Yesterday and yesteryear, the feeling in the atmosphere is fine

So I'm looking out of a 15th floor window in downtown Chicago and there is so much snow and wind that I can barely see outside. It's been a brutally cold weekend and now I'm stuck here until the airline decides to uncancel my flight. Snow is so much more idyllic and pretty when it isn't gathered atop ugly concrete buildings. I'm a block away from the Magnificent Mile but it's wayyyyyyy too cold for shopping. Bah!

I posted my thoughts about Valentine's Day last week. I'm actually kind of excited about this year because we're are having a dinner party with a bunch of our friends. We're going to try out a couple of vegan recipes I've been working on and make cheesy heart shaped candies and maybe decorate some cookies. Who needs bitterness about Valentine's Day when you can reinvent the holiday?

In other news, I gave Charles, who just had his computer stolen, a bunch of random music this weekend that I hope he likes. Most of it was albums I really couldn't do without.

Here are some of my favorites:
Edna's Goldfish: Sunrise to Sunset
Am I the only one who thinks this guy sounds like he could be Michael Jackson if he was a little bit crazier?

Green Day: Going to Pasalaqua
I know we all grew up listening to Dookie and thought it was totally awesome at the age of 10, but 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours is my favorite of their albums.

Rehasher: Lift!
Rehasher is Roger from Less Than Jake, and some other guys. An adolescent guilty pleasure, I know, but I think Off Key Melodies is a really solid album. Karim and I are both huge Less Than Jake fans. I gave it to him as part of a birthday present and we've loved it ever since. "Lift" is about how awesome music can make you feel when the world is treating you like crap.

Matty Popchart: The Sun Lights Strong
I met Matty when he toured with Kimya Dawson a few years ago. The show was poorly publicized so there weren't a lot of people there, but it was awesome because everyone just sort of hung out and sat on the floor and listened to them play. Matty's incredibly shy and cute, and sometimes plays this tiny little piano. I really love this song because it reminds me of his innocence. You can't really talk to Matty without wanting to give him a hug and ask him to be your BFF.

There are a lot of others but I don't really have time to post about them. The snow is dying down so perhaps I will go shopping after all.