FINALLY! // A RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS CONCERT

After waiting for nearly 11 years, I finally saw my favorite band ever in concert!

On the Friday going into Fourth of July weekend, Joe, Maggie, and I saw The Red Hot Chili Peppers!!!! (In case you didn't know, The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been my absolute favorite band since the summer before I went into high school. Seeing of them has literally been a dream of mine since I was fourteen!)


Before the concert, we went out to Parlour for pizza. Maggie's boyfriend, John, and a few of John's friends joined too. Speaking of absolute favorites, I think Parlor might be my absolute favorite pizza place in Chicago. Maggie and I split a pizza with brussel sprouts and mozzarella and I ordered a sour beer that had ginger, beets, and carrots in it!

After dinner, we walked to the United Center for the concert. I didn't know it until they day of the concert, but apparently the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks play at the United Center too.




For the concert we were high up in the nosebleeds. The opener wasn't very good and had even worse acoustics, so we all worried what the Chili Peppers would sound like for the half hour before they came on.


It turns out we had little to worry about. As soon as The Red Hot Chili Peppers came on the acoustics drastically improved and the concert was more than a dream come true. Anything they could've played would've been amazing, but they played the best of the best. Of course there were songs I wish they played, but they could've played 50 songs and I still would've wanted to hear something else. They played a bunch of songs, but suddenly they were walking of the stage. And we waited. And they didn't come back. Upon looking down at my phone, I was shocked to find out that over two hours had elapsed since they first came on. The concert was just that good!


After the show we made our way back... or something haha. We hung around for a little bit, but then ended up heading over to one of John's friends to hangout.

After hanging out for awhile (and perhaps after I got stuck in an elevator for fifteen minutes...), we went to Elly's Pancake House at 1:00 am! Everyone else got pancakes, but Joe and I got fries to split and milkshakes (because we're cool ;p) and then finally headed home around 2:30 am, which we never do anymore. I need more of these kinds of nights in my life. More RHCP concerts too. 

CURRENTLY (RUNNING CLUB, THINGS I'VE COOKED, A KATE SPADE SKIRT, & MORE)

Hey there. Sorry it's been super sporadic in here. I still have New Year's updates to share, but I figured I'd let you know what I've been up to since returning to Chicago.

Going to: Nike Running Club! It started back up again after the holidays. I ran in the 5 degree weather last Saturday, went to my first speed workout on Wednesday, and went back again yesterday morning for an amazing 10 miles!

Wearing: This Kate Spade skirt. I bought it at a thrift store with the intention of upselling it on eBay, but since that hasn't happened, I decided to wear it last week and it totally made my day more fun. I felt like I was in the Mad Men era.

Cooking: Lots!

• This tasty vegan mac n' cheese
• This vegan Caesar salad (I thought it tasted like the real deal)
• This winter farro salad with butternut squash, kale, and feta
• This enchiladas with black beans, onion, corn, and peppers

Reading: Lots!

• The Alchemist (finished last week) - A quick read with lots to reflect on
• Truly Madly Guilty (finished today) - A page-turner, although I was a little over it by the end. 
• The Girls (started today) - I'll let you know soon!

Watching: Parks and Rec Season 2 / It's Always Sunny Season 11

Drinking: Wine. I ended up picking up a bottle after a long day at work and it was such a treat. Especially because I haven't actually done that since moving to Chicago almost four months ago.

Celebrating: Joe's birthday. It was actually last week on our first day back from the holidays, but we had a nice dinner at home complete with a cookie skillet! Then over the weekend we went out with friends to Umami Burger to officially celebrate.

Making: Joe's birthday list! I coerced him to make a birthday list too. It has things like finishing up a bunch of games, learning to make drinks from a book I gave him a few years ago, doing 60 push ups, etc. He was so not into the making of the list, but now that it's made, I always find him working towards one item or another. 

Listening To: Technically this was from December, but it's a Spotify playlist where I dumped all my favorite songs from December. I used to make monthly playlists when I was a freshman and loved it, so I'm not sure why I stopped, but I started again last month and well, it's great. 

Sunday Stuff.

One of my coworkers often plays music aloud at work (which sounds like a recipe to be the most hated person in the office, but it's actually not!). There was maybe one incident where Don't Stop Believing was blasted and someone was on an important call, but otherwise everyone likes it a lot because #goodofficevibes.

Anyway, the song above is always on the playlist. I finally managed to Shazam it the other week and I've been listening to it ever since. To me, it's the definition of a song that belongs on your "Chill" or "Fall" or "Sunday Morning" (or "Fall Sunday Morning Chill (Yo)") playlist. Ha.

Also, because I'm making up for a month of inconsistent posting (and probably not going to leave my bed for at least a few hours due to some massive brunch food-coma-ing), here are some other fun things!

A really cool vase.

This video made me laugh a ton.

Currently reading this book. 

I'm not usually a quote person, but I really liked this one. 

So mesmerizing.

Such a simple and cute kitchen "gadget".

If today were a Spaghetti Sunday in college, I'd be making this.

On that note, I'm out. Happy Sunday!
Hope your weekend has been treating you well!
I'll be back with more regular posting this week.
(I promise).

xo

To Start Your Weekend Off On The Right Note...

It's Friday night and I'm not really feeling in a wordy mood at the moment, but I figured I'd leave you with one of my favorite CD's to listen to in good weather since that's what this week has been bringing (at least here in NYC).

Hope you enjoy too!

*Click through the link for the whole CD*

One Point Five

Is the number of years this song was stuck in my head without actually knowing the song.

