I Always Knew I Was a Character....

Check it out. Mr. Pat Beyer has done it again--first it was a kick-A logo for my music business, Mod Pod Music, and now he's rendered a cartoon version of me to put on there. Cory thought I needed a photo on my 'About' page, and I guess people do like to see the face behind the project...but something about it feels funny. I thought a caricature of me would be the perfect thing. I tried to do my own thing through 'Comic Life' software, but it just looks kind of lame. This, however, is awesome! How many people can say they have a cartoon of themselves?! I love how he has me holding a cup of coffee. I think I need to tease him about drawing my boobs, though. Kind of like the whole "Titanic" thing when Jack was sketching Rose's boobs. Okay, maybe not like that since I'm not naked and I wasn't posing live for Pat and we don't have a luv thing going on, but still. It's funny to think of someone drawing your boobs. Coreman joked around that he should have made my boobs bigger...I suppose I could be mad that he didn't make them bigger but actually I prefer small boobs, so there it is.

A Snowstorm? Let's Party!!!

What a weekend! It definitely did what Minnesota does and dumped about a foot of snow on us. Beautiful! Many people have been grumbling about it, but you know, I don't mind at all. These days we don't get enough snow as it is. I always feel like, hey, if it's gonna be cold, we may as well have some pretty white stuff to go along with it. It's not 20 below like it was for so long. It's nearing the end of winter, so it will melt soon. And as I always say, it's really easy to like the stuff when you don't have to shovel/snow-blow it. Thanks to Coreman! (and as I've also said before, the only good thing to come out of a gimpy back.)

The snow really started kicking in early Saturday evening, as we were getting ready to head over to Stephanie's for her belated 40th Birthday Bash. She was really bummed about it, understandably, as there were sure to be some folks that couldn't or wouldn't venture out in the slip and slide to get there. But no, not us! I will not let a little snow keep me from celebrating with my peeps. I told Steph I'd be there if I had to walk over in my snowshoes! (ok, I don't own snowshoes, but I'd get some from Hoigaards just up the street.)

The party was amazing, as I knew it would be--definitely the highlight of the weekend. Stephanie looked beautiful in her fabulous forty glory, and she has wonderful, interesting friends that are definitely fun to chat with. Plus it's always fun to hob-nob with a few local celebs like Andrew Zimmern and Rudy Maxa, who are just as fun and interesting as you think they would be. The highlight of the evening was definitely giving Steph a special birthday surprise--Mod Hair Ken. Stephanie had brought him up a few times when we'd touch on childhood memories--I'm sure it all started with the Dirty Barbie story. (those of you who have listened to the podcast know just what I'm talking about. If you're curious, check out Episode #4 from our early days...) Kim thought of the wonderful idea of finding one for her, and good ol' ebay provided once again. The presentation was hilarious--since it's near-impossible to find Mod Ken complete with box and facial decals, we just had to make our own. I cut decals out of brown felt and labeled each one--of course I had to make up a few of my own. Ken just had to have a merkin. Kim's hubby Brian made an incredible box to put him in, complete with original 'artwork' and an open display window. The funniest thing was the card we gave along with it--we did a photo shoot of Ken and a random lucky Barbie and posed them in all sorts of compromising positions--then Brian photoshopped Stephanie's face on the Barbie. These we put on a self-made card that said, "You're Never Too Old to Play Dirty Barbies!" The gift definitely got the response from Stephanie that we were hoping for...but of course I wasn't counting on everyone at this glorious party taking a gander and seeing just what Kim and I are made of. Ha! Ah well, I can only fool people for so long. It's not long before they start to see the real me. Like as soon as I open my mouth....

So! Into a busy week. Vivian has one more little thing to shoot for her commerical thang today at Fallon, so I'll be dropping Sullivan off to hang with Cory at work, picking Vivian up early from school and heading downtown. It will be a lot of rushing, but there are worse things to do than hang out at a rockin' internationally known ad agency on the 28th floor of a building in downtown Minneapolis.

