No, I'm not a lesbian

Yesterday I went to Lilith Fair and man what a day it was.

I arrived with a few friends around 2, after getting lost a bazillion times. But that's just how I roll.

We got through security, and then hit up all the white tents for some free swag. We came away with a bunch of OB tampons, Stayfree pads, some scented cooling towels, and how could we forget the misting tent complete with a photo booth? Pretty awesome. We also got a bunch of samples of cooling mist by Degree and a free tote bag from the Chevrolet booth.

After winning some lemon lip balm from the Luna bar tent, we sat down and listened to Anya Marina and Rosie Thomas play. Both were great, but Rosie was seriously hilarious. She kept talking about how many gin and tonics she had had and her voice reminded me of someone who was high on helium. Very entertaining to say the least. 

After roasting in the sun for too long we headed over to grab a seat on the lawn, where we observed many lesbians wearing plaid shorts. We listened to Anjulie, who had a bunch of energy on stage, and Metric, who sang really loudly.

Then there was my favorite of the night, Ingrid Michaelson, who was full of sass and sarcasm! I loved her last song by Britney Spears. Her entire band danced and sang. It was awesome.

Emmylou Harris (who's that?) performed next. I had no idea who she was, but she sang country songs. While she was good--she definitely was a pro on stage in her glittery pants and platform heels--she should've performed earlier in the day because her voice just about lulled me to sleep.

But I stayed awake for the best act of the night--Sarah McLachlan, who helped start Lilith about 10 years ago. She was freakin' awesome. She played a ton of her old songs, but also some of the songs off her new album, which took her seven years to make. She was simply fabulous and her encore was seriously the best of the day.

Even though by the end of the day I was sweaty, tired, and a bit tanned, it was worth my $10 ticket and the memories that were made with my friends.

Just a quick update: my mom is out of the hospital! Surgery went well and now she is at home recovering. Thanks for all the sincere comments!

Summer?

Life in the hippie city has been great all week, yes I know it's only Tuesday, but still. During my lunch hour I got around to contemplating why this week is so great. Well, here's the main reason: all the college kids are either a) graduated or b) on summer break away from this lovely city. What does this mean to me? Well, since I work in said city, it means I can stretch out on my bus rides to and from work, I can roam Pearl St. Mall and actually get a spot to sit, and it's definitely less crowded for happy hours. YESSSSS. Other reasons why I love summer: I tan easily (awesome) but always wear sunscreen (or not), love the fresh air, swimming, garage sales, and all the festivals which I love aren't too far away.

Things I'm over: library fines & volunteering. I seriously owe the library $7 now all because for each book that is overdue, it's 20 cents a day. Multiply that by a bunch of books, and well, you get the idea. Boo to that. Seriously, I'm the library's best customer, I'm always checking out books, why can't they just cut me some slack!?! As for the volunteering thing--well, I'm burnt out, if it's possible. I have a few different places I volunteer at - mainly my weekly radio show & visiting my old lady friend Marie - but I'm ready to take a summer hiatus from them all. Is this possible?

Movies, Movies, Movies

Apparently the summer is almost over. At least that's what the sign at the pool said when I went to the pool on Saturday afternoon. They are having an "end of summer" cookout on the 25th. That's so sad! While I don't want the summer to end, I do look forward to the fall. Fall is so great. I love the chilly weather and the way the leaves crunch under your feet.

Since the parentals are out of town, I helped out and did Andrew's back to school shopping this weekend. It was kinda crazy because I ended up going to Walgreens, Walmart, Target, and Office Depot. BUT it did get done, and I spent less than $60 too. Impressive. I know. I always loved back to school shopping as a kid because I got to get new supplies and a new backpack and lunchbox. I thought it was the coolest thing. Don't get me wrong, I still love it, for it brings back good memories. But, I never realized how much of a pain it can be too. The lists the teachers create are very specific. I had to get an 8 count of Crayola washable markers. Not a 10 count, not ones by Roseart, but that specific brand and everything. Now I know why my parents never really cared when we went shopping--they just wanted to get 'er done.

On Friday M spent the night and we watched the Queen, the movie with Helen Miren in it. It was good, but I guess I was expecting it to be more dramatic. Meh. Either way it was a free movie, as I had rented it from the library. We ate Domino's pizza and had a good time. It was nice to have the company.

On Saturday we raced to the movies and caught the 11:10 showing of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Because we made it before noon, we only had to pay $5. Sweet. The movie was so good! It seriously is just like the first one in that it makes you laugh and cry. I can't wait till it comes out on DVD. I plan to see it with mi madre again soon. After the movie, I went to the pool and swam for an hour or so and then went to the mall. I got a skirt, shirt, and pair of flip flops at New York & Company. Then I headed home and watched the movie 21 with Hailey, our golden retriever mix. The movie was pretty good. We had it just lying around in the basement from Blockbuster. Good stuff.

On Sunday I went to church at Immaculate Heart of Mary, did school supply shopping, and met up with S for boba tea at Lollicup. S tried a cherry-flavored slush with boba for the first time and liked it. I got a passion fruit slush with boba instead of the mango kind I got last time. It was really good. They have so many different flavors and I learned that you can get boba added to flavored iced tea too. I think next time I'm gonna try to add jelly in mine instead of boba because they even have mango jelly or three colored jelly, etc. It seems cool. Anyways, after Lollicup, we headed over to Casa Bonita. M and Kristen had never been there so it was fun to show them around. The place is just as I remember it, with the scary caves, the cliff diver, and the free sopapillas. Afterwards, I continued my quest to finish school supply shopping, and went to Walmart, Walgreens, and Target. And I went to JCPenney's too. I saw a cute skirt that was on sale for $10, but I think I could fit into a smaller size so I didn't get it. I figure I can always go back for it if I really want it. Oh, and I rented Definitely, Maybe and watched that with Hailey last night. It was a cute movie. I would watch it again. That's all I did this weekend. I didn't realize it but I watched a movie a day over the weekend. That like never happens. I usually don't watch movies very often. I like it.

