We Are The Champions

The GRAMMY AWARDS are tonight!!

Who loves award shows? I DO! And who’s excited that the Grammys are on tonight??? I AM!!

I love watching the Grammys and seeing all the outfits, hearing all the amazing performances and laughing at some of the speeches too! I generally list each category and who I think will win, but there are seriously a MILLION categories! So I’m just going to pick some of the main ones. Here are my choices (highlighted in pink) and the winners (highlited in bold green) for the Grammys:

RECORD OF THE YEAR:
Halo — Beyonce
I Gotta Feeling — The Black Eyed Peas
Use Somebody — Kings of Leon (my pick!)
Poker Face — Lady Gaga
You Belong With Me — Taylor Swift

ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
I Am . . . Sasha Fierce — Beyonce
The E.N.D. — The Black Eyed Peas
The Fame — Lady Gaga
Big Whiskey And the Groogrux King — Dave Matthews Band
Fearless — Taylor Swift (my pick!)

SONG OF THE YEAR:
Poker Face — Lady Gaga
Pretty Wings — Maxwell
Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) —Beyonce (my pick!)
Use Somebody — Kings of Leon
You Belong With Me — Taylor Swift

BEST NEW ARTIST:
Zac Brown Band
Keri Hilson
MGMT
Silverspun Pickups
The Ting Tings

BEST FEMALE POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE:
Hometown Glory — Adele
Halo — Beyonce
Hot N Cold — Katy Perry
Sober — Pink
You Belong With Me — Taylor Swift

BEST MALE POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE:
This Time — John Legend
Love You — Maxwell
Make It Mine — Jason Mraz
If You Don’t Know Me By Now — Seal
All About the Love Again — Stevie Wonder

BEST POP PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP WITH VOCALS:
I Gotta Feeling — The Black Eyed Peas
We Weren’t Born To Follow — Bon Jovi
Never Say Never — The Fray
Sara Smile — Daryls Hall & John Oates
Kids — MGMT

BEST POP COLLABORATION WITH VOCALS:
Sea of Heartbreak — Rosanne Cash & Bruce Springsteen
Love Sex Magic — Ciara & Justin Timberlake
Lucky — Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat (my pick!)
Baby , It’s Cold Outside — Willie Nelson & Norah Jones
Breathe — Taylor Swift & Colbie Caillat

BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM:
The E.N.D. — The Black Eyed Peas
Breakthrough — Colbie Caillat
All I Ever Wanted — Kelly Clarkson
The Fray — The Fray
Funhouse — Pink

BEST DANCE RECORDING:
Boom Boom Pow — The Black Eyed Peas
When Love Takes Over — David Guetta & Kelly Rowland
Poker Face — Lady Gaga (my pick!)
Celebration — Madonna
Womanizer — Britney Spears

BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP:
Can’t Find My Way Home — Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood
Life In Technicolor II — Coldplay
21 Guns — Green Day
Use Somebody — Kings Of Leon (my pick!)
I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight — U2

BEST HARD ROCK PERFORMANCE:
War Machine — AC/DC
Check My Brain — Alice In Chains
What I’ve Done — Linkin Park
The Unforgiven III — Metallica
Burn It to The Ground — Nickelback

BEST ROCK SONG:
The Fixer — Pearl Jam
I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight — U2
21 Guns — Green Day
Use Somebody — Kings Of Leon (my pick!)
Working On A Dream — Bruce Springsteen

BEST ROCK ALBUM:
Black Ice — AC/DC
Live From Madison Square Garden — Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood
21st Century Breakdown — Green Day
Big Whiskey And The Groogrux King — Dave Matthew Band
No Line On The Horizon — U2

BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM:
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today — David Byrne & Brian Eno
The Open Door — Death Cab For Cutie
Sounds Of The Universe — Depeche Mode
Wolgang Amadeus Pheonix — Phoenix (my pick!)
It’s Blitz! — Yeah Yeah Yeahs

BEST R&B SONG:
Blame It — Jamie Foxx
Lions, Tigers & Bears — Jazmine Sullivan
Pretty Wings — Maxwell
Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) — Beyonce (my pick!)
Under — Pleasure P

BEST RAP SOLO PERFORMANCE:
Best I Ever Had — Drake
Beautiful — Eminem
D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune) — Jay-Z (my pick!)
Day ‘N’ Nite — Kid Cudi
Casa Bey —Mos Def

BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION:
Ego — Beyonce & Kanye West
Know You Down — Keri Hilson, Kanye West & Ne-Yo
Run This Town — Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West
I’m On A Boat — The Lonely Island & T-Pain
Dead And Gone — T.I. & Justin Timberlake

