I’m a few weeks late with this post, sorry. I’m terrible at being consistent.
The Weeknds’ Montreal…
Earlier today I wrote about how I feel disconnected from music lately. You’d think posting these monthly tracks would be a clear indicator that I stay in touch. Honestly, it’s pretty difficult to choose one song to represent each month. Not because theirs so many to choose from either. More than anything trying to guide Riley through life surrounded by better music has made me realize how far me and music have grown. I keep going back to the old standards that my parents raised me on, anythings better than Bieber.
Riley’s soundtrack to her life, Year 3 in progress…
October | Intro
November | Take Care
Today I wanted to focus on one of my favorite parts of Miss Pussycat, her nose. We believe our kitty to be the most beautiful of all kitties, and this teeny detail may be the biggest reason. When she was a kitten she had ringworm on her nose, and even then it was still adorable. Disease ridden, but adorable. She only got slightly irritated by me taking incredibly close range photos of her today. Penny let me know when she was done by putting her little paw on the camera lens, damn cute kitty. I then stopped and played some games with her, then gave her a couple of treats as payment for her hard work.
I’ve said this before but this week I’m becoming more consumed by the thought… Am I in a music rut because music has changed or have I? Lately I’ve been so thirsty for some mind blowing tunes that I’ve begun rummaging through my favorite albums from the aughts, mostly early to middle. This is certainly my favorite time for music, I haven’t been in love with anything as much since. I thought maybe as I got older I became more detached from the music scene, I go to less concerts, I spend less time listening. I still acquire copious amounts of music but rarely have the time to listen to any.
Today I had another thought about how growing up may have estranged me from music. When I was a younger all I did was sit in my room and listen to music, all day and night. I’d lay in my bed and listen. When I played video games music was on. Music was on when I surfed the interwebs. Music was on while my friends were over. I had a television set that was usually set to old cartoons on mute, my makeshift music videos. When I left the house I walked far distances or took long bus and train rides, always with my diskman handy and a case of cds in my back pack.
I’m not all that old, I’ll be turning twenty-eight in two months, so why isn’t music consuming me anymore? I think the problem is a lack of time alone with music. My bedroom only has a television now, it’s never on mute, I’m usually watching way too much Netflix. I don’t play video games anymore, or surf the web for hours. I don’t lay down with music playing, ever. I drive everywhere, usually with NPR on. This relationship may be lacking because of me. I somehow disconnected from music and I didn’t even notice that all of our quality time was gone.
Right now I’m wearing my headphones and trying to pay attention to the new music I’ve acquired, rather than just having it and never playing it. I’m listening to the much anticipated (I was looking forward to it) Lana Del Rey album… it kind of sucks. So maybe its both of our faults. Musicians and I are lacking, we really need to work on this for the sake of our children. I promise to make more time for you if you promise to be more awesome.
P.S. But seriously, this album is really bad. I still love the three songs on it that I previously gushed over, but that is all. Sad.
“For all of its coos about love and devotion, it’s the album equivalent of a faked orgasm– a collection of torch songs with no fire.” – Lindsay Zoladz (Pitchfork)
Over the holidays I knew it was time to do this. When I first imagined making a pie from scratch I thought about apple or cherry. They seemed like the go to filling for homemade pies. But I don’t like either pie, so why make something I won’t enjoy. Given the time of year I decided to go with the holiday standard, the most delicious of all the pies… pumpkin.
Apparently this was a particularly unpopular choice of pie. Not that baking pumpkin pies isn’t a holiday staple… but people generally don’t bake these from scratch. Finding a pumpkin that wasn’t intended for carving was pretty much impossible, actually in late November finding any pumpkin at all was impossible. Thankfully Terrence had bought a pumpkin back in October for us to carve or possibly eat, it wasn’t my first choice but given the circumstance it was going to have to do. According to Alton Brown, pumpkins have to shelf life of two months… so I was safe. But just in case I bought some butternut squash to back me up.
Don’t let anyone tell you cutting a pumpkin in half is easy… it’s not. It might have been if I had the proper knife, but since I didn’t I’m gonna be a big baby about and say that halving a pumpkin is bullshit.
The recipe I used called for a gingersnap crust, but I much prefer graham cracker crusts for pumpkin pies.
This pumpkin pie business was a difficult and long process. My friend Amanda came over and we were both supposed to bake pies from scratch. She was originally going to make an apple pie, but felt tired and instead got the above pictured cans of blueberry pie filling and some frozen crusts. She was done in an hour… it probably took me that long to crack open my pumpkin halves. It was after midnight when she left and the pumpkin halves weren’t even close to done baking yet. Next year we’ll have to remember to start this bake fest in the day time instead of after dinner.
