The Best of 80/35 2011

Best Accoustic Preformance
Jessica Lea Mayfield

Towards the end of her set, a generator blew and the stage lost power. She unplugged her guitar, sat on the end of the stage and sang the song Sleepless.



Best Way to Enjoy the Concert
VIP Pass



I decided to go for VIP tickets this year and they were totally worth it. As a VIP, I got two free meals, six free drink tickets (I couldn't use them all), free icecream, three dollar discount on merch as well as some free free merch, separate bathrooms, and a lounge tent. I also received access to a VIP area by the main stage which made it nice for bouncing from one stage to the next because I never have to worry about getting a good spot or getting stuck in the crowd.

Best Headliner
Girl Talk

I'd never heard of Girl Talk and thought a mash-up artist was kind of a silly headliner. I was pleasantly surprised though when I found that I liked him. He was able to get the crowd really energized and it was fun hearing all the different layers of sound and music.

Girl Talk at 80/35 fest 2011 from MPLS.TV on Vimeo.

Best Way to Past the Time While Waiting for the Shows to Start
Brunch at Americana

Best Lyric That I will Have Fun Repeating Even Though I Shouldn't
"Manifest this, motherf*cker!" - Bitch

I don't really need an explanation for that.

Best Guitar Player
Reverend Peyton

He played Dixie and Yankee Doodle Dandy on one guitar at the same time - one song a the top chords and one song on the bottom chords. It was awesome!





Best Locals
Christopher the Conquered and Parlours

I missed Christopher the Conquered last year but heard how amazing he was. I had to make sure I saw him this time around. He a great entertainer and has a great sound. I can see why he is developing a cult following.

The beautifully haunting melodies of the Parlours are great and make for a moving performance. Plus they were nice enough to sign my CD for me:)





Best Dressed
Man Wearing Snake, Painted Lady/Gentleman, and Pink Mohawk

Beauty For BoBos

1. butter London

Butter London's nail lacquers contain no formaldehyde, no toluene, and no DBP. The colors are really pretty and have been appearing on this seasons runways. Their Powder Room lacquer remover is acetone free and smells like baby powder. That being said - what really makes this polish cool is that the colors are named after (sometimes cheeky) British slang. I am wearing Artful Dodger right now.




2. Urban Decay

It's not just for '90's rocker girls. I loved this brand when I was in collage. At the time there was only one location in Iowa that sold the stuff. I was lucky enough to have one eyeshadow and one bottle of nail polish. My tastes moved away from the shimmery shades but I recently discovered their matte line. I was getting a bit frustrated with buying eyeshadows that said they were matte only to find out they weren't. Urban Decay's matte make-up is actually matte. Now I wear eyeshadow in Heist and lipstick in Rush for my basic make-up look.

3. Dry Shampoo

This stuff is awesome for those days that you are in a rush or just for Sunday mornings when you just want to crawl out of bed and go to brunch. You just spray it on your hair, brush, and go. It's also a great way to avoid over shampooing. Brands you can try are Salon Grafix, John Frieda, Oscar Blandi, and Ojon.

4. Dr. Bonner's

This gentle cleanser has been loved by hippies and bohemians for years. It cleanses well and makes your skin feel really soft. The ingredients are: water, saponified organic coconut & organic olive oils(w/ retained glycerin), organic hemp oil, organic jojoba oil, citric acid, and vitamin E. Plus if your soul is feeling a little dirty you can always read the scripture on the bottle.

5. Sugar or Salt Scrub

You may not always have the time and money to go to the spa for a salt glow or body scrub and honestly you don't really have too. Just stock up on tubs of sugar and salt scrubs and use in the shower once or twice a week. Your rough elbows and dry winter skin won't know what hit them. Recommended brands are Melaleuca Tangerine Sugar Scrub, Tree Hut Shea Sugar Body Scrub, C.O. Bigelow Body Polish, and Prairieland Herbs Body Scrubs.

6. Tocca/Tokyo Milk

If you have to pick one thing to spend a little extra on, I think perfume is a good choice. I found that a lot of perfumes can have kind of a synthetic smell about them. I think it is worth a little extra cash to get a quality scent. Plus you don't need to use as much if it has actual essential oils in it so it lasts longer anyways. Two brands that I really like are Tocca and Tokyo Milk (plus it's sister lines). The scents are multi-layer so you don't have to worry about them clashing with other fragrances from your body wash, shampoo, or lotion.



7. DIY

Sometimes reading the back of the bottle can be a little scary and confusing. You know exactly what's in something though if you made it yourself. You can control the quality of the ingredients also. There are several books and websites with recipes for cleansers, moisturizers, and the like. Do it Gorgeously is a book that I would recommend. Prairieland Herbs in Woodward, IA also has recipes on their website and classes available.

Places to shop in Des Moines: butter London - Ulta, Domestica; Urban Decay - Ulta, Sephora; Misc. Dry Shampoo - Ulta, Sephora, Walgreens; Dr Bonner's - Ulta, Walgreens, Campbell's, New City Market, Gateway Market; Tocca - Sephora, Eden; Tokyo Milk - Eden, Francesca's Collection

Big Hair Ball 2011

This year's Big Hair Ball was blast. My favorite runway show was Blonde's ode to Mad Max. Here are photo highlights.

