coco

I want to be this girl drinking a coffee and wearing this amazing dress.

sadie and the lifejacket

So we put Sadie's lifejacket on her to get her used to it.  This is how she reacted.

Hot Bunny Radio Playlist for May 28th: More Maow

CKLU 96.7 FM
6-8pm
* denotes Canadian talent
italics denotes a new release

Tonight we felt like buckets of Maow.  So buckets of Maow is what we got.

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL PODCAST OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!

• Maow -- Wank -- The Unforgiving Sounds of   
• Malajube -- Porte Disparu -- Labryinthes *
• Winter Gloves -- Let Me Drive -- About A Girl *
• Maow -- Mean Mean Mean -- The Unforgiving Sounds of 
• Patsy Cline -- She's Got You -- The Patsy Cline Story (VINYL)
• The Super Friendz -- Up and Running -- Slide Show *
• White Cowbell Oklahoma -- Keys to the Universe -- Bombadero *
• Joel Plaskett -- Spinning For You -- web track *
• Scarlett Johannsson & Pete Yorn -- Break Up -- web single
• Maow -- Sucker -- The Unforgiving Sounds of 
• The Handsome Family -- Little Sparrows -- Honey Moon
• Jolie Holland -- Stubborn Beast -- Springtime Can Kill You
• Stevie Wonder -- Boogie On Reggae Woman -- Fulfillingness First Finale (VINYL)
• Maow -- Ms.Lefevre -- The Unforgiving Sounds of 
• The Sunparlour Players -- Joy in What You Lack -- Wave North *
• Gillian Welch -- Elvis Presley Blues -- Time (Revelator)
• Hoodoo Gurus -- Waking Up Tired -- In Blue Cave
• Jackson 5 -- The Love You Save -- The Ultimate Collection
• Iron and Wine -- Dearest Forsaken -- Around the Well
• Placebo 4 -- Olive and Onion Oil -- Live From the Great Western Ballroom •
• Hayden -- Hardly -- Live from the Great Western Ballroom *
• Stereo -- Birds in the Magic Industry -- Stereo
• Maow -- Very Missionary -- The Unforgiving Sounds of
• The Smalls -- True Narcissist -- S/T*
• Maow -- Mommie's Drunk -- The Unforgiving Sounds of
• Paul Weller -- The Changingman -- Stanley Road
• The Fratellis -- Whistle for the Choir -- Costello Music
• Wilco -- Blasting Fonda -- Feeling Minnesota OSR
• Maow -- Showpie -- The Unforgiving Sounds of
• Beach Boys -- Good Vibrations -  (VINYL 45)
• Maow -- J'ai Fain - The Unforgiving Sounds of
• Maow -- Man What's Got A Gun -- The Unforgiving Sounds of
• Maow -- How Does that Grab You Darlin -- The Unforgiving Sounds of
• Maow -- Party Tonite! -- Unforgiving Sounds of
• Maow -- Cat's Meow -- Unforgiving Sounds of

NOTES THIS WEEK:

• Seriously Patsy....man....kills me;
• The Joel Plaskett song is his "secret" web track - he gave the password from the stage but if you think about it for 2 seconds you'll figure it out;
• Sunparlour boys are playing the Townehouse on Friday!!
• I'm so happy I went with the all Maow all the time theme!!!!!!!!!
• I LOVE MAOW!!!!!
• Before you ask, I know the new Hayden is out -- am waiting for it on vinyl so sit tight;
• Fratelli's song = sway sway sway sway sway sway;
• Beach Boys - complete champion in tonight's 45 Death Match.  Don't worry about Elvis Presley - I hear he did some other good stuff;
• The Maow cover of How Does That Grab You is one of my fave covers ever;
• MORE MAOW SHOW WAS THE BEST IDEA EVER!!!!!

london re-call

Reminiscing with my friend Richard tonight about how good this was.  Remember this tribute to Joe Strummer?  So good.  Or maybe it was so good cuz it's a rare musical tribute that doesn't involve Bono.   Actually, didn't he introduce them?  Ah well......the performance is still killer.

break up

She's at it again. Scarlett Johansson has recorded another album. This time she's teamed up with Pete Yorn and together they've recorded Break Up. Now, we blogged about her last attempt and how while it wasn't as disastrous as we were expecting, it still was nothing to really write home about. This on the other hand, dare I say it, sounds pretty great. Granted, I've only heard the single and maybe because the songs aren't covers and she's not trying to do anything "arty" it's actually turned out to be something I'm honestly paying attention to.

