MuteMath: no not the school subject, the band

Ok, so I must indulge myself in talking about my favorite band: MuteMath. Ever heard of them? They're awesome.

I first listened to their music about 5 years ago and fell in love (with the music, come on, I'm married now). Did it stop there? No, because I then went to a concert of theirs in Charlotte with Mark and our two awesome friends Heather and Graydon, and may I just say: I've never heard of a band that could sound even better live than recorded until MuteMath.

One of my favorite songs by them is Chaos, that is until their new record, Armistice, came out. I can't pick one from that record because it surpasses any measurement system I had in tact for music prior to listening to it. Ok, so I'm getting a little carried away, I do that sometimes... but it's a good record.

Are you ready for the big news? They're touring again with their new album and they're coming back to the good 'ole south! Yes, that's right, I get to see them play once more. The drummer, Darren King, has to duck tape his headset to his head so it doesn't fall off when he plays. If you listen to the music, you'll understand why. The band also features a keytar (courtesy of Paul Meany, above), synthesizer, and some other terms I don't recognize, but you add all of those things together and you get, you guessed it:

MuteMath.

School is now in session.

Now, I know, I'm a little old for going back to school and may not even be able to retain any of the information because my brain has aged so much, but nevertheless I persevere into the dark valley of college world. Ok, maybe I'm only like 2 years older than the "normal" age of grad students, but still, having a husband, home, doggie, and real job makes me feel just a smidge on the matronly/old person side of things (not to mention my heartburn). I don't consider tshirts flattering anymore, i don't sport any greek letters, and I don't have a dark tan, hair piled on top of my head and huge sunglasses to go with it (ok, i might have 2 of those 3... i can't hold a tan for anything...) I suppose I just feel a little out of my element these days.

On the silver lining side of things: I really love my classes. It definitely satisfies the nerdiness in me and I get to learn Japanese on the side! (some of you are reconsidering being my friend at the moment...) I've also met some really nice people too. Classes seem relatively doable, in terms of I might not have to work myself to death to keep up with home, work, school, and work at school. God knows what he's doing and he continues to prove that to me over and over again.

Well I'm off to go iron my plaid school-girl skirt and pack my hannah montana lunchbox so I can catch the bus to Columbia. I will leave you now with a picture of Remi that Mark took with his new fancy smancy camera.

Ribbons, and Ruffles and Bows: Oh My!

So after spending too much time on a design site, polyvore.com (as I procrastinate cleaning the house)... I've come up with a couple of design schemes, one for a room, one for an outfit. Turns out I like bright colors, black and white contrast, and modern shapes. I kinda new that from my paintings though. Here's what I call the Mad Hatter Den:

I really like the clock, pottery, and pendant lights. My favorite part is adding things that look like they're from another world, slightly surreal, like the legs on the lime green chest and the clock hanging on a branch.

For my next mixture, I came up with four outfits shown below:

It looks like a jumbled mess of color all at once, but each outfit is its own artwork. You'll notice a lot of flowers, ruffles, bows, and what not- so i'm a little girly?... humph. Excuse me while I go fix my make-up...

Bamboo, Sewing, and Doggie Clothes

So, my cool husband, Mark, bought me this Bamboo thing- no not the grass, the brand name. It's a digital notepad so I can now draw not only on paper, canvas, or the wall, but on the computer too! Here's my first try...

Ok, so it didn't go as planned, turns out it's a lot harder to draw in the digital world than the real one. Hmmm. I must practice!

My latest artistic outlet (besides Bamboo) is sewing. It all started with needing to get my jeans hemmed for free... then replacing a button on my husbands shorts... and then before I knew it I was out of control. I've now accomplished a shirt and dress. Here are the pattern pictures from Butterick and Simplicity:




[warning: do not be fooled by the little red box on the dress pattern saying "Yes! It's easy," as that is dependent upon experience...] The dress I made in a navy blue cotton, and the shirt in a light purple cotton with small white vertical stripes.

Now I feel as though the possibilities are endless... clothes of my choice, decorations for the house, gifts (designer line one day?! ok maybe not). For now, my next project is baby curtains for a friend and maybe some pjs for me, Mark, and my dog Remi (come on.. I've never bought him a single piece of clothing, can't I make him something?? (Remi, not Mark))