April: Concerts, Anniversaries and Tummy Time

April was my first full month back at work, albeit still part-time.  It was a busy month, nonetheless.

On April 10, we took Amelia on her first road trip, to visit our friend Eric in Philadelphia.  While we were down there, I met up with some friends to see Andrew McMahon:

 

The concert was amazing, a mix of Something Corporate, Jack's Mannequin, and his new solo stuff.  

Oh yeah, and I made out with Eric's chinchilla, Mittens:

 

Amelia turned 2 months old on the 10th, but this picture was taken the following day, since we spent the 10th in Philly:

As of her two-month appointment, she was 23 1/2 inches long, which they told me was 90th percentile for height.  She clearly does not get her height from me!

On the 22nd, Glen and I celebrated 7 years of marriage with our traditional trip to Minado, which has an amazing sushi buffet.

I love that picture above.  Three of my favorite things: My husband, my daughter, and all-you-can-eat sushi!

And even though Amelia's been holding up her head pretty consistently since she was a few weeks old, we finally figured out the trick to tear-free tummy time:

It seems that propped up on the Boppy, in the crib is the way to go.  This past Sunday, we tried it without the Boppy, and she rolled from her stomach to her back twice! 

In other news, I've been debating downgrading my jewelry business to a hobby, because clearly once I go back to work 10 weeks from now, I will have even less than the currently-almost-nonexistent free time I have now.  For the past 3 years, I ran it as a business, complete with sales tax returns each quarter and a Schedule C each year.  

At this point, based on this IRS publication, I don't think it really qualifies as a business, since I'm not really able to put much time and effort into it and I don't depend on the income to make a living since I already have two other jobs!  The hassle of filing quarterly sales tax returns and filling out a Schedule C doesn't seem worth it as this point, but I still want to continue to make and sell jewelry as a creative outlet.  If I report it as hobby income, I could still deduct certain expenses, I just couldn't claim a loss.  Potentially having to pay slightly more taxes feels worth it to me since I'd have more free time, and right now time is more important to me than saving a few bucks!  

So This Exists...

Seeing this music video absolutely made my day, although given the recent loss of one of the original Fraggle performers it is a little bittersweet seeing Gobo up there.

Be sure to watch the video all the way through - there's a fun little surprise at the end.  And check out the behind the scenes video on Nerdist if you're so inclined.


P.S.  While I was listening to this, I could feel Stormageddon moving ALL OVER THE PLACE in my belly.  Guess this means s/he (should know which it is in less than 24 hours!) is a fan of Ben Folds Five?  Or Fraggles?  Or both?

She Is Staggering

Earlier this year, I experienced the pure joy/nostalgia overload that was the Adventures of Pete and Pete reunion at the Bowery Ballroom.

On Tuesday there was yet another reunion, this time clear across the country in Los Angeles.  As much as I would have LOVED to go, I don't think I could really justify the travel expense on this one.  It was one thing to spend nearly $100 on tickets for the reunion in February when the only additional costs were gas and PATH tickets, but it would have cost somewhere around $1000 to go to this one, so I had to pass. ;-)

It's a shame, because there were additional cast members there: Damian Young, aka Bus Driver Stu Benedict (who was in the audience, but not on the panel, at the reunion I attended) and Rick Gomez, aka Endless Mike Hellstrom.  Also, freaking POLARIS was there, performing live.

I am desperately hoping that they will play more concerts, preferably in or near New York City or Philadelphia so I can see them without breaking the bank.  In the meantime, I'll have to be content watching the videos folks are uploading to YouTube.

Here they are performing one of my favorite songs from the show, or in general for that matter:





I hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend!  I'll be making my usual farmers' market trip, watching the season premier of Doctor Who, meeting up with one of my college roommates for lunch, and attending multiple picnics.  What are your plans?

Seize the Day

How was everyone's weekend?

