Flawed, but cleaning up so well

Once upon a time, the high school version of myself, had quite the crush on Chris Carrabba. If you don't know that he's the lead singer of a super amazing band known as Dashboard Confessional, I question our friendship. I really do.

I used to listen to all of their albums fairly religiously. I  haven't ever seen them play live, but I purchased the MTV Unplugged album and it was the next closest thing. 

They went on some weird hiatus and I just assumed that was it, I would never get to see them live and I wouldn't ever get to see Chris in person. My little teenage emo self was sad. 

BUT THEN!

Then, on an absolute fluke, I heard second hand that Dashboard Confessional was going on tour again. Wait, what? Is it 1997 and I don't know it? Has Britney done it again? Is Christina trying to get rubbed like a genie in a bottle? Do they even sell VANS sneakers to moms in mini vans anymore? 

I obviously went online immediately and YES. YES, they were going on tour. Not only were they going on tour, they were coming to Minneapolis at the end of June, and come hell or high water, I was going to go. You damn right. 

Thankfully, my friend Amy loves Dashboard Confessional as well and so the plan was in place. 

THEN! 

I see they are going on tour with Third Eye Blind and Augustana. Just... just shut the front door. My little inner teenage emo can't even handle what is going to go down on Sunday. Yeah, this Sunday, folks. 

Because anyone who knew me in 10th grade knew that I had a thing for Stephen Jenkins as well. 

You knew that Stephen was just a little bit unhinged and if you ever really went out with him, you'd end up at a really sketchy party, he'd wind up drunk, and you'd convince yourself he really DID love you and then you'd cry for months when you never saw or heard from  him again. Stephen is that guy. But my favorite Third Eye Blind memory was 10th grade gym class, just before the school year was done. I am not athletic in any way, so if I could get out of doing actual activity during gym class? All in. This particular day it was super nice out, so we had gym outside and I was in the group that was supposed to walk the track. Instead, we laid in the field with dandelions in our hair and sang "Semi-Charmed Life". But later in that year, when the boy I liked got a girl friend and totally stopped talking to me, I would sing "How's It Going To Be" while riding the city bus with my Sony Discman in my lap. Thankfully, the only people riding the bus on the weekend were a schizophrenic guy who didn't seem to hear me and this other guy who always slept so I'm not sure what his gig was. Needless to say, they never seemed to mind my random singing. 

Chris, though, is the guy who would totally write you angsty love songs and convince you to shave your head because bald is beautiful and tattoo song lyrics all over your body. I mean, I'd totally do that. 

And Augustana? My word. I absolutely love the song "Fire" and I have been known to bust that out while walking through my neighborhood. My lungs cannot do that last note though, and everyone on East Fourth Street can confirm that. 

So on Sunday, I am going to skip out of my house, leave all three kids in Matt's hands, and drive to Minneapolis. I'm meeting up with Amy and her boyfriend Brian, and we're going to watch Dashboard Confessional, Third Eye Blind, and Augustana play. It is going to be glorious. I can't even handle my excitement right now. 

Even if I'll likely be wearing my maternity jeans with the stretched out belly band thing and a shirt that doesn't quite fit because it's all I have. But by god, I shall dig out my black and white VANS for the occasion. 

Santa Monica

Do remember awhile back I was talking about doing posts about songs that for whatever reason, remain near and dear to me? And then I kind of forgot about it? Well today I was listening to my iPod on shuffle and this song came on and every single time- I'm forced to sing out loud.

Everclear: Santa Monica



When I hear this song, it brings me back to the summer before high school started. My best friend in the whole world at the time, Allena, and I were so into MTV's Alternative Nation, that she figured out a way to record the episodes onto VHS tapes, then record the audio onto cassette tapes. Which clearly dates me as far as age and I realize this sounds confusing to those of you under the age of 23. But trust me when I say, doing this resulted in the most amazing mix tapes, even if they sounded far away.

But this song was easily one of our favorites. We really thought this band was great, and we'd sing the entire album this came off verbatim, a capella. Because we were amazing 15 year olds.

