I coudn't help overhearing you because I was eavesdropping...

I've been getting into the music scene a little more actively lately. I got to see Ben Folds on my birthday which was probably the second best performance I've ever seen by him. He played plenty of Lonely Avenue opening with "Levi Johnston's Blues" and even more plenty older songs (skipping most of Way to Normal as expected) and songs from The Five, finally ending with "Philosophy" and "Kate". He spoke to the audience as if we were sitting in his living room and did a great cover of Ke$ha's "Sleazy." Some songs that I was totally stoked to hear him play:

Luckiest

Army

Belinda

Landed

Zak and Sara

Still Fighting

You Don't Know Me (the audience provided Regina's part)

This past Friday, Matt took me to see the Old 97's. The crowd was great, and we were able to sit with some of our trivia night rivals who ended up being great concert companions. The first opening act was a band from Texas called the Whisky Folk Ramblers. They were fantastic. The lead singer looks like Jack White but has a voice like Johnny Cash. They played some old style, rolling, country music. They had an accordion too which often made it feel like Cash fronting the Decemberists. After the show we found out that they made friends with another local band of our buddies Kentucky Knife Fight who convinced them to play The Stagger Inn in Edwardsville in May. So Awesome

The actual opening band was a girl band called Those Darlins. An hour before they played we were sitting (unwittingly) about two feet away from them at a Thai place across the street from the venue. Three girls and a male drummer. They were wonderfully twangy with catchy songs. They reminded me of The Runaways meets Loretta Lynn. One of the girls looks like a young Martha Plimpton but way cuter. Weird.


The Old 97's were on par with Rhett Miller providing all of the hair and energy. There were two women in the crowd who had made shirts that said "Whett for Rhett." Both women were later reported going home by themselves despite their efforts in the front row.

Other than that, my nephew Griffin turns 1 on Sunday. I can't believe how much babies grow in a year. He's pretty cute and just started walking a few weeks ago. Some of his favorite things include the book Are You My Mother?, sitting on my Grandma Mac's lap, peekaboo, clapping, and crumpling up documents. And the park . . .

So "Hello" to all the Chicago babies, and "Hello" to my pals. Please let me know what kind of concerts will be hitting Millennium Park this year so's I can coordinate a visit!

Music Blog

I've been listening to some great tunes lately. I'm gearing up for fall and am super excited to get my soundtrack for the season up and running. If you already have these albums, which I'm sure the hip, Chicago crew mostly does, then good for you. You're sure to fully agree with my opinions about the following records...



Arcade Fire The Suburbs - I may get criticized for disliking Neon Bible, but I do. The Suburbs, on the other hand, has those goosebump-making songs in it like Funeral does. Not on the same level as Funeral, but a new level that I quite enjoy. The whole album.



The Black Keys Brothers - Holy Blues, Batman! I'm loving the super grittiness of this album, and, oddly enough, one of the songs sounds like Ryan Adams.



Vampire Weekend Contra - This has actually been my go-to Summer album, but I'll go ahead and carry it into the early Autumn months as well out of respect for Matt who has me play it every couple of days in its entirety. Little surfy, little reggae-ish, little Paul Simon-y. Love it.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Greatest Hits - not a bad song in the bunch. Super mellow and wonderfully familiar and upbeat. Scored it at a yard sale this summer for 50 cents along with The Cranberries, the first Weezer Album, & Blind Melon. Oh, '90's Music, how I adore you.

Stars The Five Ghosts - If you're not familiar with Stars, you should be. They're very dramatic and poetic and kind of glam-rockish (musically not visually) . It's just really honest music with all the emotion packed into the delivery. Male and female vocals which is always a nice touch. They put on a hell of a show too.

Mumford and Sons Sigh No More - I'm a little late on acquiring this one, but they have a great old-timey, gut-wrenching (in a good way) sound. Their style sounds a little Irish Pubby at times, which I'm a sucker for.

Led Zeppelin II -I just bought this on vinyl for Matt for his birthday in August. After seeing It Might Get Loud (which is my sneaky way of also making sure everyone has seen that movie too) I was inspired to delve into a little Zeppelin for Matt's grandmother's old record player to spin whilst we paint and spackle and such.

Well, I've made up a lot of words that should either confuse the hell out of you or make you say "I know exactly what she means and now know what to expect from these bands and their respective albums." Always accepting recommendations...

Movie Review:

The Expendables was awesome.

Remember That Time...

It was so awesome to see everyone again on such a happy occasion. This blog is mostly so I can start the picture share. Hope you enjoy...