Click here to here the single that I have to say, I like quite a bit. It's kinda retro and poppy and her voice is bang on. Maybe it's just the Pete Yorn I'm responding to? Musicforthemorningafter is still a record I la la love...

rip jay bennett

As you may have heard, long-time Wilco guitarist Jay Bennett died in his sleep this past weekend. Although the tensions between him and Jeff Tweedy were no secret, let's instead take a moment to remember the good ol'times. Here's a clip of them from Austin City Limits playing the perfect "California Stars" and ending with a bro hug between them.

the door store

This weekend we also finally got to The Door Store - a place in Toronto that we've been meaning to get to the second we got the keys to our house.  An architectural salvage place, this store is chock full of antique fixtures, door knobs, doors and pretty much anything else you might be missing from your period home.  Ours was built in the early 1920's and most of our doors still have the original doorknob key plates etc but some of them have gone missing over the years.  Thanks to these guys, we were able to pick up a pile of the exact same ones we have in our house!  We also need a new front exterior door and think that we'll have to make another trip and pick one of these beauties.

weekend round-up of joel plaskett

This weekend was really all about one thing and one thing only.  That thing was Joel Plaskett at Massey Hall.  Dropped Sadie off with my folks and headed down to Toronto for yet another show at my very very favourite place to see live music.  It was brilliant as we expected.  I've seen a lot of shows at Massey Hall and this was easily one of the liveliest shows I've ever seen there.  At one point every one in that hall was standing and dancing - something I've never seen there.  There was even a tiny baby there who rocked out the whole time decked out in big red ear protector headphones!  Anyway, to avoid a giant diatribe on the greatness that is Joel Plaskett here are some key points that made the show great:

• Joel Plaskett has zero ability to hide his enthusiasm.  If he is having fun, you can see it from the back of the room.  Playing Massey Hall made him practically giddy;
• His father, Bill Plaskett playing that hall.  Just a regular guy with the extreme privilege of playing one of, if not the greatest music venues in this country.  If he wasn't looking at Joel, he was looking everywhere else.  And just smiling;
• I've seen Joel solo, Joel plus one and  Joel plus 3.  Joel plus 5 though??? Genius.  Having Rose Cousins and Ana Ege as his back-up singers might have been the best decision he's ever made if only for the opportunity to see them adorably sing the ladies line in "Extraordinary";
• Joel busting out a super stripped down of Thrush Hermit's Before You Leave.  Haven't heard that song in about, ohhh.......6 years?
• Running into Peter Elkas out in front after the show and having what turned out to be the funniest conversation of the evening (email if you want the whole long story);
• 2 separate sets: one acoustic, one with the full Emergency - complete with 2 different outfits;
• I've seen Joel play tiny sweaty bars, outdoor festivals, conference showcases and now Massey Hall - he gives just as much effort for the tiny bar shows as he did Saturday night.  As an audience member, there are few performers that make you feel as appreciated as he does.  He honestly does make you feel like you made his night and not like he's done you a favour;

Whatever I can't muster with words, can be captured in video so here's some footage from the show.

Here's a clip of his great version of "Love This Town."  In Massey Hall tradition, he did come down and sing from the edge of the stage.  He even sang the new lyrics for sucky-baby Kelowna, B.C and even brought out Miniature Tim.

This is the acoustic version of "Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'" with the ladies

And this him doing Thrush Hermit's "Before You Leave."  A long-forgotten sad-ass song.  

If I HAD a complaint, it would have to be that he closed with the aptly titled "On and On and On."  It's just SO long and kinda loses momentum.  For me, if he would've closed with the INSANE version of "A Million Dollars" he did that pretty much brought the house down, I would have left floating.  And that he needs to buy some hipper shoes.  Seriously terrible shoes.  Other than that, it was 100% fun.  He is one of Canada's best songwriters and one of the few people you can call a true troubadour.

pretty bows

Silver bow necklace. So pretty.

live and work in canada

Our lovely Aussie pal Fran just wrote this book called Live and Work in Canada!!!!! As if she wrote a book!!! Anyway, look for it on your local bookshelf. And check out Page 81 for my picture that she used! It's of my 2 handsome men, Marc and Old Man Bailey the dog...

Hot Bunny Radio Playlist for May 21st

CKLU 96.7FM

6-8pm

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL PODCAST OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!!!!!!

