RIP Michael "Eyedea" Larsen

Scribble Jam 2004 "Happy" is what the shirt read.

One of my favorite photos that I took that weekend.

A whole lot of memories with not much more to say, other than my heart goes out to his family, friends and fans.

I know I've gone missing...

Just been living life again.

Trying to work blogging back into the mix.

In the interim check out this video my friends made.

Deaf to the Static

ye ye yella yelawolf

I went to Chicago last weekend, met up with one of my favorite people in the world to see one of my favorite rappers.

The pictures capture absolutely nothing about that night, it was amazing.

red rocks amphitheater

This week has been intense.

I can't even describe the concert I saw at red rocks, or the venue itself.

You know when you're experiencing something you know is big? That this moment is something that you will retell, and think about again and again?

Monday I had that moment times ten.

My first time finally seeing tool.

My first time at Red Rocks.

A road trip.

memories.

I went to tool at the Xcel last night, and it was something of an encore.

Nothing will ever compare.

Art you should check out..

One of my good friends Jamee, is FINALLY selling her art on Etsy. This has been a long time coming, and I hope to see huge things come from this girl, she has an insane amount of talent. If you live in Minneapolis, her art will be displayed at Plan B on Hennepin Ave. in Uptown starting on July 15th.

If you've ever been in my apartment, most of the paintings are done by Jamee, the tattoo on my right arm of the women with the flower in her hair came from a drawing that Jamee gave me, that sat in a notebook in my purse for about a year before it finally was added to my arm. I love this girl.

Shop IRISandALICE

a small glimpse of where I've been....

I love blogging. I love reading blogs. I've been MIA.

My life has been a chaotic mess of music, friends and travel.

Trying to find a new place to live in, trying to have a day job and a real life, and no internet at home has taken it's tole on my blog life.

Everything is amazing. I am so happy. xoxo.

Sometimes I'm really girly....

One of my biggest personal pet peeves, is chipped nail polish. I am a firm believer in a good manicure. I found myself painting my nails while pumping gas on my way to work this morning, after an evening of helping a friend paint a room last night.

I don't care if you get your nails done at a salon, or if you do them at home yourself, just keep them pretty or don't do it at all. Chipped polish will is not classy. It's been about 9 months since I've changed color at all, I've been a classic red girl for a while now, Essie lollipop. Essie won my heart over, it chips the very least for me and I adore it, it's inexpensive and long lasting what better combination could there be? Being that I've soley done the red thing for a long time now, I decided I needed to branch out, the starting point was a wedding on Saturday. Saturday morning I went to Target to grab a gift card, gift procrastination in full effect... and the allure of the nail shop next door won me over. I went in for a mani, pedi what better excuse to pay to have someone else make me pretty then a wedding to attend. Being this was an unplanned spur of the moment venture... I didn't have my Essie. My #1 rule, if you're getting your nails done in a salon... bring your own polish. The women pulled the thing that makes me fume the most about nail salons, right in front of me - she poured straight acetone into my color choice. Thinning out the polish may have made it go on smoother, but I would rather have picked out a new color then deal with the chipping in two days. Back on track, I choose a sparkly red.. yeah yeah big step I know but this is a tough one for me, adding some gold glitter was about all I could handle without giving myself ample time to prepare. If you know me you know I am a little bit neurotic and would have needed a pep talk to fully delve into a new color selection.

We're sitting at nearly a week later now still rocking (my own) red with some sparkles. Though I've been perusing the internet in search of my next venture into what will most likely be a long time color choice. The starting point was reading what the spring and summer color choices were for 2010... in my opinion most of them sucked - big time. I'm not going with some smurf blue ever, the navy trend a few years back I was into. I've gone through plenty of the black polish phases, so navy was a nice easy sell for me - totally classic. The fluorescent colors some brands are coming out with as "bolds" nu-uh I don't want a rave on my fingernails.

The best collection I found was the Chanel Spring line - Les Impressions de Chanel, a soft pink - Tendresse, a nude - Inattendu, and a gray - Chanel Particluere.I instantly fell in love with Paricluere, and then went about looking for an equivalent in Essie and found Chinchilly.

The experiment, I will hype myself on the idea over I would guess about the next week, and maybe even go purchase both colors this weekend or order them offline - to buy myself some extra time.

Hopefully I can fall in love with one of these colors as I have classic red... fingers crossed!

Just going to put this on the table...

I've been thinking a lot about sexism, and feminism a lot lately. And noticing some really bizarre patterns in my life that I guess I was a bit blind to until this point.

This weekend, I took my dad out to dinner. We went to a "sports bar" he diggs chicken wings he's a southerner after all. While waiting to get seated I put my name on the list, and stepped aside; had a bit of a wait. I was told how long it would be and that my name would be called when a table was ready. Standing near the host booth, I observed the way the man treated everyone in line after me. They were all male, and he asked each of them if they were there to eat, or for the fight. Now I am a girl, there with my dad, but I was the only one in the entire 45 minute period that was not asked if I was there for the fight. I was only there to hang with my pops and eat, but I still found it to be a bit rude that I was not asked. I'm not being sensitive here, I know most females don't enjoy this stuff but I do know plenty who do. When the majority of patrons are there for one of two things, why couldn't the question be voiced to all?