This particular day I had spent the night at her house the night before so we could get ready for Spartan Camp, get our freshman year information and do picture day. After all of that, we were supposed to go to my house. Neither of our parents were around to give us a ride and we obviously couldn't drive, so we decided to walk the five miles to my house from hers in 100 degree heat. Somehow, we were wearing jackets and carrying a boat load of shit, decided to take the longer route past the oil refinery, and I'm pretty sure heat induced delirium happened. Because we sang this song repeatedly, all while picking up a random 2x4 chunk of wood, a hubcap, and a bunch of cat tails.

For no damn reason.

I had that chunk of wood for years. She actually still has the hubcap.

In hindsight, we were kind of odd.

But we were damn cool to us.

So every time I hear this song, it reminds me of hanging out with her and having her as my friend during some real formative years. She moved away in tenth grade and I never really recovered from that. But ninth grade was our year. We thought for sure we'd meet really hot rocker boyfriends in an AOL chat room and they would totally let us run away from them, and then we could become groupies and just go to concerts all of the time.

That didn't happen for either of us, but we could have been the real life Banger Sisters. (And if you don't know the greatness of that movie? We can't be friends.)

Phil, John, and Dance.

So, I went to empty my camera tonight and holy hell- there is so much you don't know! A lot has happened in the last two months, so I've got to catch you up.

Way back in November, I treated my mom and my Uncle Ron to a John Mayer concert. I have been wanting to see him since 2009 or 2010, whenever his Battle Studies album was being toured, but I didn't have money. I really didn't this time either, but to hell with it. I was going to make it happen because his opener? Phillip Phillips. Let me just tell you I love him. Wonky kidneys and all, love.

 And he's just so great live. You can tell he loves what he does and he loves his fans. I sang through everything. It's always nice to see the crowd appreciate an opening act.

 Then John came on. Which, I was a little worried how it would be since every thing I heard on the radio in regards to his tour said basically- no hits from the past.  His voice wasn't 100% recovered from surgery and all of that so he'd be sticking to his newer things. Which is fine, I actually loved his last two albums that most people didn't, but they are really pretty solid.

The good news is that those radio people turned out to be morons because he sang things from every album! YAY!

 Visually, it was a pretty stunning concert. It had almost a Smashing Pumpkins a la Mellon Collie years to it, but seeing as that's one of my favorite albums of all time, I'm all right with that.

 We of course, sang to every single song.

 I can't even tell you how much I loved this concert. If you have never seen John Mayer live, you need to fix that immediately. I was kind of bummed he didn't sing "Walt Grace", but that's OK. Next time, right? But it was nice because this broke my concert lull because I haven't gone to many this year. I did see Beyonce a few months back with my friend Amy and Beyonce is the queen. Seriously. I wasn't even a huge Beyonce fan before, but now that I have seen her live? I will bow down- she dominates every other female in the business.

So that was that.

 Oh yes, completely late now, but we decorate our house for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. The kids always get new pajamas so here they are modeling them. Stinking adorable.

Olivia had her winter dance recital too. I don't know if I have fully told you how much I love that she is in dance. I love how it's non competitive and it really is just to have fun, but part of me kind of wishes we could get all dance mom on people. HA! One of my favorite people, Andrea, is a fellow dance mom and she's there every Tuesday. I seriously think I would go insane without my Tuesdays. We haven't gone in like two weeks now and I'm going through withdrawals. Anyways.

 So yes, Olivia's recital. Isn't she just the god damn cutest??

 It's her knobby knees that just kill me. I love it.

I was trying to get her to do a dancing move for me, and this is what she does. You'll notice it's exactly what she did in her "strike a pose" part of the routine. Every time I watch her, I'm laughing, but I'm kind of crying, and I am usually screaming like a maniac. I don't care, I just love that she loves dance so much.

So that was basically my November and part of December in a nut shell. More soon loves.

