go ahead. call me a music snob.

i'm so picky about song covers. i usually have a physical reaction or a knee jerk when i hear a cover come on the radio or tv, i usually have to turn the station. some people call this 'music snobbery,' but i choose to call it 'selective listening.' (my grandpa had it too, but that was a little different) the artist put out the song how they wanted it to sound, but that's just what i think. (and don't worry. i love karaoke. that's COMPLETELY different.)

now i have been a fan of glee for a while, and when i got back into town from my european excursion, i was psyched to sit down and watch two episodes of the show back to back. but you can only imagine my disappointment when i saw that one of the episodes was (yet another) tribute episode. (i happen to think that the madonna one was brilliant, but lady gaga pushed it, and britney pushed it over the edge, quite frankly.) but i thought i would give it a shot.

i have to say that the production team did a remarkable job, as did the dancers and choreographers. i mean, REALLY top notch. their dedication to creating a britney rich world, and recreating some of her most iconic looks was incredible...but i was only impressed up to a certain point.

for me, the only redeeming number of the episode was the "Toxic" number at the end of the episode. that is what i expect from a glee episode that's featuring pop music. the arrangement is really good, and the dancing is also exceptional. i really liked this number and at the end, i realized that i had hoped the whole episode would have been that good. i think that's the heart of my disappointment.

in case you missed it, glee - toxic clip for britney episode

and i just have to ask, what happened to the show tunes??? wasn't that the whole point at the beginning? i know that pop music can draw more fans, but half of the gleeks out there started watching the show for the references to broadway, both in music and choreography...and less for the trite pushing of the songs to fit the 'theme' for the week.

come on glee.

you're better than that.

absence makes the heart grow fonder...

ok, so i know i've been a little absent from the blogosphere lately, but i've been doing a little traveling. so i have good news and bad news.

GOOD NEWS:
you'll be getting some post dated pics and postings all about my trip!! YAY!!!

BAD NEWS:
i'm still editing and uploading photos, so it's gonna be a little while before you get to see anything....

but stick around and keep reading, because i promise they will be well worth waiting for! love you guys!!!

xoxo

UPDATE: yessssssssss!

so good news readers....my old hard drive was RECOVERED!!!!!!!!!! i'm so relieved/excited!!! you guys have no idea. i was so worried about losing all my pictures and music....YAY!

sad. sad. sad?

so i haven't been posting in the past couple of weeks, but my hard drive CRASHED! i mean, dead. dead. dead. so i'm trying to 'recover' my hard drive and save my pictures and things, so there will be a blogging hiatus, so to speak, until it finishes. cause i love for you guys to see my life in pictures, not just words. i love to share that with you!

so see you soon!!!

if you haven't seen "The Cove" yet, watch this.

this is one of the most moving and shocking PSAs i've seen in a long time. if you haven't ever really taken an interest in animal rights before, don't be fooled into thinking that it's only about the animals that we eat, or the animals that we see in captivity here and the way that they are treated. while those are of great importance, think about how animals are treated in countries that don't have as many animal-conscious people as the united states does. think about the animals that are harvested for food, and are toxic to those that are eating them. think about the lack of education that exists in other countries about animal cruelty. and think about what profiteers are doing to keep their money flowing in, and ignorance at a high. then watch this video.

i will warn you that the subject matter is unsettling, and while there are celebrities in the video, there is also some video shots that are a little bit graphic, so don't let your babies watch it....just thought i should warn you...

if you haven't ever been involved in animal rights, or heard anything about dolphin poaching, please visit  the take part website here, and watch the cove (you can get the dvd on netflix), or even get it on itunes.

it is truly powerful.

i have seen some inhumane things happen to animals in my life. things i couldn't do anything about, or anything to really help. but this is somewhere that i have felt empowered to help, and i challenge you to do the same. i feel very strongly about this. we can help these unwitting creatures to find some peace in their home. to save them from endangerment and possible extinction. and show these monsters giving orders and killing, that they can't just harvest the ocean. they have to answer to someone.

really think about taking some action. this cause has really broken my heart. i'm sure it does yours too.

