Gravedigger....So I Can Feel The Rain!

Hiya! ;)

Did anyone else know that the Harry Potter books/movies were geared towards death and dying? I just read that on the web somewhere. And, it totally makes sense. I haven't read any of the books, DJM(don't judge me), but I've seen every movie like 100+ times. Now that I think about it, they are kinda morbid. I dunno if I'd let my kids watch. Well, if I had kids I mean. 'The Deathly Hallows pt 1' is currently in heavy rotation right now. I'm amped for the last one. I have no idea how it ends...remember I don't read the books....but I'm super pumped!

Speaking of death and dying, I know it all too well. With the work I do every single day. It's a hard struggle. One that I've excepted and one that I feel I need to give back to. *shrug*

One song that hits the right spot about this topic is Dave Matthews version of 'Gravedigger'. I'd post a video of the song but I dunno how to do it! #notbeingblogsavvy. So here are the lyrics:

Cyrus Jones 1810 to 1913
Made his great grandchildren believe
You could live to a 103
A hundred and three is forever when you’re just a little kid
So, Cyrus Jones lived forever

Gravedigger
When you dig my grave
Could you make it shallow
So that I can feel the rain
Gravedigger

Muriel Stonewall 1903 to 1954
She lost both of her babies in the second great war
Now, you should never have to watch your only children lowered in the ground
I mean you should never have to bury your own babies

Gravedigger
When you dig my grave
Could you make it shallow
So that I can feel the rain
Gravedigger

Ring around the rosey
Pocket full o'posey
Ashes to ashes
{Musical intro}
We all fall down

Gravedigger
When you dig my grave
Could you make it shallow
So that I can feel the rain
Oh Gravedigger

Little Mikey Carson '67 to '75
He rode his bike like the devil until the day he died
When he grows up he wants to be Mr. Vertigo on the flying trapeze
Oh, 1940 to 1992--

Gravedigger
When you dig my grave
could you make it shallow
So that I can feel the rain
Grave digger
When you dig my grave
Could you make it shallow
So that I can feel the rain
I can feel the rain
I can feel the rain
Gravedigger
When you dig my grave
Could you make it shallow
So that I can feel the rain
Gravedigger
Gravedigger

If you ever get to see Dave live, pray that you can hear this live. It's one of those 'close your eyes and zone out songs'. Dave is one of my favorites to see live. I think I've seen him 15 or so times. The best venue to see him live is Jones Beach. Which also happens to be my fav venue in general. Nothing like the ocean behind the artist. Especially when nightfall hits. I also happen to feel Dave has the best fans. Everyone sways and dances the same way. It's as if we are apart of some cult.

Music hits my soul with great force. And Dave delivers everytime. Two of my favorite shows were with him and the Roots band...sidebar later in another post...and of him at Randalls Island. As I love a good festival, Randalls Island is dirty! And I literally mean DIRT! You go there all clean and you leave filthy. SMH if only there was another way.

My fav Dave songs are: Dancing Nancies, Typical Situation, Gravedigger, his cover of 'All Along The Watchtower', Rhyme and Reason and Two Step. Two Step would always play at the end of a loooong night at my fav, closed down now, bar called 'Characters' in New Ro. If that didn't play before you left, things weren't OK! If you are a fan of that song you should download his Central Park version. That first 1:50min is EPIC!

RIP Leroy. He was a HUGE part off the DMB experience! I'm glad us fans tend to shout out his name at each and every concert!

I bought a bunch of tickets for concerts this Spring/Summer with hopes of leaving satisfied! I mean come on 311 w/ Sublime (ixnay Brad), I'm super pumped!

If it wasn't for music I don't think I'd survive. I mean just listen to the song 'Two Step', the time signatures alone can make a sane person MAD. But it's worth the listen, especially live, anyways!

---My lil mama Hailey cleaning herself. As if she too was rocking out at a Randalls Island festival ;)

A Beautiful Creature!

Happy Birthday MOM!

Today would have been my moms 64th birthday! She sadly passed away in 1996. It was a rough time for me, being a senior in high school. Wish things were different!
Anywho, a shoutout to her!
Hope all is well with you guys ;)

Oh, the poses I put her through! #HaileyJayde!

