 life in amish country
 Friday, February 10, 2012
i have gone 2 weeks sans a computer.
and then my nook broke.
and my phone was my only source of internet at that point.
and i was keeping a very watchful eye on it .
like voldemort and nagini.
my luck has not been at it's best lately.
so i was fearful and on edge and fairly certain i would be joining an amish culture in a mere matter of days.
but,
i went to geek squad to further investigate the issues of my pink
computer (which is actually mine and not the borrowed one i
broke..woops.)
and they said i needed a recovery disc in order to bring that Lazarus back from the dead.
so
after having that shipment expedited (only for it to arrive late,
anyways) i took my pink computer and also the recovery disc back to best
buy where they had me fill out a form with questions that i truly could
not answer seriously.
example:
Q:what seems to be the problem with your item?
A: it seems geek squad made my computer even less useable than before.
Q:how did this problem start?
A:i assume it all started when you gutted my computer. but i'm no geek so i wouldn't actually know for sure, would i?
Q:how often does the problem occur?
A: always. in every way.
anyways.
they said my computer would be ready in 5 weeks.
well, 5 weeks-worst case scenario.
obviously,
mr. geek squad is blissfully unaware of the horcrux hunt that is going
on in my life and that everything technology with me is, in fact, worst
case scenario.
so husband told me to cancel it, bring the computer and the disc back home so he could do it.
truthfully, this worries me.
i trust him.
i do not trust my luck lately.
also,
adding to my frustration with technology, i went to barnes and noble to
fix my nook and after three hours of waiting, reading the back of every
book in the store and spending $6.00 on a crappy salad in the mall food
court, i got sassed by the employee who "had bad enough luck to get
stuck with" me.
seriously?
bleh.
whatever. i got my nook back and with all of this no-computer/internet/pinterest time, i have read 3 books.
any suggestions on a good book to read?
if not, i might just read the hunger games series again.
because--why not?
in other news:
i made a valentine's day wreath.
also i took pictures of gilly.
because it's imposible for me to hold my camera and not take pictures of her.
ohmyword.
anyways, i should go be useful and productive.
but
i will probably waste a few more moments on pinterest since garrett is
at work and i can actually be on his computer for some minutes without
him hovering.
one day i'll get my computer back.
le sigh.
love,
kate.
lyrics: i am aware i've been misled. i disconnect my heart, my head.
11:27 AM | back to top
bandaids.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
i realize it is not tuesday.
i really had no intentions of only blogging once last week.
but let's just get down to brass tacks and say that i have a serious issue with technological devices breaking on me.
i don't know how many cell phones i have had in my lifetime. several.
my pink computer crashed over the summer and left me with nothing but a blue screen of death.
i took it to geek squad and they removed the virus from my computer and gave it back to me whole and new.
and without anything on it.
i don't mean just without my pictures and music.
i mean everything.
i'm talking you turn that bad boy on and a blank, black screen comes up. and that's it.
it is a computer in it's most basic form.
with absolutely no programs on it.
at all.
they told me i needed to download the recovery program to get windows
and everything that we associate with a computer back on there.
ironic, isn't it?
i have to download a program?
are you kidding? the only thing this computer can do is serve as a quasi mirror.
so my mom kindly let me borrow (on a semi permanent scale) her old computer.
and that is what i have been using ever since.
until it met a slight demise by way of power cord.
you see, the computer was old.
and it could only function while it was plugged into the wall.
which was fine with me.
except that the manufacturers neglected to reinforce the cord in the area that plugs into the computer.
last week that piece broke off.
and consequently, that computer is yet another reflective surface and nothing more.
so i can pretty much only be on a computer while garrett is at work.
le sigh.
now i'm at a loss. i don't think cords to that computer are just sold at best buy these days.
like i said, it was my mom's old computer.
and best buy is way too hip to the groove of mac products to be selling old things like that anymore.
so i'm left with my phone and my nook.
but it's a little difficult to blog on either.
so i pray you will forgive me.
hopefully i will figure out a solution and be back to ranting on about useless information in no time.
until then.
let's jam.
