it's the time...

The time has come for the blogging to start again. It's been so long that it feels like a foreign process; to write, to compose, to share and to be transparent all seem like such a reach after going into a mode of privacy for so long. There is so much to share. A move, a wedding, a pregnancy, a baby, a marriage and a life. I'll spend the next week or so catching up and sharing about each event and then we'll start with the current goings on... the daily dazzling beautiful organized chaos that is our life. I think I'm ready....

In the meantime you can enjoy baby pictures!

and here is to 2010

i love my life. i have a great life. i have a wonderful daughter who is funny and smart and loving. i have a family who is good to each other and loves each other. i am proud of my siblings, their choices and of the people they have chosen to be in their lives. school is exciting and a challenge and i have really enjoyed every minute of it! i have amazing friends... amazing friends... that support and love me through thick and thin. lastly, but not least, i have a boyfriend who is a pillar of strength in my life. he is my best friend, my lover and everything i could have ever hoped for in a man.

2010 will hold big changes for us.... some of them are bigger than i can imagine. some have already happened and i'm so grateful. there might be less blogs in 2010. i seem to have less angst and that was what i blogged about. please don't take it personally. i hope to find something else to put here - daily photographs maybe? to fill the daily spots.

happy new year!

then there is love...

there is a part of every person... i think... that wants to fall in love. i think the idea is that it's just not possible, or probable, or maintainable, or worth it.

i want to say for the record that's it's improbable but it's possible and it can be maintained and it's so so worth it.

i'm in love with a man. he's my best friend and the person that i dream about at night. he makes me laugh. he likes the bad things and the good things about me... on most days. he is everything i've ever wanted in a partner. i believe with every ounce of my being that he is meant to be my love for life.

and it's strange. it's sometimes unbelievable because if you look at where we've been it seems as if no two people survive what we've been through. i want to survive with him. i want to spend everyday with him. i want to let go of what has happened and come back to the happy ending i never even knew i wanted.

i hope you'll understand when i say... i love him unconditionally and completely and i hope one day he'll feel the same about me.

pictures are up!!

we had an amazing time having our pictures taken by aubrey - you can find her website here at photobyaubrey.com  she was fun and funny and took it in stride that we were a little late and a LOT hung over. it was important to us as a family to be able to have these photos taken and i am so happy about the way that these turned out - we can't WAIT to see the rest!

 

 

 

 

just can't wait...

today is the day that my sister - the lovely lala - arrives from the land of art school. i just can't wait to see her. in case i haven't ranted lately about how amazing she is... she is AMAZING. she's smart and funny and cool.... and beautiful. and i miss her. i miss her daily and it's been too long!

she is totally going to get a tattoo of a pink do-do with me (maybe not at thanksgiving)... but we're definitely going to sonic!... and to get frozen custard... and to the bar!!!! (maybe)

will post pictures of shenanigans... and you should listen to this song because we totally will...

it's a music sunday

i'm in love with www.coverlaydown.com

i can't say enough about how well it's put together or how it makes me happy every single time he posts. it's well written and deep and it involves music. i recommend you have a little rss feed that links to him and that you give donations to his blog in all your friends and family's names for christmas.... i think it would be selfish not to really.

here are some gems i found tonight:

lucas mire - part missing - (orig. lori carson)

david potts - dupre - i am trying to break your heart - (orig. wilco)

a walk down memory lane... brings me to the future

heard this song on the radio tonight and had a fun time singing with emma... funny how she knows the words... i don't really know how that happened.



and the important thing to remember is...
"It just takes some time
Little girl you're in the middle of the ride
Everything will be just fine
Everything will be alright"

... sigh... remember the 90s and when this song came out? man, i thought i had problems then... if i had only known. luckily... the truth is that everything really did work out fine, everything is alright.

that's perspective for you. it should help tomorrow. tuesdays are made for perspective and positive outlooks.

a sunday adventure!

we.... both of us... needed to get out of the house and the weather here has been absolutely beautiful! so we headed out to wander and along the way we took a few pictures. the first two are by emma - of her dog who she loves more than anything and the second is a self portrait that she took. the rest are of what was around on the first part of our journey. after lunch we're headed back out to this great park and then over to a friend's house for dinner. more pictures to follow!

just realized they didn't all come through here... you can go here to see them! http://picasaweb.google.com/alexisgillmore/November2009AWeekendAdventure#

 
 
 
 

you're back

wait.. i'm back.

i've been on hiatus. it's a long story. you should know that it's not you... i promise it wasn't about you. it was about not being able to post. really. it's a long boring story without a good ending.

but let's not talk about the past.

let's talk about what i'm currently in LOVE with....

drum roll please....

lowercases and capitals

it's pure awesomeness. if awesomeness was hot, had great music taste, drank jameson, a great sense of humor and could write amazing posts.

go there immediately and read everything. everything i tell you.

and then come back tomorrow and i'll have something for ya.