I Know You Care

While driving a few weeks ago I was listening to one of my favorite albums of all time, Ellie Goulding's Halycon and I thought.. maybe I should do posts about songs that hit home for me and maybe tell the background why. Lord knows that album is like me, my story, everything. I can identify with it all and I could probably do posts every day about what those songs remind me of. But I'll start with this song and go from there.

I Know You Care


Matt and I will have been married for ten years in June. It's a huge feat and I don't care what anyone says. It's huge. Anyone who knows our story and what we've been through will agree- not many thought we'd make to this point.

And sometimes? Sometimes I don't know how we will either. Sometimes I don't know why I stay and other times I can't imagine being anywhere else.

Because for every awful thing I've dealt with, for every night I cry alone in the far corners of the house, for every time I have felt unappreciated, unloved, and more- there are other times where I look at him and I can't imagine not being with him. I look at him and I remember the young man when we started dating and how I had felt like I had finally met The One. Like finally I had someone who would care for me, be my rock, and never let me feel anything less than cherished.

I know he cares. I know he does. I can look at him and I can tell he cares but doesn't know what to do. So he does nothing. Sometimes I look at him and I can tell something is wrong, the other shoe is going to drop and he doesn't have the balls to tell me in an attempt to save himself. Sometimes I think he does this because he knows I'm strong enough to handle anything and while that's comforting to think he sees me like that, it also angers me because I have a right to not be surprised by bad things. I have a right to be told by my husband and not others.

I remember when we were just dating, and even just married- I would anxiously await for him to come home like a child. I would squeal and practically run him over. Weekends spent in bed were the life and I took it all for granted. Because I didn't know that my heart would be broken, that he would become complacent and take me for granted and I didn't know that staying in love was so hard. Because it is hard. It's really hard when it's one hardship after another and you're dealing with horrible depression and nobody tells you this.

But I still hope that someday, someday my Matt will come around. He will see what he's done to me as a person and care. I hope that someday he'll turn around and just be the same Matt he was when we were 20 and 22 and he was on bended knee telling me how important I was to him and how he didn't want a life without me. It's like he's trapped in a glass box and he wants to do better but can't figure out how to get out. Because I can see it in his eyes- he does love me. He does care. He does want to be everything I need but he's stuck inside. That's what depression does to a person. It's really awful. It's really awful to watch in someone you love so much.

Maybe the worst part, is knowing that I could do better. I could find someone who wouldn't leave me to cry alone in the dark, but that I wouldn't leave. I couldn't leave him because he would be worse off and I can't do that to him because he means too much to me. I can't be that selfish, and it's ironic because he is so selfish. But two wrongs never make a right so I'm here.

The Black Keys. Amazing.

You know I'm a fan of live music. I have seen a LOT of concerts and I always say concerts are a hobby and it's at the top of my list. Every time a good concert comes along, I always have to scramble to find a date and I have decided that I need more friends who are music enthusiasts because nobody is ever as excited about these shows as I am and that kind of sucks.  But my mom is kind of amazing and she's up for almost anything and when I saw that the Black Keys were coming, I knew she was going to be my date. 


Let me just start by saying my mom's Facebook status says it all of this concert: "still recovering from The Black Keys concert that my fav daughter took me to Tues. night in Minneapolis! That was the best concert I have seen in years!! They are now in the top 5 concerts I have been to. And that is saying a lot because they are in the company of The Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath... Thanks for the good time Sar! :>)"

Now, the fact my mom has seen all of those bands makes her badass and me jealous, but for her to say that about this concert? Huge. This concert was easily one of my top shows ever, not surpassing Kings of Leon in Chicago though. 

I was kind of worried where our seats would be, but you can see we were on the side not too far. We actually had a great view of the stage. Plus, it was ridiculously loud, as it should be. 

 I love nerdy boys, so my love for Dan and Pat are kind of unmatched. Pat is a beast on the drums and Dan's voice is like butter to me.

 One of my favorite songs, Ten Cent Pistol, was awesome to see live because they turned the lights totally down and then flashed them towards the end. Such a great song and I've had it in my head for days.