I randomly started humming it while shopping at Wegmans one Saturday afternoon, but had no idea what the song was except that the word "feeling" was somewhere in the lyrics. That may sound like a good start for a lyrics search, except it always ended me up on on this song, which wasn't helpful. At one point I actually convinced myself that I had made up the tune. Then three weeks ago, I was watching my daily Grey's Anatomy and there it was, out of the blue... or grey. (You can laugh now if you want...) It was the song of my hums! 

Grey's Anatomy almost always kills it in the music department. So much good alternative stuff. I'd never even heard of Kathleen Edward's before even though I had heard her song, but Wikipedia compares her to Suzanne Vega Meets Neil Young, both whom I love, so I've been meaning to listen to more of her ever since.

Hopefully you'll enjoy this one too.  

Owen Pallett

Last Thursday Amie L, her copain D, and I saw Owen Pallett in concert!
Back during freshman year of college she introduced me to Owen and even though I never ventured outside the few songs I originally got hooked on, do believe me when I say that I listened to those on repeat for weeks on end. Months, really!

The concert was in Williamsburg, so after we grabbed a quick bite in Manhattan we beelined to Brooklyn to make sure we didn't miss the concert's start... except our tickets lied and said the concert was at 8 even though the music didn't come on until after 9. Oops! Even though we were pretty bummed, the extra hour was perfect for some some hipster spotting because when in Williamsburg!


Once the music started we were all in good spirits again. Owen was incredible. He does 10x more with a violin than anyone I've ever seen... there was all the regular stuff, plus plucking, strumming, a loop pedal, ... he even screamed into it during one of the songs! It was a very good show. You could definitely tell from all the head nodding in the concert. There was lots of head nodding. Sometimes I even watched the crowd instead of Owen. I swear that one guy didn't stop lively nodding his head the entire time!

In case you're interested in sampling (and possibly nodding your own head to) some Owen, here are a few tracks to start with:

• This is a good one.
• I picked up this one from the concert. 
• Amie L would recommend this one. I like it a lot too.
• My favorite.

Monday Night After Work...

I saw Fleetwood Mac in concert with the lovely mother!

We started the night with a wonderful spread of tapas in Chelsea (olives, potatoes, a Spanish omelette, fried chickpeas, etc.) and then headed over to Madison Square Garden for the show.

The show... it was so good. Even though we were pretty far back and even if I was younger than 90% of the people there, it was everything I dreamed of and more. All five original members of FM were there and they didn't skip any of the songs I wanted to hear!

This one will go down in the books (or blog) as awesome.

Tonight After Work...

I'm seeing Fleetwood Mac in concert!!!
I geared up by listening to all of their Rumours album at the gym this morning.
This concert came as a spur of the moment kind of thing, but wow. Seeing them has been a dream of mine for such a long time. I can't believe it's happening tonight!

Slope Day 2014

So, Thursday was Slope Day (aka: Cornell's end of year celebration)! Oh my. Such a great day and such a great last Slope Day! Still can't believe my time on the slope is almost over...

Ten days before Slope Day, Ami R proclaimed that there was a "very good chance it would rain on Slope Day". Talk about ridiculous statement of the year. Weather is too unpredictable to forecast anything more than a day or two. However, as of the of the night before Slope Day, it looked like rain was in the forecast and we all feared that Ami R was actually right. However, as in past years, Slope Day pulled through. It always does. Always. Thursday was 75 degrees, hazy, but sunny, and everyone has sunburns to prove it...

The amis and I started off the day at Amie M's with a bunch of her friends for a mimosa brunch. Seriously though, the champagne was flowing (even if it was mostly J. Roget). We then moved up the street to a backyard party, which was at the same place we've ended up the past few years on Slope Day. 

We then headed to the slope for the concert--3Lau (we missed them/him?), Matt and Kim (!!!), and Ludacris played. Matt and Kim. Oh man! I only knew their song Daylight, but they are so good that you don't actually have to know their music to have a good time. Most of the amis had never heard them before and loved them. They're just so fun. Kim kept taking her shirt off to wear sorority and frat pinnies which was so funny. Amie M and I aren't really the type of girls to have "girl crushes" but we decided we sort of had mini crushes on both Matt and Kim. Ludacris was also actually pretty great. I forgot how many songs he did. Like soundtrack to middle school right there!

And then perhaps the best, or at least funniest part of the day... 

On Wednesday afternoon, the amies went down to the sex shop in the commons. Yup. Instead of regular beach balls they bought an inflatable Tiger Woods sex doll. Sending that thing into the crowd was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Everyone around us thought so too. The best was when I got back late in the afternoon and one of the lovely roommates was sitting at the table. We started talking about our respective Slope Day experiences and she asked me if I had seen the blowup doll and I got to tell her that we brought it. The look on her face was the greatest. :p


And then we all crashed. (And ate at Aladdin's for dinner since that's our tradition).

PS: This week has been a crazy one. Instead of putting some Friday links, I've linked to my favorite three Matt and Kim songs and the three Ludaa songs I know the best. Hope you all have nice weekends! xo

Matt and Kim 1. Daylight
2. Let's Go (this was so good live!)
3. It's Alright


Ludacris 
1. Money Maker 
2. Yeah! (Usher ft. Lil Jon and Ludacris)
3. Move

The Birthday List :: 22.15 :: A Change (Would Do You Good)

Call it crazy (maybe way crazy), but I have decided to move my lovely(?) little(?) blog (again).
As part of my birthday list for this year, I mentioned that I possibly wanted to move my blog over to a "bloggier" platform. So here I am. I've been experimenting with this for awhile (refer to trial post from January 11th), trying to get the layout, the colors, the font, the header, really everything just right.

For now I think I'll double post, but as of graduation in May, this will be my blog, and my Tumblr will forever be a time capsule to my three great years spent at Cornell. :)

So here this goes... wish me luck. xo