break it down

23 Jul

one of my colleagues just walked in on me doing the Running Man while singing Can’t Touch This .

Happy Friday!

18 songs

22 Jul

My friends like to remind me that my taste in music sucks.  They tell me this all. the. time.  Two friends have even – on multiple occasions – threatened bodily harm if I didn’t turn off my music or switch to something more their style. In other words words, switch to something good.

I don’t take offense to it, though.  Actually, I like my music. I’m certainly not worldly when it comes to music, so I can’t really judge.  And while there are times when I even find myself questioning some of musical selections, I know what I like. So scoff if you will – I’m not switching stations.

Here is today’s list:
18 random* songs currently on my iPhone:

Note: Justin Bieber is most certainly NOT on the list… I’m not actually sure who he is, but his emo hair irks the shit out of me, and I kinda want to punch him in the face.  Anyway, on to the list…

  • Van Morrison, Wonderful Remark (he’s kinda God to me)
  • The Pixies, Where is My Mind (Pixies = rage. OMG! Love them!)
  • REM, Electrolite (Michael Stipe is a poet and I love him.)
  • U2, Numb (this is the perfect song to listen to at maximum volume while driving around Slea Head in Ireland on a foggy day with your best friend. I know because I did it)
  • Hole, Jennifer’s Body (I love Hole, and essentially everything Courtney Love has ever written/recorded.  I actually cried when I heard her sing Reason To Be Beautiful live.)
  • Paolo Nutini, Candy (I admit to singing this song very loudly when I’m alone driving in my car. I make no apologies.)
  • Juanes, Es Por Ti (OMG, Juanes = sex. on. a. stick.)
  • The Ramones, California Sun (The Ramones have been known make me spontaneously break into dance in the middle of my kitchen on more than one occasion… though I wouldn’t actually call it dancing, it’s more like flailing my arms in the air while shaking my bootay)
  • Amy MacDonald, This is the Life (I had higher hopes for Amy MacDonald when I started listening to her a few years back, but I haven’t heard much from her since then. It’s too bad because she’s really good.)
  • Bad Religion, Social Suicide (because American Jesus would just be too predictable.)
  • Prince, Raspberry Beret (Oh how I wish I had a heavy alternative version of this by Sean Panting. I would go to Junctions in St. John’s every night Thursday after work back in ‘the day’ to hear his band, Drive, and EVERY single time I would get them to sing this for me.  Then I would usually make out with him. teehee!)
  • The Band, The Shape I’m In (I really, really love The Band. But then, everyone does, right?)
  • The Pogues, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (Funny story: so I’m chilling out in my hotel room in Dublin and I get hit with a total revelation: If póg mo thóin (pogue mahone) means kiss me arse, then given that they were bad asses, and Shane MacGowan was the biggest one of them all, then SURELY The Pogues were in fact The Arseholes.  I proceeded to call them The Arseholes for about a week, usually when I was drunkenly being one myself in the company of disgusted irishfolk.  It never dawned on me that pogue actually meant kiss.  ’cause yeah, I’m all s-m-r-t like that.)
  • The Grateful Dead, Ripple (deadhead since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I went into mourning in 1995 when Jerry Garcia died because, yes, I was really that much of a loser. True Story. Ripple is the guiding song of my life.)
  • This recording of the Gayatri Mantra. I’ve chanted this for years now.  I’ve also been known to sleep with this on repeat.  Is that weird?  (little piece of trivia that I discovered a few years back when the familiar words grabbed my attention as BSG was coming on – it’s used in the the opening theme music. I admit that this fact has lessened my devotion to the mantra, but I still chant it, and I am completely in love with this musical version.)
  • The Tragically Hip, Another Midnight (Gordon Downie = poet. I effing love him!)
  • Amelia Curran, The Mistress (I discovered her last year, and honest to gawd, I still can’t get enough of her.  If you don’t know who she is you NEED to go give her a listen.)
  • Hara, Muro Shavo (I admit to not really having any other Hara, but it kinda represents the mishmash of bad euro pop dancy stuff that I hear and love when I’m in the vineyard. Embarrassingly, I have a lot of it…and that might very well be the root of my friends’ complaints.)

*given that iPod shuffle kinda sucks balls in that it selects from a set number of songs, I usually get stuck with a series of random songs by two or 3 artists at a time. If anyone knows how to change that please let me know.  In any event, I selected these ‘random’ songs by putting the player on shuffle and hitting forward until I got 16 songs that I felt gave a good representation.

Happy Birthday Sissy Creature!

20 Jul

today is my little sister’s birthday.

My sister is one of the most amazing women I know.  She is an amazing mother, a devoted wife, a fiercely loyal friend, and she has the kindest, gentlest heart I have ever know a person to have.

I love you, sis!
xoxo

5 things I would probably die without

20 Jul

  • internet. i won’t even go camping if the campsite doesn’t  have wi-fi.
  • baths. i have tried to live without a bathtub and it made me miserable.  I am not flexible on this one.
  • sundried tomato pesto. I could eat it with a spoon if I’d let myself. Every time I eat it I declare that if I could only have ONE food item for the rest of my life it would be sundried tomato pesto.
  • a camera. point and shoot, slr, digital, film, I don’t care.  I need a camera.  mental pictures just don’t cut it.
  • a journal. electronic or paper, I have been a religious journal keeper since I was 8 years old.

10 things that make me smile for no apparent reason

19 Jul

…other than they just make me happy.