Day 14 - Post a picture taken on your iPhone

I took this one today of my nephew. He is the most precious thing in the world...after my niece (but only cause I've known her longer) :)

so i was doing some harmless online looking...and i found some of the cutest things on the pottery barn's teen website. i know what you're thinking-- "that stuff's all for teenagers and pre-teens." and you might be right...BUT you might also be surprised by how cute everything is, and how easy it might be to incorporate some of those things into a grown-up's room!!

so check out these things...and i've included links, so it's easy to shop while you blog-stalk! enjoy!!!

first is this adorable pom-pom pillow. which would be so cute on any cream covered bed!

then there's this really cool idea of a create-your-own-wall-mural...which i think could be great for a number of things...a cool graphic in a baby's room. or a sophisticated image in the living or dining room. the possibilities are limitless!!!!

closely followed by the personalize-it-wall-mural, that allows you to give a warhol-like effect to any image you want! that's pretty cool, right?!

i love this peace sign light-up lamp for the wall...i think it's so cute for a game room!! (and i think you could hide that cord behind the wall too....)

i think these word bookends are so adorable!!! i would put them on ANY desktop or bookshelf.

i love this pillow for its simple message and it's adorable graphic! and you should "love your ocean" pillow! (and i might have to get this as a gift for someone i know who loves oceans!!)

this XOXOXOXO pillow is almost too cute for words. i just love it...and i would really love it on a plain cream sofa.

i think this light cube table would be so chic in an ultramodern living room. next to something with horns on it...hee hee

these laundry bags are so adorable, and they have some closet organization to match. and the pattern is great. i love the teal (pool)!

i love the simplicity of this big apple! i would love it on the kitchen counter, or as a cookie jar, or in the bedroom as a loose ends holder...you get the idea!

TOMS! (even on vacation!)

check out scarlett johansson wearing toms monday in austria!!! so exciting! i love when i see celebrities wearing them!!! if you aren't familiar with toms shoes, an old friend of mine started it, and you should check it out!!! click that toms shoes just above here, and get some cute shoes too!!! 

i'm totally planning on wearing them on my vacations....nyc in a couple of weeks, and europa later in the month!

i got the picture here. just so you know.

Day 10 - A picture that you took at one time that you love

so here it is. a pic that i LOVE and that i took.

my monkey dog loves to get on the couch and go to sleep on TOP of the pillows....you know, like a cat. so i indulge him in that one, and it's fine with him.

so here's my cute little dog. in all his adorable glory. feel free to adore him from a distance. and comment on his cuteness!!!

ps - and jq is coming over tonight to bake for tomorrow!!! so excited for the brunch!!!

Day 9 - Take a picture today that showcases motion

well, i don't exactly have the most time to go and take pics, so i utilized my iphoto to find some fun pics that showcased motion...

ENJOY!!!!!

my niece on her bouncer...she loves jumping!

monkey attacking the sprinkler. it's one of his favs.

girl talk at free press summerfest. SO FUN!

tilt-a-whirl = one of the motiony-ist things ever!!

i love the breeze.

trip to ikea = MUCHO inspiration!!!

i'm giving a brunch this weekend, and i'm a little bit nervous...

...not because i can't cook, or i don't think i can pull off some delicious dish that my friends will think are yummy, cause i've got that covered. i'm making a smitten kitchen (unofficially) sponsored brunch, creating in multiple some of her delicious brunch recipes for my friends (if you haven't seen the blog yet, click it, and you'll thank me later, i promise!!)

i'm nervous because i don't know what i'm going to put all this delicious foon ON. as a young unmarried adult, i haven't received all those vital entertaining pieces for my kitchen that you're just SUPPOSED to have when you offer to host a brunch.

