Anaheim, you rule.

Weeellpp, last weekend, KC and I went to Anaheim for a couple shows. Because we're broke, we stayed in the Motel 6 near Disneyland, but the hotel was really nice. Surprise, surprise! But anyway, Thursday (June 7th) we saw The Maine/Lydia/The Arkells and were blown away. KC had brought a huge bag of candy for the boys in The Maine 'cause she works at a candy shop, so we sat on my tailgate near the busses/back of the venue hoping to catch a glimpse of them so they could get the candy. Alas, no such luck. We ended up only about 3 rows back from the stage, which is pretty good seeing as we didn't get in line until they started opening the doors. I tried to stay up front the whole show but couldn't do it. KC and I then went outside during the middle of The Maine's set so I could smoke and we ended up having a nice little conversation with Max from The Arkells (who is a complete SWEETIE by the way). Blah blah blah, the show ended, everyone ran to the back where the band would be doing meet and greet (through a small fence haha) so I went and sat on the roof of my truck until the crowd died down a bit. KC met all of the boys and I got to meet Garrett and Jared (who is one of my biggest inspirations for playing guitar) so I was completely content. Around 1 we went to Denny's to eat and revel in the greatness of the show (as usual). Got back to the hotel and slept like babies. Friday, June 8th, we saw The Early November, The Swellers, The Wonder Years, and Young Statues. We spent most of the day in Downtown Disney (seeing as the show was at the House of Blues) with our friend from Tumblr, Lauren! She is perfect and amazing and we are a big happy family now. The three of us had dinner at the HOB in order to skip the line, but we did it wrong and didn't spend enough money (our server told us the wrong rules!) but the door guy let us in first anyway. I love him. We were at the barrier for Young Statues (whom i fell IN LOVE with) and The Swellers (whom I already loved), then Lauren and I left cause it was getting crazy. The Wonder Years' crowd was INSANE and so great. I mean, I'm glad I wasn't in the middle of it 'cause I would've ended up in the hospital..but it was great to watch (from the back of the venue). Then, of course, everyone went NUTS for The Early November. I'm not a diehard fan of theirs but goddamn they put on a beautiful show. Loved every second of it. As the three of us were leaving the venue, I get a tweet from The Swellers saying that a mutual friend of ours mentioned to them that I had a hotel room here because they had nowhere to stay that night, and what was I going to say? No? I don't think so. KC and I then took Lauren home, then rushed back to the hotel room to clean up before the boys arrived. So, KC and myself had the honor of housing The Swellers boys for the night (no funny business, of course, though) which was cool, but being in a room with a bunch of guys in their boxers was completely awkward. It's cool though, they're all great guys (band and crew) who were very grateful. Called in to work Saturday had Denny's for breakfast before we left Anaheim to go home. All in all, completely successful trip. Warped Tour is this Friday. Cannot wait at all.

Impromptu trip to Long Beach, Ca last night.

With Evan and Jade. We went down there for Derrick Brown's final poetry show before he goes on "hiatus" (I hate that word.). It was in this huge, 90 year old church. Massive. Ridiculous. We listened to a band called Two Guns play first, and I think I'm in love with their musical abilities. Jeremy Radin performed a few spoken word pieces, and so did Mindy Nettifee. Both of those poets are absolutely phenomenal. And last up was Derrick. I almost cried. He's my favorite poet and this was my first time seeing him perform. This was also the last time he would be performing for a while. So, I am so grateful that we got to go. The weather was beautiful and I got Taco Bell after the show cause I had to drive home because Evan had been drinking. Woo-hoo!

Had band practice last night

revamping and old song. slowly but surely. halfway through, it turned into a kind of therapy session; everyone passed the song around and talked about what it meant to them. hahahahaha. cheeeeee-Z

Since I don't have anything planned until the 27th of this month,

I'll keep you updated on how boring and normal my life actually is. Here are some random facts about me.