this past week (all technology aside) was...interesting.
on more than one occasion i was taken back to a time when i listened to some of the most meaningful music in my life.
it was the music that hurt when i hurt and expressed it in a way i have always been deficient.
a few weeks ago when i instated this tune in tuesday thing, i gave an example of how music speaks not just to me, but for me.
in my freshman year of college i was lucky enough to live less than 5 minutes away from my older sister.
of course i didn't see her nearly as much as i should have.
after all, i was a freshman in college.
and not just that, but a freshman in college who was taking 18 credits a
semester and experiencing friends and "freedom" (not that my parents
ever smothered me..but you get it) for the first time.
regardless, i regret not seeing her more often.
but i did love seeing her.
and she and i had some really spectacular times together.
and despite my poor friendship skills, she always felt comfortable confiding in me.
and sometimes the things she told me broke my heart.
she had been married a few years.
in fact, i think she was then, at the point in her marriage i am at now.
and she was experiencing life.
and sometimes life sucks.
and i wanted to take away all of that suck from her.
because she was always so capable of doing that for me.
but i didn't know how. i couldn't cure her. i couldn't change her situation.
if i had had money of my own i would have given it to her.
if i had a way to press my hand to her heart and give her joy i would have done it.
it was a sad reality for me. to see someone i loved so much so sad.
i just wanted to fix it.
i wanted to fix her.
i am sure i am not alone in feeling this way towards someone.
i believe it is a natural side effect of love.
one night i heard a song that summed it all up and said it all for me.
it inspired me to make her a cd.
and i'll tell you, maybe it's a gift. maybe it's coincidence, but when i
feel there is no other way for me to speak but through music, the music
flows to me like water downhill. it just comes to me. i remember songs,
i remember lyrics. it just comes to me.
and so it did that night as i made my sister that cd.
(i love how old school that sounds. i feel like i should put a wikipedia reference link to what a cd is..)
and this week, my sister and i talked again.
and i was reminded of that cd i made her.
and i wished i could make it for her again.
little did i know that later only a few days later i would be needing to listen to that music myself.
because like i said,
sometimes life sucks.
and no one is exempt.
and this week proved that. to both of us.
so it is with much apprehension and some trepidation that i present to you this playlist.
it's something special to me.
i've had it for 6 years now and i have listened to it a lot.
mostly when i'm sad and missing my sister.
i have continued to add to the list songs that speak better than i know how.
it's kind of scary to throw it out like this.
i suppose it could easily be seen as something cheesy.
but here's to hoping that someone else can be healed, even just a little, by it.
it's not an instant cure, but it's a good bandaid.
a musical bandaid.
love,
kate.
lyrics: sail on silver girl...all your dreams are on their way.
8:06 PM | back to top
young love.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
has it been a week already?
lovely.
because i have some good tunes for you this week.
but first let's just chat.
i had a dream that i was hanging out with the cast of jersey shore.
again.
this is especially weird considering i watched an embarrassing amount of LA Ink yesterday.
and embarrassing amount, i tell you.
and provided there are no radioactive gorillas or death eaters or
rapists or rap artists (yes, i have had nightmares about all of those. i
did not make them up.) among the jersey shore cast (well....i mean..you
know when you think about it...)
i still consider these recurring dreams to be more like recurring
nightmares than dreams. and i think i hate the jersey shore nightmares
more than any of my other recurring nightmares.
i have one that involves me going on a really fantastic yellow roller
coaster but finding out half way up the click, click, click incline that
my over-the-chest-boob-smashing-seat-belt device is broken. and then i
finish the rest of the nightmare desperately trying to hold on to the
germy handles on said seat-belt device. i always wake up just as i'm
about to be thrown upside and off of the roller-coaster.
i especially hate this dream because i love roller coasters.
still, i hate the jersey shore dream more than that one.
if anyone has any sound advice or insight about what these dreams mean
or interpret into, i would love to hear it. also i would love to know
how to make it stop. because i do not love Deena haunting my dreams.
anyways. let's get down to business.
