my favorites of 2015

Quotes 

I'm sure this quote is not from 2015, but 2015 is when I saw it on the Word Porn Facebook feed, which I also love...



And for my new personal mantra... expanded this year as I've become of lover of more teas than just chai (shocker, I know, but "Mauritius is delicious" ;)

Memories of loved ones lost, in my happy place (aka my garden)

Lucky's painted rose

Granny's Cactus' Flowering

Entertainment: 

Music...

Truth. It's the thing this introvert goes to when I need something no one else can give... time with my thoughts.

... or when I need an amazing communal experience. I saw a lot of concerts this year. But these three by my two fave bands were the most amazing.

U2 i+e Tour live @ The Forum 

Foo Fighters #brokenlegtour + Love Ride 32

Adele "25" 
The new album I (and the world) had been waiting four years for made me feel happy, sad and sassy. It's amazing and has been on repeat in my car and office iTunes for weeks. And her promo appearances on SNL, her NBC special and this Tonight Show Classroom Instruments performance with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots made me love her and the album that much more.

Movies...

Brooklyn
I new very little about this film when I put the screener in the DVD player. It made me laugh, cry, swoon and cheer. Great performances. Great screenplay by Nick Hornby. A great emotional movie experience. 

The Martian
I didn't see this in the theater, but rather on my TV via screener on a sick day, months after everyone I know had already told me how great it was. I wish I had seen it on the big screen. It's big, bold, exciting and magnificent. Great performances. Great special effects. And a great STORY. I haven't seen everything yet, but right now I think this is my pick for Best Picture.

Most 

Most Pleasant Surprise ... (in that this was really good, but most definitely not pleasant)

The Revenant
I had no desire to see this movie. Every time the trailer came on in a theater I counted the minutes till it was over and a "better one" came on. But about week ago, I started to read the reviews. Then one night I decided to put the screener in to see if they were true. Wow. It's brutal, beautiful, sweeping, sad, enraging and excellent. Leonardo DiCaprio could finally win his Oscar for this amazing, heartbreaking performance (as long as the Academy refuses to give Eddie Redmayne two Best Actor Oscars in a row... he's Leo's only competition in my mind right now.)

TV...

This is the year I became a true binge-watching aficionado. I started the year finishing Breaking Bad, started summer with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and have spent the fall and winter with Mad Men -- I have four disks left with Don Draper. As f'ed up as he is, that makes me sad.

This is the year I also decided to no longer waste time watching shows I don't love... so I added exactly one half hour of new television this Fall, and deleted "How to Get Away with Murder," "Sleepy Hollow," Once Upon a Time" and "New Girl" from my Tivo season passes. My "Should I add a new show?" rule this TV season was: "Will I enjoy this as much as or more than another episode of Mad Men?" If not, then I didn't bother.

In the New Year (after Don and I say farewell), I will be focused on reading the pile of unread books I've accumulated in the last two years. (Anyone want to start a Book Club so I'm forced to do this? ;)

my joys of 2015

Long time, no write. I knew I hadn't blogged in a while, but I didn't know it had been almost two whole months. Oops. Well, it's almost a new year, so I can once again add "write more" to my list of New Year's resolutions... maybe 2016 is the year it will stick. I have a good feeling about next year... numerically, it's got two of my birthday numbers in it (2 and 16) and I'm already feeling a pull towards it. This year was sad and stressful. I'm ready for a change in a warm, fuzzy, happy, laughing way next year.



That's not to say all of 2015 was bad though.... at the start of the year, at the urging of Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert (who I now follow on Facebook), I created a "happiness jar." I started with a small jam jar because I knew there was no way I'd remember to toss a piece of paper in there daily... and I didn't. BUT, I am happy to report that as of December 30th, "Kim's Jar of Joy" is pretty full. Maybe next year I will graduate to a pickle jar ;)

Here, in random order as I pick the dumped-out slips of paper off the sofa, are things that brought me joy in 2015:

• 1/15/15: Molly's going away from Disney drinks and seeing Molly, Lisa, Jason, Gino, Dana and Johannes again.
• 5/16/15: Lucky's liver numbers back to 49! Dr. Pitt says he's doing better (ed note: now this makes me cry :*(
• 5/6/15: Gorgeous hike with Marleine at Solstice Canyon, followed by food and cocktails on the beach :)
• 2/16/15: My bday Burke Williams massage and yummy dinner with Mom and Dad at Tuscany
• 11/22/15: Foos website countdown finally opens to new FREE 5-song EP, St. Cecilia. Woot! 
• 1/2/15: I just bought a RED washer and dryer!! Crazy!
• 6/23/15: Just bought Duran Duran tickets for the Bowl on 10/1/15... soon-to-be reunited with my first rock star crush named John. 
• 1/17/15: Mom and Dad's 45th wedding anniversary
• 8/13/15: Portland bound! Long vacay weekend with JZ and RZ! 
• 1/25/15: Finished Breaking Bad. SO GOOD!!!
• 5/30/15: U2 Innocence + Experience concert with Qball. Two+ hours of love, joy and music. 
• 6/19/15: Travel to Taos, NM for Josh and Emily's wedding. Stopped in Santa Fe for sopapillas. Fried dough heaven. 
• 10/18/15: Foos at the Love Ride with the Jorgies. Dave's throne updated to a motorcycle :)
• 2/21/15: Kings beat the Sharks in the the Stadium Series. Win #7 in a row! Back in 3rd place.
• 6/5/15: Finished binge watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Love it!
• 8/1/15: Grillin' Saturday with James, Daryl, La Lizz, Juanita, Susie, Bhavani and new friends Pinky and Scott
• 8/17/15: Six cactus flowers blooming upon my return from Portland. A sign from Granny :)
• 11/20/15: New Adele album out today.. now on repeat in the car and my office iTunes. 
• 6/15/15: Finished throwing out a TON of old articles/papers from my office closet. Simplify! Purge! 
• 1/24/15: Five hours in the garden with roses, flowers.. and chicken manure - lol = Bliss!
• 9/13/15: New car! Zoom Zoom!
• 12/12/15: Christmas cocktails... I simplified this year and actually got to talk to people. Yay!
• 1/28/15: The Kings, who've sucked lately, beat 'da Blackhawks 4-3. Awesome game!
• 5/1/15: Avengers: Age of Ultron ... 2x in one day!
• 7/18/15: It thunder/lightning rained today!!
• 12/26/15: Updated the OS on my MacBook Pro for the first time in five years... and it still works!
• 7/27/15: RZ's Hermione Granger wand arrived today. Can't wait to give it to her :)
• 9/4/15: E.T. @ the Bowl!! LOVE. 
• 3/11/15: Just finished two days at Disneyland with Denise and Emily.. her first time. So fun! Met most of the princesses. Win!
• 4/11/15: Walk MS 5k with the whole family. Raised $8,502!
• 11/28/15: Brooklyn... loved, loved, loved this movie!
• 6/20/15: Josh and Emily's lovely wedding
• 9/11/15: Lenny Kravitz @ the Greek with Qball... and a guy who JUST turned 21. LOL
• 5/8/15: Awesome card in the mail from RZ about purple cups, Harry Potter and fun facts about cholera. Love that kid! 
• 6/3/15: My Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt screener finally arrived!
• 3/7/15: Luc Robitaille statue unveiled! Saw Luc, Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Blakey and Matthew Perry (who did not look good :(
• 9/21/15: Foos @ the Forum w/ Christina, Niki and Lisa. Still in love with Dave Grohl's baby blue guitar.. even tho he broke it tonight. Also love the throne. 
• 12/18/15: Kings destroy the CaSucks 5-0. Tyler Toffoli hat trick #2 of his career!
• 5/4/15: Lucky gained weight and is seeming okay after almost dying a week ago (ed note: more tears now)
• 5/17/15: Got a TON done! Painted garage trim, gardened, cleaned black gunk off mailbox
• 10/4/15: Van Halen with DLR at the Bowl. Concert bucket list item = done!
• 5/14/15: Aveda Rosemary mint body wash - opened the BIG bottle! Love this stuff!
• 1/17/15: I've now seen by two favorite hockey players' numbers retired by the Kings. Tonight #4

this is halloween! this is halloween!