Q: so what do you do when you find yourself without serving pieces in a pinch??
A: you travel across the freeway to your neighborhood IKEA!!!!! and i did!

so what did i get, you may ask?! well i'm gonna show you!
first, i borrowed this lovely oven safe baking dish (it's different cause it has no handles on it, and for me, that makes it a little more oven-to-table ready) for my version of smittenkitchen's boozy french toast.
then, i found something to display the zucchini bread and blueberry boy bait...this lovely SMARTA serving dish. and with a $8 price tag, i couldn't resist (and i got so many compliments on it! go figure!
(i was also considering this pie plate, but i was trying to stay on budget a little bit...)
then i'm making a simple fruit salad and putting that in a stainless steel bowl i already have, and making smitten kitchen's white bean red pepper dip, and putting that in my mom's vintage ceramic veggie tray (i'll post a pic later...i'm OBSESSED), making cold press coffee, and spiked watermelon lemonade, and i'm done!
christy's bringing mimosas and pitchers AND all her wonderful stella and dot jewelry, so it should be a BLAST!!

i did some biodegradable plates from solo and some different napkins from IKEA...for 50 FANTASTISK cocktail napkins in a pack (in medium green) for $1.49 (on special) and 30 VARSE dinner napkins in a pack (in that light summery blue) for $2.49, how could i resist!! (and i didn't have to do too many dishes!!!)

this is my version of a delicious and pretty easy brunch to pull off! i hope you enjoy the sharing, and get out there and do some delicious cooking! (AND hosting!!!)

(and i'll try to post some pics of the event for your viewing pleasure!!!)

Day 8 - Post a picture from your commute

a picture from my commute?!!! really? ok...although it's pretty lame, here's what i found on my phone.

this is how my radio spells ke$ha...haha

sticker reads: "i do all my own money shots"

well hello again.

so i know i haven't blogged in a while, but i have been emersed in the newest dan brown book. and i have to say, i'm a little OBSESSED. i have enjoyed all the other ones that i have read, mostly because of the rich italian history and art references (and despite the references to jesus having procreated with one of his disciples (mary magdelene) and carrying on the lineage of God's holy family - i feel like this is a bit sacrilegious...maybe just me)...but the lost symbol, brown's newest book, is really great! it's about masonry and the scottish rites...something my dad was really involved with while he was alive. and it's been something really cool to be involved with learning about.
so you should check it out. it's been really cool. (and the book is open right now next to my computer, so i'm going to get back to reading now, but i'll check in later. don't worry)

and i'll post date a little bit too, just to fill in on my pics of the day challenge. yeah, i'm falling behind. BIG surprise!

Day 7 - a picture from a recent vacation

from recent vacations, i have many a picture. however, i chose to use pics from the vacation i took with matty!!! we went to north carolina to see our lifelong friend josh get married. but FIRST, we stopped in washington dc. cause we had never seen it, and thought it was time to fix that.

so to washington dc we went. and we had a BLAST! (and since you know me, and my excellent decisive skills are awesome, so i'm including some highlights from the trip. ENJOY!

day 6 - a picture that inspires you...

lots of things inspire me. outside. friends. my brain, i guess? so, to find ONE picture that inspires me....that's really hard for me. so i picked a couple. so enjoy the landscape today, cause that's what inspires me the most.
let me know which one you like best!

ireland. ahhhh...it's like a breath of fresh air, right?!

this makes me want to cook...SO bad!

i love bridges and ny. great pic for that!

lovely pic that a friend took!

i love christmas. and christmas at the waldorf in nyc?! perfection!!!

ps-all these pictures were from websites and things...if you took them, please don't get mad. just let me know, and i'll give you FULL credit! thanks for your awesomeness.

