The Opposite Of Euphoria

Unrelated TxCSM Poster - wallpaperhere.com

Remember at the beginning of the month when I posted this update (load of crap) about how everything is just so wonderful?  Well, I suppose I jinxed myself because, overall, the month of October, typically my favorite month, has been an absolute disaster.  (Random side note: as soon as starting typing up this entry, the song "(Things are) Lookin' Good" by Say Hi To Your Mom came on Spotify. How ironic.)

(Warning:  If you don't like to listen to and/or read rants on soap boxes, please discontinue reading and move on to something else.  Don't want to ruin your day.)

Jason lost a family member quite suddenly.  Our search for a rental house has proved to be way more challenging than we were expecting.  We are both rather broke.  Just found out I'll be working the evening shift on my birthday AND halloween.  And speaking of work, it's been a nonstop wreck for the past couple of weeks.  I have encountered some of the worst people on this planet just in the past few days.  I'm talking cold-blooded, soul-sucking narcissists that feel like it is their personal quest to destroy the self-esteem of others.  I know, I know.  I'm not supposed to take things people say personally.  "They're just venting."  "They just want someone to hear their frustrations."  "They're not mad at you. They're mad at the situation."  I DON'T CARE.  There is an appropriate way to voice your problems/concerns/opinions/criticism, and it's not screaming at someone who has nothing to do with the real reason you're such a black hole of death.  You don't talk to someone like they are the trash you stomp on.  A few weeks ago, right after someone finished up a malicious yelling fit directed at me, another guest leaned toward me and quietly said, "I think everyone should be required to work in customer service for at least six months to see what it's like to be treated like that."  I totally agree, sir.  This job has seriously changed me.  It has made me realize how many self-entitled jack-bottoms are out there.  Now, I just automatically expect the worst in people.  What fun.  It also doesn't help that I am a scorpio through and through.  I am super passionate about everything.  When I like something, I am obsessed.  When I hate something, I hate it with every ounce of my being.  When I'm happy, I am ecstatic.  And when I'm mad, you better run.

End of rant.

Have a lovely week, friends!

Halloween Playlist 2013

Ah, yes.  It's that MAGICAL time of year again; a time for some of the best songs to be played relentlessly on repeat until your ears bleed from all of the charming, eerie spookiness.  Seriously though.  Some of my favorite songs are "horror" themed so it's never a real challenge for me to put together a Halloween playlist of songs for every little girl and boy ghost to enjoy.  Feel free to enjoy them yourself by listening to my selections on Spotify.

1. "Evil" Interpol

2. "River of Blood" The Black Angels

3. "Hell's Bells" Cary Ann Hearst

4. "Blah Blah Blah" Say Hi To Your Mom

5. "Dressed In Black" Shangri-Las

6. "Witchcraft" DZ Deathrays

7. "Alive" Kid Cudi

8. "The Scream" The Cure

9. "Wolf Like Me" TV On The Radio

10. "Dead Souls" Joy Division

11. "Ghost Dream" Blouse

12. "Trick Or Treat" Peaches

13. "Spellbound" Siouxsie and the Banshees

14. "Twilight Omens" Franz Ferdinand

15. "Vicious" Lou Reed

16. "Superstition" The Kills

17. "Bloody Water" Thee Oh Sees

18. "New Fang" Them Crooked Vultures

19. "Midnight Creeper" Eagles of Death Metal

20. "Godzilla" Fu Manchu

21. "Love You To Death" Type O Negative

22. "Pet Sematary" Ramones

23. "Monster Mash" Misfits

24. "Pa Pa Power" Dead Man's Bones

25. "Dead Man's Bones" Dead Man's Bones

26. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" Blue Oyster Cult

27. "Candy Man" Roy Orbison

28. "Ghostbusters Theme" Ray Parker Jr.

29. "I'm Your Boogie Man" KC & The Sunshine Band

30. "I Put A Spell On You" Screamin' Jay Hawkins

31. "Creeper" Islands

32. "Super Freak" Rick James

33. "Love At First Fright" Murderdolls

34. "Skeletons" Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

35. "Devil's Playground" Gram Rabbit

36. "Leaves In The River" Sea Wolf

I Took My Little Sister to a Garage Rock Show

...and it was scary.

