Total loss of restraint

When I used to buy CDs, I would only ever buy one at a time. I needed time to play through the entire album, really get to know it, choose my favorite tracks, learn some lyrics. Then, once I felt the album and I had reached a certain relationship level, I would allow myself to go buy another CD. (Man, I hope that's not an allegory for my love life.)

I don't know why, but I don't have the same purchasing restraint with downloadable albums. I go on sprees, almost always buying multiple albums at the same time. (Usually when I get those $5 album emails from Amazon. It's creepy how well the people at Amazon know me.)

The last few weeks, I have acquired, either from a friend or from Amazon, 4 new (to me) albums. It will take me weeks to appreciate it all. (And I'm looking forward to it like it's like Christmas!)


Two Door Cinema Club, Tourist History

I really dislike local news shows. So, if I'm up before 6 am, I catch the weather, and then immediately change the channel to VH1 for the music videos. It's mostly top 40 stuff, but better than local gardening tips and 1 year old birthday shout outs. Lately, they have been playing Two Door Cinema Club's video for "What You Know", so keep an ear out.

Here's another track I'm liking a lot on first listen:
"This Is The Life"



Cake, Showroom of Compassion

This was my Valentine's Day gift to myself. I'm really loving the song "Long Time." It's quintessential Cake, a deceivingly boppy tune with dark lyrics about two lovers living together in eternity after committing suicide.

I also like this one, a little less typical Cake and a little more grit:
"Federal Funding"



The Decemberists, The King is Dead

I waited awhile to buy this one, and now I don't know why. It's turning out to be a good album. My friend CV sold me on the song "January Hymn." It's beautiful.

In honor of this unseasonably warm Midwest weather:
"June Hymn"



Fitz & The Tantrums, Pickin' Up the Pieces

My sister introduced me to Fitz & The Tantrums. I think they have a similar style to Scissor Sisters (a great thing in my book). She's already posted "MoneyGrabber" on her blog, one of my favorites.

As a nod to the politics going on in my home state:
"Dear Mr. President"

Rolling in the Deep

I loved Adele's first abum, 19.
My favorite track from that album:

"Best for Last"



Her second album, 21, is to be released in the United States on February 22. Since I can't stop listening to her single, "Rolling in the Deep", I can't wait to hear the rest.

Cheesehead, Baby

As I've said before, I have a strangely intense loyalty to the state of Wisconsin. And that loyalty, of course, extends to the Green Bay Packers. It's a ton of fun to be a Packer fan any time. Obviously, it was even more fun to be a Packer fan yesterday evening. I love the excitement of the game, but just as much, I love the relaxed camaraderie being enjoyed with salty snack foods and beer.

It would have been amazing to be a Packer fan in my home town just a hop, skip, and a jump from GB. Instead, I had to do the next best thing, celebrate in Iowa surrounded by other enthusiastic fans of the green and gold.

This was my first chance to entertain in my Iowa City digs, and I had a great time planning for the party.

First. The essentials:

No non-Wisco beer allowed.
Only wish I could have had a little New Glarus imported for the day.

And Kaukauna cheese, of course.

A nod to Iowa:

BBQ pulled pork sandwiches.
Cooked for the first 4 hours in rootbeer. Yum!

More beverages and snacks:

Given food and beer help, but people make the party!

And to end, a blast from my early high school past. 
CWA from the last time the Packers brought the title back to Titletown.

Altered Book: The Cover

As a reminder, here is the book I've decided to alter for my Altered Book Round Robin.

After some serious deliberation, I decided I wanted to try making the cover look like stained glass, giving it color and depth. In order to do that, my plan was to do shape cut-outs of both paper and the cover. Having never tried anything like this before, I made a trip to my local Michael's (always a good time) to pick up an X-acto knife and cutting mat.


I drew my pattern on the back of black metallic cardstock and began cutting.

I glued my stain-glass frame to the book cover and used it as a stencil to make the same cut-outs through the cover, exposing the text beneath. The back cover actually turned out to be my favorite.

Front cover

Back cover.

I left some of the spaces filled in the back cover. In fact, it turned out so well that I didn't fill in with color for my stained glass look either. I just liked how it looked. 

After a mess of glue and tissue paper!

It seemed appropriate that the introduction should be the place where people introduce themselves and their additions to my book!

Sign-in page

Altered Book Round Robin

Welcome back! (Is what I'm saying to myself.) It's been awhile since I posted. Primarily because I had nothing worthwhile about which to post. I would start something, think would I want to read this?, answer no, and go back to watching Top Chef: All-Stars.

BUT, I have a fun new project spear-headed by my brilliant and creatively-inclined friend Sarah, author of http://polkand2nd.com/. She organized an Altered Book Round Robin (read details here: http://polkand2nd.com/2011/01/03/altered-book-round-robin/). 

Books are beautiful. Certainly more beautiful than a Kindle. I'm a Kindle owner and book appreciator, and my reconciliation of the two is the subject of a whole nother post. (And isn't the phrase "a whole nother" a fantastic Midwest colloquialism? The word whole is smushed inside another!)