• Girl Nobody -- Let You Down -- Balaclava Casino Heist *
• Frank Black --Atom in my Heart  -- Honeycomb
• Old Man Luedecke - At the Airport -- Hinterland
• Barzin -- Soft Summer Girls -- Notes to an Absent Lover
• H-Burns -- Horses With No Medals -- (weewerk) is 6!!! *
• Cuff the Duke -- Long Road -- Sidelines of the City *
• Ray Lamontagne -- Hey Me, Hey Mama -- Gossip in the Grain
• Dog Day -- Neighbour -- Concentration
• Jenny Lewis -- See Fernando -- Acid Tongue
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- Soft Shock -- It's Blitz!
• C'Mon -- Status Quo -- Bottled Lightning of an All Time High (VINYL) *
• The Kooks -- She Moves in Her Own Way -- Inside In/Inside Out
• The Grates -- Sukkafish -- Gravity Won't Get You High
• Apostle of Hustle -- Eazy Speaks -- Eats Darkness *
• Neil Young -- There's A World -- Harvest (VINYL) *
• Iron and Wine -- Love Vigilantes (live) -- internet video footage from Jimmy Fallon
• Neko Case -- Karoline -- The Virginian
• The Pipettes -- Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me -- We Are The Pipettes
• Smokekiller -- Jenny -- 13 *
• M Ward -- Rave On -- Hold Time
• Immaculate Machine -- You Got Us Into This Mess -- High on Jackson Hill (VINYL) *
• Jim James -- Hot Burrito # 1 -- KCRW "Sounds Eclectic" Archive (unreleased)
• Jens Lekman -- I'm Leaving You Because I Don't Love You -- Night Falls Over Kortedala
• Plants & Animals -- Trials & Tripulations -- with/avec EP
• David Bowie -- It's Hard to be a Saint in the City -- One Step Up/Two Steps Back: The Music of Bruce Springsteen
• Ween -- Object -- La Cucaracha
• Amelia Curran -- Scattered and Small -- War Brides
• Frank Sinatra -- You and Me (We Wanted it All) --  vinyl -- 45 Death Match Victor
• Juliana Hatfield -- As If Your Life Depended On It -- Please Do Not Disturb
• Metric -- Help I'm Alive -- Fantasies *

Notes this week:

• I love that Old Man Luedecke lyric "At the airport there are kisses there who's memory never leaves."  
• Is it wrong to want to marry Jenny Lewis?
• This C'mon record is some of the prettiest vinyl ever with inner artwork to match!
• Thanks to Kelly for bringing this Kooks song into my life;
• Look up that Iron & Wine video of that song - goosebumps!!!  Killer cover!
• Why is The Virginian so overlooked as a great Neko record??  It was my 2nd Neko love...
• Bowie covering Springsteen you said???  Why yes....
• Frank Sinatra wiped the floor with Bobby Darin in tonight's "45 Death Match."  Poor Bobby...

killer cover

Man, let's all thank my pal Richard for sending this along. Iron and Wine doing a goosebumpy cover of New Order's "Love Vigilantes." Yummy.

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

summer movies

So here are the summer movies that I'm likely the most excited about. Cuz I'm sure you all were wondering...

Away We Go. This movie WILL make me cry, I can see it already. Stellar cast, good director, my boyfriend John Krasinki....yup that's a perfect formula.

Paper Heart.  I think I love this movie already even though I'm growing weary of the standard Michael Cera character.  Seriously dude, stop it now before it's too late.


500 Days of Summer.  The opening scene of this trailer is really all I need to fall in love.

Public Enemies.  Generally I have a rule about trailers.  I don't watch them for movies I'm really really excited about.  I want every second of material to be new and fresh.  For this movie, I made an exception.  It's 2 minutes and 30 seconds of some of the best eye candy a gal can get her hands on.

Adam.  A quirky love story.  Perfect for the summer.


And yes I'm aware the new Harry Potter is not on this list. That is because I am absolutely not watching the trailer for that. Not one frame until the theatre....

flock of seagulls

Forget little ones, I want this flock of swallows mobile for over my bed!!!

happy day of james

Since it's his birthday today, let pause for a Jimmie Stewart Handsomeness Appreciation Moment.



Swooon.....


We should all watch Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in honour of the greatness that is my boyfriend, Jimmie Stewart.

ruffle racer

This Ruffle Racer Bralette undapants set just might be the most adorable thing I've seen this summer.

farm share

Marc and I were able to get in a farm share this year! We tried desperately last year but with only a couple of farms doing it, nobody had any room for us. We acted early and thanks to Spill the Beans farm we've got a half share (since there's only 2 of us) coming to us all summer and most of the fall! I'm super pumped about this for a few reasons. One, I don't really love any of the produce sections in the local grocery stores. I like them fine but.....they're just fine. Two, this will force me to not only eat more vegetables BUT to find more interesting ways to cook them. With baskets of kale on their way, lord knows I best get thinking! Not to mention all the possibilities for jarring and soup making to take us through the winter!! After Marc's stellar tomato-jarring experiment last fall, I can't wait to have fresh stuff all winter long. Thanks to sites like 24 Boxes, who document their weekly share and all kinds of new and exciting ways to make all kinds of vegetables, I feel ready!! I'm going to try and blog about this whole process and post the yummy recipes we end up with.

long weekend round-up

Sweet, sweet Victoria Day long weekend here in the Great White North and that means that today I got to tell Monday morning to go suck an egg and sleep, sleep, sleep!!!  Here's how I spent the rest of the weekend:

Friday Marc treated me a nice dinner out on the town at Respect is Burning where we got to sit uncomfortably close to a couple having a relationship-ending argument.  We're talking F-bombs being dropped, other girls' names being thrown out and all around dinner awkwardness for Marc and I seeing as how we were only separated from them by a bamboo screen.  Yikes!!

