Friday I'm In Love.....

This past weekend was jam packed full of fun!!  A couple weeks ago Jon and Ash had told me they were going to try and hit up two, yes! two!, shows in one weekend.  Can you believe that?  That hasn't happened since we were spry kids fresh out of Western.  Now I'm lucky if I squeeze a show in once a month.  Anywho, they said two shows, and I said sign me up!  Small problem.  When we actually got around to buying tickets, we found out that both shows had already sold out!!  As Mike Mabie would say -- crap in a crap basket!!  Jon and Ash weren't phased by the sold out status -- their idea?  Let's stalk the shows, wear them down until they finally let us in or call the cops.  So that is what happened.* (*Parts of this blog post will be embellished for entertainment purposes*)

Friday night I met up with J & A at the Crocodile bar for some drinks and dinner.  Wow, the Croc has been totally revamped since it reopened.  #1 difference?  The restroom didn't look like 1. the bathroom from Trainspotting and 2. like you would get Hep C from looking at the toilet seat.  By the time I got there, J & A had already started the liquor train -- exhibit A:

They look like they are having fun, no? So I got on board for a spin with a little gin and tonic action.  So delicious as you can tell from my empty glass.  Don't worry, I had another one waiting in the wings. 

So, still no tickets to the show.  How to remedy this ticketless situation?  Slide tackle the box office guy?  Probably not.  We nominated Jon to check out the ticket potential at the box office when it opened.  No luck.  Box office guy was giving Jon NO LOVE!!  After a few more drinks and some more laughs we nominated Ash to feel out the ticket sitch.  The response?  Maybe, come back in 15 minutes.  Okay, okay, this is starting to look more positive.  Apparently the box office guy is a fan of girls, this is a good sign, we can work this angle a bit.  Croc love trio shot!!!

Woot!!  Woot!!  And yes, I'm still loving the ShakeIt app.  Have you tried the food at the Croc?  Best $6.50 pizza I've ever had, and my shirt got a few grease marks to prove it (later to be removed by OxyClean, love that stuff).  After our snacks Ash decided to go back to the box office and test her luck with the dude behind the glass.  And this is what happened:

Oh yeah!!  Score!!  3 tickets to the sold out show!!  We were pretty excited.  There was a lot of high fivin' and cheers-ing going on at this point.  Who were we going to see?  The Pains of Being Pure At Heart.  J & A had heard of them before, but I was new to their sound.  Here's a taste:


The Croc has a new upstairs bar / hang out area that we checked out once the show started.  I almost peed a little whilst walking up the stairs -- so many totally awesome show posters!!!  Check it out!!

Did I tell you I'm getting two more Pearl Jam posters framed at HangFire?!?  Yup, so totally stoked to get them back in a few weeks.  I'll post pics fo' shizzle.  I'd love for my house to be jam packed full of sweet show art and I'm working towards that goal.  Slowly.  After we found our little spot for the show, we proceeded to enjoy the show and people watch.  I managed to find a super fan who gravitated towards me for some reason.  How do I manage to attract the strangest people?  Anyway, this guy appeared to be of the frat douche persuasion (no offense to any former frat douches out there) -- he was trying to find me a spot up against the railing by pushing other people that already had railing spots out of the way.  Awesome.  Let's make other people cranky.  I somehow managed to remove myself from that future trainwreck of a situation, but DFD (drunk frat douche) kept coming over and whispering in my ear who he thought the band sounded like.  I think the final decision was My Bloody Valentine.  Granted, he wasn't completely off base.  The band did seem like a mish mash of many different sounds.  They totally ripped off some of Modern Love by Bowie and Just Like Heaven by The Cure.  And the lead singer's voice was too soft.  He sounded like Shy Ronnie.  Long story short -- we had a super fun night!!!!

