Monday, July 28, 2008

Raddest Weekend Ever

Do you ever have a day or weekend that is just so freaking perfect it puts you on a natural high for days? My weekend was like that. Here's a run down:

Saturday Day: Step-mom's B-day

Saturday was my step-mom's 50th birthday, so my dad went all out on the planning. He rented a white limo and had my two step-sisters, two of my step-mom's friends, and me meet up in the parking lot of the restaurant we would be having dinner at. We all hopped into the limo, poured some champagne and surprised my step-mom at her house. From there all the girls went to lunch at an amazing mexican restaurant right on the coast with gorgeous ocean views and some free flowing pitchers of margaritas. From there we went shopping, which ended up kind of boring for me because I'm brizoke as a joke and we were in Bloomingdales. I couldn't afford anything even with the giant sale they had going. I made good friends with a comfy chair.

We then headed back down to the restaurant for dinner, which was amazing for everyone but me. Amazing because my dad had set up a private dinner in the kitchen of a very delicious restaurant, where the chef cooks in front of you, describes what he's doing, passes around things to taste while he's cooking and creates a four course meal. The whole experience was awesome.

The menu, on the other hand ... everyone who knows me knows that I am a pretty picky eater. I try not to be and I DO try new things, but once I decide that I don't like a food, I don't like it. A few of these big dislikes are: onions, tomatoes, bleu cheese, fish, and bananas. I know, it's a random assortment, but I have an unflinching hate for all of these foods. Now, here's the menu:

1st Course: layers of roasted eggplant, brie, and tomatoes with mixed greens (I had never really eaten eggplant before and it was pretty decent, but not a favorite)
2nd Course: mixed greens, red onion, candied walnuts, cucumbers, and bleu cheese in a vinaigrette (after picking out the onion, cucumbers and bleu cheese this was really good)
3rd Course: grilled halibut with honey mustard glaze, couscous, roasted asparagus and grilled zucchini tossed in garlic butter (I HATE fish, but I did eat the parts that had honey mustard glaze on it - I'm actually really proud of myself for that)
4th Course: bananas foster (I just at the ice cream and the delicious sugary glaze)

It was really just funny by the end. I made no comments and ate some of everything because it really did look delicious, but I was cracking up with each additional course.

Saturday Night: The Antiques
I'm not really sure how to describe my affiliation with this band anymore. Yea, I still do some work for the label and volunteering to work with them was how I met everyone, but everyone feels like genuine friends now. Not BFF friends, we don't get to hang out that often since everyone is pretty scattered, but friends I sincerely enjoy hanging out with. Yet, because of how I met them, I feel kind of obnoxious if I refer to it as a "friend's band", but I'm going to do it anyway.

So, that was a long way of saying that my friend's band was playing an album release show on Saturday night. They played the entire new album from beginning to end and, like usual if you stick around late enough, they broke into an awesome drunken encore. It was just a really great night of hanging out with some hilarious people and listening to some good music.

Sunday Night: John Mayer
Sunday day was pretty mellow - just went to Barnes and Noble, grabbed a hot chocolate and read a magazine (it's like the library, but more updated and with coffee!)

Sunday NIGHT, however, was The Awesome. John Mayer playing at Irvine Meadows (I refuse to call it Verizon Wireless, because that doesn't describe the venue at all). All 2 people who read this blog know how much I geek out on John Mayer, so I'm not going to hide it. I got a pretty good last minute ticket off of a girl on a Mayer messageboard for way under face value, since she was trying to get rid of it and it was just a single seat. First row of Loge. I'll take it.

I don't care what you say about Mayer's singles or his personal life, but the man can put on an INSANE live show and he definitely brought it out last night. There had been complaints earlier in the tour of short sets, but he took this one all the way to the 11pm Meadow's curfew, and possibly a few minutes beyond it depending on the watch. 18 songs, including TWO encores (which he never does. I was on my way out feeling comfortable in the knowledge that I had never heard of him doing a second encore when I realized that the cheering closer to the stage was getting louder instead of dying down and, sure enough, he had come back out for a second encore) AND a brand new song (which he also rarely does nowadays since he has an open taping policy, but dislikes that people's make judgments on a song based on first impressions of something not fully fleshed out ... or something like that. I'm not going to give you the whole quote even though I know it).

I'm still on a high from the show. I think live music can be addicting - I get such a rush from a good live show.

I wish every weekend could be as good as this one.