 But my hands down favorite part of the show? When they did their first encore song, Everlasting Light. That is a great song anyways, but anytime you add a disco ball to the mix? You have a winning performance. Every bad should haul out a disco ball because a disco ball is kind of awesome.

 And then add colored lights for those around us who were high with their ninja pot smoking skills.

If it were practical to have a disco ball in my house, you know I absolutely would. 

The only down side to this was getting home at 1am and having to work the next day. Then, because I am an idiot, I took a Benedryl at work for allergies and I was even more tired. But to my credit, this is the first time in my LIFE I have ever had a pollen allergy and I feel like I am getting my ass kicked by plants. Seriously. It's unbelievable to me that I can make it until I'm 30 without an allergy to speak of and the year I start I feel like I am going to die and that pollen is actively trying to attack me. So I'm kind of an allergy medicine retard, but I at least know why everyone is hard core about non drowsy. Sheesh. 

Anyways. I'm still recovering from my lack of sleep but it was absolutely worth it. And it makes me kick myself even more for not buying tickets the last time they were in town even though I would have had to pay scalper prices. It obviously would have been worth it. 

Civil Twilight! Crash Kings! Anberlin! Oh My Baby!

I am so excited to write this post I'm doing it early! Just for you  my lovely lambwhores AND goatsluts. Yes. OK, so most of you remember me rubbing it in your faces that I was going to a concert, an Anberlin one to be exact, and because I'm awesome I'm bringing you everything.

When Krysten and I go to concerts we always eat at this great restaurant in Roseville called Flame. You'll remember me raving about the bathrooms here. The only deal was that Krysten and I wanted to know if the guys' bathroom was equally nice. Or if the urinals had rocks in them. It'd be kind nice, right? Well Matt and I ate there because he's sick of hearing about me rave and tease him so I reluctantly agreed. I pretty much felt like I was cheating on Krysten. (I still love, you K!) So Krysten and I decided to make it fair, Matt would need to photograph the bathroom to satisfy the curiosity. And he did.

 But he doesn't think the fries are that great. Fucking loser, right Krysten??? Guess what he ordered with his burger? MASHED POTATOES. Who the hell does that? My husband. *sigh*

Anyways. So the concert was at First Avenue & 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, which is in the same little radius as the Target Center. Pros to the place is that it's small, it's usually not overcrowded and the tickets are cheap. The cons are that drinks are high priced and you have to stand for at least 4 hours because there are few chairs. Which is fine, but no doubt- by the end my knees hurt pretty bad. My VANS, although adorable and comfy to bum around in, are not meant to stand 4 hours in. Anyways.

So here's Matt and I waiting for Civil Twilight. Matt actually doesn't know much music and that makes me sad. It also makes me wonder how I decided he'd be a good life partner if his love of music isn't like mine. But he does know a bit of Anberlin mostly from listening to it when I drive. We take sucky pictures together.  

The opening band was Civil Twilight who I really freaking love. If you don't know them, you  need to get to know them. Or else. Go HERE to sample. I will confess that PART of my love is that the singer kind of looks like Robert Pattinson. AND he has an accent. I love boys with accents. *swoon* They hail from Cape Town, South Africa and are great. Go HERE to see one of my fav's from their set last night. But my fav song from Civil Twilight? Well that's Something She Said. This song? Kicks the girly bits in overdrive every.damn.time.

But they put on a great live show and I would definitely travel to see them again.

 Next up was the Crash Kings. And to be honest I had never actually heard of them. I heard one song, Carry On, and then part of another and I was just "meh" on them.

 But let me tell you something. This band? You MUST see them play live. That set was so energetic and even if you are new to them you cannot help yourself- you will be dancing and jamming with them. THIS song was great to see live. I really liked It's Only Wednesday and thought it was fun to watch. The singer's voice is out of control and he sounds fabulous live. The energy out of this entire band was amazing and they really got everybody ready for Anberlin. And the drummer? Sick. Out of fucking control. All of them were so good live. I not only wanted to buy the album immediately after that set but I'm already hoping they tour around here soon. Oh- and they did a Black Sabbath cover- AH - MAZING.