I have no excuse....

i have no excuse for not blogging this week except we've been really busy and the outdoors was just too appealing... check out emma and madison swimming today and having a blast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

my name is lex and i'm grateful

'if ever i should ever seem to take for granted, this lovely life that i have been handed, darlin' don't just stand there, come knock me around....' - jets to brazil - wish list

last night as shannon and i were driving home from the bbq with the girls in the car i realized that my life is pretty fucking awesome. my grades from last semester were great, i got a paid research internship this summer, i have wonderful friends and em is not only doing great in school... she's just an amazing kid. i don't think there is anything that could be better in my life right now... there are things i would definitely change or adjust but sometimes it's good to just sit back and really enjoy what you have.

on that note.. i'm going to be grateful and relax. and listen to the decemberists. and maybe make tea... and maybe dance around a little while packing.

a catholic girl that could work for allen marine...

from http://www.overheardeverywhere.com/

Is That What Jesus Would Do?

Catholic school girl #1: (sings "Total Eclipse of the Heart")
Catholic school girl #2: Stop it. I swear to god, I will shank you.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Overheard by: Adelaie

this one is for anyone who mighta said "ma'am, i will fucking cut you"... wait thats me. and in fairness, i didn't actually say that. but i totally wanted to. and i told many a story that ended and started with the phrase "i will fucking cut you".

sigh.

i want burger bitch and a drink at the arctic bar.

guilty pleasures #2

while we're here and i'm admitting scary things... i think it's only fair that i should admit to like these as well...

i'm so 3008, you're so 2000 and late...
the black eyed peas - boom boom pow


lady gaga - poker face


and this one... that i'm still sitting the fence about whether it's okay to like or not... it's so... so... oh it's so good. but it's so bad. it's the ringtone when my roommate calls me and i'm always 1/2 worried that someone will hear it but secretly want it to play longer. ugh. i'm such a mess.

zac brown band - chicken fried

lala's day

today is my sister's birthday. she is fabulous. i would say more but what more is there to say about the most perfect 20 year old that ever lived?? seriously... she's everything i hope to be or wish i was... and i think she is the best kind of friend a girl can have. she is funny, fun and helped me invent uppie doos and the word gggrrraaarrr. she doesn't take herself too seriously and i appreciate that. i need that in my life. more than anyone knows. and so to her... i say happy birthday and i bid you goodnight.

these united states - get yourself home

guilty pleasures

okay... so there are embarrassing things to admit and this is one of them. i'm a fairly well established music snob, i'm intelligent and well read. i'm a kick ass mom, a great friend and a pretty good daughter /sister. i worked in the music industry, volunteered two years for americorps. i like to think i'm well rounded and pretty damn cool.

however, i have a 7 year old who (despite my best efforts) likes hannah montana. every once in awhile in the car i'll indulge her little ears from obscure rock and roll or new bands to something she wants to listen to.

and i'm ashamed to admit... i'm always secretly happy when these two songs come on...





seriously... i don't know what's wrong with me. i even sing along and do a car dance... ugh. man. i need to get some sleep so i don't blog these things.

found... 1 iP0d

two days ago i found an iP0d that i lost while i lived in alaska at the bottom of a backpack and although it has hundreds of songs on it i found about 50 songs i had forgotten that i absolutely loved. i recommend losing an iP0d that you know you'll get back just to enjoy the sound of music almost two years later...

for your listening pleasure here are two of my favorites...

here comes the sun

found today... from the famous and perfectly wonderful hype.com -----> a belle and sebastian cover of here comes the sun.... ahhhhhhhh.... and then suddenly all is right in the world. you can go here to download it: the bat and the bird. yep. right there. just click on those words... the bat and the bird and you will go there and after the picture, actually placed nicely just below it is a little link for handy dandy downloading and then you can listen to it... it even says to jump to 1:30 if you don't want to hear all that troublesome talking. so do it. i promise things will get better.

