Stellar Finds

On a kick: fiddles and banjos

May 11, 2011 by suburbanapple

Among my circle of high school friends, way, way back in the late 90′s (if anyone has a time machine, I volunteer to go back), I was in the know on what music to listen to. In particular, that was Guster, Huffamoose, and anything playing on Y100. And that was all well and good, but as I’ve aged (just working through my first few weeks as a 29-year-old), I’ve become increasingly interested in listening to different genres of music. I’ll credit Matt and company for this — he and his friends are quite the music snobs. In college I got hooked on alternative country (even though back in 1998, I thought I’d die before I’d ever listen to anything even loosely related to country) and more recently have started to like what I consider to be alternative blue grass. And that’s been my kick over the past month or so — fiddles and banjos brought to you by the fine men of both Old Crow Medicine Show and the Avett Brothers.

courtesy of amazon.com

We heard a song from an Old Crow Medicine Show album, Tennessee Pusher while hanging out at DuBois’ own, The Hitching Post and decided to head on over to Amazon to pick up a virtual copy. As an aside, just buying MP3s isn’t a philosophy with which Matt and I necessarily agree … we like the cover art, the holding something tangible, the fiddling with the CD/record player … but we’re totally out of space. While that album itself didn’t catch me in particular (it was enjoyable — worth listening to), it drew me back into another album by Old Crow called Big Iron World. And I’m just in love — banjos, fiddles, harmonies. What’s not to like?

And then I noticed that a band I really like one album by (I and Love and You by the Avett Brothers) had another one of their earlier albums on sale (virtual-like) for just $3.99 at Amazon. Alas, I’ll never enjoy the clever cover art, the joy of reading the lyrics in some intentionally artistic/edgy scrawl font/ironic liner notes from this album either, but the music! It’s so what I’m in the mood to listen to right now with spring springing and the sun shining.

courtesy of theavettbrothers.com

What I really like about this band is that they throw in some rock edge every once in a while that causes the lead singer to shout briefly in a few of the songs. The album is Emotionalism and it has a lot going for it: slow ballad-type songs, plenty of upbeat music that you kinda want to clap to while you’re in the car waiting for the light to change, and some harder, dirtier guitar riffs. All things I enjoy. My current favorite song is Pretty Girl from Chile. It starts out kinda sleepily, but wait for it. And some late breaking news: I just got tickets to see them in a few weeks! Stoked!!

You can make fun of me if you like, but this music puts me in an exceptionally good mood that makes me all but completely immune to jeers from people who just don’t know any better You should definitely give them both a chance if you’re not a fan already.

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Quilting: one letter away from quitting

April 22, 2011 by suburbanapple

On Tuesday night I was at one of the monthly meetings for the Philly Modern Quilt Guild, of which I’m a member. I’ve considered quitting because I find it hard to keep up with crafting in general, let alone quilting (which can be expensive, has a lot of steps, and isn’t one of my strongest suits). But then I realized, groups like this provide me the encouragement to craft and make time for creativity in my life.

We typically have something “due” at every meeting. There isn’t a consequence for not participating in the challenges (e.g. make a monochromatic quilt using shades of only one color and a neutral … if you must) and swaps (keep reading), but it’s fun to be involved. Even despite the artificial pressure I feel to make something great. This month’s meeting demanded a pillow cover for a pillow swap. Basically, you make one, bring it to the meeting, and swap with someone else.

Came out pretty, in my humble opinion. But therein lies the issue: I finally spend time to make something and I have to give it away. It went home with someone nice and I got an equally cute pillow back, but that’s only a minor consolation. On the other hand, it’s nice to receive something that another person put time and care into despite knowing it would ultimately be given away.

Next month’s challenge is a quilt of any size using a solids charm pack (think stack of pre-cut fabric squares in a rainbow of colors) and as much other fabric as you’d like … just no more solids, only prints. I have some thoughts. We’ll see how it turns out (or if I’ll be skipping next month’s meeting).

Posted in Handmade, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

No foolin’

April 7, 2011 by suburbanapple

So, after just one month and about 1,500 miles on my new car (a Subaru Impreza Outback Sport that we’ve lovingly named Newbaru), I’ve already gotten the first piece piece of road paraphernalia jammed into my tire on my way into Starbucks on Friday: April Fool’s Day. Not a funny joke. It looks like it was a bolt, but despite having specially requested that Pep Boys return it after plugging the tire, I was disappointed to find they either kept it for themselves or threw it away. I’m amassing a modest collection given the fact that I typically get something stuck in my tire about three times per year. We still have the peculiar little wooden spike that found it’s way into the old Subaru’s tire at some point last summer. Luckily I took a souvenir photo of the April Fool’s Day bolt. (See it at right. Oh! That’s what it is! Now you see!)

