Awesomeness upon awesomeness

I've been a bit crabby over the past few days. Living at the Jersey Shore can be great - until the invasion of the summer people or "bennies" as we call them arrive. Rather than getting psyched about barbecues and fireworks, Memorial Day weekend has me groaning over impending traffic jams and jerky people in our midst. On Saturday alone we had three seperate cars with out of state plates scream out of their windows that we were assorted profanities even though they were the ones driving improperly.

More crabbiness ensued because we are in the middle of a major reorganization of the house. The good news is we were fortunate enough to receive really wonderful gifts for the wedding. The bad news it all has to be put somewhere. The cupboards are already bursting at the gills. Every flat surface in the house is stacked with some sort of small appliances, frying pans, comforters etc etc. I had grand plans to covort around Brooklyn with Talulah on Sunday but they were foiled by the piles of stuff crying for attention. I had a major pout fest.

Did I mention I worked on Monday when most people were chilling out enjoying their three day holiday?

Anyway, a girl can only scowl for so long before it gets totally boring. Besides, it's not like I haven't been having any fun lately inbetween all that scowling and pouting.

So here's some of the awesomeness going on:

Threadless is having a $10 sale through Sunday.

We went to see the movie, Waitress, in the theater on Saturday. It's a sweet summer diversion. Make sure you stop at a diner for a slice of pie after seeing it. Watch the trailer here.

At home, we watched Music & Lyrics. I skipped seeing it in the theater in February because I feared it would be disappointing as romantic comedies can tend to be (The Holiday, for example).  The movie was fun. It cheered me up after a crabby day. Hugh Grant does alot of booty shaking in this ridiculous-in-a-good way80's style video for the song "Pop! Goes My Heart". I had the dumb song in my head all day yesterday.
Which made me crave seeing Rick Astley's video for "Never Gonna Give You Up." When I was a kid I thought he had great dance moves. Uh, not really.  Check it out.

JPo's birthday was celebrated several times. First there was cupcakes and champagne with her and her twin on the night of their birthday. Over the weekend there was a breakfast at our favorite place to eat outside. We even arrived at a good time so we didn't have to wait for a table.

I got invited to join a fun newish Flickr group Tea for two (me + you)

I'm going through my cookbooks trying to thin out the collection. This book, A Feast of Soups, by Jacqueline Heriteau has an ugly cover. I considered passing it along. Then I began to read and found the intro is a delight. The author spent time living in the French countryside in the 1940's near Cannes. Her monthly rent was $1 and a slab of chocolate. She learned how to make soups from her landlady. The section on light soups for hot days will probably come in handy pretty soon. It seems that the book would be especially handy for those that grow their own vegetables. There's loads of recipes for making soups based on ingredients as they become available.

We got tickets to see Crowded House at the Beacon Theater in August. I as so psyched. They have a new single "Don't Stop Now" that you can hear on their site now before the new album "Time On Earth" comes out in July.

Another band I'm really excited about right now is Lavender Diamond. I'd been listening to  tracks off their record on their MySpace page and went out and bought it on Sunday. Rebecca Stark's voice is like taking a sip from an artisinal well - clear and sweet, straight from the earth with no filtering or manmade muckery.
She writes these trippy blog entries like this one:
"Dear Children of the Earth!
Hello everybody! Hello new friends! We are so excited right now about peace on earth! We just want to tell you that you are beautiful people and we love you. We hope you realize that your life matters! Your happiness matters! And you deserve to have happiness!
It is a paradox to understand how each person has so much power. It would be impossible to understand with the mind how each one is like a grain of sand on the ocean! Imperceptible! But real. You are each real and we are real and you are real and life is real and the earth is real and love is real and peace is real.
So!  Happy reality day to you! 
We hope that our reality clears up and we realize our own powers to heal the planet. It's worth it. The earth is worth it. So cheer up everyone! it's going to be easy to change!"

Normally, I would find this to be much too touchy feely for my tastes but she's slipped in through the cracks and managed to touch me. Their optimism is contagious. I feel a connection and a will to be more peaceful. They'll be playing at Maxwells this weekend. I'm going to try to make the show.

Here's hoping you find some awesomeness in your day.

Comments

[Kristen]

So much goodness here! I love your blog and am glad to have found it thru SPC. I think I remember that you have a photobooth strip from the Jersey shore - is this where you go for your summer weekends? It's my goal this summer to get to as many shore towns with boardwalks for a day trip and a strip, Point Pleasant will be my first stop in a few weeks.

I just heard about Lavender Diamond when I went to hear Miranda July read 2 weeks ago - she's a big fan of the band, now I'll go find them on myspace.

I hope your weekend is a good one.

[T-La]

Ha ha! I was afraid to admit to anyone that I liked "Music & Lyrics" too! That video KILLS me.
T-La