rockin' the suburbs

so i actually have to write a ben folds blog rather than post pics. i hate going to concerts where all photography is prohibited. and yes, i tried to sneak a few camera phone pics and was reprimanded almost immediately. if they saw the quality of my photos they probably wouldn't have cared. a few weeks ago i was bored and changed the settings on my camera to solarize. i didn't realize it was still on that setting when i was taking pics monday night. no wonder they looked so crappy.

i'm gonna do a quick summary of the evening. got to asheville about 6:30 and headed downtown to grab a bite to eat at salsa's before the show. i'd eaten there last time i was in town and thought aaron would enjoy the food too which he did. afterwards we walked around the corner and stopped in the chocolate lounge (which seems to being doing great despite the economy) for some dessert. had a few truffles and a glass of wine before we headed over to the orange peel.

this was the first time either one of us had been to this particular venue. nothing too spectacular about it, reminded me of the galaxy in st. louis. got there about half hour before the opening band miniature tigers began. i could definitely see them playing on a wes anderson soundtrack or any movie with jason schwartzman in it. which is basically any wes anderson movie. ;) the second group hails from greensboro, nc the spartones. they only sang three songs but absolutely rocked it out. even did a cover of "not the same." they were great.

and then came ben. i always worry a singer/band is gonna sound worse live. but ben delivered. he delivered for 2 hours straight. (minds out of gutters please!) rocked out to some old tunes as well as some new ones. it was an awesome show and well worth the trip!

(man, i started this post two days ago and it's still lame two days later. oh well. i do realize i have A.D.D. when it comes to writing longer posts. i'll try to keep them few and far between for everyones benefit.)

sweet mountain

brian and irina arrived friday evening and we had waited to eat dinner with them. they arrived around 7:45 and we were out the door by 8. we decided to treat everyone to makotos, a japanese steakhouse here in boone. it was the first time for most and everyone had a good time.

brian brought his wii wheel and we played a little mariokart after dinner. it was the first time we played with three players. really not a fan of the four-split screen. a little too chaotic for my taste. we did get to play angela and family for the first time. we kicked a little butt, i'm not bragging at all! ;)

saturday the weather finally cooperated and we were able to enjoy the mountains in full force. aaron had read in the paper that sugar mountain resort opened it's ski lifts for scenic summer rides. you can either hike or bike the trails. the lifts are rigged to carry bikes up. it was crazy seeing them float by. well, after a 20-25 minute ride up we decided to hike down. even mom managed to keep up, she even passed us at one point. here's the sugar flickr set. as you can see we all had a great time.

after hiking we headed over to sugar grove for their annual music festival. we caught the carolina chocolate drops and the kruger brothers. it was brian and irina's introduction to bluegrass. and i think they both enjoyed the music. when we arrived home, the weather was still great that we decided to get a little fire going. we sat outside, cracked open a bottle of wine and enjoyed the evening chatting.

so that's how our sweet weekend wrapped up. we didn't plan everything around sugar, it just happened. and before i forget, my mom picked about 10 gallons of blackberries. literally. our counter tops were barely visible, she had bowls and jars everywhere. luckily she took it all with her. poor brian had to haul it all back to maryland. another sweet item.

a rude girl

urban dictionary defines a rude girl as a dedicated ska fan, with a sense of history, style of the ska scene, also known as rudi, roody, rudy, etc. traditional of the "rude boy/girl" is clothing similar to that of the swing dancers of the 1940’s or that of the historic gangsters akin to al capone.

just to clarify the blogger name. i'm not impolite, just a fan. i guess i should also define ska.

ska: three different types: "traditional", "2-tone" and "3rd wave". traditional came about in the late 1950s as new dance music straight out of jamaica. 2-tone is named such because whites and blacks came together to form ska bands to spread unity in the 1970s. 3rd wave is when ska hit america in the late 1980s, and added a bit of punk flair.

blogging molly

we actually had a direct flight from charlotte to orlando. i don't remember the last time we didn't have to transfer planes to go anywhere. that put us in florida at 2 p.m. friday. we checked in at our hotel. a doubletree suites close to downtown disney. hung out there for a little while then decided to walk the 20 minutes to downtown disney.

aaron had looked up shows before we left and saw that flogging molly was playing at the house of blues. what a great way to start our weekend we both thought. luckily he bought tickets online because when we headed over there we saw it was sold out on the marquee. we both were surprised at how popular they had become. danny had mentioned they would be signing autographs at the virgin megastore across the way from the show so we stopped by there to check it out. there were two members still there when we arrived. just chatting with fans. we had planned on getting one of their new cds signed for dan but we thought it was a little cheesy to walk up to one in the middle of his conversation and hold out a cd for him to sign. plus we had no clue who the band members were. we know who the singer is and that's about it. and he certainly wasn't one of the two standing there. we decided to just head over to the show and get a bite to eat before it started.