BEST COUNTRY ALBUM:
The Foundation — Zac Brown Band
Twang — George Strait
Fearless — Taylor Swift (my pick!)
Defying Gravity — Keith Urban
Call Me Crazy — Lee Ann Womack

BEST GOSPEL PERFORMANCE:
Wait On The Lord — Donnie McClurkin Featuring Karen Clark Sheard
Free To Be Me — Francesca Battistelli
Jesus Is Love — Heather Headley Featuring Smokie Norful
I Believe — Johnny Lang With Fisk Jubilee Singers
Born Again — Third Day, Featuring Lacey Moseley

BEST COMPILATION SOUNDTRACK ALBUM FOR MOTION PICTURE, TELEVISION, OR OTHER VISUAL MEDIA:
Slumdog Millionaire — Various Artists
Cadillac Records — Various Artists
Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds —Various Artists
True Blood — Various Artists
Twilight — Various Artists

BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK ALBUM FOR MOTION PICTURE, TELEVISION, OR OTHER VISUAL MEDIA:
Up
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Disc 1)
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
Milk
Star Trek

BEST SONG WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURE, TELEVISION, OR OTHER VISUAL MEDIA:
Jai Ho — Slumdog Millionaire
All Is Love — Where The Wild Things Are
Decode — Twilight
Once In A Lifetime — Cadillac Records
The Wrestler — The Wrestler

Colors Of The Wind

I recently started following a blog called Color Me Katie. It’s a blog that Katie Sokoler maintains. She’s a NY Photographer and, I think, one of the most fun and creative people on the planet. Her blog always inspires the creativity that runs amok in my own mind.

Katie recently blogged about a Chalk Walk she did, where she went out in front of her home and traced her footsteps in bright chalk colors. You can read HER post about it HERE.

I decided I would do the same, and add some color to my block as well. I live on a fairly busy main street in the Northgate neighborhood. A LOT of people are constantly walking up and down my street to get to the store, the mall, the ice cream shop, etc. The fact that it was just a wee bit rainy outside just made this art project even more fun! Here are some pictures from my Chalk Walk:

my weapons of choice 😀

You know, just so I won’t be held liable . . .

Step One

Soooo fun and soooo pretty!

I’m in love with the colorful contrast!

One foot in front of the other . . .

Almost to the end!

Looking back at where I’ve been

It was SO fun sitting by my window and watching all the people follow the footsteps and laugh and question why the footprints were there!

Good Old Acappella

Last Sunday I got to go to my housemate, Karli’s, A Capella invitational. It was so fun! I love watching people sing and it was fun to go out with some of my other housemates and cheer Karli on! Here are some photos and videos from the performance:

Before the performance

After the show

GARDEN LEVEL

And I didn’t get a photo of them, but here is UnDEFINED, an A Capella group from Western Washington University, singing a song called
McDONALD’S GIRL

http://www.youtube.com/v/vDvkZ6FjbG8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1

————————

As a special treat, here is a video of another A Capella group performing Poker Face. One of the baristas at Caffe Ladro told me about this one and it’s hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/v/bW5czKqT05A&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1

The Music Of The Night

I realize I haven’t shared some of my latest music finds, and it’s probably time I do that! 😀

Here are 5 of my newer additions to my iTunes—I hope you like them!

(if not, don’t tell me, kay. Or if you do, say “Just kidding” afterwards so I’ll be left to wonder if you were really joking or not. Odds are, I’ll forget 5 minutes later)

1. SET FIRE TO THE THIRD BAR by Snow Patrol
New fave! Love it! It’s emo, yes, but sooo sooo beautiful! I realize it’s not REALLY a NEW song per se, but it’s definitely a new favorite.

The Silence

Lost comes back on in 6 days!!

I was a bit worried at first that I was going to have to miss this season or watch it by myself on hulu . . . but that’s not how it’s goin’ down folks!

I talked to Alisa (my small group leader) last night and since our small group meets on Tuesday nights, I’ll be getting together with Alisa and her husby Dan, and Kyle (drummer for our worship team) and another friend to watch LOST on Wednesdays—recorded from Tuesday!

Ideally, I’d like to see it Tuesday night, but getting to be around friends AND watch LOST in it’s last season is SO much better! I’m really excited!

I’m also a bit worried. Here is what sucks about living on the west coast—everyone on the east coast gets to see things before I do! So all my friend to the east of me will be tweeting and FBing and texting up a storm about what’s going on. And I can’t just NOT check my twitter and FB! I’m too addicted to them! I don’t know if I could handle interweebz silence from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday night. It’s just TOO tempting!!

Ahhhh! I just don’t know what I’ll do. I may try it next week, just to see how strong I am against the forces of internet addiction. 😉 We’ll see how it goes.

