My song of the week.

Why do you let me stay here?

Guess who just bought two tickets to see She & Him at the Hollywood Bowl in July? Yes - that would be me! They're supporting The Swell Season which will be pretty magical I think. And all for the sum of $40 USD. What?! As if we'd ever get such a sweet line-up here in Australia, let alone for that kind of price (okay admittedly they aren't GREAT seats but I'll take what I can get). Taking my darlin' mama with me so it will be great!

I've been preparing by watching some She & Him live videos on YouTube and Zooey looks like she's concentrating so hard when she sings. I think that it's kind of cute that she's so seemingly nervous!

And it called that calculation perfect love...

It's a rare thing that a Monday starts well for me. For starters my working day begins before 8am, it takes me almost 1.5 hours to get to work and I'm usually coming down with a severe case of the Post-Sunday blues. But this morning was different - I slept in til after 7 and Owen drove me to work. The joys of your boyfriend living much closer to work than you - really it's amazing.

Another thing that added to my great mood is that after six long years of sharing a single bed, Owen has finally graduated to a double bed. This is life changing, as I'm sure you realise sharing a single bed three nights a week for six years requires a certain level of patience and skill. We celebrated by ceremoniously jumping up and down on said bed - something we couldn't do on the single without fear one of us might fall off and break something important (be it a bone or lava lamp).

Oh also surprised me with tickets to see Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros which I'm really, really, really excited about. And later in April I'm seeing the lovely Regina Spektor again too. A good music month ahead for me so I'm going to celebrate/spam you all with some of their fun music videos!

Sweet Darlin'

I think every second person with a blog is at least partly in love with Zooey Deschanel. There is something in her quirky style that seems to resonate so well amongst a lot of females out there, myself included. I can't put my finger on it - all I know is that on occasion I wouldn't mind swapping places with her (except for her extreme vegan, gluten and dairy-free diet.. I'll be eating my beef pasta with a side of cheese, thanks all the same).

Anyway - I digress! What's exciting is that March marks the release of her second album with M.Ward. She & Him, Volume 2.
Volume 1 made me nostaligic for a era I didn't even know, so I have high hopes for for Volume 2.

I'm going to pre-order mine via JB Hifi because you get a freebie CD that has a tonne of music I think I'd like (including Middle East's "Blood").

Love was alive in the golden days

Owen loves music. Every now and then he'll suggest a band/song for me and he is yet to steer me wrong. I'm spending the night at home crafting so I asked for some suggestions...and boy did he hit jackpot. This song is beautiful.

This film clip really tugs at my heart strings, I can imagine it was someone's baby, a true labour of love. Animation tends to make me "squee" more than anything, partially because I studied it at uni and was meant to do Honours in it before I got sidelined by the House of Mouse...it's that one thing that makes me wonder "What if...".
Speaking of, this was one of my first uni projects which is like 5+ years old now (wow, that's a bit scary) and it's MEANT to have Machine Gun Fellatio's "Unsent Letter" as its soundtrack but somehow in the youtube upload it got lost... It was my one and only go at stop motion.... hence why it's pretty lame but it still makes me smile... and think of the 12 hour day I spend in that teeny, tiny room all alone

pompoms and playlists

TGIF

I'm home on a Friday night (I know it's lame but I couldn't be happier) and these are my favourite things as of 10:49PM.
Photographic evidence that two girls called e can make an awful pretty baked treat!

Do you have a happy show? This is mine. Erica, in her mid 30s and totally fed up with her life not going to plan, has a car accident and wakes up to a therapist insisting she writes down all her life's regrets. Gee, sounds like a riot Em. It is! Each week the therapist sends her back in time to a different part of her life so that she can do-over. It's fun and fabulous and worth your bandwith (or in my case, a Friday night on ABC2!)


Mr Joshua Radin (pronounced Rayyyydin apparently, I'm not convinced) and his whisper rock and babbling stories. Each song was prefaced with a story about the song, the story spanning longer than the song itself of course. That said, no one can keep a room of hundreds that captivated and silent unless you can play one heck of a song and so he did! Thanks Mr Braff for sharing him with the rest of the world, we appreciate it.

And on another note magnation has opened in Newtown! At the present time they aren't too well stocked, but I'm excited that I'll be able to get my grubby paws on an issue of BUST regularly. And my home-girl Martha should be in attendance too!

I'm listening to...

Having only heard Coin Laundry I wasn't sure if I would like the rest of Lisa Mitchell's songs. Not that Coin Laundry wasn't a cute and quirky song, I just didn't know how much more of that strange little girl voice I could handle. But having poked around on YouTube and listened to a few of her other songs I'm now hooked. Totally in love with Neopolitan Dreams which is so sweet and nostalgic.

Brand New Day

Sometimes living in Australia sucks - cool brands don't exist here, the best internet shops won't ship here and some of the most talented musicans from around the world won't tour here!

But today my faith has been restored - Joshua Radin is touring!
Described as "hushed folk-rock" this guy can write one heck of a song... and did I mention he is easy on the eyes too?

You may not have heard of him, but don't be surprised if a few of his songs sound familiar. Thanks to Zach Braff (did we really need a reason to love him even more?), Josh's tunes are used on a tonne of shows and movies- Scrubs, The Last Kiss, Greys Anatomy, heck even Home & Away. Braff, a friend from college, heard Radin's demo for 'Winter' and promptly included it in a heart-breaking episode of Scrubs... and the rest they say is history.

'Sif that wasn't enough, Ellen DeGeneres was so smitten with Josh's music she had him play at her and Portia's wedding. Yes indeedy!

So if you have your listening ears on, I suggest you pop over to Josh's myspace and listen to his tunes! If you like what you hear, think about catching one of his shows while he's in the country. Might see you there!

If every day was Saturday...

then this is what it would look like, with backing tracks by Bon Iver and Paul Dempsey.

If your Saturdays don't look like this just quite yet then you need to purchase THIS - the holy bible of baking in Australia



Australian Women's Weekly recipes books have long been a basic staple in kitchens across Australia. It's widely known that each recipe is triple tested in the AWW kitchens before publication, making the recipes both reliable and realistic.

The shelves in my own kitchen sink from the sheer weight of so many AWW stacked upon one another. My personal favourites are the ones from 60s when salmon mousse was the height of good taste (yes there was such a time) and prawn cocktails were sheer elegance. Simpler times indeed.