We made the pies the night before Thanksgiving, Amanda had work the next morning (she works in a hospital) so she couldn’t stay with me until the bitter end. Also, Terrence went out to party hard with all the other kids in bars, so I was left all alone to bake. In my down time from assembling the pie I kept myself busy, and awake, by prepping other Thanksgiving sides. When it came time for the last stage of the pie, the baking, I had run out of busy work. I set the timer for 40 minutes and sat on my bed to watch some television… next thing I knew I was awakened by the scent of burning an hour and twenty minutes after the timer had gone off. FML.
I was so angry, I tossed the burned pie onto the stove top and stormed back to my bedroom defeated. Thankfully I had enough puree to make one more pie. I set my alarm and went back to bed. Bright and early before all the other holiday crazy started I went back to work on my pie. After I blind baked the crust and took it out of the oven I foolishly set it down on the stepping stool beside me. Without thinking I kicked the oven door shut and it hit into the baking sheet tossing the crust into the air and butter side down onto the floor. I began screaming obscenities, this was in fact the Murphy’s law of pies. After Terrence calmed me down, I picked myself and my pie pan up off of the floor and began working on my third pie crust. This time things finally went smoothly.
That night both of our families had shared the pie. Terrence was across the street with his family while I was in our apartment with mine, we crossed back and forth and ate way too much as usual. I was at home when Terrence and his kin were having dessert, my phone began exploding with text messages with single word exclamations… apparently the devil pie was a hit. So much in fact that Terrence ran over with the other half for me and my family to enjoy. Everyone was pretty floored by it, being my own worst critic… I thought that the Libby’s pumpkin pie from a can version I usually make were better. Terrence called me crazy.
Both of our families told me that I had to make this evil pie annually. So now I have a new job, hopefully next year I won’t fall asleep on it.
***
Oh and for those curious about Amanda’s blueberry pie… here’s her quick and painless baking experience.
I’d forgotten all about catnip. Today while Terrence and I were cleaning up the apartment we had the coffee table compartment open and Penny climbed in. While inside the table she discovered her canister of catnip and began nudging it with her nose. Damn cute kitty.
Terrence’s parents and his sister live across the street. I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy living so close to his family, but they really are the best neighbors. Terrence has become obsessed with the idea of moving lately and one my biggest motivators for wanting to stay is our proximity to his family.
One of the nice things about our neighbors are they’re adorable pets. They have 3 cats (Bubbles, Buttercup and Sam) and a dog (Cali). Buttercup is an odd cat, she’s just about the most lovable creature on the planet. She constantly wants you to pet her and in return she’ll lick your hand raw as long as its near her. When Cali moved in about two years ago it was the perfect pairing for Buttercup. Finally, she had a friend that would allow her to cuddle all day. Its a bizarre love affair.
Since I’ve been sort of slacking on the posts lately I thought I’d rush the do and post a two in one hair blog. I only have four months of intense hair growth stalking left so I thought I’d catch up a bit. Its been eight months since I fell pray to the hormonal scissor mishaps of my previous stylist and I figured I’d try and end it on time rather than a month after.
All the other times I cut my hair I felt like it grew way faster, I don’t know if its the watched pot syndrome or if I’m just remembering wrong… but it really did seem more like…
… then what its actually been.
There were two reasons I went to the salon back in May, initially I just wanted to trim my bangs and shape up my layers for my passport photo. The second, and last minute, reason was that I thought I looked boring and wanted more of a modern style. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ll never possess an edgy hair style, I just don’t have the hair type for the hairstyles I covet. I also think I may finally be ready to take my passport picture… once I trim my bangs, they’re getting a little wild. I promise I won’t chop the locks dramatically this time.
(December)
(January)
Progress for the win.
P.S. I really do give up on straightening my hair for these, too much work makes me sleepy and then I procrastinate.
I don’t like to make resolutions, but I do like to celebrate any accomplishments the year and I come across. 2011 was filled with celebrations, obstacles, hardships and growth. Here’s a look back at just a few of the major and minor things last year threw at me…
I turned 27-years-old, which was a good time. I think aging is a great thing, I don’t mind getting older. But I do often get down on myself for not achieving as much as other people my age, this year was the first time I didn’t do that. I don’t want to let milestones get in my way, I’ll grow up when I’m good and ready.
I realized that Terrence is constantly there to push me towards my goals, no matter how small. He always tells me to go for it, even if it means failing. He gives me the confidence to try new things… and in cases like the cello, he gives me the tools.
I had a lot of fun nights with Terrence and his family. Having them as our neighbors is seriously awesome. Sometimes watching Terrence with his sister makes me a little jealous, because I don’t think I’ll ever have a bond like they do with any of my siblings. But its cool, I get to sit in and be a part of it sometimes, like the night we made sushi. And what a delicious bond you were indeed.
The biggest error in judgement last year was that damn day in May when I told my now ex hair stylist that I trusted her. I’ll never do that again. Although growing it out and sharing that progress with all of you peoples on the interwebs has been fun.
