mi madre

mi madres is a taco restaurant in austin. the best migas tacos! dude, so good. so good in fact that my new favorite band, the mae shi, had them in austin during sxsw and they are not even from the area.

mi madres is also spanish for my mom and in honor of her i made this rad eye mask and simple sugar scrub for mi madres day. thanks craftzine blog for the fantastic ideas! the directions for both projects were incredibly simple. im never buying expensive exfoliant scrubs again!

Coachella-cha-cha-cha

During SXSW 2008 I couldn't help but notice the sheer ugliness of the clothes that festival-goers where wearing. I felt like it was a dream world for a photographer of Vice Magazine. Maybe this trend has been going on for a while. I mean even my dear friend, Brett Anderson said "the uglier, the cooler". Yikes!

I just read The New York Times Coachella report. I particularly loved this paragraph:

But what’s indie? For instance: Coachella is awash with festivalgoers walking around the stages and art installations wearing T-shirts that they’ve carefully selected. Nonobvious slogans, obscure brands. But because so much of the audience is educated, grown up and employed, with a little scratch in their pockets and a healthy sense of leisure time, they have an acute sense of irony and pluralism. What kind of brand, slogan or cultural entity on a T-shirt would be thoroughly uncool, unalternative, at Coachella? Budweiser? Metallica? James Taylor? Bell Biv DeVoe? All acceptable, under the bylaws of ironic nostalgia and open-mindedness. (Think harder. Maybe Pottery Barn. Maybe Tiffany’s.)

Bell Biv DeVoe? Get real! Now you want to get ugly and ironic get one of these haircuts and stand still...I'll practice my bow and arrow shots through your hair high-top.

When did indie cool turn into being an indie fool?

Fleet Foxes 4.18.08

I feel blessed to have seen the Fleet Foxes hometown performance last Friday. The band has really blown up since they left for tour in the late Winter. Brian and I saw them at SXSW at a day show at Emo's Annex with a very very small crowd in attendance. Their performance at Neumo's was one to remember, the band's parent's were there and handed out roses to the band, the lead singer could not seem to stop smiling...I think they were shocked to come home to a sold-out crowd that knew the lyrics to many songs from an album that has yet to be released. This YouTube clip is from that show but it doesn't do their music justice. I suggest when the record drops to buy it immediately. We have both the EP and the album but I do plan on buying the record on vinyl because it's unbelievable.

spring's in the air

*cherry blossom update: they are huge and remind me of clouds and cotton candy and marshmallows!


i have a lot going on in the next few weeks. first of all, lots of shows: caribou, fleet foxes, blitzen trapper, simian mobile disco, ellen allien, el parro del mar, vetiver, dirty projectors, why? i know it's crazy but some bands are touring together, still it seems like a lot.

all this week i am volunteering at kuow for the spring pledge drive. i love being at that radio station. the staffers are nice and there is always a bountiful amount of food that is donated during the pledge drive. bagels, candy, mighty-o donuts, sandwiches from Taste (restaurant for the SAM), unlimited supplies of vitamin water and talking rain. score! i'll be back there on saturday afternoon with brian. i'm excited that he get's to volunteer with me and he gets to hit up all the free goodies too.

since it's spring now i'm trying to double up on the "adventure" activities. adventure activities for me are more like activities that i don't do often or not familiar with.

so with that said i'm volunteering a shit load at the center for wooden boats. i volunteered my cooking skills in a chili cook-off competition for the spring kick-off party on april 26th. my first chili competition or should i say my first cooking competition ever. i don't expect the judge (some dude from the CIA-yikes) to pick me for first place but i don't expect to come in last place either. haha. after all the sailing, beer swiggin' and chili eatin' there will be dancing on the docks off of lake union. salsa, merengue, conga, and the cha-cha. i'm really excited about this event but my biggest question is what makes a good chili?

pic of brian and i - sxsw '08

SXSW '08

i'm finally getting back in the groove of my life here in seattle. after spending almost a week in austin, it's hard to get back in the slow poke mindset that everyone else here lives in. we saw a ridiculous amount of bands. most notably, thurston moore, fleet foxes, blitzen trapper, jens lekman, and atlas sound. the list goes on and on. also, i think i'm having withdrawal symptoms from lack of cigarettes, free beer, tex-mex, and bbq.

right: katie and i looking real haggard after hours of rock band