the Nonsense in Between

We're off to mexico my friends. I'm so excited i'm peeing my pants. okay not that excited but pretty close. I've never really been on a vacation like this. I've never really been to the beach. I cant wait to spend the week on an awesome island with the love of my life. we're going to have way too much fun! To my landlocked friends in colorado and new mexico: HA HA (nelson laugh). Just kidding, dont cry i'll send pictures of the water for you.

Well, things finally slowed down just enough to allow me to go to a movie. Not any movie but quite possibly the movie of the year. When I heard Tim Burton and Johnny Depp were going to team up to remake Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I got so excited I almost peed my pants. If you haven't seen this movie yet run out and see it the first chance you get. Depp's performance as Willy Wonka was wonderfully wierd and absolutely perfect. Sorry Gene Wilder but Johnny Depp did a better job. By Depp's second line I was laughing so hard I thought I'd cry. Tim Burton didn't just remake an old movie he recreated it. He told the story better than the first guy and of course Burton's artistic touch made for some interesting and beautiful imagary. Now i shall wait for the dvd to hit the shelves.

Did you know there's a supermarket designed for mexicans?! If not read on and I'll tell you all about it.

The other day Dominic and I were watching the spanish channel when a commercial came on for Avanza "La tienda que te ayuda ahorrar" (the store that helps you save). So we succumbed to the advertising masters. (We are weak.)

We get there in only five minutes but I swear we crossed the border somewhere. Inside, Dominic suddenly became a minority and even though I'm not white I didnt look like I belonged there either. Regardless, we shopped around and found many great treasures. The first were the avocados. Sure there are avocados at your regular grocer but there they usually cost $1-$2 each, but here they're only 45 cents!! The cost of the yummy, ripe peaches was significantly lower too! Throughout the store were authentic mexican foods that you usually only find confined to one portion of one isle called "Ethnic foods" or "mexican and chinese foods." Dominic was in heaven when he found a wall full of various hot sauces. We were both amazed when we found our favorite find of all: Pepsi. We don't normally drink soda but this one was special. You see in Mexico they recycle glass bottles, as in they just clean and refill them. So in the mexican supermarket there's all these really old soda bottles that have been recycled so much they're all scratched and chipped. It was so cool we had to buy one (see photo below). The neatest part of it all was that up at the checkout area they had a live Mariachi band! My roots have been nourished.

After being unemployed for about six hours I received a call from a friend saying she was sitting with the hiring authorities at [her work-Aveda related]. She said she told them all about me and they were eager to meet me. We met yesterday afternoon and the meeting went well. Later, they called me back for a second interview with the owner. I've met the owner before and he seems like an alright guy to work for. This afternoon I will find out if he thinks I'm an alright chick to hire.

Wish me luck!

Thanks to Dan FallOutBoyWedding.com is finally up. We've been talking about it for a year and it's finally here! Last night, with the help of some friends, we flyered the Fall Out Boy show with this flyer.

Please visit the site and sign the petition.

Let's begin with the obvious: welcome to my pretty new blog. It only took me an entire day but damn I'm proud. Lets just say if I had visited a country where they only spoke CSS I couldnt have said hello before today. Now I'm proud to say I could at least ask for the restroom.

Aside from the look of my blog I've also changed the title which brings me to more important changes in my life. Since losing my job over a month ago I've had the opportunity (that at times feels more like a curse) to think about life. It's forced me to really evaluate what life means to me, what defines life. What I realized is that as humans we are constantly bombarded by bullshit. Things designed to break us down and disrupt life. Disrupt life. So what is life? A question we each have different answers to but I think I may have found mine. When I was fired (so very unjustly) it made me question everything I believed in. How's, why's and why me's filled my brain and exhausted me. I never thought that my job defined me but it was certainly a big part of my life, or what I previously called life. If I was going to enjoy life again I would have to redefine it. In my search for meaning I realized that life isn't daily routine or even special occasions. Life actually only happens in rare doses that are easily lost. Life is made up of ineffible moments, moments that can only be described by the feelings they leave behind. Between these beautiful doses of life is nonsense. Even the words I type here in an attempt to express these instances are nonsense.

