first week of summer

holler. favorite season is officially HERE. it teased us seattleites with sun and fun on tuesday and has since petered out. definitely am not letting the weather dampen my spirits (literally) though...spending lotsa time catching up with rad people in beautiful places. please believe i've been putting in long hours at my favorite place in seattle, discovery park beach. davy can shed her civilized ways and run naughty and free while i play to my heart's content. don't you see why i love it so?

brain's art installation
crashing down...check that water action

vicious attack dog protecting me from wayward floating stumps

digging x 1,000

the view

the goods

tides a comin' in

brain's art installation #2 - red rock & dungeness baby crabs

found: one elf village complete with flagpole and firepit

love love lovinggggg summer

has nothing to do with my week. has everything to do

with how much i freaking love max e. hinton

partner in crime for the evening

playing catch-up at the boxcar with an old SPU'er

exactly why NW is best

paris

showing some pre-weekend love for all two of you who read this thing on fridays. it cut my heart deeply to have missed my new obsession at wakarusa last weekend (post on that coming next week) because, quite frankly, grace potter and the nocturnals have stolen my heart. and in all honesty, i'm jealous of her. her badass-ness. her raspy, rocker voice. her LEGS FOR DAYS. oh and her bangs are awesome. i tried fake bangs last night and in the wise words of andria, "uh...you look like a total hippie" - and not the good kind. it probably didn't help that my hair is on a 5 day, no wash binge and looks strikingly similar to a lion's mane.

i have to give solid ups to one, forrest j. underwood, for bringing grace into my life. i'm pretty sure he a) wishes grace's name were actually paris and b) truly means it when he sings, "i wish i were in paris" along with the ear snack below. PLEASE, if you do anything good for yourself this weekend or in your life in general, put GP on heavy, heavy rotation. your body, mind and spirit will thank you for it. she's currently making the rounds @ america's greatest music festivals but has a bangin' tour schedule going on right now as well.

if you're interested in hearing more of grace & the nocturnals you can do one or both of the following:

1. email me at kbarnes@spu.edu and i will dropbox you the entire album or,

2. turn on your favorite local country station and hear her sultry croon cover the multitude of sin's kenny chesney's voice creates on their duet, "you and tequila"

happy friday fellow music lovers. happy friday.

p.s. the aforementioned forrest j. underwood just happens to be an extremely eligible bachelor who also happens to bring the party wherever he goes and happens to be a C-130 pilot for the air force...interested?

paisley

best way to banish a hot and heavy case of the mondays? with brad paisley's new album, this is country music. i've got my fresh pre-ordered copy and have already passed it on to, oh, 10+ friends. because as i always say, sharing is caring.

this is brad's greatest album yet, chock full with features from carrie underwood, alabama, blake shelton, sheryl crow, don henley, clint eastwood, marty stuart and carl jackson. early frontrunners for album favorites are remind me (with carrie) and old alabama. seriously, go getcha'self a copy and spread the love.

friday faves

The sweet sounds of a weekend are calling my name...what's that? A vacation? Oh yeah, I'm going to Colorado for two whole weeks. Bittersweet trip but it beats warming a cube for 40 hours a week. Somehow I stumbled upon Silhouette Masterpiece Theater this week and it blew my mind. Few things make me truly laugh out loud (I refuse to type that blasted acronym) but this was one of them. You've got to visit the site to see the entire collection. It's awesome. Below are some of my faves.

If you have time to burn, swing by Jay-Z's newest endeavor, Life & Times. I don't really know how to categorize this site. According to Jay (aka Sean Carter) it's all about "making the ordinary extraordinary" and covers virtually any dinner topic you'd ever need to have in your social arsenal. It's got music, technology, history, imagery, Q&A's and so much more. Want a portrait of the decay of America in Gary, Indiana? Check. A reality check on the car culture of Queens? This delightful time suck has it all. It's like taking a deliciously eclectic trip down the rabbit hole of Jay-Z's mind.

Have a great weekend friends, whether running Boston (GO QUINN!) or fighting freedom in Kyrgyzstan (heyyyyyy Rem). See you next week.