1. I am strictly Scotch/Irish. That's it, no exciting long list of nationalities.

2. I can't cook.

3. My sister and I are the only ones in our entire family (extended as well) that play any instruments. She has: 1 acoustic guitar, 1 electric bass, and 2 violins. I have: 1 acoustic guitar, 1 electric, 1 ukulele, 1 mandolin, 1 banjo, 1 keyboard, and 1 upright piano. Yeah.

4. I collect watches.

5. We have 3 cats and 2 dogs.

6. I have a fear of taking pills.

7. This list is completely pointless.

8. I'm just very bored.

9. I love rain. I'm not too fond of the season called, "summer".

10. I adore coffee.

KC and I go to San Francisco.

March 7th-9th we decided to go to San Francisco to see Twin Atlantic, again (we had just seen them twice about a week and a half before..so I suppose we can officially be called stalkers now). BUT IT'S OKAY. I'll start from the beginning.

Wednesday: We planned on leaving by 9am, but of course, that didn't happen. We ended up leaving a little before noon. It was an agonizingly long drive and because of my child-like bladder, we had to stop at almost every rest area. Oops. Anyway, 5 hours later, we make it to SF! That's when I started getting a wee bit panicky. I can't handle traffic. After getting lost a few times, we found the hotel/hostel, which was located in the GHEETTOOOOOOO. Yeah. On a tiny side-street. We were already a little wary of the place due to reviews we read, but it honestly wasn't too bad. I mean, I wouldn't walk around there alone..but you get the picture. After settling in, we got ready to go out on the town. I even wore heels! KC wore heels for about 10 minutes then stuck them in her purse and wore flip flops the rest of the time. We caught a cab down to Pier 39, and wandered around a bit, stopping in this tiny "Treasure Ireland" shop (see what they did there?!). While I was there, I finally got a new Claddagh ring and the nice Irish man told us that if we're not taken or married by the end of the year, he'd give us a full refund. Now, I'm not so sure about this. I mean..either get married or get money. Ooohh but if I get married that means I get my husband's money. And his...AHH BACK ON TOPIC, NOW. We got done in that shop, and went to go eat at Bubba Gump's because I hadn't eaten in like, 3 hours and I felt like I was DYING. We even tweeted a certain band to come join us and we'd treat them to dinner, but I guess Twitter hates us because they never even got the tweets. Oh well, after dinner we walked around for a long while, and remember now I'm still in heels, so by this time, my feet feel like they're going to fall off. KC took pity on me and we found a Denny's that was IN A HOTEL. WHAT?! This was new to me and I was excited about it. We sat there for almost 3 hours and I had probably 8 or 900 cups of coffee and we played M*A*S*H* on my phone. It took us back to our elementary school days. Ahh, such a long time ago. Eventually we decided we should probably go back to the hotel due to an early morning wake up the next day. It was 1am when we got back. I took a shower at 1am and made KC sit outside the door because I was terrified. The shower sucked.