Mine was pretty darn fantastic!  I spent Saturday in New York with one of my best friends from high school, as well as one of her sisters and he sister's friend.  We had tickets for Newsies, and as we were making our way toward the Nederlander one of my friends stopped short and gasped when she saw this: 



Also exciting: the Godiva store was to the right of Chop't.  We had truffles for dessert. :-)

I've only been to Chop't once before, when visiting that friend in D.C, but was amazing!  And my friend loves Chop't so much she would probably benefit from some sort of 12-step program, so we were both incredibly excited to see that they were in New York, too. 

My salad consisted of baby spinach, romaine lettuce, crumbled egg, carrots, broccoli, sunflower seeds, and smoky bacon ranch dressing.  SO good.

Yum!!!

Then it was off to the Nederlander, where we waited in a line that wrapped around the block.  It was ridiculous.



Yay!!

I hadn't seen the movie in awhile, possibly since high school.  Which is probably kind of good, because they did make some completely arbitrary changes that might have bothered me more if I'd seen it more recently.  But changes or not, it was an incredible performance, and so much fun!!  I haven't seen any other shows that are nominated, so my opinion may not count for much here, but I will still be extremely surprised if it doesn't win the Tony for best choreography. 


Covert picture in the theater before the performance started.  I'm a rebel!

 Next we headed down to Veselka for dinner:



7 plates for 4 people.  But we're not gluttons. :-P

Everything was amazing.  That picture above?  It's not even everything we ordered.  There were no leftovers, unless you count the 3 quarts of borscht my friend ordered to go. ;-)

A Concert at "Carnegie Cave"

How was everyone's weekend?  Mine was about as close to perfect as I could imagine.

Friday was so incredibly nice that I couldn't resist taking a couple of hours of vacation time to leave work early and take Elvis to the dog park.  The sun was shining, it was just warm enough that I didn't need a jacket, and there were lots of dogs there for Elvis to play with.  This particular dog park sits on top of a hill and the view is amazing:

The next day, we got up early and went to New York City for the 12:30 show of Jim Henson's Musical Worlds.  I grossly overestimated how bad traffic would be going through the Lincoln Tunnel on a Saturday morning, so we had enough time to wander around Central Park for a bit before the show.

 When we arrived at Carnegie Hall around noon, this sight made me feel positively giddy:

The show was absolutely amazing.  I had to fight back tears when the New York Pops opened with a medley of the themes from The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock.  I got chills when the entire audience joined in the clapping parts of "Fraggle Rock."  

I really enjoyed the way they integrated the Fraggles into the show.  Uncle Traveling Matt (Dave Goelz) was taking Red (Karen Prell) and Wembley (Steve Whitmire, who I didn't realize would be there!) on a tour of Outer Space.  According to Traveling Matt, "Carnegie Cave" was a Doozer contruction that was completed six weeks ago, and was meant to me a summer home for Ma and Pa Gorg.  They sang a medley of songs that included two of my all-time favorites, "Follow Me" and "Let Me Be Your Song."  I may have teared up a bit. 

Unfortunately, from our seats in the second tier I wasn't able to get particularly good shots of the Fraggle Rock, Emmet Otter or Sesame Street characters, so I won't bother sharing them here.  But I did get a fairly good shot of the Muppets, along with John Tartaglia (he's the one in the green pants) and a bunch of the human members of the Sesame Street cast:

And here's a shot of the Muppet performers during the curtain call:



Oh, and remember when I posted video of the performance of "Just One Person" from Jim Henson's memorial service? 

Well, they performed it on Saturday!  I missed the first couple of verses because as soon as they started singing, I started crying, and it took me a moment to compose myself. ;-)

Between February's Pete and Pete cast reunion and this past weekend's Muppet performance at Carnegie Hall, I don't think I've ever been so grateful to live just a short drive away from New York City.  2012 definitely seems to be shaping up to be the year of once-in-a-lifetime chances to revisit everything I loved about my childhood!  Maybe this means they'll finally release Salute Your Shorts on DVD??

Music Makes Us Real (Ping!)

