I was looking back through old posts (isn't it funny how much we still continue to grow and change as we get older...what a difference a year can make). I came across some professing my love for Lady Gaga. Early 2010 I had a major Gaga obsession. In 2009, I even ventured to a Gaga concert with KD. I figured this post would be appropriate with the new release of Gaga's single, Born This Way. My obsession with Gaga has died down. I was less than impressed with Born This Way (although it is super catchy and I've had it stuck in my head all day...an iTunes purchase may be in my future). I've always been enamored by even Gaga's craziest looks:
I think we all might agree that these are going a little too far and I can't quite understand them...
Can.not.understand. I'm sure she has some seemingly legit reasons for this craziness. I still think she is an icon, has a fabulous talent, and is beautiful. She rocks out some bad ass magazine covers.
I rave and rave and rave about Gaga, but I'm not always the best at fully expressing the reasons exactly WHY I adore her. Zachary is an up and coming 20something blogger living in NYC. He blogs about all things 20something as well as GAGA. He wrote this fab post on the influence and inspiration of Gaga. Read.
One of my favorite statements:
"She makes me want to live my life in a way that money doesn't matter, titles don't matter, only expression, experience, and creativity matter."
As is typical, I've been awful with updating! Let me tell you how ridiculous things have been at work/school. We're getting ready for end of grade tests (not sure what they call them in Georgia these days). That is just one of the many things I have going on...I'm starting summer school in May (online and then face-to-face). D and I are trying to budget for the summer months when I don't get paid. We also had some wonderful friends (our first Raleigh guests!) in town this weekend.
When I get free time, I try to write and schedule a bunch of posts all at once. Enjoy this while you wait for more posts :)
A while back I was inspired by Kathy Griffin* to write a Bucket List. In a wonderfully hilarious episode of "My Life on the D List" in which Kathy gets her mom to write a Bucket List, I figured I should make my own. Through all of our moving, I have of course misplaced my written Bucket List. I figured I'd publish what I remember and chronicle along the way as I mark things off.
BUCKET LIST UPDATED 04/2010
Return to Cambodia with MPK: My sister, MPK, is adopted from Cambodia. My entire family ventured there the summer before my senior year in high school. It was a life changing experience and I can't wait for the day that I get to take MPK back there and share that experience with her.
This is an older pic of MPK, she's now 9 years old!
Visit Columbia with MGK: My other sister, MGK is adopted from Columbia. She was adopted while I was in college and I didn't get to venture down for that two month trip. I want to do the same for MGK and see where she was born.
MGK in 2008; she is now about to be 7.
Visit California wine country: D and I have never been to California at all. We've heard wonderful things about wine country and are dying to go. I mean what could be better than drinking wine all day?
Eat in one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants: That's right. D and I are big fans of Kicthen Nightmares, Hell's Kitchen, and other mildly entertaining Ramsay shows. I have to eat at one of his restaurants before I die.
Travel to New Zealand
Travel to NYC (I obviously have lots of places I want to travel)
Meet Lady Gaga: I'm trying to put things on my list that are mostly attainable. This may never happen, but I at least have to try. I think about the influence Gaga has had on me over the past year, and I know she is someone I want to meet in person. Hmm...how to make this happen?
One of my favorite Gaga pictures; Elle January 2010 photo spread
Own a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes: Just so I can sort of feel like I was once a character from Sex and the City. Yes, they cost probably more than half of my wonderfully small teachers salary. One day I will have a fabulous pair of heels that I will have nowhere to wear them to...
Buy a house: Where? Who knows. When? Who knows (except all I know is that I can't wait to upgrade from this little house). We will though.
See a Broadway show
Travel to every continent: Well...I've marked off Europe, South America, and Asia. I'd love to go back to South America and Asia with D. So maybe I should amend this bullet to include "with D."
Volunteer in an orphanage
Run a half marathon: Maybe I can eventually amend this to whole marathon...but let's don't get too far ahead of myself.
Become a teacher: Working on this one. I'm not technically going to cross it off until I am officially certified as a REAL teacher
Backpack Europe: Check. June/July 2009. And got engaged :)
Move out of Georgia: Check. March 2010. ABOUT TIME.
...To be continued.
*I used to be a hater of Kathy. After watching "My Life on the D List, I seriously could not get enough of her. She is a lover of the GLBT community, her mother, Maggie, and all things related to being an attention whore. Love her.
So I am finally getting some time to sit down and do a bit of blogging. I don't have as much access to a computer these days, so the few posts I've written recently are either from my phone or about our elopement. There have been so many changes in my life, I want to escape a bit. It's no secret that I love Gaga, and I've been meaning to mention the amazing, wonderful video that is Telephone.
