Gratitude.

This weekend Russ and I were able to spend thanksgiving with my extended family, which is always an exciting time. This year there was much to be thankful for:

• All of my sisters and I were able to make it home this year

• Russ and I met Maria, the Brazilian exchange student who is staying with my parents for the year

• My cousin Ben was at thanksgiving at my grandparents (Ben spent the last year in New Zealand, and this weekend was the first we'd seen of him since he came home!)

• My cousin Jana and her husband Dan announced the exciting news that they are expecting (the first!)
  

• I was able to wander around my old high school and take some pictures and refresh some memories before it is sold (the town has built a fancy new school)

• There was copious amounts of delicious homemade food to be shared

• There was much conversation and laughter to share

• The snow held off on our drive home until we arrived in Edmonton

And finally, my wonderful, awesome and somewhat nerdy husband came across this sweet video on youtube:

Her Morning Elegance.

One Month-Aversary.

Today we celebrate one month of marriedness! It's hard to believe that it's already been a month, and yet, at the same time, it seems like it was forever ago...

Russ bought me the new David Usher CD which came out today. He knows me so well.

The mattress set that my parents bought us as a wedding gift finally arrived on Saturday. We don't have a bed frame yet, as the one we want is currently sold out until Friday, but we set them up on the floor, and it was probably one of the best sleeps I've had in YEARS!!!! I actually felt rested when I woke up!

We went and used some of our wedding money to buy a steaming jug and thermometer for Francis, as well as a magical butter crock that allows you to keep your butter on the counter, so that it's spreadable, without it going rancid! Everyone should have one!


My...I feel so domestic today, raving about various household gadgets. I guess this is what happens when one joins the ranks of the Smug Marrieds...

Two Exciting New Releases Rolled into One!

Strange Birds.

Just thought that I would let you all know that the new David Usher CD, "Strange Birds" is absolutely, ridiculously, unfreakin' believably AMAZING!!!!! LOVE IT!!! BUY IT so you can love it like me!!! That is all. Oh yeah...happy first day of spring, which arrived in a hail/snow storm. Awesome.

Hey Kids! What are you rocking for?

So the new David Usher album, Strange Birds, comes out on March 20, and the video, for his single The Music, is up on his website. I cannot wait for this album!! He's also coming to the Urban Lounge on April 4, and 5...the crappy thing being that I'm working evenings that week!! Hopefully Shila will switch one shift with me so that I can go...because...well, you all know how much I love David. On a different musical note, Korn's unplugged album is coming out on Tuesday, and I really want to get it, because it's just so different! You can check out their unplugged version of Freak On a Leash featuring Amy Lee on their website. On a side note...I'm not really a charlatan..but it was a fun quiz...

Evidently, I am "IT"...

So, I have been "tagged" by Dani, and now I have to reveal five secrets about myself...so here it goes:

1. While I do love a good cerebral read, I have a secret weakness for Brit-chick-lit. I hate chick lit, but I can't resist the British stuff.

2. My vast CD collection includes such train-wrecks as the Baywatch soundtrack (Jeremy Jackson sings, as does David Hasselhoff!), Effel 65's Europop, and um...Limp Bizkit.

3. I almost got kicked out of a finger eleven concert...I had forgotten my ID in the car, and so had the "underage" arm band. The boy that I was smitten with was in the "cool" section, so Yvonne and I traded arm bands in the bathroom...but security caught us, and so we gave them some line about how my armband had fallen off, and that the woman handing them out hadn't ID'd me, and so eventually, the guy let me go to my car and get my ID, and I got back just in time for the concert to begin.

4. I buy makeup and beauty products compulsively. Seriously, I have about 10 different shades of purple eyeshadow, and justify it by the fact that each one is slightly different...I buy things just because I don't have them. Russ has forbidden me from buying lotions...

5. I pretty much have every episode of Friends memorized.

So now...I guess I'm tagging anyone who reads this and wants to do it?

If Your Life Was a Movie, What Would the Soundtrack Be? (Expanded, With New Questions!!)

I stumbled across this on some random late-night random blogathon, and had to try it out!

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...


Opening Credits:
Empty City Lights: Hearts of Black Science (yay!! What a perfect intro song!!)

Waking Up:
All I Need: Air French Band

Average Day:
Heart of Glass: Blondie

First Day At School:
24: Jem

First Date:
Black Black Heart: David Usher

Falling In Love:
Let Go: Frou Frou (so fitting!!)

