Raw for Lent: Day 42- END!

Weds, Day 42

Raw rev for and at work which led to trader joe's pom juice for dinner. I cut up avocado and cuke for dinner.

Went and saw ave Q and it was AMAZEBALLS!

Evening snack was pecans and strawberries.

Meme:

day 21 - a song that you listen to when you’re happy

I heavily favor contemporary trashy dance music for my happy times, but I spent so many nights getting ready to go out to the sounds of this song that I can't deny its awesomeness.


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thurs, 43

Breakfast was chia goodness with fresh strawberries, almond milk before heading to the barn. Unfortunately, I totally hit the ground off old Nissa, but I am fine and got back on.

When I got home from the barn, Let Me Crazy was at my house. Post-ride protein shake was more strawberries, almond milk and blueberries with sunwarrior. I ran out to teach, then came back and sliced up a cantaloupe then went to play at the nightlight.

There will be video of this show on Youtube later.

The Crazies and I went to cosmic so they could grab some late night dinner, and I noshed strawberries as we talked into the night.

day 22 - a song that you listen to when you’re sad

in general, this band is inextricably linked in my mind with the general suicidal malaise of my 14 year old self. However, an actual dronecore song about failing to kill yourself is pretty much the icing on the cake for me.



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Fri 44

I popped a raw rev for breakfast, then went to the gym. When I got back, I cut up a cantaloupe. For dinner, I spun up a walnut sun dried tomato pate and ate it with carrots. Then we went to Greensboro and rocked the shit out of Panda Pile.

day 23 - a song that you want to play at your wedding

My imaginary nonexistent wedding would need to feature this song:




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sat, Dat 45

Lunch was a whole foods spinach and avocado salad. I noshed it through the whole day. I also got my veganessentials order in, so I ate some strawberries with raw nutella, which lacks the spreadability of regular nutella, but is still delicious.

Dinner was kombucha.

When I got off work at 12:30, I walked to McCabes and had a shot of Makers and a PBR. Yeah, started out classy like that.

Raw over.

day 24 - a song that you want to play at your funeral

This is hopeful.



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Easter Sunday:

I ate raw strawberries at work and geared up for my first meal!

Yamazushi in Durham

Ordered a Seaweed Salad, Miso Soup, Hijiki Rice and Shitake Mushrooms.

This was way too much food but was incredibly tasty. I look forward to frequenting yamazushi.

day 25 - a song that makes you laugh

Maybe it's because I just saw it, but this popped into my head immediately.

Raw for Lent: Day 40-41

Monday, Day 40...outta the desert!

This morning, I popped a raw rev bar before hitting the gym (didn't want anything too heavy to interfere with working out) and then came home and mixed up a batch of my Kale salad with sesame, along with 5 shredded carrots and a pint of grape tomatoes.

Had a quick band practice, then ate half a cantaloupe and some prunes before heading out to see Scream 4 with Sick and Sean in Apex (it was a safari!). When we were walking up to the 10:10 showing, a mom and her 9 or 10 year old son came up in front of us and bought tickets to Hanna (the movie about the girl who is trying to kill her mother before her mother kills her?). Parenting winning!

Scream 4 was alright. It reminded me a little of watching "Scary Movie" except not as LOL funny. It was pretty nice to see how "meta" (its own words) it was, though. Also, Rory Culkin is a grown up! And someone decided to cast this whole movie from ABC family and Nickelodeon TV shows.

When I got home, I had some grapefruit, then took a 4 hour nap before the Forthrights showed up to crash.

day 19 - a song from your favorite album

Yeah, I think this might be my favorite album. I don't know, though. It definitely is today.

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Tues, Day 41

For breakfast, I had the other half of the cantaloupe and then rolled up some cucumber avocado "sushi".

I did a little light cleaning, then tossed together an almond milk, strawberry, chia goodness, chia seed mess for my dinner to sustain me through work.

At work, my car got towed. Well kind of. I just had to pay some dude $125 to NOT tow my car. Thanks, world. Met up with Sick, Heather and Miss Steve at McCabes for a minute after.

When I got back, I was ridiculously tired but also tummy growling hungry, so I had some kimchi and then passed out.

day 20 - a song that you listen to when you’re angry

Oh Courtney Love, you always know what to say.

Raw for Lent: Day 38-39

Sat Day 38

Saturdays are lousydays. Today's meals were made up entirely of spinach salad with guacamole (eaten before and after work), a grapefruit and some cashews. Mike in the kitchen cut me up some celery and radish. Yes, that's all I ate. FML.

day 17 - a song that you hear often on the radio

I feel like I can't turn the radio on without hearing this song on the band like 3 times. Also note, worst music video ever.

Sunday, Day 39, after working Saturday night, I got up to go to brunch only to find it had been canceled. So Sarah ran to Whole Foods and picked up the Sunday Times and some Kombucha.

Worked until 4, then hit McCabes to enjoy some of the afternoon sitting outside and noshing Strawberries. I ran home, fixed a bowl of Chia Goodness with extra chia seeds, strawberries, blueberries and prunes in almond milk, then put on some extra warm clothes and headed to Durham Central Park to watch Who Took The Bomp? outside as part of full frame. The movie totally brought me back to what it was like when I used to have the opportunity to see Le Tigre all the time. And boy, do I miss that time.

We stopped by Fullsteam (who has some kind of Pear Ale? Interest piqued!) for DJ Mel York, who spins pretty rad tunes, then I headed home since I have an interview in the morning.

day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio

Rather than choosing something that would never, ever appear, how about an appeal. Classic rock radio, these guys should count!

Raw for Lent: Day 37

Got up this morning and had a coconut water before heading to the gym. I came back, nursed my sunburn wounds, applied sunscreen, then had some pineapple and went to the barn. I took out a new dude named Koko who had been previously lamed but is now back in commission as of my riding him. He's super friendly. Also took out my white pony boy Poncho.

When I got home, I had like 3 minutes to shower and get prepped for the raw food potluck in carrboro. So I showered, then sliced up more carrots and celery to go with the pate.

At the potluck, there was all kinds of good stuff. One of the guys makes sauer kraut, which was crazy delicious (so much better than out of a jar). One couple brought a spinach, mushroom, onion and seed salad and another pair brought an avocado, cherry tomato and onion salad, which worked really well as a dressing for the spinach salad. Everyone was really nice and we all hung out. They had an aerial silk thing, but my legs were so shot from all the activity that I declined to try. Also, not graceful, at all.

So now I'm home, sorting through old clothes and planning lessons for tomorrow morning. This weekend is gonna be ROUGH but it's the last one before Easter, woot woot!

<3

Crap, skipped a day on the meme.

day 14 - a song that no one would expect you to love

I think this song is terribly sweet and awfully romantic. Even though, I know, it really isn't.

