Mixtape Memory: Spring Break 1993

Back in 1993, I was anxious to get home for spring break. I had spent the previous months of my sophomore year in college moping about, taking pictures of my lap, and dating a guy who loved weed more than me. I couldn't wait to drive back to Chicago with my dad, and I made this mix for the ride. It opens with my answering machine messages from the week (including my halting, teenager-ey outgoing message) and moves into a mix of tunes way too heavy on the XTC and Sara McLachlan. Thankfully I balanced that out with some Pixies and Lush. And there's nothing like a safe sex anthem by Neneh Cherry and Michael Stipe to whip you right back to the 90s!

Side One

King for a Day :: XTC
Wear Your Love Like Heaven :: Sara McLachlan
Love Street :: The Doors
Love for Sale :: Fine Young Cannibals
For Love :: Lush
Heartbreak a Stranger :: Bob Mould
We Walk :: R.E.M.
Steaming :: Sara McLachlan
Merely a Man :: XTC
Trout :: Neneh Cherry
Between a Man and a Woman :: Kate Bush
Touch :: Sara McLachlan


Side Two

Into the Fire :: Sara McLachlan
World Shut Your Mouth :: Julian Cope
Lifetime Piling Up :: Talking Heads
Gigantic :: Pixies
All I Want :: Toad the Wet Sprocket
Dear God :: XTC
Vox :: Sara McLachlan
It's Different for Girls :: Joe Jackson
Beautiful Girl :: INXS
If I Had The World To Give :: Grateful Dead
Ana Ng :: They Might Be Giants

Time for a schmoopy break

Hello cowgirl in the sand
Is this place
at your command
Can I stay here
for a while
Can I see your
sweet sweet smile?

Gator Gratitude

No, Burt, thank you!

Thanks for sharing your glory.

Thanks for being cheap and superficial.

Thanks for having a great motor.

Thanks for making Roger smile.

Ye Olde Abbey Tavern

Fiddle? Check. Beer? Check. Wait, is that a banjo?

Side One

We're Off To Dulin In The Green
The Boys of Wexford
Mick Macguire
Tally Ho, Hark Away
Twenty Men From Dublin Town
The Wild Rover

Side Two

The Captain of the Gallant Forty Twa'
The Oul Orange Flute
Carrig-Dhonn
Whack Fol De Diddle Dee
The Orange and the Green
Cosher Bailey

My Second Favorite Beard

Sure, you could watch this. But really you should watch this. Or this. Or this. And the pretty picture is by Kristopher Pollard.

Found It!

The John Hughes tribute at the Oscars left me wondering whatever happened to that 45 I had... basement score! Now if I can find a knockoff of Molly Ringwald's fantastic dress I'll be all set.

Our Oscar Weekend

This is Lena and I at Meet the Oscars, where we learned how an Oscar is made, saw the statuette that Bette Davis won for Jezebel, and held a real Oscar ourselves!


Lena also started writing her Oscar speech.


For the awards, I made a Crazy Heart pizza (yes, that's a cowboy hat and boot in ham steak) and sugar-glazed star cookies.


The hubby and I drank some red carpet fizz,


and Lena wondered who the silly men were.

Heart's Desire

Mine for this weekend: someone please hand Jeff Bridges his Oscar already! This illustration, by Susan Sanford, makes me almost as happy as the film did. (I already linked this, but check out Susan's glorious Alice in Wonderland creations too).

Drink Me

Suddenly Alice is everywhere, thanks to that silly goth. She is dreaming and silent one minute, caterwauling the next. She even had a Betty Draper moment, and fell down the Lost rabbit hole with the rest of us. So the time is right for me to take out my timeworn copy. It's filled with all the best illustrations, and has my hookah-smoking muse on the cover. This time I'll be reading his dialogue with Alan Rickman's voice in my head.