Freaky Friday: SSFF

And a freaky friday it is indeed. G was up until the wee hours of the morning ordering the new iPhone 5... and I went to bed far too late. It will be and interesting day...

Sights: Our new palace

...pending room cleaning....

here are a few things we purchased for the apartment (not including the knicky-knacky trip I took yesterday for some more unnecessary adorable items):

Butterfly Poster that hangs in Hannah's room $12 via ikea

Easel that sits in the hall for impromptu art sessions $14.99 via ikea

Sheepskin throw for some pizzazz on the sofa via ikea

Sounds: Tyler Lyle

The genius behind The Golden Age & the Silver Girl aka my new addiction. This guy has some serious sex appeal. He has a sort of raspy voice a la Dave Matthews but with a hint of twang, and dose of attitude. And he is such a precious guy. He has a thoughts section on his website with his own musings... on May 17th he wrote,

"Got two songs placed on internationally syndicated shows in the span of a week. Last week I saw a man die on the sidewalk in front of my apartment from what looked like a heart attack. Next week I return to Atlanta with a plan to make an album and re-visit the trucker bar and record store and the pasture lands which are entire districts of my anatomical geography. Life is too difficult and too expansive to say anything about it definitively. One year is nothing and a day is enough to change someone entirely. Enough thoughts. I have to buy frozen pizza for game night."

What a thoughtful guy. Once arrested for Occupy LA, it seems he's rather forward and passionate, which comes through in his music. The title track from his CD is my favorite.

Flaves: Failed batch of chocolate chip cookies

There's nothing like craving something and heading home to make it and ruining it. Such was the case when G and I were at the Co-Op the other night. I decided we must make chocolate chip cookies at 10pm. We purchased the ingredients there. When we got home I followed the instructions from a recipe online but the cookies turned out to be more like a thin, cookie, brownie. How?? Then the other night I took our left over dough and created a giant cookie-brownie. IT-WAS-DELISH. Crisis averted.

Favs: Buddha

As previously mentioned in my post from Wednesday, G and I took a trip to Home Goods and each came home with a buddha. I have been searching for one for quite some time... no not the chubby, smiling man with the coins all around him and fake bamboo. I wanted something more legitimate. I know, Home Goods is not necessarily legitimate but it feels more so and it has inspired me to seek information about buddha and his teachings.
What I understand so far is Siddhartha Gautama was the son of an Indian warrior king who led an extravegent life throughout most of his adolescence. As he became bored with his lavish lifestyle he wandered into the world in search of understanding and after a few encounters he concluded that suffering lay at the end of all existence. He gave up all of his lavish possessions and became a monk in hope of comprehending the truths of the world around him. After an epiphany he spent the remainder of his life traveling around India teaching what he had come to understand, the results of his pondering (if you will): The Four Noble Truths and other contributions to what we now know as Buddhism. These truths are explained as a contingency plan for dealing with the suffering humanity faces. Also a product of his insight is karma. Contrary to the modern opinion of karma, the Buddhist interpretation relates to good or evil actions a person takes during his or her lifetime rather than preordained fate.
The article I read also goes on to talk about The Cycle of Rebirth. Who knew this gorgeous white statue that now resides on my dresser would lead me to so much insight... lovely.
An interesting topic that I will further investigate.
source

Have you ever purchased something, perhaps during travels, that has opened you up to a new interest? Have you ever investigated the origins of things you own?

Hopefully this new knowledge will inspire you to investigate something new!
TGIF- have a glorious weekend everyone!


-H

Sushi, Skulls & Breakfast Sandwiches

Here comes the inaugural post of what we'd like to call: Sights, Sounds, Flaves & Faves, where we will post little diddies about our top places, music, food and obsessions of the moment. Let's begin, shall we?

SIGHT: Masu Sushi & Robata 

This has quickly become Hannah & mine's favorite local place to grab some sushi (we are sushi fiends). Not only is the sushi so perfectly wrapped, but the entire atmosphere of the place is so unique and eclectic. See?

