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!

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? :)

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!

Friday ConeZone #11

Guys, I have to tell you that I am very excited. I know it's still 5 weeks until I get to MEET CONAN, but the tour starts on Monday in Eugene, Oregon. I am so excited to see what kind of tidbits and behind the scene videos Aaron Bleyaert will be sharing on Teamcoco.com once the tour kicks off. I am so excited for Conan to get out there and feel the love from his fans in person. And I'm so excited that the sooner the tour starts the sooner he'll be here for the Dallas gig! In honor of being on the road, I thought today I'd post a remote from his trip to San Francisco a few years back. He did a week of shows there and took a little trip to visit Intel, who underwrote the show being in California. Enjoy!

Friday ConeZone #10

Hello and happy Friday! Time for another ConeZone. Can you believe it's been 10 weeks since I started sharing a little Conan love to get us ready for the weekend? Time is flying by. Hopefully that means it won't feel like much longer before his mandated banishment from television is over. Like I said last week, I try to keep my ConeZone posts a bit topical. So in honor of Easter this weekend here is Conan's appearance on The Martha Stewart Show. It was her 500th episode, too. They decorate Easter eggs and, um, glitter a ham. Now you just have to watch it, right? How can you not be intrigued by a glitter ham? I LOVE Martha and Conan together, it is always a guarantee for laughs. So, enjoy and happy Easter!

Friday ConeZone #9

It's finally Friday! Has this week dragged on for anyone else? Clearly from my last post I've been having a rough one. But I'm feeling a bit better and ready to have a good weekend filled with spring cleaning and a trip to IKEA. Part of the reason I'm feeling better is I made some progress on my college preparations. We ordered our bikes this morning and I picked up my transcript from my old high school this afternoon. That's two things I can check off my to-do list. And with the purchase of our bikes in mind I thought a good choice for today's ConeZone would be Conan's adventure as a New York City bike messenger. I try to keep it topical to what I've got going on, when I can. I don't know if anybody cares, but it helps me whittle down the clip options, ha. Enjoy and happy Friday!

ConeZone #8*: Special St. Patrick's Day Edition

Well folks, it's St. Patrick's Day. As some of you may know I am indeed Irish. Feel free to blow a couple kisses my way for good luck. And as all of you should know, a certain someone is also Irish. Far more Irish than me, too. That would be one Conan Christopher O'Brien. So in honor of this son of Ireland we're entering the ConeZone a bit early this week. I've got my green on and my fridge is stocked with Guinness and Harp. How 'bout you? For this special edition of the weekly ConeZone we'll take a look at Conan's visit to the old country. Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all! Erin Go Braugh!

Friday ConeZone #7

This is a VERY special Friday ConeZone people. Yesterday Conan announced his 30 city tour of North America. I promptly went straight to the Ticketmaster website and refreshed the page until tickets went on sale. And then I lost my mind. I bit the bullet. Spent the big bucks. And....I'M GOING TO MEET CONAN O'BRIEN! I raided one of our many savings funds, one which actually had a rather ambiguous purpose and was just sitting there, so I could buy the ridiculously expensive Meet & Greet package. I have been on cloud nine pretty much since I clicked "Purchase". May 13th he'll be at McFarlin Auditorium in Dallas and I'll be there to see him and his hair up close and in person. We have what must be the greatest seats in the house, front row, dead center. This show is said to be a mix of comedy sketches, music, and lots of fun. So today's ConeZone clip has all of that in it. Enjoy ConeZone #7- Conan singing "He's Gone" for LaBamba.

In The Sun

Yay!

Friday ConeZone #6

Welcome to another Friday ConeZone! With all the thoughts about and discussion of transportation I've had this week I thought today we'd take a look at a great remote that Conan did during a New York transit strike in 2005. I can only imagine what fun it must have been to get to go along for the ride as one of Conan's passengers. Also, word is that some news will be dropping on the live tour that has been mentioned to be in the works, after a few leaks have sprung today mentioning possible shows in San Diego, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. Keeping my fingers crossed he comes this way, and my eyes and ears peeled for any more leaks! Enjoy this week's ConeZone.

Friday ConeZone #5

It's Friday, so you know what that means. ConeZone time! I have had a weird week so far, and I have to say on this fine Friday I could sure use a drink. So I thought in this week's ConeZone we'd revisit Conan's attempt to learn bartending. After watching this clip I can't quite decide if I'm happy or sad that Conan won't be serving me my end-of-the-day cocktail. Also, if you guys haven't heard Conan has got himself a Twitter account now, so be sure and check it out- http://twitter.com/ConanOBrien.

Friday ConeZone #4

This week's installment of the Friday ConeZone is chocked full of Olympic spirit. In 2002 when the winter games were in Salt Lake City Conan decided he wanted to become an Olympic speed skater. So he recruited gold medalist Dan Jansen to show him the ropes. As you might assume, Conan wasn't the most attentive pupil, ha. Enjoy!

Friday ConeZone #3

Welcome to the third installment of my Friday ConeZone! Here in supposed-to-be-hot Texas we just set a new record with 12.5" of snow in 24 hours. It is a winter wonderland out my window, which means all life has practically come to a halt. People here tend to completely shut down when real winter weather hits. A bunch of people have lost power, although luckily not us. Anyway, what with all this snow I decided to share a video of Conan out on his own snow adventure during a previous NYC blizzard. Enjoy and please come back next week for another trip into the ConeZone!

Friday ConeZone #2

It's Friday which means it's once again time to enter the ConeZone. Today I wanted to share Conan's opening monologue and musical number from his stint hosting the 58th Emmy Awards. This is one of my favorite Conan clips- partly because of a shared love for The Music Man, and partly because it contains what I think is probably one of the best awards show jokes I've ever heard (rule #3 in his monologue, fyi). Plus he just looks so darn handsome in his tux, right? So, here we go. Won't you step inside the ConeZone with me? If you missed the first ConeZone you can see it here.

Welcome to the ConeZone

Here's the thing people, and if you're friends with me in "real life", on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter you already know this- I LOVE Conan O'Brien. And I really mean it. I think the man has more talent in his pompadour than most people have in their entire body. That's how it stays so fluffy and naturally bounces back into place. And, as I think a lot of people have discovered through this whole NBC brouhaha, he is a really genuine guy. I've seen a lot of comments in the recent weeks on many of the blogs I frequent about how inspiring his last Tonight Show speech was, and I couldn't agree more. And the recent turn of events for Mr. O'Brien has made me realize that I just can't go that long without some Conan in my life. So, I've decided that around here on Fridays it will be time to enter the ConeZone. Every Friday I hope to share a video, picture or other Coney-related item to help get us (okay, mostly me) through these dark days until Conan's next project can bring us out of this winter of discontent.

Clearly I had some thinking to do. What clip would best serve as the inaugural post for this new venture? The speech from The Tonight Show might be an obvious choice, but is in fact so obvious, and already so ubiquitous on the blog circuit that it was easy to eliminate it from the running. Then, I of course have some personal favorites. Clips that I can watch over, and over, and over again, then go to sleep, rerun in my dreams, wake up and watch again. But this isn't all about me (just this one time though, from here on out I'll be selfish), it's about sharing a little bit of why I think this guy is the cat's meow, a hilarious inspiration to us all. And so, I made a decision and I truly hope that if you decide to watch these clips they will just reinforce for you what you got a glimpse of last week- he is a man who works hard and is kind. Oh, and is very, very funny. ConeZone #1: Conan's speech to the Harvard Class of 2000, in two parts. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Elvis!

Here's a clip from my favorite Elvis movie in honor of the King's birthday.