Secret Love:
White Rabbit: Emiliana Torrini

Fight Song:
Cigaro: System of a Down

Breaking Up:
Smoke: Natalie Imbruglia

Life:
Ein Lied: Rammstein

Mental Breakdown:
I'm Only Happy When it Rains: Garbage (my personal theme song...how fitting...)

Learning a Lesson:
Good Times: Finger Eleven

Deep Thoughts:
My Medea: Vienna Tang

Driving:
Be Still My Heart: The Postal Service

Flashback:
The Shining: Badly Drawn Boy

Party Song:
I Get Around: Dragonette

Happy Dance:
Rock Is Dead: Marilyn Manson

Regreting:
Embrace: Joydrop

Long Night Alone:
Useless: Imogen Heap

Getting back together:
Like Her: Mandalay

Wedding:
The End Starts Here Today: Bis (um...irony??)

Birth of Child:
America: Simon and Garfunkel

Final Battle:
Green Bird: Yoko Kanno

Death Scene:
Think It's Gonna Rain Today: Claudene Longet (wow...incredibly fitting! Creepy!)

End Credits:
So Says I: The Shins

So, I think it is safe to say that my playlist is a fitting soundtrack, since most of these songs actually work! I suggest you all try it, and DON'T cheat...it's much more fun this way!!

HoBS, yo!

If any of you get a chance, you HAVE to check out Hearts of Black Science. They are from Sweden, and so AWESOME!! I just bought their EP, and can't stop listening to it! So check them out!!

Learn.

are you feeling lost and lonely?
you needn't be
like you've lost all hope and your sanity
oh you needn't be

if we only have one turn
in this life we have to learn

carrying the world on your shoulders
you needn't be
ever more as you get older
you needn't be, oh you needn't be

if we only have one turn
in this life we have to learn

we wish our lives away
hoping for a better day
the future's miles away
and what is past is done and gone

if we only have one turn
in this life we have to learn
~lamb~

Life for Rent.

If my life is for rent,
And I don't learn to buy,
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
'Cause nothing I have is truly mine.
~Dido~

I'm SUPPOSED to be Studying Right Now...

I hate studying. Especially studying the moral fantasy and formula of the romance novel. I don't care. So I decided to post one of my favorite videos. Normally, I hate anime music videos, but this one is so well done, and involves two of my favorite things--Eva and Rammstein...it's better when you've seen Eva, but it's still great. It sums up Auska perfectly, and when you know that the chorus says "God knows I don't want to be an angel"...it's just great!!




Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Update...

So Till Lindemann is actually 43...which has no impact on my previous statements...also, it's worth mentioning that Richard Z. Kruspe-Bernstein is pretty freakin' hot too...yup..apparently I'm in high school again. Do you think Russ would let me put eyeliner and nail polish on him??
Anyways, I had the interview, and will likely get the job...but I won't take it because it requires me to take a significant drop in wage, which I can't do...so still cuppin' it for now...hehheh...that sounds dirty...I'm so overtired its not even funny. By the way, the cup I work at now is on Jasper and 118 Street, in case anyone wants to come visit...

I'm Only Happy When it Rains...

Well, that's not true, but I LOVE the rain!!! I don't know why, but I just do. Anyways...I may beable to achieve moksha and escape from samsara...I have an interview for cashier at Save-On-Foods today. Not the world's most glamourous job, but I'm pretty sure it pays better than Second Cup and I will finally be able to escape. I'm so FREAKIN' sick of Second Cup! I dislike this Cup ALMOST as much as I hate the old one...for totally different reasons though. It's so dead that time c r a w l s by, they don't clean ANYTHING, which is pretty gross, and most of the people there are pretty lazy, so when I come on shift, I spend the first few hours catching up and stocking stuff. The people there are clique-y in a bad way, and all a bit rich, spoiled and stuck up. Don't get me wrong, there's a couple of people that I just LOVE working with, but not enough to stick around. I dread going to work so much...I hope I get the job at Save-On, but my sister works there and gave a good recommendation, so I don't see why I wouldn't. I won't, however, take it if it means less money, because I am poor.

On an entirely separate note, I'm falling in love with the lead singer of Rammstein, even though he's like 37...yup...something about growling in German just gets me all hot and bothered...plus, he wears black eyeliner and bondage gear onstage, and has access to a flamethrower...heheh...I wonder if Russ would let me add him to the List...doubtful.