As you can see, my sister, at 14 years young, is quite beautiful...and, as I am noticing from this picture, a bit taller than I am.  Over the past few years her taste in music has blossomed a little, from The Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber to Sleeping With Sirens (still not sure who these guys are) and a few other "screamo" bands.  She's been to a handful of live shows, but nothing like what I was ready to introduce her to.  One of my favorite bands that I have mentioned many times, Bass Drum of Death, is a lo-fi, fairly energetic garage rock group from Oxford, Mississippi, and they were scheduled to play at The Parish downtown on Sixth Street last Friday night.  I was planning on going for a while leading up to it, but I got really excited when I found out that my mom and sister were coming to town for my brother's official UT baseball visit that weekend.  Taking my sister to a live show with me is something I had been waiting to do for a long time.  There is an 11-year difference between us, and even when she was a little baby, I would dream about the days when we could be more than just sisters; when we would both be older and could be good friends, and the age gap wouldn't be such a big deal anymore.  Well, the time has finally come and it is frightening.  I did her hair and makeup for the evening, which I suppose made her look a little more mature, but we hadn't been at the venue for more than five minutes before two drunk guys in their 30s came up and started to make conversation with us.  I went through the redundant small talk (which sincerely annoys me to no end) with these guys and managed to not-so-casually mention that this stunning young lady next to me is my little sister who happens to be FOURTEEN.  The least drunk of the two seemed to get the hint and meandered over to the opposite side of the room while his idiotic, stumbling counterpart remained in our faces.  We managed to escape when he finally looked the other way.  After the Bass Drum of Death set, as we were leaving, another guy came up to Micah and started making conversation with her.  Let's just say I was thrilled when we were out of there and back in my car headed home.  I'm sure I sound a little silly, but this was the first time I'd witnessed my sister getting hit on and by GROWN men.  It threw me for quite a little loop, but she really enjoyed the music and, in the end, that was my only hope and intention.  It was fun to be able to experience that with her.  I got to see one of my favorite bands with my little sister/good friend, and, for that, I am nothing but grateful and oh so happy.  Here's to our next adventure!

Easy Breakfast Recipes

In case you missed it (shame on you), I shared a couple of my favorite go-to quick breakfast recipes on Sarah's blog last week while she was away galavanting in NYC...

I've never been much of a breakfast person.  Weird, I know.  I totally enjoy eating breakfast foods, just not usually at the typical breakfast time.  I have worked in a hotel for the past three years.  The first two years I pretty much always worked the morning shift, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and I never ate breakfast before work because that is just too early for me to be eating.  I'd much rather hit the snooze button a couple thousand times. The past year, I have been working more evening shifts where I don't have to be at work until mid-afternoon, so now, I almost always eat breakfast and I've gotten pretty crafty with it, if I may say so myself.  Two of my favorite easy breakfasts include french toast and yogurt parfaits.  

Now, my french toast isn't just any french toast.  Ideally, I like to use a good quality, thick white bread that will soak up lots of the eggy liquid.  French bread is especially nice.

Ingredients (for 1 single serving):

2 slices thick white bread
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk or almond milk
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Berries
Powdered sugar

Method:

Whisk together the eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla. Set aside.
Heat an oiled skillet over medium heat.
Dip the bread slices, one at a time, in the egg mixture and place on the heated pan.
Allow the bread to cook for about 1 minute on each side, until lightly browned.
Serve topped with berries and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Just like my french toast, I like to use certain kinds of components to make a truly delicious yogurt parfait.  

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vanilla honey greek yogurt (I like the Greek Gods brand)

Berries or a fruit of your choice

1/3 cup vanilla almond granola (I get mine at HEB)

Method:

Simple - just layer it up & devour!

I hope these recipes appeal to you and that they inspire you to try a new thing or two with your breakfast routine!

xoxo

A Brief Currently

Loving: the beginnings of the Fall season in Austin.  The humidity and sweltering heat is finally fading, and those light breezes are starting to blow through.  It's my favorite time of year; a time I look forward to all year round!  Pumpkins are a plenty, orange and red leaves are making themselves known and the ghosts n' goblins are preparing for all hallows' eve.  ;)

Watching: As far as shows go, we're keeping up with Homeland, Parenthood, New Girl and Boardwalk Empire.  I (alone) am watching the new season of my ultimate guilty pleasure, The Vampire Diaries.  The first episode of this season's SNL was hilarious!  Did you see it?  Tina Fey hosted, and Arcade Fire was the musical guest.  They introduced six new cast members, and, so far, they are awesome, and my fave character, Drunk Uncle, even made an appearance.  It doesn't get much better than that my friends.

Anticipating: My twenty-fifth birthday on the thirtieth of this month, Halloween and moving into a new place.

Eating: Some yummy treats I picked up at the new Trader Joe's yesterday - veggie samosas, mango ginger chutney, cranberry apple butter, a couple of bottles of wine, butternut squash soup and greek yogurt! It's so nice having a variety of grocery stores that all offer a variety of products.  Central Market is probably still my favorite, but Trader Joe's is definitely a runner-up.