And this is my Franken-Pumpkin... all ready to go out on my porch tonight to welcome little trick-or-treaters!

I was inspired to create Franken-Pumpkin after getting an email to a pumpkin decorating event at Orchard Supply and Hardware (aka Osh) earlier this month. It was a "no carve" event and I thought it was BRILLIANT for many reasons: 

1. I hate getting all those pumpkin innards everywhere. 
2. I have very little patience for creating a perfectly carved pumpkin yet...
3. I'm a perfectionist
4. I have a TON of unused nails and screws and hooks and metal stuff in my garage, left by the previous owners who did my lovely remodel.

So this was perfect for me! Literally, the most time was spent digging through plastic bins looking for a variety of metal stuff...and that took about 7 minutes. 

Then I took my hammer and knocked them into the pumpkin. 

No mess to clean up and he's super cute! I think this is the first of MANY Franken-Pumpkins to come :)

foos in the afternoon

Okay, first things first. I am not a biker. I do not ride motorcycles.. never have, never will. 

However, I AM a huge Foo Fighters fan. So when it was announced that the Foos would be performing at the finale of the 32nd Annual Love Ride event at Castaic Lake -- a mere 30 minutes from my house -- there was no way I was not going to go see them and my favorite baby blue Gibson guitar on the planet. (Especially since riding a Harley there was not required for entry.)

So early this morning -- in order to beat the caravan of motorcycles cruising up the 5 North -- I headed for Castaic, and then waited and waited and listened to opening act Social Distortion and then waited some more before Dave Grohl -- still on crutches -- along with Taylor Hawkins, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Nate Mendel took the tiny stage in front of the lake and start rockin' out.... Taylor on a pink Andy Gibb-adorned drum kit, and Dave on a motorcycle-modified throne. (I love these guys!)

Since this was a special event, the band played around with their (shorter) set list, opening with "Learn to Fly" and "The Pretender."

Then they got into a pattern of a Foos song, a cover song, a Foos song, a cover song. The covers included Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love," Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down," David Bowie's "Under Pressure," and Tom Petty's "Breakdown"... enjoy a #snippet ((c) Dave Grohl, September 21, 2015) here:

Dave was his normal chatty self, still dropping f-bombs here and there, even with his 6-year-old daughter "Harps" dancing around on the side of the stage, with giant lime green headphones on. (He also informed the crowd he would be paying her in lots of jellybeans later for all the bad words he'd said.) Towards the end of the show, he also hilariously spotted a guy out "by that tree," dancing up a storm, doing the "sprinkler" and "running man." So, Dave Grohl being Dave Grohl, he pretty much stopped the show to call attention to him.... and then started calling out wacky dance-move requests.

While it was a shorter set than the Foos' normal 3-hours of awesomeness, and it was really hot when the sun wasn't behind a cloud, (and the bikers will complain that the event ran out of beer..whatevs), it was a super fun show! And best of all, it was for a great cause... all proceeds from the Love Ride go to the Wounded Warrior Project. Feel free to click that link and make a donation if you are so inclined :)

More Foo Fighters Fun:

• A night of foos, thrones, legends and the demise of my favorite baby blue gibson guitar
• My You Tube Foo Fighters concert playlist

missing lucky

It's been a week since I had to say a sad goodbye to my sweet, loving, majestic Lucky boy, and I'm still so sad, especially today because a) it's been exactly a week since he passed and b) because I picked up his ashes tonight. I haven't I've cried as much as I have in the last week in a long, long time. :(

I think part of the reason I'm so sad is because I had to make the decision to say goodbye. And while I know in my head it was the right thing to do so he wouldn't suffer, it still broke my heart. We'd been fighting his failing kidneys for four years, and he'd been such a strong fighter for so long. But after he developed asthma a month ago, and continued to lose weight, I sensed the end was near. Then last Sunday, he started vomiting a lot and his blood tests looked pretty bad when I took him to the vet. Late that night he had another asthma attack, and I knew his little body was failing him. The next morning, I called my dad to go with us to the vet... yet as we drove there, I was still hoping maybe they could just give him a shot for his asthma. But when the vet walked in, he informed me Lucky's white blood cell counts from the day before came back in the "terminal" stage for his kidney disease and I knew that was it.... yet I still made the vet show me the lab report so I could see the results with my own eyes. 