Heroes

So I just recently discovered a rapper dude named Deadlee--he was highlighted on CNN as a gay man in the rap business. You've gotta love that. I mean, you can't get much more macho and homophobic than rap music, and I admire him for being out there--and I mean really Out there. I have to say, tho, I took a listen to him on itunes and was a little disturbed by some of the lyrics I was hearing. I don't know what I expected, but I really don't need to hear about someone putting their finger in a crack. I don't care who or what is doing it to whom.--that's just nasty! In a little movie clip he's talking about the 'kids' who listen to his music and need an alternative to gay bashing, yet he's rapping about butt-cracks. So even tho I admire his chutzpah, I guess I'm not all that thrilled with his role-modeling. Dang, Deadlee, you could have really been a good influence there!

Now the Dixie Chicks on the other hand, they are definitely my new heroes. Generous Barbara Kopple, the director who filmed Vivian's recent commercial spots and also the Chicks' documentary "Shut Up and Sing" recently sent us a copy of it. Now as you all know very well I am no fan of country music and so haven't been too interested in these ladies--although I do have to say I have often wished I did like them just because they seem cool. After watching this documentary I can say that they are indeed cool--in fact, they may play some twangy tunes, but they are down-right Metal!

It all started with a silly comment as the war started to really heat up. One of the Chicks said from stage, "We're embarrassed that Bush is from Texas," or something to that effect. It is quite unbelievable to watch the repercussions of that benign statement unfold throughout this movie. All of these country folk are banning them, all of the southern radio stations. A woman holding her 2 year old child on her hip and telling her to say that the Dixie Chicks Suck on camera, and then in the same breath say how ignorant the band is. HUH??!! It's embarrassing to be sharing a country with people of that mentality, that's all I can say. I could rant about it all day and night, but of course I won't. Through everything, the Chicks have stuck together and amazingly looked at the whole thing in a positive light, as giving them a chance to re-create themselves, if you will, and create the kind of music they really wanted to create. They still won't apologize about the actual statement or feel sorry about it, and I LOVE THAT!

So there it is. I may even go out and buy their latest CD, just in pure support. Then my husband can listen to it on his way to work...he is very scarily listening to the country station in his car all the time now...eeeek! What's worse, country or Alan Parsons?! (sorry, honey.)

Songs I Never Skip

I love my iPod. I was very much loving it today when I took it out with me for a walk/run! The first one in quite a while, it was heaven in this Minnesota-spring-like temp of 40 degrees!!!! Really, I don't think I could exercise without music. Could you? The frustrating thing though, is how quickly one gets sick of their music. When a person is listening every day or every other day those 400 and something songs get old real fast. For those of you who only listen to music to and from work, and maybe some background stuff relaxing at home, I'm sure that's hard to imagine. But music is very much an inspiration for me to get my butt moving, so it's gotta be good. Sure I love my Lord of the Rings soundtracks, but they don't normally inspire me for a good run. (although they are nice for a pleasant walk around the lake, to be sure.)

There are however certain songs that I never press the fast forward button on and for some reason I feel compelled to share them with you.

--Tainted Love and Personal Jesus, the Marilyn Manson versions (but of course!)
Originally recorded by Soft Cell and Depeche Mode, Mr. Manson has totally re-invented these songs, in my opinion. The lyrics to both are amazing (especially Personal Jesus) and with Manson's driving beat, chunky guitar and haunting sexy voice
above it, oooweee! Now that's what I'm talkin' about. (I'm not sure what it says about me that I find Marilyn Manson both
interesting and sexy...I probably don't want to know...)

--Starry Eyed Surprise by Paul Oakenfold
I first heard this song on a Diet Coke commercial and immediately loved it. I searched on itunes for what I thought it was probably called, and I was right! I love discovering new songs. This one makes me feel all dreamy and in a good mood and makes me think of a night on the town in my wild single days. (the kind of thing that is always so much more fun in memory than it usually was...!)

--Grillz by Nelly
Like I've always said about Nelly, you've gotta love a guy who dedicates an entire song to his shoes. (Air Force Ones, another great tune.) He is so clever with his rhymes, he just cracks me up. Grillz is just hilarious and I'm always joking around about how I need one. (for those of you not in the know, it's the bejeweled mouthpiece that rappers often wear) My favorite line in the song has to be, "...got a bill in my mouth like I'm Hillary Rodham." How can you go wrong with that?!

