Thursday, January 26, 2006

"On the edge" feeling

Have you ever felt like you are just hanging on by a thread...like you could go either way, either good or bad, in certain factors in life?

I feel like this right now for financial. I'm fairly debt-free except my house of course. My only monthly bills are car insurance. Quarterly, I have the waste disposal service ($70) and World of Warcraft ($45) and yearly I have my car registration ($150ish). I should be hording cash into my saving account...but other expenses keep rising up to cover my extra cash flow. :) Food is a big one...isn't it nice to experiment with different foods, wines, have a dinner party, etc. without worrying about money? I'm also looking at getting a new car soon...my car is nearly 7 years old with 144,000 miles. But my goal is to get $10,000 saved up before buying my next car. :)

Hobbies are another thing I feel on edge about. I still love volleyball...but my shoulder is aching at night, my knees hurt going up and down the stairs, and even my back gets sore from playing. Perhaps it's time to give that up? Skiing is still amazingly fun, but it's expensive (see above paragraph), uses up my entire weekend, and is quite dangerous...at least the way I ski. :) I also want to play more guitar...but that would require me getting another guitar as I don't have an accoustic guitar...I do have a classical and 2 electric guitars. But there is a gorgeous guitar down at the store that is AMAZING!...but out of my self-imposed budget. :(

Maybe it's just an early case of cabin fever...I can't buy plants on the way home and work in the yard like I do in the spring and summer! If so, it sure did hit me early this year!

Friday, January 20, 2006

Wine Tasting Results - January

Whites:
1) Chateau St. Jean, Viognier, 2002 -- $14 (great with fruit!)
2) 7 Heavenly Chards, Chardonay, 2003 -- 16 (fruit and cheese)
3) Fetzer, Gewurztraminer, 2004 -- $15 (great with sharp cheddar!)

Reds:
4) Ecco Demani, Chianti, 2003 -- $11 (meat dish, lasagna, heavy meal, etc.)
5) Vivac Winer, Refosco, 2004 -- $15 (very dry oak/nut flavor -- New Mexico wine!)
6) Hartfort, Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast), 2001 -- $15 (yummy)

Dessert Wine:
7) Chocolate Cherry Velvet (Honey/Cherry wine) -- $20 (incredible!)
The Mountain Meadery
3701 G Rd.
Palisade, CO 81526

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Play21

My new play list I ventured out a bit...many of the song I'd heard one time and purchased them from iTunes. Other oldies came to me from friends...I had to go out and buy Concrete Blonde's Recollection CD!

01 Blue Orchid - The White Stripes
02 Portions for Foxes - Rilo Kiley
03 Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1 - The Flaming Lips
04 The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
05 Free Until They Cut Me Down - Iron & Wine
06 Mexican Moon - Concrete Blonde
07 The Town That You Live In - Sherwood
08 Violet - The Birthday Massacre
09 Home (Album Version) - Michael Bublé
10 Empathy - Crosstide
11 In This Moment's Time - The Coral Sea
12 Release the Squid (Box 6) - The Deathray Davies
13 Joey - Concrete Blonde
14 Shadows of Ourselves - Thievery Corporation
15 You're Beautiful - James Blunt

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Music: Clap your hands say yeah

Oh my...what a different sounding band. I totally dig them. "The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth" is so radically happy that it's hard not to dance to it. I want to get a webcam and lipsync/do silly things while that song plays just to see if it'll go around the internet!

(on a slightly related note) Thanks to my friend, Brad, I have discovered http://www.pandora.com. It lets you create channels and recommends/fills in other songs for ones you may want to order. Great stuff. Best of all, it's still free.