He was the best cat ever for the 15 and a half years I got to be his "person," and I really miss seeing him sitting in the front window when I come home, and his nightly cuddles during TV time. I also miss him keeping the peace / acting as a silent yet all-knowing mediator between me and his crazy sister Lily -- my other cat I adopted just to be Lucky's friend, who hates all people, and who's been living in a donut bed under the dining room table for the last week... with the occasional dash to the litter box or her food bowl in the kitchen. And while that's not that out of the ordinary for her, I can tell she misses Lucky too. 





When my grandma passed away earlier this year, I became acutely aware of certain things that were connected to her, like the cactus plants she'd given me as a little girl. When their pink cactus flowers started blooming this summer, right after her birthday, I felt like those flowers were her way of saying hello to me from one of my "happy places" -- my garden. 

So this weekend, I decided that would be a great way to remember Lucky... by planting something in his memory in my garden. I found this beautiful unique, red and white rose bush, and have planted it in the center of my corner garden. 

It's now Lucky's rose bush, and I will think of him every time it blooms, hopefully with a smile on my face, like the one I get when Granny's cactus flowers bloom. 

bowl concert-palooza: show #3 - van halen

Last weekend I spent three of four nights (Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) at my now most-attended EVER concert venue, the historic Hollywood Bowl. 

Before and after the shows, I battled traffic, herds (yes, herds.. as in "mooo, mooove out of my way people!"), food and beverage lines so long I nearly starved one night (thanks for the organic strawberries Matt ;), and the elements of both rain and pot smoking 50 and 60-year-olds determined to relive their '80s youth via the return of "Diamond Dave." 

But between all that, I saw three awesome, completely different musical extravaganzas that pretty much sum of the range of my musical library :) 

Here's the scoop on Show #3:

October 4, 2015 -- Van Halen - Final Night of North American Tour

So I've loved Van Halen since about 1984 (the year and the album). But was too young to see them in concert then. 

By the time I was (in 1992 and again in 1995), David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen hated each other, and "Diamond Dave" had been replaced by Sammy Hagar singing songs with lots of synthesizers like "Dreams" and "Right Now," which I also loved. (I play no favorites between Sammy and Dave.. they were two very different singers and Van Halen is two very different, yet both great, bands depending on who is singing lead. Please note: I do however agree that the whole Gary Cherone era was a joke, even though I loved him in Extreme.)

I've always regretted not getting to see the band with the showman antics of DLR. When they last got together a few years ago, the tour was cancelled almost as soon as it started. (There were rumors of fighting, but also Eddie's health took a bad turn.) So earlier this year when they went on Jimmy Kimmel and announced they were back together again (again) and were going on tour (again), I was not optimistic. I didn't buy tickets to their two shows at the Bowl when they went on sale in March because, quite honestly, I was pretty sure the tour would be cancelled waaaaaay before October. 

However, as summer went on and they hadn't broken up yet, I started to wish I had tickets. Then one day I got (of all things) a Groupon offer for Van Halen tickets... for $35! Um, sign me up! I was even more excited when my seats that were supposed to be at the top of Bowl in section U, ended up in the middle of the Bowl in section L2. Thank you Groupon Rock Gods!

However, as the day of the show rolled around, so did these magnificent rain clouds....

And as the opening act (the amazingly awesome blues rocker Kenny Wayne Shepherd) played, a few tiny rain drops started falling on our heads.... please don't rain on my Van Halen concert I begged through social media hashtags and silent pleas to the weather gods. Miraculously, they all listened, and the sprinkles stopped and the show went on, allowing me to check "Van Halen with David Lee Roth" off of my Concert Bucket List!

