Free Ingrid Michaelson Concert

Friday, 5 August 2016Thursday, 4 August 2016 StarrLeave a comment

Last week, I was able to see Ingrid Michaelson perform some of her fan-favorite hits and never-before-performed new songs as the concluding concert for the 2016 Summer Fest concert series.

Absolutely free.

It was an incredible opportunity that (luckily?) not many people knew about. Tyson’s Corner Center had been holding a summer long concert series, featuring a variety of acts, from American Idol contestants to a “Kidz Bop” concert that I spotted on the schedule a while back. The grand finale was this performance by Ingrid Michaelson, who has a new album coming out soon and will be returning to DC for her tour in November. (I posted clips of her concert on my Snapchat if you saw ’em!)

Tommy McFly introducing Ingrid as she walks up to the stage

Tommy McFly from 94.7 Fresh FM’s the Tommy Show was there to introduce her, so of course my friends and I got a kick out of seeing one of our radio DJs in person. (You never quite know what to expect just hearing their voices for several years!) He introduced Ingrid, who came out looking like… the cool girl that you wanted to be friends with and weren’t too intimidated to make it so. I’ve always liked her songs on the radio, but I never sought out listening to any of them, so I never paid her much mind.

But the girl can sing…Read More »

Old Ellicott City

Tuesday, 2 August 2016Monday, 1 August 2016 StarrLeave a comment

Over the weekend, I went back to my parents’ home to prepare them to move away from the Ellicott City house we’ve called home for the past decade. We were hit with an unexpectedly strong storm, watching our windows and doors struggle to shield us from the torrential downpour and trees losing their grip on their branches that littered our yard.

But we got off easy.

A picture of flooding on Main Street Ellicott City. #HoCoMD pic.twitter.com/3AYg3MJNit

— Allan H. Kittleman (@HoCoGovExec) July 31, 2016

When I woke up Sunday morning to birds chirping and sun shining, I learned that the historic district of our town, just a five minute drive from my house, had been devastated by historic flooding.

That is footage from the window of a restaurant I’ve eaten at with my family, of a road that I’ve walked down and driven down hundreds of times. Saturday evening, when 6 inches of rain fell in less than 2 hours, cars were swept along Main Street like leaves on a river. The historic and iconic clock was also washed away.

Lives were lost. Homes were destroyed. Businesses were wrecked.

If you are able, please help rebuild this community however you can. Community members are looking for others who can provide meals, provide housing for displaced residents, volunteer to clean up, donate goods/supplies for the clean up efforts, and donate funds, but are of course welcoming any other forms of help as well.

Yes, Ellicott City has a history of flooding. It’s well-documented, both on Wikipedia and physically in the historic district itself. But it doesn’t make this latest, which meteorologists have called a once-in-a-millenia-scale flood, any less devastating.

Governor Hogan has declared a state of emergency while Ellicott City and the surrounding area try to rebuild. Any help would be appreciated.

Salads: An Update

Friday, 29 July 2016Friday, 29 July 2016 Starr4 Comments

It feels a little weird to just toss out a salad post (see what I did there) when I have a backlog of recaps I still owe. There’s my friend’s wedding I attended at the beginning of the month (waiting on photos from the official photographer, so waiting for the couple to return from their honeymoon) and my annual trip to New York (which I just want to wait because, chronologically, it happened after the wedding).

So I want to talk a little bit about salads real quick.

Yep, I, too, can sometimes be a woman laughing alone with salad.

Back on my old blog (RIP Xanga), I wrote an entire post about how I construct salads and what my favorite restaurant salads were. I don’t think that ever made it here, but in light of how many salads I’ve been eating during DC’s recent heat bubble, I figured it was a good time to revisit salads.

While some people may think of summer as cookout time, a time to eat copious fried foods and barbecued meats, I always think about the fresh, raw foods I crave in the summer. It gets to the point where I am almost offended when someone invites me to eat salad or sushi in the winter. (Are you saying my winter coat of blubber doesn’t look good???) On days when you get covered in a layer of sweat or the moisture in the air or both within seconds of walking outside, a beautiful, crisp salad really hits the spot. The things I look for when I am glancing over salad menus are textures, flavors, and colors. I also take into consideration heaviness/freshness, which is hard to describe but I think you probably understand it? Citrus adds freshness. Avocado and bacon add heaviness.

Here’s my process, in order, of when I construct my own salads…Read More »

Spring Break 2016 Link Roundup

Tuesday, 26 July 2016Sunday, 31 July 2016 StarrLeave a comment

Phew, we made it everybody! A (relatively) timely completion of vacation recaps. ~~(If any of you mentions those Europe posts…….)~~

Here’s all of the links in one spot for reading convenience:

Thanks for sticking by me with all these updates! Here’s a short photo series that I forgot to include in one of them:

Yep, that’s me trying to conquer the Sword in the Stone. Oh well, maybe next time.

See ya next time, West Coast!

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Friday, 22 July 2016Friday, 22 July 2016 Starr2 Comments

I had the chance to watch the newest Star Trek movie, Star Trek Beyond, at an early screening this past week. I like the new movies. I never watched the shows or the old movies, so I’m coming into Star Trek as a brand new fan. I always enjoy watching the movies, in part because the cast is great, but I find that there is a really persistent problem with movie franchises and developing villains very poorly (looking | at | you, Marvel) and expecting audiences to not mind. I can barely remember the villains for the previous Star Trek films (even amidst the big reveal/controversy with Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan for the last one!) and there’s a reason for that. And I’ll talk about that later.

But TL;DR I really had a lot of fun watching this movie, from beginning to end! Justin Lin did a really great job directing this one. (This fantastic Wired write-up will do a better job of telling you why than I can.) I really loved watching Beyond, because when you have a great director and a great cast, it’s really hard to go wrong. (Also, sorry JJ, but I do not miss the lens flares.)