Today I've been talking with my best, about chicks with tattoos. I've come to learn the social stigma against tattoos for the most part is not very apparent in my daily life. Yeah my grandma still cringes when she sees 'em but I work a 9-5 in a semi corporate setting and have plenty of friends doing the same, with beautiful tattoos. But I am still awestruck by the fact that females, with tattoos often get looked at as sluts or easy. It just doesn't make sense to me. A man with a tattoo is fine and tough, and never a whore. This also doesn't give anyone who wants the open invitation to touch me. This is my body, I did decide to make it what I feel better to look at; but keep your damn hands off me. Just because I am the girl with tattoos in the bar, doesn't mean I would go home with you, when the wholesome girl in the pink polo wont.

I really never considered myself a feminist. Over the last 6 months or year, I've found myself more often defending my gender. I'm a strong independent female. It's just kind of strange, that just being that has to be labeled in such a way. Maybe it's the connotation that has always gone with the phrase, that makes me cringe a little (which is a whole other can of worms). Wanting to be looked at equally for many of the things am, I just find it a little silly that I would have to throw that label on myself. Tattooed, female, native, short, whatever else you want to throw in the mix. I've just felt a lack of respect from people around me, that I never really noticed before.

Well that's a lot to digest, and a little more serious then I tend to go on the internets. But hey sometimes you gotta get these things off your back. And my iChat partner in crime is away in a meeting. Damn.

Edit: Another shining example while we're at it. I went to lunch with one of my best friends yesterday, who happens to be a dude. When the bill came it was placed directly in front of him, no where near the middle of the table. It's 2010 who isn't going dutch?

Sooo...

I made this goal (...i totally stole the idea from my friend chelsea....) By the time I turn 30 i want to have seen every state...

Here is where I need to go:

Maine

Vermont

New Hampshire

Massachusetts

West Virginia

North Carolina

South Carolina

Alabama

Mississippi

Tennessee

Kentucky

Louisiana

Texas

New Mexico

Nevada

Idaho

Oregon

Washington

Alaska

Hawaii

Most of these will be accomplished by forcing my friends who do live in these states to take road trips with me. So if you live in these places.. oh get ready... I am coming.

If you want to know these states... tell me... if i can visit you in these states tell me.... if you just want to take the best road trip ever tell me...

traveltraveltravel.

return home

So I knew I wouldn't come home from NYC and be all "I want to move there, asap!" I had a ton of fun and kicked it with some of my favorite people, and shopped as much as I could.... Now it is Sunday I've been home for 4 days... and I am still tired.

I did the whole creepy china town black market purse purchase; lets be serious here... this was one of my goals while in New York. I went in a hidden room that was locked behind me upon entry to buy a designer purse way cheap alone, in china town. Awesome.

Somewhere around 500 pictures were taken, that I will like about 20 of to go through that may just grace the page in the coming weeks. And a solid re-cap of the shows.

Right now I am still a the point of everything sinking in. I have no travel planned thus meaning, nothing to be excited about. The weather today is absolutely amazing, meaning I want to buy a book and sit outside.

astronautalis with me and my arrow

Not my best pictures, but this show was pretty amazing...

and today...

I saw a car accident a few weeks ago, a little old man in a car right in front of me was pummeled by another car. The little old man did nothing wrong, he was waiting for the light to turn green and his car was hit. I got out of my car to talk to the man, make sure he was okay. He was a little shook up so I asked if he wanted me to follow him. We had to drive a ways down the road, turn around to get back to the accident, he didn't drive over 15 miles an hour - so this took a little time. I gave him my contact information and went on my way.

Today I received a phone call, from the insurance agency asking me to tell what I saw because everything was unclear. This didn't surprise me in anyway, and was completely what I expected to happen. The surprise came, when I was thanked numerous times by the lady on the other end of the line. She said people rarely stop when they see things like this, the car wasn't hit very badly, assumptions that everything is fine are always made. The little old many barely remembered what he saw, and the other drives didn't want to be at fault. Out conversation last a little over 10 minutes, and I would guess she thanks me at least 5 times for returning her call and helping him out.

I'm not sure where I am trying to go with this story, or why I am telling it, or even as surprised as I am. She just called me back to ask one more question, and thank me again.

Such a strange little incident.

Thinking too much, maybe.

Sometimes i think i am ready to throw myself back into the pool of people who are "dating".

but who knows if that is true.

I'm a little too independent.

I need a lot of space.

I don't want to deal with broken hearts, and strong emotions.

Can I just find someone slow paced?

That's has their own life?

Missed connections?

who knows.

I'm just trying to find happy.

dixon's girl

Her new album comes out today, everyone should go and buy it.

sometimes it's just the way things are...

this is my year for sure...

January 3rd 2009 i made a new years resolution to start blogging.

Well i think this is the first new years resolution in my life that i've kept.

sowhereareyou happend i posted 44 times, that is an average of 3 times a month.

look at me go.

I really never thought i would stick to it, and i'm totally glad i did.

Not sure if anyone even reads this but i honestly enjoy posting.

I also joined a communial blog - lovefest which is girls who like rap.

it's fun, i've made great friends, life's good.

No resolution for 2010 has been made.

Maybe just to be happy.

Calm the temper.

I'm still thinking....