Raw for Lent: Day 35-36

Weds, Day 35

*burnout central is hitting, y'all)

Bfast: banana and an uli mana truffle for energy

Hit the mechanic, then came home and organized a little.

lunch: 4 kiwi and some pumpkin seeds. I'm trying to choke back the pumpkin seeds, but I just don't really like them on their own.

For dinner I brought blueberries to work, then met up with my friend Sean at my house before quiz. I cut up some crudite then we headed to Bulls for pubquiz, where the middle round was MUSICALS! We of course, swept it. Although boo for no Sondheim, Porter, Lloyd Webber...Bummerriffic!

When I got home, I whipped up a batch of the sundried tomato-walnut pate and snacked on that with the rest of the carrots and celery I cut earlier.

day 15 - a song that describes you

I listed this song as a song that described my life when I was in 11th grade. It still applies.

Thurs Day 36

Breakfast before the barn was chia goodness with frozen blueberries and almond milk. Very hearty.

I hit the barn and did a very nice lesson, but made the mistake of riding in a wifebeater so am now rocking some lobster sunburn.

When I arrived home, I spun myself some pate and cabbage, then got ready to go teach. I popped together a quick shake of just pineapple core, frozen strawberry and sunwarrior, with a water base. I drank a cup on the way to teach, then headed to Scotty Sandwich's birthday party, where we played a show. Afterwards, we pubcrawled awhile, then I had a handful of pecans and passed out.

day 16 - a song that you used to love but now hate

I just overdid it on this song so hard.

Raw for Lent: Day 34

Ah! 12 days to go! Whee!

Got up this morning and fixed myself the rest of the nacho and walnut dips with some cabbage. Tried to get some work done cleaning up the house a little.

Made a protein shake for work--

1 scoop sp

1 t spirulina

1 c blueberries

1 c strawberries

1/4 c macadamias

1 c chia

1 c h20

Which I took in. Got off around 10:30, then hung out with some folks for a couple of hours and came home and had some grapefruit, dates and pecans.

More meme:

day 13 - a song that is a guilty pleasure

I don't necessarily believe that you should feel "guilty" about things you like musically, particularly since they're not actually bad for anything but your cred. That said, I probably take a fair amount of shit for liking this. I don't care, though. I still do.

Raw for Lent: Day 32-33

Sunday, Day 32

So today was the first day that the restaurant I work at ran brunch. You all know that I am a huge fan of LUNCH and its foods; sandwiches, soups, bento boxes. I don't much care for brunch. I'm just tossing that out there. I packed a banana, a mango/coconut juice and half a honeydew (and I already had a 1/2 jar of kimchi I'd left from the night before) to cover the long shift; almost a 9-5!

When I got off work, I came home, then set some nuts to soak to try some new recipes. I ran out to teach a lesson while things were soaking, then went to borrow my friend Sarah's laptop, hit whole foods for missing ingredients and some foodstuffs for the week.

At home, I spun up two recipes from Eating Raw for Dummies. I did their butternut squash nacho sauce, which tastes a lot like spicy, noochy red pepper hummus. It's definitely tasty.

However, the walnut sun dried tomato pate is WHERE IT'S AT.

1.5 C Walnuts, soaked at least 3 hours
6 T sun dried tomatoes, soaked at least 1 hour
(reserve the sun dried tomato soak juice, you will need about 1/2 cup of it )
1/4 c basil
1 clove garlic
1 T oil
1 T Nama Shoyu
2 T lemon juice

Toss everything in the blender

I ate these dips with cauliflower and a red pepper. Found myself downing the pate much quicker.

I then stayed up very late, laying out the new Pink Flag EP coming out on June 18!!!

Meme:

day 11 - a song from your favorite band

Superlatives are definitely not my forte. But if I had to choose, I would probably say that this is my favorite song by my favorite band. At least, tonight it is.

Monday, Day 33

This morning, got up and finished the designing then went and got a wax for the first time in like 3 months.

Princess got back from her comps and I let her try the dips with some flax crackers, and she agreed they were both good but the walnut was the winner. I fixed some cabbage to eat with the dips, then set about cleaning up some.

I spent most of the day trying to get the house in order for a prospective roommate who didn't call/didn't show so she's out of the game. In the afternoon, I finally worked up the guts to try perfect food. It is really not as bad as everyone said it was. I mean, it is ROUGH by itself mixed with water, but so is protein powder. The worst part is the smell; it smells just like fish food, but doesn't really taste like anything to me...then has kind of an icky aftertaste. After choking half a glass down, I just tossed the rest into a smoothie with a cup of blueberries, a cup of strawberries, 1/4 c of macadamias and what was probably a 1/4 scoop superfood.

Later I had some raspberries, two kiwis and a couple of pickles. I wish today hadn't been eaten by so many "managerial" activities. It turned out to be really nice and I would've liked to have gone to the barn. So now, I squeezed some lemon and agave into some water and am having a lemonade as an evening snack. :)

day 12 - a song from a band you hate

Hate is a strong word for bands. But if I have to choose a band I hate, it's probably this one.

Raw for Lent: Day 30-31

Fri Day 30!!

Got up and raced out to the bard (drank a mango/coconut water) and some canteloupe for bfast, but got my lesson mixed up.

Came home, made some Parfait chia/pear cream:

1/2 c soaked cashews

1 pear

juice of 1/4 lemon

Then mixed it with strawberries and blueberries.

Also made a shake

1 scoop

1 spirulina

1 banana

1 c strawberries

1/2 c blueberries

1/4 c macadamias

ate some pickles when I got home

Meme time!

day 09 - a song that you can dance to

I love dance music. Like, truly, I have an unhealthy love for it. But, if I had to pick the song that I like dancing to most, it would probably be this, because it combines my propensity for spookiness with a love for 80s music.

Sat Day 31

raw organic (last one), pineapple and coconut water.

bought raspberries, a pure cherry and coconut water at trader joe's.

Ate kimchi at restaurant job, left half for Sunday morning shift.

Honeydew after work.

SO exhausted.

day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleep

I went to sleep listening to this album (and therefore, most of this song) every night for about a year. I still call it my "migraine" record, because it always makes me feel relaxed

Raw for Lent: Day 28-29

Weds Day 29

Today was another emerald kale salad dayyyyy. I put together a batch last night then just sort of chomped it down throughout the day, which was, of course, bear work day.

I had servings of salad before restaurant, after restaurant and before teaching, after teaching/before quiz and after quiz. After quiz I also chomped down on a grapefruit and some dates with their pits out and cashews shoved in instead. :) Those cashew date things were totally calling my name last night.

I also got this rad new app that identifies what you've eaten based on pictures. It's called "Meal Snap"-- it even identifies refuse food!

Meme time!

day 07 - a song that reminds you of a certain event

I feel like music is always linked to events in life, but there is one particular event, where I had an awful night and my best friend (and I should've known it at the time) met me at Kings Point Park and tried to teach me to slowdance while we listened to:

Day 29

Got up this morning and humped over to the gym, where I worked HARD man.