Epiphany!

Yesterday I had an epiphany. I know what my dream job would be: a beauty editor for a magazine! I'd get to write about new products, and get craploads of free products, and get to test out products before they even come out on the market!! I would be killer at it! But I could still go and get my esthetician and hair, because that would be fun to have too....yup. So I'm totally diggin' Interpol right now...just thought y'all should know.

#1 Fan.

Everyone knows how much I love David Usher. He put out a dvd. I preordered it online. It came in the mail. It was one of 100 signed copies. I have an autographed David Usher dvd. I am happy.

Hier wird Deutsch vorlesen...schlecht.

If anyone tells you that taking 6 credits of reading German in 6 weeks is a good idea, RUN AWAY SCREAMING!!!!!! So German is not an easy language to read and translate. First of all, it has bloody genders, like French...who cares if the sun is masculine, or if the chair is feminine?? Really! It also has a case system. Four cases. ARGH! German is hard! Yup...and I have a midterm on Monday. A two and a half hour long MIDTERM. Yup. Maybe I should buy the german Glamour to practice....heh. I can't wait be done,to be able to return to opening shifts...although, i forgot that closing isn't bad, because its much more lax than a morning shift...maybe I'll just close once in a while.

I worked with Emily last night, and after close, we decided to put in some good music. So Emily, being the cool chick she is, pulls out her CD wallet and puts in Nightwish, which can be described as operatic metal...and man, oh man, they rock!! I totally got hooked! Which isn't that surprising, because I'm a serious music junkie...the mp3 collection on our computer has over 4000 songs!!!
So if anyone needs music, I'm the girl to talk to.

The date for the make up concert with DAVID USHER FINALLY was posted...he's coming back on July 17th...right before my birthday! (Although I'm pretty sure that it isn't scheduled then because of that...) I'm still waiting for his CD that I PREORDERED to show up...it was ordered over a month ago. I emailed them and they still haven't responded...so I have had to be content with downloading the album for now...but it's just not the same.

THE ALBANY IS FILLED WITH EVIL!!!!!!!!!!

So Christine and I made it out of there safely, with the help of Russ's goon friends and withstanding hurtling obsenities from Jabba the Hutt...and I now have a new home. It is cozy, and has pretty red curtains! I love Ikea.
The oppressors at the Cup have now deemed U2 to be "too wild" and that the tone of music that we want is "mellow"... as in "i-just-swallowed-three-bottles-of-valium-and-tried-to-drown-myself-in-the-shower" mellow...or as Alissa says, "fall-asleep-and-drool-on-your-shoulder" mellow. So now all new mixes must be approved by one of the oppressors...which means that Cass has to take all of her mixes, pick out the "appropriately mellow" songs, and build new "mellow" mixes...stupid mellow...
It's all because of the oppression...jerks...

Cancelled!

I haven't been able to post in a while...stupid school...but on the ninth Russ and I went to the David Usher concert! However....the concert was at Union Hall, which is on 62ave and 99st. So we took the bus to Southgate to save cab fare. Normally I go with Co-op because they don't suck, but we were in a hurry and went with Yellow Cab, who I hate. The retard cab driver took us back to the University!! We told him that we wanted to go to Union Hall, and he thought we meant SUB! Then he got mad at US for not telling him we meant Union Hall the club!! So a 9 dollar cab ride cost us 13 dollars instead! Then we got there, and the guy standing in front of us in line looked really familiar, but I couldn't figure out who he was. It turned out that it was a guy that I went to high school with and was in art class with, who I hadn't seen in 6 years! So that was cool...
The opener was a very talented 18 year old, but he was way too "matchbox twenty" for my tastes...then, finally...the love of my life, David Usher came on stage...*swoon*...
And announced that he was sick and couldn't sing. He didn't want to cancel the show because he hoped that he would be able to perform, but couldn't. I have a lot of respect for him because he didn't send some guy out to tell us, but it still sucked. Anyways...they handed out vouchers and he is coming back sometime in may...
At least his new album comes out April 26... "If God Had Curves"...can't wait!!!!

BLAST! AND WHAT THE CRAP!!

The Killers are coming to town. AND tickets are SOLD OUT!!!!!!!! I'm so upset!! I don't get to see the KILLERS!! I'm so sad...sniff...
I don't want to hear anything about it. I guess all that I have to look forward to in April is being done school. I'm very sad...sniff...sniff...