Ok, guys.  I'm in serious danger of nostalgia overload here.

A few weeks ago, this happened.

Then about a week ago, Glen found Being Elmo on Netflix, which was amazing.  I was always more of a Fraggle Rock girl, so I never got into the Elmo craze, but the more I learn about Kevin Clash, the more I appreciate everything he's done to carry on Jim Henson's work.  I thought I'd have to wait until April to see the documentary on PBS, so I was really excited to be able to watch it a few weeks earlier.

Well, Tuesday I found out that this is a thing that's happening. 

Yup, a musical tribute to Jim Henson at Carnegie Hall, complete with appearances by John Tartaglia (whom I saw in Avenue Q - twice), Dave Goelz (Gonzo!  Boober Fraggle!!), and Karen Prell (Red Fraggle!!!!!!). 

Needless to say, I ordered tickets within minutes.  I am beyond excited right now. :-)


P.S.  When I named this post, I must have underestimated how obscure I was getting.  I original intended to embed video of the song "Music Makes Us Real (Ping!)" from the episode "Mokey and the Minstrels", but I can't seem to find it anywhere.  I did, however, find the audio: Music Makes Us Real (Ping!)

Fun Times in Philly

So, that concert I mentioned in my previous post? 

Absolutely amazing.

Unfortunately we missed most of the first band's set because dinner ran long, but we made it in time to see Jukebox the Ghost.

I was mostly unfamiliar with them until this point.  My Pandora station has played some of their songs, which I did enjoy.  And oddly enough, I saw them open for Harvey Danger at the last concert I attended.  I have no idea how I managed to not take note of them the first time around, except perhaps that I was too busy mourning the fact that it was Harvey Danger's last east coast performance to care about the opening acts? 

At any rate, I am now a huge fan.  They had a great stage presence, and after hearing more of their music I couldn't resist buying a CD (which their piano player and drummer signed!).  Anyone else a fan of these guys?  And if you're familiar with them, do you find that "Hold It In" and "Empire" are both serious earworms?  Seriously, those songs have been rotating on repeat in my brain since Sunday morning!

Jack's Mannequin was fabulous as always.  This is something like the 4th or 5th time I've seen them, and I'm never disappointed.  Of course, it wouldn't be a Jack's Mannequin concert if Andrew didn't stand on the piano:

They played a good mix of songs from all three albums, and during the encore, Andrew played an older Something Corporate song, "Cavanaugh Park."  Apparently earlier that day, he purchased his first iPhone, so he decided to take his first ever iPhone photo: the audience.  It was posted on the website earlier this week:

Maybe if you squint hard enough, you can see me waaay in the back. ;-) 

Hammers and Strings

I could be mistaken about this, but I'm pretty sure the last concert I went to was Harvey Danger's final show on the east coast at The Bell House, back in August of 2009.  That's too long to go without seeing any of my favorite bands.  So needless today, I am SUPER excited to be seeing Jack's Mannequin tomorrow night. 

I'm also super ashamed that their latest album, People and Things, has been out for more than 3 months and I still haven't bought it.  Soon though.  Maybe at the show tomorrow?

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite songs from the first two albums, Everything in Transit and The Glass Passenger:

 

I still remember the first time I heard the song "Konstantine" by Andrew McMahon's other band, Something Corporate, back during my freshman year of college.  It was basically love at first listen.  I'm a sucker for anything that's heavy on the piano, I think partly because I wish I were a better pianist myself.  I took lessons for a few years in middle school, but the clarinet was always more my focus, so I never got particularly good at the piano.  That doesn't stop me from rocking out to Cole Porter songs in the privacy of my own home on a fairly regular basis, but don't expect to see me giving any public concerts in the near future. ;-)

I'm a big fan of Andrew McMahon for more than just his music.  After he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2005, he started the Dear Jack Foundation.  The fact that he not only maintained such a positive attitude during his illness, but took this incredibly negative thing that happened to him and used his influence to make something good come of it, makes me admire him that much more.  In fact, the Dear Jack Foundations is one of the groups I donate to (along with Kiva) with some of the profits I make from Mischievous Kitty Jewelry.  (Speaking of which, I still need to do my 2011 taxes, and I haven't made my 2011 donations yet.  I need to get on that!) 