So what happened Saturday night?  J & A came over to check out the three posters I had framed from a few months ago -- Jon is also a collector of all things rock show related, so I think he wanted to check them out for possible future framing options.  The show we wanted to check out was down in Ballard, at The Tractor, also sold out.  We ended up hanging out at my place for a few hours -- drinks and Nic & Heather ended up joining us.  And we did a little FaceTime action with Corbett and Jessie -- technology is crazy.  Crazy awesome.  It felt like we were hanging out with them even though they are 1,000 miles away.

We decided to ditch the show stalking idea and just head down to Ballard for some dinner / drinks.  Have you been to La Isla?  So delicious!!  Check it out if you haven't been -- Puerto Rican pulled pork lasagna is my favorite!  I had a cocktail called Surfing Rincon: white and coconut rum with banana liqueur and pineapple juice.  Totally refreshing.

It was a great weekend!!  My goal is to make more of my weekends that jam packed full of awesomeness.  Because you know what?!?  We are on this earth for such a short period of time in the grand scheme of things.  Gotta take advantage of every minute we have.

Newest postcard acquisition:

Ahhhhhh..... Gus Gus.......     

Ten Things Wednesday!!

1.  One of my favorite bands of all-time, Death Cab for Cutie, has a new album coming out at the end of May.  Their newest single "You Are A Tourist" is making it's way onto the airwaves.  Check out their new video!!  They shot it in one take, pretty awesome. 

2. Two weeks ago I went to a show at the Tractor Tavern.  I initially went to check out Boat, but while I was there I fell in love with one of the opening bands -- Pickwick.  They stole the show actually.  And my heart.   Love this song Hacienda Motel:

3. Last night I went out for Ethiopian food with Sean, Corey, Norah, and Heather.  We checked out Lucy next to the Oak Tree Cinemas.  Delicious!!  One of my former co-workers is from Eritrea, and he had introduced me to injera bread a few years ago.  So spongy.  So good!  I think I need to incorporate this kind of food into my diet more often.  Spicy?  Yes, please!

4. Dancing with the Stars is back on television, so that has been entertaining me the last couple weeks.  Who I'm rooting for this season so far:

Kirstie Alley and Maksim.  She is 60 years old!!  I did not know this, I thought she was like early 50's.  I actually don't know much about Kirstie other than she was on Cheers, and the media has chronicled her battle with weight quite tirelessly.  I hope she kicks butt! 

Ralph Macchio and Karina.  Does this guy age?  He only looks slightly older than his Danny LaRusso - Karate Kid counterpart.  He's 50 years old now, but moves like a 20 year old.

Kendra Wilkinson and Louis.  She was my favorite girl on Girls Next Door.  Her airheadedness was endearing at times.  Holly Madison didn't last more than a few episodes of DWTS, I hope Kendra sticks around for awhile.

5. I know you guys are dying to know how Frank is doing!!  He's doing surprisingly well.  I've been feeding him raw chicken for the past few weeks and he is in LOVE with this new diet.  And I actually think he's gaining even more weight.  I'd be happy if he broke the 8 lb mark!  We'll see at his next vet appt.  Until then, I shall keep feeding him anything and everything that makes him happy :)

6. I love my little neighborhood area.  This morning I walked just a short way to mail a package, then I walked to the dry cleaners to see one of their seamstresses for an alteration.  Love being able to get some small errands done close to home.  Then this afternoon I picked up an iced mocha and a copy of this weeks Stranger at the coffee shop a few blocks away.  Lovin' my Loyal Heights 'hood!!

7. I have been looking for a pair of Frye boots to add to my ever growing shoe collection for a few months now.  I decided on this pair.

I fell in love with them the second I saw them.  Despite the somewhat ridiculous price tag, I had to have them.  My heart swelled the first time I put them on, then proceeded to slowly break as I realized, as I took them off, that they were a little too hard to actually get off my feet.  I would end up mangling the ass end of them just to get them off.  I decided to send them back and get one size larger so that the dismount out of these boots would be easier.  Heart totally broken to find out Zappos didn't have them in the larger size.  They only had black and brown.  Hmmmmmm.  Still deciding my plan of attack.  Do I get a different color, or wait in hopes that my size in this color will someday return to stock??  Yes, I realize this is a ridiculous dilemma considering the state of the world at this moment.  And I'll probably burn in hell for it.

