I Should Ask Alan To Play This Tomorrow Night

HAPPY MUSIC MONDAY, PEOPLES!

I've had a fantastic day so far, and I still have a lot to accomplish before bedtime.  But I didn't want to miss Music Monday, and I thought you'd like this Sammy Davis Jr. song, "Love Me or Leave Me" and its swingin' beat to keep you going!

I know technically this should be cast as a "Video Wednesday", since it IS video as well as audio, but I couldn't keep this amazing clip from you.  This is what happens when two world class, insanely talented dancers start showing off!  The fact that a GUY is doing the follow is completely awesome!
Enjoy!

So True...

Disclaimer: I found this whilst doing costume and character development research for Dragon Con, that eventually derailed into link-chasing on YouTube. (I'm honest.)  I do NOT listen to, nor do I advocate, the music of the band LMFAO.  Note that some of the lyrics in this clip are PG13.  You know that I strive to keep this blog 99.9% family friendly.  Just please understand that with the Marvel/Iron Man kick I've been on recently, and how well this fits the superheroes (and their egos), it was just way too good to not share! :)  (Especially the ending!)

Geeking out. Again.

THIS.

It was the first PG 13 movie I ever saw.  Dad took me, and it's one of the best memories I have.  We saw it 8 times in the theater.

Seeing it in 3D was utterly worth the 20 year wait! LOL
It was awesome!  I plan to see it in the theater a few more times before it leaves.
Geeky happiness.  :)

I Have The Most Awesome Best Friend EVER

So apparently we had mail last Saturday that included packages, because when a guest came to the front door (that we don't ever really use ourselves) yesterday, there was a little stack of post sitting on the bench.  Really need to communicate with the delivery person about that.  ANYWAY.  My best friend of 20+ years sent me THIS:

I about fell over, I was laughing so hard!
In case you haven't discovered the wonderfulness that is the Hyperbole and a Half Blog, here is the post from whence this tea bling comes.  (Read it, I'll wait.)
I hope Allie is doing well and recovering from her battle with clinical depression.   The internet misses her dreadfully (as do I).  In the meantime, we at least have the archives of past H&AH to keep us laughing.  She is hilarious!
I'm going to fix a cup of caffeinated, sugared up tea in my new mug to give me a blast of energy and then take the Cute Gremlins to the parp park to play while it's blue skies and sunshine out!  Happy random Monday in the middle of February, everyone! :D

My Dad Was Cool Like This

If we'd lived in Scotland, this would SO have been my Daddy when Mum and I were butting heads because I was being a stupid teenager.  He would have even made that face at the end.  Awesomeness. :)

Brave

Still my favorite track from the film.  (Could be because it was written by Mumford and Sons.)  Rocking out with my Wallace Clan roots today.  I love having Scot in my blood.  Enjoy!

SPG WAS IN MY POST BOX!!!!!

Ok, so with all of the mess that was being wrapped up in the late fall/last month, I have fallen a bit behind on the current 52 weeks of mail project, at least in terms of logging and documenting the incoming and outgoing.  There have been more things incoming than outgoing, as I am woefully behind in replies, but you know... kids, work, healing, priorities.  Y'all understand.

Anyway, I have to show you what came in the mail yesterday and Wednesday that just made me jump up and down, dance around the post box with flailing muppet arms, and squeal like a kid getting a pony for Christmas!!!!  (This is WAY BETTER than a pony!!!)

STEAM POWERED GIRAFFE SENT ME POSTCARDS!

The Spine's included an intriguing line: "A mysterious Canadian friend wanted us to send you some love..."  O_o
Now, I have several friends in Canada... they all read my blog and know how much I adore SPG.  My mind is just racing as to who could have been so kind!  Was it Snail Mail Fan, whom I met through her fantastic blog 100 Days of Snail Mail (she is no longer posting, in favor of doing other cool stuff, but the blog is still up for perusing and has some fantastic posts!)?  Or Cathy, who writes the hilarious Life on the Muskoka River?

Both of them are bright beams of sunshine to me, Snail Mail Fan with her amazing packets of a long letter together with interesting clippings and ephemera (she sent me the most beautiful map from the Nature Conservancy of Canada that I keep meaning to photo and show you!), and Cathy with her blog posts that make be burst out laughing (so loud that I alarm anyone around me at the time!) and her wonderful comments here on TMP.

