time warp.

So after one of my coworkers raved about a Lyric Theater production of Rocky Horror Show, Walker and I decided to catch a midnight performance.

...it's kind of a tradition that Walker and I see creepy, Halloween-esque things there (on our first official date we saw a performance of Sweeney Todd).

And if you haven't been to their new theater in the Plaza District, go! It's a seriously awesome venue.

Neither of us had ever even seen the movie before, so we didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into.

In a nutshell, it was really, really, really, really fun and scandalous and almost impossible to describe. But I'll try.

Costumes were encouraged, so we went with face paint and black caterer vests. And we thought we were awesome.

But garters, platform heels, lab coats, cleavage, huge hair and feather boas were more the norm. Unless you're going as preppy Brad and Janet.

Basically the audience is the key to the campy experience. There are so many dirty jokes, talk-back lines, props, hand gestures and nuanced comebacks that it's hard to keep up. And of course, everyone has to get up and dance to the Time Warp.

The best part was sitting by this 11-year-old boy who was yelling the most way too adult for his age, funny, spot-on comebacks with absolute confidence. He was with his mother and we guessed that she'd probably taken him to a million Rocky Horror productions. Now that's a childhood worth writing a novel about.

We also got a really yummy drink called "The Rocky" which definitely added to the experience.

I would put seeing Rocky Horror live on a To Do Before I Die list. Unbeatable.

And just in general, never be afraid of counterculture. You'll totally miss out.

p.s. Glee's Halloween episode theme is Rocky Horror. We couldn't have timed this more perfectly.

what you need:

love.

a blue beach.

a neon bikini.

white summertime dresses.

a tan.

board games.

a messy bun.

a hunter green convertible.

layered necklaces.

front porch chairs.

vacation.

via Miguelina's 2011 Honeymoon Collection.

I do realize I'm posting this just in time for fall weather. Ha.

imagination.

Yesterday, I saw SUFJAN in Dallas.

w/ my soul MATE.

who I got to blissfully talk to for hours of uninterrupted car time.

and we ate a hot dog (w/ relish) and the coveted coconut custard at Wild About Harry's w/ NATE.

and then we got lost and I ate too many Twizzlers on the way home.

Anyway, it was an awesome, beautiful, emotional, technofolk experiment of a show that I feel so satisfied to have experienced.

Of course the guy is multi-talented. There's always been something so heavy and sad about such alive, transcendent music.

I feel like the show reminded me of the importance of going through life with an imagination. Like what Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are was supposed to do, but somehow just didn't.

When I die, when I die
I'll rot
But when I live, when I live
I'll give it all I've got

(Age of Adz)

p.s. Favorite Sufjan song is still Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Circa Christmas Album.

big wet bottle in my fist, big wet rose in my mouth.

Just some songs I'm obsessed with:

All The Wine, The National

Beach Baby, Miracle Fortress

Lose It (In The End), Mark Ronson

Chop and Change, The Black Keys

fame game.

I watched the Adrien Grenier documentary Teenage Paparazzo and came away from it feeling pretty sick to my stomach. I highly recommend, it's compelling stuff.

I would consider myself pretty detached from celebrity (speaking of celebrity, here's an enjoyable slideshow of the most gawdy awful Ed Hardy products), but it did make me question my blog, iPhones as appendages and texting as breathing, and the nature of my facebooking - a practice in unapologetic narcissism, not to mention all the need for attention/subtle bragging facebook status updates represent. That whole if a tree falls in a forest and no one heard it fall, did it really fall dynamic.

Not that I want to come off as a total killjoy, I don't plan on pulling back from anything. I appreciate the need to express oneself, to stay connected, to get to know someone better, to share information, updates, observations, celebrations and links.

Really I'm just trying to keep in mind that real life is so much more important. Not what you're doing or who you know or how you look or what you're listening to or what you're reading or where you're going or how you compare, but just a quiet who you are. Keep some perspective.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it from without.

(Buddha).

martha.

I adore Halloween:

I think it, more than any other holiday or dinner party, highlights the true genius and range of Martha Stewart. I always eagerly anticipate the Halloween themed issue of her magazine. See the images above? I just can't get enough. You get the feeling she'd much rather be dabbling with evil than making cream puff doily holders.

(Last year's Halloween episode of Martha and Blake Lively baking found here).

Hocus Pocus.

Nightmare Before Christmas.

There was this house in Fox Lake that would always give out a lunchbox sized bag of Dorito's Cooler Ranch with a Capri Sun. And it was by far the number one neighborhood target to hit on Halloween night.

That's definitely an adult goal in life: be known far and wide as the best house to go to trick-or-treat. We're talking full size candy bars.

Meg, Casey and I would always sort our candy into piles spanning the living room floor so we could make trades. Three mini Snickers bars for two fun-sized Skittles. An abandoned pile of Tootsie Rolls.

The Reese's Cups commercials with fang marks in the chocolate.

The ever-agonizing decision over what to be!!!?! I don't think I've ever had a home run moment with a costume and I'd like to change that.

10.11.10

One year ago + two days, Walker kissed me on a couch and we've been happily dating ever since.
We celebrated with a trip to the pumpkin patch where we first held hands, carving them over a bottle of wine (I went with a classic Jack-O-Lantern design, Walker went intricate with the Phantom of the Opera) and last night's six hour total drive for dinner in Fort Smith, Arkansas at the best restaurant ever, ever, ever. Yum! I could gush forever, it is that good. Exchanging letters on a perfectly crisp autumn night in a park by the Arkansas River and being totally surprised by the best present ever, ever, ever: a bracelet I'd been hardcore coveting from Frieda and Nellie!

I never thought I'd be the type to gush about the bazillion things they love about their boyfriend or insist upon celebrating anniversaries to the fullest. But, along with a new found affinity for Taylor Swift songs, I've definitely become that person. Blah. I apologize.



It's funny, because I do remember pouring through Seventeen magazine for advice on boys and dating. None of it ever proved helpful. My own, underdeveloped advice...

1. Don't seriously date anyone before the age of 22 so you can be totally and completely in love with yourself beforehand.
2. If it takes you forevvvvvver to pick out what to wear, you probably really, really like him. Give in.
3. Yes, this is Oklahoma. But if he orders several sides of ranch dressing at dinner and could never ever see even the tiniest bit of merit in a movie like Brokeback Mountain, he's definitely not for you.
(This observance is courtesy of Kelly Sheline and her wise conclusion after a date that we were not "ranch dressing people" people).
4. Don't make someone a priority if you're only an option.
5. Major points for originality, humor, listening skills, comfort level and smelling good.

One of my favorite parts about road trips is scanning through a foreign field of radio stations until you land on one of those pitch perfect songs you only get to hear over the radio every couple of years. A few examples from last night:

Rolling Stones, Start Me Up.

John Michael Montgomery, Sold.

The Cars, Shake It Up.

Stealers Wheel, Stuck in the Middle.

Yup, I'm totally in love.