Afterward, I popped half a cantaloupe, then headed to the mall on an impossible mission: looking for a bathing suit that covers my stomach without ruffles or sequins or an ugly print or a skirt attached to it. I can rock neither a bikini nor a 10 year old girly girl special. After approximately 30 stores (seriously, I mall walked the HELL out of crabtree valley) and could not find one. I'm reminded of the great shorts debacle of 2010 (trying to find a pair of shorts with a hem, no sequins or words written on the ass, no fake spray paint but also not up to my boobs/down to my waist). Anyway, finally found something black, plain enough and decent at a sporting goods store.

When I came home, I prepped a new batch of kale, then ate a couple of pickles and headed to see Paul, the stoner-comedy flick about an alien road trip. It was really cute; Pegg and Frost have a real knack for genre comedy.

When I came home, I pounded the kale salad and am now soaking some cashews to make pear cashew cream for tomorrow. Anyway, I had some coconut water and am going to bed.

day 08 - a song that you know all the words to

I not only know all the words to this song, but to every song on this album, and probably every song on every blur album (including b sides) that predates this one too. To say I was a Blur fan back in the day would be an understatement.

Raw for Lent: Day 27

This morning I got up much later than I anticipated (I had hoped to get my car mirror fixed before I went to the gym) but instead just got up, made breakfast:

1 scoop sunwarrior

1/2 T spirulina

1 c chia gel

1/4 c almonds

1 c water

1 c strawberries

I'm finally getting the proportions down somewhat, so I could actually nearly drink it out of a pint glass.

I went to the gym and also brought my trainer a scoop of Sunwarrior so he could use it on the gym's "go vegan" week (since he is anti-soy). We will see, if he's used to protein powder he might like it. For me, it's not terrible, but the stevia flavor really drives me kind of nuts. I am not a huge fan of artificial sweeteners.

After I got home, I worked on some financial stuff and then had a raw bar because I had another appointment this afternoon; Pole Dancing class.

Yeah, that's right. I caved on a $15 deal on living social and bought a set of 6 classes at a studio here called Vertical Tease. So I wandered around looking for this joint for like 10 minutes, finally found it and joined into the class. We warmed up pretty easy, just a lot of bending and stretching and a little light strength stuff, then we got into it. We learned:

"sexy walk" - parading around the pole and dragging yr toes on the ground behind you (which gives you gummy toes)

"pirouette" - a slightly more complicated move where you pivot on one foot and end up with your back to the pole

"drop" - where you fall backward down the pole and land on your back (holy fuck, I got some bruises on my ass, thighs, shoulders, back and head from this bad boy)

"legs up" - which is basically propping yourself up in plow or neckstand in yoga, then bicycling your legs slowly. the teacher also did this thing that made her legs look like sea anemonies, which we all laughed at but she was like "dudes don't care what looks stupid, they are looking at what is between your legs."

"feet in" which requires you to do some kung fu, pick yourself up and get from your knees to your feet quick-like

"sexy up" which is basically standing up really slow from a touch your toes position

"fireman spin" where you grab the pole with your ankles and spin around to the ground (I have bruises on both of my feet as well as pole-burn,)

"leg wrap" where you spin around the pole, plant a foot then lift the other foot.

So what I learned is that pole dancing is way more painful and awful than I expected. The rolling around on a wood floor I always expected to be painful and bruising, but the amount of skin I left on that thing, especially off weird places like the tops of my feet and toes was truly unexpected. I have to be honest, the sort of sexy parading around and painfulness of it remind me altogether too much of what I would imagine a slave in a Dom/Sub relationship would be. So the place also offers Zumba and Kickboxing, so I'll pole dance maybe one more time in this "intro" class, but I think that it's back to kicking stuff for me. Horseriding provides me with enough stupid bruising and death defying stunts, thanks.

After class, I was basically in CH, so I went to Whole foods and got some more kale in order to make more of that awesome kale salad. It's marinating as we speak, although I may have used too much because it didn't have enough room to bruise when I shook it, but hey, I'm sure it'll still be tasty.

When I was driving, I noticed a gaggle of protestors lined up outside Planned Parenthood. I drive to Chapel Hill at least 2 days a week, usually 3-4 though. When I see a bunch of people there on Saturday Morning, it bothers me some, but I guess I'm just used to seeing the two women with no life protesting most of the time, at 4pm on a wednesday or 8 pm on weds. Seeing like 30 people outside of PP really irked me today. Women have a right to a yearly pap smear that they can afford. Women have a right to reasonably priced prenatal care. Everyone has a right to STD testing. Just imagine what it would be like if you were someone without health insurance, going to get cancerous cells burned off your cervix and a bunch of looney tunes yelled at you, spat at you, while you were going in to do what was probably the scariest thing in your life. Hell, imagine if you were getting an abortion (which, btw, I'm not even sure PP Chapel Hill provides in house. Every PP I've ever been to refers patients to private clinics for abortion services), it would still probably be scary and horrible. But for many women, so is the prospect of having a kid, especially when they are in circumstances where they need to go to planned parenthood (either because of insurance issues or age issues) to talk to someone about that kid. I swear, one day I'm gonna lose it, pull over and start a counter protest. /rant

Before prepping Kale, I went to pubquiz at the James Joyce, which is definitely not my fav pubquiz in the world, but it's better to get out of the house than watch primetime TV.

For dinner I rolled up some avo and cukes in nori, then ate some kimchi as well. Snack was some passionfruit juice.

I also ran across an amazing raw blog today...Raw on $10 a Day. Granted several recipes rely on a dehydrator (and I feel like the vitamix is a more realistic year round kitchen investment, which is why I bought it!) Some of these recipes look AMAZING though, like the pies. Holy balls, I want pecan pie.

For today's meme answer

day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere

This song will forever, in my mind, be linked to the S-Bahn, particularly overlooking the hotel Construction between Hackescher Markt and Alexanderplatz, overlooking huge construction projects in 2005. Whatever it was is probably finished by now. But goddamn, did I love this song.

Raw for Lent: Day 25-26

Day 25

Breakfast was half a canteloupe at work. Work was rough, the backwait didn't show so we started out slow but then got busier and it was less than fun.

I taught in the afternoon, then had to run by my studio to pick up a check, then went by Whole Foods to do my shop for the week. I bought a little less than I have in the past to avoid it going bad, but also, bought something that I could tear into in the car like mongo because I was HUNGRY. I settled on "Just Apples" the dehydrated apple sticks that I liked as a middle schooler.

Dinner, I came home and had raw sushi (cuke, avo, cauli, nori and nama shoyu). Then I remembered that I still had that ice cream, which I wasn't stoked to eat, but I cut up some fresh strawberries into it, let it melt a little, and that was tasty.
For the meme;

day 04 - a song that makes you sad
Easy peasy. The first time I heard this song I wanted to cry. Then I went to college and I really started to understand it.