unfortunately, aaron had a bit of a stomach bug and really wasn't feeling the flow of food or show. it's really unusual for him to get sick, especially while on vacation. he stuck it out and ended up having a good time. i had decided not to bring a purse, so i had had my i.d. and camera in my back pocket. little did i know, there was a restriction on cameras at the venue. i tied my sweatshirt around my waist to disguise the fact that i had it. metal detector found it and i ended up having to pay $2 to check my camera at the door. otherwise i would have had to go all the way back to the hotel to drop it off.

once inside the first band was already playing. "i think the flute player is japanese." aaron said. "i think the whole band is asian!" i said. it was the cherry cokes. it was very weird seeing japanese people playing irish music. they rocked it though. next was the reverand peyton's big damn band. they were okay. they sounded like primus but with a washboard. finally flogging molly took the stage and they absolutely brought the house down. it was so great seeing a show with so much energy. both of us were bouncing around, chanting and singing along. it was an awesome show to start the weekend with. since i got my camera confiscated i had to use aaron's cell phone to take pics. being it was a dark club, none of the photos came out but this one. yes, i have this strange desire to take photos while urinating. it's my thang. i might have to continue my toilet obsession gallery.

a rockin dress

after seeing this tutorial on craftster a few months ago, i've had it in the back of my brain slowly eating away, telling me i need to make one or two or three. aaron has a plethora of old band tees he no longer wears. so this is going to be my weekend project. i got some plaid fabric and the first sacrifice will be a dropkick murphys t-shirt. hopefully i'll having something to show afterwards. let's cross our fingers.

orbs and gnomes and truffles, oh my

saturday i headed down to asheville with jill and two of the nurses from aaron's office, kendall and michelle. first off, i got about an hour of sleep the night before. (yes, insomnia still plagues me) i did manage to function without being too cranky most of the day. we hit the downtown area for a little shopping. mostly window shopped and then grabbed a quick bite to eat.

we then headed to ox-ford (there's a hyphen, which was quickly pointed out to me) farm, where we would be residing that night. met dr. hapke...or i should say frau hapke. a former pulmonary doctor who now owns and operates the bed and breakfast. she sat waiting in her little golf cart by the entrance gate.

"did you tell her when we'd be arriving?"

"no!" we all glanced at each other, eyebrows lifted.

we followed her up the drive. past cows, sheep, peacocks and various other animals. including four large, white sheep dogs. we reached a tattered-looking little house nestled among some trees. how quaint. roosters crowed, sheep baaed. it was like stepping back to the old country. the house itself reminded me of anyones grandma's. outdated and packed full of knick-knacks. cranberry bread and tea sat waiting for us. quick tour of the rooms and history lesson on the house and farm. four rooms. we had two and four other women had the remaining two.

we had a few hours to kill before the concert. we sat out on the porch. sipped wine, relaxed and took in our surroundings. yes, i'm a little overdressed for the weather. it wasn't as cold as i make it look to be.

we headed downtown after a while. grabbed some drinks and appetizers then made our way to nickel creek show. by this time, sleep was calling. i sat most of the concert with my eyes closed. not sleeping, resting. bela fleck played first. mind you, i went to this concert not knowing any of the music. bela plays nothing but banjo i soon found out. wasn't too bad, but i'm not a fan of jammy type music, no matter what the genre. at least for me, bluegrass is a bit more tolerable then most. nickel creek, by far, the better of the two. found myself enjoying it more than i expected. already downloaded an album. stand-up bass, fiddle, mandolin and guitar. it's surprisingly good...i'm slowly becoming a mountain girl.

i was ready to crash when we got back to the farm. tea, coffee, cobbler and cranberry bread awaited us on our return. breakfast at 9:30 we were told. headed off to bed, no difficulty falling asleep. although jill and i chatted for about another hour before i dozed off.