no really they will. i promise. for example i should be studying but i'm not... why you ask? i just found this awesome site that seriously changed my whole perspective about things... know when you read something and it grabs your heart and it beats a little stronger because it's just so beautiful and poignant and it's like a poem that runs around your brain and off your tongue like sweetness? oh my gosh.. uh huh... yeah that...

go

here

now

daytrotter.com

just click on that little link and read below the downloads what it says about my favorite band and my future husbands ( i haven't decided which one... ) these united states...

you can even download the new version of first sight and some of the latest from the album crimes.

if you need to you should listen to this because it's my favorite...

honor amongst thieves

so anyway... so i'm supposed to be studying because that's what students do when they want A's and good GPAs and scholarships and things of that sort. but really, for real, i'm just over it today. i wish i had some good explanation... but i don't. sometimes i just need some time for myself to clang around in my own head and talk on the phone and read my friend m's blog because she is hilarious. sometimes i need to just cuddle with my little one and do a friend a favor and dream just a little bit about seeing a boy i like and think about all the things i would do if i had a vacation to a place with no electricity and no phone for a few days.... just sometimes i need some "me" time and i know that's just not okay in a word when every minute of everyday is scheduled but you know what? screw it... it's 11:20 and i'm doing it anyway... and now that i'm done with that i might even read a fiction book for 20 minutes *gasp*

then i might go to bed and just deal with everything else in the morning and tell myself - who cares, it is what it is, deal with it and MOVE on! because that's what m says and she has five kids - that touch snakes! - and sometimes i need to take myself way less seriously. it's only life and you know what? it's fatal. it's not that serious. in fact... sometimes it's downright funny.

it's not unusual

it's not unusual for me to fall in love with bands... i can't help it. i know it's been a long time since i've felt it necessary to go on and on about something... the last one may have been nick rallis and i totally still love him... but that isn't what this is about. it is however about this amazing band that has me dancing around and listening to the same songs over and over again... with butterflies in my stomach like i get from the amazing sam beam. (let's not even go into the thing i have about him... sigh... i'm just saying i totally love him)

the important thing to know is sometimes you find a band and music that makes your heart happy... not the impermanent happy like you get from three jameson and ginger ales or from the forward about what an idiot john mccain is or even the temporary happiness that you achieve when you get naked with someone you're not sure you like for all the wrong reasons.... i'm talking serious happy like spending time with friends around campfires, listening to jason anderson live, hugging a friend you haven't seen in a long time, eating earl grey ice cream and the kind of happy that makes waking up in the morning seem like a cake walk. this band is that... for no reason other than they have clever lyrics, sing along melodies and ingenius layers of music and instrumentation that will make your toes taps and your heart leap around at the beauty and perfection of finding artists that get it... after being bombarded with crap from the pop music machine that drives out all the things that create the wonder of music you will be happy on a fundamental level to find this band. additionally there were good beards in the pictures, witty "influences" on myspace and they like this american life. seriously... it's like they are just for me and you in some cosmic wonder of serendipity.

so here they are.... the best thing since the apricot walnut sliced bread i had as toast last weekend. they might even be better than crushed ice... well no... but they are totally better than slurpees and i promise you will want to buy albums and show tickets and maybe even better speakers for your computer...

These United States:


so here is what you must do.... must must must... no bullshit whiney excuses like "i'm too busy for wonderfully written amazing music that will change my life for the better"

1. go to myspace and add them immediately: These United States - Myspace or go to their website These United States

2. listen to these and love them... i will only leave them up for a few days and then you'll have to listen on myspace.....

- i removed the mp3s... you'll have to go to myspace... too late sucka -


3. love them as i love them

4. buy their latest album or all the albums or tickets to a show or me one of those fancy t-shirts in black and white (girls' size medium)... it will go great with the new steady as she goes tattoo (will be new when i'm in ct in october) and my new anchor belt buckle (which is new thanks to some sort of secret admirer as of last week...).

see how simple it is to make your life better and make me a happy girl?

Dream Big

be still my beating heart...

i absolutely for sure no doubts about it know why i'm not married.... it has nothing to do with all the crap we usually discuss... it is simply because this man is married and he is without a doubt the ideal of perfection.... if there are anymore out there like him i would gladly put up with just about anything to have him make me pancakes in the morning, take naps with me in the afternoon and sing to me at night. (sam beam from iron & wine)

if you've ever had a question about if there is sheer goodness and perfection and loveliness in the world i urge to watch this and maybe if you're lucky you'll get little butterflies in your stomach just like i do.... i recommend "innocent bones" because "no one is the saviour they would like to be...."