'Closed Mouths Don't Get Fed On This Boulevard'

Where the heck did the weekend go? I swear it starts out long but ends up so short!
Saw the movie 'Fast Five'. Did you stay til the end?? If not, shame on you! Everyone was rushing out the doors but something told me to stay. And boy was a glad I did. The next one will be well worth it!
My friends and I signed up for some food and music festivals! They are all local which is good, I'm a huge supporter of local events.

I'm extremely excited about the NYC Food and Wine Festival. Never been but I hear its so fun. Gotta get my tickets soon.

Music...sigh...Is the best creation ever. I grew up in the music biz. My mom was the ishhh back in the day. I'm sorry I didn't take advantage of it then but I do appreciate it now. Music seems to make everything better. Whenever someone asks me what my fav music is or band or rapper I never know where to take it. I love any music with a band. The musicians and artists behind are always so bout it bout it. But if I had to say my fav is the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jay-Z, Dave Matthews band and old skool No Doubt. That 'Tragic Kingdom' helped me through a very hard time in my life. I grew up with Run DMC living just blocks away, jazz playing on cassette in my house, and Bon Jovi rocking at school/camp. So, I guess I'm just versatile. Versatile....such a broad term but best used here.

Anywho, so yea, when I hear a song I love, I go IN on that song. It instantly goes into heavy rotation in the whip, on the laptop, on the iPod, in the CD player at work...you get the point....for a good straight week. Until I can't listen to it for a very long while. I don't know why I do this but it's like my thing. We all have them.

The worst part of obsessing about a particular song, there is always a part in the song that I need to rewind over and over and over. Right now for some reason I'm listening to "Welcome To My Hood" remix by DJ Khaled. There are like a million rappers on the track but Ace Hood's part is my fav. I don't know ANYTHING about Ace Hood. What I do know is that his song "Hustle Hard" remix has the illest beat right now, Lex Luger Holla!. Anywho, in WTMH right before he goes to spit they play the beat of HH on top of the WTMH track. I can't explain it. I guess I'm a music creeper...One who listens to the time signature changes, the up and down beats, the word plays against the bass I dunno, like I said I go IN. So when I listen to this song I have to fast forward it to 4:10 just to get right at the part I like. Then I head nod for the like 30 seconds of his rhyme, rewind and repeat this process over and over for a week. Don't get me wrong I do like the entire song, I just love that part. Don't judge me!

I don't think I can ever say I only like 1 particular genre of music. I've been listening to a lot of hip-hop lately because my job car doesn't have a CD player or an AUX jack. Can you imagine? The horror! And I'd claw my eyes out if I had to listen to Z100 or KTU so Hot 97 and 105.1 are the answers. They too get boring but it's better than the fluff that's making all that money!

When I'm in my car I listen to Octane. Believe it or not one of my top favs is hard metal. I've been into rock music for like 20 years. I prefer rock shows over hip-hop shows because I'm into the musicians and the amazing talent they have. A7X (Avenged Sevenfold) is an amazing band. I recently saw them at their 'Uproar Festival'. They shut it down! I'm also digging 'Apocalyptica'. I love new artists and it's even better to find out where they came from and what they are about.

My favorite band of all time has to be Red Hot Chili Peppers. Followed very closely by Dave Matthews Band, TOOL, System of a Down, 311 and as mentioned above, No Doubt. Um, old school No Doubt, Sevendust, P.O.D. round out the rest of the list. SB to a bunch of 'classic' music I grew up on.

Gonna go listen to many of these artists while I make my jerk pork and rice and peas. My dad would be very disturbed at my buying rice and peas from Gold Krust. But...he doesn't understand the internet so I'm good. LOL. Here is what's going on in my kitchen:

Yummy! But now I'm not hungry! This always happens. :( have a great week!

My lil babe, so cute as always! -Skandies!

Spoiled Rotten (teeth)

Happy Easter Everyone!