So welcome friends and strangers to the nonsense inbetween.

Well if Dominic's not going to tell the story I will...

Last Friday we had the extreme pleasure of seeing Big Japan play at the Marquis. If you haven't heard of Big Japan check out their myspace. The first thing most of you will notice is that the drummer is a big celebrity. Some of you may notice the guitarist is an up and coming celebrity. But what you should know is that front man Nathanial Castro is an amazing musician, business savvy genius, and so much more. After the show Dominic stopped Nathanial to compliment him on his work and to explain that we had come for the music not the Hollywood freakshow. What we got was nearly an hour of interesting conversation from him that might have lasted longer if the Marquis hadn't kicked us out so that they could set up an area for people to come in 5 at a time to meet Adam Brody.

Later we ran into the liquored up band members and chatted for a while. Bret Harrison was retarded drunk and hilarious, at the very least he wasnt cold like his celebrity friend Adam Brody. I'm not sure what Brody's problem was but he wasn't very friendly and he didnt even seem happy. Tired? Maybe but the rest of the band had been on tour and they seemed fine. Annoyed? Possibly but our group was very respectful of him and tried to treat him like everyone else. At any rate we got a few words out of him and hope he wasnt too put off by us.

We had so much fun that we had to sleep it off at Dan's place while leaving our car in a tow away zone. Oops!

Photos are up in the gallery.

Dominic turned 23 today so wish him a happy Birthday if you havent already.
Happy Birthday, Dominic! You make life fun, thanks for growing old with me!

Please come celebrate us getting old together downtown on Saturday July 1st. Join us for dinner and drinking. Emphasis on the drinking. Time and location are TBD but good times are guaranteed. Hope to see everyone there!

Dom's Hottest Girl post and the Hottest girl gallery get random comments regularly. As you can imagine many of the comments are immature and vulgar. Typically guys drop by leave a lame comment and probably never come back and certainly dont leave more comments. That is until I discovered a regular visitor or at least a serial commenter. He left a comment on this picture most recently and has left comments in the hottest girl gallery and on my blog.

Who knew? Its weird but at least this admirer doesnt leave gross comments. So my New Zealand Admirer thanks for visiting, commenting and admiring.

Congratulations on the AP coverage, Dan. It's a mighty giant leap from a local publication and I think you're a little too modest about the whole thing. It really is incredible.

Read the article about Energy Drinks featuring Dan Mayer here.

And while you're at it check out Energy Drink Reviews, the site that made him famous.

I woke up this morning with a pounding headache and I immediately thought "Shit. Can i still be hungover from friday night?" And yes, I do believe this headache is the lasting remnant of the worst hangover I've ever had. And the next question I ask is: "Was it really worth it?" And yes, it was very, very worth it.

On Friday night Dominic and I went to Colorado Springs to see Cursive. Neither of us had ever hung out in the Springs and we were a little scared because we've heard a lot of stories. Just to give you an idea: the first exit for the Springs is Baptist Road and there is a church on EVERY corner. But not to worry because the venue is in the shady part of town where they let Satan and his friends cut loose. And boy did we cut loose! A tab was opened and the alcohol flowed aplenty. Note to self: Dont open up tabs, then drink until you cant do simple math or remember how many drinks you've had. And dont let your husband order drinks on the tab because he will (and did) buy every nice person in sight a drink. Speaking of nice people, we met quite a few there in the Springs. There were the two guys who drove us to a bar. Then Beth and Isaac who we met at the first bar and drove us to another bar. Then Tia(?) who drove us from that bar to our hotel. We are very grateful for the civilian cab rides because if it weren't for them we'd still be lost or in a ditch somewhere because there were no actual cabs anywhere.

The show was amazing. Jeremy Enigk opened up for Cursive and we had the chance to talk to him after the show. He's a great musician and pretty humble too. And of course we couldn't leave without meeting Tim Kasher, the lead for Cursive. I'm not sure what all was said between the three of us but the conversation ended when Dominic compared Tim Kasher to Abraham Lincoln.

