Clap Your Hands!

Stella's First Crawl: On Tape!

Thursday Thirteen

Got this from my friend Kelli's blog. I don't know how to get all the fancy code that makes it pretty because I've never bothered to really learn how to use blogger, but here's the jist.

13 Concerts I Have Attended

I have of course attended way more than 13 concerts, so I'll just choose what comes to mind.

1. Erasure's Wild Tour at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion when I was 12. That was my first concert and my best friend Sarah's Aunt Stephanie took us. It was awesome. Andy wore a tutu and danced and frolicked around with hot gay men in little shiny underwear. Perhaps this concert is what turned me--into a fag hag that is:) Louie Louie, some horrible pop flash in the pan was the opening act. (I saw them again when I was a sophomore in college with Tim and his sisters Caroline and Christine. Fun, but certainly not as out there as the first concert.)

2. Depeche Mode's Songs of Faith and Devotion Tour at the Summit when I was a junior in high school. Sarah and I went with her Mom (since it was in kind of a sketchy part of town). We had 8th row tickets and I swear to God that David pointed me out to Martin when I mouthed "I love you" and gave him my best 16-year-old sexy look. and TheThe was the opener and their bass was so loud I stuffed tissues in my ear and I swear my heart was beating in time to the beat. I saw them twice more, once on that tour when it came back around at Cynthia Woods, and once shortly after Tim and I got married on the crappy album tour at that crappy Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre outside San Antonio.

3. The Cranberries' No Need to Argue Tour at the Astrohall. Sarah, Frank and I went, even though Frank and I had to get up at like 5:30am to go to a speech tournament the next morning. I think I was a senior in high school. We wound up partying all night and I slept like maybe an hour. I barely made it through the next day. Not my best work. I saw the Cranberries again when they swung back through and played Cynthia Woods in the Spring. Toad the Wet Sprocket, one of my favorite bands at the time, opened for them that time and were awesome.

4. Lollapalooza 1992, August before my sophomore year, I went with Sarah, her boyfriend John, and a friend from school I had a crush on for some reason, Chris. Sarah and I had had to have our parents lie for us and say that our families were going on a picnic together so that we could miss Colorguard practice. Sarah and John disappeared to go do God knows what (okay, I do know what, she told me in excrutiating detail), and Chris and I hung out and watched the show. We had a lot of fun. Pearl Jam was awesome, Eddie Vedder climbed up to the top of the stage while he sung, Ice Cube made me feel very white, Red Hot Chili Peppers brought the house down, and Ministry did my goth soul good as Al Jourgenson danced with a skeleton.

5. Morrissey in London at the Royal Albert Hall, June 2004. One of the best concerts ever. Period. I paid a ridiculous amount to win tickets off ebay, but it was well worth it. To see Morrissey in his native land, with a bunch of soccer hooligans chugging pints and singing along to every word behind us? And the sound was amazing! It was a symphony hall and only sat around 2,000 people, so it was intimate too. Plus at the door they kept asking Tim if he had a mobile (they aren't allowed in because they can take pictures), and Tim totally couldn't understand him, so finally I had to go, "do you have a cell phone?" like such an American idiot.

6. REM with Radiohead opening at Southpark Meadows, Fall 1995, the Monster tour for REM and The Bends tour for Radiohead. Wow wow wow. The day I fell in love with Radiohead. REM puts on one of the best live shows I've ever seen and Radiohead nearly blew them out of the water. RIP Southpark Meadows. I've seen REM one more time, great, and Radiohead twice more, the Kid A tour at Cynthia Woods, which was a transcendent experience where the audience was just one in enjoying the music and the Hail to the Thief tour at Cynthia Woods where some A-holes on cell phones tried to ruin the experience.

7. Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie at Southpark Meadows, also 1995. Trent blew David Bowie off the stage, poor guy. Went with Sarah, Elizabeth Z., and George. Interesting group. Sarah was in town and we had to hunt her down a ticket. We went to all the kiosks at UT until we found a poster for someone selling tickets, then went to their house to buy just ONE ticket, which I think pissed them off. They kept trying to sell us both.

