Recent tales

My goodness, it's been a while since I've posted. (Besides the random dream rambling this weekend.) I am a gurl who is not informing!

Instead, here is what I have been doing in case anyone was wondering. I'll make it easy on you by using big photos to illustrate everything:

In October, I visited family and friends in Connecticut and New York City with my former roommate, Erin Herlihy. There, we ate, drank and were merry for a week. Erin learned about East Coast accents, my family's love for Happy Hour & karaoke, and truly cold weather. It was the foliage and all was beautiful, except when I got hives from eating raw oysters.

(Erin and I doing "Add it Up" by The Violent Femmes at karaoke in CT.
We had fans earlier in the night when we performed the more accessible "Say it Ain't So." This one was straight-up too vulgar and annoying, I guess.)

(The ill-fated oyster incident at Chowder Pot's happy hour in Hartford, CT.)

Like an annoying tourist, I went crazy in NYC and took a million photos of art at MOMA instead of buying postcards in their gift shop. I was less photo-happy when we saw two of the three Hanson brothers buried behind screaming fans in Time Square later that day. When we caught a glimpse of their faces, my reaction was: "Oh, that one doesn't look like a girl anymore." Then Erin offended one of their fans by asking her if "the ugly one" was there. "You know, the oldest one?" Erin explained as the girl gave her the stink-eye, before replying: "Yes, Isaac is here, and actuuuuuaaaally he is NOT ugly." Dang. Erin got TOLD.

(Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World" at MOMA.
He died almost exactly 1 year ago. This is the saddest piece. Painted in 1948.)

In November, my band Buildings Breeding played our last round of shows before calling it quits. Ironically (or maybe not-so ironically), both shows -- in Sacramento and in Davis -- probably drew some of the biggest crowds since we formed over 3 years ago. We also sold a lot of merch. Very bittersweet, but it was a wonderful ending to a great musical project. We also got paid by MTV to have one of our songs on "Sixteen & Pregnant," as well as two tracks on "Teen Mom." Apparently, our music appeals to a certain demographic. I'll thank Diablo Cody.

Also in November, I hosted Thanksgiving at my house for 7 people including my mom, step-dad and my brother who came up from Southern California. I suppose this means I am officially an adult. Oh yeah, and the food was great, obviously. Drench everything in butter and cover in bread crumbs, and you're good to go!

(Chris is holding a chocolate turkey.)

In December, the Sacramento News & Review ran a profile I wrote about metal artist Terrence Martin, and his life-size whale sculpture. After reading the piece, Terrence said I am "the bomb" in an e-mail. Sometimes I forget that I'm not the only person who still actively uses that term.

(Terrence inside the whale. Photo by Gabor Mereg.)

For the New Year, I got bangs, and Chris and I quit smoking cigarettes. Things keep lookin' up.

(Me, contemplating the year ahead... Resolution: Blog more!)

Summer flashback meets shameless self-plug

Today it was hot. No -- it was hotter than hot. It was hell: over 100 degrees in Sacramento. So, where was I? At the American River swimming around, trying my best to stay cool. (We don't have central AC at our little Midtown home.)

Last summer was worse, though, temperature-wise. I lived in an upstairs apartment in Davis that could not be cool no matter how many pairs of sunglasses it owned. (Good joke, huh?) Though it was slummy, we still shared some good times in that tiny apartment.

I hadn't watched the music video Chris (my boyfriend/bandmate) and I made for "History" in a while. It pretty much captures what last summer was like trapped in Davis. Maybe this summer, Chris and I should make a new home video compilation for one of our newer songs.

If you haven't already seen it, here it is. The music video for our song "History" by us (Buildings Breeding). I think it accurately demonstrates our obsession with Ronald the Cat:

Oh, and speaking of "History," the song is on our new vinyl record (limited edition surf green vinyl!), "In the Key of Calloused Fingers," (see below) which you can purchase through our MySpace, or download (but not get the vinyl -- boo!) on iTunes.

Meet Bruise Willis

So, last night we (Buildings Breeding) played our friend Josh's birthday bash. We followed grind-core band Knife Thru the Head, who stuck microphones up their bums, wore g-strings and had skulls on their packages.

Surprisingly, everyone dug us even though we weren't metal at all. In fact, I felt like I was in the Jackson 5, because girls were SCREAMING hysterically. It was amazing, but I could not sing very well while laughing my arse off.

I also slammed on the drums a bit more furiously than usual. Perhaps this is partly due to the fact that we played right after an intense hardcore band and also due to the fact that I was slightly drunk.

The result was this massive bruise on my shin from my kick pedal, which I didn't notice until this morning. (Thanks IPA keg!) I named it Bruise Willis.















Yes, I am blatantly showing off some shoes that I think are adorable.