Archive → August, 2010

The Summer Concert Lineup

28 August, 07:46, by Kim Toomey Tags: , ,
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Dylan and I are both music people. Different types of music and different ways of appreciating music, but still definitely music people. This summer I feel like we’ve been at concerts almost every weekend. However, we have seen some awesome shows and have a few more left coming up to see. So I thought I would share.

  • Blues Cruise with PorterDavis: I think this was the start of summer concert series over the 4th of July. I got tickets for Dylan’s birthday and the music great. The scene was beyond bizarre as the boat was filled with what we discovered was ballroom dance instructors. I assumed boozey boat cruise and listening to an awesome jam band while drunkenly bopping around the boat was going to be the scene. Not so. Because you can’t properly swing dance with a margarita in your hand! duh. So Dylan and I drunkenly bopped around the boat, until Dylan was actually asked to dance. Then I had to give death stares. Dylan (like a good, but confused and drunk husband) politely declined. Verdict – cool band, go see them live if you can. Stay away from boats.
  • Train at Maryhill Winery: We got to see this concert for free courtesy of D’s company and I would say it was a good time. Mostly because it was all free. The venue is gorgeous but a hike away from Portland, so if you really want to see a good show out there get a nearby hotel room. Train was alright live, they didn’t seem to play for very long though. Verdict – go to Maryhill when Train isn’t playing
  • Caravan Palace at the Oregon Zoo: I saw this show with Arianna. Which means we showed up late, sat in the very back and could hardly see so we mostly focused on wedding gossip, eating all the yummy snacks we brought with us and drinking wine. However, I did make an effort once in a while to listen to what was going on, and they were a really fun band. They are from France and are not very well known in the US, but if they come your way go see them. The zoo weeknight shows are very kid friendly and all the little kids seemed to be enjoying the music as well. Verdict: Check these guys out and I love the zoo.
  • Jamie Cullum at the Oregon Zoo: Sigh. Where do I start here. I’ve seen Jamie live five times now. Nothing will ever compare to the show we saw in March at the Crystal Ballroom. It was beyond words. This show at the zoo was good, but I much prefer to see him play in a small venue. But again we drank a lot of wine and ate good food, so I can’t complain about that. Verdict: If you don’t know who this is please stop reading this and download everything he has on iTunes.

I know it's a horrible photo, but that's me and Jamie at the Crystal

  • Jackson Browne at Maryhill Winery: Again, another free show from Dylan’s work. My mom was very excited and jealous that I was going to this show. I was about 30 years too young to know any of the songs. But, the music was good and I am now inspired to put a record player in my living room and dig through the boxes of albums that are in my mom’s attic, so at least something good came of it. Verdict: Good if you already knew and liked Jackson Browne

Now, I’ve told you all of this to really tell you that today we are heading up to the Gorge to see John Mayer and Keith Urban and I am beyond excited! Plus I get to see one of my old college roomates who is the biggest JM fan I know. We’re dragging Dylan along just to drool over the really nice guitars. And then next weekend we’re seeing Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros here in town, which should be another great show!

So that is the latest in music news from the house of Toomey. Rock on my friends.

The Peak of Summer

18 August, 17:45, by Kim Toomey Tags: ,
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Look what I just pulled out of my garden!

My cherry tomatoes have been more than successful. Still waiting on some heirlooms to ripen. Zucchini is going gang-busters still. I’m planning on making some zucchini-chocolate chip muffins once the next batch is a bit larger, maybe this weekend they will be ready.

The Great Curtain Debate

17 August, 20:20, by Kim Toomey
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Ladies and gentlemen, we have a marital dispute in our midst at the Toomey house.

Curtains.

We bought out house over two years ago, and decorating didn’t really fit into our priorities when we first moved in. We were more focused on things like getting heat in the house and a functioning stove. Don’t get me wrong, our house is functional and cute enough, but most of our furniture is from Ikea or a hand-me-down. The one joint home decor purchase Dylan and I have made together was an area rug, and that took months…and its tan.

We have a large window in our living room and I had put up some purple curtains from Ikea but they were pretty awful IMO and in my haste I cut them too short and they were a really strange length. So I made new curtains.

Dylan hates the fabric.

You can’t really return fabric to the fabric store…right?

So I made the curtains anyway, convinced that once they were actual curtains and not just fabric Dylan would have a change of heart.

He did not.

Here are the curtains in question.

Dylan claims multiple arguments against said curtains:

  1. They have flowers on them. Dylan – you married a woman, you now live in a house where you will find floral print fabric on things.
  2. They don’t match the rest of the room. We have a tan rug (see above) a WHITE couch and some red furniture which matches the red in the curtains. And the room color is a light gold with a dark purple accent wall (both colors in the curtains) They match.
  3. They are retro/bad 70′s flashbacks. The main art on our walls in this rooms consists of two vintage Jimi Hendrix concert posters and a huge Bob Dylan painting of Dylans. We kind of have a vintage/retro vibe going on in here. Modern is not our style.

(Here is a photo of the art/walls better – obviously there is not currently a tree in front of the window. You can also kind of see the ugly purple curtains)

So let me know what you think. Was I blinded by some terrible retro haze in Fabric depot that led me astray? Or are they cute. Housemate Shannon says they’re cute also (for the record). I suppose if they are really that bad I can sell them on Etsy. :)

Here’s another close up on the fabric since the lighting by the window was not the best. Also, there is  dark brown border at the very top that is the same as the tabs that hang on the curtain rod.