This was in the lobby before the shuttle when Matt thought he was hot stuff in his new threads.

Jay, you look funny in this picture.

Girl dance. Kate and Simone gettin' their groove on.

It was great to meet Mark. Good couple action going on with cupcakes and coffee.

Matt showing his World Cup enthusiasm with a faded soccer golf ball. Oliver chose an American flag ball.

My favorite group photo of the weekend. I wish I would have gotten more.

Matt trying to be more hipster at the Urban Outfitters discount glasses stand on Milwaukee Ave.

I didn't get to see Marty and Megan as much as I would have liked, but I did get to see them for a bit at Chris's party. It was good to see Janice, and Matt and Oliver got more of their much needed one on one time for man love.

I'm hoping to get back up to the city maybe in August. Matt Thompson is getting married! I'm pretty excited for him. Love you guys. Catch up with you soon.

I just wish for once it would be Rick Astley instead of F-ing Madonna

I cut off my hair again.

This act is always a revitalizing one for me. Really nothing that I do in my life compares to this mundane task, but I always feel more like myself again and in higher spirits especially when I wake up in the morning and see my hair standing straight up as I pass the mirror.

Matt and I will be camping in Southern Illinois near Carbondale Tuesday through Thursday. We set up the tent yesterday for inspection on a rather blustery Thursday. We've also committed ourselves to taking along my family dog Pixel. I'm just starting to realize is a pretty huge responsibility but one that will be better as a shared responsibility with Matthew Dawson.

I've noticed this in the past, such as when my car broke down in Texas, but one thing I love about me and Matt is that we're a good team. When working on a task together such as...oh lets say...setting up a huge tent while there are 40 mph winds, we get along just fine. I was hyper-aware of this fact yesterday because the day (though very windy) was beautiful and green and I had my boy and my sister and my new nephew and spotted dog nearby, and the moment seemed perfect.

Sometimes Griffin's awake. I thought I should capture the moment.

Matt and I went for a good walk with the dog yesterday to hopefully kick off a healthy Spring.

Some things I have recently enjoyed:

• 500 Days of Summer - I like Zooey Deschanel alright even though she plays the same character in most of her movies. But I was more impressed with that other guy from stuff like 10 Things I Hate About You and Third Rock From the Sun (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). He kinda has a brunette Heath Ledger thing going on now that he's grown up. And the movie doesn't hold back on the reality of life after the break-up and the awkwardness of it all, and even though you're over it, something never really feels right. It was quite beautifully portrayed. Good dance number and soundtrack too.
• These sheets I just got from Walmart - I know Walmart is evil or whatever, but they have these Better Homes and Gardens brand sheets that are only 250 thread count, but they feel incredible and come in neat patterns. They're kinda of crinkly but still feel soft and cool. This is what they look like . . . Zoom in to see here.
• Netflix in general -Though I like the process of milling about at record stores and picking out music, I do not like looking for movies at Blockbuster. I've recently joined Netflix and have managed to queue up enough movies that every time one comes in the mail, I'm surprised because I can't remember what exactly I queued up online. And . . . I also like getting things in the mail that aren't bills. Which leads me to my next like. . .
• Save the Dates and Wedding Invitations - I have three couples whom I adore getting married this year (you know who you are). Colin and Kristin, Cass and Cal, and some friends from my home, Justin and Jen have been cool enough to send out attractive invitations that are very cleverly decorating my bulletin board that I review before I leave each morning. Lookout, 2010! It's sure to be lucky in love.

Give me wine to wash me clean of the weather-stains of care.

I'm revamping the wine list at work right now. This has its benefits...

Distributors come in with product selected from the list of "needs" I have given them and let me sample an obscene amount of free wine which is mostly only available in restaurants and specialty wine stores. I was also given the opportunity to try a bit of a $270 bottle of Jameson Rarest Vintage that is packaged in a case that reminds me of a coffin. The point that I'm trying to make is that I love my job. I get to spend my time swirling wine in giant glasses and tasting the best of the best wines that I could never do on my own dime. I have also learned a ton and realized just the other day that I can hold my own in a conversation about the characteristics of a good zinfandel, optimal food/wine pairings, and other awesome crap like that. I surprised myself.

I love spring weather. I like the rainy days and I like the sunny, green days, and I love all of the flowering trees in town. I've been enjoying open windows and spring cleaning and music full of memories for a few weeks now. I bought a periwinkle love seat from a rummage sale three weeks ago that will undoubtedly be the defining symbol of Spring 2010 when Matt was fixing up the old house, Griffin was brand new, my grandma surprised me every day, and my sister was so amazing.