Saturday had us out bright and early looking at paint samples -- the plan is to paint the room off our bedroom in the next couple of weeks and as per usual, I'm a bit at a loss for colours.  It's a big enough room with windows on 3 walls so it could pull off pretty much any colour but it is attached to our master so it's also got to go with that colour.  Hmmm....

Home after a morning in the rain and then out again to join Dennis for a viewing of Angels & Demons.  Strange pick, I know but Saturday was the apex of the cold I've been fighting and really the only movie choice in that situation is a likely terrible big Hollywood blockbuster.  Of course, the movie blew but it was pretty great to essentially revisit our honeymoon - aside from the obvious touristy stuff we say the movie also showed the cafe where we ate midnight tiramisu across from the Pantheon and the restaurant in the Piazza Navona where we had our first meal in Rome.  Swoon......

Marc headed to Barrie Saturday afternoon for a show with the Saltcoats -- they played a house concert that turned out to be surprise wedding!!!!!  With Marc out of town and me feeling less than stellar I think it's pretty obvious what I did with the rest of my night.  I put jammies on, ate chips and watched movies.  Stupidly I chose The Strangers as my movie of choice.  Me, sick and home alone, chooses a movie where a couple, alone in the bush, are terrorized by 3 people simply because they were home.  Scared the crap out of me!!!!!  Terrible idea.  I tried to make Sadie sleep on Marc's side of the bed but she would have none of it.

Sunday morning I took Sadie to the park to play with her new basketball (she found it on our walk on Saturday and insisted on carrying it in her mouth for the entire rest of the walk - pretty adorable) and hung about the house trying to shake the remainder of the cold.  Thankfully my standard vitamin cocktail has been doing it's job and I can feel myself moving through multiple cold phases throughout the course of a day instead of spending a day on each one.  Blech.  

Marc came home around supper time and was feeling pretty wiped so we spent the night in the best way possible - bathed, popcorned, and season 1 of Rescue Me on the laptop in bed.  Pretty darn near perfect Sunday.

Monday brought a sunny dog party and {shudder} house and yard cleaning.  Thankfully we had BBQ'ed burgers and homemade onion rings (baked super crispy in the oven of course because bathing suit season approaches) to help cushion the blow.  

Now comes the time in a long weekend when you dread the coming of the morning.  Oh Victoria Day, we did have some good times though!

Hot Bunny Radio Playlist for May 14th

CKLU 96.7FM

6-8pm

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PODCAST OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!!!!!

• Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass -- Town Without Pity -- Sounds Like (vinyl)
• Huevos Rancheros -- Rocket to Nowhere -- Endsville *
• Joel Plaskett Emergency -- Snowed In/ Cruisin -- Ashtray Rock *
• Teenage Fanclub -- December -- Bandwagonesque
• Throwing Muses --Counting Backwards -- The Real Ramona
• Billy Bragg -- Mother of the Bride -- Don't Try This At Home
• Timber Timbre -- I Get Low -- Timber Timbre *
• Sondre Lerche & the Faces Down -- She's Fantastic -- Phantom Punch
• Deep Dark Woods -- Mountain -- The Deep Dark Woods *
• Elephant Stone -- How Long -- The Seven Seas*
• Great Aunt Ida -- Stranger -- How They Fly *
• The Cramps -- I Ain't Nothing But A Gorehound -- Smell of Female
• Tokyo Police Club -- Shoulders and Arms -- A Lesson In Crime *
• Brent Randall & his Pinecones -- Bluebirds, Flowers & Other Things -- We Were Strangers in Paddington Green *
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds -- Lucy -- The Good Son
• Pink Mountaintops -- While We Were Dreaming -- Outside Love
• Stiff Little Fingers -- Gotta Get Away -- Nobody's Heroes
• John Doe & The Sadies -- Husbands & Wives -- Country Club *
• Immaculate Machine -- You Destroyer -- High on Jackson Hill *
• The Swallows -- Glorious -- Awkward Situation
• Sugar -- If I Can't Change Your Mind -- If I Can't Change Your Mind
• THe Replacements -- Colour Me Impressed -- Hootenanny
• Andrew Vincent -- Nobody Else -- Rotten Pear *
• Sloan -- I Am The Cancer -- I Am the Cancer E.P *
• The Buffalo Springfield -- For What It's Worth (Stop Hey What's That Sound) -- 45
• Billy Childish/The Headcoats -- Crazy Horse -- The Billy Childish Native American Sampler: A History 1983-1993
• Mark Lanegan -- House A Home -- Whiskey For The Holy Ghost
• Los Campesinos -- Tormented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1 -- We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
• Bourbon Tabernacle Choir -- You Can Come From Here -- Superior Cackling Hen*