--Only Time by Enya
Yes, here is the cheezy reflective side of me. This is also more of a 'walking around the lake' song verses a work-out inspiration, but I love it. Enya's music is so dreamy and reflective and as you can tell from my blurb about Starry Eyed Surprise I like to feel that way. :-) I like the idea behind this song, too, it makes you remember that you don't and shouldn't have control over everything. (which is a constant struggle for me...!) "Who can say where the road goes?...Only time...."

--Celebrity Skin by Hole
You've gotta love someone who refers to another as ' a pound of flesh'. Brilliant. I love the raw emotion and once again chunky guitar in this song. I love the way this song is so melodic and so grunge at the same time. And I can totally relate to the whole Hollywood vibe, after living there!

--Lacrymosa by Evanescence
Oh man, this is a total Goosebump song. It's relatively new and I just get the chills everytime I hear it. To me the ultimate sound is to mix beautiful classical instruments and sounds with chunky, loud guitar. I just love the paradoxical element of that. When this song resolves in the end on that final chorus of "Amen" it's another "ooooweeeee!" The Best!

So, there it is . A short list of Songs I Never Skip On My iPod. How about you?

Make-Up Bondage

So I go into Macy*s yesterday to replace my almost-empty (at least I think it's almost empty...those damn flesh colored pump bottles make it impossible to tell, I just kind of guessed by the fact it was feeling light and it farted at me last time I squirted a little on the back of my hand...) HG (holy grail) of foundations, the Lancome Renergie Lift Make-Up, and I am pleasantly surprised with being greeted by a 'Free Gift' display at the counter. Nice. Rarely am I lucky enough to run out of something just at the right Free Gift time--it normally pops up right AFTER I've been there.

The Gift is quite generous--my choice of 3 different little make-up bags, all filled with the same stuff. An eyeshadow 'quad' (which I have to say looks amazingly like the last Free Gift quad that was given out sometime over the summer), a mascara, a lipstick that I'll actually use, (although it does have a bit of that old-lady lipstick smell. One of the reasons I buy most of my lipsticks at Mac.) an eyelash curler that I probably will never use, some eye make-up remover, and a small jar of moisturizing cream.

I was curious about that cream. I've come a long way with my facial accoutrements, spent a lot of time trying this and that and getting it just right, that I don't try new skin-care things lightly. It smelled good, I liked the consistency. I decided to look it up on line to find out just what I was supposed to do with the stuff and what exactly it's supposed to do for me. Let's see here...oooh! It: "...fights visible effects of age and hormonal changes." Right on, I'm there. "...skin regains youthful substance, firmness, and radiance – as if signs of aging are visibly repaired." Bring it on! "Visible Repair: Wrinkles appear reduced. 85% experience improved elasticity and firmness. Intense Moisture: 91% feel skin is nurtured. Re-plumped with life. Clarity: A radiant, even skin tone is revealed." Dang, this stuff even has wild yam in it. (the sweet potatoes...!) And it's only....wha?? $108.00??!! That's almost as much as the latest Coach spring/summer bag I have my eye on, and they want me to use this on my face every day? Grief.

I never used to care much about make-up. (check out that hair-do!) Back in the day I never would have dreamed about using foundation--it didn't fit the whole rock and roll death look I was going for. A little powder, absolutely NO blush (again, too life-like for rock and roll) tons of black eye liner and the finishing touch of some bright red or purple lipstick. I splurged on lipstick from Aveda, but everything else could be bought at your local Walgreens. Of course back then youth didn't come from a bottle, and I WANTED to look made up. (there's Lori and I back in the day-ha!) Now I'm spending out the wazoo to give the illusion that I don't have much on. Oh, the irony. And it's all so addicting! What starts as a Free Gift here and there becomes an obsession for that beautiful sparkly eyeshadow that looks almost identical to the one you just thew away because you found you never used it. Craziness I tell you, craziness!

I can only hope I don't end up liking this moisturizer. So does my husband, I'm sure. You men out there, you're so damn lucky!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Is an image of two skeletons in a loving embrace a Metal way to wish someone a Happy Love day, or what?!

Ahhh, Valentine's Day. The holiday that either makes you feel elated or like doo doo, depending on where you are in your life. Of course since I have a loving husband and children, Valentine's Day around here is pretty darn nice. I understand the mixed feelings with it, though. The expectations that come with the holiday of love are grand--even Sullivan told Dad that they needed to go to Zales for me. (this comes from catching a commercial whilst watching the History Channel.) But even a small gesture can be grand, I certainly don't need diamonds (or Coach purses!) to understand that I am loved. Check out this lovely display that I woke up to this morning! Chocolate and sweet cards from my family--the kids spent a lot of time and thought picking them out and decorating the envelopes. They may not be blue patent leather, but does it get any more valuable than that???