Maybe it wasn't either of those, though.  Maybe another one of my Canadian readers.  I honestly have no idea!  But whomever was so, so, so, sweet- THANK YOU!  My treasured SPG postcards have a place of honor on a high up display shelf, next to the Brittney Lee print my BFF sent me from Comic-Con. (The link opens to her post showing the print I got, but take a look at the rest of her work!  Just breathtaking!)  They are up where I can see them every day while I create stuff for Lucy Jane, and barring a for-real tornado jumping in my window and carrying the shelf away, nothing can happen to them. :) :) :)

THANK YOU again, Mysterious Canadian Friend.  I love you bunches!  I hope you'll tell me who you are so I can send you thank you hugs and all!
Thank you, thank you, SPG for connecting with your fans and sending me the best and most unexpected love and encouragement to cheer me up!  You are truly THE BEST.  EVER.
I meant it, you know, that bit about dancing at the post box.  I really was!  And I absolutely couldn't care less who saw, (actually probably only the horses in the pasture across the road- I don't remember if any cars passed; I wasn't paying attention!) because it was pure and unbridled happiness like I hadn't felt in a long time!   I can't wait to pay it forward and encourage others/find ways to make someone's day brighter.

*blinks away happy tears*  Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.  I am so, so, fortunate to be so loved.
:)  

Just WOW!

So I may have mentioned that I'm painfully and horribly with much frustration enthusiastically teaching myself how to play acoustic guitar.  I can play 6 chords.  No actual songs, yet.  But hey, that's 6 more chords than I knew how to play before, yes?  Yes.  New Year's resolution: practice and learn more!

My mum showed me this on her internet travels the other day.  Holy Smokes.  I want to get this good!  (It'll take six months from Never, but I'll keep working!)
*Insert other exclamations of flabberghastment here!*
It gets into your soul!  Love.  Lovelovelovelovelove!

Best Internet Christmas Present EVER.

I'm still (as always) pining away for SPG and all of their brand of awesome.  I live on the opposite side of the country, so making it to any of their shows between Thanksgiving and next May is not logistically feasible.  A harsh reality, but anyway, there it is.  However, I'm a true blue fan- if a long distance one- and I am always playing their music in a variety of formats whilst going about my daily life.  Their song "Honeybee" on YouTube is about to hit a million views.  (See below). It was put up by David Michael Bennett in February.  I don't know that much about YouTube traffic in general, but it seems to me that a million views in less than a year is pretty amazing!

Anyway, another fan took the song "Honeybee" and flipping turned it into a music box version!  I think my heart just esploded with all the fuzzy, melty, happy feelings.  :)  Happy Christmas to me! (And now you!!!) :) :) :)

Enjoy!

(The above-mentioned almost-to-a-million-views-and-they-absolutely-deserve-it-and-more official Honeybee video...)

Havana Good Laugh

I make no apologies for the title.  I promised months ago that there would be more puns around here. :)
Here's my Video Wednesday offering for the week.  If you've stopped by this blog more than twice, you ought to know the drill by now.  Set drink down.  Take a bathroom break.  THEN press play.  Enjoy. :)

Steam Powered Giraffe

Yes, I know I've posted two Music Mondays about these guys already.  That's just not enough!!!
I listen to them every single day.  On repeat.  Because they are made of Awesome.
I've ordered Album One and the Live album.  And a T shirt.  And the DVD that's being released soon.
Check out the trailer and see if you don't run over and pre-order one!

AND I became an Engineer-eteer on Patronism.com, donating $10/month (previously my Swing Dance cover charge money) to help them raise funds to tour, record and do what they do.  (The Spine is very persuasive in this promo...)

I was going to order a mug too, but I'd already pushed my budget to the max. XD
I should have enough time to save some back for their new album "The 2¢ Show" that's coming out next month.  At which point, I will probably go ahead and get that mug. :D

They deserve to succeed.  They are crazy talented and I adore them.
To keep up with their awesomeness, go to their website.
To help them continue their awesomeness, become an Engineer-eteer! (You get exclusive treats through this program!  I'm enjoying a track off the new album before it's even out, and there are chords and art and videos and other amazing stuff to be had when you join!)
I want them to come to Atlanta soooooo baaaaaadddddly!

Here are 3 more of my favorite videos/songs/awesomeness.  Enjoy!

Brass Goggles: This song sort of explains the automatons' origins.  And features sing-along lyrics.  Sorta.

Ju Ju Magic has wicked cool bass playing by The Spine, amazing guitar and vocals by The Jon, and Rabbit on the melodica.  LOVE.

One of their performances in Balboa Park, this clip shows a parody of Bobby Darin's song "Mack the Knife" that involves the noms of the Golden Arches, and also Rabbit getting rather worked up at The Spine.  Hilarity ensues! :)

RRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

That's the sound my sewing machine makes.  And it has been making it a lot the last week.  I'm working harder than ever, because several newer, shorter term goals have presented themselves to me, and I want to meet them.  I'm sick of where my life is, so I'm going to change it.

I know that I have obligations and responsibilities.  Duh.  But I'm not going to defer to everyone else and all of their goals and needs for the entire rest of my life in the name of being an unselfish person.

