pictures, father's day

So, here's some the pictures from last night's show & benefit for URTV. There were actually three bands playing. We came in as the first band was playing, and this is why I am not sure of the name of the first band. The next band was "Black Hook," and the last one, the one more of us came for was "Rat Jackson."

(Our host for the evening...one dirty-mouthed kid.)

(Yes, yes, yes...THE Rat Jackson.)

(Me & my buds hanging out. Me, as usual the drunkest one around.)

(The oh-so-elusive D. She actually enjoyed the show, despite her expression here.)

I also would like to wish all fathers and practically fathers out there a Happy Father's Day. I never knew my father, but my mother met a pretty nice guy when I was 10, and he's been around us ever since. He's a pretty good guy. And despite having no genetic resemblence or connection to him, I think I've acquired some his best and worst traits (like being a music snob, my sarcasm and my passion for politics and the world). :)

Pizza-Time

Soooo, I finally made my first through and through home-made pizza! And I even remembered to take pictures of it before I completely devoured it. ;)

(Yay!)

I even made the crust! I was sooo proud of myself. After seeing this post, I was inspired to make my own. So, the next time went I to the grocery store, I got all the necessary supplies & came home to get started beating some dough up.

(My wee lil' piece of love.)

We also had a fabulous night of games last weekend (I had forgotten to write about this memorable experience). We had the "Pentagonal Tournament of Games." We played mancala, pente, boggle, 301 (darts game), & DDR (dance, dance revolution on xbox 360).

(Clockwise: DDR mat, boggle, mancala & pente. Missing: 301 .)

It was really fun, despite me losing miserably as usual. (Except for me kicking major butt at boggle.) :)

(Getting torn up in mancala by the bf [i.e. the supreme ruler of strategy games].)

Oh, & one last little thing: I'm super-proud of my little garden right now! I've joined forces w/my upstairs neighbor and we've been keeping up with our little garden of tomatoes, spearmint, lemon balm, oregano, basil, & moss roses. So, soooo happy! (Despite having to deal with spider mites and nitrogen-deficient tomato plants.) I've actually got a green thumb!

(Herbs!)

(Tomatoes!)

(Zee jardin [garden]!)

A Perfect Weekend

This has so far been a nearly perfect weekend (gotta leave room the perfect weekend). Yesterday afternoon I went to Greenlife & got some great cheese and baguettes for the play I was soon to be attending with my parents later in the evening. After a nice 30-40 min. roundtrip walk to the store, I got everything prepared and loaded up my tote bags with the yummy goodies.

(The Hazel-Robinson Theatre, where the Montford Park Players perform every year.)

Once ready, I started my much shorter walk to the outside theatre. The play was "Antony and Cleopatra" and was done by the Montford Park Players. This theatre troupe does at least four plays a summer in the outside theatre. This is a super fun and super relaxed thing to do in Asheville in the summer. I met my parents there & had a good time munching on French Bread, Camembert, Morbier & D'Affinois.

(Some characters + the stage.)

(Antony & Octavia [Ceasar's sister].)

And then today: Today I went with my bf to Nine Mile, a sweet little resto that is located right across from our house.(The inside of the Marley-esque restaurant.)

And now, I'm getting ready to go to the Westville Pub. It's a short 10-min. drive away. We're going to have another informal, somewhat-awkward high school gathering there. Some high school acquaintances of ours are having a show there, while silmitanously having a benefit for the local t.v. station, URTV. I'm so happy with this weekend! :)

lu n' am blog!

yes, i'm going for pure vanity and publicity on my part, but i just wanted to let everyone know about my newest joint blog! my oh-so-lovely future sister-in-law & i have created the lu-n-am blog, which is about "affordable. sustainable. creative. living." although we're still tweaking it occasionally...trying to figure how to make it the most super awesome joint blog out there...we definitely want people to check it out and let us know what you think about it! :)

some finds, a lil list

finds:

-a neat online publishing co. where you can create and share your own publications with others who have done the same.
-a celestial solar tower...it looks very religious, like something you'd see in an over-produced biblical movie. but this thing is actually a solar thermal power plant. and green, it seems.

une petite list (of things that i've been vainly desiring):
1. sewing machine. for now all i want is a simple one that will break me into sewing more regularly. i've got lots of plans in my head...yaaay. ;)
2. record player. god, do i ever want one. i just want to chill out to some groovy tunes while i sew, cook and picture-take.
3. good, freakin' camera w/all the fancy-schmancy gadgets. i'll figure them out eventually. but i just love pictures with real texture and that i can really do something with (my lil camera died about six months ago & i've been using my bf's awesome camera ever since then.
4. coffee maker. i've become an addict. it's official. and i've been trying to save money buy drinking it at home, but without a coffee maker, i've just been drinking crizzapie, very much below par coffee.
5. printer & scanner (possible combo contraption?). it's not absolutely necessary right now, but it would make things easier when i want to scan pictures i've taken on the manual camera.
6. pizza stone. i'd love to make super pizza like these, in 5 min.
et, voila. c'est bon.

green finds

browsing through lostateminor today, and i started looking at their 'eco' section. & some interesting finds, indeed. first, is Patrick Blanc's Vertical Garden. these crazy gardens grow without growing in soil or in any earthy substance. Blanc is French, of course, and has made these gardens all over the world and does them on the outside of buildings, as well as inside buildings.the second piece of craziness that i saw was a biodegradable bamboo phone. seriously, bamboo! pretty much the frame and case of the phone is bamboo, while the battery, keypad and antenna comes out of the this case. the bamboo is also biodegradable. meaning, when the time comes to get a new one, you take out the three pieces and throw the case and frame in the compost. in the case, are bamboo seeds, so after the case degrades in about 2-3 weeks, new bamboo seeds starts to grow. and bamboo grows really quickly. talk about giving back to the earth! oh, and the battery is kineticly-powered. you wind the battery charger and, voila, charged without using electricity! wooza, wooza, wooza. seriously - wooza! think of the possibilities!

volunteer-crazy, probably

i've really been wanting to volunteer in my community, and now i have the chance (like i never have before? yeah, right). there is this thing called the Asheville Building Convergence, and it's getting me really excited.

(Starhawk, one of the speakers @ the ABC)

"ABC is inspired by a 20-year vision of what a truly sustainable Asheville looks like and the steps we can take now to create it. More than 25 local groups, community leaders, businesses, and hundreds of citizens are coming together for the first annual celebration and citywide collaboration of what's beautiful, practical, and life affirming about sustainability." - from the website

Anyways, they really need volunteers for this "convergence" and one of my friends is somewhat involved in it, so she let me know about all the opportunities. A few hours earlier I scanned through the list and then figured out what I could technically do & want to do. I then sent out emails to the contacts for the volunteer activities. I think probably overloaded myself, but whatevs, this thing is getting me w[he]ay excited.

I also have been seriously considering working in my community garden. It's basically right across from my place, and it used to be in shambles. But one I day passed by it and realized - voila! - it looked sooo much better! and there was a number to call about working it. there is also another garden close to my house that has volunteer shifts on wed., so I might see about that one, too.




And this is why, I think I may be over-doing all the possible volunteerism. I'd rather be doing this than working...

i've been mentioned!

lordy, lordy. maybe this isn't a big deal, but something rather exciting has just happened.

i've been linked/mentioned (is there a proper blogger term that i'm ignorant of?) by a blogger who i actually don't know!..someone that i've been reading and, who i guess, happens to read to my blog every once in a while. i am very delighted to become aware of this. :)