Food, Style, and Travel
In about 5 weeks, it’s my baby’s due date. It’s finally the home stretch! I can hardly believe it. Except, I can because pregnancy is long and although I may never feel totally ready for the baby, I’m ready enough.
I still haven’t said anything on here about my baby’s name or sex, but I might as well tell you now. It’s no secret. I was just trying to decide when and how to tell people.
Happy summer, everybody! I hope you all had a good time celebrating the start of the season.
I was at Knott’s Berry Farm, an amusement park, with family on summer solstice. I hadn’t been there in almost 10 years. It was fun, but honestly, I can’t handle roller coasters quite like I used to. I guess I’m getting old.
I’m making plans for summer and hoping for some grand adventures. What have you got planned?
Summer makes me long for weekend trips up and down the California coast. I’m also hoping for a plane trip to visit relatives and plenty of beach days around my area.
This playlist was inspired by the KCRW summer concert series. It’s a great chance to experience live performances, DJ sets and community. Notice I said inspired and not sponsored.
Listen to the playlist on Spotify here.
I’m one of those people who can fall asleep anywhere if I’m tired enough. I guess that comes from being the youngest of four kids and being used to plenty of noise. I’ve fallen asleep in cars, buses, hospital waiting rooms, classrooms (of course) and this past summer I added concerts to the list.
After a long day of listening to bands outside during FYF, I had to curl up on a blanket and get some shut eye. I rested while My Bloody Valentine played, which I felt bad about because they’re one of my boyfriend’s favorite bands. Then I ended up losing my glasses. Karma, maybe? Hmm. No, that doesn’t make sense. I wasn’t hurting anyone. I just need to be more careful about setting down my glasses while napping.
Next up, I crashed during Outkast’s set at Coachella. That was the same situation as FYF. I was curled in a ball on a blanket at a big, long outdoor concert. I missed Usher’s guest performance, so that was a bit of a bummer.
More recently, I was mostly successful in staying awake at a Tycho show. Paul and I won tickets to the show from KCRW. Thanks favorite radio station! I appreciated it, honest. I just stayed up too late the night before and forgot that sometimes I just can’t hang. Same thing happened when we saw DIIV at the Center for the Arts Eagle Rock. I was awake enough to get pictures of the last one at least. (See below.)
Tomorrow night I’m going to see Panda Bear with my boyfriend in LA. I promise myself I won’t stay up late tonight and hopefully I won’t be tempted to get any shut eye during the show because I’ll definitely regret that later.
Tell me, have you fallen asleep anywhere weird?
You know those songs that you get under your skin and make you feel like you just have to hear again and again. Those are my favorite kind.
I’ve got another one of those for you today. This song “Little Bit” by Sweden-born singer Lykke Li seems to come on at my office just about everyday, but I haven’t grown tired of it yet. It’s a catchy pop tune about falling in love, so of course it gets to me. I love love and can’t resist a decent love song.
Give it a listen and tell me what you think. The song is off LL’s debut album Youth Novels, which I have yet to listen to in it’s entirety.
Lykke Li – Little Bit from Lykke Li on Vimeo.
When you’re out there on your own, know there’s someone watching over you.
The above lyrics have been in my head for a few days. I find it incredibly comforting. Every time I hear the song “Oh Sailor” by Mr, Little Jeans, aka Norwegian singer Monica Birkenes, I feel a little better about life. The song features children’s voices stringing beautiful words together in a soft blend of pop and gnarled snyths.
I first became a fan of Mr. Little Jeans perform this past summer as part of L.A. area radio station KCRW’s free summer concert series. Aren’t free things the best?
Give “Oh Sailor,” “Good Mistake” and the cover of Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs” and tell me what you think. I hope you become a fan too!
The Haim sisters know how to rock out and make famous friends. Based on that, I’d say they’re going to make it big soon. Hey, Harry Styles tweeted something like that about the sisters. Just the other day I noticed someone on Twitter said something about Este Haim’s bass face. It seems like that’s something of a meme now. Besides all that, they’re gorgeous talented Los Angeles natives who just got signed with Jay Z’s entertainment company Roc Nation.
I saw them perform at Coachella and in my opinion they are even better live. I wouldn’t have even known to listen to them, but my BF’s sister did. She knows all the cool things before they’re cool. I just thought I would pass the knowledge on.
Get listening. Care to read more? Here’s a SPIN article on the trio.
Image via Billboard.
I had so much fun going to Coachella with my boyfriend and his sister this past weekend. We left on Friday afternoon and got back Monday. It was cool seeing some of my favorite bands with the biggest music nerds I know. We even saw a few celebrities! Jaden and Willow Smith along with Kylie and Kendall Jenner were standing behind us during Ellie Goulding’s set. That was pretty cool. It’s hard to pick a favorite moment or favorite band. Aloe Blacc, Solange, HAIM, Lorde, Frank Turner and Arcade Fire were all good.
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” – Zora Neale Hurston
I love this quote. I read the book Their Eyes Were Watching God a few years ago for a college English class. To be honest, I didn’t love the book, but I have a feeling if I read it again I might feel differently. That’s what’s great about literature and life. As I grow up I find that I might not like the same things as before because I’m not entirely the same me as before.
I feel as if I’ve figured out what I want in life just a little bit more since the last time I wrote about growing up. My internships are helping with that.
Writing about this just reminded me of how this great professor I had in fall would talk about how the idea of finding out who you are and forming an identity is strange to her. After all, identity is not a static thing. There are aspects of it that can change over time. I wish I could express what she said as well as she did. Hopefully you get what I mean.
A while ago I put together this playlist centered around the idea of “in-between time.” Take it for whatever it means to you. For me, it means being in my 20s, trying to find out what kind of career I want, where I want to live, when to get married and other big things like that.
You can listen to the playlist above, or listen on your Spotify player by clicking here.
I’m going to leave you with one more quote because I love quotes.
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” E. E. Cumings
Image via Terry Gotham.
Modern Notebook 