So after Crash Kings we had like 15 minutes before Anberlin came on. We were standing right behind the sound board and it's times like this that make me wish I bring my fucking glasses BECAUSE the set list was like right there. The guys in front of me (all but one) were totally douchebags and wouldn't let me squeeze in to see it. AND they were all 6 feet tall. Hi- I'm 5'3. Assholes. One guy, the blond one who had the punk/nerdy look going was really nice and he asked twice if I could see. And I could because he left just enough room for my head be right next to his nipple. Which was weird. My head was between nipples. Anyways.

I can't remember every song off the set or what they opened with, but I can tell you it was like 15-20 songs total. They only played a few off the new album, so if you are a fan of their older stuff you'd like this show.

 Stephen (the singer) crowd surfed and while my blog bestie, Mr. O, said I should go and touch him--- I doubt Matt would have been ok with that. But let's just say it's clear that Stephen is well endowed. *sigh* If only I could have used my god given talents. *double sigh*

I love this picture-this was during Paperthin Hymn.

 They closed with Feel Good Drag, which I love, and then the encore was Lost Causes. Which is kind of a weird encore if you ask me. I would have liked to hear Glass to the Arson or at least Blame Me, but nope. Not this time. The set was great and I loved how they put some acoustic songs from their Lost Songs album in there.  They also did a Danzig cover which was... it was good but it was weird because it was mellow and acoustic. They did Dismantle.Repair and I really, really loved that live. I called Mr. O and I really hope it went to his voicemail and he could make it out. :)

 The concert was great and I would highly recommend you to see any of these bands live. I officially popped my see-Anberlin-live-cherry and I'm glad. We got out of there at 10ish.

Then we drove the 2 1/2 hours home. I had to drive the entire way because Matt slept. And snored so loud I had to crank the volume on my music. But I had fun with my mini jam session while he slept.

The best part (Simple Dude-- prepare yourself) I not only got out of the Target Center parking ramp without getting lost (Krysten! I found the easiest place to park for Maroon 5!!) I got us home. WITHOUT the GPS.

Folks? This? Is a big fucking deal.

Lilith 2010- The Wrap Up

So about a week ago, one of my most favorite bloggers and quickly becoming real life friend, Krysten won some tickets to the Minneapolis leg of the Lilith 2010. Which obviously is fabulous since I wanted to go but being EL BROKE-O (Gini- my Spanish may be wrong here..) it wasn't a possibility. But Krysten is my hero so there.

Anyways. So we met up in Roseville at our new favorite restaurant, Flame. Seriously folks, if you go for no other reason (great food, fabulous server who wasn't even weirded out that I asked where she gother shirt, cheap prices, the BEST seasoned fries, smores as a dessert, fire up in there and really weird guys with fucked up hair walking by) you need to go for the bathroom. Seriously.

The sink? Is a trough with rocks. Sadly, the toilets don't have rocks but that's ok. I am wondering if the urinals have rocks because I think that would be nice. So my hope is that when I make Matt drive 2.5 hours to go out to get there (one way) that he will report on the urinal. Obviously, my duty as your Lambwhore Leader is to report back. But anyways- if you ever go to Flame or are deciding on a restaurant, you will love this place.

OK- so we went to Lilith and first thing I noticed: hardly anybody there. Now, it started at 2 with people going every 40 minutes or so with Sarah Mclachlan at the end so obviously people might skip the openers. Big mistake.

Chantal Kreviazuk

Amazing. If you don't know who she is- you are a loser. She's a FABULOUS singer/songwriter. I loved her set and she was so personable. Plus- if you've ever watched Dawson's Creek (Team Pacey) then you know her:

Vita Chambers

Ok- I'll admit, she was new to me. Actually, I heard one song of hers before but thought she was a flash in the pan. Dead wrong.