Day 26

This morning I spun some strawberries into some almond milk and mixed it with some Chia Goodness before heading to the barn to play with my Nissa kissa. She was in a kind of odd mood but I attribute it to the sudden warmth and massive windiness today (a standard got blown over while I was in the ring!). I've put up a picture of her here. She's not the most beautiful horse alive, but think of her kind of like a diesel Mercedes from the 80s. Old, yeah, maybe a little fussy at times, but a classic great ride.

I came home, showered, and spun a quickie shake:
1 scoop protein powder
1 tsp spirulina
1 c chia
1 cup frozen mixed berries
1 banana
1/2 c almond milk
2 leaves of kale

It was good, definitely drinkable and felt very healthy. I headed out to the store to try and find a bathing suit (I swear, I can't hang onto any of my one piece or tanktop suits to save my life) that covers my stomach (for some reason, all of the now UTTERLY inappropriate bikinis I own are easily located. I stopped in to Old Navy, which is full of the ugliest suits ever, then went over to Nordstrom Rack (I have almost dropped a dress size, but definitely have in at least Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klen. And before you judge...I just like to try on nice clothes!) then a quick browsing trip at Crate and Barrel (OMG the new store at southpoint is so NICE) then to target, where I had a contender (a converse one star suit) but it was sort of funny...really baggy around the middle, almost maternity-like.

When I came home, I busted out this amazing Kale Salad recipe, with a couple of changes:

1 bunch kale

2 T olive oil

1 1/2 T. sesame oil
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 T nama shoyu
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 T sesame seeds (Holy shit, these are expensive!)

juice of 1/4 lemon
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 carrot, grated

I would also bet that ginger is a good addition to this salad.

I also spun together 4 pink lady apples and a little agave and water to make apple sauce which I have been craving for days. I am still working on the apple sauce, but am definitely done eating for the day.


day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone

This song pervaded the break up with DE. I listened to it a lot of times.

Raw for Lent: Day 25

Breakfast was a raw organic bar.

At lunch, I ran over to Whole Foods and grabbed a thing of guac and a bundle of celery, then washed the celery in the bathroom of my music studio and cut it with a plastic knife. HARDCORE, yo!

Dinner was a red pepper and an apple Pure bar-- definitely my favorite. Weird, since I generally don't like apple cinnamon stuff. At work, even though I was supposed to be last out, a girl traded with me, so I got to come home early and eat some kimchi while I started reading my GRE prep book. More info on that forthcoming, but right now...ah, I don't even wanna think about it.

The Meme:
day 03 - a song that makes you happy

Oh this is easy. It's the happiest song in the world!
(Please ignore random swedish people in the video)

Raw for Lent: Day 24

Breakfast this morning was chia goodness, a banana, and the rest of my blackberries, swirled up in almond milk. Hit the gym, worked hard as a mofo. Sadly, had to shower again, but worth it!

I made a shake for work:
1 scoop Sunwarrior
1 tsp spirulina
1 c almond milk
1 c frozen mixed berries
1 pear
1 c chia
1 yellow mango

Then went to work. I got stuck at work pretty late and ended up missing most of the Hammer No More the Fingers CD release party for Black Shark. You should check it out, though, because it's a good record. I listened to like 3 tracks on the way home and have heard tons more at shows all the time :)

I had half canteloupe and a few nuts for post work/hammer show snack and am now just enjoying that I'm not on my feet anymore.

Oh, and continuing my meme:
Day 02 - your least favorite song

This is an easy pick. Not because I love so many songs (which I do) or because I hate so many (also true) but because this song comes with a story. A story that ended in disciplinary action. This song is sincerely torture. It is my Clockwork Orange style rehab thing. And when I was at summercamp, someone chose it as the song my bunk would do a dance to. I may or may not have damaged the La Bouche single. I plead the fifth.

Raw for Lent: Day 23

Today I got up and attempted a recipe from CIG Eating Raw. It is a carrot ginger soup. I ended up tweaking the recipe a little because after I made it, it was bland.

7-8 Carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
1 c h20
1/2 c macadamia nuts
1/2 avocado
2 T ginger
2 tsp nama shoyu
1 T lemon juice
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp dill
1 tsp garlic
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp salt
few grinds of black pepper

I spun the big stuff (nuts, carrots, water) first to grind them down, then added the rest as it went on.

The soup is a sort of curry color, bright yellow and not the greatest consistency, but it's fairly tasty. It's best right out of the vitamix when it's just a little hotter than room temperature. I garnished with a little olive oil, which also helped the flavor I think. I might have added a little too much dill and a little too much garlic but I still feel like the soup is missing something.

I finished the grapefruit before showertime.

Later, I headed out to see Darren Hanlon at Casbah in their inaugural quiet show series. It was nice, he sang unamplified and played Punk's Not Dead as I requested, following it with an even more exciting quick verse of Anarchy in the UK! Videos forthcoming.

I finally broke down, tired of making food, and bought guacamole at Cosmic last night so I would have a snack. I mixed it with bean sprouts and then ate it in cabbage tacos.

On another note, my amazingly talented friend Rusty Sutton is the 30 day song challenge and I'm a big fat copycat, so I'm going to follow along his footsteps.

Day 1: My Favorite Song

I struggled a lot with what I would really consider my favorite song. Owing to overall plays, though, the convergence of several things I enjoy (dance grooves, noise rock, post-punk and ambient noise) and the fact that it is associated, forever, in my mind with going for long walks, I hereby nominate Ghinzu - Blow.

Raw for Lent: Day 18-22

Saturday, Day 18

Today was the bear day at work; got up and headed to work. Snacked on a raw organic bar on the way over, then had several students in a row cancel, so I made a salad at the Whole Foods salad bar, tossed some guac on it and chomped away.

After teaching, I headed to the restaurant job. I brought a Pure blueberry bar and a pint of kumquats. Note; it is very hard to eat a whole pint of kumquats in one sitting. The sourness eventually started to irritate my stomach a little I think.

Tried Kevita, which is like an off brand kombucha. It is weird. I got the mango coconut flavor and it tasted sort of thick and slimy. I wouldn't recommend it, even though it is cheaper than kombucha.

Made kelp lasagna with the sun dried tomato sauce and cashew cheese. Kelp noodles are disgusting. They have the texture of the crunchy bits in seaweed salad. Alternately, think severely undercooked spaghetti. They also have that weird "packaged in some kind of preservative juice" seaweed flavor (kind of like the shirataki noodles) that I really couldn't get past. I cut up half a cantaloupe instead and ate that. Waste of good sauce. :(

Sunday Day 19

First meal was cabbage and dip. I didn't have to work in the morning, so I busted open my chocolate flavored Sunwarrior protein. Sunwarrior is a raw vegan protein powder that had the best rating of all the ones I looked at, has a complete amino acid profile and packs 20g of protein into a shake, which is probably quadruples my protein intake for the day.

