Spring has sprung

I've been watching these leaves pop open just outside my bedroom window. I wish I had taken pictures day by day as the little leaf buds appeared and opened. It's been fun to see the branches start to fill out leaf by leaf! Spring has definitely sprung, and yesterday's weather brought record breaking heat to Boston. It was 90 degrees! Unbelievable for this time of year.

I'm still feeling a little quiet here on the blogging front. I've been obsessing over a new hobby that's been keeping me away from the computer. I'm learning to play the guitar! I have tried to pick it up before, but it's never held my interest for this long. I've been playing for a few hours every day for a solid week. Such fun!

The next few days are going to be busy busy...tonight I am going to see Coppelia! YAY!

Coppelia Rehearsal Footage from Genevieve Klim on Vimeo.

And tomorrow, I have an extra Neo rehearsal in the morning, and in the evening I am going to Lisa Congdon's new opening Fragmentary Blue. Saturday I will teach as usual and Sunday I have rehearsal in the morning and a choreography showing in the afternoon. Whew!

I hope all of you are enjoying breathing the fresh spring air and soaking up the sun as much as I am!

She&Him

I mentioned in my last post that while jaunting around Portsmouth during my BEST WEEKEND EVER, I visited Bullmoose Records. I went in for the very specific purpose of picking up the new She&Him album, the musical duo made up of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward.

When I got home that evening, I settled into the couch with a copy of BUST magazine at hand, the new She&Him playing in the background when into the apartment bounds the hubby!

Him: Hey baby
She: Hi hon!
Him: Guess what! I bought you a preeeeeeesent!
She: Oh yeah? (Inner monologue: Crap! He rarely buys me random presents...it is absolutely going to be the She&Him album)
Him: (Sneaking in with something behind his back) THE NEW SHE&HIM ON VINYL!!!
She: *laughing-laughing-laughing*
Him: Is this what we are listening to right now?
She: Yes!...but on CD!
Him: Crap!

This is a perfect example of what Matt and I refer to as the "freaky E.T. connection."



This is miraculous, because a) I mentioned this record in passing only once and b) he bought it for me on the same day at the same record store! My poor hub...he tried to surprise me! What a sweetie!

Incidentally, this album...both in the CD and vinyl format...is tres fabu!

Bob Dylan and Ketchup

Buckets of rain
Buckets of tears
Got all them buckets coming out of my ears
Buckets of moonbeams
You got all the love honey baby I can stand



I have had this Dylan song stuck in my head all week. I love Neko Case's cover of it, have a listen, it's pretty! The song is completely appropos, since it has been pouring buckets of rain here in Massachusetts all week long. I'm seriously considering building an ark and gathering things in two.

I apologize for being a bit MIA. I've been extremely busy with work and Neo and have fallen into a little bit of a slumpy slump. Not just with blogging either, my house management skills have been eluding me as well. This is the kind of slump where I will attempt to make a grocery list, and instead I end up staring at recipes and the blank piece of paper in front of me for over an hour, becoming increasingly more boggled by the second about what to eat/buy. Does this happen to other people too? Or is this a brand of insanity entirely unique to me?!?

Sigh. Here I am! Trying my best to catch up. (Har-har...that's where the ketchup in the post title comes in. I am beyond clever. And clearly mental.)

I do have one tid bit of good news to share, since some of you have asked. YES, my dance company got the opening act slot! If you are a reader within driving distance, I will be putting up performance information soon over on the Neoblog.

Aside from that life has been pretty much work work work, dance dance dance, sleep sleep sleep around these parts. This past weekend I was able to escape and have THE MOST AWESOME GIRLY WEEKEND OF ALL TIME with my seeeester, but I will save that for tomorrow's blog post...Which will be more enthralling...and maybe have pictures. Maybe.

Happy Weekend Recap

The triple birthday party madness was such fun on Saturday night! My friend Zana took some excellent photos...

faulty conscience rocking out in the kitchen



birthday girl #1 liz, clearly having fun!



when looking at the following photo i commented to matt, "sabrina and mcsweeney look like they are walking down the aisle to get married...



which made the next photo we clicked to seem all the more hilarious



birthday girl #2, stef



birthday girl #3, annie, who looked so pretty!



more singing



kisses for liz!



zana, the photographer, and sabrina



Unfortunately the party was cut short by THE COPS SHOWING UP. Oops! So as fun as it was, it was an early night for me and Mr. G+N.

***

On Sunday night we had a little impromptu date night. We went to Sei Bar a Thai/Japanese/sushi bar down the street. It was DELICIOUS. We ordered way to much food and left in a state of happy food coma.

Then we went to go see NINE which was fabulous! I had read terrible reviews for it, and was prepared to be disappointed, however it is one of my all time favorite musicals, so I just had to see the movie anyways. I was so pleasantly surprised! It was well acted, well sung and had a fabulous cast. The cinematography was beautiful and showed such lovely views of Italy. I can't wait until it comes out on DVD so that I can watch it again and again!

I've been having some cooking adventures, which I hope to report on soon! Cheers!

