A Solid Day Off

Days off are for marathoning! I finished all of Defenders. I did it. My New Years Resolution is met. I'm gonna try to start Punisher before bed but I'M SO HAPPY. I did the thing. Wow I cried, it was good. But mostly I'm proud of me haha. Thank God for do nothing days.

I spoke with Michael today after not doing so for a long time. Without talking too much about that, it made me feel a lot better. I'm glad we got the chance to call today. And the end result is we're gonna see Thirty Seconds to Mars together in June, so there's that. I'M GONNA SEE THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS IN JUNE. AHHH. Also Walk the Moon, who are awesome, and a handful of other bands I'll have to check out. But AHH HUSBAND.

2/17/18

I spent today with the lovely Jess Mies. I love her a lot. Anytime I see her it's always so refreshing. That's the great thing about best friends. I'm so blessed to have her. We exchanged gifts and ate some delicious sushi and I bought a concert ticket. And she made it home safe in the snow. Twas a successful day.

Oh yeah I BOUGHT A TICKET I'M GOING TO SEE TODRICK HALL AT THE FILLMORE IN DTSS IN APRIL I'M SO EXCITED

I went to see La Foto at GALA theatre. It was a brilliant show. Seeing shows about Latinos written by Latinos makes so much of a difference. 'Cause they just GET IT. And then having them perform it and seeing what is essentially your family on stage, ugh, it feels so great. Like you've never met these people but they're just like the people you know. And they play it so well because they have people they know who are just like that. It was great. And easily accessible. And a wonderful time. And I got to go with Jake - sort of an unintentional birthday present. I like seeing theatre with him because we get to actually talk about it and expand on it. I like seeing him in general honestly, he's always so great to talk to and he gets so passionate about whatever it is that comes up. I've always really enjoyed his energy and just getting to spend time with him. Merp. I'm a mess. Tonight was great.

Week of Elections & Gratitude

I'm grateful for Saturday, and all the fun people it brought. I got to spend the day with the lovely Jess Mies and WOW had I missed her. It's always good to see her and share life with her. Her presence brings me joy. And then you joined the fun! It's such a good feeling to have my two best friends in the whole world together. There was a whole lot of love surrounding me that afternoon and it felt great. Add in good food and I'm set! And that evening was the Bad Suns concert which was amazing. They're so good live. Jess is such a great concert buddy cause she and I can just jam to literally anything. It was also cool seeing Kimberly & Camillo! Talk about all the best friends haha. Catching up with her is always so lovely, and I'm glad to see her brother is doing well, too! Especially since I hadn't seen him since I was like 10 and still a baby.

I'm grateful for Tuesday. I got to vote in my very first election. It may not have turned out how I wanted, but I still voted! I did my part. It was really cool actually. I feel grateful for the chance to do it. Plus it was nice to see Weller Road in its new form. I hadn't been in there since I graduated in 2005! And now I'm a voting adult. Crazy.

I'm grateful for Wednesday and the spur of the moment concert. The 1975 never ceases to amaze me. On top of amazing music, the aesthetic is absolutely to die for. It was a much welcomed distraction from the insanity of the day. I cannot thank you enough for persuading me to go. I'm glad we could jam together haha. I think Matty Healy's words will be held close to my heart for a very long time. I expected him to talk about the election, and I know that he can be a smartass so I was ready for some jokes and big talk. But he took it so seriously. I honestly believed what he said. To hear those words from someone who isn't even from here, RIGHT after the fact, and IN the DMV. I can't tell you what it means to me.

I'm grateful for Thursday, and for McDaniel Madrigals. Our beautiful little choir group performed at the Kennedy Center last night. They did so so well and they looked so good. And IT'S THE KENNEDY CENTER. I'm endlessly proud of them, especially of all my Alpha Psi babies. Seeing them on my newsfeed and watching all the alumn comment on the stream was the highlight of my day.

DZD

Dale and the Z Dubs, the band in which Miles Lieder is the drummer, performed at my school tonight. It was at an event hosted by a fraternity on campus for the purpose of raising money for charity. They reached their goal of over a thousand dollars and a small but fun crowd was able to see several bands for five dollars. It was a lot of fun! The bands were good. It was nice to be with friends in the concert atmosphere. I am now the new biggest fan of a band called Mammoth. And I got to see Miles. We honestly are not super close, but he is a good person and I genuinely enjoyed chatting with him today. I even got to meet his girlfriend, who was absolutely lovely. Bringing a touch of home to campus always feels nice. Unfortunately, I did not get to see DZD perform (they were the last act and I had a separate fun event to attend with Alpha Psi, which I knew about way before Miles told me about the concert). But I already know they killed it. Hopefully they got some good, new, loyal fans out of it. They better. Lord knows Dale was giving away stickers like his life depended on it.