The video premiered on March 11, 2010; however I was in Aruba and missed it. When I was finally able to watch it, I was in awe. I mean...my jaw dropped to the floor. I was later catching up on my blogs and found Blackberries to Apples', who is also a lover and fan of Gaga (and even has a tattoo inspired by her), review of the video as well. I'm not here to critique that review, but I do disagree in some senses (but I am a person who knows little to nothing about art, media, or music).
Videos rarely have anything to do with the actual song in my opinion, and this was no different. Every single thing about this video is why I love Gaga. She thinks outside the box. She is who she is. I won't copy Blackberries' review, but it points out all the most wonderful parts and scenes of the video. Including...
Natali Gemranotta, Gaga's sister. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. At 1:54, Gaga's makes out with another prison inmate with the cigarette sunglasses. I feel like the video is just flicking a finger at all those who criticize her. She is who she is, like it or not. And of course, I adore it.
How could we forget the fabulous Diet Coke hair curlers (and note, we are only 2 minutes into the 9 minute video!)
The video seriously gives me chills! At 3:19, Gaga goes into the dance scene. My friend, KD, is always attempting to learn Gaga's dances. Trust me, I couldn't even attempt. I am always awestruck by her moves though. The studded bikini and caution tape. Adore.
At 6:20, begins Gaga's sandwich and diner portion. Love gay men dancing, the phones on her head, sandwiches, american flag outfits :)
I wasn't the biggest fan of this song until the video came out. I have never seen anything like it. I absolutely can't wait for her next video :) Long live Gaga!
...because if it is, I LOVE Gaga (she prefers that her little monsters call her Gaga). Perez posted these Gaga pics on his fashion oriented site, CocoPerez, earlier today:
OMFG. This is Gaga in London. I die over the hair. The Chanel sunglasses. The leopard. Wow. I want to be good friends with her so I can ask about the inspiration behind the hair.
Next, the BRIT Award red carpet. I personally think that would be a perfect dress because it would totally hide my belly and hourglass figure. A perfect drinking dress. I'm sure Gaga had much better inspiration in mind (because she is definitely a much deeper and profound thinker than myself).
I literally just stare at these pictures and am in awe of her. She is just so amazingly creative. Obv my Gaga obsession is different than my Khloe Kardashian obsession. I just want to hang out with Gaga for a week. We'd be best buds.
Last Friday Gaga was on Oprah. Best interview I have ever seen. I adore her more and more everytime I see her. I think the interview really sheds light on how amazingly talented she is. Go here and here to watch both parts of her interview. If you don't have time to watch the interviews, well you should. Bookmark them and watch when you can. Even if you're not a Gaga fan, watch them. Anyway, what I wanted to mention was that on January 24, Gaga is taking all proceeds from her NYC concert, schwag (spelling??) sold, etc. and giving the $$ to Haiti. Also, anything you buy from her shop on January 24, those proceeds will also go to Haiti. I'm definitely going to make a point to buy something. One because I love Gaga and want some schwag and two because it's a way I can help Haiti. I'm not really the best at donating my money to good causes. Thanks Gaga for encouraging me to support a good cause.
All proceeds from this shirt go to assist Haiti; $25
Gaga gave Oprah a pair of these awesome headphones. I was set. I knew I wanted to buy them...that was until I saw the price....only $99.95! Wtf?? I love Gaga but I have no clue what she or the Haus of Gaga is thinking with that pricetag. Needless to say, I will not be purchasing those on the 24th.
Sweet! These are only $10 and we all know I love some wayfarers.
My friend, KD, loves this shirt. It makes me laugh but I'm not a huge fan. Probably couldn't wear in it public...even though I'm totally a fan of the gays. Maybe if I lived in San Fran?
I'm considering this shirt for $27, although currently they only have XX-Large :(
I adore Gaga and all things she does. This picture of her is just so strikingly beautiful to me. The black and white probably helps, but gah, she is so pretty! She's my gym motivation these days. After seeing her tight ass/abs/legs/everything at the concert...I'm dying for her body (although trust, I totally accept that is not realistic for me). Love her. Ps. check this out to see how Lady Gaga supports gay rights :)
I was going to post about our vegetarian meal yesterday. Since I want to document our month of vegetarianism, I figured it may just easier to post by the week. Although as I am writing that, I am remember how long it takes to upload pictures on here. So I'll just play it by ear. During the week, I typically don't have time to post (with pictures daily), so I'll go ahead and show you what we did last night. In preparation, we hit up Kroger (unfortunately not Earthfare to save on some funds). We stocked up on strawberries, blueberries, a fresh pineapple, and apples. We purchased spinach, sweet potatoes, lots of cheese, and pasta. We were out of a lot of spices we use regularly, so we had to replinish those as well. Our tab came out to $140, which I was happy to come in under $150. Yesterday morning we had basic poached eggs and toast. That was pre-grocery; we didn't have any fresh fruit or anything to supplement the meal. Suprisingly, it kept me feeling full for most of the morning. This morning we had french toast with fresh fruit. I've been obsessing over my iPhone apps: SparkRecipes and Whole Foods Recipes. They are really convenient to have on my iPhone because I can just look in my favorites for ingredients when at the grocery store. The Whole Foods app is nice because it gives the option to add the ingredients on a specific recipe to your "shopping list" within the app. And as I mentioned yesterday, all the recipes have calorie counts. Anyway, last night we tried:
We couldn't find lo mein noodles at Kroger, so we opted for Thai rice noodles instead. I think they worked, but they probably aren't meant for sauteing either. We also added some different veggies and left out the onions and celery (forgot the celery and I don't like onions). Overall a delicious dish. The portions are doubled on our plates, so I didn't finish mine. It'll probably make for a delicious lunch on Monday. And here's a pic of the work in progress.