(to defeat the huns)
i've been thinking a lot about these new posts and the music i want to share with you guys.
i have come up with quite a few different playlists or compilations or
artists that i would like the share and the stories behind them.
but i would love to hear what you want, too.
so keep that in mind and leave your suggestions or ideas in a comment.
i spent the week listening to several of my pre-made playlists that i already have on my ipod.
i have made a good selection of playlists in my ipod owning days.
so where do i begin?
well, i guess i'll start at the very beginning.
that's a very good place to start, no?
well, not the very beginning.
but you'll get it.
i recently had a conversation with garrett and my sister and her husband, jared.
i asked them what their first favorite song was.
garrett and jared both deserved a big slap in the face because they said
they didn't really listen to music much until they were a bit older.
absurd, right?
but jackie and i shared a room together for a few years and we used to
listen to the radio a lot. and before i was in school i would listen to
music with my mom as she cleaned her house.
so i have prepared for you a compilation of the music i think of when i go back to being little.
i have specific memories attached to each song.
even if they are just weird memories like driving past my old elementary school.
or feather dusting lamps in my living room with my mom.
this isn't just a pile of songs that came out when i was little.
they were my first favorites.
my first loves, if you will.
yes, that's right. air supply.
don't act like you don't get goose bumps at the crescendo of "making love out of nothing at all"
you love it.
i love it.
billy ray cyrus, well...there's a story behind that one.
but i'll spare my mom the embarrassment. :she already has a daughter who dreams about the jersey shore cast. :]
love,
kate.
lyrics: the beating of my heart is a drum and it's lost and it's looking for a rhythm like you.
ps. you can expect several of these to be repeated when i bust out my nineties playlist. just you way. it's petty fabulous.
pps. please do not judge me too harshly for the weird things that go on in my brain whilst i sleep.
12:08 PM | back to top
acid, ghetto, peg.
Monday, January 23, 2012
let's talk briefly about how my eyeballs are on fire.
just briefly, guys.
but seriously. they're on fire.
sometimes i feel like my contact solution is amazing and does wonderful things for my contacts.
other times i feel like it is nothing short of hydrofluoric acid.
today is more of the latter.
today i also attempted to wear skinny jeans.
i do that every so often.
and every single time it's a fail.
every. single. time.
le sigh.
i hate todays.
sorry, monday. it's nothing personal. except for the fact that you suck.
in other news: i'm thinking of writing a mini segment every so often.
it will be called, "This Week in the Ghetto"
and i think it will be, in a word, spectacular.
because 1) i truly live in the ghetto.
and 2) there are some seriously ghetto things that go on.
This Week In The Ghetto:
as i casually approached my kitchen sink (which faces an alleyway) to
refill my brita pitcher, a man came meandering up the alley from the
street. that same man stopped right in front of my kitchen window and
peed in my yard.
truly.
that happened.
some days later gilly got out of the yard.
this completely terrifies me.
i hate when she gets out because i don't particularly trust my neighbors.
(also, she is the cutest pup in the world and i would steal her if she weren't mine already.)
but she got out nonetheless. because she is houdini.
and she wasn't hurting anybody. she was just barking.
because that's what she does. she's a dog.
she barked at our neighbor.
he yelled over the fence to me and told me to come get her before he killed her.
classic peg.
what? you don't know where the phrase classic peg comes from?
(for the record, i want to yell "A FIFTY!...AND IT'S LEGIT!" every time
someone hands me a fifty dollar bill at work. every time.)
i just watched Peg and have lost complete track of what i was saying.
but that's fine. i'll leave you with that.
come back soon, friends.
love,
kate.
lyrics: oh monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be..
8:00 PM | back to top
love and some verses
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
when i started this blog i did so
with the intentions of venting my life and the frustrations and
happenings therein in a fashion that would not result in the severe
cramping of my right hand.
i've never been the best journal keeper because the ratio of "what i
have to say" and "number of sentences before my hand cramps" is less
than even.
so i started typing.
i never really thought anyone would give a rat's crack about what i actually had to say.
