Local Superhero

This story is so awesome. The Make-A-Wish Foundation along with a bunch of local volunteers and actors made this kid's dream of becoming a superhero come true. For the whole story, visit the Seattle Times website.

Amazing News!

I found out today that The National is coming back to Seattle in September!!! I've been regretting not getting a ticket to Sasquatch because I couldn't imagine not seeing them, but I am relieved to say that I don't have to feel bad anymore. I will see them anyway! I just have to wait a bit longer. Now I just have to wait for Silversun Pickups to post their Seattle tour date and I'll be a very happy girl. Yay!

Two-fer Tuesday

Here's a throw (waaaay) back! Lately, the Hallmark movie channel (channel 500 for Comcast customers) has been playing old Disney classics that my family and I used to watch when I was still in single digits. The best ones so far have been "That Darn Cat" and "Blackbeard's Ghost", both really funny and actually still enjoyable even now!

"That Darn Cat" is about a cat who gets caught up in a kidnapping scandal and becomes an informant for the FBI, whose agents have to follow him around at night to see if he leads them to the kidnappers. "Blackbeard's Ghost" is about an old pirate who haunts an old hotel, but only one person can see him, which leads to a lot of weird happenings that no one can explain.

Both are totally worth checking out and making you feel like a kid again. Did anyone else watch them when they were kids?

Has Anyone Been Here?

I have been wanting to go to this restaurant for a long time now. I only wish I had found out about it before my birthday so I could have chosen it for my family dinner location. I'm hoping that I don't have to wait until my next birthday to go! Barrio describes themselves as "an approachable and inviting representation of modern Mexico" with two locations, one on Capitol Hill and one in Bellevue. After looking at their menu, I was excited to see that they have some of my favorite dishes that I ate in Chile such as cazuela, chorizo, escabeche and, yes, PISCO for drinks. You can check out their full menu of food and drinks on their website here. I hope it's as good as I imagine it to be. Anyone want to go soon? What special occasions are coming up?

Music Monday

This song is feel good. It's called "Animal" by Neon Trees. It's perfect for a Monday morning when driving to work (or an interview like me). It's high energy with some cute lyrics about when you "kinda wanna be more than friends". It definitely fits into my positivity streak I'm trying to go on. Happy listening!

Book Review: Drown

After reading "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" and absolutely loving it, I had to check out Junot Diaz's other books. This book features 10 short stories about living in the Dominican Republic. I didn't like it as much as "Oscar", I still really enjoy Diaz's story telling. He really pulls you into characters and it's always interesting to me to read about other types of lifestyles. Again, he mixes his stories with English and Spanish and I love it. As dark as some of the stories are, the way he describes the DR really makes me want to visit it someday. It seems like a very interesting place. I really enjoyed these stories and Diaz is definitely up there on my favorite authors list. Check out any of his stuff.

Positivity

Lately, things haven't necessarily been going my way. As bad as it could suck, things could always get worse. But I need to put out some positive energy. Most people hate Mondays, and usually I do too, but today I'm listing things that I like about Mondays to make me look forward to it rather than dread it.

- New York Times Crossword, it's easiest on Monday so you can feel real smart!

- How I Met You're Mother, I love this show and I get a double whammy because it's on prime time as well as new episodes are added to On Demand so I can catch up on seasons I haven't seen yet.

- Employers are in their offices and more jobs start to be posted, so there is more of a chance that I'm going to get some good job vibes, hopefully schedule interviews and I can feel productive when I actually have positions to apply to.

- Music Monday, clearly my favorite blog entries cause music is my favorite.

Daydreaming...

I have a lot of time on my hands, and while sometimes daydreaming of my perfect apartment sucks because the reality is kind of far off, I do it anyways. I was at home eating dinner this evening...weird to say "I was at home" cause usually I live there, but I'm house sitting this weekend...but anyway, I found the CB2 catalog and started picking things to put in my apartment when the time comes.