The shake I made was:
1 scoop protein

1 tsp spirulina

1/2 c blueberries

1 banana

1 c almond milk

It wasn't bad just a little too sweet. The visual aspect was very unappealing; kind of a greyish sludge with black speckles in it. I sucked it down over the course of a night's work, then had the other half of the cantaloupe and some kimchi.

Monday. Day 20

Cherry Pure bar for breakfast, then went to do the major shop; I'm sick of a bunch of food so I ran through Goneraw.com and my Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Raw for inspiration. Cukes are nowhere!!!! How the fuck can I make pickles?

Lunch was another protein shake:
1 scoop sunwarrior

1 c almond milk

1 c fresh blackberries

1 tsp spirulina

The shake was slightly better, and a slightly more purple hue.

While I spun the shake, I tossed together some guacamole and cut it down with peas. Sadly, I think I overused the peas, so it's a little too sweet. I ate it with crudite and Raw One flax crackers. They are pretty much exactly what I remember of raw crackers (crawkers!) which is to say satisfying, but sort of weirdly slimy from whatever they use to hold the cracker together. I also picked up a new type of Rhythm Chips; the bombay curry ones. Sadly, Whole Foods no longer had the other kinds. I missed the nachos :(

I also tossed together this green pea and almond dip recipe tonight. It was not really delicious. Maybe it would be better blended in vitamix, but here was just sort of minced and the consistency of quinoa or something. I quartered a red pepper and put the mixture into the quarters.

Tuesday, Day 21

Nearly halfway there!

This morning I got up, scarfed a banana and some coconut water then headed to the barn. I was able to jump Poncho, the little white pony on my own (outside of a lesson!) for the first time and even though the footing was lousy and I didn't know how much to do with him, we had a good time. Also took out Nissa, my old lady, who was also a good girl, although sort of lost it toward the end, which is fine. We were just hacking, so no real danger.

When I came home, I finally NAILED the protein shake!

1 scoop powder,

1/2 T spirulina,

1 mango

1 c chia gel

1 c almond milk

1 c blueberries

It actually tastes GOOD. Like jello pudding cups. Well, maybe not quite, but very similar. The Chia gives it a pudding quality I think. Tastes for real like chocolate pudding.

Wednesday, Day 22

For breakfast, had chia goodness with banana, a few blackberries and almond milk.

Made a shake:

1 scoop sunwarrior

1/2 T spirulina

1 c grapes

1 c almond milk

1 c chia

1 mango.

It was not bad. Filling enough and healthy feeling. We played a rock show with Turbo Fruits and Pujol (more information on that at the Pink Flag blog). Playing rock and roll without drinking is rough and stuff.

Had an apple, then came home and had a few cashews, then tried to eat a grapefruit and got tired halfway through so gave up and went to sleep.

Raw for Lent: Day 17

This morning, I got up and went to the gym first thing, then came home and swirled myself up a new batch of non-chunky almond milk. I was going to try my chocolate Chia Goodness, but then realized it is only 88% raw :(! So regular Chia Goodness for me, with almond milk and a 1/2 banana (other half went into making almondbanana cookie dough to quell my sweet tooth). Chia goodness is every bit as awesome as I remember it being, sweet, toothsome, energy boosting!

I also tried another Pure vegan food bar; this time in cherry cashew. It was pretty good. Surprisingly still liking the apple ones best. I went to pick up my car from the shop (FINALLY!) and run some errands.

I grabbed the other half of the cantaloupe/spirulina shake to bring to work along with a raw organic bar (man I am getting lazy), and headed to work. Things were slow, so I got off right at 12 ish and Mishca called and dropped by with a prune shallot vinaigrette for me to use in my fav salad; chard, walnut and pear. I'm really looking forward to it. Spent a minute talking to the chef at the James Joyce, who told me that he sticks a lot of easily veganizable/vegan already food on the menu. So, Durham/visiting Durham vegans, there's another option for now!

As I was leaving I ran into Mark Gladness Band and we talked a little about the good feeling you get from stick-to-it diets and really thinking about food. He remarked that I am getting skinny...hooray, 10 pound mark is probably here!

After work snack is spinach dip with cabbage...it is now my favorite thing to pair with the spinach dip, like little edible spoons! Big long day tomorrow, will probably be full of bars and whatnot, but I'm feeling pretty good about the fact that I've been putting away 3-5 cups of fresh cut raw veggies a day thanks to dips. I could really use another recipe, since this spinach dip is good but feels like I'm going to get sick of it soon. I'll spend Sunday trolling goneraw.com unless a reader can think of something better :)

Raw for Lent: Day 14-16

Tues, day 14:

I made raw granola, chia, banana and blueberry cereal for breakfast. I was gonna add almond milk, but it has separated and looks icky. The raw granola, btw, is tasty, especially after the chia gel softens it up.

Dinner at work was the leftover shake from day 12 and tomatoes.

Snack was cashews, pecan and grapes.

Weds, day 15:
I accidentally skipped breakfast, so ended up stealing blueberries from the kitchen for my breakfast. I definitely hadn't been eating enough because I kind of had that hunger headache feeling.

I hit up Whole Foods and picked up some guacamole and salsa to mix together (feeling so lazy) for snack. I peeled and chopped up some carrots and celery to eat with the guac, but also bought some kale chips (that were super expensive, but REALLY good) at whole foods by Rhythm Organic. I tried the "nacho" flavor because it had the most vitamin A but am excited to try the rest.

After teaching, I came home and spun together a new slightly tastier shake:1/2 cantaloupe
1 mango
1/2 c blueberries
1 c cabbage

12 oz coconut water
1 tsp spirulina powder

Drank half of it and had a pure apple cinnamon bar for dinner, went to quiz and lost it :(

It started pouring on the way home, so I sat in my car and listened to Room on tape until the rain let up, then I fixed myself the rest of the guac with some more carrots, celery, some cabbage and some cukes as well.

Day 16:
Got up this morning expecting my chia goodness to have arrived from amazon, but no dice yet. Instead, I tried my second "Pure" food bar: the "chocolate brownie" which actually tasted like a chocolate brownie; kind of like that Boston brand kind. It was trippy, but pretty tasty. I also chopped up a 1/4 cantaloupe, a banana, chia gel and raw granola for longevity.

I hit the post office and did some writing, then we had band practice, after which I whipped up a new batch of spinach dip and a new tub of cashew cheese (fermenting as we speak). After practice, I also noticed my Sun Warrior protein, chia goodness and kale noodles had arrived from amazon. I also went to drink some almond milk but it was all cheesy and curdled so I dumped it and set some almonds to soak for tomorrow's breakfast.

For dinner I made cabbage and cukes to eat with the spinach dip (which is really so much better after the onion has had a day to mellow out, but I'm hungry and sick of eating bar-food) and some passionfruit-grape juice and watching grey's anatomy because I totally without a doubt have a vagina.

In other news, I have now tried all of the Raw Revolution bars and actually kind of like their little bite sized awesomeness; theyre great for a little something sweet or a pick me up (and I feel like my supply is limitless). The best flavor by far is the chocolate coconut, which tastes kind of like a mounds bar. I still like the spirulina second best and all the rest are sort of whatever.