In the meantime, the CHOPSTICK CHALLENGE is going great! In fact, today I accidentally left my chopsticks at work, so I ate at Panda Express for din, just so I could be sure to have chopsticks readily available. So now I have 2 sets!

That’s What Friends Are For

My old housemate, Geizel, was on the bus this morning on my ride in to downtown. 😀 She and I had planned this summer to go to New York together, but due to her needing to take medication not covered by her health care plan, she’s not going to be able to.
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But not to worry, this change of plans just makes things EVEN BETTER!

I talked to my best friend, Sarah, this morning. She is originally from Baltimore, Maryland but now she and her husband live in West Virginia. So, in our talking, the loose game plan right now is to fly into Baltimore, and meet up with her there and stay the night with her folks, who just bought a swanky new townhouse. Did I mention that this townhouse has a game room? With board games and video games and all other types of gaming goodness??? I’m SO stoked!

From there, we’ll spend some time in Baltimore with the family and then she and I will road trip it up to The Big Apple and check out some fun stuff together! I’m super duper excited!

Then we are gonna head back to Baltimore and spend some more time enjoying each other’s company.

I’m really excited to see what kind of silly goodness we can add to our time together!

The last time we saw each other was over a year and a half ago. This visit is LONG overdue!

Mi Vida Loca

http://www.youtube.com/v/wKfmsOfYNh8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1

I’m totally going to see this movie!

You know why? I’ll tell you why:

1. I TOTALLY love America Ferrera—she’s one of my fave actresses

2. It involves a crazy mexican family—like mine!

3. It’s funny—and i like funny movies

4. El Vato dice bye bye—give it up for Spanglish!!

5. I realize that whoever I choose to marry, a little bit of those shenanigans may ensue—I’ll take notes during the movie on how to cut the damage down. 😉

Chopsticks

These are the weapons of my warfare this week

On Saturday when I went to dinner with the housemates at the Japanese restaurant, they gave us chopsticks to eat with (duh!). So as we were waiting for our food, I decided to pick out ice cubes from my glass of water with my chopsticks.

During our dinner conversation, we were talking about my ability to pick out ice cubes with my chopsticks. So I decided that for this next week, starting on Monday and going ’til Sunday, I’m going to eat all of my food using ONLY those chopsticks. I’m thinking it will be a fun endeavor and a small challenge at that. So tomorrow starts day one!

I’m quite excited and I’ll keep you posted on how it goes!

In the meantime, just try to imagine me eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch with only chopsticks! 😉

Ice Cream

We had some housemate hangout time tonight and we went to Molly Moons Ice Cream and then to a Japanese restaurant in Wallingford. I had already eaten dinner earlier, and was still full, so I just got some edamame at the restaurant, and some amazing ice cream at Molly Moons. They had this amazing “Scout” Mint ice cream and it was delish!

So after eating my ice cream, the sugar buzz came and it showed up strong the rest of the night. We were driving around in Karli’s car and she was bumpin’ some rap music and we would be at stoplights, and me riding shotgun, would whip out my chopsticks (from the restaurant) and start bustin’ some moves for all the passersby. It was awesome!! Then we went to the QFC grocery store and I was dancing in the aisles to the music playing in the store. Gina dared me to go up to one of the cashiers and dance in front of them randomly—so i DID! The people in front of me were laughing. I loved it! 😀

2 things that prove it was an amazing night:

1. This status update from one of my housemates:

and

2. This video of our car dancing shenanigans:

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

Laughing With

I’ve been noticing as of late, my different laughs. I have a different laugh for so many things. I USED to laugh like The Count from Sesame Street—you know, that “One rubber ducky, Ha! Two rubber duckies, HA HA!” It was weird. I’ve since outgrown it.

But I am quite the laughing anomaly. When I laugh, I really get into it. Sometimes it’s really hard to stop. I’m like a giant tickle me Amanda—it’s ridiculous. I remember when my old home church used to have pews instead of chairs, and I would be sitting in the service and the pastor would say something humorous. A lot of times, it was only humorous to me, because of the WAY he would say something or because something he said triggered another memory of something funny. I really have a hard time focusing during teachings as it is, so my mind always wandered. This would only be a minor problem if I didn’t feel the need to add commentary along with my giggles, which only leads to more giggles. So then like, the whole pew would be shaking cause of my laughing. My friend Don would always let me know. 😉 Gosh I was SUCH a distraction. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20, eh?

Anyway . . . all of that to say:

I have an issue with typing or saying LOL. I always say ha ha ha ha ha, and I type it out for as long as I’m actually laughing. I don’t know why, I just get hung up with saying LOL. I don’t mind when others do it, I just can’t bring myself to do it.

I wonder if there’s a support group for this . . .