8. Camper Van Beethoven at SXSW 2004, I believe. La Zona Rosa. We got there like at 8 to make sure we'd get in since we were just paying cover. I made it through all the crappy bands before, but I thought I was going to be overcome by all the smoke and stuff in the room, and the packed in people. But thankfully, I made it to see CVB and it was well worth it. My high school dream had come true, to see CVB, who'd broken up by the time I got into them, and they didn't disappoint.

9. The Pixies at Stubb's, Fall 2004. Also a band that I'd never seen live because of a break-up. They were amazing, more high school dreams coming true. And I'd also spent a pretty penny on this show, but worth every cent.

10. The Cure's Wish Tour at Cynthia Woods, summer before my freshman year of high school, the Wild Mood Swings Tour at the Summit after freshman year of college, and the Curioso tour August 04 at Cynthia Woods. Always incredible, always worth seeing, will never disappoint. I dressed up totally goth for the first two shows, but I felt I'd grown a little past that by the Curioso tour. At the Wish Tour, my friend Philip died his hair with Kool-Aid and it was dripping down his neck. Good times.

11. Dave Matthews Band, Erwin Center, Sophomore year of college. Damn those guys can put on a show! Christi, Daniel and I went and had like 6th row or something tickets, and we were just blown away. (I'm running out of adjectives, sorry) Daniel could always get us the best seats. Damn you Daniel for moving to D.C.!

12. The Lemonheads with Redd Kross and some other band opening at a place in Houston that's not even there anymore, junior or senior year of high school. My friend Marissa and I stood in the very front, bracing and bruising our knees against the wood that separated the stage from the audience in the hopes of getting close to Evan Dando. Then the a-hole came out and he was too stoned to even play more than a song. He was in his PAJAMAS! I was so mad.

13. The Violent Femmes, Numbers, 1994 or 95. They worked that show, played for nearly 3 hours, I just loved it. Played all my favorites, and at one point I hid from my friends because they wanted to go home (or perhaps had to go home because of curfew), but I didn't want to miss a second of the show. I also nearly had my neck broken because a girl who'd been crowd surfing came down on me, I had to hurl her off with all my might. Excellent!

Oh, dude, I forgot Ben Folds at La Zona Rosa who led the audience in a beautiful sing along, and Counting Crows, and so many more!

The Brave New World of Mobility

So yesterday, Stella decided she was going to crawl. She'd been getting more mobile lately, but still her little stretch and creep a little, then sit up maneuver. But yesterday she just said, "hmm, I think I'll go ahead and do this crawling thing. I want that over there, so I'll just crawl over to it." Tim said she was into EVERYTHING this morning, even though he only watched her for about half an hour. She's not being quite so active with me because she is, of course, at heart still a lazy baby. But I think things are going to get more challenging from now on. First on the list is finishing baby-proofing everything. I baby-proofed her room even more, but it's still not completely safe for a baby that can get into everything. It was safe for a baby that just had a small radius, but now that she can crawl, well, I have a little more work to do. My guess is that we'll figure out a lot of what needs to be done just by watching what she goes for and then fixing that. I was so excited, but now I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, my job just got a lot harder!"

To Clarify...

So both Tim and Ashley had really good points in their comments on yesterday's post. And I should make it clear that I was not proud of what went through my head and onto my blog when I saw the woman using WIC for the milk, but that's the way I think sometimes. And to make it clear again, I totally think we should help support the poor, I am definitely a social liberal, but my point is that I think people should think about their financial resources when they choose their family size. And I wish that our goverment would be more proactive about educating people about birth control to allow people of all income levels to control their family size. BUT Tim brings up an excellent point about people needing assistance sometimes. What if I got pregnant again and whammo Tim lost his job? I know we'd both be grateful to have that help. Thanks for helping me see things from the other angle, guys, sometimes my selfishness makes me ill.

Take a Picture, it'll last longer!

