Bon Iver

This is Russ's current fave from Bon Iver.

Bon Iver

Last night Russ and I cashed in his birthday present -- tix to see Bon Iver. He's pretty rad! The show was sold-out at the Bowery Ballroom, but we managed to get ourselves in! And it was SOOOO GOOD!!!



The artist is Justin Vernon, who has taken the pen name, Bon Iver -- from the French words "bon hiver", meaning "good winter."

A couple winters ago, he spent four months in his father's cabin in northwestern Wisconsin after a breakup. He says he headed there because he "just didn't know what to do with his life." He tells Reveille Magazine, "It was the first time I could really hear myself. I had my finger on the pulse of what was happening as it happened. Having the time and space allowed me to listen to my inner voice. When you’re in a city and constantly playing shows and are worried about how your band’s doing it’s too easy to get distracted. "

He had a few tools: one guitar, a baritone guitar, bass drum, a snare drum, a horn, and reverb pedals. And out came his album, "For Emma, Forever Ago."


Check him out!!!

You can hear my fave of his on my playlist to the right -- the song is called "For Emma."

And Russ's fave is here, "Stacks."

Most Amazing Blog Poll Ever

Goodness. After much dispute that I should split up the dating poll because the numbers would allegedly show a HUGE difference if we divided the questioning among men and women... alas, the numbers are STILL divided.

THE RESULTS:
Girl Poll: If a guy asks you out and you know for a fact that you're not interested and there is NO chance for a future, what is the proper response?
Go anyway! It could be fun! And you could end up liking him!
7 (36%)
Go anyway! No harm there. And he might have cute roommates!
6 (31%)
Don't go. And be honest that you're not interested. Don't waste the poor boy's time getting his hopes up!
5 (26%)
Don't go. Be kind. Even if that means making something up!
1 (5%)
If you really don't want to go, then don't. And if you can't come up with a reason, don't call him back.
0 (0%)

Boy Poll: If you ask a girl out and she knows for a fact that she's not interested and there is NO chance for a future, what is the proper response?
Go anyway. Give me a chance to work my Man Magic. I could cast a spell you didn't expect!
3 (30%)
Go anyway. We could have fun and that way I don't have to go alone to something I'd do anyway.
2 (20%)
Don't go. Why waste anyone's time? Just be honest. I respect that more.
5 (50%)
Don't go. But be kind. Even if it means making something up.
0 (0%)
Don't go. And it's okay if you don't return my phone call to let me down.
0 (0%)

Forgive me for not contacting our polling unit to interpret the data. My experience from stat classes in undergrad and grad school will have to do.
I am curious now... what are the intentions of the pollees?
Are people more interested in:
hanging out?
or finding someone to marry?

This is largely a rhetorical question.

Mostly, we can deduct that we all agree that it's not cool to ignore someone when he has the guts to ask you out. I've been given thank you upon thank you for being real with a guy and letting him know my interests lied elsewhere. So ladies, please... if a man puts his Friday night on the line for you and you're not interested, please have the decency to tell him your dance card is full.

Having Fun with Failure

I've been thinking that fantastic query, "What's next?", once again.
I feel as if I do this all the time... trying to find more excitement and ideas in my life. I have a few ideas brewing and have given myself some deadlines to get started... and those days are creeping close!

Mostly I'm grateful for the "real life" I have created outside of work.
Don't get me wrong, my job is fun. I typically downplay how much I enjoy it, but I suppose that's because I enjoy the other aspects of my life even more... like playing with friends and such.

As I was searching for some inspiration today, I ran across J.K. Rowling's commencement speech at Harvard. I'm not typically on the "I heart J.K." bandwagon, but this is a great speech if you're looking for a little boost to follow your dreams... or to figure out what dreams have yet to manifest themselves.

Sunset

Why I am the "Cool Aunt"

Deconstructing Dating

So... in regards to the poll...

I'm posting another poll. This time I'm splitting it up for men and women respondents. I've had a couple guys tell me to split it up. They both said, "I bet if you poll just guys they'll say such-n-such." Their assumed answers were complete opposites. :)
I find this funny.
How come we haven't talked about this unsaid "rule" before?

Here's the poll question again:

If a guy asks a girl out and she knows for a fact that she's not interested and there is NO chance for a future, what is the proper response?

The poll results (from men and women):

Go anyway. At least it helps you both practice dating. (And who knows - he could have cute friends!)
12 (40%)

No way. Don't go. Be honest. Why waste anyone's time?
12 (40%)

Don't go and let him down easy, even if it means making up a reason.
6 (20%)

So what's the deal here?
I tend to believe that if I'm not seeing anyone else at the time and the guy doesn't give me the creepy vibe, then I'll go. Why not? It'd be a good time.