So I hope all of you out there feel the love today baby, feel the love. Even if you don't have one specific admirer at this time, somebody out there loves the one and only you. You gotta love that!!!

Anniversary Hijinx!

The Feminine Hijinx trio getting ready to record our first show!

Happy Anniversary to Us, the Feminine Hijinx ladies that we are. We have been gabbing to the world (or, to about 200 or so) about nothing for a year now. A whole year! Hard to believe. What a fun year it's been! What began as a suggestion from my husband who wanted to try his hand at producing a pocast became something I took and ran with...and I'm sure glad I did. Does our podcast make a real difference in anyone's world?! Probably not. We just sit around and laugh ( a little too loudly, I might add) and talk about our daily lives, silly things that happen in the news, make raunchy jokes and innuendos. Nothing too special, really. But it is definitely something I look forward to, a wonderful excuse to get together with my best peeps and just be our silly selves. And all the more fun if anyone else wants to get silly right along with us. In my opinion, it's what the world needs, really....more silliness!!!!

So soon the Anniversary show will be posted...thanks to all of you listeners out there who join us for each show, we so appreciate it! And a Big Thank You to my husband Cory, who without him it would have never happened. Hey, I'd probably still have a pager and be trying to figure out the library computer (cuz I wouldn't have one of my own!!) if it weren't for his tech-savvy and generous hard work!!!

Frigid Fun

Yay, Saturday. It's been a busy couple of days here and all I can say is, THANK G-D. This frigid weather is making me cooped up and crabby, I've needed some diversions. I am so ready to breathe in the spring air! Heck, I'd be happy with 30 degree air at this point. Grief!

Thursday afternoon Stephanie brought her adorable little nephew Cooper over to hang since he didn't have much of a nap. (now that's the kind of Coop-ed up I like...!) We've been trying to plan this for weeks now, but little Coop was not Coop-operating. Ah well, I guess it IS about the child getting his nap and not about us. MAN, what a little cutie-pie. We all wanted to eat him up, especially Digby. Poor Digs, he over-played his moves and had to go in the crate. He clearly knew he did, too, because he didn't make one peep when I put him in there! The cutest was when Sullivan came out to say hello. Cooper immediately crawled right over and pulled himself up on him. The sweetest! I'm tellin' ya, that kid is almost enough to make me drop an egg. ALMOST. (sorry the photos are so out of focus. Not quite sure why...?)

Yesterday afternoon it was another jaunt over to Fallon, where Vivian did some more 'work' and we hung and watched the rough-cuts of the commercials. That place is a blast, complete with pool table, ping pong table, putting green, (well, the hallway, but still.) snacks galore, a glorious view. Almost makes me want to be corporate again. Again? Okay, I guess I never WAS corporate. And I suppose they really aren't, either...which is what makes them so great! We had a great time once again hanging out with everyone. It will be sad to see it all end when the project is truly finished!

This morning was Digby's play group at the Humane Society--thank goodness--and now it's just doing stuff around the house until it's time to head over to the choich for 'Adult Night Out'. I'm looking forward to this, mainly because I can't wait to see my husband participate in those cheezy 'getting-to-know-you' games they undoubtedly have planned for everyone. Tee hee!

Hello, Associated Press!

A loud and resounding shout out to the Associated Press, who I found out actually read my blog. tee hee. Char from Fallon called me yesterday informing me that poor Neel Lattimore was called and questioned by them, asking about his commercial shoot in front of the Whitehouse, and was that about Hillary Clinton?? Eeeek! I guess it makes sense, with her campaigning people are going to be looking for anything. I feel badly that Neel was questioned because of it, but I do love the fact that the AP has read the Metal Mommy Diary. Maybe they need a Metal Mommy to do some writing for them? Daily gripes and blessings of parenting and suburban life, my oh-so-important view of this crazy world, Metal. Now that's interesting news. :-)