I miss Chicago a lot right now. I wish I had time to sneak up there and just wander around the city by myself. I can't wait for the Cal and Cass wedding in July and to see everybody. I hope we're never strangers.

Until next time...

Baby Ga Ga

It's pretty cool being an aunt. Though he's almost through with week 3, I'm just now able to take the time to blog about it. In short, my sister went through very painful labor, couldn't feel the lower half of her body for the delivery, and then I cut the cord on February 27th at 12:04 p.m.

Funny things you may have overheard in the delivery room:

-Martha: Why ice chips? I don't really get it.
-Carly: They're little, tiny pieces of ice, Martha.

-Carly: Maybe I'm just gassy.

-Carly: I wish...I could just...SHUT UP!

I have never witnessed anything more scarring, weirder, and life-changing than what I watched my tiny, tiny sister accomplish. I'm so proud of her, and it turns out that she's a natural pro. I just go over to the house every spare second I have and hold him, so that's mostly what I've been doing. Here are some pictures of Griffin Douglas Davis...

I hope everybody's St. Patrick's Day was fantastic. Matt and I along with our most awesome pals, my mother, my sister, and Griffin set up camp at the Stagger Inn: the #1 Jameson Whiskey Bar in all of Southern Illinois (they have a sign outside proclaiming this). And don't worry, the baby was only there for lunchtime when it was quiet, although I could tell he didn't want to leave when he did. Here's a picture of him after he got wasted:

So we drank a lot of dark beer and listened to Irish music and played shuffle board and had the best day thanks to the gorgeous weather and high spirits.

Okay, so "Just Dance" on the Wii is maybe the most fun game ever. You can play with up to four people at a time and try to mimic what the dancers are doing on the screen to some really good songs like "Groove is in the Heart" by Deee-lite, "Heart of Glass" by Blondie, "Jerk it Out"by Caesars, "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis, "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer....
I brought it over to my Grandma's last week so she could see it (almost everything amazes her), and I played it with my little cousins for a couple hours. Go and buy it immediately if you don't already have it!

I could give you the link to the official online Just Dance demo, but it's super produced and cheesy. It's much better watching these real people try to do it while having actual fun...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s_K09TeAEc

A killer whale killed somebody?!

This is a quick whirlwind blog before my nephew arrives on Saturday.

I plan to cover the following events:

• My birthday


• Mardi Gras


• Valentine's Day


• The Office


• Onesies

My birthday was great. I met up with a select few long time friends the night before which ended in 80's Scene It back at my apartment. Matt bought me The Office Season One since I never get to watch television shows on a regular basis. He took me to a Welsh Pub in the city for some bangers and cheese and a couple frothy brews, and we ended the night with sake shots and sushi; it was a festival of nations.

Mardi Gras was the day before Valentine's Day this year. Matt and I headed down to the French district of St. Louis in Soulard. We met up with some close friends and watched what we could of the parade over the throngs of people. There was also a mass wedding on one of the floats. Something like seven couples were married right before the parade began. I got to see these guys who resembled Native Americans. I also spotted a gorilla, a chicken, and Santa. It is truly a day filled with good-spirited people having a good time. There is much spontaneous dancing and singing with very little of the gross stuff you would expect.

Valentine's Day:

For me it was spent at work working. Matt had to work too. Though I did all I could to make the restaurant romantic and special, there was little Matt and I could do to make the day special for ourselves. Although, after work was over (right around 9:30 for me) we went to a place that is the equivalent of Applebee's because not much else was open on a Sunday night.

Matt - "Since it's Valentine's Day, we should order something romantic like potato skins."

The Office:

After finishing the first season of The Office, Matt bought me the second for Valentine's Day. Because Matt always falls asleep before me like an old man, I quickly finished Season Two and secretly went out and bought Season Three which I have completed and hidden. I can't stop myself, and Matt is none the wiser.

Onesies:
In preparation of Griffin, I have been decorating onesies and sending them to my sister. Among some of my designs are a garden gnome, a large snail, a tree with a small snail, a featherless chicken drawing, and a large mustache. This one below too. Fabric markers are my favorite new discovery. I'm currently sketching one out for Ms. Penny as well.

So, I'll be an Aunt on Saturday. Crazy! Pictures to come. Say some prayers for my sis...and me because she wants me in the room, and there's a pretty good chance I'll pass out.