Bits&Pieces

Coffee, comrades?

Good morning, and cheers, fellow United Workers of America. I bring you wishes of peace and solidarity and caffeination.

Having recently bid adieu to my Super Mullet of Horror, and only minutes ago, canceling my membership to Weight Watchers Online, i'm feeling marginally out of control and carefree this morning. Like I'm 36 again.

Why cancel the membership? Why not? I had success. I had failure. Or rather, I have failure. I'm going to try a new thing: eat less, move more. Now who's talking about revolution, eh comrades?

But I want to focus on the positive things in life. Things like:

1. Epic Dental Gum
So I mention this gum on my blog a few weeks ago, and they must have a nice Google Alert set up, and they send me the following: a Party in a Box as a thank you for the blog mention.

Buried in all that adorable color is this guy, and he's full of, you guessed it, gum:

Epic Dental, you have officially got it goin' on in the customer service department. You have made me and my teeth feel loved. (Even if the pinata was a tiny bit psychotic looking.) Bravo to you!

Seriously. Companies that do stuff like this? Hug them. They are few and far between.

2. This photo makes me happy:

I don't know why. Traveling isn't high on my list of Things I Love, especially after my recent trip to Utah where the combination of turbulence and lightning exploding just outside our plane made me never want to be higher than a second floor apartment ever again.

3. Cole's shoes and the back of his head.

I just like his shoes and the back of his head a lot.

What are you feeling positive about today? Please, do tell.

Spawn of Neil, and more free tag book downloads

Saw Liam Finn at the Cedar Cultural Center on Minneapolis' lovely, patchouli-laden West Bank. He was opening for Laura Veirs whose music I am not really familiar with (and we actually left after Liam's set, much to the horror of those sitting around us. You're not staying for Laura?)

Don't know if it's weird to say I saw two Finns separated by two days or not. And true, the only reason I bought I'll Be Lightning was out of curiosity, you know, parentage considered, but I'll be damned if it isn't a great freaking disc. Truly. So not Crowded House. Very original. And yet, the young lad's knack for melody must just be a streaming DNA thing. And personally, it's a shame more people don't get to hear it, thanks to the state of American radio. Long story short: check it out. You can get it on iTunes as well. Then you can feel all cool because you're listening to something the critics love, but very few others have heard. Go you!

Liam and his singing partner E.J. Barnes rocked it out. Really, really good show. Too short. I would have loved to have heard every track from the album. And after the show, a few people came up to the stage, and those two were just so polite. I thought to myself: what a great sign that the young people of today ARE on track.

Then I felt ridiculously old, and left.

Because remember, I'm just an old scrapbooker now. Felt a bit too cougarish going to see that show, until I got there and realized I was surrounded by a bunch of older hippie types anyway. Then I felt bad for Liam. I wanted to shout: there's a younger audience for you out there, bucky. Keep plugging away!

So, along those scrapbooking lines, here are the tag book downloads for the next three months, if'n you're so inclined. I've had a handful of requests so I thought I'd upload them.

Even en Francais.

Download june.pdf
Download july.pdf
Download aug.pdf

Download juin.pdf
Download juillet.pdf
(ps. what is August? I can't seem to remember? Anyone?)   

In my next life, I will make bootleg concert videos and sell them on Ebay

Went to Chicago. Took this shot. And saw Neil Finn. Now how's THAT for a recap?

(Shot taken in the giant silver orb thing. I do not actually believe I'm that large, but beliefs and reality sometimes clash.)

Enjoy 43 seconds of Neil. I will be back when my personality is officially found.

Good Morning, Bluffdale

And how are you this morning? Sleep well? Yes? Oh, good.

Me? Stayed up a little late last night with a bunch of lovely women who made me laugh and feel good about the state of women in the world today. Made me long for more time with women like that. There are a lot of good people in the world. I like that I get to know a few of them.

In the office this morning, wrapping up some straggling things. Heading out to the airport in a few hours. Thinking about downloading a few episodes of Lost to my iPod. Or Grey's Anatomy. You know, to watch on the plane ride home. I'd like to be more excited about it, but let's face it, with the airing of the reunion show of Rock of Love, there ends the best show on cable television, so how can I even care about TV anymore. Really.

I'll be home for less than 17 hours, then heading out for my date with Dan and Neil in Chicago.

Be back next week with more riveting posts just like this one, for your blog reading pleasure.

Greetings, Earthlings, from Bluffdale, Utah, land of the giant coffee and non-manicured nails

Ah yes… I come to you in peace, from the earthling domicile known as The Cubicle, with large coffees, and bigger pants.

Getting ready to go into the Hand Off Meeting for the September/October issue of Simple, and archiving a few back issues of the magazine as I type onto a new portable external drive that I'm taking home with me to have greater access to all files Simple. (Isn't the orange kind of sexy?)