P.S. I have to thank Amber, aka The Girly Bird, because if it wasn't for her blog I wouldn't know about Grooveshark.  I think I am now addicted.  Expect more music on my blog from now on. ;-)

Just One Person

The Muppets has been out for a couple of weeks now, but after reading some articles about it online yesterday, I found myself browsing YouTube and found some amazing, incredibly moving stuff from Jim Henson's memorial service, including:

-Big Bird singing "It's Not Easy Being Green":



(I got a little teary-eyed on this one, especially at the end.)

-Frank Oz giving a eulogy:



(I laughed an awful lot, but started crying a bit at the end.)

And this performance of the song "Just One Person":



(When the performers and their Muppets start pouring onto the stage after the first few verses I lost it. Totally. And. Completely. Lost. It.)

Mind you, all of this crying happened at my desk at work, during my lunch hour.  Thank goodness I have my own office, with a door that closes, or I'd have completely humiliated myself. 

It's really kind of ridiculous how I can still find myself grieving the death of someone I've never met, someone who died when I was only 7 years old, nearly 22 years ago.  But the fact of the matter is that I grew up on Jim Henson's work (most notably Fraggle Rock), and it played a significant role in shaping my view of the world... and considering the following quote, I suppose that isn't such a bad thing!

When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little bit better for my having been here. -Jim Henson

Tickling the Ivories

My husband spent the day watching our nephews, and he took this incredibly sweet pictures of the two of them at our piano:

I just had to share. :-)



And I followed through on my plan to not neglect my business this past weekend. So far I've found 3 craft shows to do this fall!



Also, there are some new additions to our pond. But that's a story for another post. ;-)

Making Music

As some of you may know, my Monday nights are spent rehearsing with the Easton Municipal Band. I've been playing the clarinet for almost 20 (!!!) years now - I started when I was 9 years old - and I can't imagine what it would be like to not play an instrument.

One of my favorite composers of all time is Gustav Holst, and one of the pieces we're working on right now is Second Suite in F for Military Band. It's funny, but even if I've had an awful day, if we play a piece by Holst at rehearsal it instantly puts me in a good mood. Here's the 4th movement from Second Suite in F:

Now doesn't that put a smile on your face??

Anyway, our first concert of the season, is this Sunday, May 1, at 2:00pm at the Hanover Community Center in Bethlehem, PA. It's the Sousa Concert, which we do every year with the Liberty Alumni Band, consisting primarily of Sousa marches (in case you hadn't already figured that out!), and it's pretty spectacular if I do say so myself. ;-) Also, admission is free, and there are always a ton of free refreshments! If you live in or near the Lehigh Valley, I highly recommend it.

Dance Your Cares Away

Now that I'm finally getting some shows lined up, I need to work on building up my inventory.

Since the husband has a comedy gig tonight, I'm on my own with the pup.

My plan tonight, after a stressful and exhausting couple of weeks is to make a whole lot of jewelry and having a Fraggle Rock marathon. I actually own the first 3 seasons, but the entire series is on Netflix. I wonder how many episodes I can watch in one night?? ;-)

Here's a song from one of my favorite episodes. The great Jim Henson himself performs the part of Cantus. Enjoy! :-)

Spreading Holiday Cheer

As I sat down to write this, it occurred to me that I've been playing the clarinet for nearly 2 decades now - that's 2/3 of my life!

I've played in concert bands, marching bands, pit bands, and most recently, a municipal band.

photo via EastonBand.com

One of the things I find most enjoyable is playing Christmas music a nursing homes, which we did this past Monday.