You need to get to know her. First thing I thought was that she sounded almost EXACTLY like a young Gwen Stefani- circa Tragic Kingdom. And those are big shoes to fill. Also- her stage presence?? AWESOME. I hate to say this but I love Hayley Williams from Paramore and think she was born to be on stage...but Vita? Better than Hayley. No question.

Vedera

I liked Vedera. I liked them a lot. Krysten said she saw them open for Jack's Mannequin and they were good- she was right.

Such a pretty and melodic voice. This band could seriously go far. She reminded me of Natalie Imbruglia.

Metric

Now, I'm relatively new to Metric and on record, I really like them. A little different but I think they are still kind of getting into their groove. AND now that they are on the Eclipse soundtrack they are probably going to get big. Sadly, they didn't play the soundtrack song which is odd since most of the audience may know you from that one song. AND either the audio was messed up or the singer can't sing well live- but I couldn't really hear what she was singing. So either the band needs to come down a bit or she needs to sing louder. I don't know. BUT she had a GREAT outfit. No lie.

Kate Nash

My dearest Benji Hardcore and Dr. Brainspiller. I tried. I tried really hard to like Kate Nash. She's adorable and spunky. She swears and says "cunt". I can get behind these things.

But she sucks so bad live it's unbelievable. Seriously. 99% of the time she's literally screaming and talking gibberish and the other 1% she's wrecking her stuff. I get it- you're young and antsy. But pull your tampon out of your ass and that might help.

Heart

I? Am a huge classic rock fan. I grew up listening to Heart and they rocked. They rocked it HARD. They sounded no different than they would have in the 70s and 80s. I was so excited to see them.

If I hadn't been so tired I would have lost my shit during Magic Man.

Court Yard Hounds

Do you like Dixie Chicks? Then you should like this. Except...while they were good---- without Natalie it isn't the same. They brought on their daughters (I think) for a song which was cute. And even though Emily's voice isn't strong enough to be a live lead vocal, as musicians they are great. There is no denying that.

Mary J. Blige

This is were I get stone. I? Am not a big Mary J. Blige fan. Now that she's all married and found Jesus I'm kind of over her. And there were a few times where she wanted to bring it to church but thankfully she didn't. I was disappointed that her set was mostly slow, but she did bring it out for me once.

And dammit if she didn't do it in 5 inch heels.

Sarah Mclachlan
I love Sarah. I have all of her albums (except the new one..I'm working on it) and I have always adored her. I'm a little over "Angel" but that's ok. She is so fantastic live and I'm so glad I got to see it. Sad that her set was so short, but that's ok. I was EXHAUSTED at the end.

Tomorrow? I'll post about the drive home. Hysterics ensue. You know me- I never disappoint.

Muse Concert and Chicago Slut

Lambs and Goats I have almost an entire week of Chicago related posts for you so get ready. And by the end of the week you too can be a Chicago slut. Just like me. For my Chicago cherry has been popped, I saw Muse, Chicago traffic is my bitch, I didn't kill anyone, met a midget who would not let me take her picture, ate fab pizza, and made friends with picketers. And cabbies who speaky no English.

A success if there ever was one.

So let's talk about the drive first, mmkay? We left Superior at 7 am, an hour later than I had planned. It's a 9 hour drive (according to MapQuest) from Superior to Chicago. (Look at a map to understand my struggle), with a stop in Chippewa Falls, WI to get Karl & Dena. (Karl is Matt's brother, Dena is his girlfriend). What would *normally* be a 2 1/2 hour drive was done in 1 1/2 hours.

That's right. I'm STILL the champion at driving to places in record speed.

Once we got in Chicago I was worried. Literally EVERYBODY was like, "Oh my god- you are so stupid...Chicago traffic is HORRIBLE." Well, yeah, it sucks because it's like five lanes going the same way and a lot of cars. But it's doable. Please know I was taught how to drive by an over the road truck driver with a totally clean driving record. It helps.