Notes this week:

• Teenage Fanclub can fix EVERYTHING;
• I'm fantastic, did Sondre write that song for me???
• I heart Great Aunt Ida BIG TIME
• The Brent Randall record has the best title;
• new Pink Mountaintops = sigh.....great;
• I LOVE that I.M song even though it's not very I.M-esque;
• Oh Sloan - that song is perfect;
• Buffalo Springfield was our 45 Death Match battle winner tonight;
• Los Campesinos is for Kara;

boot love

Never thought I'd covet something belonging to someone young enough to be my daughter BUT sweet baby jesus, Dakota Fanning's boots are insanely great!! After some searching around I have learned that they are the Fiorentini & Baker "Eternity" boot in grey suede. Alas, they are $495.

sadie and murray

So a while back we puppysat Dennis' dog Murray. Sadie and Murray are BFF's. This is what they did pretty much EVERY SECOND they were together in the house.  Except for like 5 minutes after this video was taken they were asleep side by side in the sun.  The chase really heats up around the 2 minute mark...

feltedness

As promised, now that Milo has received his gift, I can share my first forray into felting with you all. Below are some pics of my felted bird, nest and eggs.  2 weeks from now I'm taking another class and am going to try and make a felted Sadie. Wish me luck!!!

decisions, decisions

So thanks to the birthday fairies, otherwise known as my mom and Big City Kelly, I've got some money to blow over at good ol'JCrew.  To get the biggest bang for my birthday buck, I've been stalking the sale section and have come up with a few good contenders.  Now I need some thoughts to help bring the decision home.  And the nominees are:

This skinny patent-leather double wrap belt

This Swiss-dot Fontana dress

This Viscose ruffle sleeve tank

This Rivulet Cardigan

This Cotton Gladiola Cardigan

This Cotton-Cashmere Bouquet Cardigan

This Floral Cardigan

I've got the resources for maybe a couple of these -- what should I get???

nursery

Check out Abbey's great nursery!! Simple and bright and classic not a bow or doll to be seen. Abbey I can't wait to see a pic of your soon-to-be new wee one!! Be sure and visit her site for a full list of what's what and what came from where.

the cat came back...

This post is for Big City Kelly who still gets giddy when she hears Peace Train.

Everyone's favourite folk singer Yusef Islam is back with a new album that claims to be "old school" Cat Stevens style. Entitled Roadsinger, people are saying it's everything that was great about Cat Stevens. Which, depending on your taste, may or may not mean anything to you really. Newsweek has a great little "making of" video up on it's site, click here to give it a watch. I totally love that in one of the scenes in the video he's wearing a "Wanted: Cat Stevens" t-shirt.

massey hall

Here's some fun news over at my favourite live performance venue.

June 10th brings Canadian Songbook: A Tribute to Neil Young's Live at Massey Hall 1971.

"On January 19, 1971, Canada’s legendary singer-songwriter Neil Young performed solo at Massey Hall. Audiences there heard for the first time many of the iconic songs that would later appear on his albums, including his best-selling LP Harvest – yet the live concert recording itself wasn’t released until 2007.

Now, as part of the Luminato Festival, a stellar group of Canadian musicians, led by Juno Award winning music director Kevin Breit, will recreate that landmark concert, performing their own distinctive arrangements of the album’s eighteen classic songs.

The concert features: Holly Cole, Jason Collett, Cowboy Junkies, Bill Frisell Trio, Issa (formerly Jane Siberry), Colin Linden, Harry Manx, Danny Michel, Steven Page, Roxanne Potvin, Carole Pope."

And on another note, Sonic Youth will likely blow the roof off the place on June 30th.  Sigh.....

And of course, it goes without saying, Neko Case July 14th.  Don't even try to call me at home because I will be in Toronto hanging out with Neko Case.

under the covers

Big City Kelly was kind enough to bring this to my attention today.  Yay!!!  Once again, Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet are teaming up again as Sid and Susie for another volume of Under the Covers Volume 2 - the much anticipated follow up to their fantastic and lovely 2006 compilation of 1960's songs Under the Covers Volume 1.  This one will feature the duo's favourite songs from the 1970's and has fancy appearances by folks like Lindsey Buckingham and George Harrison's son Dhani Harrison who plays on the version of his dad's song Beware of Darkness.

I see in my future a knickers dance-party with this as the soundtrack.

god only knows how happy i'd be...

