New additions

I might not be posting for a while because last night we began fostering some cats! We've got the momma, Misha (BEY), and her 3 baby girl, the tabbies, and 2 boys, the gingers, who are a grand total of SIX DAYS OLD.

(and yeah, this does mean we now have 8 cats in our house, it's AWESOME)

We're still working on names for the kittens (we get to name them!), but provisionally, the girls are chilli, Lopez and tionne (as in, TLC, yeah) and Hubby just suggested Morissey and Marr for the boys <3
Promise I'll share more pictures when they get a bit bigger and y'know, their eyes are actually open and stuff. Don't know how we're going to let them go in 9 weeks time :-( I've got a feeling Misha B might be staying...

Indietracks in pictures

Hubby just handed me my photos back from Indietracks and all I can say is, wow, I love them. I know it's terribly cliched hipster of me to say so, but I really love the 'effect' of disposable cameras. There's something wonderful about the colours and the slight lack of focus, and how you never really know if the pictures are going to work. I love my digital, don't get me wrong, but you can go a bit crazy trying to get a shot just right, when you're not restricted by how many pictures you can take, and you end up not really appreciating the moment. I'm definitely going to be using more disposables on trips and holidays, because you get the added bonus of not worrying about the batteries running out or it getting filched. Anyway, the pictures...

Double polka dots // Coffee break // Train spotting // Baby goats at the campsite // Indoor engine shed stage & buffet cart bar, also, spot the punk // Sunset over the station // Real ale // Allo Darlin' // Patched up rainboots // Gordon fucking McIntyre bitches // Main stage // Steam trains // Church stage

AMAZING.

Indietracks 2012

Watching The Birthday Kiss under the blue skies.

So I might have got home from Indietracks over a week ago, but seriously, I have only just recovered. Disco dancing til dawn (including a nice bit of skanking to The Beautiful South and generally going a bit mental to any and all Belle Seb) and camping in a rather damp Derbyshire (and therefore getting about 3 hours sleep), as well as working my socks off being a super helpful steward for hours on end, left me more than a little run down, so this last week has mostly been spent face down on the sofa watching old One Tree Hill episodes - I'm a bit obsessed with how perfect all their teeth are?

I've also been waiting until I got my pictures back - I eschewed my fancy digital in favour of a very sexy waterproof disposable camera, because of the apocalypse that was forecasted, but fortunately never materialised, and apparently they take a week to process?? Who knew. All I had was a couple of instagram shots and a pop up on DiS courtesy of one of the multitude of new bezzie mates I made (it's only a small stretch to say that that list now includes Gordon McIntyre & Stevie Jackson too, BFF's yo), but I guess they'll do for now, and I'll post my proper photos later in the week.

Gordon in the Church being a bit perfect.

If I'm being totally honest, musically, no one really knocked me flat on my face and did a little dance on my body, except for Gordon McIntyre and Allo Darlin', both of whom I got to see up close and personal thanks to my amazing 'oh you can go ANYWHERE' Steward badge, who were mega ultra brill, but equally, not one of the bands I saw were in any way unenjoyable either (I had to miss Stevie because I was working, although I'm sure he'd have been boss too). I'd basically not heard of anyone going in to it, so it was all a pleasant surprise. My other musical highlights were The School, The Smittens, Bart Cummings + Pam Berry, Rose Melberg's solo set and the tiny bit of Standard Fare that I caught, just enough to have a good old boogie to Philadelphia - an absolute corker of a song. 

But if you've ever been to Indietracks, you'll know that well, it's almost not even really about the music. It's about drinking real ale as you sit on the grass in the sunshine outside the tiny tin church listening to whoever and chatting with all the new friends you made, it's about riding the steam trains and getting a little bit cosy squashed in the guard van to take a chance on some band you've never heard of before, and hearing them do a Gina G cover, it's finding a mint copy of Parrell Lines on vinyl for a fiver and snapping that baby up, it's about the after hours disco at the campsite going on until the early hours of the morning, and drinking the bar in the engine shed dry of gin (yeah, that happened). 

