selfish shoes

remember my post about the shoes being sized wrong and all? well, i reordered them from another website in 7.5 regular width. they were too narrow. so i ordered them again from the same website in wide width. they are about the same size as the original pair. GAH! i'm telling you, i'm giving up. i am done trying to own the cutest shoes ever!!!!!

in other news, christopher and i attended a gillian welch concert last wednesday, and my life is not the same. her voice, her songs, david rawlings' harmonies, their stage presense, their ability to blend, everything was just amazing. the only instruments played (save one or two songs with the banjo) were guitars. only two people were on the stage. one song they were singing and playing so quietly and beautifully it drew tears. i'm telling you, they're amazing!!!

before the concert started, chris and i were talking about how some of the seats were positioned in such a way that the person would only be able to see speaker. i said we should move one of the speakers, and chris said "i've heard that when she starts her concerts..." and i thought he was going to say that she asks if everyone can see her okay (he said something about sound check and that we probably shouldn't move the speaker) which led to a hilarious scene in our minds of a completely vain musician coming on stage and doing a sound check, something like: "check. check. check. can everybody hear me? check. check. can you hear me? is that good?" normal, right? yes. normal. but then they would do a visual check, something like: "okay great. now can everybody see me? can you see me? sir? yes, you in the back. can you see me alright? okay, you, over there. can you see me? can everyone see me?" still in the "microphone check" voice. we were rolling laughing saying we should make a short film or something like that. so anyway, gillian and david came out on stage, played a song, and when it was over, the first words out of her mouth were "can everyone see us okay?" BAH!!! i almost died. it was hysterical!!! she was referring to the lighting being really low and "moody", and how she wasn't feeling very moody. they turned the lights up and the show went on. but it. was. hilarious. i was amazed.

in still more news, christmas is almost here, and amazon.com proves itself amazing once again. last year i bought almost every christmas present from that website, and this year is no different. they have everything! and it's all discounted!! and they have free shipping!! and the shipping is fast!!! and they have great boxes to wrap in!!!!! it's just great. BUT. i bought one thing from the amazon auctions - it's kind of like ebay where singular people are selling things, but they're for a set price and it's not really an auction...it's like ebay but everything is "buy it now". anyway, the guy sent the wrong thing. i wanted "where the red fern grows" from 1974. he shipped "where the red fern grows, part 2" from 1992. the invoice said it was "where the red fern grows" from 1998 (a remake, apparently). when i went to check my order online, the link said it was the 1998 version, but when i clicked on it, the description was the 1974 version. boooo! so i gave him negative feedback. yes, i should have contacted him first. i see that now. but i had a horrible headache and was having an even horribler day and i just thought the jumbled-ness of the transaction deserved negative feedback. anyway, he emailed me directly asking what was wrong, i told him, and he proceeded to ask me to remove the negative feedback. i ignored him and contacted amazon.com to see if that was normal and/or okay to do. they responded saying they would handle the investigation and i probably wouldn't find out the results. great. he emailed me again the next day asking me to remove the negative feedback. i started to get freaked out that he would hunt me down and get revenge or something. those people take their feedback very seriously. he emailed me a third time telling me he wouldn't refund my money until i took the negative feedback away, and i realized it just wasn't worth it - making this poor soul in washington state angry, so i tried to change it, but i couldn't figure out how. i responded to him with this information and asked him to help me, and i haven't gotten a response yet. BOOO! i guess i'll just keep the movie.

in even more news, i got a haircut. FINALLY! wearing coats and scarves and hats and layers upon layers is so hard with long hair. almost two years ago i got my hair cut for locks of love and it was SO STINKING SHORT. it was too short. it barely went behind my ears. anyway, it had grown out a bit by the time cold weather came around and it was so easy to deal with all those layers that i missed it this year with my much longer hair. so it's hacked. above my chin. hooray! and i have concluded that the greatest place to get your haircut is great clips. it's really affordable, the stylists pay more attention to what i want better than any other place, and the two times i've used them have been the two best haircuts i've ever had. try it! i'm telling you, it's great.

in still more news yet again, i've made my family's recipe for russian tea for years now, and have already made it several times this season. everyone always gives such high compliments and loves it so much, that i thought i would give all you faithful readers a little gift of the recipe. it's really, really good. i've always made it in a percolator, but just last year discovered that it's just as good made on the stove, so i threw away my crappy old boughtatajunkstore percolator and didn't even look back. enjoy!! :)

Russian Tea
2 cups oj (not-from-concentrate)
4 cups water
2/3 cups (one small can) pineapple juice (it comes in 6 packs of little cans)
1 lemon and 1 lime, squeezed
2/3 cups sugar (i use a little less)
2 tea bags (any kind)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
6 or 7 cloves (i put these in a tea-ball so i don't have to fish them out!)

mix all ingredients together in a pot, heat on medium to medium-high for about 20 minutes (i don't really know how long...just until it's "done") stir occasionally. it's okay if it boils, but that's not really the goal. the smell that fills your house is almost as good as the drink itself! refrigerate leftovers and either reheat or pour over ice! it's great both ways!!