We Are the Destroyer

Jess & I went to see Anberlin last night! Right at home in the Fillmore!! They came to my itty bitty home town. And oh my goodness was it fun. They were fantastic. Not my favorites mind you. I slightly agree with people, they are not the best quality live (some songs just felt kinda mumbled). But honestly they weren't BAD at all! And the energy/atmosphere was incredible. As performers, they are on their game! It was so great, jamming to all the songs and knowing every word. Jess & I almost lost our voices. We fangirled when he winked at us. And they are SUPER humble & appreciative of their fans. Fun fact: they had no opening band last night meaning they played their longest show ever last night! AHH. I felt so so lucky. Dismantle.Repair. live got me all kinds of emotional. I can't believe I saw one of my favorite bands in their final tour. And with my best friend! Thanks for 12 years, Anberlin! <3

Second row, waddup!

I Will Never Forget

He's just as beautiful in person. He's funny and talented and he apparently really loves his audience. Haha he may be a bit crazy. Or high. And he's certainly got some colorful language. But I love him. And I love this band. And I love all they do. I'm just really happy.

I saw Thirty Seconds to Mars live.

Holy crap.

Finally.

I have no words other than that. Here's the setlist! (to the best of my memory)

• Up In the Air
• Night of the Hunter
• Conquistador
• This Is War
• Do or Die
• End Of All Days
• City of Angels
• Hurricane (Acoustic)
• Attack (Acoustic)
• The Kill (Acoustic)
• Closer to the Edge

Second Hand Fangirling

Kimberly & Sindi entered a contest! They were already going to the One Direction / 5 Seconds of Summer concert, but these tickets included meeting the bands. This is something they've never done before (as much as they go to concerts). They tried SUPER HARD in April to meet the 5SOS boys and it just didn't work out. Let me tell you, as a fangirl I totally get it, and these two are way more hardcore about it than I am. SO when Sindi called the radio station today and found out she won, she was over the moon. I'm pretty sure the girls started crying. How awesome is that?! Meeting someone who has affected your life so strongly. They will never stop talking about what will happen next week, I'm sure of it. I seriously can't wait to hear all the stories of every little detail. It'll be amazing.

Meanwhile, I've got lawn seats to 30 Seconds to Mars next week and I'm absolutely 100% content with them. Thrilled even. I never thought I'd see this band perform live and here I am. Maybe I don't get to meet my husband just yet (wait for me Jared!), but to see a group who actually has changed my life do what they love to do? How could I not be excited. Ugh. GUYS. MUSIC IS AWESOME.

"WE WANT SEX!"

The 1975

I got to Kimberly's house about 10:30, and we were on the road by 12 (long story about rides and such). We went with Diana and OMG we had a blast. We laughed and sang literally all day. We got to Sound Garden (the music store in Baltimore) about 12:30 and got in line. We waited in line 5 1/2 hours, but it was so beyond worth it. Plus it was fun. We ordered a pizza and pet cute dogs and made friends with people in line and got sassy with all the people cutting in line.

At 6 they finally let us in and we heard an acoustic session with Matty and Adam (my newest love omg his eyes kill me and my love for musicians). They played Sex first, and OH, MY, GOODNESS. It's such a fun upbeat bro song and then here's this HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL acoustic version, like painfully good. I got emotional. And then, of course, Chocolate and Girls because yes. Matty's voice makes me happy. After pushing through the ridiculous fangirls (heads were about to be cut I swear I hated half the people in that crowd), we got our CDs signed and I'M GEEKING OUT ABOUT IT, Matty's so shy and George is freaking cute and so nice. We then dealt with fangirls who wanted to meet them after the signing cause (even though they OBVIOUSLY weren't gonna stop for pics) they wanted to see them so they were blocking the band's van. And the van was blocking our car :$ So when they pulled out, so did we and since we were both going to the venue for the concert, we looked ALL KINDS of stalker creepy.