9:07 i was up. didn't want to upset the frau by being late for breakfast. walked into the sitting room and met one of the four women also staying there. everyone else was out and about, checking out the farm. kendall and i sat and chatted with jane. the frau announces breakfast will be later than usual. we met up with the rest of our party and decide to take a hike up to the top of the property/hill.

it was a trek. dodging cow pies and avoiding electric fences. after documenting our accomplishment, we headed down. i went on a picture taking frenzy. mostly capturing my surroundings. orbs and gnomes...both deserve their own posts later.

got back to find a hearty breakfast waiting for us. we had worked up an appetite. bacon, eggs, applesauce, potatos, homemade bread/toast, grits. my first time eating grits. pretty good, not something to write home about. the frau told us stories while we ate. mostly of how medicine and nursing has changed over the last 50 years. three of the other four ladies were also nurses. new fact i learned: early nurses weren't allowed to be married if they wanted to make medicine a career. they had to be at the beackon call of doctors. my how things have changed.

after breakfast, we headed downtown again before leaving. we all decided we wanted to hit up the chocolate fetish before heading home. i splurged and bought 15 truffles. mostly for aaron, cause i know he loves chocolate. i did find i'm a bit of a dark chocolate fan. tried one made with cayenne pepper. sounds gross...but it was so yummy. mmmmm. i'm getting hungry smelling them.

shopped a little more. stopped at a pottery show on the way home. got home a few minutes after aaron got home from chicago. all and all, it was a good weekend. and i had to head back the following evening. this time to see family. what a busy week.

tomorrow aaron and jerome are going to the app. state game and then we're all headed to see big bad voodoo daddy on campus. another great weekend ahead of us.

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Now playing: Nickel Creek - When In Rome

the air up there

yes, i live here.

saturday aaron and i went to an all day music festival at the boone city fairgrounds. this don't look like no stinking fairgrounds i ever saw. we listened to some roots, rock & reggae. not in that particular order. my favorite: black cash (a johnny cash tribute band). although all were great. there was a wide variety of people...mainly of the hippie persuasion. apparently the hula-hoop has replaced the hacky sack. i didn't get that memo. and i think aaron and i may have had the shortest hair there. definitely a good place to people watch. we got there about 2 left about 9. started to get a bit nippy.

we are still the the most unprepared couple of the bunch. forgot lawn chairs, blanket, food, frisbee, tent, kite, kids etc. just had our little cooler filled with 6 hard lemonades to last the both of us 6 hours. i think this happened to us the last time we went camping. aaron and i are eating granola bars and everyone else was cooking up bacon, eggs, coffee, etc. when will we learn?!?

friday i let jill inject a little botox in me. i really don't need it, but i wanted to see how it felt. she gave me 4 injections, mainly to lift my brows and give them a natural arch. i honestly can't tell anything yet. she said it might take a few weeks for results. luckily i'm blessed with some asian genes and don't have any noticeable wrinkles. thanks mom.

katie and adrian have decided boone is not the place for them. i'm a little disappointed but i kinda figured as much. they just aren't the outdoorsy type and you really have to be in order to appreciate this place. aaron and i don't regret our choice at all. it would have been nice to have another group of friends out here, oh well. they're still looking at asheville, so there is a possibility they'll end up fairly close. we'll just have to wait and see.

old crow medicine show

i really wasn't a fan. i'd heard a few of their songs on xm and occasionally aaron would play their cds on a drive but i never had that "i have to have a copy for myself" feeling about them. so when he got tickets i was a little less than enthused. it was, however, something to do in boone and a chance to absorb some local culture. (they're from a nearby town)

there was a broad array of people at the show. hippie kids trying to get tickets outside the door; rich, grey heads sitting in seats all around us; lots of college kids dancing in the aisle. i was quite surprised the show was sold out, but soon changed my mind after the band took the stage. there wasn't an opening act, which doesn't happen too often these days.

the band took the stage a few minutes after 8. a stand-up bass player, 2 banjo players, a fiddler who also played the harmonica and guitar, and an acoustic guitar player. most of the guys looked like they were about our age, perhaps even younger. i wasn't expecting that at all. by their sound, i figured they were a lot older. they pretty much started rocking (or whatever you'd say bluegrass bands do) the instant they took the stage. i seriously felt like i had stepped back in time. no fancy light shows, no frills, no gimmicks just music. there was a lot of clapping, foot stomping, and hooting and hollering. even a little bantering between band members. they also had a local guy clogging/tapping/flat-footing to a few songs. i could imagine what the grand ole opry was like in it's heyday. i wondered if hank williams, johnny cash, patsy cline had played shows like this. it was, overall, a great experience.

far different from the police concert we had seen the week before. at least old crow appeared like they wanted to be there and that they still enjoyed each others company. don't get me wrong, sting was great. but that's about all i can say about the show. it was blah. none of the band members made any eye contact. hardly any movement about the stage. i was sooooo unimpressed. and that's all i'll say about that!

so i may be a slight convert/fan now. live shows have a way of doing the unexpected.