But you see the car on the left of this picture? With only the window brake light? I almost rear ended her a million times. Because the light would come on only after her brakes had been applied for a few seconds so driving behind her for 45 minutes in bumper to bumper is kind of a nightmare. But I want you to know Chicago traffic became my bitch when I successfully crossed 5 lanes of traffic without hitting anyone, without getting hit myself, no horns or fingers were used and I made my exit on time. That's right folks. Just like this maroon car is doing--you just go. You don't even need a blinker, but it helps psychologically. Like I'm pretty sure nobody saw my blinker, but because I knew I had it on it made me feel better cutting people off.

So once we checked into our hotel, the Wyndham Downtown, we got ready (and I looked hot. I am not even going to lie. The outfit was hot, the boots looked good, my hair and makeup was hot..it was like the perfect storm for hotness) we went to have some authentic Chicago pizza. So we went to Gino's East- and you write on the walls. Or furniture. Unfortunately- we didn't have a sharpie. Or white out. BUMMER.

So here is Karl & Dena at Gino's. I have to say - we had a FABULOUS waiter. And I'm pretty sure we were sitting next to the long lost fourth Jonas brother. Because he had the signature ugly ass hair.

Here's our pizza. It was FABULOUS. It doesn't look good but believe me- it was worth the 9 hour drive.

Matt and I waiting for our bill. Is it just me, or does Matt look like he's either drunk or a creeper? I can assure you no drinky was had. Yet. But there's me--hair and makeup holding out nicely despite the wind.
So then we hopped in a cab to get our asses to the United Center. The cabbie had a bizarre accent but kept referring to us as his friends. Which was weird because he was a terrible driver (but ended up being better than the guy we'd eventually get later on) and I thought we were going to die. I don't know about you, but I try to keep my friends alive.

We got there with 45 minutes to spare. So here is me, getting ready to do the damn thing up in there. You'll see the leg of the chick behind me who was so nice and jammed out with me for like two songs. More on that in a bit.

I know I mentioned to some people that my seats were supposed to be horrible. We were the balcony above the balcony, behind the stage with an obstructed view.

(Moment of silence for the big moment of SADS there)

And when I saw the stage, I texted a pic to Mr. O, who sadly could not be with me because he's like a million miles away, who helpfully replied with "That's great...but isn't that BEHIND the stage?" Um..yes. But I figured it was still going to be awesome because we were by all the sound equipment and you know a concert sucks when you still have full hearing afterwards. I was pretty convinced I'd be deaf. Bonus.

For those of you who follow me on FB you'll notice I posted about drinking. Now, for those who don't know me in real life, I don't drink. I used to, but I don't drink at all now. But for some reason, I felt like maybe I'd need a little drinky drink so I made Matt go get me a drink. He comes back with this fruity thing in a GIANT cup. Two sips later and I realize that this is 90% rum with a little pineapple juice. Two things I hate- rum and pineapple juice. So after two sips (which weren't super small) I was dizzy and I felt like my throat was on fire. Disgusting. So I gave the rest to Karl. Matt, the veteran drinker and former man-whore, couldn't drink it either. Which was nice because I didn't feel like such a drink pussy about that. So there's my two sips of drinkity drink. Lame.

So when Silversun Pickups came on the columns were like TV's. Kind of. We saw their pics on it but basically couldn't see the band because you only saw their face. They sounded good and had GREAT interaction with the crowd. And since Mr. O was the ONLY person to pick up their fucking phone, Mr. O was the ONLY person to hear like a minute of Silver. He guessed which song they had, so it must have been decent enough reception.

They played for about 45 minutes, which was most of their newest album, Swoon. They were really good and they remind me of the Smashing Pumpkins a lot.

After Silver I decided I had to pee. Like bad. So I wait in line for the bathroom for 10 minutes, get in and realize the seat is full of piss. Like someone thought the toilet was a urinal and just pissed EVERYWHERE. And the bonus here is that there is no toilet paper. But never fear- this bitch had her wet wipes and thank god for that. So I peed with the luxury of knowing I was able to wipe up and didn't have to dig for a receipt in my purse. I felt vindicated and that was super.