(or that i would end up sucking just as much at typing my emotions as i am at writing them--but we'll ignore that right now.)
but since i have 51 people semi-following this blog (sidenote: if you in
any way even sort of read this on any kind of consistent basis, i'm
going to need you to scroll on over to the right side of your screen and
click on "join this site" under the "Followers" tab. franks a million.
end of sidenote.)
i decided that maybe people really do want to read what i have to say.
but then i read other fantastic blogs and i feel so weird and awkward writing in my blog.
because i'm not a fashion blogger.
and i'm not a mommy blogger.
i'm just me.
and not a ton happens in my life.
my husband is a student and works part time.
i work part time at a job i kind of really hate.
and i do hair and makeup part time.
that's sort of my life. it's nothing glamorous.
my clothes are nothing if not average.
my hair is an incredibly boring and awkward length of "just past the shoulders".
and i live in a cute little duplex right smack dab in the middle of the ghetto.
i clean my house just about every day.
(and every night it seems looks like it needs a good cleaning again..curious)
i snuggle with my puppy.
i make cards.
i fold laundry.
i make wreaths that end up getting stolen off of my front door.
and i listen to a butt-load of music during all of it.
so you can see how, despite the fact that i open up blogger with the
intentions of blogging every single day, i don't have much to write
about.
but i promised to change my poor blogging habits. and i'm going to make good on that promise.
because in all of this house cleaning, craft making and other
extraordinarily mundane things i take part in every day, i have
re-discovered something fantastic:
i listen to freaking awesome music.
and thanks to spotify and youtube, i can share that music with you.
entire playlists, even.
heyyo!
so it is with great pleasure and joy that i dub each Tuesday from here on out:
Tune in Tuesday.
Tune in Tuesday will be a thing of absolute greatness in that it will
consist of both music and my memories and/or feelings behind them.
because if there's a good and decent song out there then i have more
than likely either attached a memory to it or had some sort of deep and
meaningful thought about it that has probably brought me to tears.
you see, i'm not like most people.
i have an incredible sense of feeling.
a sort of manic/depressive emotional gauge.
when i feel good, i feel really good.
when i am happy, i am really happy.
and when i am sad. i am really sad.
i just feel more.
and when i feel so much, my words always fall short.
but music never does.
ever.
so, a few years ago, when my sister was going through hard things and
was struggling with trying to be happy..i was so honored that she would
confide in me. and i wanted to fix it. i wanted to help her. i wanted
her to know that i would do anything to take that away from her.
but what i felt was so much more than that.
so did i say that to her?
no.i kicked it old school and made her a cd.
music just speaks better than i do.
and it speaks to me better than anything else ever seems to be able to.
and i think you all should be privy to the incredible conversations that go on between me and music.
so strap on your seatbelts, people. strap them on.
because it's Tuesday. and it's time to tune in.
to start it all off, i will pay homage to the man who provided such a perfect title for this blog.
his name is sam beam and and he is the voice behind the artist title of iron and wine.
iron and wine is probably best known for the amazing song,Flightless
bird, American mouth, that has featured in at least two of the twilight
movies. (maybe more. i don't know..or really care for that matter.)
but my love affair with iron and wine began long before the love affair between tweenagers and edward cullen.
i spent a lot of my nights and weekends at home while i was in high school.
and by a lot, i mean almost all of them.
and i would spend most of that time either doing makeup, scrapbooking or
searching/listening to the greatest music this world had to offer me.
enter Iron and Wine.
the first song i heard was Naked As We Came.
it was different. it was soothing. it was real.
(not to mention far less angsty than most of my other high school jams.)
but it hit me, nonetheless.
as did the rest of the "Endless Summer Days" album.
it was such a new sound to me and, again, i couldn't think of a way to explain it.
until i went out to visit my oldest sister in college.
and she said of the music, "I'll know i'm in love when my life sounds like an Iron and Wine song."
amen, sister.
amen.
and then one day, as i was packing up my hair school belongings and
heading out into the most beautiful Provo, Utah evening with the most
beautiful sunset i have ever seen, i put in my headphones. i set my ipod
to shuffle. and there it was. an iron and wine song that i had not
heard yet.
the song hit me like a brick.
i stopped in the middle of the parking lot and just listened. it was beautiful.
and i knew it would be significant to my life in some way.
it was The Trapeze Swinger.
and from that song i gleaned the title of my blog.
eloquent graffiti.
oh, you haven't listened to iron and wine yet?
well, you should.
and you should do so on spotify.
i made a mini playlist of some of my favorite songs.
take a listen by clicking the link below.
