Kate's Point of View

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What I’ve Been Clicking On This Week

On December 2, 2011

The beauty of the holidays is that people start doing gift round-ups and I find out about all sorts of cool things online. Here are some of my favorite discoveries:

A love of small spaces, if I had $40,000 to kill, I would totally buy this cute little pod. I’d have it in my backyard and use it as a hideout.
In my 111-year-old house, storage is always an issue so I love clever storage solutions like this one for spools of thread.
I was talking with a friend at work and she referred me to two old but funny videos she uses to cheer herself up on bad days. Totally funny!
What do you think of this project idea for using a bleach pen to personalize and decorate your clothing? I’m not 100% sure, but I think I like it!

Melting Hearts

By Kate

On December 1, 2011

In animals

One of the worst parts about fostering animals is having to give them up. It’s still worth it, mind you, but hard. Tonight someone is coming to visit Matzah Ball and Latke to see if they’re a good adoption match. If not, we’re taking them to an adoption fair and they’ll stay at a local pet store until adopted.

This is the best thing for them, I know. Their cute faces will melt someone’s heart like they have mine. In the meantime, I am trying to enjoy them. Last night I sat in a bedroom gift wrapping and the kittens (who are not helpful with wrapping) wanted so badly to leave their room and hang out with me. They spent the whole hour or two trying to squeeze under the door and staring pitifully at me.

When I was done gift wrapping, I played with them for a while. And despite the look of sadness on Matzah Ball’s face, he rebounded and was a pile of purrs as soon as I picked him up.

Update, 12.2.2011: Matzah Ball and Latke have indeed found a new home. They’ll be going home tonight. While Wonder Boy and I are going to be super sad, the couple who is adopting them left our house last night so excited!

Southgate House Closing

By Kate

On November 30, 2011

In rock

From where I live, I can travel to a few cities for good music. The best, though, is when I can stay in my hometown and rock out, which I’ve been doing for quite a while now. This week I learned that the Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky, (out of state but under 5 miles away, so I’m still calling it my hometown) will be closing at the end of the year.

A year out of college I went out with some friends to see a friend of a friend’s brother’s friend’s band play. Or maybe the brother’s friend worked with the band. Either way, it was a distant relationship. We got terribly lost going to the Southgate House in that pre-Newport-on-the-Levy era, parked too far away and walked through some open lots covered in grass. I’d been to show before, but the group of friends I went out with that night was not your typical indie rock show crowd. They would have all been more comfortable seeing the Dave Matthews Band at an outdoor venue. We all made do, though, helped along by shots of tequila.

The band, a brother and sister dressed all in red, black and white, came out and did a pretty good job. The crowd was about 20 people but the music was good enough that I bought an album and the everyone was pretty entertained. A year or two later I saw an article about The White Stripes with pictures of the singer and drummer in red, black and white and about shat myself.

Stories like that are what make the Southgate House so awesome. Seeing small acts there gets you all sorts of indie cred without even trying because so many small acts that have played there have turned into big acts. And some big acts have just honored their crowds by performing at small venues, like Guided by Voices. Thanks to the wonderfully anal retentive concert filing system of Wonder Boy, I am able look back on most of the shows I’ve seen at Southgate House, in reverse chronological order:

6/14/2011, Sondre Lerche
10/15/2010, Guided by Voices (the Classic lineup), Scott Hutchinson (of Frightened Rabbit) solo acoustic set
10/10/2010, Minature Tigers
5/6/10, Frightened Rabbit, Maps and Atlases
6/11/09, Bonnie Prince Billy, Bachelorette
5/28/09, Camera Obscura
5/21/09, Those Darlins, Dexateens, The Features
11/4/07, Josh Ritter
08/31/07, The Ditty Bops
4/7/2007, The Long Winters
4/16/07, Yo La Tengo, Times New Viking, David Kilgour
4/5/06, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Brunettes
5/17/05, Rilo Kiley, Neva Dinova
9/15/2000, White Stripes

Are you Rob Base?

By Kate

On November 29, 2011

In rock

Some things are just too funny. A friend posted this on Facebook and I’ve been laughing ever since.

Seeing Green

By Kate

On November 28, 2011

In uncategorized

Despite growing up in a suburb that was surrounded for most of my youth by farms, I am a city gal. I love to travel to and explore cities. I don’t mind camping and hiking but I’d much rather be exploring a farmer’s market or sampling treats from food stand. Growing up we went on a lot of camping trips and I remember myself as very much the unmotivated hiker. There was one trip where my mom walked in front of my holding a piece of candy behind her back so that I would keep following for the candy. I was about 12 when that happened.

My friend Delicious embraced his urban self long before I did and I watched him tire of cities and transition from vacation in big cities to national parks. (He lives in a tiny town now so might be transitioning back to big cities for vacations.) I didn’t understand very much why he was making the switch. I think I am starting to get it.

I still love cities. I like the fast-paced life and having access to everything within a 1-2 mile radius. I can’t imagine a long commute or not being able to walk to a place for dinner or a drink. I love that Cincinnati is doing a ton to keep things lively, busy and safe.

But, seeing a little nature is a nice thing, too. Over the course of four Thanksgivings, Wonder Boy and I took a break to go hiking in the Charleston Falls Preserve in Tipp City, Ohio. It was a really beautiful spot and a nice break from the over-eating mayhem of Thanksgiving.