the long overdue monkees weekend recap

shame on me for never doing a proper post after the monkees shows in november and our subsequent monkees weekend. on one hand, it sorta still seems like it was all a dream. what's there to talk about when it didn't really happen?! on the other hand, i'm terribly sad that it's over and i can't bear the thought that it may have been the last time i will ever see them. it was THE most amazing experience to finally see mike nesmith perform monkees songs with the others, even if they were missing one important part of the band. i will never forget the smile on his face watching him perform, and the feeling that i was taking part in a once in a lifetime moment with my best girls there beside me. it was magic. i know i sound so lame and not that many people can relate to what i'm going on about, but it was a huge deal for me. i feel so very lucky i was able to see "an evening with the monkees" (not once, but twice!) so here is my recap, starting at the very beginning of monkees weekend...
*all photos from monkees weekend by amy allen unless otherwise noted!


me and the girls...note the huge screen behind us that we used to play the monkees television show all nite long!


beth and i dj'ed a swingin 60s dance party and it was SO much fun!


look at all the party people!


i was really nervous about pulling the nite off, but it was a hit. i wanna do it again!


at the last minute, things got 50x better when we booked cleveland's own monkees tribute band, the frodis capers! they were awesome


sisters! my cousins


amy and i


beth and i (photo by rachel elizabeth of nevermind the camera photography!)

the following night micky, peter and mike performed in lakewood, ohio. we had 4th row seats (!!!), which technically turned out to be 7th row when the pit seats were taken into account. it was amazing, and i didn't know how things could get any better.


beth and i, ready for the show to begin in lakewood

on sunday, we hit the road for buffalo, new york to see it one more time. this time our 6th row seats were even closer because there was no pit section and the layout of the venue was different. SO. MAGICAL.


hitting the road for monkees weekend day 3!

these are just a few of my favorite photos i took over the two nites we spent in their company -- i took over 400 photos total! i wanted to make sure i would never forget what it felt like to be there and i tried to capture as much of it as i could. i'm so glad i will always have these memories to look back on. these shots are from cleveland and buffalo combined.  
please do not repost without credit.









































if i could only do this over again...

first junkin trip of 2013

i haven't had the extra money for any junkin lately, and i've been behaving myself remarkably well. still, i was long overdue and the itch was gettin baaad, so josh and i headed out in a snowstorm last weekend to see what there was to be seen.


pogo mugs for the camera

the first thing i picked up was this cowboy light cover. we see these fairly often, but never for a price we liked. we've been talking about replacing the light fixture here in the computer room because it's far too dark in this room, so when i found this at a decent price we decided it would motivate us to complete the project if we had a cool fixture already picked out.



you would think i would already have a set of pee-wee colorforms, seeing as how i work at a vintage toy store and all. we even had these when i was a kid, but they are long gone by now. i found a set that was never even used and decided to bite the bullet.



my mission was to find something monkees-related, not only because i've been on mega-obsessive mode for the past few months, but also because the day we were shopping just happened to be the 70th birthday of one mike nesmith and would have been the 67th birthday of the late davy jones. i really had my hopes set on the vinyl lunchbox from the 60s, but it was nowhere to be seen. instead, i had to settle for this teen mag, which featured a section on the "cool and crazy" birthday boy.





as you probably noticed, i really like cheeseburger things. i picked up this plastic burger thinking that i would use it as a small trinket box, and the guy who worked at the store laughed at me telling me it was actually a hamburger patty press from the '40s. hey, tomato-tomahto, dude. i've also got the cutest collection of vintage planters going filled with all my tiny cacti and succulents, so i'll have to show them to you soon. cute lil' lamb had to come home with me.





my favorite find of the day was this cemetery sign. yeah, you already knew i was a creep, no news there. we have funeral home signs and undertaking service signs hanging in the house already, so why not a cemetery? i really liked the way the wallpaper looked behind the sign, so i made josh hang it in the dining room. maybe an unlikely place to display it, but seeing as how the gravestone blowmold also hangs out there i giggle every time i look at it.





found any good junk lately?

xmas, nye and welcome 2013!

here i go slacking off again.

christmas was nice. we had both our families over our house and things went well. i was especially nervous having the puppy around, but the only casualty came when he snuck a chicken leg off someone's plate and booked it into his cage. josh said he had to pry his jaws open and there was chicken grease dripping down. haha.

my favorite part of the holiday was on christmas eve. we always meet at my parents house and get chinese takeout for dinner before exchanging gifts with the immediate family. when my dad got up to get a drink, my brother unwrapped a mint chocolate truffle and stuck it in the middle of my dad's plate. he covered it with some fried rice and the rest of us cracked up because it was barely noticeable among all the brown gravy and vegetables on his plate. during the meal, we would sneak glances at my dad and his plate and laugh, and he knew we were up to something. "what's so funny?!" he would ask, and we would pretend it was something on tv. finally, i watched as my dad speared the chocolate truffle on his fork and put it in his mouth. it was perfect, because the heat of the food had melted it enough so that it wasn't suspicious when he stabbed it with his fork. the look on his face as he bit into it and realized, "wait a second, something isn't right here..." was absolutely priceless. for a second he looked like he might spit it out, but once he realized (in the midst of all our laughter) that he had been pranked rather than finding something poisonous in his meal...let's just say i'm glad my dad can take a joke.

here is a photo we snapped on new year's eve, right before we left to go dj at the bar. spending the night ringing in the new year with friends, some family and rock'n'roll seems like as good a way as any to start things off.



today is elvis' birthday, which i believe should practically be a national holiday. the story of his life and how he went from rags to riches (and all the sordid details in between, both extravagant and ridiculous) is one of the most interesting life stories ever. i love that he has been gone for so long and people are STILL pouring in to visit his house on a daily basis, still making a living as elvis impersonators, and still have such an interest in the man, the myth, the legend. he is larger than life. it's incredible, really.






on our honeymoon outside of graceland


at elvis' birth home in tupelo, mississippi

happy birthday, e! we love and miss you!