Goodbye 2010

Yes, It is at the end of the first month of 2011 and I am finally blogging this. What can I say? I have a love/hate relationship with my blog. I'll give it lots of attention before I get bored and stop calling it. So anyways without any further delay here are my top highlights of the year that was in no particular order and by no means deep...

1. I ate but didn't make it to Pray or Love

I had this great idea that I would have my own stay-cation style spiritual journey a la Eat, Pray, Love. The eating part was easy for a foodie like me but then as you noticed the blogging just stopped. What happen? Well, I got a yoga mate, a yoga DVD, and some prayer beads but not as much time as I wanted. So, maybe what I ended up proving was that sometimes you do have to get away from it all in order for these things to work. Bitch magazine, you've made your point!

I do have to mention though that I did see the movie and started (but not finished) the book. They are both really good. Also, I think that Richard Jenkins should have gotten a nomination for his turn as Richard from Texas...but the academy never asks my opinion:)

Anyways, I might get back on track with this in the future but for now it's on the back burner.

2. A Farewell to Music Television


2010 was the year that MTV finally stopped kidding itself and dropped the "music television" from it's title. It was sad to see the music die and I will always have fond memories of watching it as a kid while staying at my grandparent's apartment during summer break. Sadly the MTV of my youth that I loved so much has warped itself into a reality show nightmare. It makes sense for them to adapt their name. Fortunately I can now watch a random assortment of music videos on The Cool TV.

On an unrelated MTV note for the year...Daria finally made it to DVD. La,la,la,la,la!

3. Jen Goes Glam

Okay, that's an exaggeration. I did re-embrace my girly side though this year. I finally got myself a stylist and stopped doing the random Famous Sams/Cost Cutter trips during my lunch breaks. My hair looks great because I have someone who knows what works for me. Also getting my hair done now is something I make time for instead of doing out of necessity while I'm in a rush. In addition I started visiting East Village Spa every few months for massages and facials and pampering, hanging out at Ultra and Sephora, continued my addition to Eden, expanded the amount of jewelry and shoes I own, and accidentally purchased myself a pricey hairdryer.

4. I Heart iMAC

In 2010 my poor computer decided it had enough of this world and kicked it right before Christmas. I was a little bummed but I had gotten it used for $50.00 with the help from a friend three years ago and it was getting old. It was the perfect time for an upgrade and a perfect way for me to decide what I was going to get myself for Christmas. I am now a very happy owner of an iMAC. It takes up less space because there is no tower and it comes with a cordless keyboard and mouse. Plus (and most importantly) it has enough juice to play World of Warcraft.

5. I Do Not Heart Twillight

This is a two parter (both vampire related). The first Twillight in question is Stephenie Meyer's vampire/werewolf saga. I had watched the first film when it came out in the theaters to see what the excitement was all about. It was fun to watch but only because I laughed all the way through it. It gave me no desire to want to see the next in the series. Then someone talked me into watching the second movie. Turns out it's about a love triangle between a self-destructive young girl, a boy who switches back and forth from telling her that he wants to protect her and telling her that if she isn't careful around him he'll hurt her and another boy who switches back and forth from telling her that he wants to protect her and telling her that if she isn't careful around him he'll hurt her. One of the guys doesn't wear a shirt and the other one sparkles. For some reason, I just can't put my arms around this series...

The second Twillight in question is the "big bad" from the Buffy Season 8 comic book. I am a big fan of the series and enjoy comics but reading Season 8 was like watching Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko and then watching his Southland Tales. The big reveal of the main villain wasn't as much of a "wow" as a WTF...literally! I did like some of the tiny subplots (slayer's with pink mohawks are way cooler than crazy ex-boyfirends who talk to dogs) and one-shots though. The last issue was also enjoyable. Here's hoping Season 9 is better .

6. Books


This year I actually read a lot of books. I contribute this to joining a book club and Stieg Larsson. Higher education had made me sick of reading for many years so it was nice to get back into enjoying it again. I am reading at least one book a month now and loving every word of it. It's also fun to compare books to their movie adaptations:)

7. Ingersoll Avenue Went Through Some Changes

This year after much debate a bike lane was added onto Ingersoll Avenue. Now while a bike lane does sound like a great idea there is one problem. Nobody uses it. I've been keeping a tally all year of the number of bikers I have seen on Ingersoll. The total for the year was four. I'm not kidding.

Luckily that wasn't the only interesting thing that happened on Ingersoll though this year. In the fall, DART (the metro bus system) had a free bus that took you to the East Village every Friday night. The bus driver told me there would be a vote on whether they would continue. I haven't heard anything about it since but hopefully this is something they will do again in the future. Also Red China Bistro opened as well as Copa Cavana. I haven't tried the later yet but Red is enjoyable. There was another Ingersoll Live and Art Stop as well. Plus Chocolate Stam started serving alcohol and having live music on the weekends.