The ice has finally melted and Stella and I ventured out to the grocery store today for more supplies. Well supplies other than milk. They were COMPLETELY OUT! Only had like one gallon of buttermilk and that frankenmilk Mootopia stuff. So no milk for us. Oh, but the point of this story: Stella has a black eye because she fell on her bookshelf while playing on it and trying to pull up Tuesday evening. I was two inches away and I still have no clue how she did it. I think she was just really tired and clumsy. I cried nearly as much as she did, I felt so guilty, but Tim, who was only like 3 feet away when it happened, pointed out that there was nothing I could do. But I've gotten over the initial shock of what it looks like and I didn't really think about it until I got to the grocery store. Everybody stared at her! Yeah, like I hit my baby and then take her to the grocery store. Everyone at the deli counter asked what happened. I wanted to say, "none of your business.", but I thought that might be suspicious, so I told the story over and over again. One old man said, "learning to walk's tough, ain't it kiddo?" when he saw her. I thought that was kind of sweet, since he obviously knew that kids get all kinds of bruises when they start getting mobile. And another lady told me about her son falling out of his high chair and his tooth going through his lip. Sheesh!

I also chatted with a woman who was in line in front of me with her 21 month old daughter who was enamored of Stella. This woman was pregnant, and we chatted happily, but I felt a little like, "woah, what the heck?" when I noticed she was using a WIC coupon. She'd said how her husband wanted 4 kids. I can't help but think, "shouldn't you wait until you can afford them?" This is probably very snobbish and bougeois of me, but I couldn't help thinking that my tax dollars were paying for her kids. It was weird too because her daughter was very well dressed. I didn't notice what they were buying except for the milk because she bought it separately (that's what you have to do with WIC, I think). And she was white, which I think it's totally racist that I am bringing up, but there you go, I think it's important to the story in case you assumed she was non-white. (oh, the milk she bought was Lactose-free, in case you were wondering how she got milk when there was none)

Going Ice Storm Crazy!

For anyone who's been living under a rock the last few days, we in Austin (and across Central Texas), have been experiencing an ice storm and snow since Monday. Schools and work have been called off, businesses have been closed, life as we know it has come to a standstill. Even Tim didn't have to go into work, but it didn't stop them from making him do his work at home. That's the problem with the internet and technology: you can make your workers work even when they can't come in. Which is why I haven't been on the internet much. He had to use my computer since his is currently broken. And so while Tim was here, for the most part I felt like some sort of old-fashioned housewife who would bring the child around periodically for a kiss on the head, and then would take her back into her playroom to keep her away from Daddy while he was working. I mean, not exactly, we played in the same room as Tim yesterday, but it was very frustrating having Tim right there, but having him be chained to his computer. And he really should be home today, too, but obviously the CEOs can't stand another day around their families and so he had to go in at 10. Today looks to be the worst yet, but he's taking the bus. Hopefully the buses won't get stuck on any hills like they were yesterday. I try not to be too worried about the bus. The bus is going to win any car fights out there. It's the biggest and the baddest. It will even beat your SUV you bought to make yourself feel safer, even though really in a collision you will probably roll over and be smushed. Of course, you will only roll over and be smushed after you've plowed into the driver's side of my xB and caused me to have permanent brain damage. Congratulations, it's a draw! But I digress. Anyway, Stella saw her first snow yesterday and was fascinated, but really, we need to get out soon, especially now that it's just Stella and I. I sure hope it warms up later!

Fashion sucks

Okay, fashion sucks right now. Or at least, I find the styles sucky. I got money for Christmas and I have been trying to find some shoes and a purse and possibly a new diaper bag (well a bag I can use as a diaper bag). I have not found ONE PAIR of shoes that I liked! I can't believe it, I've been to like 10 stores and not a single pair! Usually I have to really struggle to not buy 5 pairs of shoes at a time. I really love shoes, but there is nothing but fugly really high heels and fuglier extreme flats. I don't get that, either heels are about 5 inches or they are non-existent right now. What is going on? And purses? Yuck! Everything looks like it was made for my Grandmother to carry. Back in the 80's! Perhaps that's what it boils down to: 80's fashion is in right now and it is U-G-L-Y. I just hope that it's over fast. At first I thought the problem was that I hadn't gone shopping in so long because I'd been pregnant, but now I realize we are just going through a really ugly faze in clothes right now. I hate it when I have money to burn and I can't burn it!
I did find that I have expensive taste, though. I got Nordstrom's gift cards from two of my sister-in-laws for Christmas and I went shopping there Saturday. Wow, it was so nice! And they actually have sale racks, although it's unclear exactly how much things are going to be until you get to the register. I thought I'd gone way over my gift cards, but stuff was about half what it was already marked down to. So I could have gone even crazier! But they are so nice there, and the lighting in the dressing room is actually flattering. Now if I could just afford (or let myself afford) $70 blouses and $200 pairs of shoes on a regular basis!