Tickets to the show: $37.00
Hotel in the Springs: $65.00
Bar tabs at various bars: I'm afraid to look
Dominic comparing Tim Kasher to Abe Lincoln: PRICELESS!

Dominic and I recently became foster parents for a sweet little basenji girl named Fossie. I'm not sure how it all started because I'm pretty sure our hands were full enough with Oni-dog and all of his problems but I guess our hearts are bigger than our hands.

A while back we contacted the Colorado Basenji Rescue and offered to open our home to a basenji in need. A couple of weeks ago the Rescue lady brought Fossie over to meet our family and see if she'd be a good match. Fossie and Oni hit it off instantly and that's how we became foster parents.

We are in love with little Fossie. She is a gentle, sweet, cuddly little basenji that even wags her tail when she greets you! However, these are not typical basenji behaviors and certainly not characteristic of Oni, though we love him anyway. We'd love to make Fossie a permanent addition to our family but since our situation is likely to change over the next few years we wont be able to keep her permanently.

Fossie is a perfect dog as she is potty trained (but in typical female fashion she pees four to five times as much as Oni) and knows several commands. She came to us only knowing "sit" but she's quickly learned "lay down", "shake", and "bang! bang!". I know she's capable of so much more.
If any of you are interested (or know someone who is) in a great dog contact the Basenji Rescue or email me at nicole0703 at gmail dot com.

I'm nine hours into my first blizzard today and one beer in. So far I'm really enjoying it. I didnt have to work today and Dominic got sent home early so we made a liquor run and are planning on having a great time this afternoon just chillin' in (no pun intended).

I drew a picture of the blizzard for those of you who've never been in one. And to my Denver friends, I hope you're safe and warm.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of finishing one of the best books ever created: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. If you've not read it you should.

It's easy to spoil the book by saying too much so for your sake I will refrain from spilling my thoughts out here. I will say that Danielewski has an amazing mind. House of Leaves is 709 pages long and not one of them is lacking the cryptic meaning that flows throughout the story. Danielewski's experimental take on literature has left me in awe.

The best thing about my encounter with this book is how it came to be in my possession. On our wedding night as we sorted through a mountain of gifts this book sat unwrapped in the mound. At first we thought it might be a mistake, like perhaps it came off of a bookshelf in the house but we asked and everyone was sure it was a gift to us though no one knew from whom.

After reading it I can see why someone so thoughtfully and anonymously gave this to us on the night of our wedding. Though there is so much to take away from this book I find it appropriate to leave you with a quote that I believe captures, at least in part, it's marital message:

Passion has little to do with euphoria and everything to do with patience. It is not about feeling good. It is about endurance. Like patience, passion comes from the same Latin root: pati. It does not mean to flow with exuberance. It means to suffer.

Thank you anonymous gift giver(s), House of Leaves has been an incredible experience.

Check it!
You might recognize #4, its the coolest STD tattoo, ever!

UPDATE: we got bumped. but we still have the most awesome Saves the Day tattoos

Read the story here, here and see the pictures here

(dave, dont even bother reading this. your hate for fall out boy goes too deep for redemption and i dont want feel responsible for the aneurysm you'll have if you read on.)

I've been listening to the new FOB cd, Infinity on High. I like it, and I dont like it. Some of the songs are rock-my-world fantastic and some of them are i'd-rather-watch-grass-grow boring. Regardless of how good or bad anyone thinks their new songs are it is clear that they are and always were great musicians pop-sensation or not. Infinity on High satisfies as expected with the cleverly cynical lyrics from the King of Emo Pete Wentz, the hard hitting beats from drummer Andy Hurley, and the intensely sexy chord strumming from lead guitarist Joe Trohman. I think the division of fans will come from what I think is a notable change from their pop-punk sound to a more R&B inspired sound that is expressed through Patrick Stump's sultry vocals.

