Music Monday (or...um, Tuesday) + Color Run Los Angeles

I get this song stuck in my head a lot, which is unfortunate because other than "Sleepyhead" I have no idea what the words are to this song.

Sleepyhead by Passion Pit

 Color Run. Have you ever done one? Their slogan is "The happiest 5k on the planet" but a more appropriate slogan would be "The most photographed 5k on the planet".

There's not much to say about this, other than you run a 5k (or walk. Like most people did). You get color thrown at you. You throw color at other people. You take pictures of  all the color throwing business. It's  fun.

Before

After

Music Monday + the best bread ever!

Before we get into my shenanigans (If you can call baking, shenanigans), here's a band I could listen to all day. This particular song has found some air time recently. Band of Horses, ladies and gentlemen:

This weekend Katie left me all alone so I did what I normally do when she's out of town, I baked. I like to bake. Mostly because I like to eat what it is I have baked, but I also enjoy using every bowl, spoon, and measuring in cup in the house too. Ha.

So, you know about the website Pinterest? Of course you do. Everyone knows about Pinterest.  I assume everyone knows about Pinterest because my husband knows about Pinterest. And, if he knows about it and you don't- well, I'd be really surprised is all. Husband is not really up with today's latest trends  and happenings.

 I have tried many many recipes I've found on Pinterest and I have yet to find a baked good recipe that dissapoints. Here is the picture I found:

Going off just how delicious this looks in this one picture, I decided to make it. 

Here's where you can find the recipe: The Keenan Cookbook

A couple of  side notes: 1) the batter/dough appears to be really heavy and thick. Don't get discouraged  Once you add in the meringue (egg whites and sugar) it changes the consistency and looks more like what you would expect. 2)It doesn't say to let the bread cool in the pan after removing it from the oven, but I think you should.

It wasn't the easiest recipe to follow but it wasn't exactly hard either. I would definitely recommend trying this if you like blueberries and you have two hours to kill. 

Here's what mine looked like:

It tastes as good as it looks!

Music Monday: Chris and Thomas

Every Monday (or at least the Monday's I remember to do this) will be Music Monday here. Not because I think I have the most fabulous taste in music and my opinion counts for anything, but because I have found several great artists/songs from blogs that I read and I thought it a good idea to do that here. I think you can tell a lot about someone by their taste in music, so here it goes...

This is Chris and Thomas, circa 2006. Try and figure me out ;) 

Party time

Hello Blog! It's been awhile.

Just over two months, in fact.

Instead of coming up with excuses as to why I didn't blog for two months, I'm just going to jump right in with this post:

How to throw a good party

1. Make it a "white trash/redneck/we don't have the money to throw you b*tches a nice party" theme.
    By letting your guests know right off that bat that this isn't going to be a fancy party, you are automatically giving yourself the green light to do things on the super cheap, which includes (but is not limited to) having guests pay for their own food. Which brings me to our #2...

Its also gives your guests a reason to look like this

2. Make it a pot-luck
    We one-upped that idea and made the potluck a contest- the person who brought the best white trash dish won a prize. Why did we do that? So people would actually bring something. Because everyone loves contests-especially when there's a prize. Or is that just me?

Our fancy set up. Yes, we provided more than just Ritz and tortilla chips.

3. Buy a Keg
     I have thrown many a party, and if you want something that will please most party guests and not hurt the wallet, buy a keg. 1)The beer snobs can't remark about your poor beer selection unless they ask you.* and 2) It's cheaper than buying loads of different alcohol to appease all party guests.

*To deter beer snobs, simply put out a sign that reads "What kind of beer is this? Free kind" in front of your keg. That'll stop the haters.

**I have also found that the more parties you have, the more you find random bottles of mostly un-used alcohol  left at your house. Stash these bottle away until you throw your next party. You'll save load of cash.

4. Have music
    This is fairly obvious, but nothing goes better with inebriation like some good ol' dance music.  When in doubt, just put on some hip hop from the 90's. That will get your party started, guaranteed!

5. Have something for your guests to do
     Our party area-also known as Katie's house- allowed for plenty of room for people to dance, sit and talk, hang out by the fire-pit, play beer pong, or hang out in the kitchen eating.

These two preferred to do the later

6. Don't be sad when your party started at 6:30 and your first non-related party guest shows up at 7:10
     Start drinking early, so you wont feel inclined to give the poor schmuck who showed up first shit for being late.

We take pictures while we wait for our guests

7. Have fun!

 

This is the something

I have been thinking a lot about cancer. a lot.

It started when I began  reading The Emperor of all Maladies by Mukherjee-a book all about the history of  cancer, cancer treatments (or lack thereof), and the amazing doctors who have made incredible discovers in chemotherapy and rallied together to create awareness and generate public and government funding. Then I found out my step-grandmother and a  family friend were diagnosed with cancer, I started reading two blogs by mommies whose sons had Neuroblastoma (which really opened my eyes about how little we really know about cancer). All of this was really weighing one me for some reason.

When I found out that the little boy I blogged about in my last post passed away, I had myself a good cry.  I listened to "Ronan" by Taylor Swift and I cried some more and decided I needed to do something.

Next September I will be wearing gold for Ronan, and Ty, and every little person who has lost their battle or is battling cancer. Next October I will be wearing pink for Trish, Peggy, Carla, and every woman whose life has been affected by this ugly disease. And hopefully the year after that, I will return to school to become a pediatric oncology nurse. It will be a long road, but I think God has handed me a road map with my destination clearly marked and all I have to do is buckle up and  follow his directions.

My heart is telling me that this is the something that was supposed to come out of all of this.



Until next post, which I promise will be more fun and upbeat, here is the saddest and sweetest song. ever.

What's up?

If you like songs that make you just want to get up and dance-this is what's up.

Chris Martin Love

When she was just a girl,
She expected the world.
But, it flew away from her reach,
So she ran away in her sleep
and dreamed of paradise.
Every time she closed her eyes.


...and I still do. Enjoy!

Jack White Love

We've enjoyed Jack White for years, but his latest c.d. Blunderbuss, is ah.mazing. I just can't get enough. This c.d was seriously all we listened to for two weeks straight. I never tired of it. Bryan just recently replaced it with the new Shin's c.d and okay, okay I get that everyone thinks their new stuff is out of this world, but they got nothing on my man Jack. 

Get off your chair and dance around the room. You know you want to! 

Music Music Music!

Since my husband got back from Coachella this last week (and I am totally beating myself up for not buying myself a ticket!), I have been in a music mood. All music. All the time. At our house we hold a special place in our hearts for most genres; sometimes, even country music happens. And it's almost always on somewhere in the house. When cleaning the room I have to turn on the Reality Bites music channel.  Because cleaning my room makes me feel 14, and that station caters to my inner grunge band-loving self. When making dinner, we turn up  the Jazz channel. Dinner's just not the same without a trumpet in the background. For homework, it's mostly The Black Keys that really get Bryan jazzed about calculus. This week I have had some super songs stuck in my head, and I've got to get them stuck in your heads to...because I can't do anything by myself, and that includes humming songs over and over and over. 


From LCD Soundsystem (who are no longer together...what a pitty):

Princess Chelsea (It's a little worrisome that my children know all these lyrics. Let's hope they don't start singing this at school):

The Black Keys (who doesn't love these two?):

And, Iron and Wine (Slowly, becoming one of my favorites):

If you have some songs that you just can't get out of your head, share them! I love discovering new (to me) music!

Stuck in my head

I think I'm a little late to the Phantogram party, but I do love them so. This song has been stuck in my head since about 9am...