I have also been relying on the Raw Organic bars for snackeroos, which are okay but taste sort of like glue to me (I have the chocolate ones). Take what I say with a grain of salt; I don't really actually like chocolate. I only bought the chocolate ones because they were on sale and I'm cheap.

Raw for Lent: Day 13

Breakfast (after job interview) was carrot and celery with some homemade guac (guac is easy, I tend to avoid the japs in it, but love adding tomato) especially after talking about craving it super hardcore last night. Went to the gym after breakfast and then finished off the green shake.
Instead of lasagna, I tossed together a sort of unbaked ziti situation. Zucchini spaghetti, cashew ricotta and tomato sauce. I tweaked the tomato sauce recipe to make it a little more saucy:

4 sun dried tomatoes
1 c cherry tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1 tsp basil

Process the cherry tomatoes, garlic and basil. Toss the sun dried tomatoes. Let soak for a little bit, then process (if you process too early, the sun dried tomatoes will catch on the blades and make a mess, especially if you like to use a shitty little hand processor like I do).It was really good, but too much sauce/chz for the amount of zucchini. I thought I had two, but I only had one. I was sad to waste good sauce, but I already did my shop for the week.

Later that evening, my gay husband Sean and I went to dinner and a movie. I chose this place Shaba Shabu because they have a roll there that is wrapped in cucumber instead of seaweed and rice, but they changed their menu and took it off. I asked if they could still make it, and they tried (it was kind of a mess) so I just got a salad. Sean and I talked about the whole "what are we doing with our lives" crisis and he ran an interesting idea past me. He hasn't decided yet and so I won't share it here, except to say that it's unexpected, but a good fit for him. You have my support love! <3

So yeah, they don't have the naruto roll anymore, and we went to see Cedar Falls, which was a kind of bizarre buddy movie about insurance sales. It was really cute, kind of funny (very much informed by Anchorman and other early 2000s era Will Ferrell vehicles) and starred Anne Heche, Ed Helms and John C Reilly, our favorite (or at least top 2) of the PT Anderson alumni. Anne Heche looks even more like an alien than she used to (is that possible?!) but we enjoyed it.

For a treat, I came home and made myself a bowl of the Rocky Mountain Creamery Raw Cashew ice cream. It's darker than you'd expect vanilla to be and has that kind of grainy, raw texture. I ground up some cacao nibs and almonds to put on top, as well as a few strawberries. Thestrawberries really were the treat, though. At some point, I'll make strawberries and cashew cream.

Overall I've been eating pretty well and the weight is not falling off me the way it did last year, which is a blessing and a curse. I'm still staying pretty active and probably getting more calories in because of all the work I'm doing. Either way, I feel a whole lot better than I did last lent. Being prepared is nice.

Oh yeah, also interviewed for a personal cheffing job today and didn't get it. Oh well. At least I got to wear my new Calvin Klein dress.

Days 10-12

It was a rough weekend for foodstuffs; I worked Friday and Saturday nights and was at the barn on Sunday.

Friday, I essentially ate a raw bar, some fruit and wrapped the avocado in nori with tamari.

Saturday was a whole foods day-- I hit the salad bar and made myself a mesculin, cherry tomato, mushroom, celery, cucumber, onion, craisins, coconut flake and lemon juice.

When I got home from work, it was the Kimchi I'd been saving.

Sunday, I was finally off work, but headed out to the barn. Breakfast was a raw organic bar and an avocado. After the barn (which was awesome) I hit Earth Fare, whose raw selection is surprisingly not as good as i remembered it. I picked up some raw granola and raw cashew ice cream, both of which I look fwd to trying, but also some spirulina and made myself a green shake for dinner.

The recipe was
1 mango
2 c grapes (stems too!)
1/2 cabbage (in hindsight, this is WAY too much cabbage)
4 carrots
1 c blueberries
12. oz coconut water
1 tsp spirulina powder

The shake was kinda, well, spicy. It took me nearly 4 hours to get most of it down (but holy crap, when I put on my Calvin Klein dress this morning for the job interview the non-bloatyness seemed worth it), and I still have a little left. Overall though, I felt like it was a mega-healthy dinner.

Raw For Lent: Days 8 & 9

Today (day 8) I got up and went into work where it was slow. I pounded the ceviche salad and drank some coconut water for breakfast then came home and assembled raw lasagna, using the premade "sauce" and cashew cheese as well as peeled slices of zucchini. It was really fucking good, just sayin'!

Ran to teach lessons, and was peeved because I bought these "raw revolution" bars on amazon, only to realize when they came that they're like, an inch by an inch. Not much belly filling. So I brought two of them to have one every couple of hours. As of this blogging, I've tried 3 of the 5 flavors. The Chocolate/Cashew one is VERY chocolatey, the Cashew one is good, but so far my fav is the spirulina kind. It makes me feel healthy. And tastes kinda green.

When I came home, I fixed myself a juice for dinner:

1 mango (peeled, seeded)
1-2 c grapes (stem ok)
1/2 c chia gel
1/4 c almond milk
2 c spinach

It was tasty-ish, not the best, but felt healthy enough. When I came home, I had some romaine hearts with the spinach dip. I spent like, 3.50 on this fucking Organic Girl brand shit because it's supposed to be like, washed

and clean and shit, and can I tell you something? I found BUGS in it. Dead bugs, sure, but BUGS. I am going back to Foxy lettuce, tout de suite. Fuck this boxed lettuce shit.

Day 9:

Woke up, and went into the pantry to open my Chia Goodness. They don't sell it at Chapel Hill Whole Foods anymore, but I guess the one I have has sat too long, the chia seeds attached themselves to the currants and it was gross so I chucked it. Instead, I made a chia, almond milk, raspberry and banana mix, wolfed it down and headed to the barn. After a lovely ride, I headed back to town, rolled some avocado in nori and then headed to work for St. Paddys day, bringing along a few more raw rev bars. which, for those of you who work in bars, know is not a favorite. Now I'm snackin on some cauliflower.

Doing okay. Craving a burrito hardcore.

Raw For Lent: Day 6-7

So today was my off-tour prep shit day. I realized that since starting this, I've already dropped like 6 pounds, probably due to both dehydration and essentially not eating for 3 days. It's cool, though, since I'm sort of above my fighting size right now anyway. Good news: I totally am rocking the regular size jeans again as of today.

I got up early, cleaned up the kitchen as best I could, cleaned up my room a little too and then hit Whole Foods for what I refer to as THE GRAND EXPENDATURE (wherein I buy a whole bunch of supplies I don't usually have, like raw nuts, chiaseeds, maca powder, psyllium husk, etc etc) and get all my shit together. So I started the day by making a carafe of unsweetened almond milk, then tossed together my ceviche chard salad, let that sit on the table while I soaked almonds and cashews for the spinach dip and cashew cheese I planned to make. In the meantime, I tossed together a quick tomato sauce.