I had my own theory about FOB's soulful, new sound but Dominic disagreed. Our discussion went something like this:

Me: "Wow, Patrick's voice is so full of soul on this new album. Do you think Jay Z, Baby Face and the other brothers fall out boy worked with took Patrick on a trip through the Dirty South, where they ate fried okra and collard greens, then hollered "hallelujah" at a black baptist church when Patrick magically found his soul?"

Dom: "No, Nicole, I think it has more to do with Patrick's raw talent, years of practice, and his affinity for Jazz and R&B"

Me: "So you dont think Patrick is going to leave the band to use his voice to sing Jesus's praise from the pews of a southern baptist church in 'ouisiana?"

Dom: "No"

So I just added that neat little "flickr badge" over there ->.
I'm not sure how long my love affair with flickr will last so enjoy my new little blog feature while it lasts.

Its seriously like one of those car crash moments. Oh so very wrong but you just can't look away.

So, do you think this is a new low for Ms. Morissette or does she get points for the hilarity factor?

A while ago I was contacted by someone at The Boybedlam Review to use the photo below on their website. The article is up now. Click the picture to get to it.

Our trip to hollywood last summer was inspired by Robert Evans' self-narrated autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture. His commentary on Hollywood made our trip all the more interesting and so his was the only star we photographed.

The writer of the article, as you'll find out, doesnt have the fondest feelings for the producer but that's what made the photo all the more valuable. And thanks to the guys at The Boy Bedlam Review Robert Evans' star will be seen by many, through the eyes and lens of Nicole Filosa! Neat.

When I was younger I always said I'd age gracefully. With my 25th birthday less than 24 hours away I'm not feeling quite as optimistic.

I've said it before and I'll reiterate it here that one's twenties are much harder than adolescence. There are too many options and not enough resources for most twenty somethings (this is an assumption based on a small collection of non-scientifically based data). Some of us have college degrees or are working toward a first one or a second one or like my fabulously intelligent friend, Paul, their third one.

But what does it all mean? Having a degree doesn't pave the path. Even my friend Paul, who is a dissertation away from a Phd, doesnt know what he's going to do afterward. And thats just one piece of the puzzle. What about relationships, location, children, home purchases and other huge factors? If you've figured out one piece of the puzzle, like some of my friends have, how do the other pieces fit in? Do you sacrifice one for another? Do you shove them in where they dont fit?

I may be a little over concerned with some of these issues the day before I turn 25 because, well, I'm turning TWENTY FIVE! When I was younger I thought I'd have it all planned out by now. Mostly I feel as though I'm at a crossroads. I know that must sound a bit melodramatic but let me attempt an explanation.
Next spring I will have a bachelor's degree (finally) but I will not have a license to teach because that takes another 3 semesters. Thats another year and a half. So I've been looking into various masters programs because a master's is typically 2 years only half a year more. But then there's the financial piece that doesnt need much explaining. Then there's my empty womb wondering when she'll get her chance. Wait, before you choke, hear me out. I'm not dying to have a baby tomorrow or even in the next couple of years but I do plan on it someday. And as all the other pieces of the puzzle demand my attention and resources I cant help but wonder how that last piece is going to find its way into my life.

i know that's a lot of rambling but, jesus, I'm scared.

Thanks for visiting my new little blog. I hope you think its pretty because I spent way too much time on it and frankly I'm really quite proud of my work. I know what you're thinking: "geeze, Nicole, modest much?" Well first of all, No. And Second, I know absolutely nothing about web design so I think i am allowed to be a little impressed with myself. That said, if my blog does something weird in your browser please let me know because i really dont know what i'm doing.

I must note that I could not have done it without the help of Learning Movable Type. For the masthead I used some really awesome photoshop brushes from Beautiful-Sin and Hybrid Genesis.

I plan to continue blogging with even more random rambling, complaining about a certain crisis, and other things that tickle my fancy; i hope they tickle yours.

Yours Truly,
Nicole Filosa

Thanks for the suggestion, Dan. I have added a link to my 365 days project over in the links section so you can easily watch my progress. That should also serve to hold me accountable. I have a feeling the photos are going to get progressively boring once the fall semester starts so dont get too excited.