The day Terrence and I learned that no matter how big the argument or the scene you make on the streets of Boston, a drink at Cheers will always fix it. We have so much fun together and every year when we cut ourselves off from routine we remind each other just how strong our relationship is.
This last Summer I found the love of my life, and that love is… Maine lobster. I plan on going back this Summer to rekindle the old flame, I’m sure, as always, it will be magical.
When I first got my bicycle I thought it was just another check on my life list, I was that much closer to my rail trail goal. But since biking around Staten Island throughout the year I met some pretty awesome people. I also had several really fun days out with Terrence. He pushed me to the limit on that bike, he made jello of my legs. Whenever I said I couldn’t do something he made me do it or he left me in his dust. I thought he was being a jerk for a while, until I was finally able to reach the tops of those hills and I was really proud of myself. I can’t wait for winter to go away so we can get back out there.
We had to say goodbye to a very important family member. It was harder than I had ever thought and I was really grateful to have had such an amazing support system in my friends and family.
I embraced being a girl and grew up a little more in my style. I took chances and I stopped letting the mall dictate my wardrobe, or lack thereof. I found tons of different places online to help me feel a hell of a lot more confident in walking out my door. I think I may actually be growing up. Crazy.
Just as I was giving up on myself I sold out my etsy store. It was a much needed confidence boost. One of my goals I’m hoping to achieve is being able to start my own business and survive. I would love to be able to quit my stressful and often miserable day job and open my own shop. I’ve always wanted to find something to be passionate about enough to make it my life’s work and I feel like I’ve got it, now I just need to get it started. Being able to sell my first item has given me more drive to set those wheels in motion.
My childhood friend Stephanie had a baby. This is Izzy, to me she represents the start of so much change to come. The good type of change though. I’ve known Stephanie since the 6th grade, we’ve been best friends and roommates, she is like my sister. The day she told me she was pregnant I cried and cried. I had never been more happy for someone about to have a child. And then the holy shit moment happened, the its time to grow up moment. No matter how old I get I’ve never felt like an adult, that is until I watched Stephanie hold her daughter. I can not wait to embrace this whole aging thing, I’m super excited to watch baby Izzy grow up, but in order to do that I have to let go and acknowledge that we are adults now. It’s really scary.
This last year with Terrence has been, in my opinion, the best year of our relationship. Last December we hit a wall and made the decision to work on ourselves as individuals in order to be able to work as a couple. We have both evolved so much since then. I feel like a much stronger person now. I still fudge up from time to time, but I find it a lot easier to learn from my actions and make things right. With all the things that this year threw at me, I can’t imagine having gone through any of that without him there. He always asks me why I love him and I never give him an answer, I promise that by the end of 2012 I’ll give him 30.
Sorry, still no video out for the song… but I really like it. Although I usually can’t hear it without having to follow up with the original Gil Scott-Heron song, I’ll take care of you, and then the Jamie Xx remix… which of the three songs is the only one with an actual video, let’s enjoy that shall we.
The initial idea for this years holiday photoshoot came from a picture of Terrence as a wee tike.
In just about every prepubescent picture of Terrence he is wearing red suspenders and a tie. For years I’ve joked with him that he always looks like he just got back from a Macy’s shoot. So I had to, for his mother, get him back in these suspenders. Since he was getting decked out in a childlike way, I figured I would follow.
Not that I dress all that differently as I did when I was a lass. My mother usually had me in tent dresses and saddle shoes, ruffled underpants. I stayed away from the ruffled panties this time around, I wanted to stay classy. I was simply going to have us standing in front of the tree in our tike outfits but Terrence thought the clothes wouldn’t make sense, by that he meant he wanted people to understand that he would never wear red suspenders unless there was a clear reason for it. That reason wasn’t clear enough so I had to quickly come up with some sort of photo story.
The more pictures we took, the more agitated Terrence became about his outfit. He was being a little brat, which I guess was him staying in character. So this is what my brain came up with for our Christmas card…
All in all I feel like we could have done better, Terrence was so ashamed of his silly suspenders and the lost concept that he didn’t send out his holiday e-cards until about ten minutes before midnight on Christmas day. Next year I suppose we’ll go back to a simple photo in front of the tree and leave the ill fitting suspenders in the past.
I’m not all that old, I’ll be turning twenty-eight in two months, so why isn’t music consuming me anymore? I think the problem is a lack of time alone with music. My bedroom only has a television now, it’s never on mute, I’m usually watching way too much Netflix. I don’t play video games anymore, or surf the web for hours. I don’t lay down with music playing, ever. I drive everywhere, usually with NPR on. This relationship may be lacking because of me. I somehow disconnected from music and I didn’t even notice that all of our quality time was gone.
2004
2005
2006
2007
2007, Do-Over
2008
2010
2011