Label Glasses: I really like these glasses in a cute kid kind of way. They remind me of being young and drinking juice and I just imagine them to be very fun to drink out of during breakfast. Plus they're so colorful and I like when things don't always match.

http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=236&f=5382

Crossroads Bookshelf: When I'm older I want to have a whole library in my home. I don't think I have quite enough books in my collection for that yet, but I at least want to have enough room to display the ones I have. I like this bookshelf because the compartments are different sizes. I'm all about asymmetry.

http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=118&f=5622

Curve Server: The way they had these displayed in the magazine was so awesome that it made me want some. I guess that's the point. But they're eccentric and different. I think they will fit well in my abode.

http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=230&f=3970

Everyday On The Beach Print: There's a palm tree and it's in Spanish. Sold. I loooove it. It makes me want to create similar pieces of equal awesomeness. I want my place to be full of awesome art.

http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=11011&f=5492

Serene Sunday

After a rather busy and draining week, I am choosing to take this Sunday and just relax and try to get centered again and ready for the week. Hope you all have a nice day as well.

The District: A Photo Blog

My trip to Washington, DC was so amazing. As you know, a picture is worth 1000 words, and damn, I took a lot of pictures. So enjoy my photo blog complete with monuments, museums and mischief.

The beautiful T Street, my residence for the week.

The lovely Ms Ramey and I ending our first night out.

Enjoying the sun atop our double-decker bus tour!

The National Cathedral.

Look! I found the Chilean Embassy!

Honest (and very majestic) Abe.

Loving the view of the Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool.

It's only this big!

A beautiful shot of the monument and the pond.

The Capitol!

Union Station and its gorgeous architecture.

Can't believe I got a shot this perfect on a moving bus.

Second night out: found a bar with Pisco. Sent me right back to Chile. I was in heaven.

Off to the Archives to see the most important of American documents.

And of course the American History Museum to see the most important items of American history.

A perfect end to an amazing trip!

Making Me Smile

This video always cheers me up and I am in need of some cheerfulness lately. For some reason I just love the way he says "It's a basket full of puppies." Enjoy!

Music Monday

It's official! I will be seeing these guys this Friday at the High Dive in Fremont! I am so psyched cause this song is so amazing on all levels. I am completely relating to the lyrics and am totally into bands that feature a lot of piano. Want to go to the show? You wont find tickets anywhere, but listen to 107.7 The End and text to get your name on the list! Thanks guys!

Dessert To Die For

On Thursday, I was hanging with a couple girlfriends and we were having a nice complaining session, which usually leads to the need for some delicious something. Luckily my friend lives about half a block away from the Blu Water Bistro on Greenlake and they feature some excellent desserts. I'm a simpleton when it comes to dessert, anything with chocolate or ice cream I'll be happy with. Luckily here, they have a great dish that combines the two. A large skillet-cooked Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie topped with two scoops of vanilla ice cream. Man, was it delicious. Nice and warm and not quite cooked all the way so it was the perfect soft consistency. Mixed with the cold vanilla ice cream made it heaven. Delicious. Will definitely go back for this again.

I'm Back

I have returned from the east coast! And I have completed my new header. Of course, I'm still working on the complete layout, but I'm pretty happy with it so far! Blogs about the trip to come very soon.

Weekend Getaway

I am off to Washington, DC for a long weekend getaway to visit friends and see cool sights! Expect many awesome pictures upon my return. Have a good weekend and behave yourselves!

Two-fer Tuesday

A Double War Whammy

The Hurt Locker

After taking some of the more prestigious Academy Awards, my family decided that it was probably a good idea to check out this movie. I have to say that I thought it was amazing. It was the perfect match of story line, character development and intensity. And explosions. (Come on, don't tell me you thought he disarmed ALL the bombs.) I can't say exactly cause obviously I haven't experienced it, but I thought it was a good representation of these peoples' lives. Or at least a very interesting one. It really puts you into their shoes and gives you a look at how difficult a life of war is. Also, there is something to be said about movies without a real soundtrack. I mean, obviously I LOVE music, but in this kind of movie, the lack of music increases the intensity and really makes you pay attention to what is going on. Kind of like what Alfred Hitchcock did with "The Birds". He thought it made it scarier without music. Same with this movie. You're just sitting at the edge of your seat for the majority of the film. I don't want to give away the plot to those who haven't seen it yet, but I definitely recommend it. Kathryn Bigelow definitely deserved her award.