The show. Was. So good. I'll talk about it for the rest of my life. They're so ALIVE on that stage, it's like they're just letting everything out. And Matty's hair is its own entity. The opening act was really good, Bad Suns, I'm gonna look into them more. AND THEY PLAYED ALMOST EVERY SONG OF THEIRS. And every song, all of them, sounded way better live. DAT BASS. And the acoustics were fab. And the lighting was straight black and white but it was SO EFFECTIVE. I had an amazing view of Adam. They opened with "The City" which means a lot to me 'cause it will always remind me of my trip to the UK and when we were flying over London. I was surprised at how excited the crowd got about songs that actually aren't that popular. M.O.N.E.Y and Talk were like the loudest screamed songs! AND THEY PLAYED SHE WAY OUT. MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE SONG OF THEIRS. I THOUGHT NO ONE LIKED IT but man that crowd was so so so into it. and Head.Cars.Bending was freaking AMAZING shouted at the tops of all our lungs. Dancing along was a brilliant feeling. And then Matty got all sassy and kissed a girl in the audience, apparently someone bet him 100 bucks. And his command of the crowd was just awe-inspiring. When they went off stage for like a 2 minute breather, the entire crowd started chanting WE WANT SEX! WE WANT SEX! Kim and I just looked at each other and joined in 'cause it was kind of great. And when he got to the last two songs (Chocolate & Sex), he said "We've got two more songs. One's about weed and the other's about f*cking" and went right into it. I seriously can't get over it. I need to see them again. I need to.

I NEED TO. <3

GOLAZO!

Reason 337: Today was perfect. Even when it wasn't, it was perfect.

Today is Cristina's day. She is now officially one month old as of 8:50 this morning. She really has gotten big. She's so beautiful and I'm so lucky she's in my life. Also, since a month has passed, that means the grounding is over! YAY SHE'S ALLOWED TO WATCH DISNEY NOW!

Honesty is what gets me through. I hate keeping things secret. Even crushes. And they never stay secret for long. So I told Fabrizio I liked him. Why? Because once I get something off my chest and stop brooding about it, I'm able to look at things more clearly, and then just move on. He took it well. He doesn't like me (please offer a big fat I told you so to your sister from me hehe), but that's not surprising. And now, I'll get over him! That's honestly so simple! The best part is he isn't awkward about it all. He's a better sport than I thought. Pleasantly surprised :)

Family reunions! We didn't get to stay too long unfortunately, which put a damper on things. But we went to my cousin Avi's house, and we met Baby Eli (eh-lee). He was born May 26th, four days before Cristina was born. The whole family got to meet both of them today. There was a lot of cooing. And just being near these people always beings me so much joy. There is endless love in this family, and never ending laughs.

BRAZIL WINS CONFEDERATION CUP! YES! MY TEAM! I KNEW WE COULD DO IT. 3-0 against Spain, aka 2010 World Cup Champions. HA. (2nd favorite team, I'm not actually hating hehe). And because I was away today and could not watch it, I had Eric sending me texts about every goal. I swear he was so serious and formal about it, I thought ESPN might have been texting me haha. I'll have to share them some time, they were too funny.The final one reads "Thank you for signing up with the Entertainment Reporting Information Center". Get it? It spells Eric. This kid!

Pretty Boys Who Can Sing. Straight NoChaser was AMAZING. Mariah & I had such a blast. And her friend was such a sweetheart. We fangirled hardcore. I haven't ever swooned so much in my life. But seriously, I can't get over how good these guys are. And how nice they were! And absolutely attractive. I'm marrying Michael. The end. They're set was so cool. SO MUCH SOUL. Hallelujah was mind-blowing. Tainted Love was CRAZY. The movie medley had me geeking out and almost crying. And for the encore, because you KNEW we would demand one. They apparently decided not to do it all summer, but they performed 12 Days of Christmas for us. EXCEPT EVERYONE SANG ALONG TO THE DREIDEL SONG. I COULD'VE CRIED. Seriously, the whole show was so perfect. Actually, Jerome fainted at the beginning of the second song. I wasn't sure if it was real or not because they all stopped at the same time. Like, it was CRISP. But they took him offstage, the techies made sure he was okay, the guys started the next song, and by the end of the first verse he was right back up and dancing. The fall was the joke of the show, which kinda made me feel bad, but he took it like a champ. I felt proud. Is that weird? APPARENTLY in the house that the original members lived (In Indiana U where the group was initially formed in the 90's), there's a shrine to them? I'm gonna ask Margie to go take pictures for me.

TODAY WAS FUN. I LOVE TODAY.

My Hero

Reason 323: Remember Mariah? I posted about her AGES ago. September 28th I believe. When I was incredibly depressed and she took me to my first baseball game. WELP. Lately, I've been lonely. I don't know why. I've just been missing people more so than usual, and realizing a lot of them don't miss me. Also, I'm realizing how much people are changing, which is fine for them, but in terms of where I want to be with my life, it's not healthy. This happens. It's a part of life we all must accept, and we do all get over it. However, as the world's clingiest friend (though surprisingly I'm not that clingy of a girlfriend. Not that you would know, I've been single for the entire time I've had this blog), I sometimes get overwhelmed by this fact of life and get in a rut. Like now. WELL it's Mariah to the rescue. And again, I can't thank her enough. Because in 2 weeks, there is a very high chance I'm going to go see these guys live in concert.

A day with friends and amazing music is all I could ever hope for.