Discover Stillwater!

 Recently A and I got a groupon for the Water Street Inn in Stillwater (more on the Inn later).  We decided that it would be pretty fun to go during the afternoon and walk around this little town right on the St Croix River, just across from Wisconsin.  This old town is pretty Rad, with lots of antique stores and cute shops and decent bars. 

 We parked kinda far because we wanted the exercise, and A thought it was a good idea. 

 Almost right away we stopped for lunch at this place called the Mad Capper.  It was pretty cool.

 They had a huge beer selection, including a smoked beer (seriously, it has a smokey flavor-it was a classic in Germany, and tastes smokey because the barley is smoked/roasted over a fire.) which I had never tried.  So I tried it, and it was both good an smokey,  But not something I could have more than one or two of.  A had a cider.

 With all the walking, we decided to split a few appetizers for dinner.  chicken sliders, potato skins, and a classic old cheeseburger.  Needless to say, we had some leftovers.

 We went into a few antique stores, and found a few things.  Unfortunately, this amazing pillow was already sold, or else we would have already had Sara's birthday taken care of.

 After checking into the hotel, we went back out to a few shops, and a bar called Rafters.  It was upstairs, and had an AMAZING view of the river.  The bartender was also pretty nice and made us a few interesting and yummy shots. 

 After shopping more we went to our hotel and enjoyed some tv, dvd's, huge hot tub, dinner in our room, and live Irish music.  It was a pretty good time.

Good Times!!!

Vinyl Goldmine!

Hello Friends.  This past weekend, A and I spent a night in beautiful Stillwater MN (more on that later.)  On our way, we spotted this little salvation army boutique.  Little did I know that this place was going to greatly enhance my vinyl collection.

 Because A loves to thrift so much, I get to see a lot of vinyl collections.  Usually I will find 1 somewhat decent album that I could use.  I was hoping to walk away with 1 or 2 new albums, because this store had about 6 boxes I was going to go through.  After the first box, I found 1 album that I *may* have bought had I not looked through the second box, whioch was tucked under a table and dusty as all get up.  I started looking through teh box and within a minute or so, I knew I had falled upon something amazing. Here was a box of albums that must have not yet been looked through.  There were PLENTY of gems in there and I couldnt beleive what I was getting my hands on.  Below are the albums I selected.  These were the very best and because I didn't want to spend all my pay check pn vinyl, I stopped looking after another box or two.

Nina Simone, Fleetwood Mac (tusk), Simon and Garfunkel (bookends) Led Zeppelin (II) Rolling Stones (beggers banquet and Exile on Main Street, Stevie Wonder (songs in the key of life) Elton John (goodbye Yellow Brick Road), Beatles (white Album), Bob Dylan (Nashville Skyline).
Seriously, I cazn't wait to just be at home so I can take time listening to these!

Like i said, more on stillwater in a bit!

One year later

bike cake

It's true.  It has been a year since I started this little blog.  While it started out slow, it's become something I enjoy doing.  If I could only get back to making mixes and sharing them.  I'll work on that.  Thanks to the 5 of you who actually read this.  And double thanks to the 2,385 of you who google image search 80's pop stars, San Francisco, and scary movies and get thrown to my page. Who knew that would be my target audience ;)  But really. I've enjoyed the past year.  I hope you guys still enjoy seeing/reading the highlights of my every day here in the lovely Minnie-apple.  And here is to April 1st.  While we *may* still get snow, I'm real glad march is behind us.  Happy Friday, friends!!!!!

spread the love: Play tag!

 Hi Friends.  This morning I got "blog tagged" by my lovely lady over at salvaged strawberry (who got tagged by nora bird from two birds, who got tagged minnesota maven and so on and so on) What does this even mean, you ask?  Well, it's a way to spread some love and share a little extra stuff about one's self.  Being that I, too, am a blogger out of MN, I decided to do the damn thing, and then "tag" my bike-a-long friend, LOW over at Grease Rag.  This is a pretty easy task.  Basically, just write the answers to the following questions on a sheet of paper, snap a photo, and tag another blogger.  Easy, right?

So here we go.  Here are the questions!

1. Name and blog name

2. Blog URL

3. write "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

4. Favorite quote.

5. Favorite song (this was a hard one.  I picked 3 that I'm into right now.)

6. Favorite band/singer (again....pretty tricky for a music snob like myself.  I went with some classics that never get old to me.)

7. Anything else you want to add?

8. Next blogger to be tagged

And that is that! (below are my answers....)

Hey Laura-I hope you don't think I'm too dorky.....I do have a weak spot in my heart for :"tag" type stuff on the interwebs.  Usually it comes from my mom and I find it a nice practice of sharing information that my mother may not otherwise know about me in a quick and painless way.  So, the challenge is out there. 