Brothers

This movie was completely different than I thought it was going to be. The way they advertised it in the trailers is a bit misleading, but I guess that is okay because you get a story you didn't think you would. It was an interesting surprise. I again don't want to give too much away, but instead of being a story about a woman's struggle choosing between two brothers, it was more about a man's struggle coming back from war. I can't say this was an amazing movie. I thought it ran a bit slow at times and some scenes were a little lengthy. Also it was really stressful at times when you're waiting for things to happen and they don't! But it was all part of the experience. Again, it puts you in a realistic story about those who return from war and what they have to deal with. My family watched this the night after we watched "The Hurt Locker" so we were a little stressed out seeing two intense war movies in a row! But overall if you enjoy these types of stories, I would recommend it.

MUSEic Monday

EPIC. It's the only word I have been able to think of to describe the show I saw on Friday night at Key Arena. So much so that I had to recover all weekend and couldn't muster up the energy to write this post until now. The show featured Silversun Pickups and Muse. Two of my favorite bands of all time. (If only Incubus was there too...) But seriously, I think this had to be the best show I've ever seen. So far anyway. While I was a bit bummed out that I missed some of Silversun Pickups, I learned that it might not be too long before I see them again, and from what I saw, they were incredible. I heard mixed reviews about them playing live, but they did not disappoint. When I heard this show was going to be at Key Arena, I was not exactly too excited. I've been going to a lot of smaller venue shows lately and really enjoying them. I think the last band I saw at Key Arena was `Nsync. (I know that wasn't judgement that just went through your mind...) Honestly, I totally forgot that in a big venue, you don't just get a concert, you get a show! A show complete with sets, lights, screens, other visual effects, just the works! It started with these three structures that looked like buildings and before we knew it they were stairways, they were eyeballs, they were people. I mean, these things turned into everything. The bottom halves of the "towers" served as platforms that could rise and lift the performers, which was really nice, especially for the shorter kids in the audience.

They only played a 45 minute set at Deck the Hall Ball back in December, so I was excited to see more of an array of their music in this much longer concert. Of course they started out with their high energy hits such as "Uprising" and "The Resistance" to get the crowd really amped and involved. Towards the middle of the show, they calmed things down and played a few of their more mellow hits. However, even their more mellow hits have some intense, loud guitar parts as well. By loud, I mean LOUD! But we got to see the most badass piano ever that lights up depending on the notes or chords he was playing. People were mesmerized by that thing, no joke. Then at the end of the show, it was time to go out with a bang and they picked things back up again. They even included giant eyeballs that they pushed down from the ceiling into the audience. Totally random and unorthodox, but added character to the show.

The encore was probably my favorite part of the whole show. They finished with three final songs, the first being "Unnatural Selection" (I think? I honestly can't remember. I was too excited.) That particular song is a bit slower, but they followed up with "Stockholm Syndrome" which is one of my all time favorites of theirs and probably the most high energy ever. My friend Sara said, "This is the song that makes me want to be a rockstar." It was absolutely amazing. Note: If you're at a Muse concert and they haven't played "Knights of Cydonia" then you know it ain't over yet. That song is another one of their most powerful and audience entertaining. It's the perfect closer and the one everyone waits to sing along with.

On a scale of 1-10, the show gets a 179. It was absolutely incredible. Muse really is the best band to see live. Even if you're not the biggest fan of their recorded music, they are so much better in the flesh. So if you ever get the chance in your lifetime, DO IT. It is worth every cent.