Thursday: Woke up at the ungodly hour of 7am to the sound of All Time Low screaming from across the room (my alarm, not the actual band. if it were the actual band i'd probably cry because I can be quite cranky in the mornings). We had to be out by 8 because that's when my parking ran out, so off we went to tuck my little truck into an overnight parking garage until we left on Friday. After walking a few blocks and having no luck finding a cab, KC decides we should walk back to the Denny's we found last night. This Denny's is TWO MILES AWAY. All uphill. And it was snowing. And I was barefoot. Not really, I had opted for regular shoes today. And it wasn't snowing either; the weather was actually really beautiful! So we walk, walk, walk, and walk. Eventually find our destination and by the time we get there, I just want to crawl inside and drink four pots of coffee. But that would have gotten me kicked out. So I didn't do that. After breakfast, we walked around a bit, but ended up back outside the Denny's because they had chairs and tables outside.. plus we had run out of things to do already. So we're sitting there, drinking our "bad-for-you" energy drinks like the rebels we are, and an air-shuttle van pulls up to the entrance of the hotel and a homeless person gets out. Kidding, it was actually Sam from Twin Atlantic. It was at that moment, when I realized how bad this looked. I mean, we had been to like, 3 (?) of their shows in the past month and we just happen to be sitting outside of their hotel. Seriously, what are the chances? Not 10 minutes later, the rest of the band/crew piles out of the hotel and we're just sitting there not moving. Thinking that maybe if we didn't move or bother them, they wouldn't even know we were there?! But alas, we got caught. They were all very nice boys as usual, giving us tips on things to do in SF (even though we had done most of the things they listed, but either way, it was very sweet of them) and participating in small talk with us while they loaded their van. Actually, KC did most of the talking because I'm horrible at talking to people (especially people with accents because i'd rather have them just tell me stories and talk at me forever). They eventually left, and we continued sitting for a few more minutes, then took off to that big park by the bay. Roamed around there, KC took around 400 pictures of me (which is not as great as it sounds, now I know how celebrities feel about paparazzi) and we saw a weird guy playing a really out of tune banjo while singing "Lady Madonna" (The Beatles). I was trying to sing along but his timing was extremely off and I kept getting confused. So, more walking, and I have the best idea ever. Ice-cream. Why didn't I think of this before?! With KC tagged along behind me, I'm making a beeline to the nearest Coldstone and once again, we run in to Sam and Ross. KC makes a joke like, "HEY are you following us?" and they said they didn't know. We all shared an uncomfortable giggle and kept on truckin' to get ice-cream. Hello Coldstone! I'm standing in line to order, and I say something to KC but get no response. Because she disappeared. Not literally, but she did leave me in there to order our desserts and to pay. I'm such a nice person. With both ice-creams in hand, I walk out the door and here she comes up the sidewalk. I guess Craig had walked by and she ran after him, asking if she could adopt him or something. This kind of made me sad because I have yet to speak to Craig at all. Enough whining, and long story short, we kept walking around Fisherman's Wharf eating our icy treats and ended up seeing all four members of the band several times and I was beginning to wonder when we would receive our restraining orders in the mail. Fast forward to nighttime. Found out the show didn't start until 9:30, and because I'm like an old lady lately and can barely stay up until 1am without passing out, I took a nap. Once again got ready to go out (I wore heels again. So. Stupid.), couldn't find a cab, AGAIN. (Notice the repetitive nature of the bad things that happen? I'll never learn..) So, we tried walking to the venue. Ended up walking 5 blocks the opposite way. Whoops. Finally got around 4 blocks from the venue (note:we're carrying around Subway sandwiches this entire time), found a cab, and got to The Rickshaw Stop. We actually met the other band that was playing that night (The Soft White Sixties) and they gave us directions to a corner store because I was out of nicotine. It was terrifying walking over to that store. Never again. When we got back, KC was absolutely in DIRE need of a bathroom and the boss-man let us in to use the loo. He even brought his jacket outside for KC because she was in shorts. Odd, but nice. We made friends with a guy in line, got inside, and they danced around for a while before the bands came on. I didn't dance though. I have two left feet, can't dance at all. It's quite sad. The Soft White Sixties were on first, and man, they were so good. The music felt a bit "dirty" (if ya catch my drift!), which made it pretty exciting. Twin Atlantic finally came on and they did great as usual. Afterwards, we go to the back because KC wanted a shirt. Only problem was that I think Andy hates us. Or he puts on the front because he thinks its funny. Anyway, he already had everything packed up and i guess KC still asked for a shirt so he threw his keys on the table very dramatically, and made a huge production of unpacking the big tote full of shirts and stuff. I think he secretly loves us because he gave us the shirt for free, but we had to help him take everything out. I got stuck with the display thingy, which, of course, is about 5 times taller than me so that was interesting. We talked to Ross, Sam, and Barry again but no Craig. Just my luck! :( But enough sadness! Overall, the whole trip was very successful. Got a cab back to the hotel because the drive tomorrow was gonna be longgggg.


