and this, is one of my other favorite gifts from this year. to my friend rachael from long ago, you may be getting a package of homemade peeps in the mail...i'll be sure not to seal the envelope so they'll be nice and stale. 

hoppy halidays

i really enjoy the act of giving at christmas, having not really done it my entire life (although my mother was always giving us gifts all through the year, spoiling us rotten), i never had occasion to 'give' other people things, random people who think it's strange if you just 'give' them things during the middle of the year (as i often do). so, christmas to me, is much more fun i think, than it is for most. 
but, in not exactly the same way, i also enjoy 'getting'. and this, dear readers, is one of my favorite gifts from this year. feel free to ooohh and ahhh, and fill up with jealousy of my extremely tasteful husband.

mr man and i teaching our five year old niece how to iceskate in central park, looking frightened that she would surely break an arm.  

roll over...

6. "walk on the fire" : edith frost
if you've not discovered miss edith frost, may i encourage you to please check her out. my favorite version of this song is on her demo album (which is just amazing for a singer songwriter indie type thingie)...but it is also on her album, "telescopic" , which was produced by mr.neil michael hagerty (royal trux fame, among others)...the entire album is incredible, i could pretty much put this album on at any time on any day in any mood and feel great about it. high mountain praise for this one.
7. "seems i never tire of lovin' you" : nina simone
many personal reasons behind loving this song, and getting that flutterbye feeling in my stomach when it plays and she sings...she sings....she...sings...
8. "just like christmas" : low
having not 'observed' christmas for most of my life, it seems that my husband and i happen to own many more christmas albums than the average couple our age (one of us being agnostic as well)...but the LOW christmas album is one that should be owned by many, many. it is warm, and happy, and sometimes terribly sad, but always beautiful. when rushing through the bitter crowds of people on my commute to downtown boston each day this month, this song hums in my head most days...and keeps me healthy and fairly sane. (along with my pills)

can isaak come over?

4. 'neverending math equation' : sun kill moon (cover of modest mouse)
my favorite cover from the acclaimed sun kill moon 'modest mouse' cover album. it's a perfect blend of what i love about mark kozelek, and what i love about isaak brock.
5. 'korkore zav ande kalyi ratyi' : romanyi rota
roma roma...again with the gypsy music. i'm not usually a fan of the putumayo compalations, but there is one called "gypsy caravan" that i would quite recommend, if not already. this song is hungarian, and makes me want to dance around in poofy pants with jangly earrings.

this is our tree, before we humiliate it and dress it up like a vegas whore. 

red rover, red rover...

oh yes, wrong game. it seems someone has 'tagged' me to spend the next weeks of my life detailing for you, blogreaders (hello?), my 49 favorite songs. since i've not the time to spend these weeks detailing for you these songs, i'm going to do it, litte bits, by little bits.
these will be a mix of favorite songs of all time, and songs i'm currently donning on my cd mixes (since, no, i don't have an ipod, or any other sort of teeny tiny music loading device to listen to on the train/bus/streetcorner...i've a cd player, it's bulky, it's obnoxious, and i love it).
here goes first:

1. 'start wearing purple': gogol bordellowhen listening to this song on my downtown commute, i often get giggly with images of everyone on the train, throwing hands in the air, kicking feet to the wind, and yelling this song at the top of their lungs until they're forget they're going to work and everyone goes out to buy garish, expensive new shoes.
2.'life on mars': david bowiei tried to convince my husband to walk down the aisle to this after our wedding ceremony, but he was put off by all of the questions his family would have certainly had if we had done such. simply put, i love this song. i love bowie. i can't get enough of it. and it's great in portuguese as well, who knew?
3. 'pretty paper': willie nelsonthere are many christmas songs that are just, so terribly sad...and this is certainly one of them. (frosty the snowman, being another) but, it's one of the most beautiful christmas ballads out there in the christmas ether, and i would happily listen to it year round.

that's it for now kiddies. more soon.

drifting along...

"See them tumbling down
Pledging their love to the ground
Lonely but free I'll be found
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds."

*the idea that a tumbleweed could 'pledge it's love to the ground' almost makes me misty.

nothing to report. new parttime job. prozac makes me tired. xanax makes me more. my girl crush on gwen stefani rages on.

cheers.