I Declare October to be "Good Music Month"

I am so looking forward to October. For the cooler weather, the pumpkins everywhere, and most definitely for all the good music that awaits me. Calhoun, one of Josh's bands, will be playing at the Fort Worth Music Festival on October 1st. Later that evening, none other than Dawes will be taking the other stage, with lots of other local bands preceding them as well. Should be a great day of friends and fun!

Calhoun:


That's my husband on drums, isn't he a cutie? On October 13th, the girls and I are going to see Dawes again at Club Dada. Can you believe our luck? Two Dawes shows in two weeks! It's a Halloween miracle!

Dawes:


That alone would make October a pretty rockin' month, right? But October 24th we'll be headed right back to Club Dada to see Deer Tick. We saw both Deer Tick and Dawes on the same bill on St. Patrick's Day of this year, and I'm really excited to get a chance to see Deer Tick again so soon.

Deer Tick:


And then, there's this show which I must admit at the moment I am most excited about. Calhoun is opening at KXT's 2nd Anniversary show on October 26th, and headlining is Fitz and the Tantrums. I really loved them when they were on Conan earlier this year, and I am very much looking forward to seeing them live.

Fitz and the Tantrums:

Heralding the Holidays

Ah, I've finally reached the weekend. Things haven't gone just as I was hoping this week; still lots of work to be done on my final English paper and put my Math test off until Tuesday, so I've got a lot of school work to do this weekend before things get wrapped up next week. Yesterday was so rough that by the time I got home I was completely done in. I showered, put on my pajamas, and immediately got into bed. Josh got home to find me reading the new issue of Real Simple that had come in the mail. He did chores, gave me some snuggles, then fed me yummy Spinach & Feta pizza. That husband of mine really is the best. And of course last night's Conan episode really cheered me up too. Did you guys see She & Him? Totally amazing.

I managed to finish almost all of my Christmas shopping this week, and almost all of it on Monday as a matter of fact! Between a BIG Amazon order, which should be arriving today, and a shopathon with Mom I pretty much just have stocking stuffers left to buy. I do however still have all those gifts to wrap- yoinks! But that'll be waiting until I'm done with my school work next week.

Today has been quite a bit better. I got some work done and it's been quite in the office. But, even better than that, this evening Josh and I are going to participate in one of my favorite holiday traditions we've started. We'll be getting our Christmas tree after work, and we decorate it while watching The Muppet Christmas Carol and over a dinner of fish & chips, Old Speckled Hen, and some bread pudding for dessert. The Muppet Christmas Carol is one of my most favorite holiday movies (although I do have a lot of favorites, ha) and I haven't even let myself watch it yet, so I get to see it for the first time this season. I hope everyone else is having fun getting into the holiday spirit!

This Is a Raid

So very busy, all of the time, it seems. This past weekend I went out and had a fabulous time Friday night for my pal Holly's birthday. The Levon Helm show the night before that was fantastic too. Then, the rest of my weekend can be more or less summed up with Network. I have a paper due tomorrow, analyzing several scenes from that movie. I ended up watching it THREE full times, plus re-watching several scenes. I guess if I'm being honest, there were also quite a lot of potato chips involved in the weekend too. But snacking was the easiest meal when I'm stuck in full movie mode.

I'm registered for my classes for next semester now. I'm taking Comp II, History 1302, U.S. Government, and my next batch of developmental math- Intermediate Algebra. My current math teacher, whom we all really like, is only teaching one class next semester. I changed my whole schedule just so I could stick with him, so it better be worth it, ha. Instead of the Tuesdays and Thursdays I've been doing this semester, it'll be Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I'll be at school an hour later too, but I start an hour later, so there's some pay-off there. I'm just going to need to be more rigorous on keeping my work hours up due to this change. My math class has a great vibe, and hopefully some of the other students are going to be continuing with Dr. Stewart as well, so maybe that'll carry over to next semester. Plus, he's the VP of Teaching & Learning Services on our campus, and got his Masters and Doctorate from the university I'm hoping to transfer to- hello, recommendation letter.