Day 5 - a picture of your morning

so i didn't do anything exciting this morning, so i'm including a pic from my morning a couple of days ago. i went to the galleria, and after going up the escalator, i saw this to my right!!! and i FREAKED OUT!!!! so exciting!!!

turtle racing. yeah, that's what i said.

so last night was interesting. i was going to play bingo with jq and her boyfriend (and some of his friends), and well, things didn't really work out like we would have liked.

jq and i were late in leaving my apartment and got to the bingo hall a little bit late, and they wouldn't let us in!!!! can you believe that?!! the people at the bingo hall were SO rude. it was delightful.
but we went to cedar creek instead, and had a blast before going to meet the boys at little woodrow's in midtown.

we went to meet them for turtle racing. this could officially be my new favorite pastime in houston. we had to park far away, and walk a little, but we made it, and just in time! we met up with ryan and the boys, just as they were getting in line for tickets. here's how it works. you walk through line and get a ticket. this ticket is your pick for which turtle will win two out of three races to the outskirts of the 'field.' after you pick your "winner," (i picked a turtle named 'tweedledum' - obviously! i'll always go for the alice in wonderland reference....see some of my other posts on the subject if you don't know...) you wait for the races to begin. there is an announcer that comes out to get things started, but he sounded like the teacher from the charlie brown cartoons, so it was tough to hear, but they basically pick someone from the audience to be the "bucket babe," meaning that she lifts the lid of this bottomless trash can and sets the turtles free. then they try to race from the center of this platform to the outside of this turf lined circle or 'field.' each one of the turtles has a number on their back so you can tell who to root for.
it was pretty fun to watch, and i wanted to take a picture for the posting, but mine turned out like this:

yeah, i know. awesome. so luckily, someone else got a good pic and posted it on her blog. hers came out better, and i hope it helps to make sense of the wicked awesome fun that is turtle racing!

 oh, and just so you know, my turtle WON!!!!!!!! that's right! free beer for me...cause TWEEDLEDUM IS AWESOME!!!! (i secretly wanted to take him home...)

check it out, cause it's awesome!!!!!

have you tried these yet???

ok, so i don't get to shop at whole foods very often. it gets kind of pricy, and well, there isn't one close to here (yet! they're building a whole foods at waugh and dallas....just fyi!!!!). but sometimes, other grocery stores get a little bit clever, and start carrying yummy HEALTHY foods in the unhealthy aisles. i don't know if you've heard of the brand 'food should taste good,' but they make delicious chips that taste really good!!! AND are made with healthy ingredients to help you make healthy snacking choices (and who couldn't use them in this culture!). not everybody loves carrot sticks, you know.

i have had these before, cause they sell HUGE bags of them at CostCo (thank you for that by the way), but the only ones i've had are the multigrain. and they are super yummy....but have you had the sweet potato ones????? cause they are the BEST! you've got to try them...cause they are not only worth the calories, but they are healthier than those over salted tostitos, and they taste better too!!!! so check them out! (they carry them at most grocery stores, and if not, i've heard they're at starbucks...boo)

these images came from the food should taste good website...check it out! cause it's really cute!

Day 4 - picture of where you went today

so today, i went to work. then i went to my house. neither of those sounded like things i wanted to take pictures of....

....and i went to the galleria to help a friend get ready for her trip to los angeles this weekend...no pics there either (except for a pic of an embarrassing entree that we shared with shredded cheese and queso, beans, and some other REALLY healthy stuff)....until we left the galleria.

we were on our way out of the nordstrom parking garage, and saw a magical thing sitting in the parking lot...i'll give you a hint.

my bologna has a first name. it's o-s-c-a-r...

that's right!!!! it's the WEENIEMOBILE!!!!! so fun! so this is officially where i went today! to see the weeniemobile! official. see you tomorrow!

favs...?

so i know i already posted for today, but i was laughing at some old posts from this year....so check these out, cause they're really funny!!! i loved these two posts.

drugstore!!!

hilarious.

who wants their portrait done?

and i'm always post-dating posts, so be sure to dig through the archives for some older good stuff. (i'm not always good about keeping up, but i always have the pictures ready to go...you should see my desktop...yikes!)

but what are your favorite posts???? on your blog or mine!