I've met some really cool people through flickr and gotten some really great feedback and much needed critiques on my photography. I'm really enjoying my new little community but I wish some of my real life friends would join. So if any of you are so inclined, even if its just the freebie membership, please join and add me. Then you can be a part of all the flickr fun too instead of just watching me have it all.

Dominic reported the other day that I do in fact have a passion. I had flirted with the idea before but something kept me from taking my enjoyment of photography to that kind of level. To say that I am passionate about something is not a decision I take lightly and I just didn't know if I had what it takes to be a passionate photographer or even just a regular photographer.

Honestly, I'm not even sure I could have gone there without the support and encouragement from my husband and everyone else. A year ago we received our DSLR as a gift from Dominic's dad and though Dominic enjoys taking photos and is really great at it he didn't become as attached to Stella as I did. She quickly became my little side kick and we've been photographing everything and everyone since.

Still, I have been apprehensive about proclaiming my love for photography. Photography requires talent and resources that I wasn't sure I had. Though talent is of the free variety, I had trouble believing I'd ever have enough of it to do this thing, after all, equipment can be put on credit cards, right? Where would i find talent? Sure, friends and family had praised my work but I remained critical of my talents. I had even been asked to take photos for a few special occasions, to which I graciously obliged. It was flattering, yes, but I knew I wasn't good enough to fulfill the obligation. To my surprise the shoots went fairly well and I learned a lot about taking pictures and fell more in love with my new little hobby.

A year later I have an abundant collection of compliments and praise that are helping to get me to that next level. Never forgetting that I have a lot to learn, your support has given me the confidence I need to stick with this. From the bottom of my heart and from deep inside Stella's photo sensor, THANK YOU! And a special thanks to my wonderful husband who supports my passion with his unwavering praise and those shiny plastic cards.

That said, I have been asked to take photos of some special events and if any of you would like to have me and Stella at your next occasion please let me know. My current rates are like TOTALLY affordable.

added some of those old photos here

I've been a thrift store patron my entire life. At times it has been out of necessity but the older I get the more I have grown to love the unique (and inexpensive) finds. The part I've hated most about thrift store shopping is the hit/miss factor that had been more misses than hits, that is, until I met Ashlie.

I honestly didn't believe her when she'd come to class every morning with some super-awesome-wicked-cute-something-or-other and claim she got it at the thrift store. After an entire semester of the don't-tell-me-you-got-THAT-at-the-thrift-store discussions I talked Ashlie into sharing her thrift store with me. So a couple of weeks ago we made a day of it and had a blast. There were so many awesome things to pick from we didn't even get all the way through the store before breaking our budgets (which is hard to do, especially on half-off-saturdays).

So what makes this thrift store so great you ask? It's one of the few thrift stores in/near the Denver Tech Center which is populated by mostly wealthy young professionals and even wealthier families. Apparently a lot of these people have good taste and money to waste because they dump some really great stuff off at The Arc. Lots of it is barely worn and some is even brand new! I'm not a label whore or anything but I understand quality and many of the items are from reputable companies like Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, Express, the Limited and others. And this thrift store has no idea their sitting on a gold mine, the prices are typical for a run-of-the-mill thrift store AND did i mention Saturdays are HALF OFF?! Well, mostly half off, you have to keep an eye on the tag colors because they exclude a different color from the sale every week.

I suppose now you want to know where you can find this place, and I guess it would be really mean of me to keep it to myself so... you can find it at 3106 S. Parker Rd in Aurora.

After I fill the void my last two trips left in my wallet I'll go again so let me know if you're interested and we can go together. Unless you wear my size, in which case you're not invited...EVER.

Well not really, but apparently some old footage from a piece CBS did on Dan's energy drink endeavors made it into the spotlight again. We wouldn't even know it had been on again if my brother hadn't seen the morning news.

Dominic found the clip on the internet, you can find it here.

Thanks to Dan for making us all famous!