Happy Thursday!

Sunday Funday

Cell phone photos.....what can I say.

Today in Rock History

 Happy Friday! I'm so happy it is sunny out.  However this cold and snow at the end of March stuff has GOT to go.  I, for one, am SICK OF IT!!!

Anyhow, let's work past it and look at some music history.

Anyone a fan of Elvis Costello?  Because I am.  Not like a GIANT fan, but enough of a fan that I have a handful of albums.  Why am I asking you this?  Well, because it was on this day (3.25) 1977 that Elvis Costello released his first single, Less Than Zero.  Many people know this song because it was later used for the film Less than Zero starring Robert Downey Jr. (among others). 

The song Less Than Zero is the 8th track off of Elvis Costello's first Album, My Aim is True (other single off this album was Allison).  While LTZ didn't make it to any billboard top-50 charts or anything (well, not here in the US anyhow) it has become a classic.  While the song was *actually* written about some British fascist leader(named Oswald), many Americans thought that Costello wrote it about a different Oswald (Lee Harvey).  This lead to Costello singing an alternate version, more closely connected to LH Oswald.  That can be found on the Live at the El Mocambo album. That's about all I really know about this song.  But I love the song and wanted to share (check out the video, too).

You know what's funny?  Bob Seger also released an album that year, and the single "Night Moves" top the charts.  That also happened on this day in 1977.  But really, I dig Bob Seger, too. 

There you have it, folks.  A piece of Rock History that you may not have known.  Enjoy!

my aim is true   Night Moves    LTZ vinyl

Rainy Day Albums

Good afternoon, friends.  Last night I woke up around 330am to the beautiful sound of rain falling outside my bedroom window.  I love that sound. 

I fell back asleep, still listening to the rain, and the soft snore of my pugs.  As I was falling asleep, the thought of good albums for rainy days came to my head and i said it over and over so I wouldn't forget. I knew I would be asleep again in no time and that usually means forgetting anything that I was thinking about.


Here is a list of 10 albums that I think are great for a rainy day.  No particular order, just some great tunes.

Buena Vista Social Club. This self titled album is amazing.  It instantly takes you to a different place.  suddenly the cool Minnesota rain outside is actually a tropical rain, and your in an outdoor tiki bar on some island with an amazing house band playing to a full dance floor.

Iron & Wine-Our Endless Numbered Days.  This was the first iron & wine album I heard. And it was rainy outside.  Maybe that is where the connection comes from.  But his voice just seems to take over and make the weather somehow soothing.

Counting Crows.-August and Everything After. This album has been a part of my life since I was 11 years old.  It is still among my favorites, no matter how lame adam duritz is.  It is heart breaking in the most beautiful way.  more than three of the songs bring me to tears more often than not.  It just brings me back to so many different times in my life.  And the emotions that it will bring out of you are best with a side of rain.

Modest Mouse-the lonesome crowded west. This album is amazing.  i spent many a rainy days listening to this album, especially while driving in my car.  Go give it a listen.

Nightmares on Wax-Smokers Delight. This was a big album for me when i was in college.  At one point I was living in a 3rd floor one bedroom apartment with my partner in crime, Kelly.  One side of our little shitty apartment was sliding windows.  We also had a light switch which just about turned on an acid trip-lava lamp, christmas lights, black lights (which shown on my grateful dead posters...) But I recall listening to this album, staring out the huge windows watching the clouds swirl by while it rained outside.

Otis Redding-The Dock of the Bay.  I suggest giving this a listen on vinyl, if possible.  You will know in a mater of minutes why I put this on my list.

Sigur Ros- ( ).  I struggled to decide which of their albums to put on this list.  They all do a different thing with the rain.  This album is sort of split in 2. And each part has a definite different feel to it. It makes for a great rainy day album. 

The Sundays-Static and Silence.  I got this album way back in high school.  While the first song doubles for an amazing summer jam, it is a nice start to the album.  The rest of the album comes down a bit.  Her vocals are pretty great, and just float you through the album.

Thelonious Monk-Thelonious Alone in San Francisco. Jazz on a rainy day album.  what can I say.  I love Monk.  and this solo album is rad.  He really knows how to make you feel the music/weather.

(note: the 10th album is Wilco's A ghost is born.  I accidentally deleted the image, but that album is great for a rainy day.  It has some louder edgy stuff, but also some mellow, more melodic tunes.  It also happens to be my favorite wilco album.)


There you have it.  Now go ENJOY the weather, instead of feel sad that Spring just won't come.

(honrable mentions: anything Nick Drake, Bon Iver, more jazz-like miles davis, Eva Cassidy, Aretha Franklin, Decemberists (older stuff)

image source  (all other images taken from wikipedia)