Now, back to Pep Boys. We dropped off the car off for the tire repair and went home for some snacks and baseball (The Pirates were on! I’m sooo surprised they lost!). When I got word that my car was ready, I was fully prepared to pay the $15 to $20 bucks to have had the bolt extracted, the tire put back on my car, and the pitiful little spare tire returned to its compartment. Turns out it was all free!

The reason for the freebie was the Auto Rewards Program at Pep Boys. They signed me up just so I could get the free tire repair. After having paid for the Sears tire warranty for my old tires, I kinda feel like I got a little jipped. While that did cover some portion of tire replacement, things have never gone that far. I always just needed to have the tires plugged and plugged again (my luck is really what’s stellar here) — so I could have been getting that done for free at Pep Boys all along. Also included in the membership? Free tire rotation and air pressure check, free check engine light evaluation (for those of us who like to gamble with how long they can keep that light on and still travel successfully from point A to point B) and free brake check. Plus, after you earn 200 points (from purchasing an assortment of windshield wipers and car air fresheners) you earn gift certificates (that you can put toward more windshield wipers and air fresheners). Plus, now I have a cute Manny, Moe, and Jack little bar code thingy on my key chain.

And let’s be honest here. Part of me was really excited to share about free tire repair, but the another part of me also thought that my new car deserved a little ink. Isn’t it pretty?:

One final thing: my blogging-on-the-go scenario hasn’t yet panned out for typing full posts, but I did make some edits and put the pictures in while on the road yesterday (Matt was driving or that would have been taking things to a whole new level of distracted driving). That’s all for now.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Until I get my iPad

March 25, 2011 by suburbanapple

Wow. So there’s an app for this!

I always thought that if I could blog at lunch or at least edit posts on the go, I’d be able to keep up with this more regularly. This morning it occurred to me that there might be a WordPress app and when I checked at lunch I was thrilled to find that there was. And typing with only your thumbs on an iPhone certainly isn’t preferable, but it beats not writing at all.

Matt and I had a stupendous Wednesday evening with dinner downtown at The Dandelion followed by going to see Alexi Murdoch at the First Unitarian Church. The music was so mellow and the atmosphere so relaxing — scents of incense and patchouli; cool, still church air — that I didn’t feel the least bit guilty letting myself drift off into a light little nap for a song or two. It was perfect. More on The Dandelion to come (and some grainy, dark iPhone pics to be sure as well!).

Now back to my break:

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Jeez, it’s been a while!

March 14, 2011 by suburbanapple

I have been thinking a lot about how to better allocate my free time and am discovering that things have really gotten away from me. I’m going to work on making a change and getting a little more organized. We’ll see how all of this goes, but at least this is a start … writing it down so I have some accountability. Though I just noticed that the post before my last post talked about more regular updates as well. And we see how that went.

Anyway, there are three things in my day-to-day that I’d really like to get under control:

Hobbies. I used to have a lot of them, but they have gotten pushed to the wayside a bit over the past few months. I don’t know if the cold has squelched my motivation or what, but I haven’t blogged, I’ve hardly knit, and I’ve got too many projects in progress. We also got a great new camera so that’s not only begging to be used for blogging, but just for general photography as well. And can I tell you how much fabric I’ve amassed for quilting? I can’t. It’s gotten a little embarrassing.

Stacks. The piles of to-do, to-sort, to-put-away are really growing out of control. Something needs to happen with those. Maybe one per week? There is a real need for a spring clean-out on all fronts. And I even have this great new armoire that I finally finished re-re-re-painting (bright blue, dark blue, and finally brown) over the winter. Got new glass in the doors and all. It even has 4 empty drawers!! Those need to be put to use (maybe I’ll post photo soon — I don’t know that I took a before, but I’m in love with the after).

Correspondence. There was a point where I was the veritable queen of correspondence. Never missed a birthday. Hardly missed a holiday (especially for my little cousins in the “seven and under” set). And I certainly didn’t go for several months without sending my friends notes to let them know I have been thinking of them. I could even do that at lunch, really, so there is no excuse. Back on board.

- – -

So that’s all. The sad thing is, I started this post on March 9 … and now it’s the 14th. I initially had four areas I wanted to work on but had to downgrade to three because, well, I totally forgot what the fourth one was. We’ll see how this goes, but I think that at this point, until I keep up with my blogging for at least a couple of weeks in a row, all of my many far-flung fans best not hold their breath.

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Brewmasters — something else you need to watch!

December 1, 2010 by suburbanapple

I honestly don’t know where I’m going with this blog. Some days it’s travel, some days it’s crafts, and today it’s beer. Beer and television, actually. Mmm. Feel the brain cells melting away …

Brewmasters is a new show on Discovery Channel that started out back-to-back with Dirty Jobs on Sunday nights, but now premiers new episodes on Monday nights at 10 p.m. E/P. Hosted by Sam Calagione (the owner of Dogfish Head), I haven’t seen enough episodes yet to decide if this show is starring Dogfish Head or if it just so happens that their owner is a friendly, knowledgeable, easy-on-the-eyes fellow who really knows his stuff about beer. Either way, I’m in.