But then there's the other argument: I'm not looking for any other guy "friends". I have plenty of friends. I'm looking for a keeper, not just a "good time." So if I'm not interested, then why waste my time -- or his?

So please, let's continue to discuss. And please vote!
And all you "marrieds" -- please weigh in too. What would you have done? Or what have you done and regretted/celebrated?

My Grandma always said...

"Only boring people are bored."

Dating Poll

For those of you who read through the Reader, will you check out my latest poll? This was the result of a recent conversation I had with a couple friends. So please vote, give me your feedback on this, and we will hopefully discuss in a couple days. What do you think?

If a guy asks a girl out and she knows for a fact that she's not interested and there is NO chance for a future, what is the proper response?

Fun and the Ferry

Lumina came into town this weekend!!! And can you believe, the only proof I have are the beautiful flowers and the toothbrush she left behind. Sheesh!



Sunday we had another lovely family dinner. Quite fantastic. Plus the picnic for the Halls.

Nope.

No pics of that either.


But last night Russ and I headed over to Staten Island on the ferry. It's something I've been wanting to do for a long time. And I caught a few pictures as we waited for our ferry on the way back to the Better Borough.

Here are the VIPs (very informative pics) I'm sure you were dying to see...

The Best Answer to Keeping Something...

Let go.

Mark 14:34-36

(thank you Krikava)

Spooning With Russ

Last week was Russ's birthday. It was a blessed day for so many reasons... the primary reason of course being the celebration of his existence. Another reason: discovering that the World Record for the Most Spoons Balanced on the Face stands at 16... and that our dear Russ has a solid chance of beating it.
Leah only had 10 spoons... and Russ put 'em to work.
I give you...
Spoonman.


And now you understand why he's so awesome don't you??

(p.s. Micah, sweet job on the editing. We should hire you at the ABC.)

4th of July

Best 4th BBQ ever!

Something Amazing Just Happened

And it was all because of one man.
Thank you so much, Ryan Simmons.


Something very strange and beautiful happened in the mix of Mormons at a gay bar. (ahem... a "cabaret" mind you... with rainbow flags outside... but still, I suppose not technically "gay." Thanks for the correction Ryan -- who is not gay, but makes me happy.)

As a side note, some new computer program changes the word "gay" to "homosexual." Last Sunday the site using the program changed Olympic hopeful Tyson Gay's name to read "Tyson Homosexual". Um... yeah...

And look! I finally got to meet Andrea's sister!!!

Such a great night! Congrats on such a great show, Ryan!

I had to...

Thank you Micah for sending this my way... It has brought much joy (and sadness!) to the people here at the ABC.

Happy Birthday Darren!!!!!

I love you Bro! You're the best ever!!!!
You're numbers 1, 2, and 3 in my book! :)
Cheers to another year for the Greatest Bro on Earth!

Feeding God's Army

When I lived in Portland, one of the things I looked forward to most every week were Sundays. I loved going to church and hearing about the gospel, seeing many of my friends in one place, and then heading down to my brother's for a family dinner. It set a great precedent for me, keeping Sundays the day for those things most important.
In New York, I've been able to create a pretty awesome family of friends. (Seriously, these people are way rad.) Every now and then we've been able to have a really great family night on Sundays... and now we're trying to pick that back up and make it a weekly event.

So this past Sunday, we went to Connie's. A few of us receive vegetables every week through our local CSA group, and Connie cooked up the entire lot. Um... YUM!!!!!
The big guests of honor were our ward missionaries, who are some of the neatest guys! I absolutely adore missionaries. I so wish I'd gone on a mission (oh!!! Some day!!!! It will happen!)

I'd been wanting to meet with the missionaries and have them over for dinner for a while, so this was a really exciting evening. It was so great talking about their lives as missionaries and how we could help them as ward member missionaries. (For those of you in my Sunday School class, I'm sure you'll get an earful!) :)
I loved our family night!!!

A Hunting We Will Go...

This weekend marked the First Annual Inwood Scavenger Hunt Extravaganza. The lovely Corina spent several hours scouring the northern part of the island looking for tidbits of history and mystery. On Saturday morning, we split into groups and tried to conquer the quest.


Our group, which Holly appropriately named Team Frisky, was on a roll. We quickly spotted all the clues and enjoyed some really great conversation along the way. We even saw some cool things that weren't on the list, like this lil' WigWam! The day just verified that Manhattan - and my friends - are pretty much the greatest ever.

We were pretty much the best team to ever scavenge a hunt. We were headed for a win as we wandered up to the Cloisters, but as the day dragged on, our feet seemed to drag a bit more slowly. The deadline to return was quickly approaching and we decided to avoid the rush to the finish, keep our friendships intact, and declare ourselves winners no matter the outcome.
Upon our return we found that the other teams were equally as exhausted and educated. It was such fun times!!!