Happy Friday!

This song - Whole Wide World by Wreckless Eric - came on my ipod today while I was driving and it put a big ol' smile on my face. It always reminds me of this scene from Stranger Than Fiction, which is a favorite movie of mine. Hope it makes you smile, too...

The Coral Sea

The opening few paragraphs of this book gave me chills.

     "The first time I saw Robert he was sleeping. I stood over him, this boy of twenty, who sensing my presence opened his eyes and smiled. With few words he became my friend, my compeer, my beloved adventure.
     When he became ill, I wept and could not stop weeping. He scolded me for that, not with words but with a simple look of reproach, and I ceased.
     When I saw him last we sat in silence and he rested his head on my shoulder. I watched the light changing over his hands, over his work, and over the whole of our lives. Later, returning to his bed, we said goodbye. But as I was leaving something stopped me and I went back to his room. He was sleeping. I stood over him, a dying man, who sensing my presence opened his eyes and smiled.
     When he passed away I could not weep so I wrote. Then I took the pages and set them away. Here are those pages, my farewell to my friend, my adventure, my unfettered joy."

-Patti Smith on Robert Maplethorpe

I love the way she writes about her relationship with Robert. I feel like I can relate my own experiences with certain people to the friendship and love that they had for each other. 

Some people, you just love no matter what, unconditionally. And that's that. You can go away for a while, mentally, emotionally, or physically, but sooner or later you find each other again 

and it's just...good. Maybe the context of your love has changed. It doesn't always have to be romantic love. Perhaps it has morphed into a beautiful mutual friendship or maybe it's just a quick loving smile between you two in passing. This person, this presence, is a strange comfort, but a wonderful comfort nonetheless. 

{Patti and Robert}

source

Itsa my Birthdaya

This is what I look like on my birthday of the 29th year...

and I went to Disneyland! :) 

I have so much to be thankful for in my life right now. It may seem obvious but I am so grateful for love, for my family, my friends old and new, my cat Peanut, my health, my job, and just the blessing of life itself. 

Here's to the last year of my twenties! (Good riddance? :) 

February can suck it.

In short, I've been sick+yucky+tired for the month of February. I had some stomach problems for the first two weeks which led me to feel extremely uncomfortable and lethargic. And once I got over that, I got an awful head cold sickness that took over me for a week. 

Once I could breathe through both my nostrils again, I made it out to hang out with my bestie, Erin, who is a new Oakland resident! I am very excited to have her in my town and show her all Oakland has to offer. Here is a picture of us at Cafe Van Kleef; where the greyhounds flow like wine (and they give you a big, delicious segment of grapefruit for a garnish). We drank, we danced, we watched people eat tamales from the ever present Tamale Man who delivers to local Oakland bars.

 It was so fun to have her in the 'hood!

P.S. March is my birthday month so it's bound to be better. Right? Yeah, I am going to go with that....

Love Lost video

I think it's cute to see these young boys' earnest faces singing this sweet love song. Plus I'm a sucker for synchronized choreography and cheeky British humor. 

Whole Lotta Love

skull swap

I've been a lazy blogger lately and I apologize. Let me elaborate on this delicious photo I posted: I have been reading Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis and am intoxicated with the greatness and excess and voodoo of Led Zeppelin. I've been infatuated with them since high school and a few years ago learned more about Jimmy Page through the writing of Pamela Des Barres in her book I'm With the Band. Little side note: the character Penny Lane from the film Almost Famous was based on Pamela. She had a fiery love affair with Mr. Page. Juicy Stuff. Eh ehm, I digress, I am halfway through Hammer of the Gods and am SO glad that it was written. It gives us youngins something tangible to hold onto and fantasize about from a time that came way before us. Led Zeppelin may have have been in their prime a long time ago but their influence lives on in music and rock history forever.

Also, Robert Plant and his Band of Joy played at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival this year but unfortunately I missed it due to San Francisco traffic and absolutely no parking. Oh well...I'm just glad he is still here and reminding the world that music can still be meaningful and beautiful. 

I love you more...

This is a fave necklace of mine. 

Translates (roughly) to: 

"I love you more than yesterday and less than tomorrow."

Sweet, no? 

Movie Monday

-Breaking Upwards-

I came across this movie while I had my 1 month free subscription to Netflix. Needless to say, I stayed in and watched A LOT of movies; some good, some great, some surprising, and some down right awful. At the time I was introduced to the genre of film called Mumblecore, so I watched a slew of low budget sets with twenty something actors improvising dialogue, getting naked (most times unnecessarily) and trying to figure it all out i.e. life, relationships, sex, love, etc. This is also about the time I discovered my current man crush. I didn't really like the majority of these type of movies that I saw on NF. I did enjoy Breaking Upwards (featured), The Puffy Chair...and Nights and Weekends was OK. But this particular one touched my heart and a nerve and my funny bone in a big way. I highly recommend checking it out - and I think men would appreciate it too. So it pretty much equals the perfect date night/snuggle up together movie. Enjoy friends! and discuss...

All too true

Never Saw the Point by Cults