I really love cooking with Dustin. It's nice to have a partner and someone to help everything come together. I'm so terrible at multitasking when cooking. I'll keep posted on dishes to follow!
I also wanted to update that KD and I went to the Lady Gaga concert last Tuesday. Amazing and wonderful. She is such an amazing performer. I don't really have GOOD pictures to post. Our seats were so far away. But I adore Lady Gaga. We would totally be friends in real life. I think we have the same morals and values. I love how she is utilizing her fame to do great things for the LGBT community. Ok...off to do the laundry that has been piling up in our room for months!
The BAD: this morning. Where do I even begin?? Fail #1: Finally stepped on the scale. I gained 4+ pounds from my post-Europe weight. FML. I'm pissed, although I shouldn't be. I haven't been trying to eat healthy or even work out. That number should get me motivated. It does explain why I hate all of my clothes and feel so gross lately. I just haven't been taking care of myself. That's not a good thing. In typical New Years fashion, I am vowing to eat healthy and work out. My goal is to work out 5 days a week. I know that's hefty (considering the working out has plummeted to a meager one day on a good week), but I feel like if I say 4 then I'll settle at 4. I'm just so mad at myself for just giving up and not caring enough about myself (and more about food) to stay on the healthy bandwagon. I mean before this looming 4 pounds I would have liked to lose another 10 before Aruba at the beginning of March. Geez...it'll take me 2 months to even lose the 4 pounds. It's time to start caring more about myself and getting back to feeling good.
Fail #2: I slept with my contacts in last night. I'm not going to lie...I'm bad about doing it. Call it laziness? I hate getting cuddled up in bed and watching tv wearing my glasses; therefore I keep the contacts in. After I'm cuddled up, often I am too lazy and comfy to get out of bed and take them out. Ok...back to the story. My left contact is bothering me when I wake up. I take it out a couple times and sort of inspect it. It doesn't have hair on it or seem to have a tear. It isn't terribly bothering me. I can still see. It isn't making my eye water or turn all red. It's bothering enough though. On a third inspection...I notice a minute tear on the edge of the contact. So I figure I'll throw it away and get another one. At our other house, I had a bag of a few boxes of contacted in the bathroom cabinet. After moving, I had a couple of ideas where this bag may have gone. Well...fml, of course I couldn't find it. On a normal day, I would just roll with wearing my glasses and all would be cool. But today is not a normal day. Today is the day I have to drive to downtown Atlanta. Today is the day of the Lady Gaga concert that I MUST be able to see adequately. Ok...so I'm going to get into some TMI here and everyone is probably going to be grossed/weirded out by what is to follow. So there are a few things running through my head...leave work early and get an appointment to get some more contacts! Well...I have no money. I kept debating that one...but I just did not want to deal with that and literally have no money to afford that today. Second thought...find the other contact and deal with it. Picture this: me digging through my trashcan to find this contact with the small tear. That's what I had to go with. To make the situation at least sound better, I did not immediately put the contact back in my eye (ew). I wore my glasses to work and will put in my contacts (after they've been sanitizing in contact solution all day). This fail put me in a terrible mood. And I still don't know where those dang contacts are!
The UGLY: Before the scale and the contact situation, I was promptly awakened to Marlee gagging at the door. The dogs don't throw up too often...but when they do it always happens in the early morning. I hear it, bolt out of bed, and run the dog to the door. As I was bolting up on this particular morning, Bailey (the cat) scratched the hell out of my arm. This is no way to start my morning.
The GOOD: Just to end on a positive note! Lady Gaga concert tonight with KD! Yayyyyyyyyy! And I guess I am proud of myself for going to work out yesterday. I didn't run this morning, but I vow to go tomorrow. And I'll post lots of pictures from the Gaga show!