So then the lights go out and it starts. Mother fucking MUSE, bitches.

And our seats turned out to be some of the best in the house because the columns? Were part of the stage! So this is during "Uprising" and I called Mr. O who I think heard some of it, but I can't remember or not. I was too busy rocking out and screaming like a freak.

They played so well and every song was so amazing. It is probably my #2 fav concert, right behind Kings of Leon. I say they are only #2 because if I'm going to be honest- their crowd interaction sucked. They spoke MAYBE twice, with 3 words or less, during the entire 2 1/2 hour concert. The other thing that sucked was the crowd. As a avid music whore and concert slut I expect that the rest of the people at the concert are there to jam out. Jamming out means standing up, jumping around, singing, clapping, screaming, etc. I do all of these things when I'm at a good concert. NOBODY else in my section was doing that. Except for the two or three guys in front of Dena and Karl who danced for a few songs. And so here I am, having a blast and jamming out, and nobody around me is doing anything.

Fucking losers. I mean, I was tired. I had been up since 5am, drove 9 hours, had very little food in me, I was dizzy, felt like I was going to puke but I am rocking out. Because that's the purpose of going. If I wanted to be lame and stand there like an idiot doing nothing, I would have just listened to the cd at home.

So that's my rant about that. Anyways. So almost towards the end they dropped some giant eyeball balloons that looked pretty cool.

Overall- the concert was great. Their stage was great and if you ever get a chance to see Muse live, I highly recommend that you do. If their stages are normally anything like the one we had

there is no bad seat despite what your ticket may say.

So after the concert we had to hail a cab back to our hotel. Us and like 4000 other people. Guess who didn't get a cab? Us.

A few people received texts from me describing our plight of walking in the fucking windy, 38 degree, misty rain weather in the middle of the night through the darkened streets of Chicago. Now I have taken cabs in lots of places. I know how to hail a cab and find a cab. At every concert I have ever been to there has been a "cab bank" along one side of a venue. Apparently United Center does not have that unless it was in some top secret location. We tried calling a cab ourselves, calling the hotel to arrange for a cab, etc to no avail. We walked (if I did my blocks converted to miles math correctly) almost 3 miles trying to get a cab. Now, I'm a firm believer that if you are lost or need help you stay the fuck where you are and stop moving around. Moving around does not help. You could walk from one end of Chicago to the next and no cab is going to be like, "Wow- I think they need a ride". No. They drive past your sorry wet ass.

And guess who's wearing really uncomfortable boots that we never made for walking?

Me.

And guess who has 27 blisters total on her feet from this walking?

Me.

We got back to the hotel REALLY late, only after jumping into a very dirty minivan cab decked out with those air freshener trees that no longer smell and driven by a guy who clearly speaks only enough English to tell you how much you owe. This guy could have been making plans to bomb the entire eastern seaboard but we would never know it because he talked so fast in some foreign language in between slamming on his brakes.

The highlight of that ride came when I was sliding all over the fucking backseat and put my hand in some kind of wet puddle on the seat. Let me tell you that it's a damn good thing it was dark otherwise I would have cried while puking. Instead, I wiped it on my already wet and filthy pants along with god only knows what else was on that seat. I got the fuck out of that cab as quick as I could. But how we even made it to the hotel alive I don't even know because driver missed a few red lights and I think he believes that stop signs with a white border are actually optional. Apparently the Illinois Department of Transportation are really lax on the whole "must pass a road test" restriction.

We made it back really late. And I took a great shower despite the fact my feet hurt so bad and my heels were actually bleeding. No good.

OK- so that was Friday night in Chicago. If you want to see ALL of my Chicago pictures including everything from the Muse concert- check out my Facebook page (link to your right somewhere) and they are all up.

Tomorrow we'll talk about Saturday in Chicago. And inadvertently celebrating St. Patrick's Day in the windy city.