There's something about the smell of books. The feel of running your hand over a smooth cover. The first crack of binding when opening a new book. It's the butterfly-in-your-stomach beginning of a new relationship. Then, there's the familiarity of an old friend. Underlined phrases, bent corners, coffee stains, and the fingerprints of time well spent.

Altering books is a way of making the feeling of reading a book visible. These are books to judge by their covers. And a round robin allows a shared contribution from everyone in the group.

The first step is to alter the cover and design a sign-in page for the next artists to leave their autograph.

Now, I must admit, I am a little out of my league in the art department when compared to the rest of the designers and illustrators round the robin. I have spent years (and years and years) becoming a highly trained professional, but am an untrained crafter-on-the-side. So, basically, if I can do this, anybody can.

First, here's my super-fancy-o craft desk. I, somewhat ridiculously, have 2 desks in this room. The large, stately, unpictured one is devoted to computers and notebooks and Work. This desk is leftover from a time not so long ago when my bedroom was so small that anything bigger than a twin mattress would have made it a bouncy room. The artwork on the shelf is a gift from my sister while she was working at the Henry Doorly Zoo. The artiste is a bat-eared fox, the furry guy pictured. My textbook overflow is on that shelf as well.

Here's my Craft Desk!

My book! I actually had a difficult time choosing a book. I wanted one that had some meaning, but that I would still be willing to modify. I chose this anthology of fairy tales, part of the curriculum from my Myth, Fairytale, and Folklore course in college.

Then, a few days of brainstorming to decide how I wanted to alter the cover and get things started!

Sentimentalness

I'm going to jump on the "Say the things you're thankful for on your blog" band wagon, and I'm going to do it 3 days late. It's 3 days late because I was working 50% of the holiday weekend, and it's taken me a day or two to recover my holiday spirit. (Bah humbug.)


So here they are, in  no particular order, the things I was most thankful for over the weekend.


1. Being done with every other day call.
Because I told a patient "good evening" multiple times at 6 am Sunday morning.


2. 5 days from now, I'll be vacationing in San Francisco. 
(And hopefully get to see my favorite unprofessional TY buddy and his wife!)


3. My Cedar Creek winery bottle of Cedarburg Spice. 
It's Thanksgiving in a glass. 
And I've had a few glasses over the past couple days (in between call days, not during, I swear).


4. Being excited for snow. 
I put out my Christmas decorations, lit a candle, and started playing the horrible Christmas music cable channel. . . and all I was missing was snow.


5. Finding the music that exactly suites my mood. 
(Florence + The Machine tonight).


6. My sister. 
Because she texted me with hints that she might visit, and now I'm looking forward to it even though I don't even know if that's what she meant.


7. My second year resident.
Because he's smart and awesome and hard-working, and I hope someday to be as awesome.
(Not possible.)
And he was excited to get home early today (to his family) which helped me get home early (to my couch).


8. My couch.
For obvious reasons.

9. Arrested Development.

For giving me an entire Sunday of entertainment via Netflix. 

(Spent with #8 and a 2.7 pound tub of Trip Chocolate Cookie Dough. Glorious.)


10. My high school friends. 
Because some of us have grown up, found a soul mate, gotten a steady job, purchased a home, and had children.
And although I have done none of those things (possibly secondary to #9), they still love me exactly like they did in high school.
And because we started planning our New Year's Eve party via group email. I absolutely love our group emails.


11. A night on the town.
I spent one great Friday night in Cedar Rapids that included a beer in the basement, serving dinner in a homeless shelter, tickets to a hockey game, and finally pumpkin pie. Total success.


12. My co-resident in crime who shared call with me over the weekend. 

For being of a similar mind in our attitude towards the ridiculousness of call. 

For inviting me to Thanksgiving dinner with his family.

And then for letting me come over and eat leftovers when I missed dinner because I was seeing a patient.

13. My family. 

Because spending Thanksgiving time with someone else's family made me desperately miss my own.

I could probably think of more, but a baker's dozen seems good. Besides, once I've brought out the big guns like family, there's nothing else to top it. And it's cheesy, but this is, after all, the holidays.

A Hydration Haiku

I spent a glorious 4 day weekend in the Milwaukee area to visit my lovely friend Katie for her birthday. The weekend included a birthday bash, delicious food, and motorcycles! One of those delicious meals was lovingly prepared for me by Katie. Despite my protestations, she cooked for me on her birthday. But it was all for a good cause! Check out Katie's 29 before 29. (I'm famous!)


For some reason, I felt the need to document my weekend by photographing my beverages. So here it is, a hydration story told in pictures (pretty short story, more like a hydration haiku).

Wisconsin brewed.

Sweet and Spicy.

Katy's float and my Bloody Mary at the Comet Cafe.

A drink cleverly titled "The Pyrat"

And surrendered it was.