I'm important too.  There are people I want to meet and thank for having an intense and profound impact on my life.  (70% of those are musicians.)  I don't think it's right to let other people to persuade me that simply buying albums/soundtracks/books/products or sending an email is enough to let my heroes know how much they are appreciated.  I've been quietly told by the naysayers in my life how impossible or frivolous or impractical my dreams are, that I got to the point of not being able to look anyone in the eye.  That's just pitiful.

I will change this.  I want to meet people face to face and look them in the eye to tell them how happy I am for the moment they came into my life.  To do this, some extensive (and expensive) airfare will come into play.

New York.
Brisbane, Australia.
San Diego.
London, England.
Los Angeles.
Wellington, New Zealand.

But really... who cares?  People fly into and out of those cities EVERY FREAKING DAY.  Why not me?  Absolutely no reason why not.

Patiently feeding fabric through a sewing machine may seem an unusual way to reach my goals.  But I love what I create, and apparently other people do too, because orders are pouring in.  I'm going to meet my financial goals and live my dreams.

It starts in my soul.  Way down deep.  Stand back, y'all.  I'm spreading my wings.  And I am going to fly.

Falling on my face...

I'm sorry to do this again, but I just have to make a placeholder for F and come back to it on Monday when everything goes back to normal.  The Afters, DecembeRadio and Tenth Avenue North in concert at Six Flags tonight and I am completely tuckered out.  It was incredible.  (photos forthcoming, promise.) I got to finally meet Rob Langer from The Joy FM in person, too!!  We've become friends through Facebook and email, and it was so cool to say hi and get a hug and a picture!

Mike, the lead singer of 10th Ave, came out into the crowd to share God's love with us and share some of his experiences and thoughts and he stood in our row next to Gremlin #1 and myself.  AWESOME!!!  As he was coming through, I got to shake his hand/high five/connect with him and it's been so long since I experienced the high energy of a music concert that I sort of reverted to a giggly teenager state on the way home in the car.

I kept saying "I got to touch 10th Avenue North. *giggle*"
My gremlins were good sports about it. LOL

I'm crashing in the bed, y'all.  Husband is home tomorrow to go with us to Six Flags AGAIN (this time to ride rides).  I don't know if I have the stamina to do this all season long!  It's exhausting!  (Oh, wait- that was yesterday's post...)

Goodnight!

THANK YOU!!!

JOY FM Friendraiser update:

We did it, fellow listeners!  The Friendraiser ended two hours early on Friday and the goal was met 100%!!!
The goal starting last Monday morning was 1000 More than Music Mission Partners (people who donate $30 or more a month), and $360,000.

At just before 5 p.m. Friday, the grand total was 1,007 new MMMPs, and a total of $362,356!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving and helping to keep such a wonderful ministry going!
If you didn't get the chance to join in the Friendraiser fun, but still want to give, you can do that on the website!

I love listening to the JOY FM every single day!  From me personally:

Bueller..? Beuller...?

I don't really care that it was a Superbowl commercial. We're not NFL fans in the least here, so we were only vaguely aware that there was a recreational competition of national interest happening on Sunday evening. (We played with the kids at the park and then had a nice supper and played dominoes at home.)

But here is my choice for today's Video Wednesday post (trying to get back to my blogging schedule, you know). It completely made my week. The only thing that could have made it better was to include Alan Ruck, but according to some interviews, he wasn't interested in seeing his days as Cameron Fry revived. I can respect that. Anyway.  I still love this commercial. Enjoy.

Ferris Beuller, you're my hero! :

They Cause Scenes...

Happy Wednesday!

I didn't have any poetry (again), so for your "I-am-so-phoning-this-in-again-Video-Wednesday" pleasure, here are three of my favorite missions from a group called "Improv Everywhere".  Basically, the goal of this group of improv actors is to make a call out to the fun-loving masses to meet up and play out some fun scenarios (seemingly) at random, in public places and see how many people (who are not in on it) pay attention.  They've done everything from bursting into musical song in places like the grocery store, the mall food court and a technology conference, to supporting a Salvation Army bell ringer with a full out hand bell choir and turning a kids carousel ride into a day at the races.

They've completed over 100 missions, to the general astonishment and (usual) delight of the average Joe Public around them.  May we all take a page from their book (they really have one, here) and do fun, clean, unexpected things in the world around us that make people smile and connect with one another.

My Three Favorites:

Invisible Dogs:

King Phillip IV:

The Mute Button:

Remembering Shelia

Photo from J93.3's Facebook Page

Today I want to share a video that J93.3's Jerry Williams made, to go with the tribute song for Shelia Richards.  Shelia went to be with the Lord earlier this week.

We love you, Shelia, and we will see you again someday.

I Heart The Art Of Brittney Lee!!!

"Bookworm" is just one of the many glorious works of art by California artist Brittney Lee (all images in this post are copyrighted by her.)  I adore her work and encourage you to GO THERE and check it out!  Read more below!