Day 3 - picture of your street

my street is ugly. with its car dealerships and industrial-ness...so i decided a pic of where i drive into my apt complex is better. it's technically my street?

oh well. enjoy! i took these earlier this year, when the honeysuckle was blooming. it was a beautiful spring day, and it smelled DELICIOUS!!!!

and i'm craving some jack in the box tacos...so i'll check you guys later.

Day 2 - a beach picture you've taken

in looking for pictures that i've taken at the beach, i realized that i haven't been to a GOOD beach in a while...that makes me so sad.

but here's a pic from the santa monica beach that i took a couple of years ago. enjoy it and i'll see you tomorrow friends!!!

OH...and i found this one too while looking...one of the scariest/funniest things ever.

and just so you know, he thought he was God's gift to women....seriously.
(and he tried to pick us up...all four of us...so clearly galveston.)

not much energy today....

so i've been sick all day today...just feeling crummy and icky, and really sick. so in lieu of writing something fun and witty, i'm going to leave you with one of my favorite things...

my childhood friend misty and i went to school together from kindergarten through high school, and we were friends for that entire period of time. she has three older siblings, two significantly older and one that was 8 years older than us...so she was in high school when we were in elementary.
well, lesley, misty's sister, was an alternate for the show choir (which was a really big deal to be in at our school), and got to perform in the spring concert her senior year. well, it didn't go very well....and was featured on america's funniest home videos in the 90s. it was that funny.

so click the link to see what happens to lesley at the spring concert.

and that giggling you hear in the background is misty laughing after "the incident..."

Day 1 - picture of yourself

ok, so here we go with the photo challenge!!! excited! so here is my picture. and don't worry, i really scoured iphoto for this one...

this is what i look like when i paint...

this is when i try to be artsy...it doesn't work out sometimes.

hi.

taken by genebean.

...but couldn't decide between silly and serious, so enjoy them and i'll see you tomorrow!

who doesn't love a challenge???

so i found this on a blog from a girl that commented on my blog (yeah, i look), and i got inspired by it, so the next 20 days are going to consist of these....who doesn't love pictures?? and a good challenge to come up with something cool? so here it is...and it's gonna be good!

The (Revised) Photo Challenge

Day 01 - A picture of yourself

Day 02 - A beach picture that you have taken

Day 03 - A picture of your street

Day 04 - A picture of where you went today

Day 05 - A picture from your morning

Day 06 - A picture that inspires you

Day 07 - Post a picture from a recent vacation

Day 08 - Post a picture from your commute

Day 09 - Take a picture today that showcases motion

Day 10 - A picture that you took at one time that you love

Day 11 - Post one of the oldest pictures you have in your iphoto pics

Day 12 - A black and white photo

Day 13 - A picture from last summer

Day 14 - A picture taken with your cell phone

Day 15 - A picture that you edited

Day 16 - A picture of you more than 10 years ago

Day 17 - A picture of what you wore today

Day 18 - A picture of you and a best friend

Day 19 - A favorite picture of yours

Day 20 - Any picture that you want!

and i'll link these up as i go so you can look at them all together! you're welcome! :)

who else read seventeen???

inspiration: 1990s seventeen magazine covers
location: le intranet
what i love: oh, the nostalgia

i can almost smell the aquanet in the air. and feel the pink sponge rollers in my hair before i went to bed. oh my middle school years. it all came rushing back after i saw some vintage seventeen magazine covers today. and you better believe that i looked up some of my favs after that...so enjoy!

my fav!!! i still have this one at mom's!

oh my so called life...and jared leto...so dreamy!!

i always thought he was so cute...so sad that he passed.

i think this one made it through too...

i definitely took that quiz...i was awesome!

i have always loved her!

these were just some of my favorites....i read this magazine for far too long i'm sure....you know, until i was about 15....haha
(and all images can be found here)