Once again, I am here to remind you that Saturday is Record Store Day! Get yourself down to your local music dealer, and buy yourself some new tunes with that hefty tax refund (or go to the used section for some cheap ones if you’re like me, and owed Uncle Sam all your spending money).

I checked out a few independent record stores in Seattle this week, and they are ALL having some kind of special and/or in-store performances by some great bands. Nothing like being entertained with live music while you shop!

Oh, and one store manager I talked to, J.R. from Jive Time Records in Fremont, said that, if you’re like me, and don’t own a record player anymore, you can easily get one all set up for between $80-100. Not bad. And, if I do, here are some of the records I would buy:

I heart Television.

Surf’s up, dudettes!

For your inner child.

Man, I remember doing the mod dance to this song.

OK, just kidding on the STYX one.

For some amusing posts from years past, please check out some of my older musings on this loveliest of days:

2009 Record Store Day

2008 Record Store Day (where you can read all about my days at working for Rolling Stone Records in Chicago during my “glory days”!)

Adventure on with headphones on!

Kristen

Every year for Valentine’s Day I like to send out a picture of “LOVE”.

This year’s photo is a heart-shaped puddle. I found it in either Belize or Guatemala, I can’t remember. According to the date-stamp, it was a travel day for me, so I’m not sure which side of the border I was on when it was taken. I do remember that the heart shape and reflecting sunlight caught my eye, and made me unload my backpack to get at my camera, since I decided back then that I wanted to photograph it for this precise post, so I hope you enjoy it! It only goes to show you…sometimes you find LOVE at the weirdest times and in the places you never imagined.

Check out my past year’s Valentine’s Day blogs:

Happy S.A.D.: http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blogs/kristengill/happy-sad/

Love from Seattle: http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blogs/kristengill/love-from-seattle/

Sweet Love: http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blogs/kristengill/food-for-thought-sweet-love/

Adventure On…Love, and Be Loved!

Kristen

Last year at this time, I was visiting with my sisters in Ireland. The one who lives in Dublin decided to host an American Thanksgiving dinner for her Irish friends. It turned out to be no easy task!

Kristen & Maureen Gill, hostesses extraordinaires!

For one, my sister had to special-order a turkey from the butcher, since they are not commonly eaten in Ireland until around Christmastime. My other sister from Chicago brought over 2 cans of pumpkin, which were badly damaged in transit. Next up, we could not find any round pie tins! Turns out we had to make 2 square pumpkin pies instead of one round one. To make our mother’s/grandmother’s homemade stuffing, we went  late-night grocery shopping and cleared the shelves of white loaves of bread. I think they thought we were crazy buying 8 loaves of bread, and nothing else!

Check out these decorations that my mom sent over. I think she must have had these left over from the 70s! Gotta love the accordion turkey and pilgrim (with evil shadow on wall). Ha!

The evening turned out to be great! There was no great dining table upon which to eat, but everyone got a full plate of American-sized portions, and washed it all down with some good Irish whiskey. It was a great “first” Thanksgiving for a lot of people…and I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to share in this experience.

May all of you have wonderful thanksgivings, wherever in the world you are celebrating. And, if I learned anything from my Irish experience, it’s that a post-dinner whiskey with friends is sometimes all you really need.

Adventure on,

Kristen