Thanks to Richard for showing me this today -- it 100% makes me want to learn God Only Knows on the ukelele too.  Not that you need to make that song any more perfect than it already is, but knowing how to play it on the ukelele might send me right over the moon.  Julia Nunes might be my new hero.  

weekend round-up

Oh weekend, our relationship just keeps getting stronger and stronger. We are never ever going to break up!

Friday we started some prep for the Mother's Day brunch we're cooking for everyone but I started my night with a chicken-on-a-bun dinner from Deluxe cuz that's what I do when left to my own devices for a Friday night supper. Take that Marco!!

Saturday I was up early and got 2 batches of muffins made, showered and dressed and even watched a Pixies documentary all before 11:30am. I was so productive and domestic I was even annoyed with myself. Moved on to a haircut (and subsequent baby visit with Paula and Beth -- yay for having a hairdresser who cuts your hair while on maternity leave!!) and home again for more food prep. The plan was to prep as much as we can to avoid having to get up ridiculously early on Sunday to get the ball rolling. Saturday night I finally threw in the food prep towel at about 10pm and succumbed to the hilarity that was Justin Timberlake hosting Saturday Night Live. Now, I'm not a huge fan of his music but holy crap, he is crazy funny anytime he's on SNL and I love that he doesn't take himself too seriously. Obviously the highlight was his Digital Short with Andy Samberg carrying on with their "Dick in a Box" bit.


Then Sunday - up early and over to my parents' place to cook brunch for my folks and sister-in-law. We tried some new things and revisited some classics, everything made from scratch, and everything turned out super delicious. Want the menu? TA-DA!!!!!

• Mini chocolate chip muffins for the kids;
• Blueberry Cinnamon muffins for the grown ups;
• fresh croissants;
• fresh bacon from our local italian butcher shop;
• Tomato and Leek Frittata;
• Parmesan Potato Pancake;
• Banana Oatmeal Pancakes;
• Prosecco and Orange Juice;
• cappucinos
• bunches o'fresh fruit

It was glorious and delicious and I could eat it all over again right this second having just typed all that out......

To recuperate, sat in the bath until after 11pm. That's a true story.

musical movie moments

Saw this fun post today over at Empire. Cameron Crowe picking his top music moments in film. Say what you will about Cameron Crowe, the guy can score a film (with maybe the exception of Elizabethtown). Included are the amazing tent scene between Margot and Richie Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums, the heartbreaking music store scene from Once and the opening scene from the film perfection that is Harold and Maude.

Click here to see his full list.

handpresso

Liana over at Magic Bean Buyer passed this on to me as it might be the most perfect gift for Marc ever. Seeing as how Marc is likely the only person in the world who would bust out fresh espresso while on a bush hike, the Handpresso might just be exactly what he needs. Hand held Espresso machine, cups and case. The site is worth checking out the site for the great accompanying videos -- my fave is the espresso-touting cowboy.

Hot Bunny Radio Playlist for May 7th

CKLU 96.7FM

6-8pm

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL PODCAST OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!!!!!

• The Flaming Lips -- Flight Test --Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
• Bell Orchestre -- Water/Lights/Shifts -- As Seen Through Windows *
• The Salteens -- Let Go of Your Bad Days -- Let Go of Your Bad Days *
• The Jayhawks -- Save it for a Rainy Day -- Rainy Day Music
• The Damned -- Don't Cry Wolf -- Damned, Damned, Damned (VINYL)
• Dog Day -- Saturday Night -- Concentration *
• Apples in Stereo -- That's Something I Do -- Velocity of Sound
• Royal City -- Bad Luck -- Alone at the Microphone *
• Baxter Dury -- Beneath the Underdog -- Len Parrot's Memorial Lift
• Fred Eaglesmith -- Soft on my Shoulder -- Falling Stars & Broken Hearts *
• Spoon -- Well-Alright -- Dark Was The Night 
• Generation X -- One Hundred Punks -- Generation X (VINYL)
• The (International) Noise Conspiracy -- Bigger Cages, Longer Chains -- Bigger Cages, Longer Chains
• The Two-Minute Miracles -- Warm Air vs. Cold -- Volume III: The Silence of Animals *
• Jon Langford & his Sadies -- American Pageant -- Mayors of the Moon
• Kimberley Rew -- Seven Stars -- Great Central Revisited
• Neil Young -- Just Singing a Song -- Fork in the Road *
• Willie Nelson -- I'm Still Here -- Crazy: The Demo Sessions
• Old Reliable -- Tight Knit Seams -- Pulse of Light Dark Landscape *
• Melissa McClelland -- I Blame You -- Victoria Day *
• The Raveonettes -- The Love Gang -- Chain Gang of Love *
• Metric -- Dead Disco -- Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? *
• Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros -- Arms Aloft -- Streetcore
• Ryan Adams -- Cry on Demand -- Demolition (VINYL)
• The Minus 5 -- Where Will You Go -- Down With Wilco
• Sick Boys -- You and Me and Them -- From There to Here *
• Constantines -- Scoundrel Babes -- Shine A Light *
• The Von Bondies -- She's Dead To Me -- Love, Hate & Then There's You
• Billy & The Lost Boys -- Hastings & Main -- Breaking Down the Barries That Break Down Your Music *
• The Stills -- Changes Are No Good -- Logic Will Break Your Heart *
• The Breeders -- Too Alive -- Title TK
• Jason Collett -- Tiny Oceans of Tears -- Motor Motel Love Songs *
• Nathan Lawr & The Minotaurs -- Righteous Heart -- A Sea of Tiny Lights (VINYL) *