Friday: Textbook check out from the hotel, got my truck, and got the hell out of San Francisco traffic. I ended up purchasing another Monster which meant we'd be stopping at every bathroom again. But something odd happened. We stopped at a rest area, walked around a bit, got back on the freeway and you will never guess what was two vehicles in front of us. That's right. The Starship Enterprise. Only joking! It was actually a big, gray van. AKA Twin Atlantic's van. So, once again, I felt like a stalker. I wondered why this kept happening. So, we ended up driving next to/behind/in front of them the entire way home. Mostly staying behind them because Paul has a lead foot. We made it home in almost 4 hours because of that foot. At the last second, the van passed us and we held up a sign that said "STOP FOLLOWING US", hoping it would be funny and memorable, but I think it just ended up distracting me as I had to dive off the freeway to our exit or else we'd be going to LA. No thanks. Made it home a few minutes later. Said a hearty hello to all the animals in my house and promptly slept for a week straight.

The end.

A brief recap of last month.

February 12th: KC and I went to Anaheim to see YMAS, The Swellers, Twin Atlantic, and We Are The Ocean. It was supposed to be a nice little trip, but we ended up with a third wheel who had a major crush on KC. Needless to say, it was very awkward and cramped in my tiny single-cab pickup. Once we got to the venue (Chain Reaction), our third wheel walked to the nearest grocery store to buy alcohol for himself because this was an all-ages venue. KC and I got in line and soon realized a HUGE dilemma. The show was sold out. I already had my ticket, but we had yet to buy hers. So we just stood in line. Like fools. Once we got to the front, we saw that the ticket booth was still open so we ran over and I flashed my ticket and a smile to the guy behind the glass, AND HE SOLD US A TICKET. Nicest chap ever. Once we were inside, our third wheel found us again, but he had brought his new friends over as well! Basically, the entire night, we were stuck with a bunch of drunk people. One had a fake leg and looked like Ryan Gosling. He kept putting jackets on my head. It was really, really weird. But overall, the show was fantastic even though we were stuck off to the side for the whole thing. All of the bands did great. Bought 4 CDs. Oops.

February 14th: Ahhh Valentines Day! This was quite possibly the best Vday in my history of Vdays. KC and I meant to leave town around 8am or so, but ended up leaving around 11. We never get out on time. No matter what. Anyways, we were on our way, blasting music down the freeway..wind in our hair..nothing was stopping us! Except for the fact that once we had gotten halfway there, I realized I had forgotten the tickets. So we drove all the way back, got the tickets, and NOW we were on our way! We arrived at the Atticus store in Hollywood just in time to catch the last of You Me At Six's acoustic set, and we stuck around to see The Swellers (awesome Hellogoodbye cover, by the way) and Twin Atlantic. All of the above were flawless. After that, drove straight to the venue to try and get a good spot. Pfftttttt. Ended up trying to find parking for half and hour (SERIOUSLY LA?! SERIOUSLY?) and wound up parking 2 blocks away. Got in line, stood in line for what felt like forever, finally got in the venue. This time, we were able to get 2nd row from the stage. Which is still terrible because I am a whopping 4'10" and I am unable to see anything unless I am at the very front. But enough whining. KC took pictures the entire time while I jumped around like an spastic little 5 year old. I don't do that often. Most of the time, I'm that one person who looks like they're having the worst time ever, when in reality, I'm the one having the BEST time. Booyah! Towards the end of the show, I went to the merch tables and bought another Swellers CD and their merch guy gave me a Valentine. It was the nicest thing ever. Met a lot of people that night. But I'm also painfully shy so KC did most of the talking. We also met Sam McTrusty of Twin Atlantic. That accent could melt gold off of..gold. I don't know. He's a nice guy. We then walked back to the truck to start our 2.5 hour journey home. I almost fell asleep a few times. Don't tell KC.

Once again, I've decided to get this blog up and running.

So i can record my trips/concert stories because usually they are quite ridiculous and I'm hoping someone will get a kick out of them.