Iceland Bound!

Hey there!  I'm going to Iceland for a vacation with my friend, the wonderful Julie of San Francisco!  See you kids in a week! Check back for Icelandic photos, won't you?  Here's some that inspired us to make the trip.

This is what I packed for my week-long stay.  Joe asked,"Why are you packing 15 shirts?"

So I may have packed every long-sleeve shirt I own.  It's cold there!  OK, maybe three hats was overkill.

Vroom Vroom

When I moved to Washington in 2008, I gave my Honda Civic to my dad.  His car had just died and I didn't really need a car in the city.  Sometimes I borrow it, which is really nice of him.  It's the cheap, co-dependent, low-tech version of Zipcar. Recently, my dad talked about maybe trading in the Civic and getting a sports car.  This was very unlike him.  A born saver, one of his favorite pastimes is to shop in the "cheap meat" section of the supermarket.  "What a bargain," he always says about half-price, near-expiry-date deli meat. But hey, he works so hard, he deserves a sports car if he wants one. "What kind of sports car are you going to get?" I asked him. "Well, I was thinking about a Honda Accord," he said. That's more like it.

Tunes Tuesday: "So Far Around the Bend," The National

I'm going to see The National tonight at Merriweather, and I'm super excited about it.  I've seen them once before and they seem like the type of band to always give it their all.

So in honor of the show, enjoy today's tune, which has one of the wildest woodwind sections you'll hear in pop music.  It also has that cheerful music/melancholy lyrics blend that I'm perpetually digging. Did I mention that the lyrics talk about getting high through apples and praying for Pavement to get back together?  The National might have a rep of being a Serious band with a capital S, but I think their lyrics have a sly sense of humor.

New Clock

Check out the super fun clock my friend Kristin got me for my birthday.  I love it.  It's brightening up our little kitchen.  That seemed like a good place for it, what with the cutlery and all.  When Kristin gave it to me, she said "I thought you'd like it, it has all your favorite colors."  Someone in the crowd at my birthday party shouted out, "It has every color!"  

Yes, those are my favorite colors.  Every color.