The semester is coming to a close; I finish up in just one month. Naturally, I can barely keep up with all the ideas I have for my free time over winter break. And naturally, there won't be nearly as much as I think there will be, ha. I've got a few frames arriving today from Pottery Barn so I can finally make some progress on putting family photos up in our hallway. And I'm hoping to clear out the freezer, and then restock it with a lot of casseroles and the like for next semester. Of course there's the obligatory Christmas shopping, decorating, and 3 family celebrations. Also, probably absurdly, hoping to push a reset button on my health. I haven't been exercising lately, and my eating habits have definitely gone downhill (see potato chips above). But I'm looking forward to veggie-filled soups and at least making an attempt to get into a bit better shape before our cruise in February. I know that is pretty unrealistic in the season of gingerbread and candy canes, but it can't hurt to try, right?

This song has very little to do with all the crap I rambled about above, but I am so in love with it, and am enjoying the whole album. I'm really connecting with this tune lately and decided I should share it for that reason alone. It's Mavis Staples and Jeff Tweedy performing "You Are Not Alone", from the album of the same name.

Dirt Farmer

This week has been packed with work, school, and CONAN! We had a premiere party Monday with some friends which was tons of fun, but the best is that every night I get to watch Conan before I go to bed. It's like my life is finally back to normal!

Tonight Josh and I are going to see my all-time favorite drummer, Levon Helm. I'm super excited! Here's a video of Levon on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Like how I worked both bits of this post into one clip? :)

More Cowbell

Josh left for the airport very early this morning. He's in Kalamazoo, Michigan with Back In Black. They're opening for Blue Oyster Cult. Which I think pretty much obligates me to post this video today. :)

More Cowbell! - watch more funny videos

Dawesome

Feeling much better, thinking that I just had a bad allergy flare up. I rarely have allergies, but after a whole weekend of cleaning and organizing dusty, neglected spaces and Josh mowing the front and back yard, I think it got my sinuses going.

That isn't the point of this post though. The point is that you need to start listening to this band, NOW. I went to Casa Manana with Holly, Stephanie, and Amanda last night to see Telegraph Canyon, which I've shared about here before, and an up and coming band from LA, Dawes. If you listen to KXT, then you're surely already familiar with them. And perhaps you're already familiar with them through some other vein. But if you aren't, you need to be. Gorgeous songs, reminiscent of The Band, and to my mind just a tinge of The Grateful Dead. Luverly alt-country-folk-rock. That's a wide description, but just listen and enjoy. I couldn't embed any of their official videos, so you can go here to see them. Here is a decent video of "When You Call My Name", which is a favorite of the KXTers.

Friday Conezone #16

Hey guys! It's finally Friday! This week has been all out of whack for me, with us being gone Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday felt like Monday and things have been off-kilter ever since. But it's finally time for the weekend. As I've mentioned before I like to try and keep things a little topical when it comes to the Friday Conezone. Today I found out that two of the three photos I submitted were accepted for an August exhibition at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. Naturally I'm very excited! So, for today's Conezone clip I decided to share Conan's photoshoot experience at Teen Beat magazine. Enjoy!

Back to the Conezone

Just because I've met my favorite dude in the flesh doesn't mean I've crossed him off my list and moved on. He's still my numero uno funny man (aside from Josh of course). And I still plan to share some great Conan clips here to keep the laughs going until he's back on the boob tube in November. I like to try and keep what I share topical when I can and Josh and I have been discussing looking for a second car. It will not be a Ford Taurus SHO, sorry Conan, but all the same this seemed like a good clip to share today. Enjoy!

Friday ConeZone #14

Time for another installment of Friday ConeZone! This week I'm sharing a remote shot during the Writer's Strike in 2008. Conan decides to go to the doctor when he has a sore throat, mostly to mine it for material for the show. I had my follow up eye exam today to check into my high eye pressure. Turns out I likely have very early Glaucoma. Fantastic. So when trying to think of a clip to share today, this one immediately came to mind for this reason. This clip is "mirrored", which is done to try and keep the web spies off the track of hot Conan clips. Doesn't affect the funny though.

Friday ConeZone #13

Lucky number 13! Three weeks until I'll be in the real life ConeZone. I can barely think of anything else people! Anyway, had a busy day today so popping in to share a classic Conan moment before I start my busy weekend. I love it when Conan tries new things and participates on the show. That definitely includes his hilarious attempt to learn to swing on a stripper pole after interviewing Sheila Kelley about her pole dancing workout program. Enjoy!