8. Today I was thinking about tattoos.  And how I want to get one......or five.....someday.  I'm inkless.  I've made it 33, almost 34, years without getting anything permanently inked on my body.  Anyway, while I was driving around today, running errands, I was thinking about what I would have inked on my body had I gotten the tattoo I would have gotten at age 15.  And let's just say my 33 year old self is thanking my 15 - 18 year old self for not getting any tattoos at that age.  Because this Red Hot Chili Peppers symbol could be somewhere on my body right now.....

With that said, I should probably not get a tattoo because my future 50 year old self will probably someday be thanking my 33 year old self for not getting something like this tattooed on my entire back.......


I love me some hound dog!

*Screw it.  My 50 year old self needs to quit being such a Debbie Downer. 
(*Dear Mom -- No, I am not actually going to get a jester-costume-wearing-Basset tattoo on my wingspan*)

9. So you know I am taking that One Little Word class over at Big Picture Classes?  Well, our prompt for the month of April is to write a letter to our future self -- where I am now, and where I'd like to be in a year.  This is not the first time I have written a letter to my future self.  In highschool, at the end of sophmore year specifically, we had to write letters to give ourselves at our 10 year high school reunion.  What a trip.  I'll have to cover the entire letter in another blog post, but here are a few highlights:

-How was college? Do you have a job? Are you on Saturday Night Live yet? (there is a big SNL theme in this letter)
-How many people do you know that have AIDS? Is it bad? Do you have it? If so, I'm sorry because you look like you'll have a great future.
-Can you still spend hours with Gina and not get tired of her? (answer to that one is: yes, somethings never change)
-Do you have any goals? My goals right now are to party down the next two years (what is this? Dazed and Confused?), go to college, then make something of myself, maybe a few episodes of Saturday Night Live.
-P.S. F*ck so-and-so -- he's a loser (the part of so-and-so was played by someone who shall remain nameless but all my homies from highschool will know EXACTLY who he is) 

I think for another blog post I'll write a letter to my high school self.  The themes will be 1. lighten up -- you're not going to an Ivy League college, 2. don't be such a prude -- you actually have to HAVE sex to get pregnant, and 3. the freedoms of being an adult come with a great price, and that price is responsibility, and sometimes responsibility really sucks.

10.  Homeless guys in Ballard love me and here's why..... So little side story here.  I think I may have told part of this story before, maybe not.  Anyway...... During my brief 4-month stint as a disgruntled Washington native in California, I was walking down by the Santa Monica Pier and a homeless man told me I needed to lose weight.  WTF?  Seriously!?!  You sleep in a f*cking sleeping bag behind a dumpster and you're going to critique my physique?!?  How about I give you some unsolicited advice -- get a goddamn job!  Of course I didn't say this because I'm freaking polite and my mother raised me to A. be respectful to my elders, B. don't talk to strangers, and C. don't mess with a Sicilian when death is on the line.  C may not be true, but you get where I'm going with this.  Fast forward a couple months/years.....I'm back in Seattle, happy as a rooster in a henhouse, pumping gas at the Shell station near 85th & 8th.  I see a homeless guy a few yards away, drinking some sort of paper bag covered malt beverage on the side of the Shell building.  He yells (and I'm going to modify this a bit cause this is a family show here....) "Hey sweetie!  Can I dine on your lady business?"  Of course I politely decline his offer. But hey -- at least he had something positive to say.  Then last week -- I'm walking down NW Market, almost to 24th and a homeless guy on a bench, seemingly three sheets to the wind, says "hey baby -- you're a knock out, you know you are."  Thanks buddy.  And that is why I love this great state.