So far today has gone well. I caught the early bus because Hailey woke me up at the ungodly hour of like 5am, and then again at 6:30am. Finally I gave up and got ready for the day. It's really quiet here today. I can't complain, especially because it's already almost lunch time, which means I'm halfway done with work for the day.

yay for summer

I'm soooo excited that it's summer here. I am a total festival queen. I just love getting out doing something different. This weekend was awesome and reminds me how great summertime can be. Not only was it a 3 1/2 day weekend for me, but it was filled with good company, booze, and fireworks! How can you go wrong with fireworks?? Seriously.

I got out of work early on Thursday for the holiday, went to the pool for the first time this summer, and then M and I had happy hour next to the pool until some rowdy boys kept getting us wet.

On on the 4th, I slept in and went to the pool with the family. That was fun, then went and saw fireworks, skydivers, and live music in Thornton. And then went to Sonic and got a cranberry slushie. sooooo good.

On Saturday, I slept in till my brother called at 9am and woke me up. argh. then moised around the apt for awhile, and then left to get slushies for the fam at Sonic. I know, twice in a row...but they are so damn good! Anyways, went home, then met up with Kristin aka K. Then drove us downtown to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. Walked around, took some pics, and then went to the Cherry Cricket for dinner and beers. Tried EZ Street, it was good. After dinner, went back to the festival to see Opie Gone Bad, a local band. After that, we saw fireworks to the theme of the Hook soundtrack. And then on the way back to the car, K and I saw more fireworks, presumably from Glendale. Good times.

On Sunday, I slept in, finished reading my book, went to church with M and the fam, and was going to go to the pool again but it rained. Ended up at Taco Bell, then went and got guacamole for our 7 layer dip creation. M and I made said dip, and then headed downtown to meet up with S, K, and her friend Josh. Listened to this latin jazz band--was very fun and upbeat. Ended up seeing my aunt, uncle, and baby benjamin. It was good times, and we had yummy mojitos, and great company. Can't wait to hang out with everyone again.

So all in all, I had a great weekend--it was relaxing, yet busy, yet seemingly effortless. I like it! Here's to hoping that the weekends to come are this much fun!

Apparently it's summer

I'm not sure why, but this year it doesn't feel like summer...yet. Perhaps it's because I haven't gone to any festivals or laid out by the pool or had any picnics. This summer I want to get out and do more things, so I've decided to share a few with you...

1. Go to the outdoor jazz concerts in the park downtown
2. Lay out by the pool
3. Read more books
4. Go to the Peach Festival, Greek Festival, Taste of Colorado and any other festivals
5. Attend one of the Movies in the Park
6. Take a tour of Redstone Meadery in Boulder
7. Get a tan

...7...

I realized looking through my entries that I never posted about #7 on the list: Jewel and John Legend.

M and I went to the concert two Friday's ago. It was held at Fiddler's Green, where we had an amazing view of the sunset and later the moon and stars. Apparently this concert was a benefit concert--yes, I knew it was, but what I didn't expect was for it to be so not crowded. Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed getting better seats, but maybe people just aren't into going to concerts during the week, or maybe the word benefit scares people. I don't know. I felt good about it, because the money went to children's hospital.

We were supposed to have lawn seats, but due to the concert not being sold out, we were upgraded to the real seats in the 2nd section. As usual, I was worried about getting there on time. M picked me up from downtown, and then we drove to Red Robin and got dinner to go, only to find out that outside food apparently isn't allowed in the venue. So we stuffed our faces (figuratively and literally) and went inside.

This year I was prepared for the weather and brought two fleece blankets, a sweatshirt, and an umbrella. You see, the last time I was at Fiddler's was years ago when M and I were either in our senior year of h.s. or maybe it was a summer during college. Anyways, we were going to see MercyMe, and the weather got so bad that they had a rain delay. You guessed it, we didn't bring a thing to protect us from the rain, so we got drenched to the bone. I mean it! We waited by the porta potties for the storm to pass but eventually gave up and went to eat dinner at the Village Inn nearby. We were seriously so soaking wet that even our seats had water on them from us. Of course this year since I prepared for another dreaded storm, it didn't happen. The sky was clear and it wasn't even freezing cold.

Jewel opened up the concert and was surprisingly really down to earth. She would tell jokes or stories in between songs, and even let the kids that were in the audience shout out suggestions for what she should play.

After her, John Legend performed. Of course that was the highlight of the night...he's just so damn fine. Trust me, I don't get all star struck or obsessed with celebs, but for some reason seeing him on stage belting out songs about love and making love (hahaha), well, a girl just falls under his hypnotic spell. He played my favorite song of his, "Slow Dance," and a VIP member named Nicole went up on stage. She was cute, but she totally didn't dance slow enough for John. I told M if I was up there, I would've danced slow enough and would've helped John take off his jacket since it'd be so hott up there. Of course I have innocent intentions! I mean, he ended up taking off his jacket in the next song anyways, so I would've been just helpin' a brotha out. Sheesh people, I'm totally innocent. Anyways, John was great, and performed this other song about giving all your heart to someone and loving them. It had a great message, and he said it was his newest song, not even on his cd. I took video of it, but I haven't listened to it yet. All in all, it was a great night under the stars. I'm glad I went!