Entre Nous.

My favorite darling

One good thing about having to get up early for work is getting to watch the Isaac Mizrahi show from 7:00-7:30am. 

A little band from Bellingham was on the OC tonight.  Death Cab For Cutie went slumming in a county other than its own.

Today I went to the "Tulip Festival" that's held every year in a town called Mount Vernon.  The abundance of tulips draws people from all over the area for the month of April to see all the fields of tulips blooming.  This year we went a little late in the flower blooming season.  Only one of the gardens was still open, most of the fields had been completely decimated.  That's what I get for being late.  Once the flowers in the fields are cut your only option for viewing the tulips is paying $ to enter a private garden.  So I was surrounded by tourists posing in front of their favorite shade of tulip.  So aggravating.

BUSTed

So I bought the newest issue of BUST magazine because Amy Sedaris is on the cover.  And I'm now smitten with the magazine.  I just might have to subscribe.  I wasn't that huge of a fan of the magazine in its early years but they've turned it into something.

 

So there was an interview with Francine Pascal (of Sweet Valley High fame) in the magazine.  Apparently she didn't even write many of the SVH books and the spin off series.  She would come up with the plots then hand the job of writing the book to her team of writers.  How very.  I was never a super huge fan of her series.  Truth be told I was more into the Babysitters Club.  But at the small provincial elementary school that I attended (there were only 30 students, three in my grade) the head teacher forbid us to read SVH books during S.S.R.  So they became a sort of forbidden pleasure for a year or so.  But I am excited that Miss Francine has a new SVH book coming out later this year titled Sweet Valley Heights.  Apparently this book will "revisit all the familiar characters, now in their 20's and early 30's and living in a gated community, and Francine promises it will be outrageous".  Oh so I totally can't wait.  I miss 80's young adult fiction.  Those were the days.

 

There was also an article about the German artist Loretta Lux which I found very intriguing.  She blends painting, photography, and digital alterations.  "The images are compositions of photos superimposed over painted backgrounds, then finished off with digital alterations".  Her work could be described as postmodern portraits.  I love portraits but I adore artificial or altered ones even more.  Of course her work sparks debate over whether or not it should fall into the category of photography or not, since she clearly admits to altering her work.  I love an artist who can create a good controversy.  There's something disquieting to her work, which I like.  And the color palette is sublime.  Check her out. 

 

And finally the highlight of the April/May issue of BUST was of course the interview with Amy Sedaris.  I think of all the Sedaris clan Amy may just be my favorite.  I really need to snag a copy of her book Wigfield : The Can-Do Town That Just May Not.  And I can't wait for the release of her Strangers with Candy movie, which SJP and Matthew Broderick will both appear in.  Amy is just so quirky.  She's like a parody of her real self.  Apparently she has her own cupcake making business that she runs out of her NYC apartment kitchen.  And her BFF is Todd Oldham, how cool is that.

 

And obviously there's a new layout to my journal.  I'm not sure how I feel about it.  It might not last long what with me being so fickle.

Vive le Week-End

I'm taking Monday off from work.  Yay for three day weekends!

 

So I got my first pay check today and went on a bit of spending spree.  I bought two pairs of sandals and a pink tunic.  I'm hesitant to reveal where the tunic came from but lets just say it's a perfect Kate Spade knockoff and until a few more pay checks come in the knock off will have to do.  I also purchased a few books.  I bought Ruth Reichl's (editor of Gourmet magazine) newest book Garlic and Sapphires : The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise, which I cannot wait to start reading.  I also bought Budget Living magazine's book Party Central.  It's a month to month guide to "entertaining" (I can't get enough of the ironic quotes). 

 

I just discovered my new favorite candy, Starburst suckers.  I'm so glad I'm back in Washington where I don't have to feel like a fool for calling them "suckers" and not "lollipops".  The kids in Berkeley that I nannyed for would give me an odd look whenever I referred to them as suckers.  But back to the candy.  At work we have a candy drawer and one of my coworkers filled the drawer with them.  Go try them!  You'll be smitten.

 

So I'm sure everyone knows about how you can send in your photos to Jones Soda ( Get your photo on a label of Jones Soda beverage drink ) and if they like the photo enough they'll make a label out of it for one of their sodas.  My friend Alina has a friend who has had several of her photos used.  But the thing is they wont actually send you a bottle with the photo on it if they decide to use your picture. They will at best send you a few labels.  Then it's up to you to find the bottle of soda (or pop as we call it here in the Pacific NW).  But of course you have no idea what flavor of soda your label will be placed on.  It's all very random.  But ANYWAY my point is that my friend Alina was actually in one of the pictures that was selected to appear on a bottle of Jones soda and the probability of actually finding a bottle with her picture is really slim.  Now I'm obsessed with searching through all the bottles of Jones soda everywhere I go in hopes of finding a bottle with her picture on it. 

You're invited

So as of today I've completed two full weeks of work at my new job.  I don't adore the job but it isn't totally abysmal either.  Tomorrow we're having a company "barbecue", which should be amusing.  Oh AND more importantly I found out that the boy I have a crush on at work is in a band.  I seem to have moved on from boys who own record labels to boys who are in bands.

My Birthday is a little less than a month away and I just finished making my Birthday invitations.  The words above the picture say "let them eat cake" and there's a pink gingham border.  Instead of a Birthday cake this year I decided I want cupcakes instead.  So I'm using recipes from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook ( More From Magnolia ).  I'm really dreading this Birthday.  I will officially be closer to 30 than 25, which I'm not dealing with very well.  So I just try to focus on the present and not think about the getting older bit that comes along with the presents.

 

I just found out that Stereo Total are starting an American tour next month.  I am so excited to get to see them.  They're going to be playing a show in Vancouver on May 24th at Richards on Richards, and I'm so going to be there.

Take me out to the ball game

In honor of the opening day of baseball season I thought I'd show you a picture of what I will be wearing to my next baseball game.  Although I'd much prefer to watch a movie about baseball (Field of Dreams, A League of Their Own and now Fever Pitch) than watch an actual baseball game.  But I don't mind attending a few games a season. I do draw the line at watching baseball on television or listening to a game on the radio.  That I just wont do.

 

So I went to see the movie Fever Pitch over the weekend.  This is the third Nick Hornby book to be made into a movie.  I thought both About a Boy and High Fidelity turned out delightful.  I found Fever Pitch to be pleasantly sweet.  Although I wasn't thrilled with a few of the changes that were made.  The location for the movie version of Fever Pitch was changed from England to the U.S. (Boston).  While the sport was changed from "football" to baseball.   Clearly Hornby didn't write the screenplay.  Under normal circumstances I would refuse to see a movie that wavered so drastically from the original plot of the book.  But I just had to see Jimmy Fallon, he's so crushable and his character was endearing.  I adored his lacoste T-shirts and fussy hair.  This American version of Fever Pitch is actually the second movie to be made based on the novel.  The first version was filmed in England and starred Colin Firth.  It was made in 1997.  Nick Hornby wrote the screenplay and even had a cameo role in the movie.  Although this newest version of Fever Pitch didn't much resemble the Hornby novel it was based on, I still liked it for what it was - a movie about love, of a girl and a sport.