Babies and cheese

I am sitting here watching Stella eat cheese and it is quite entertaining. She's so determined. She kind of examines each piece of cheese as she brings it up to her mouth like, "hmm, is this the same thing I just ate? How am I going to get this strange substance into my mouth?" Then she puts it and her finger into her mouth and starts mashing it with her jaws and then swallows it. And when there is no more cheese she stares at her hand, hoping for extra bits of cheese that got stuck to it. Then she eats those too. This is what passes for amusement these days. That and Guitar Hero 2. Guitar Hero 2 is most excellent fun after Stella goes to sleep.

Goodbye 2006!

So it's 2007. Last year, my life changed forever because we had Stella. Sometimes I miss our old life, but then I hang out with Stella and I think how much better I have it now. New Year's Eve ROCKED! Bill picked up the gauntlet and hosted at his house, and my Mom came and stayed with Stella, so we rocked it pre-baby style (well except for drinking oodles and oodles of alcohol, I still have to feed the baby when I return from my partying!) There was tons of yummy food, great alcohol and just a few fantastic friends. Perfect! Although it would have been more perfect if Ashley and Travis and Jeff and Tara had been there. Jeff and Tara were sick, though, and we realized it was the first time we'd not spent New Year's Eve with them in 7 years! Our first New Year's Eve was 1999 when it was just Tim and I, Jeff and Tara and Anna and Sean. All our other friends had gone out to the country to celebrate New Year's at a friends' parents house. So the 6 of us had more than one bottle of champagne per person and had a great time drinking ourselves into oblivion to celebrate the new millenium.
This New Year's Eve we did not get our obligatory midnight shot, unfortunately, because my new camera was not cooperating. But I got all kinds of other great shots, I'll have to promise a few choice pics. Ian and Erin helped me make the most of all the "scene settings" on my new camera. The theme this year seemed to be "acting stupid and making crude jokes." Unfortunately, my mother and other people's mothers read my blog, so I cannot tell you the new, incredibly nasty word for female gentalia that I learned from Aaron (or was it Bill?), which we proceeded to make even nastier. If you want to email me, I'll send it to you. It's totally gross. We also learned way too much about Bill's personal life, Aaron's uncle's hunting habits, and some other friends' make-out habits. And we saw Bill's "love den". He's got beads hanging on his bedroom door! Ladies, this man will not be single for long with a pad like this! (Seriously, he's a catch and I love him to death, I hope he knows I'm just teasing him!)
Yesterday we got to sleep in a little because my mom was here, then we went to lunch at Galaxy. Then Stella took a nap and so did I, while Tim played video games. I am trying not to be a bitch about video games, but I remember how much I hate them! Whenever something needs to be done or we're trying to leave, it always seems like we have to wait for Tim to find a save point. I felt much better after the nap (as did Stella), so we assembled the new furniture from Ikea we got Sunday. Oh, yeah, we checked out the new Ikea Sunday! It was fun, but they let you take your cart through the whole store, even though you don't need it at the beginning, so people were always in the way. And they were out of stock on some of the things we wanted. But I got a bookshelf with doors and lights to function as a curio cabinet, and a little larger than we realized bookshelf to store all Stella's toys in the breakfast room. That bookshelf may not live here permanently, we're kind of still living with it and seeing how we feel about it. But it was fun to go to Ikea knowing that if we forgot something, we could always just come back and get it later!
Okay, I still need to transition some stuff into the new china cabinet, so I'd better go. Happy 2007!