Notes this week:

• I so love this Flaming Lips record;
• I miss that Salteens record, why don't I listen to it more????
• That Apples in Stereo song makes me crazy with glee, I love it so and it's always the one I pick to play;
• What's better than the Damned on vinyl???  Stolen Damned on vinyl!!!  Thanks Richard;
  
• If you have the means, look up the video for that Royal City song.  It's adorable.  Stop-motion animation teddy bears in love, torn apart by fate;
• Dark Was The Night is one of the best purchases I've made in a long while - talk about a killer compilation record!  And it's for charity!
• Really, 100 Punks DO rule!!!!
• Gotta love unreleased Willie, sans strings and orchestras and other silliness;
• Old Reliable, man you wrote a catchy song with that one;
• I so heart that Melissa McClelland song;
• As good as Metric has been this whole time, remember the first time you heard their first record?  I think it changed my view of Canadian music and it's ability to join the ranks of great "techno" producers;
• Dear Ryan Adams: Thank you for writing that song and allowing me to spend 4 minutes and 22 seconds in total heartbreak;
• Dan and the Urse!!  Thanks for the sweet red Nathan Lawr vinyl!!!!!!

time travel please

I wanna be here again...

{photo by me}

woodhands kisses katy perry

So Woodhands has covered Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl. The Woodhands record was a big fave of mine when it came out (have you HEARD I Wasn't Made for Fighting???? It's all kinds of amazing) and I gotta say, hearing their version of this song makes me wish it was the only version. Click here to hear their take. Although if we're making pop confessions, I feel I must say that when I hear Hot and Cold in a store, my bum does wiggle. I wish it didn't......but it does.

hello lovely...

So Marc totally won the Best Birthday Gift 2009 challenge this year.  He 100% surprised me with a new MacBook of my very own.  We've had a MacBook Pro for the last few years which Marc has used for all of his recording stuff.  Obviously, my tons of pictures and almost 10,000 iTunes songs being on that same computer is really not the best set-up.  Not to mention he always has me looking over his shoulder sighing and saying stuff like "How much longer are you going to be on the computer???  I've got blogging to do!!"  This is the solution to all of our problems.  Of course, it goes without saying that it's super shiny and new and has all the fancy new software and weighs next to nothing.  Now I get to shop for a great laptop sleeve and a super cute bag to tote it around in!  

 I'm in love!!!!!  With both Marc AND my new laptop!!

city chicken

I saw this Eglu's on the interweb and honestly, they're so cute and modern that they kinda make me want to keep a couple chickens in my backyard. We've got a perfect set-up for them, they're great for your garden and who doesn't want fresh, organic eggs every day?? I know I do!!! And as long as you don't keep a rooster, you don't have to worry about the whole rooster noise nonsense.

grey gardens

Yup I saw the new Grey Gardens and thought it was lame. Lame and weak. Drew Barrymore is more like a cartoon caricature of Little Edie than anything and it just really doesn't give you a good picture of what actually happened to these 2 women other than some men doin' them wrong. The original 1975 documentary is 1000 times more interesting and engaging and the new version just pales in comparison.

how to make a baby

Super cute video courtesy of Cassidy and Raquel.

happy birthday to me

It's my birthday today!!!  Youpee!!!  I wish I had more exciting birthday plans but looks like I'll spend it at work then at obedience class with Sadie.  I did get my fill of birthday fun this weekend though and quite frankly, I likely need some time to dry out.    Funny sidenote, here's what I overheard at lunch last week:

Girl: "So I have this friend, she's older though, like 31........

It made me wince more than a little bit.

{Image via Maeve and Brad}

weekend round-up

This was a weekend of debauchery really. Debauchery and silliness. Started Friday night with a dual birthday party celebration for me and my friend Richard. Combining b-day parties will ALWAYS end in debauchery I say. The night started innocently enough with drinks at The Laughing Buddha, moved to the Townehouse where we kicked it up a notch and ended at 4am with a penis magazine, more drinks and the stuffing of my friends in cabs. I don't even really know how we went from A to B but there you have it. It was a great early birthday party despite the teenagery behaviour that made for a beyond painful Saturday.