When I was scanning through local news websites yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to come across a nice article on the Easton Patch website about the concert. If you look carefully, you can see me in a couple of the pictures - first row of clarinets, all the way on the right. :-)

Our last concert of the year is at 2:00 this Sunday, Dec. 19 at Lafayette College. Admission is free, so if you're in the Lehigh Valley area and want to listen to some Christmas music, stop on by!

Also, don't forget -‎10 more days left of free shipping on all orders from my Etsy shop! Plus 10% off orders of $20 or more with the coupon code "KITTY10" and 20% off orders of $40 or more with the coupon code "KITTY20"!

Fall Craft Shows!

Wow, a whole week without any posts. What can I say, I've been busy!

Anyway, I officially have 3 craft shows lined up for this fall!

10/23, 9am - 3:30pm @ Sts. Philip & James School, Phillipsburg, NJ

11/13, 9am - 2pm @ Easton Area High School, Easton, PA

11/20, 9am - 4pm @ Warren Hills High School, Washington, NJ

I'm debating doing a 4th craft show on December 11, but that evening my husband and I are throwing a party to celebrate this guy's birthday:

Yes, his birthday is actually Dec. 12, but that's a Sunday this year. Dec. 11 works better AND conveniently lends itself to a midnight birthday champagne toast!

So I am a bit worried that doing a craft show that would end mere hours before the party starts might be a bit much. But I do have at least one private demonstration set up, and I planning to set up some stuff at my day job for people to look at around the holidays, so I'm not sure I truly need (or can handle, for that matter) a 4th show, regardless of the date. ;-)

Watch the Sky

It's past my bedtime. I was about to curl up in bed and read some more of Packing for Mars, but I decided to let Elvis out, and when I stepped outside I actually gasped when I saw how bright Jupiter was. My camera really can't do it justice, but I just had to share a picture.


Needless to say, the really bright object in the top right is the moon. Jupiter is near the bottom left. It's a lot more amazing in real life.

If you get a chance during the next few days, I recommend that you go outside at night and watch the sky.

(I'd nearly forgotten about the song I linked to above until I wrote that sentence. I just fell in love with it all over again.)

Weekend Off

I didn't really do much work related to any of my three jobs this past weekend. My extra hours at the library are done for the summer, and pretty soon I'll be focusing on doing fall craft shows, so having a little break was nice.

I had a bridal shower to go to Saturday afternoon, where I was promptly recruited to make the bow hat. I ran out of room on the plate for all the bows, so I also made a bow bouquet. Unfortunately, no pictures have materialized on Facebook yet, but apparently my handiwork wowed the other guests. ;-)

I spent that evening in New York watching my husband do stand-up at Comix. We drove in with Pat, who also had a show that night, at the Broadway Comedy Club. Two of my college roommates came out to see Glen, and we all got together after the show.

Faye, Jency and I pose with Pat

Toasting to a successful night of comedy

Sunday was rainy and gross and I had an awful sinus headache, but I played a concert at a retirement home with the community band because I am just that dedicated. ;-) We played some Sousa, some Sinatra, and medleys of songs by Duke Ellington and Leroy Anderson. I've had "The Syncopated Clock" stuck in my head for the last two days. :-P

But apart from the concert, I mostly just lounged around the house on Sunday with Glen and Elvis. Here they are hanging out on the futon in my office:


The full picture is funnier, but for propriety's sake I had to crop it, largely because Elvis likes to splay his legs out and it was kind of indecent.

By the way, I just ordered some more supplies, some of which will be perfect for autumn-themed necklaces. Keep your eyes peeled for new items in the shop (and a giveaway here!) next month!

P.S. Melissa of Oh, My Darling just opened a vintage clothing shop on Etsy. Stop by her blog to get a discount code for 10% off! :-)

Forgetful

When I find myself spending large chunks of my somewhat meager spare time editing jewelry photos I tend to leave the memory card plugged into the computer instead of putting it back in the camera where it belongs.

Which wouldn't be so bad, except that on really cool occasions like this:


...when I take my camera out to take a picture during the encore and only have room for one picture in my internal memory, what I get is this:

Not cool.