And speaking of surburban life, I must rave once again about Byerlys. I know you guys are probably sick of me going on about a grocery store, but you know--it's the simple things. As I was paying at check out, my oh-so-nuritional head of iceberg lettuce rolled onto the floor. The cashier could not be more apologetic that this happened, and vocalized how thankful she was to me that I just waved a hand at her apologies. Does a head of lettuce bruise?! I'm not too worried. But that's just the way those folks roll there at Byerlys. Then I drove up to have the groceries put into my car. As much as I love this feature, I always feel a bit funny about it...especially when it's "-4 feels like -16" frigid degrees out there. Here I am sitting in my warm car, and this guy with what's exposed of his frozen red face sticking out of the small hole in his hat/scarf combo is telling me he's not going to open my hatch until my groceries have shown up on the belt, so as not to let the cold air in. I'm tellin' ya people, that place may be a little more expensive than your average grocery store, but they make a little suburban Metal Mommy like me feel like a rock star. And when you are getting milk for the umpteenth time at 8:30 AM and not feeling so glamorous, that is a wonderful thing.

Forgot To Mention...

...the ever-so-talented Pat Beyer who created this totally cool swank logo for me and my Mod Pod Music business! Isn't it the best? I wanted to give credit where credit was due, so, there it is. (see, Pat, you ARE famous. You get your very own post dedicated to you for all of my 5 readers. ;-) Hey, I guess you're one of them...so that leaves four....)

Ladies and Germs, Mod Pod Music is LIVE!

Yet another creative outlet is born...Mod Pod Music. In writing my own theme music for Feminine Hijinx--the podcast I do with my peeps Kim and Stephanie--I realized that there may very well be other podcasters out there looking for something original and fun to announce their show. There are many libraries out there, but not many sites where you can just buy that one perfect song. (plus, it's a heck of a lot of fun for me to do it.) I can offer just the music, or songs with vocals and/or voiceover. It would be nice if this creative venture could actually make some money for a change, but then again, that's never why we starving artists do these things, is it?!

So if you get a moment, go check out my site and let me know what you think! There are still some changes to be made as we tweak things here and there, as it's new we still need to read and re-read to get it just right. A big THANK YOU to my amazingly talented and generous husband, who takes time out of his busy day (or, more like night!) to get this web site done for me. As a reward I may let him listen to Alan Parsons while we eat dinner tonight. (maybe.)

Bring it On, Punxsutawney!

I am SO wishing I was back in DC right about now, where it's positively balmy in the high 30's. At 2 degrees and 'feeling like' -13, this is beyond cold here in the frozen Minneapple. At the risk of being crude--of course, when did I ever really worry about that risk??--this is what I call Witch's Tit cold. I don't like it. In fact I find the older I get, the less tolerance I have for it. Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring, and I'm praying the little guy is right. Now I'm beginning to understand why people want to head south when they get elderly. I've always liked it up here in the north, but right about now I'm ready to move to DC. By 80 I may very well be in Florida. !

I was hoping to forget about the miserable cold by warming up with my dear friend Stephanie at our usual Friday Morning Coffee Hour, but alas, her poor son is home sick today so that was not to be. Here's a funny thing, tho...deciding to run errands instead and I walk into Target and see this lovely woman smiling at me. All of a sudden she says, "You're Suz! I'm Donna!" Donna! Donna's been with us from the beginning, one of our first vocal fans on Feminine Hijinx, and if you bother to read comments on this here blog you'll see her name peppered here and there. It was so fun to meet her, I just had to give her a hug. It truly felt like I was running into an old friend! So there it is, my 15 minutes of fame--getting recognized off of my blog! Funny. She said hello to Ms. Coach, too--Donna's my kind of gal.

DC and Back Again--The Last Day!

We woke up to our last day in Washington DC to a lovely spring-like temp--it actually made it up into the 50's! (and I thought Minnesota weather was unpredictable!) It was a nice relief since we would be out again to film a couple more commercial spots. Since it wasn't to be such a long day, we decided we'd ALL go along.