So whilst it might have been good if I'd known a few more of the bands, like in 2009 when Camera Obscura, Au Revoir Simone and Teenage Fanclub headlined, and I had a freaking blast watching their sets, at the end of the day, it's the experience that counts, and we still had a damn fine experience.

(source, and more awesome Indietracks photos)

I would whole heatedly recommend stewarding Indietracks to anyone, a, because we could never have afforded to go otherwise, and b, because you instantly make a whole bunch of friends and people you recognise around the site, oh, and c, because it means you get the best seat in the house for any performance you like (as long as it fits around your shift of course, but even then, there is some flexibility). It was kind of a disorganised system at times, being such a tiny little homegrown festival mostly run by volunteers, but it all worked out and it definitely didn't put us off doing it again next year.

For now I'll leave you with Allo Darlin's set closer, the crowd-silencing, frankly a little bit magical, Tallulah. 

See you there next year!

Currently

(Curly hair and new librarian specs, Barry M Raspberry nails)

Enjoying: My new job, so much. This morning I started doing mornings as well as afternoons meaning I had to get up at the crack of dawn (for reals, like 3 hours earlier than I normally get up) which was less fun, but that now means I have 3 free hours every morning which I'd have otherwise slept through, so I might be able to crack on with blogging a bit more now!

Watching: old Gilmore Girls - season 3 to be precise - I'm a Jess girl through and through, so these ones are my absolute faves. I know a lot of people seem to love Dean but yurgh! He's such a wet flannel, I can't even. Also some of the tennis & football that's been on, I like it, but I don't really care about any of the teams/players, so I'm not too bothered about the results. Murray's last match, and watching Rosol miraculously beat Nadal were both pretty exciting though.

Awkward's started back up again too, although the first episode seem to retread the ground of the first series a bit, but I'm hopeful it'll pick up - definitely worth giving a go if all your shows are on break like mine are (I still can't talk about that Grey's Anatomy series finale, so don't even go there).

Reading: A different version of The Yellow Wallpaper and other stories than the one I already have, it's got more stories and snippets from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's autobiography, so I'm kind of crazy stoked about reading it. If you've never heard of it/her, it's essentially hardcore feminist literature, written in the 19th Centuary, it's so boss.

Listening: Alligator by the National, always. Less PJ Harvey than I should be - I always love whatever I hear by her, but haven't gotten around to everything yet, so a friend lent me this DVD which I'm pretty excited to watch.

Anticipating: getting more tattoos when Hubby & I head to Edinburgh in August for the festival. I'm debating whether I'm brave enough to get a full sleeve dancing Penny Phonogram, I know it would look amazing, and I like to think I'm very Penny - give me a G&T, stick on Pull Shapes and I'm away, it's just a case of whether I can get her some legs drawn, we can afford it, I'm comfortable with the idea of getting such a MASSIVE tattoo.

I'm also looking forward to Indietracks so much, it's totally snuck up on us and it's so soon!

Eating: peanut butter stirfry & noodles. Chip butties. These beauties by the packetful...

Planning: to get started on Janel's 30 day journal challenge, er, at some point. If you've been reading for a while you'll know that it took me about 6 months to complete the last one, so don't get too excited, but I did love doing it, so maybe one morning this week I might get my craft on.

Feeling thankful for: my new job. I mean, yes, I'm completely exhausted all the time (you try running around after little ones all day and see how you cope with it :P ), but a, getting my first pay check was amazing & such a welcome boost to our household finances, even if I was super taxed - stupid basic rate - and b, it's so much fun! I was getting so bored and lonely sitting around all afternoon waiting for Hubby to come home, getting cross and upset when he had to stay late for whatever reason, but now I get to come home to him making me dinner! It's pretty great. He's pretty great really.

Oh my god, it's not even half 10. I feel like I've been up for an entire day already. Time for a cuppa and a lounge with my book now I think :) Hope y'all are having a great day so far.