Quickie Tomato Sauce:

appx 1 1/2 c cherry tomatoes

2 cloves garlic
1 T olive oil

pinch salt
1 t basil

Spin that in the vitamix. I think it would probably be better if it were dehydrated as well, but I just let it sit out on the counter for a few hours, and am putting it in the fridge with the lid ajar to thicken it up a bit.

I cleaned the vitamix, then tossed together some almond chocolate nib cookies (they taste healthy) then went upstairs to clean myself in preparation for a rock and roll show! I plan to make raw lasagna later in the week, and since the cheeze takes a day to set and the sauce tastes better if it has achance to marinate, I figured I'd use my day off to get a head start.

I came back down, made cheese and dip, then made myself a little bowl with some guac and the spinach dip and some Go Raw! crackers (holy shit these rule!) and celery, then headed to Chapel Thrill to see my favorite band from 2009: The RAA!

When I got to the 506, Dork was still there, even though she said she was going to leave. The opening band, Pepper Rabbit were pretty good and I talked to one of the guys outside, they seem super nice. They're playing SxSW this week, so if you're there.

The Rural Alberta Advantage went on next and were fantastic as always. Even Dork stayed untl they played Frank, AB at the end of the set, because they were captivating and the mood in the room was great. I went home and totally passed out.

They also played a lot of stuff off the old album, including Don't Haunt this place:


And a sweet cover of Eye Of the Tiger:

Tuesday (day 7!) I got up early and went to the gym. I'm trying to make sure I eat every 2 hours or so but I'm kinda crappy at it so wish me luck! I had a cookie before the gym, then came home and set about making vegan sushi, with the cauliflower "rice," cukes and avocado. I wish I had pickled some radishes, but I need to get my pickling pants on and get to it. Also the cucumber harvest is apparently shitty because I haven't seen kirbys ANYWHERE.

I packed some chard ceviche for dinner and headed to work, pounding the last 3 dates I had in the car for some energy, then bounced around 10:00, got home, had some celery and spinach dip, dropped the cashew cheese (which is SO tasty!) into the fridge and went to sleep!

Raw For Lent: Days 3-5

Day 3:

So Friday was actually an amazing day for me; I scarfed a banana then the whole band headed to my favorite museum (possibly in the world, now that they redid it) the MoMA, for an exhibit devoted EXCLUSIVELY to Picasso and guitars. After the museum, we stopped at Caravan of Dreams to pick up some vegan eats and live eats for me.
I ordered the live pizza and the nori salad sandwich, got a hot soup for my dad, as well as an avocado caesar and roasted veggies for my mom. Dork ordered a veggie burger and a salad. So, for those of you who followed my adventures last year, you may remember two things: 1 - I was hardcore craving bread by the time I got to NYC in 2010 and 2 - I got crazy fucking food poisoning at Pure food and wine. For those of you who have followed me longer, you'll know 2010 wasn't the first time I got food poisoning at Pure. This year,after eating this amazing pizza I literally said out loud, in the car with my mom "FUCK Pure food!" The pizza was amazing-- dehydrated chia crust, cherry tomato/garlic tomato sauce, pesto and cashew cream topped with cherry tomatoes, arugula, olives, sprouts and avocado. SO delicious that I'm considering getting a dehydrator. So my review: Caravan of Dreams. No other raw joint I've visited yet (except The Raw Choice lifestyle center, RIP!) has been worth your raw dollars. Also had a coconut mango pie that was just to die for.

Speaking of arugula, before the raw set in, my dadtotally bought us a box of rugulah, the jewish pastry treat. I kept offering it to Sick who was like "uh, no I'm cool" thinking I meant the spicy green, not the tasty cookie. Apparently they go quick. I hope my dad puts the rest in the freezer for when I am next home.

We played a good show in Brooklyn, then came home and had an evening snack (an avocado for me, a plate of chinese food for Dork).

Day 4:
Before Philly I had the nori sandwich, which was not quite as delicious as the pizza, but the chia onion bread totally made up for any topping shortcomings. My mom, as a going-away-good-luck present cut me up what I can only presume was an entire HEAD of iceberg lettuce, along with some radishes, cukes, string beans, broccoli and grape tomatoes and put it into a big freezer bag. You will laugh, but I carted that shit all over Philadelphia. I put it in the crisper of three separate punk houses. I snacked on it before load in. I snacked on it for breakfast. Aside from that sandwich, it was pretty much all I ate, and I'm cool with that.

Day 5:
I spent most of the day grazing on th rest of the salad my mom made for me. We stopped in DC (which was torture, since it was Asylum's vegan brunch!) and went to an asian restaurant where I got a salad (boring!) and drank water while we visited my awesome friend Chrissy. She just moved to a sweet apartment that's like, a 2 minute walk from the main drag of Adams Morgan and is apparently trying every ethiopian restaurant on the street so that when I come back after lent, we can get the very best. Hooray!

We rolled into dirty Durham at around 11:00, unloaded, dropped by my work so I could pick up a schedule (and found out that of course, I'm working St. Patty's Day) then came home where dork and I ate the only thing we each had in the fridge: KIMCHI! I just topped it off with a handful of almonds and am just about ready to go to sleep.

Sorry that this blog has been so foodcentric at first; most of the day-to-day ramblings are covered (or will be) in the band blog over at http://pinkflag.blog.com :)

Raw For Lent: Days 1 & 2

DAY 1

Did I say woefully unprepared? I meant fucking seriously totally not prepared at all in any way shape or form. Last year, I was raw for about a month before tour, so used to it. This time, I was faced with the temptations of a vegan friendly city, life on the road and tiredness.

For breakfast I had some half sour pickles and a grapple (it's a genetically manipulated apple that tastes like a grape), which was disappointing because I was expecting it to be a braeburn or something. We arrived in Providence and AS220's menu looked SOOOOOO good, but I was good and got a kale salad, eating around the roasted squash. It gave me a great idea though-- pickles in salads. Also, pickled carrots. YUM. (This picture taken after decimating most of the kale).

Later that night I caved when a group of guys who had driven 2 hours to our show sent us a round of drinks, so I got a wine, which really now, is pickled grape juice. Even so, I'm trying to be better and calling it my tour adjustment setback. Plus, anyone who knows me knows that ordering wine is like being caught picking my nosefor me.
Anyway, the next morning, our hostess, Justine, from Math the Band, made hashbrowns for the girls and provided me with a lovely, sweet pink grapefruit as well as bananas if I wanted them, which was awesome. We drove back and discussed going to manhattan (Caravan of Dreams or Angelica's raw entrees are calling my name) but with the rain, the girls ended up getting pizza and I made myself a very very pretty salad of romaine, cukes, pickles, radish, tomato, avocado and vinegar, along with a handful of raw almonds. We are now getting ready to rent a movie and head to the city tomorrow, so wish me luck on this journey! :)

Mardi Gras, a last Hurrah!