So a long day of meetings ahead. I'm very happy to see my sweet friend Emily today, who's in town and will be HERE at the office while I'm here. So cool. Also going to see Tara tonight because she's in town for a session. And, the icing on the cake? Margie RA will be there, too. What are the chances?

Have a lovely thursday, y'all.

It's not true, I don't like EVERYTHING from New Zealand

I'm going to see Neil this coming weekend. Sunday, to be more precise. I know. You can HARDLY wait, right?

Last weekend at Jesus Christ Superstar I was having flashbacks to the Crowded House show (held in the same venue). The flashbacks were slighty hazy on account of all that wine I drank (at Crowded House, not at JCS... I generally don't get smashed on family outings to the theater to see our Lord and Saviour belt out the tunes), and I remembered how friggin' cool it was to walk right down to the front. I remember handing the usher my ticket, and how she smiled, and how I heard this gathering of angels singing, "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh," and how each successive usher simply continued, well, ushering us to the very front. They all just smiled knowingly. She's in the front row. Look at her. It was like being part of a secret club, you know? I would imagine it's what sitting in first class on a plane must be like.

My point, however, is that at this coming show, it's general admission. There is no special ushering of the Zielskes down to the front. No. At this show, I'm going to have to fight my way to the mosh pit on my own. I will do what I must for closeness to Neil.

And speaking of closeness to Neil, my friend and fellow Neil devotee Krista, linked me up with a video of the dude who's opening for Neil and Co. on this brief but glorious American tour, Don McGlashan. I have a link to one of his songs on the YouTube sidebar, but I never know if anyone gives a wild hoot about the YouTube sidebar on this blog. So I'm going to post it here. Because if you like music, you need to check this Kiwi out.

As I'm trying to explain this guy to Dan, Dan accuses me of being one of those people who, if you like one thing, you're going to like EVERYTHING that has any relation to the original thing. He compared me to a dear friend of ours who, when he was into R.E.M. back in the day, was also into everything and anything else from Athens, G.A. Every single band that came out of that small southern town in the late 80s and early 90s. And as Dan pointed out to me, "Dumptruck just wasn't that good."

So here's me. Loving Neil. And loving Liam. And yes, I'm quite certain if his dog put out a CD, I would like that as well. That said, Don McGlashan is from New Zealand, and is apparently quite an NZ music icon himself, coming from a few different seminal NZ bands, but I swear to God, he could be from Nebraska, and I would still be absolutely mesmerized by his music.

So take that, Dan Zielske.

You can hear a few more tracks on his My Space page, and his album, Warm Hand, is available on iTunes. One song is a must hear: Toy Factory. It is one of the most haunting songs I've heard in a long time, and the story that goes with it is true and devastating. I know. Sounds like a real party album! But honestly, if you like music, check it out.

I'm heading to Utah tomorrow, will try and post from the road. Until then, please for to enjoy.

back to life, back to reality

And may I just say as I return fully to the written form and leave behind National Scrapbook Day-related video blogging, that from the 20th row of the Orpheum Theater, it didn't really matter that Jesus was 64 years old. Dude can still sang! And I was a bit nervous. I'll admit it. We saw him in a production of this in 1993, and I can still remember Dan shooting me a few glances during the show, then afterward, saying: "Jesus has lost a bit of his upper register."

But not on Saturday night. Jesus rocked. (That would make an excellent bumper sticker, no?) Took both Aidan and Cole, along with my two sisters in law and one corresponding husband. Cole totally dug it, as you can see by his excited expression in the photo below, which can also double for constipation:

He's reached that age. That magical age where he will barely tolerate the carefully trained lens of my camera. Sigh. Knew it was coming.

But not Aidan! She has entered a new phase, the one that says: I look REALLY good, will you take a picture?

 

So there you have it. Back to normal life.

We have a winner of the mystery box o' goodness

Her name is Paula and she wrote:

Hi Cathy,
I am so hoping I'll get lucky. You know what I mean. I've had a great time viewing your video blogs this week.

(Paula Harrington—i think that's the last name—email me at czdesign@comcast.net to hook me up with your address so you can take this giant box off my hands, cool?)

And yeah, i KNOW what you mean. ; )

Thanks to everyone for participating. And now go forth and scrap.

Peace!

You can still enter for a chance to win Le Box Du Mystere! Oh, and Happy NSD Day!

Still taking names in the previous post comment area. MAN it feels good to be TYPING!

I miss written blog posts. Sorry, Donna. I know you don't like all those bloody words!

Check back later today for the winner of the giant box of scrapbooking goodness! It could be you!

Comments for the giveaway are now closed! Back soon with a winner.

repaired laptops, common margins, missing pants and mystery box giveaways. Smells like SuperBlog Friday Super Finale.

You will find the last challenge here.

Thanks for hanging with me this week, y'all.