I think we stopped making Easter a big deal when I was like 9 years old. I didn't stop getting Easter baskets tho! I made out big today:

I have the best people in my life! Especially since they all know how much I hate chocolate and love love love Skittles and SweetTarts. Well, I shouldn't say hate chocolate. I don't particularly care for it. Sometimes I'll crave peanut M&M's or Snickers. But it's rare.
I was in Jersey today in some country town. No traffic going and barely any on the way back. There's nothing like spending time with family and friends. It always makes me super happy!
Hope you had a good one and remember, brush brush brush all that sugar away! :)

...Burn The Roof Down

Hay!

So, PePe's Pizzeria was so on point last night. Lianna couldn't make it to dinner so my BFF LP came instead. Always great to hang with LP. She's one of the nicest people I've ever met. Plus for some reason all we do is laugh when we're together. That's what it's all about!
Here is their menu:

It wasn't very crowded last night which was great. We ordered a salad to start, which was amazing. Garden greens, cucumbers and parmesan cheese is all I wanted. I don't eat olives and I hate raw tomatoes. The dressing was some kinda balsamic, later on we found out it was actually by the brand Ken's®.

I'm not that wild with toppings and neither is LP. Like I mentioned in my previous post I had their famous white clam pizza but it was too salty and LP wasn't down for clams anyways LOL. So, we agreed on the tomato pie w/ mozzarella, sausage and pepperoni.

Heaven! I was so amped that I grabbed a slice as soon as it hit the table, burned the roof of my mouth and kept on going! I was going in like a champ. I love how the cutting of the slices makes no sense. Whacky, just like us.
This is by far the best pizza place in Westchester, well, in my opinion. I'm excited to try their fresh tomato pie which is only available in the summer.

On the way out I asked the manager if I could take a picture of the kitchen,  he said yes and then did me one better. He asked if I wanted a close up of their oven. I got all giddy, LP was in hysterics, I was behaving like I just won the lotto. Listen...cool things like this never happen to me. So, I said "YES!"....more laughter from LP. Here is what they are cooking with:

If you aren't in the Yonkers area they also have 3 locations in Connecticut! I swear you'll love it. After all, pizza is my fav! ;)

That's how I felt after I ate. LOL -Skandies

....And So This Begins

I took like a 10 year hiatus from blogging. Back before "blogging" was even a word. I figured I'd give it a try again. Hopefully people will just stumble upon this blog. Speaking of, have you checked out http://www.stumbleupon.com/ ? Dude! It's crazy addicting. Thank you Hanna LOL.

Hmmm, not too sure what direction this blog is gonna go. I'll probably talk about random stuff because I'm a Libra and can't ever seem to make up my mind. I think it will lean a lot towards foods, festivals and friends.

Currently I'm waiting at the library to get my taxes done, for FREE! Yep, I wait every year to the last minute to get them done. There is this sweet old lady sitting next to me going on and on about underground parking garages and how they scare her. Ha!

Later on tonight I'm meeting up with my girl Lianna who I haven't seen in like 2 years, omg, for dinner. I'm hoping we can get a table at PePe's. I've been craving fresh real pizza for days. Not that I eat Pizza Hut or Dominos *cringe* but this place is just extra fresh! When I lived in Queens there was a place called Margerita's on Jamaica Ave. You never saw pizza sitting on the shelf because the slices would sell immediately right out of the oven. I used to be a HUGE pizza fan. I judge pizza on the way the sauce tastes, that's first. Then the crust. I'm not into thick crust or extra thin crust. The cheese also can't be salty. For your first visit to any pizza shop you should always get a "plain slice" first, that way you can taste all the elements involved. Then you can go crazy after that!
So back to PePe's Pizzeria. The 1st time I went I was dying to try the famous white clam pizza. It was good, just a bit too salty for me. We also got a pepperoni/sausage mixture. This summer I'm amped to try their tomato pie! So yum! Here is a pic of the white clam pizza:

That crust is perfect! The pies here are huge so come hungry or get pumped for leftovers!
When people ask me what my favorite food is I always say Italian because when I used to say pizza I'd get the eye roll. Well, I'm back to rep'n for pizza. <cheese>

I try to go out to dinner at least once a week. It helps clear my mind. And when the food is great, I'm an extra happy camper. I work many many hours a week so for those 2 hours I get to spend with great people I'm forever grateful!

Thanks for taking the time to read my new blog LOL, I think I'll always close with a pic of the love of my life! -Skandies