Bitches Brew and my Christmas cactus. Incidentally, the cactus might actually be fixing to bloom for Christmas this year by the looks of those buds!

Matt and I were initially interested because of one episode featuring Dogfish Head’s Bitches Brew. This particular beer was specially requested by Sony and made to coincide with a re-release of the Miles Davis Bitches Brew sessions (the jazz music — we’re not talking about beer anymore for the moment). Now back to the beer: Dogfish Head’s Bitches Brew is a fusion of two beers — an imperial stout and a honey beer with gesho root. Matt and I love this beer and acquired some of it back during its first release (a second release is coming soon or may be out now — I’m not particularly in-the-know on this matter). Now, just a few brief thoughts about this beer (lest I give the critics a reason to swoop in and tell me I tasted the wrong thing). As far as appearances go, the beer is dark, dark, dark with a light brown head. I’m not going to get too detailed into taste, but from memory it’s malty, roasty, and chocolaty. I also liked that the alcohol, while noticeable (it is a 9 percent ABV beer) doesn’t smack you in the face like some other heavy hitters. It’s smooth and, in my humble opinion, delicious.

Bitches Brew is well paired with bold, spicy foods, so when we enjoyed it with homemade chipotle turkey chili, we were two happy campers. That and we listened to Bitches Brew while we ate the dinner and drank the beer. We’re kind of geeky like that — go big, or go home.

Anyway, back to the show. Brewmasters drew us in with a good mix of personal anecdotes (you get to hear all about Dogfish Head’s somewhat faux/somewhat fo’ real hip hop group the Pain Relievers) and info about Dogfish’s entire brewing process. They touched on everything from ingredient selection and test batches to the perils of bottling. I’m interested enough to watch a few more episodes to see how the series shapes up overall. And to get some inspiration for the next batch of home brew! The wheels are already turning on that one.

Posted in Libations, TV & Radio | 3 Comments »

Deliquency and Blue Orb Ghost Tours

November 17, 2010 by suburbanapple

I guess when I was on the phone Monday night with my Dad and he commented to me that my blog needed updating, I realized just how long it had been since I last posted.

Excuses? Many! Gonna post those? No! Well, just one. Life is so busy!

Moving on, Matt and I went on a trip to Savannah, Georgia, this past weekend for our one-year anniversary. We had a lovely time, even though Matt never found pecan pie (how is that possible?) and I happened upon neither a knitting shop nor a fabric store. The weather was nice, the people were nicer, and we had plenty of time to eat and hang out, which is my ideal kind of trip.

Other than hitting the major tourist spots — Bonaventure Cemetery, River Street, City Market, Paula Deen’s restaurant, and Tybee Island — a late night ghost tour we took was one of the highlights of our trip. The tour was the Midnight Zombie Tour from Blue Orb Ghost Tours, and if you’re ever in Savannah, we highly recommend it.

Of course, we saw no ghosts, but I was thoroughly creeped out by the end of the two-hour tour and well on my way to understanding why Savannah is one of the most haunted cities in the United States.

I can’t tell you the exact names of the things we toured (I’m not so great with names!), but the variety was very good. We saw a city square that also happens to be home to thousands of unmarked slave graves; a hag house (hags are said to be scary demon-type things that don’t possess people so they can’t be exorcised, but they oppress people, draw off their negativity, and manifest as 10-feet-tall shadow figures); a hospital where hundreds of people died during a yellow fever outbreak/turned womens’ mental institution/turned abandoned building; and several others paranormal hot spots. It was a lot of fun and our guide, the owner of Blue Orb, Tobias McGriff, though nursing a bad cold, had a lot of energy and knowledge. He conducts all of the midnight tours brings photos and newspaper articles that help to legitimize some of his stories.

The Hanging Tree located outside of the mental hospital we visited. An unfortunate nickname, but a beautiful tree that is thought to be the oldest in Savannah. Those orbs are probably false -- moisture, dust, etc. -- but it's still a neat photo.

One minor downside? The price. After reading all of the rave reviews about this tour on TripAdvisor, Matt and I decided to forgo any other tours and spend the $35 per person for the Midnight Zombie experience. We didn’t actually decide to go and book it until our very last day of vacation, but we reasoned that we probably wouldn’t regret having done it but just might be sorry if we missed it.

So that’s that. As a follow-up to this entry (once I get some film developed — I went old school for a portion of my photos on this trip), if the pictures turned out, I’ll probably post about a great store we found while in Savannah as well. Stay tuned.

Posted in Trips | 3 Comments »

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