The band (Eddie, Alex + Eddie's son / my fellow Kings fan Wolfgang Van Halen) sounded awesome and tight, as one of the most excellent rock guitarists and rock drummers who've been playing together for 40+ years (plus the son / nephew who got their musical genes) should.

Then there was David Lee Roth. When the crew was setting up after Kenny Wayne Shepherd, they were laying a lot of wood planks down on the stage. "What's that for?" I wondered. Well people, Diamond Dave (or "The Dean Martin of Rock-n-Roll" as my concert buddy Lisa dubbed him halfway through the show) needed a dance floor so he could slide around and "dance the night away"... in between changing his outfit about 20 times. ;) He was the true showman everyone paid to see, and even managed to replicate his high kicks from the "Panama" and "Jump" videos, at the mere age of 60! As for singing, well, let's just say he doesn't have the pipes that the previous singers on my Bowl "concert-palooza" (Simon Le Bon and Idina Menzel) have, but he probably never did, and when Eddie Van Halen is playing guitar, do you really care?

(Note: These videos aren't mine. Like at Duran Duran, I only had my camera phone. So instead of torturing you with bad video, I've found videos on YouTube from people with much better cameras and/or seats. Thanks to these people for uploading :)

Here's the set list, and then video (again, not mine) of the last three, most fun songs of the show. Enjoy! Being as this was the last show of the tour, these just may be the last songs Van Halen (with David Lee Roth) ever perform live :(

bowl concert-palooza: show #2 - idina menzel

Last weekend I spent three of four nights (Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) at my now most-attended EVER concert venue, the historic Hollywood Bowl. 

Before and after the shows, I battled traffic, herds (yes, herds.. as in "mooo, mooove out of my way people!"), food and beverage lines so long I nearly starved one night (thanks for the organic strawberries Matt ;), and the elements of both rain and pot smoking 50 and 60-year-olds determined to relive their '80s youth via the return of "Diamond Dave." 

But between all that, I saw three awesome, completely different musical extravaganzas that pretty much sum of the range of my musical library :) 

Here's the scoop on Show #2:

October 3, 2015 -- Idina Menzel - Final Night of Her World Tour

Night #2 of Bowl "concert-palooza" was the Tony Award-Winning Idina Menzel, with my dear friend Jenny Z, who came down from Portland for the show, and her cousin Erin. This was the first time at the Bowl for both Idina and JZ (aww ;)

I was curious to see what songs she'd perform, as the only albums I own with Idina on them are the Broadway soundtracks to Rent (which I was lucky enough to actually see Idina and the rest of the original cast in on Broadway) and Wicked (which I've seen three times, but never with Idina.) She won her Tony Award for playing Elphaba in Wicked, in large part because she hit these notes eight times a week for months and months and months.... 

(Note: These videos aren't mine. Like at Duran Duran, I only had my camera phone. So instead of torturing you with bad video, I've found videos on YouTube from people with much better cameras and/or seats. Thanks to these people for uploading :)

Her set list covered the Broadway hits she made famous in Rent, Wicked and the just-closed-but-soon-to-be-on-National-tour If/Then. The show was very interactive and she was extremely humble for someone who has earned the right to be a Broadway diva if she wants. 

She went into the audience looking for duet partners for Rent's "Take Me Or Leave Me" and found some really talented people who rose to her challenge. She also told a lot of stories.. some funny, some sad, such as the tragic story of how Rent's creator Jonathan Larson passed away just before seeing his brilliant musical open, then sang its beautifully poignant "No Day But Today" ....

The show also featured her interpretation of some rock hits such as The Police's "Roxanne," (which was part of her "prostitution medley" as she jokingly called it, along with "Love for Sale") and Radiohead's "Creep." And, of course, it had to include the song everyone under the age of 12 came to hear, "Let It Go," aka: the song that got Idina on the Oscars twice.. once to sing it and then a year later so John Travolta could apologize to her for royally screwing up her name. This was her final song before encore and she invited all the kids rush the stage and sing the end with her, which was super-cute.