Shawna Olsten

In this life I have managed to surround myself with talented friends who never cease to surprise and inspire me. When I first met Meghan Paterson I didn’t particularly care for her, but to this day I swear she hated me more. Little did we know we were just secretly waiting for the right moment to fall in love. Outside of being an object of my loath and affection, Meghan is a gifted painter known best for her acrylic portraits. Empty Bottles Broken Hearts was her first solo show in 5 years.  The style is familiar but Meghan has traded in her large scale canvases for the unique form of empty antipodes bottles, the results are reflected in each subject. One of my favorite things about Meghan is her persona of secrecy; and how I enjoyed watching the faces of those surprised to find their face staring back at them on one of her bottles.

This week a bill came across my desk for web hosting. As I toyed over the hot little hundy I would have to dole up to keep my blog live, I started to think; why did I ever stop blogging? Have I become boring? No. Do I never do anything fun? No. Maybe I’ve been losing touch with friends; feeling fruitless; not doing anything cool or ridiculous? No, No, Not That; then I saw it –Oh-No…TWITTER! March 18, 2009 – Shawna Olsten joins and is never heard from in over 140 character again? This has to stop, and I guess with this posting it does. I have ridiculous, entertaining and blog worthy content in my head from the last 6 months, and I know there is more to come as I look forward. Dear Grandma I’m sorry I never answer the phone and that you have lost track of my wild lifestyle …this one’s for you.

Grammy Award winning hip hop group Naughty by Nature are back out on tour. I’m still down with OPP. Mentionable highlights include:

1. Treach ripping off his shirt

2. Treach ripping off his wife beater into a million pieces

3. Treach with no shirt on for 75% of the show

in case you missed it…

In case you haven’t heard we are killing it at 48 hours of winter on Grouse Mountain. Not only is the mountain open for 48 hours but DC is hosting a contest to prove once and for all who enjoys the ride…MORE! What this means for me and my co-workers is that we are spending the most of our weekend in the Billy Mays kitchen we have erected at the top of Grouse Mountain. If you haven’t checked out the DC Billy Mays commercials yet watch them here, I wouldn’t recommend it for 48 hours straight he is making us all a little loopy. With all this blogging fun going on, I decided it was time to put in an entry of my own.

Jodi has joined me on the eve of Saint Valentines but I’ve just put on my head phones so I can tune out all the freaks that would actually want to be snowboarding at 3:30am.

There is something to be said for something good done even better or just different. Here is a collection of my favorite cover songs. Happy Valentines Day…xoxo

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with or without you - keane covers u2

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iron man - the cardigans cover black sabbath

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against all odds - the postal service covers phil collins

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like a hurricane - heather nova covers neil young

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when doves cry - la mazz covers prince

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running up that hill - placebo covers kate bush

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everyday is like sunday - the pretenders cover morrissey

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creep - damien rice covers radiohead

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across the universe - fiona apple covers the beatles

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rocket man - kate bush covers elton john

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crazy in love - the magic numbers covers beyonce

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it’s all over now baby blue - hole covers the rolling stones

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knockin on heavens door - danny & dusty covers bob dylan

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bohemian rhapsody - the braids covers queen

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wish you were here - radiohead covers pink floyd

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billie jean - shinehead covers michael jackson

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one more time - travis covers britney spears

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remember - aerosmith covers the shangri-las

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sweet jane - the cowboy junkies cover the velvet underground

This seemed like a good idea when we were talking about it.

Solid.

Chillin’ in the glass bottom gondola in my b-boy stance.

As Team Hot Years grows so do the stakes. Up for grabs this month, besides a virtual trophy…CASH MONEY! I don’t want to give away all my secrets, but I couldn’t help but share my powersong for February.

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C.R.E.A.M - wu-tang clan

I’m still waiting for my dinner for winning the challenge last month so this month its cash up front. Follow the leader board here; things are about to heat up.

No surprise here, I won the first challenge of 2009. I wonder what Kristy is making for dinner? I’ve made a subtle suggestion. My virtual trophy is REALLY heavy, and my mini is off the wall.