My mardi gras RULED, and what a fucking last hurrah.

We had lunch at Elaine's (a pan-asian restaurant) in Great Neck, where I got a veggie maki bento box. Dork and Sick got boxes too. My box came with miso soup as well and looked so cute!

Went around corner to kensington deli to get pickles for raw days and deliciousness.

My mom took us to NYC so we could pick up dinner before our LI show-- we got vegan treats at atlas (a slice of strawberry shortcake and a coconut doughnut for me, coconut cupcake for dork), headed downtown to Soho and nolita so Sick could sample the wares of Ray's Pizza as well as check out the DASH store (where there was a line!) and which is coincidentally directly next door to the Opera Gallery, which has been my fav modern art dealer since HS. Not that I have themeans to buy modern art.

Spider web roll and house roll from Soy and Sake, ate home then headed out to Mr. Beery's on LI for a rock and roll throwdown with Let Me Crazy (just put out a BALLER new record) and Playing Dead (who get better every time I hear them) who we have played with in NC.

Drank Rastafar-rye and Pyrat rum, switched to Bud around karaoke, sloshy, spilly time. Good friends.

Came home, had vegan strawberry shortcake and a lemon snapple. Life is good. Rawness starts today, and I am woefully unprepared.

New Year, New Attempts

I have been *the worst* blogger guys!

I'm going to change all of that though. I resolved to try and post at least once a week (and yeah, I'm already late) but will be doing my darndest to keep it up!

So, I stopped at several joints on the way to and from NYC this year, unfortunately, none besides my beloved Vegan Treats were really worth mentioning (except Soy and Sake, which I visited a whopping 3 times in NYC. Holy shit that place could be my life partner) so I figured I'd talk about the obligatory 2010 music post.

And then I realized, no, I didn't buy much new music. I listened to a lot of it, but ultimately found myself disappointed by the large majority of the records that came out last year AS A WHOLE. I wanted to love Corin Tucker's solo record. I wish that Deerhoof capitvated me. I totally don't understand Robyn as a whole.

That said, I did find some shit worth listening to, and I've made you a mix of it.

Download the ZIP file here!

1. Ke$ha - Tik Tok
Love or hate her, there was no escaping Ke$ha this year. And you know what? Her album is rad. I chose this song because it so obviously represents her (it is her "Baby One More Time"). Plus, you know you've shouted along to it, drunk, at least twice.

2. Screaming Females - Pretty Okay
I know this song was previously released, but I am counting it as a 2010 release (due to the Singles compilation happening). This is so worth buying. Buy it. It's so good.

3. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Gimme The Wire

Having never really listened to Ted Leo outside of my Nike running mixes, I found myself pretty surprised by the goodness. Moreso by the awesome, Steely Dan meets pop punk feeling to this song. And I say that as a SD fan.

4. Broken Bells - Trap Doors

A lot of people have had some not so nice things to say about the Broken Bells record. I happen to like it, although I do think it's tonally a little inconsistent. Its best work is on songs like this one, where it sticks to dark synthpop. And I think this song sounds like it could've been a Tears For Fears song. Just sayin'.

5. Beach Fossils - Face It

I assume that most of you haven't been living under a rock and know that bands with Beach/Surf names, an abusive hand with spring reverb and generally at least two underfed hipsters in Ray Bans have spawned faster than wet gremlins in 2010. So instead of taking an entirely anti-"beach" stance, I found the band most likely to succeed outside of this beachiness in my heart, mainly because of these sweet ass guitar licks that sound like every boy in every band I ever had a crush on in high school.

6. Veelee - When You Gonna Come Home?

Man, I really wanted to give you guys Blood's Sake, but I bought it on iTunes so I can't share that one. Veelee have been making consistently good minimalist (in the Philip Glass sense) pop/electro. You may remember their year end EP in 2009. Watch out for them. They're based in Carrboro, but I see national tours very soon. Oh yeah, don't be an asshole like me. Buy yr digital copy at their bandcamp.

7. Last Year's Men - Karma

Good on the boys at Churchkey for releasing this song as a free one, as it is easily one of their best. I know what you're thinking; spring reverb, twang-- another surf band? NO. This recording is not what this band sounds like anymore. When they come to your town, go see them, then just hitch yr car to their minivan and enjoy the rest of the tour. They will sweat, bleed and spit on you and you'll love it.

8. Rat Jackson - Summer Hummer

God Bless Rat Jackson. That's all.

9. Tokyo Police Club - Not Sick

I think I might be the only person over 25 who still buys shit that comes out on Saddle Creek. But you know what? I like it. And his voice. And their last record. And this record.

10. Wolf Parade - Ghost Pressure

As unnerving as it is to listen to this David Byrne impression, I like this record. I didn't much care about Mt Zoomer but I think that their break up caused more buzz for the record. And it's cool. Heart the synths, but I am a dance music whore.

11. Yeasayer - Love Me Girl

OMG YEASAYER WROTE AN HONEST TO GOD TRANCE SONG. When I saw them (probably in 2006 or 2007?) I was not a fan and I don't really love the record, but I think this song is great.

12. Four Tet - This Unfolds

Four Tet is one of those things that I never really set out to listen to, but when I stumble across it always seems ever more attractive, and with every listen endears itself to me further. It is clever and self referential (and maybe a little self reverential too) but it totally takes the icky "reading into lyrics" part out of putting on music when someone comes over while still being sexy.

13. LCD Soundsystem - You Wanted a Hit

This whole record is full of songs that have already been written by LCD and appeared on other records. Yeah, they have different names and words, but they're the same. They're still good, just kind of stale. But then there's You Wanted a Hit. Which is different for me somehow. I think it's because it sounds kind of like a Say Hi song.

14. No Age - Fever Dreaming

I really just want to be in this band. There is nothing I dislike about this record. I love that half of it sounds like it was recorded in a studio and half sounds like it was recorded by an iphone in a shitty club with a shittier PA. YOU CAN SLEEP ON MY COUCH, NO AGE.

15. Male Bonding - All Things This Way

Male Bonding are sort of like my poor man's No Age. I like their record a lot too, except the pussy 13th track. WTF Male Bonding?

16. Dinosaur Feathers - Vendela Vida

I have no idea how I came across this song. It just happened. And I just can't deny its ridiculous awesomeness. It reminds me a little bit of what would happen if Franz Ferdinand had a lovebaby with Vampire Weekend.

17. Trophy Wife (UK) - Microlite (acoustic)

Who is Trophy Wife? They're a self declared British DISCO band. And their songs, while dance music, are fucking beautiful, as evidenced by this acoustic guitar based version of their big hit, Microlite.

18. Clive Tanaka y su orchestra - Neu Chicago

This guy is going to be THE next big thing in dance if there is any justice in the world. God, I want to go to a party where he is the DJ. Everything has a fantastically happy feel to it. I can't wait for something to be released NOT ON CASSETTE TAPE.