I hate apartment hunting.

I hate job hunting.

I'm very hateful toward hunting for a date.

I'm pretty sure I would hate hunting animals.

I'm not a hunter.

Totally Shameless Plug

I have a kind of obsession. I have to keep my hands busy, and what better way than to crochet? My ears and mind stay alert to what's going on around me (allowing me to watch movies, listen to General Conference, participate in conversation, etc), while my hands create something new, useful, and (hopefully) beautiful!

I decided I would try to sell some of the stuff I've crocheted. I totally and completely fear rejection, so if this doesn't work and nobody buys, I may never try again! (Guilt-trip? Maybe. I'll let you decide.)

So, go to www.etsy.com and check out my stuff. Send the link to your friends and family! Tell everyone you know! It would be very helpful to me. And any feedback is very very welcome. I'd love to hear what people think of the stuff I've done, good or bad. It'll help me know what direction I should move in, how I could improve.

Here are some pictures of what I've posted on Etsy. Any help is very much appreciated!

Labyrinth

You remind me of the babe

(What babe?)

The babe with the power

(What power?)

The power of voodoo

(Who do?)

You do

(Do what?)

Remind me of the babe

At the risk of being completely and totally corny, I can't believe how lucky I am. I got to see two musical legends on stage last night: James Taylor and Carole King, with their original Troubadour band, at the Energy Solutions Area. These two aren't spring chickens anymore, but they had SO much energy on that stage, dancing and jumping, getting the audience excited and involved. I got a lot of short clips of songs, but I got three songs in full which I'm posting for your listening pleasure (because the video isn't so great, let's be honest). If you listen close in some parts you'll hear Jana, Marie, me, and the older guy next to me singing along.

If you wanna see my shorter clips, go here.

As you can see from the videos, we were as far back as you could get due to outrageous ticket prices, but I'm not at all upset about it because it was still an awesome show! I'm pretty sure we made all of the older people around us happy. I'm positive they enjoyed seeing three young scrappers singing along and clapping to some of the best songs ever written. I thank my parents for educating us well. (Mom and Dad got to see James and Carole at the Hollywood Bowl in May--can't wait to compare notes!)

I remember listening to James Taylor Live and Carole King's Tapestry on car rides. Not only were we learning to appreciate our parents "old" music, but we learned to love it and to understand that if it wasn't for this old stuff, the new music we loved wouldn't be what it was. Think about it! Without these two and other legends, would we enjoy Ray LaMontagne, Cat Power, Hanson, Amos Lee, Alexi Murdock, Rachael Yamagata, Iron & Wine, or even Sting?? I don't think so. They may not even be around, let alone sound like they do. Gotta appreciate the classics.

One of my favorite parts of the show was what James called "gospel songs for agnostics." He said it doesn't matter what you believe, these songs speak the truth and make you feel good. They played "Beautiful" by Carole:

"You've got to get up every morning

With a smile on your face and show the world

All the love in your heart

Then people gonna treat you better

You're gonna find, yes you will

That you're beautiful

As you feel"

and "Shower the People" by James

"Shower the people you love with love

Show them the way that you feel

Things are gonna be just fine

If you only will

What I really mean to say is

Shower the people you love with love

Show them the way that you feel

Thing are gonna be much better

If you only will"

Interesting facts:

James Taylor was born on March 12 in 1948.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000

His first major breakthrough was in 1970 with the #3 single "Fire and Rain"

His first #1 hit was "You've Got a Friend" (written by Carole King) in 1971

Has won 5 Grammy Awards: Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "You've Got a Friend," Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Handy Man," Best Pop Album for Hourglass, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight," and Best Country Collaboration With Vocals for "How's the World Treating You" with Alison Krauss.

Has had 11 albums in the US Billboard top 10 (including Sweet Baby James, October Road, and Live at the Troubadour) and 5 top 10 Pop Singles (including "Fire and Rain," and "How Sweet It Is")

Carole King was born on February 9 in 1942.

Tapestry topped the US album charts for 15 weeks in 1971 and stayed on the charts for more than 6 years, and it won 4 Grammy Awards: (Album of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Record of the Year ("It's Too Late"), and Song of the Year ("You've Got a Friend)

Her first hit was "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" (co-written with her then-husband Gerry Goffin) in 1960 (she was 18!), as recorded by The Shirelles

Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame with Goffin in 1987

Carole and her daughter Louise Goffin recorded King's hit "Where You Lead" to be used as the theme song for the TV show Gilmore Girls, in which Carole appeared three times as the music store owner, Sophie

Some King and King/Goffin hits: "Some Kind of Wonderful" (The Drifters), "The Loco-Motion" (Little Eva), "One Fine Day" (The Chiffons), "Up on the Roof" (The Drifters), "Don't Bring Me Down" (The Animals), "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (Aretha Franklin), "Hi-De-Ho (That Old Sweet Roll)" (Blood, Sweat & Tears), "So Far Away" (Rod Stewart), "You've Got a Friend" (James Taylor), "Where You Lead" (Barbra Streisand), "It's Going to Take Some Time" (The Carpenters)

Videos!

I've gone crazy with posting videos on YouTube, all for the sake of putting them on my blog and sending links to friends on Facebook.

Molotov Cocktails

Concerts (including some brief stuff from Coachella)

Celebrating Independence Day

Spending time with Hunter, Courtney, and Jacob

That's all for now. Hope you enjoy!

Books Get Under My Skin

I wish I could say that I'm kidding, but I'm not. This book... Man. I'm about a hundred pages from the end, and (though I've never seen the movie) I know what's going to happen. I mean, I know what's going to happen. Henry's already gone into the future so he knows what's going to happen. This sucks. I'm so so sad. I don't really wanna finish it now, cuz I just know it's gonna be so sad. (Heavy sigh)

I don't know why books get under my skin like they do. Well, ok, let's be honest. Not all books get under my skin. Some books I can read and they have little to no emotional impact--probably because they bore me to tears. But more often than not I'm invested in the characters: I fall in love, I get my heart broken, I talk with elves, I experience death (my own or of a loved one), I dream and awaken, I go on journeys, I fight dragons, I get fired or I quit a crappy job, I meet famous people, I can speak to water, fire, wind, animals.

Who in their right mind doesn't like getting sucked into a story like this? It's like The Neverending Story. I'm Bastian yelling out a new name for The Childlike Empress. "MOON CHILD!" I speak to these characters. Outloud. Or I laugh. Or I cry. I was in line at Cafe Rio yesterday, and I brought the book in with me. The line is always long at Cafe Rio, so I thought I'd pass the time reading. I read a line that made me smile. I looked up to see a woman looking at me. I smiled at her as if to say, "That was funny, huh?" Then I got to a part that just broke my heart, and I literally made a pouty face. I looked up and there was a little girl watching me. I had to laugh at myself. I'm pretty sure people who catch me reading think I'm crazy.