I think I'll try defying gravity (oh, wait - I do that daily. Silly lack of balance!)

I always promise to make regular blog updates and completely fail to keep my word. In case you wondered what I've been doing with all this time, here's a pictorial essay:

I met monsters and a very wonderful giraffe at the New York State Fair.
Love & hugs at the Westcott Community Cultuarl Festival.
New haircut! And lots of time dressing up at the office.
Last downtown farmers' market until the spring :(
Homemade maple cinnamon donuts and Indian food = super delicious.


Because I spend an obnoxious amount of my week sitting at a computer with nothing to keep me entertained between fishing lures and hunting knives but my ipod, I have been devouring an equally obnoxious amount of music. My cute little red 4gb ipod nano has served me for four wonderful years, working perfectly up until a few months ago when it started in with poltergeist-like flash forwarding through my entire collection and flickering the backlight. However well it was working, the truth of the matter is that 4gb does not hold up when you have a steadily growing 20.31gb music collection.

So, last Saturday I purchased a shiny new 32gb ipod touch. And I am officially in love -- not only with how beautiful and fun and technologically gratuitous it is, but how much of my previously unlistened to music I have been able to experience now that I can have it all with me at one time. The biggest problem with having (less than) 4gb of space was that it forced me to pick and choose. So, of course, I would load it up with all of my favourites or music for a certain activity: workout playlist, classical for a train ride, etc. And all that great stuff that came along with the album I bought for one specific song went unlistened to.

Until now.

And because of this, I have a couple of new favourites. The two most recent additions to my list are:

Runaway by The National


The first time I heard this song, I was walking back to my office through rainy mist. It was such a perfect setting for the slow, dark intensity that the song maintains. The National is a band I really stumbled upon by accident last year, but they're quickly becoming one of my favourites. The lead singer has a gorgeous baritone voice that is so unlike anything I've heard before. And they are just as fantastic live as in the studio, as this video proves:



I'll probably reduce a couple of people to shock with number two:

Defying Gravity from the Wicked soundtrack


I read the Wicked books ages ago, but never paid much attention to the musical until my friend Allison started talking about how amazing it was. I borrowed her copy of the soundtrack, but didn't listen to any of it until my ipod started throwing it in with my Rent genius playlists.

And oh. my. god. Idina Menzel's voice is so incredibly gorgeous it almost makes me want to cry. Out of the entire soundtrack, this song is the one I find myself repeating most. It gives me goosebumps, especially the second repeat of the chorus. I want to marry her voice. I want to bottle it up and distribute it around the world -- screw buying everyone a Coke, I'm pretty damn sure something that beautiful just might bring about world peace.

So, thank god for my new ipod (which I have decided to name Glorious Sunshiney Love. Because I can.) and the musical enlightenment it has brought me.

I don't promise insanely frequent updates, but I have a couple of recipe posts planned (peanut butter kisses and Amish friendship bread, a la Allison) and will most likely continue to shove my musical tastes down the interwebs' throat.