Austin City Limits 2013

Once again, Jason and I were given free wristbands to ACL - this time free VIP wristbands!  As VIPs we were granted access to the VIP Grove.  I like to refer to it as the "secret garden" because that's what it felt like to me.  It was a bit annoying being surrounded by filthy rich people who are used to getting this kind of treatment on a daily basis, but it was still fun, and I felt super grateful to be there getting FREE food and FREE drinks and air-conditioned restrooms and seating in one of the few shady areas of Zilker Park.  It was a sweet escape from the hot sun and sea of sweaty bodies wandering around from stage to stage.  In the VIP Grove, each day between 3:30 and 5:30 there were free "happy hour" tastings from some of the best chefs in Central Texas.  I tried some samples from Jason Dady, Lucy's Fried Chicken and Cafe Mueller.  In addition to the daily chef tastings, Central Market catered lunch and dinner!  On Friday, we ate lunch there (gourmet sandwiches, bacon & bleu cheese potato salad), and we partook in the dinner spread on both Saturday (veggie tortellini, chicken penne pasta) and Sunday (barbeque).  All of the food was delicious, and all of the drinks were served perfectly strong in the VIP Grove.  I can't forget to mention the unlimited amounts of free Topo Chico, Sweet Leaf Tea, Red Bull, Boxed Water and Coconut Water.  Pretty awesome..

Enough with the special treatment details and onto the music.  Oh, the music!  The core reason I go to so many of these blown-up, over-the-top hipster affairs in the first place.  Friday, we unexpectedly had to leave the festival early, but we got there early and managed to see FIDLAR, Savages, Electric Six, The Blind Boys of Alabama and The Black Angels.  My favorite show of the day was actually Detroit-based Electric Six, who I had never even heard of prior to the festival.  One of Jason's friends, who is from Detroit, met up with us, and Electric Six was pretty much the only band he really wanted to see, so we decided to join him, and I am so glad we did!  They were so much fun!  Their music is a crazy amazing blend of garage rock, disco, dance, punk and metal, and they put on quite a funky performance.

On Saturday we went later in the day to see Portugal.The Man, The Joy Formidable, Wilco, Kendrick Lamar and, finally, THE CURE!!  Hands down, my Saturday favorite was The Cure.  DUH.  I have been a lifelong fan of those guys, and they put on a flawless show.  We stayed for the whole thing because I was so drawn in and it would have been an absolute crime to walk out early.  They played nearly all of their popular hits, some new stuff and finished with "Boys Don't Cry."  Perfection.

Sunday was the most relaxed day.  I worked until 3 p.m. and then headed to the festival to meet up with Jason and see Franz Ferdinand, Tame Impala and Atoms For Peace.  I had already seen Tame Impala live, and while they continue to be one of my favorite live shows, I have to say Atoms For Peace won my heart that day.  I hadn't really listened to them much before, but you can bet I will now!  Thom Yorke and Flea make a great musical match.

Yet again, ACL blew me away, and into outer space.  It's such a magical, fun-filled experience that I look forward to every year.  This was my fifth time to attend ACL, and it better not have been my last!  I'm already excited to hear who will be playing it in 2014 because my brother Kaleb will be living up here by then, and I plan to buy him a wristband for his first plunge.

FIDLAR

Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar

The Cure

The Cure

Tame Impala

Atoms For Peace

Jason's 30th

My sweet boyfriend, Jason, is officially 30 years old as of September 30!  I had decided a while back that I wanted to do something special for Jason in celebration of this milestone, and I've always wanted to throw a surprise party, so I figured this would be the perfect occasion.  I, obviously, couldn't blog about any of this before the big day so I'll walk you through the process a little bit.  I knew I wanted to invite as many people as possible - anyone and everyone that has made some kind of an impression on Jason.  I sent out emails and Facebook messages to everyone I knew Jason would want to celebrate with about a month and a half before the date I chose for the party, just to get an idea of how many people would seriously consider attending.  Once I had a rough estimate of the number of attendees, I began my search for a venue.  Originally, I was set on Max's Wine Dive, but their food & beverage minimum was out of my price range.  I checked with a few other restaurants and ended up happily settling with Red's Porch.  Jason and I had eaten there many times and really enjoy the food and drinks.  They have great specialty cocktails and a more than decent variety of local beers on tap.  It ended up being the perfect crowd pleaser, offering something for everyone.  

On the day of the party, I had wonderful assistance from my best friends Emily, Heather and Sarah and from my mom who arrived early in the afternoon to help me de-stress and get ready.  It turns out I was worrying and stressing for nothing because, even with storms rolling in all day and night, the party went on without a hitch, and Jason was absolutely shocked when he showed up and everyone yelled "SURPRISE!"  It was such a fun night, and I am so grateful to everyone that made the effort to come and help us celebrate this exciting birthday for Jason!

**All photographs courtesy of Emily's camera and Emily & Sarah's picture-taking expertise.