  • cupcakes.  that’s an obvious one.
  • my nephew.  he is awesome, and I absolutely love him. I would do anything in this world for him.  I also love that even at his young age he has my sense of humour.
  • sitting next to the ocean. preferably on a foggy day when there is nobody else around.
  • watching children play.  either on their own or together, I love seeing the pure joy on a child’s face when they are immersed in play.
  • my old cat Fubar.  I miss him terribly.  He was such a bad ass, which is probably why he was the best cat ever. I smile every time I think of him.
  • fresh brewed coffee waiting for me when I wake up.  no explanation needed there.
  • this shade of green.  it has become known within my circle of friends as lori green.
  • the smell of lemons. fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon oil.  mmmmm… lemons.
  • driving over that little hill past the split just as you come into Ottawa  after a long roadtrip. it’s at that second that I realize I’ve made it  home.
  • lilacs.

Note: I had to change the numbers to bullets because this damn theme defaults to letters instead of numbers. wtf?? If someone could fix that for me it would also make me smile.

the week of lists

19 Jul

I’ve been having a bit of a harder time getting back into writing regular blog posts than I had anticipated.  I’ve gotten over the apprehension that was keeping me from blogging regularly for the past year, and I really want to write now. I have many things in my mind that I want to put on these electronic pages, but I’m having a hard time finding my voice again, I think.  That and I have about a million things floating around in my mind that I need to get sorted into some sort of cohesive mix. To help with that, I’m declaring this week the week of lists.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

16 Jul

As promised, here is the recipe I used for the Red Velvet cupcakes in jars for my Random Act of Cupcakes.  This recipe is based on a recipe from the Joy of Baking.  The first time I made a red velvet cake it was for my friends wedding cake.   The recipe I used was amazing!  Sadly over the years I lost it. I remember that specific recipe because it called for lard, and I remember being completely grossed out by that.  I swapped the lard out for shortening, and it was amazing.

I started using the Joy of Baking recipe back in 2007 but I found that it didn’t taste quite as good as the one  from before so I switched it up a tiny bit to resemble that old recipe.  Now I find it tastes just like my memory of that old one recipe.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
red food coloring (I find the paste or gel works best. You have to use a lot)
1 tsp white distilled vinegar
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven.

In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the shortening until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.

Working quickly, scoop the batter into lined cupcake tins.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
Remove from the pans and allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (plus more depending on the thickness and consistency you are looking for)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a mixing bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter.

Add the vanilla, then gradually beat in the icing sugar.

Voila!

Random Act of Cupcakes

16 Jul

I woke up yesterday morning and declared it Cupcake Thursday; but instead of just going out and treating myself to a cupcake I thought it would be more fun to treat others to some.  So, I took to twitter and asked if anyone was interested in having cupcakes.  Within seconds I had replies!  I decided to pick the first two people who responded (Corey Tamas and Dana aka Wankergirl).

I’m pretty sure they both thought I was kidding – I mean, cupcakes delivered absolutely free, with no strings attached just because some crazy twitter chick wanted to do something nice.  meh. works for me.

So how does a grrl bake up a batch of cupcakes to send to her favourite tweeps? Remember the cupcakes in little jars I made and sent to my dad to surprise him last Father’s Day? That’s how!

This time I made red velvet with cream cheese frosting.
(I will post the recipe this afternoon.)

I packed them up and shipped them out this morning.

and now I wait. I hope they like them :)

I think we should start a Random Act of Cupcakes movement!  Send someone cupcakes and make them smile!

moshing

13 Jul

We arrive at the Sound Academy amidst a throng of baby doll dresses and fishnet stockings; we make our way past the most gay men I have ever seen in one place at the same time (who knew Courtney was so big with the gay boys!?), and we proceed to the VIP line where we are – get this – ID-ed.  We move on to the stairs, get our bracelets and make our way up to the balcony.  As I look down at the floor below I feel my heart sink as I see an opening about 5 people back from front-row-centre. I look over at Joni and say “You realize there’s no way in hell I’m staying up here, don’t you.”

She takes a gulp of her wine as, I am certain, she is flashing back to 1995 – memories of herself screaming at me to kill the Hole (or she will kill me) run through her head.  “I think I need another one of these first”, she moans, as she heads back to the bar.

A few minutes later we’re standing on the club floor surrounded by what I can only describe as a motley crew of teenage whores.  I love it.

We stand, chat, fight off people trying to force their way past us for a better spot, all while a young band from Ireland tries to get the crowd pumped for the show that is about to begin. There is no need – the crowd is rife with anticipation. You can hear people wonder aloud whether Courtney will show, if she will be out of it, will she be on a tirade, will it be a good show…   It’s funny how everyone wonders the same thing.

Anticipation builds until the band finally takes to the stage.  Courtney wales out the lyrics of Pretty on the Inside, then kicks it in to a heavy version of Sympathy for the Devil.  She transitions into Miss World and I see two young girls in white baby doll dresses and plastic tiaras singing along to the words in front of us.  I lean over to Joni and scream “you realize we have tattoos older than some of these people, right?” She nods and looks at her feet.

Before she gets a chance to raise her head I am jumping on the shoulders of the guy in front of me and headed for the mosh pit.  Old habits die hard.

Saturday night

13 Jul

After 16 years of waiting I finally got to see Hole (er, Courtney Love) live in concert on Saturday night. It was better than I ever imagined it could be.

My friend and I had VIP tickets at the Sound Academy. BTW: If you ever get a chance to check out a show there you should. It is a fantastic venue for live music.

Here we are hanging out after the show.  I am very sweaty and my heavy eyeliner is smudged… just like it should be after a Hole show.

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