We started the pain with a 10am wake-up call to try and get Hillside Festival tickets. We failed thanks to 3 system crashes by lame Ticketpro, 3 separate messages from the phone operators who told us everything from they were totally sold out to they weren't sold out and to try again later to the whole system is F-ed. This will be the first time in like 7 years we haven't been able to get tickets so I'm now on a mission to find some elsewhere or else I think I might cry.

Pouted my way to our Dogs = Awesome party and then onwards to my grandfather's 95th birthday party where I drowned my Hillside sorrows and my giant hangover in mountains and mountains of food.

Sunday we spent the day at the Moose Lodge fundraising for the brand new River and Sky Music Festival. Marc played with the Saltcoats and The Joliettes and there were a pile of other bands, BBQ, cupcakes, kids colouring and dancing and just generally a great way to spend a Sunday -- it was awesome! Keep your eyes open for more news from River and Sky!!

{photos by Debb Trahan-Pero}

Headed to a friend's place for more BBQ and since they have a dog we stopped and picked up Sadie along the way. Joined by a Dogs = Awesome friend Pico, Sadie spent basically hours playing in the mud, laying in the mud, rolling in the mud, wrestling in the mud and basically becoming the dirtiest dog ever. She even had this crust of dried mud on her nose. It took both Marc and I about 35 minutes in the tub to get her clean and the whole bathroom looked like a muddy hurricane came through it when we were done. I suspect she was laughing in her head the whole time...

days of wine and marco

Welcome to my guest blogger Marco!  He's going to be doing a monthly wine blog of sort - just a quick write-up of what we drank over the month good and bad.  He's my resident Winey McWinerson....

Hey there folks! Welcome to “Days of Wine and Marco”, my first foray into writing something people may actually stumble across and read. This will be a monthly addition to “Cowgirl You Got That Something” by my lovely wife Tara.  This first post is a bit of an intro of how I got into wine and what I’ll be looking at for the most part in the coming months.  

I remember spending a weekend every fall when I was a kid with family helping my grandfather and uncles make wine in his garage or basement.  there’s nothing quite like of  having 600-800 pounds of grapes to do with as you please.  Unfortunately he liked to leave all the stems in and didn’t let the juice soak with the skins long enough to get any real body.  I didn’t love his wine, but it did plant the first seeds of interest in me and I still have his wine press and grape crusher.   A few years back I made a few batches myself for a few years in the fall when the grapes come up from california.  I got some good results...some really good results, then some bad results!   I put the equipment away for a time when I could have better temperature control, and may be getting the itch again for fall of 2009.  

Since the time I started making wine, I started buying wine.  I started trying more, and reading more as well.  A friend and I would make monthly trips to the liquor store for our Bottom-of-the-Barrel run.  This is where we’d buy the cheapest bottles in the store in search of that hidden gem.  We found the odd thing for $7 or $8 that could’ve easily sold for $10 or $12.  We found some really bad ones too, forgettable...however I’ll never forget that Louis IV that made me double over in pain as if someone had roundhouse kicked me in the gut!  

Anyways, once I started getting more adventurous with different grapes as well as price scale my whole world opened up.  I still remember my first Teroldego, now one of my favourites.

I am a little biased to the italian wines, the reason for this is that I find there’s still a lot of value out there in the italian wines, and there is still a lot of different, not so-well -known things to try.  My favourites are Sagrantino from Umbria, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano from Tuscany and as previously mentioned Teroldego from Trentino.  I’ll likely get into these wines in detail on a future post.

You will find that I won’t speak much of  Merlot and Cab Sauvignons. The reason for this is that there are plenty around, plenty of great ones!  And they will always be there for the times when I want to come back to them.  But I truly love to try the oddball and lesser known grapes of the  old world wine producing companies. My wine shopping binges tend to hover among Italy; France; Spain sections  I’ve also been buying Argentina and of course I have to support Canada, but I’ve mainly been buying Canadian wines from Ontario.   That being said, I do welcome any comments, suggestions and wine recommendations as well.  If something is recommended to me to try, and I can get it here for a reasonable price, I’ll will try it.

So a quick note on tasting, I don’t usually sit around sipping wine saying “hmm I’m tasting wild cherries; earth from the prairies, saddle leather and barnyard with an old man in coveralls standing in the middle of it!”  I just like wine.  I’ll have to make some comments on the flavors so I’ll try to keep it simple.

After all, It’s all a learning experience.

who loves the sun

Watching this movie on my day off and hearting it hardcore.  Filmed partly in Northern Ontario it makes me want a summer camp in the biggest way.