MacGyver and The Beach Boys

When my power went out a couple weeks ago, I wasn't too upset about it. I got a lot of reading done and rearranged my living/dining room, so it really wasn't all bad. Except that my car was trapped in the garage. I know what you are thinking, "Maggie, you idiot, there's a safety release on the inside!"

Pull that red cord to open it!

Ah yes, there is a safety release in my garage. BUT I CAN'T GET TO IT. There's no other door into the garage. Really smart planning.


So when Anchorage was under YET ANOTHER wind warning this week, I channeled my inner MacGyver. (He's really taught me everything I know about being resourceful.) Using yarn, duct tape, an exceptionally well-tied knot (thanks, Girl Scouts!), and the information in a Youtube video about breaking into your (or someone else's?) garage, I "fixed" it so I can get the door open power or no power.

Long story shortish: I want MacGyver to be my best friend and here's why:

1) He would have fixed my garage door. And made a generator. Probably out of the beer cans waiting to go to the recycling bin

2)  He ALWAYS has a knife and that's incredibly handy

3) His first name in Angus. ANGUS. 

4) He always seems to have gum around.

5) He made an electrophoresis machine while in a head trauma-induced dream in Arthurian England

6) Mullet. MulletMulletMullet.

This week's hot jam is Wouldn't It Be Nice by The Beach Boys. When my parents first got a CD player The Beach Boys Greatest Hits was one of the first CDs we got. I highly recommend it. What's not to love about The Beach Boys? They sang mostly bubblegum pop songs about cute stuff like surfing and girls and love. Adorable.

Thanks to a deep love of Full House, I mostly picture The Beach Boys like this:

But look how cute they were in the 60's!

Seriously, what's not to love?

Dinner Parties and The Shirelles

Okay, I know I've been really bad at updating lately. I'm sorry. I'm bad at this game.

So being that most of my friends and I live a significant distance from our families we rarely have an opportunity to attend a big, sit-down, family style dinner. To remedy this problem we have dinner parties. They're not fancy, maybe dinner get togethers is a better name, but they amazing nonetheless. There are few greater things in life than sitting around a big table with your friends and eating food everyone brought. (Usually it's a hodge podge of whatever we had at home, but it always turns out delicious.)

Last night we had a barbeque at my friend Geoff's house. He has a giant table in his backyard, perfect for dinners outside. The sun was shining, it was warm(ish), and we had tons of great food. Here are some highlights:

-Sydney nearly got her hair cut into a mullet
-Dogs running laps around the table
-Trying to figure out how to play the wedding march on 3 accordions, a pan flute, harmonicas, and a fife
-Going across the street to Casey and Kristen's to put their new tent up in the living room (and christening it with hot jams and champagne)

Girl groups of the 60s are in a class of their own. They had great hair, great costumes, and great harmonies. Not to mention their songs covered a wide range of topics, everything from love and breaking up to death. This week's hot jam is Will You Love Me Tomorrow by The Shirelles. It's a classic 60's girl group song, but it's a hot jam because it was the first ever #1 single performed by an all-girl group on the Billboard charts.


Fun Fact: By today's standards it's hardly scandalous, but at the time it did meet some trouble with radio stations for being too overtly sexual.