There's Stars In My Eyes And There's Sun In My Hair

I have been a slacker in terms of blog posts this week. But I've had to play catch up, having Monday off for Memorial Day was such a blessing as I needed the break but ended up being a burden when I had an inbox full of fun emails to go through.

I'm still feeling the afterglow of an awesome mini vacation despite my office workload. I hopped on a train to Oakland to see two of my favorite people and see one of my favorite bands, She & Him. I was so stoked to see them live. Zooey Deschanel is my style muse and seeing my girl crush in person was rad. M. Ward has got this effortlessly cool vibe about him that gave their set a seasoned feel even though they're a relatively new band with only two albums under their belt.


One of the best parts of the night (it's kind of hard to pick what's best since seeing my best friends, beer tasting at Pyramid, cute merch and a free drink ticket at the show were pretty darn awesome too) was the fact that they had two encores, totally unexpected and completely satisfying. I loved every minute of it. I took some video, which is surprising because I'm usually too busy singing/dancing when I'm at a show to even think twice about video but I love them so much I have to share:

Instax Photo Friday: Xena

The story of Xena (or as I like to call her, Beaner) is awfully sweet. My family didn't necessarily pick her so much as she picked us. She was a stray dog wandering around our neighborhood when I was about 16. For some reason she decided hanging out in front of our house would be a good place to be, so naturally we felt sorry for her but tried to keep our distance since we already had a dog at the time and didn't think two would be a very good idea. Well, she was persistent and would spend entire days outside of our house and chase our cars down the road when we would leave.

Eventually, I caved and gave her food, played with and pet her. I fell in love pretty fast. She must have too, because the next day I came home and she was in our house. The only strange thing about this was no one let her in. She dug a hole under our fence and let herself in through our doggy door. After that we decided she was ours, or rather she decided we were hers.

Beaner and her "don't steal my soul with your camera" face. 

After about a month of calling her random names a kid who lived in a nearby neighborhood identified her as Xena. She had been his dog and his family was going through some rough times and as a result she was forgotten about. Upon seeing how happy she was with us he told us to keep her. She has been a sassy pain in the butt ever since, but I do love her very much. Who doesn't love a pint size dog perfect for cuddling?

Wordless Wednesday: Originality

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, although sometimes it doesn't feel like it. But having someone be so inspired by your art that they use yours as a basis for their own does sound pretty darn flattering—that is if you choose to look at it that way.

Twenty Five Things: Characture

Some of my twenty five before twenty five are really ridiculous, like this:

Yeah, unfortunately I'm that corny. Or maybe fortunately? Unless you happened to be with me while I was getting it drawn, then that's unfortunate for you because:
a) Lots of people felt the need to stare at me like a zoo animal
b) I was pretty darn giddy and couldn't stop laughing during it
c) You had to let the general public know that we're friends, embarrassing...

I didn't realize I had a such a giant forehead until this was drawn. Maybe I should get bangs to cover that monster up. Although, the man who sketched me advised that I make a few hundred copies for all my boyfriends. Flattery works on me because I gave him a nice wink and a tip. Oh boy!

Music Monday: The Black Keys

The Black Keys' new album Brothers came out last week and I was pleasantly surprised by how great it is. If you're ever in the mood for some no fuss blues/rock The Black Keys are a great place to start. I have already been peeking at their tour dates trying to decide which one's would be best to skip work for. At this point, I'm sure any would be great.

This is the first single off the album, Tighten Up:


"He smells like ranch dressing"

Instax Photo Friday: Dawes

I really like Dawes and this was my third time seeing them live. I almost didn't make it due to only getting  four hours of sleep the night before. The sleepless Angela mind works in mysterious ways, meaning I convinced myself that sleep is overrated and I could do without it. "I'll sleep when I'm dead," yeah I said that, sleepy Angela has ovaries of steel because I only got another four hours of sleep the next two nights. 12 hours of sleep over a three day period = major case of the absent minded goof.

Aside from the lack of sleep, Dawes was great and I had a good time. This song was their big finish and it's one of my favorites off their album North Hills:

Things I Love: Missed Connections

Missed connection postings can be creepy because let's face it, Craigslist is just creepy in general but I really love coming across the sweet ones even though they are few and far between. The hopeless romantic in me wishes that the post is stumbled upon by the right person and the two of them can have a date to go along with their meet cute. I don't believe in coincidences, I like to think that all things happen for a reason and that maybe missed connections is a second chance at not taking advantage of a good thing in the moment. I'm sure it's rare but wouldn't that be a great story?