Before I post this "Go Here Thursday", this is my disclaimer:
I sent an email almost a month ago begging this artist to give me permission to use her images in a post like this one* so I could shamelessly plug her art and her Etsy shop and how obscenely awesome she is in general.  As yet, I have not received a reply.  There are several possible reasons for this:

1) She doesn't know me from Adam's house cat (trash the email without reading it).

2) Since #1 is in effect, my email isn't in her contacts list, so it went to her spam folder (trash the email without reading it).

3) Maybe she DID read it, but is otherwise so bogged down in all of her awesome paper craftingness, that she

• a) forgot to reply that "it would be an honor to be featured on The Modest Peacock", 
• b) forgot to reply that "outside of her own blog and her shows and stuff, she's actually something of a shy hermit and would I please leave her alone", 
• c) wrote a reminder to herself on a sticky note to reply "how awesome it would be if I featured her on The Modest Peacock", but then a huge gust of wind blew through her studio window and the sticky note blew away and got lost forever, 
• d) before she could hit the reply button, some horrible power outage or computer virus wiped out her email and she can't reply because she doesn't know my email address!  Oh noes!!! 

Whatever the case, I decided to throw caution to the wind** and feature her anyway.***

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the art of Brittney Lee!  Please GO HERE TO HER BLOG and treat your aesthetical and optical senses to some amazing sights! (After you finish reading the rest of this post, pretty please!) :)

I found her blog while surfing through some other sites, but once I was there, I studied every single image she posted, moving backward until her very first post in 2005.  Here, for all you chronology nuts, here is a link to it, so you can start at the beginning and move forward, if you want to.  I've done paper crafting before, with quilling and paper piecing/die cuts and what not.  But this amazing lady makes even my best attempts at paper art look like a preschooler's!

I've tried to pick only 3 of my favorites of her work.  But I couldn't.  Seriously, I love ALL of her work soooo much and I'd give anything if she actually WOULD answer an email and let me commission one of her mermaid paper cuttings (Like the one above) to hang up in my room once it gets finished.  Maybe once the bead-board is hung up, I'll start stalking her with an email every day send her polite emails every few weeks so she knows it's not spam, and one day get my wish!  I'm even adding it to my "dreams and aspirations" list on my main page right sidebar.  :)

I finally did pick 3 paper cuttings and 3 drawings that I super super super LOVE, to showcase this amazingly talented artist who is more or less living the art dream job that I wanted when I was 14.  (See below.)

Seriously, all you people who knew me way back when and wanted to know "what I wanted to be when I grew up"?  This lady.  Or, rather, drawing and creating the art that she does.  Her style is what I have always wanted to achieve, I just didn't know what to call it.  I love each and every nuance and expression.  Brittney Lee, you have surpassed Glen Keane and Andrew Stanton on my Heroes list.****
You've probably met/know these animation/art giants, so you know that this is high praise indeed!

Dearest readers, after you have been to her blog and have wiped the drool off of your keyboard, please also GO HERE to her ETSY SHOP, where you can purchase prints and notecards of some of her designs.  :)

My personal FAVORITE pieces:
(Paper Cuttings/Sculptures)
Y'all know I'm a Harry Potter fan.  Look at the cutie pie in the middle with his head turned sideways!!!  Squee!

Her blog post about this amazing piece can be found here.

And of course, I had to show off her peacock.  Isn't he just gorgeous!!!

The blog post on this one can be found here

And my 3rd favorite (though I have MANY more!) is this fantastic Dragon.  Smaug from LOTR?  Perhaps, perhaps not.  Either way, he is magnificent!

Blog post for this and other beauties can be found here

(Now for the Drawings!)

I LOVE HER MERMAIDS!  This one is (one of, if I was super forced to pick, but really I love them all!) my favorite:

The post for this beauty can be found here

And you all know how I've longed to see Paris...

Blog post for this magical drawing can be found here

And since I'm going to see Wicked next month, who can resist her quick study of the Green Girl, Elphaba?  I love it! :)

Blog post for this Ozian inspired art can be found here

There are so many, many more (did I mention that already?) that I love!  I hope I get to meet Brittney Lee someday.  Rock on, girl!  From your #1 stalker fan! :)  More blog posts!  More Etsy shop!  More, more, more! :)

*Or, you know, maybe... actually THIS one.

**Because I'm lame and have been busy and didn't have anything else lined up that I was half as interested in.

***I'm already rather poor and I gave proper copyright citing; please don't sue me.

****Quick top 10: #1: Jesus, #2: My Dad, #3: My husband, #4: My sister-in-law, Heather, #5: Sheila Richards, #6: Brittney Lee, #7: Kristin Chenoweth, #8: Mary Lou Ross, #9: Andrew Stanton, #10: Glen Keane