Iron and Wine=Love
go on, change your life a little bit.
love,
kate.
lyrics: love and some verses you hear say what you can't say.
3:08 PM | back to top
5 minutes late.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
happy new year.
i realize this is a few days late.
but
if you consider the fact that i was too enthralled with Red Bull's New
Year No Limit 2012 jump that i didn't even realize it was midnight until
it was 12:05..then it's kind of really fitting that this post is late,
too.
but you know, in my defense i was really under the impression that he was going to jump at midnight. seriously.
what the hail? i feel cheated.
my new year's kiss was 5 minutes late.
starting of the new year nice and lame.
perfect.
but...
want to know what blows my mind?
2012.
two. thousand. and. twelveeeeee.
what is that?
was
it really 12 years ago that i was at disney world ringing in, not just
the new year, but the millennium and sporting my fluorescent orange,
limited too windbreaker pants and matching "LIMITED TOO" t-shirt?
really?
12 years? good grief.
le sigh..
farewell, 2011.
anyways, in other news.
i threw my back out trying to open my freezer.
(i am only just now realizing how geriatric that sounds.)
but our freezer is a bottom drawer, sliding freezer.
and it froze shut.
way to be an over-achiever, freezer.
speaking
of freezing, garrett and i spent the holidays at my parent's house and
came back this week. instead of coming back to a warm home sweet home
kind of environment, we came back to this.
and since our house is 4 million years old, it took 7 hours to warm up.
which means i spent the rest of that day on the couch, cuddling with gilly and watching What Not To Wear.
i didn't get much done, but i did come to the conclusion that
1) gilly is the cutest thing in the world
seriously.
and
2) stacy and clinton need to be my new therapists.
i need to go clean. without bending, moving, lifting or stretching.
should be interesting.
love,
kate.
lyrics: so this is the new year. and i don't feel any different.
10:05 AM | back to top
girls and boys.
Monday, December 12, 2011
i think we've all seen this video incessantly popping up on facebook for the past week or so.
(or maybe you haven't...and that would probably be, in large part, due to the fact that 2/3 of your facebook friends are not LDS
and do not go to BYU, UVU, UofU or USU...however, that is essentially
how my facebook works out. so every other update has been this video.)
and
honestly when i first saw the title "why men and women can't be
friends" i thought it would be dumb and i had no interest in watching
it. because i, like so many others, believed that men and women could just be friends.
(just ignore the fact that i married my best friend. just ... whatever. ignore it.)
a few minutes ago it popped up once more and i decided to watch it.
and i won't lie. i laughed.
(mostly because of that guy eating a sandwich while being interviewed.)
but then i felt sort of weird. like maybe i was wrong.
but i honestly did think that i had guy friends who were just friends.
anyhow. this is all neither here nor there. because then i found this video.
and really what it comes down to is..it doesn't matter. and i don't care.
because he was using a swiffer duster as a microphone.
(on a separate note: i miss byu.)
love,
kate.
3:30 PM | back to top
|
How about "Brick" by Ben Folds Five? Or "The Luckiest"...And maybe the song from Les Mis, which has a bunch of numbers I can't recall in order, but it's the "Who am I? I'm Jean Val Jean!" Oh yeah, and The Verve Pipe one....which I also can't recall the title of at the moment.
ReplyDeleteOh and the Glee version of Defying Gravity...
ReplyDeleteP.s. Do you read these comments? If so, comment back, por favor.
ReplyDeleteahh! defying gravity. i was definitely stuck on that one for a while. and YES, i read the comments. i love comments and i wish more people would comment. i feel like a loser most of the time because nobody comments.
ReplyDeleteYour article is extremely good.You can visit my website: spotify for artists
ReplyDelete