Oh well.

The show was amazing, that's what really matters. I don't consider myself a fan of bluegrass and originally got the tickets because Steve Martin is one of my husband's childhood heroes so I thought Glen would enjoy seeing him live. But all the musicians were super talented and I enjoyed listening... and of course Steve Martin was cracking jokes the whole way through. And "King Tut" was the encore.

Good music + laughter = an awesome night.

And by the way, this time I remembered to put the memory card back in my camera after putting them on my computer. ;-)

Recycling

I finally made a jewelry set from one of the old necklaces given to me! Hurray!


Originally it was just a bunch of these beads strung together, sort of like the bracelet at right. I think that style worked for the bracelet, but I didn't want the necklace to feel so heavy, so I broke it up with a chunky, textured chain and used a link from the chain on each earring. Once I get some better pictures and/or make additional "recycled" jewelry, I'll add it to my Etsy shop.

On a completely unrelated note, this past weekend I went to a fun little place with my husband, my friend Hannah, and her boyfriend Matt.

I've been to a couple of speakeasy-style bars, but so far The Bookstore is officially my favorite. The reason should be obvious.

It has more going for it than the whole fake-bookstore-as-a-disguise-for-all-the-no-longer-illegal drinking thing, though. The have live music, and the band playing that night was The Hot Sardines. So much fun!

That's Matt on the left. Pretty sure he has no idea I took that picture.

Another plus is that they don't let the place get overcrowded. At any given time, there are only as many people in the bar as there are seats. No sense of claustrophobia, and no fear of being trampled. Can't say that for a couple of other bars I won't name here but no longer frequent. ;-)

Mixed drinks are a bit on the expensive side for this geographic area ($11 each), but you can order punch bowls of certain drinks for $40 and get 5-7 drinks per punch bowl. So provided everyone can agree on the same drink, it's a decent deal.

That's me with Hannah, one of my very best friends/maid of honor in my wedding!

Another thing I enjoyed was that I could get all dressed up without feeling like it was inappropriate for the occasion. Of course that never stops Glen from dressing up! I don't have a picture of him from Friday night, but he wore pretty much the same thing the previous Saturday (and every day), so here's a picture from then instead.

Dress shirt with a vest and/or jacket and a tie and hat is his "uniform." Doesn't matter where we go or what we're doing, the boy pretty much always manages to out-dress me.

Well, it's past my bedtime. I should at least get ready for bed, but that 1-hour nap I took at 6:00 this evening kind of threw off my sleep schedule. Oops?

Still Here

I promise, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth! The past week has just been so busy and exhausting.

I spent all day Friday at my day job, then went straight to a craft show for the evening, followed by a drink and some nachos at Loopers with one of my best friends.

Did a whole bunch of gardening all day Saturday, and my husband got home from his road trip that night, had sushi for dinner because we were both too tired to cook.

Got a little relaxing in on Sunday, spent the evening at Glen's parents' house, but before and after that I had to run errands. Had to pick up jewelry stuff, painting stuff and people food, and I finally painted the trim around the side door in our dining room.

In addition to my regular work schedule, I had a band rehearsal Monday night and spent last night at the Wardell for the comedy open mic.

And tonight I'm working at the library til 9. Apparently the library is the place to be tonight. The computers are full and I've been getting a ton reference questions in person and over the phone.

Nights like tonight make me especially upset that Gov. Christie is proposing such deep cuts in the library budget. So seriously, if you live in NJ and want your library to keep internet access, interlibrary loans and electronic databases, contact the governor to oppose the extent of the cuts. You can learn more and contact your Representative here.

On a less serious note, how fun is this chair??

I really want to get some of them to use as extra chairs in our dining room, since the folding chairs we use as spares right now aren't terribly attractive. But I don't know if I can bring myself to spent $100 a piece for chairs that wouldn't even be used very frequently. Perhaps I'd be better off scouring thrift stores in search of a better deal... Decisions, decisions...