entourage, and investing in mutual funds...I haven't even unpacked yet! Anyway, Lolla update to come!