We used to frequent another sushi place in downtown Minneapolis called Nami, where the sushi was possibly just as delicious, but its ambiance did not even come close to Masu's jamming vibe. If you find yourself in Northeast Minneapolis (possibly you just caught a flick at St. Anthony Main, finished a day of classes at the U, just stopped at Bibelot for some quirky gifts...you get the idea), then by golly, get your butt over to this place! The sushi could easily go under Flaves, and actually the restaurant's banging playlist of great tunes could go under Sounds, but it's overall funky decorations, including it's bright pinball machines and unique Japanese Munny dolls--a hybrid of cabbage patch dolls and those big headed Bratz dolls-- that keeps bringing us back! Freaking cool.

SOUND: Hollywood -- RAC (feat. Penguin Prison)

This is one of those songs that I discovered while listening to some random playlist on 8tracks (which by the way is a great site to discover new music), and immediately found myself listening on repeat, and getting really angry that it wasn't on Spotify. Hate that. RAC, a rock/electronica remixing agency, collaborated with Penguin Prison (Chris Glover), a New York-based singer, producer, and remixer, and released this original track in June. This track sparked my interest in Penguin Prison, whose original tracks and remixes always have this funkadelic vibe to them. How about I just add one of his to the mix, while I'm at it?! Here's a fave:

                 Don't Fuck With My Money -- Penguin Prison

I could go on and on with music. But I must stop there. Moving on...

FLAVE: Monte Cristo

I could easily create my own blog devoted to Monte Cristos. I bet you don't even know what a Monte Cristo is, do you? DO YOU?! Sorry, I'm really defensive of my dearest food item. 

My love for Monte Cristos is so extensive that I have it special ordered at restaurants for me. If they won't make it, I ask for sides of deli meat with my french toast. I've gotten looks. I don't care. Legends Bar & Grill has gotten so used to my order, it's sent to the cooks before I can even ask for my accompanying bloody mary.

Here's what you need to make a proper Monte Cristo sandwich:

-2 pieces of french toast

-turkey

-ham

-swiss cheese

-powdered sugar

-syrup

I always make sure I have these ingredients on hand at my place. The mornings (or late nights, post bar visits...) that I open my fridge and realize I am out of eggs, or there is no syrup (that was a recent one), are the worst. Le worst.

Basically, it's a sandwich made with french toast, doused in vast amounts of syrup. Perfect combo of lunch and dinner. And totally acceptable to eat for any meal of the day (at least that's what I tell myself).

Now here are only a couple of the probably hundreds of monte cristos I have devoured in the past few months. No shame, guys, no shame.

                                   Ideal when accompanied by either a Diet Coke or bloody mary.

Proud of this creation.

FAVES: Skulls

Yes, skulls. A recent trip to Mexico sparked this very current and very intense obsession of mine that I have yet to shake. I just spent about 2 hours favoriting anything and everything "skull" on Etsy, and only stopped myself because it was 4 in the morning. I just woke up at 8 and continued feverishly pressing that little heart icon over and over again. To clarify, I am not really talking about the Halloween-type skulls and skeletons, nor am I referencing the pirate-themed skull and crossbones. I am talking about straight up Mexican calaveras, here. Day of the Dead. These skulls are more cartoon-like and most definitely not meant to be scary. They are just plain awesome. 

It's this tray, that I bought in Mexico, that started it all:

And I've only been spiraling downward since...

 Two separate pairs of earrings I bought. Gold ones, bought at Buffalo Exchange in Mpls, silver I got for a buck at a flea market in Cape Cod, MA. (please excuse ridiculously bad quality of photo)

 Hannah and I made an impromptu trip to Joann Fabrics today and I hit gold within the skull category. Above is a pretty little lady that I named Eloise. I didn't buy this fabric, but I'm going to paint her on a mini canvas I bought.

This was my happiest purchase of the day. Bought 2.5 yards of this fabric (called "Los Novios") and plan on making two large pillows with it for the new place.

...and so concludes the first (and perhaps very long winded) SSFF post of Girl Palace history. Hope you survived it! 

Don't be afraid to share with us your SSFFs of the moment!

-G