Keeping the mood up

This brought me some happiness in January. Getting the record player out of the basement. Cleaning out the horribly cluttered shelves in the dining room and filling it with speakers and records and cookbooks. Getting these prints on the walls and setting up the little calendar a friend bought me at Renegade Chicago in December. 

There was the moment I finally figured out how to put the new needle on correctly and spin the record at the right speed  (33, btw). Marvin Gaye's voice shot through the crackle of the speakers and filled up our downstairs. I squealed. And danced. And sang. Matt came back in from a walk the moment Side A finished, so he missed the magic of that first record playing in our home. But, we had a ton of fun later listening to his Zappa album while we thoroughly cleaned the downstairs.

I told Matt, this is how I was raised to clean up. Saturday morning, put a record on and everyone gets to work. In the summer, throw the windows open and let the breeze blow in. Sing "know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em" with your mom and get the dusting done.

A couple years ago someone posted a link to this video of Jason Schwartzman in a record shop. It's kind of silly and very hipsterlicious* as he sits on the floors and describes all the records he's going to buy but (spoiler alert) at the end he says, "For some reason I want the house to have a positive, fun, loving feeling [...] you're trying to keep it up, trying to keep the mood up." 

That last line always stuck with me. 

And now I have a record player to keep the mood up.

*The spell check suggests 'oversuspicious'. Fits, I think.

Reflection

One of my favorite blog features is Sunday Zen. SouleMama's {this moment} is good too. One photo. No words. I'll let go of the chatter for a bit, and let your mind fill in the story.

A few weeks back I was invited to come play photographer for a Dave Matthews cover band my husband is playing with right now. Stepping out for the first time to photograph a group of strangers was a bit intimidating. I actually tried to beg my way out of it but Matt didn't let me off the hook. Luckily one other member of the band was a friend from way back, so when I got there it was a bit less intimidating.

But turns out, even though I'm on the shy side, I wasn't half bad at bossing them around. Look here. Stand there. Move forward. All those things real photographers say. I think I told them to look intensely into the camera. Except when they were goofing a bit, like above.

I took about 200 shots. There were a handful I was happy enough with, which wasn't that easy with six guys.

I decided I could be a little heavy handed with the post processing since these were moody band shots, so I spent some time in Photoshop playing around and customizing actions until the photos looked right to my eye. Now they have some photos for their press kit, and it's fun to see how they incorporated a couple photos into their webpage.

A weekend

Matt's folks were visiting us for the last week. We talked them into coming during the winter this year because we usually go five or six long months without seeing family. It's a bit too much to take.

So they obliged and hung out with us while we went through a typical whirlwind week. We started out with a list of touristy things we could do, but most of that fell by the wayside. Instead we mostly stayed home, cooked meals, watched the Olympics, played video games (well, Matt and his dad), and puttered around the house working away on little projects.

We summoned the energy for a few trips out, including a night out for fish and chips, a game of candlepin bowling, some successful outlet shopping, and a dog park husky meet-up. I also was busy taking skate skiing lessons, in the overly ambitious hope that the husky mutt and I will get to do some skijoring this winter. It's been great fun to take skiing lessons while the Olympics are on. A great way to get through the winter blues.

Saturday I got back from my lesson, and fell asleep in my rain pants and fleece. We all napped Saturday afternoon, and it was a good thing because we were going to have a late night out.

That guy tucked in behind the drumset is my guy. These days, he's in a band.



A band with a rapper and a saxophonist.



He's having fun.

Sunday we also hung around. Matt got his first guitar lesson from his dad. I took guitar lessons way back, and even played Closer to Fine once at a recital. It was a bit embarrassing. Matt and I have been talking about learning to play some duets together, and hopefully two will be better than one.



In the evening, we went out for Hot Pot. Our city has a thriving Asian community, with new restaurants popping up in the last couple years. We've been meaning to go for awhile, and Matt likes to take his folks out for Asian food (usually sushi) when they visit because it's his favorite.



My favorite part of Hot Pot, honestly, was the mango watermelon bubble smoothie. I need to go find some of those yummy tapioca bubbles and a thick straw. I'm a bit smoothie obsessed lately.



The hot pot dinner was our own version of what Matt's sister is up to with her kids right now. Every Olympics season they study different countries each day. The day ends with a special meal from that country. They're making their way around the world via Ireland and Morocco and India and Hungary. It's a big undertaking but the girls will remember their childhood Olympic days fondly, I'm sure. During the week we followed their culinary adventures through her blog. It's a tradition I'd love to share with my kids someday.

Matt's folks are back in the midwest now, settling into the snow, while we are struck with a cold rain that has washed away all of my skiing surface. The winter continues for now, and unlike most I'm hoping for one or two more good snows. Nonetheless, their visit sure did help warm up the season for us!