this past weekend i...

-ran 12 miles on the lakefront as part of my marathon training.

-helped clean up my church's flooded basement (from the 6" of rain we got friday night).

-watched ferris bueller's day off.

-drank some leinenkugel's.

-watched the cubbies win three in a row at home.

-went to foster beach and had a picnic with friends.

-witnessed a friend's baptism in lake michigan.

-had my first near miss dooring incident while riding my bike back from the beach.

-saw bon iver in concert for the first time.

-experienced the most phenomenal night of live music.

honestly, i can't get over how great justin, sean, mikey and the rest of these boys are live. i get shivers just thinking about sunday night.

lovin's for fools

i cannot, cannot, cannot get enough of this song. the original and cover version are amazing.

lovers' carvings

yes, i know this song is in a kindle commercial but i can't stop listening to it. it's so bright and happy. it makes me wish it were summertime and i had a car and i could drive somewhere in the country with the windows rolled down listening to this over and over. the single verse is perfect.



lover's carvings by bibio

lovers' names, carved in walls
overlap, start to merge
some of them underneath
maybe they appear
in graveyards
maybe they fade away
weathered and overgrown
time has told
meaningful hidden words
suddenly appear, from the murk
maybe they're telling us
that the end
never was
never will
the words have gone
but the meaning will never disappear
from the wall

things that are happening right now: banana bread + arcade fire

i have a tendency to want to use my oven when it's insanely hot out. today is one of those days, or i guess nights, since it is 8:30pm. my non air conditioned apartment is miserable, but i really want to make some banana bread. it's actually more of a need, really. i have 7 ugly, black bananas sitting in my freezer and they need to be put to use.

my usual go-to banana bread recipe comes from orangette. last time i made this i didn't have enough cinnamon so i used 1/2 tsp of cinnamom and 1/2 tsp of ground nutmet and it was delicious! i may have to do that again.

also, i have playing in the background the newest release from arcade fire. please do me a favor and check it out.

seriously. do it. right now. tout de suite..

so i'll sit perfectly still and i'll listen for a tune

some tuesday nights all you feel like doing is laying on the couch and staring at the ceiling while listening to alexi murdoch over and over again as the traffic goes by outside the window and a fan gently cools your apartment.

at least that's all i feel like doing tonight.

i bet when i leave my body for the sky the wait will be worth it

this past sunday night my friend jordan and i went to the local natives show at lincoln hall.

it. was. awesome.

it also helped that the majority of gentlemen in attendance were sporting beards, plaid shirts and cut off jean shorts. but i'm getting off topic..

this is my favorite song by local natives. i love how they are energetic and rustic at the same time. and their lyrics! amazing! this concert was definitely the best concert i've been to in a looong time. hopefully i'll get to see them again when they make the rounds through chicago in october.

i was waiting to be struck by lightning, waiting for somebody exciting like you

i'm not exactly sure why i've been out of the loop for so long. (fellow indie music loving friends, i partially blame you.) i've heard of camera obscura for years but it never occurred to me that i should actually give them a good listen. thankfully, as of last saturday, i have been enlightened.

i finally (i guess you could say) discovered this band thanks to a facebook status from a middle school friend. her status had the lyrics to "let's get out of this country." i really liked the lyrics so i did a little google search and, voila! i found my new favorite band. i immediately downloaded their last two albums and have been playing them non stop.

my favorite song, by far, is "french navy." part of the reason i love this song so much is because of the video.

how much do you want to be the girl (or guy, i guess, depending on your sex) in this video?? i want her belted floral dress. i want to run around paris or rome with a bearded dude wearing a turtle neck and a corduroy blazer. i want to train hop from city to gorgeous city at a moment's notice. that's like my dream. for real.

so until that actually happens, i guess i'll just keep listening to some camera obscura, dancing around my room and wishing i would have discovered this band A LOT sooner.