That's Not My Name

Last Saturday night, I braved the snow to see my honey's band play at the Lucky Dog Music Hall in Worcester





The Lucky Dog has some of the coolest decor of any venue that we've been to. The interior walls are all painted a deep blue, and saturated with glitter. The walls gleam in the low lighting of the bar, and kitsch is every where adding to the ambience!

Before Mr Geek+Nerd's band, The Swaggerin' Growlers , got up to play I heard one of my new favorite songs come over the stereo system, That's Not My Name by The Ting Tings. It's ridiculous and catchy, as any good pop song should be:



Sometimes when I listen to catchy pop, the music just takes over and I've gotta move. My friend Chesnut captured these hilarious pictures:

they call me girl...



they call me stacy...they call me her...



they call me jane...



that's not my name...that's not my name...that's not my name...that's not...my...name!



Resolution to dance, dance, dance in 2010? Check!

The Last Few Days...In List Form

Dear Sweet Blog, Oh summer has been so fun, and there is so much to share, but I've been so busy enjoying it all that I haven't been able to give all of these topics proper posts! So here it is, in bite-sized list form...Cheers, Sarah.



1) I'm working on my first garment for myself, the Juliet from Zephyr Style. Knitting this with Knit Picks Andean Silk in Barn Red. This yarn is heaven! So far, so good.



2) Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary was this past Tuesday! It involved: Sleeping late, breakfast at Betty's Kitchen, bathing suit shopping (ugh), new CDs, Duffy and She and Him, (Verdict: The latter is better than the former, but I knew that before I purchased them), gourmet chocolatey, marshmallowy, caramelly goodness, Boylan's soda, amazing new vintage store in Portsmouth, (more on this later), Somerville, getting lost, arriving at Magpie just as it closed, Diesel Cafe, old school photobooth, crepes, kisses and one more day of love love loving this awesome man that is my husband!



3) Enjoying, and sharing, the taste of good, *mostly* local food: Amazing hot milk sponge cake with strawberries and whipped cream, finished off the frozen corn from last year in a smoked salmon corn chowder, Amy's Mail Order Banana Bread recipe, fresh peas and did I mention the strawberries? I can't get enough.



4) Dim photos here, it's been rainy in New England, rubbish for blogging! Thrift scores: All the Fire King was bought at a yard sale across the street from my house for the grand total of a dollar. I couldn't believe it! The bake ware pattern is "Blue Heaven." The type case I picked up on the curb, also down the street. A little wash and a few staples to the back and it will be good as new. It will be gussied up a la Ali Edwards soon.

5) I have a bicycle! Which I haven't been able to photograph/ride because of all this darn rain! She's a beauty! Vintage, blue, basket on the front, headlight, larger basket rack on the back. I'm in love! And also a little wonky with my riding skills! I've been pining for a bicycle, specifically a Cape Cod Blue Amsterdam. I'm so close to the grocery store, bank, post office, etc, that it is ridiculous to take the car to those places, especially with the ever rising price of gas! If I get a ton of use out of this bike, then I'd consider looking into an upgrade, but this was a much more affordable starter bike. Pictures soon - so cute!

That is all for now...except if everyone could send me some good job karma that would be awesome. Figuring out my employment situation beyond this summer has not been going so well. I'm off for a little more knitting therapy!

This is...what reminds me of my mum

When I saw this week's "This is" topic, it really stumped me for a moment. My mom is such an integral part of my everyday existence, that it was difficult for me to think of something that reminded me of her. I see her a few times a week. We knit, we cook, we sew, my mom fixes my sewing mistakes as I get crabby and eat doughnuts, (more on that thrilling topic soon)! Being reminded of something makes me think "past tense" so it's not surprising that the memory that popped into my head for today's Mother's Day post was something from our mother/daughterly past...

Music, for me, is something that is inherently entwined with memory. I'm sure that if I put enough thought into it, that I could make a mix tape of songs composed entirely of music that reminds me of specific moments in my life. Certain songs just bring me back to a past moment in an instant! You may laugh at what comes next, but it is the absolute, honest truth.

The album that reminds me of my mother is ABBA Gold - Greatest Hits



Oh, ABBA. I love ABBA. Listening to ABBA is a completely corny, guilty pleasure of mine. It may be one of my mother's lesser gifts to me, but a gift nonetheless!

I don't remember exactly when my mom got this CD, but we didn't have a CD player until I was in 8th grade/high school, so it must have been around that time. This was definitely one of the first CDs that my parents bought for themselves. Every weekend my mom would blast this throughout the house. ABBA was cleaning music. ABBA was for washing dishes, and shouting lyrics over the hum of the vacuum, and I ate it up. To this day, hearing Fernando, Chiquitita, Money, Gimme a Man After Midnight and all the rest make me think of my mom. Those songs make me want to dance with a vacuum, sing into the handle like it's a microphone and hard core clean my house.

I'll leave you with an ABBA classic, Thank You for the Music. I loved this song as a kid. I thought it was about me, except for the golden-haired, beautiful Swedish girl aspect of it. Thanks for the music mom, and everything else that you do for me. Happy Mother's Day!

Spring Fling :: Forget Spring Cleaning! It's Saturday Night!

My life and times as a band wife...tonight was so much fun!