Making sweet music

This weekend, I'll be in San Francisco throwing a bachelorette party for my sister. Part of the weekend will be a road trip, for which I have compiled a mixed CD: "First Dance Song Suggestions: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly." Here's the playlist.

1. "All I Want Is You" (U2)
2. "In Your Eyes" (Peter Gabriel)
3. "Kiss Me" (Sixpence None The Richer)
4. "Love Song" (Death Cab for Cutie)
5. "Wild Horses" (The Sundays)
6. "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" (Lauryn Hill)
7. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (Diana Ross)
8. "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" (The Spinners)
9. "Happy Together" (The Turtles)
10. "I Got You Babe" (Sonny & Cher)
11. "I Say A Little Prayer" (Dionne Warwick)
12. "Islands In The Stream" (Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers)
13. "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong)
14. "Love And Marriage" (Frank Sinatra)
15. "Love Is Strange" (Mickey & Sylvia)
16. "Oh, What A Night" (The Four Seasons)
17. "You're My First, My Last, My Everything" (Barry White)
18. "At Last" (Etta James)
19. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" (Elton John)
20. "Endless Love" (Diana Ross & Lionel Richie)
21. "It Had To Be You" (Harry Connick, Jr.)
22. "Lady In Red" (Chris DeBurgh)
23. "Something" (The Beatles)
24. "We've Only Just Begun" (The Carpenters)
25. "You Are So Beautiful" (Joe Cocker)
26. “I Only Want to be With You” (Vonda Shepard)

I'm happy about this playlist because of the balance between actually good songs (the 'Love Song' cover by Death Cab for Cutie) and the ridiculously awesome songs ('You're the First, the Last, the Everything,' by Barry White. Ow.). Embarrassingly enough, it was way more of those "awesome" songs that I already had in my CD collection (Yes, I own the 'Ally McBeal' soundtrack.).

Trevor and I danced to 'At My Most Beautiful' by REM, and the wedding we attended last week was all about the Flaming Lips's 'Do You Realize??", but with only 80 minutes to a CD, there are clearly limits. Maybe there should be a volume 2 once the wedding date rolls around - any suggestions?

My toes are cold.

It's gotten cool enough here over the past week that I've worn close-toed shoes 4 out of 5 days. For the last 2 years, fall/winter close-toed shoes mean one thing:

Except mine are green.

These are some darn comfy shoes, with the added bonus of being slip-ons.

Yesterday, I was on cabin time with the outdoor education group that's here (meaning that I was helping the girls get packed up for their night hike - flashlights, warm clothes, etc.). One of the girls, an 11-year old, says to me, 'Hey! We have the same shoes!" And sure enough, we were wearing the exact same shoes. First I'm a little embarrassed to have a similar wardrobe to a 6th grader. And then she says, "They're my mom's" - and I can't decide if that's worse.

Man of the Month: October

Kyle Chandler sure was a deserving Man of the Month, eh? Now that we’ve all had a chance to appreciate him (and now that I’ve settled in at camp), it’s time to tear the well-earned honor from his hands and bestow it on another gent. This month’s honoree: Jon Hamm.

I spent a lot of time resisting the urge (and Trevor’s repeated suggestion) to make Jon Hamm Man of the Month. He’s had a pretty big year, headlining television’s most critically acclaimed show, watching it shoot up in the ratings, hosting Saturday Night Live, guest starring on 30 Rock (which, despite my somewhat loyal viewership of, I still always want to call Third Rock from the Sun), winning a Golden Globe and generally becoming Hollywood’s new favorite It Actor. (Was he People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive? It seems like he would have been.)

I thought that Man of the Month would get lost amongst all the hoopla. But then Season 3 started. And he’s all supportive father, barely philandering husband (Hey, it’s an improvement), gay secret keeper, anti-bureaucracy suave, and I just can’t help it.

Plus, he’s really funny. Did you see him on ‘30 Rock’? The bit about Eric from ‘The Little Mermaid being based on him was priceless. Then there was his Lex Luthor video on Funny or Die and almost every skit he did as a host on Saturday Night Live (There are not many hosts you can even say “almost” about).



It’s official – even if just for one month this time around, Jon Hamm is a totally deserving Man of the Month titleholder.