After breakfast we all crowded into the van again and again drove over to the Whitehouse. From there we decided to take a scenic walk to the next location, the Lincoln Memorial. I was really glad we walked through by the Wall at the Vietnam Memorial, that was something I had really wanted to see. You just can't imagine the scope of it until you see it with your own eyes....all of those names, and realizing most of those guys were just babies at 19, or their early 20's. There was definitely a sombering mood as people passed through the walkway, despite the crowd it was eerily quiet. There were people there making rubbings of names, or setting photos and trinkets down at the bottom of the Wall. I started to realize with all of the memorials that are there in that city, beneath the excitement of the beautiful monuments and sentiment of new beginnings, there is definitely the overall feeling of mourning the past as well. It definitely made me feel thankful for my ultimately simple and blessed life.

Our feet then brought us to the Lincoln Memorial, which is quite breathtaking. The statue of Lincoln is so beautiful and regal, and I got a total feeling of calm as I looked up into his face. We spent a couple of hours there while they got Vivian's final shots. Right there at the foot of the memorial area is the reflecting pool. Whenever I think of that I think of Forrest Gump--Jenny walking through it to get to him. "Run, Forrest, Run!" Well, we actually got to be like Jenny because there was no pool in the reflecting pool! For whatever reason it had been drained of water, and Neel said it was the first time he's ever seen it empty. Bizarre. Of course Sullivan wanted to go in there, and I have to admit, I did, too. How many people can say they've been in the reflecting pool?! (well, and have not gotten arrested, that is...!) As we stood there Sullivan said, "Hey look! A penny!" I looked down and realized that there were coins everywhere. Of course! People throw money into these kinds of things! It was so cool, most of the coins were hardly recognizable they had probably been in there for so long. We actually found a very cool coin, Neel said he thought it was a freemason one. Sullivan also found a penny from 1953. I let him take a couple--and I took one, myself!--but I have to admit it felt a bit funny to take them out of there, like they were sacred or something. Hopefully those people's wishes have already come true. :-) It sure made Sullivan happy to have them!

We all walked through the pool down to the Washington monument, which is at the other end. The kids really wanted to go up in it, but I guess they only sell so many tickets to do so each day and there weren't any left. They were bummed, but I sure wasn't! Not my idea of fun. At that point we all split up to do some individual sight-seeing. Cory had wanted to experience the Holocaust museum, so he, Char and Lisa all went to do that. Neel kindly offered to hang out with the kids and I, and we went back to the Natural History museum. Even though Sullivan had already been there, Vivian and I had not. I really wanted to see the Hope Diamond--of course! I have to say, it wasn't what I expected. All I could think of was The Titanic. Maybe everyone else knows that they obviously made Rose's trinket to look like that in the film (I'm guessing here, but, don't you think?!) but I was clueless. I guess I expected this HUGE, like as big as my fist, cut diamond. huh. I guess I'd rather have a grill.

We also checked out the dinosaurs--of course!--and a bug exhibit. The actual bug exhibit was closed, but they moved a few things to another area. Sullivan held a huge African walking stick bug--and I 'pet' it!!! Spiders and centipedes make me shiver, but this thing had a face and he was cute to me. Go figure. Neel kindly bought us all treats and had to duck out to go teach a swimming lesson. :-) The kids and I cabbed it back to the hotel to meet up with Coreman.

There is one thing I will interject about the museums. I realized that as cool as everything was there, our little ol' museums in the fair city of Minneapolis are really just as cool. We have many of the same things, some even on a grander scale than the Smithsonians. It made me proud to live in the Minneapple.

Our last night in DC. We decided we'd ALL go out for a final dinner together. Neel had told us about this cool place his friend owns called Comet Pizza. Cory and I both agreed that it would go over fabulously here in Minneapolis! It had a very Uptown-y type vibe. It looked like someone's basement with booths and long tables, and the back room was set up for ping pong! We ate delicious thin-crust pizza and went back for some good old fashioned table tennis. Cory and Char were getting quite cut-throat there for a while. I seem to recall bets were made, but I don't know if anything was ever coughed up?? :-) Our little family, + pregnant Char, decided to call it an early night and get back to the hotel, leaving the rest of the crew behind.

We had a pretty early flight the next day, so it was up and at 'em. The Fallon team were all on the same flight, so that was fun. Char, Simon, Bobby, Lisa, Micheal. What a great group of people--they were so fun, so kind. We couldn't have spent a week with finer people. We didn't all sit together on the plane, however, which was fine...I think everyone just wanted to zone out and relax after such a busy week. What a week it was. What an experience! Back to COLD Minnesota, sigh. I sure could use a 50 degree stroll in DC right about now....