introducing

the stork has finally arived.
Olive bean.
beautiful baby girl.
born oct 21 2008.

keep austin weird

Stephanie and I just got back from our two week long road trip to Houston and Austin. It was quite the adventure. I'm lucky to have a partner who loves to travel as much as i do. and the best part is that she is drawing me to travel more of the united states. i haven't been as interested in seeing my own country in quite awhile but it has been exciting and i cant wait to discover the secrets of all the different states. i seem to think that every thing interesting can only be found in other countries- but it is quite naive of me to think that all of North America is the same. every state has its on uniqueness i have yet to discover. eventually we will have our own tumbleweed house.

what we set out to do:
- take 3 days to get there and 3 days back, leaving time to spontaneity
- beignets in new orleans
- spend time with Stephanie's family
- spend our days in Austin riding bikes, hanging out w Lady and scoping out all the different neighborhoods to see what best suites us for when we move
-spend our nights going to sxsw shows and eating off the many different street vendors
- eat crawfish
- find the best tex mex
- pick up olive bean at jfk





what we did do and what i learned on this trip:
- that i love sketchy rode side motels
- how good muffaletta sandwiches are
- ate beignets and that Lady likes powdered sugar
- flank steak marinated in Pepsi is amazing
- that I'm glad i dont have a yippee dog that is constantly barking
- i love Texan BBQ and rodeos
- how to shoot a revolver and a semi automatic
- that i like shooting revolvers better
- how to clean guns
- that i love Stephanie's family
- that i love gingerbread pancakes
- that i love Austin and cant wait for it to be my new home
- that i want to start a garden
- that i want to learn to harvest rain water (but it never rains in Austin)
- that Austin has the world's largest urban bat colony, and i want to build a bat house for our yard in Austin
- that i want a wind chime for my porch
- that i can be totally weird in Austin and it will be normal
-that saying i don't want a plastic bag at a store wont cause them to look at me like I'm crazy
- that Austin is a blend of Richmond/Brooklyn/Nashville, which to me is a dream city.
- we ended up stopping in Nashville for popsicles but had no luck
- we did have luck w getting to NYC early to get Roberta's pizza in Brooklyn
- that being shipped in a tiny crate must be a petrifying thing
- that i am now a proud mom of two french bulldogs

department of eagles

where the wild things are

Public Displays of Obsession

"Fitness First adIt seems the world has hit a new low when it comes to women and body image. Fitness First, a chain of gyms in the Netherlands, launched a new ad campaign — they rigged a scale up to the benches in bus stops so that when someone sits down it displays their weight in big red numbers. The display is right above their logo, of course, so that as soon as someone is appalled by the number they know exactly where to go to change that.

Enough is enough!

Just last week, John McCain’s daughter Meghan tried to engage in thoughtful debate about the future of the Republican Party. Conservative radio pundit Laura Ingraham responded by calling her fat. McCain’s response raises some excellent points about how women are judged on their appearances before their accomplishments and that whether or not she’s overweight is irrelevant to the conversation she was trying to start.

This is ridiculous. Younger and younger girls are dieting and developing eating disorders. A designer recently said he thought Heidi Klum was too fat to model. People are denied health insurance and lose jobs because of weight-related discrimination. There are hundreds of Facebook groups dedicated to hating fat people (women in particular) — and they don’t get shut down no matter how many times they get reported.

So many people out there let it slide because it happens under the guise of ‘health.’ Somewhere along the line we figured out that you could be thin but still be unhealthy. But, despite all the research that’s out there, we can’t figure out the vice versa — that you can be fat but still be healthy and in shape.

I’ve known this for a long time thanks to personal experience. Crossing the finish line at last September’s Race for the Cure solidified that one for me (despite the confused looks I sometimes get when I say I run).

Let’s stop shaming people about their appearance and focus on their accomplishments. All this body hatred does is take our minds and energy away from countless other, more important, things."

(photo credit www.womanist-musings.com)

-Liza

Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest


Yeah Yeah Yeahs- It's Blitz!

(500) days of summer

Neko Case- Middle Cyclone


Mirah- (A)spera


Camera Obscura- My Maudlin Career


Julie Dorion- I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day


Passion Pit- Chunk of Change EP


Frightened Rabbit- The Midnight Organ Fight

brothers of the head

olive bean

Lady has a sister!

my favorite.
sweet tea vodka.


my soon to be favorite.
rootbeer vodka.

charles smith wines

2007 Charles Smith Wines "Kung Fu Girl Riesling" - Columbia Valley
Single vineyard, fragmented basalt, and caliche...classic Riesling, sublime minerality. WHY? BECAUSE, RIESLING AND GIRLS KICK ASS!
$12.00

"First there was K Vintners, then the Magnificent Wine Company and now winemaker Charles Smith brings you his latest revelation. Charles Smith Wines: The Modernist Project is a response to how people generally consume wine today, that is immediately…as in immediately after being purchased at a market, restaurant or bar, to be drunk straight away. Wine in this category is typically ether simple, or is a wine that would be much better a few years down the road. ‘Modernist Project’ wines are about putting as much into the bottle as possible. The intent is to create wines to be enjoyed now, but with typicity with regards to variety—that is merlot that tastes like merlot—and to the vineyard—wine that tastes like where it was grown. The wines are full of flavor, balanced, and true to their place of origin.

Owner-winemaker Charles Smith with his big hair, kick ass attitude and bold packaging arrived in the Walla Walla Valley following eleven years in Scandinavia managing rock bands. Originally hailing from northern California, he has been involved with wine personally and professionally his entire life."

“It’s just booze – drink it!”


http://charlessmithwines.com/