'because none of it was ever worth the risk'

DON'T HATE ME. I know I'm the worst blogger ever. I'M SORRY I didn't do the Thanksgiving Madness post that I promised you. I totally forgot about it until Thanksgiving night just as I was getting into bed, and then I was too tired :/

But, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

I'm so thankful that whenever I come to the blog, I feel a little bit happier. Not as lonely. I know I'm surrounded by friends :)

So on actual Thanksgiving day, I was alone, as I believe I mentioned a few times. My mom and sister had to work. I also had to work, though at not an actual job, and I wasn't getting paid. I was cooking all the delicious things we would be eating on Second Thanksgiving, which was happening on Friday.

I did a lot of cooking. Or, rather, preparing. We did the actual cooking of everything on Friday afternoon before eating. The prep was all pretty easy. This was my third year in a row cooking these recipes, so I'm kind of used to them. It's really the only real cooking I do all year. Thanksgiving Dinner. Funny, right? Kind of. I hate cooking and never do it, except for this huge day where I cook everything.

AND - everything was delicious!!! As always. Really delicious. I do a good job at things when I actually pay attention and care about them.

So, Friday was spent eating all day. Which, I have no problem with. Saturday was pretty good too. Hung around with my mom all day. Kara had to work. My mom and I went to Target and then to the grocery store. Prettttyyyyy exciting stuff happened.

Not really. But I suppose it was a nice day. Although, I was kind of in a sad mood.

Sunday was a great day. I had a great day. I met Jenn for lunch! Great. And it turned into like, a 5.5 hour lunch of us getting caught up with everything in our lives. It was really great. Jenn is like my older sister, so that's awesome. Like, seriously. An older sister to me. And I've known her my entire life, which is PRETTY COOL. (yep... still saying' "pretty cool" in the Miley voice. get used to it.)

After our lunch, I came home and got ready to go over MARIA'S house. I was sleeping over and then babysitting her little sister all day Monday. FUN FUN FUN TO THE MAXXXXXXX.

I went over and they were in the middle of decorating for Christmas!!! Also, the Sarah Palin show was on TV, and I watched like, 3 episodes. It was kind of amazing. All they did was fish. And when they weren't actually fishing, they were either talking about going fishing, setting up the fishing camp, or gutting and cleaning fish. YES. But man, Alaska looks pretty nice. Like, vacation scenery all the time.

Then, Maria and I got bored or something.... so we started playing with these giant dice. Or, di. Like, trying to balance them on our fingers. It sounds super lame and boring - but we did it for like, probably half an hour. And we decided eventually that we should become a dice balancing act, where people would pay to watch us do our tricks. Which includes: balancing dice on our fingers and saying, "whoooaaa whoa whoaaaa" a lot. Our act will be called, 'The Lady's Di.' YEP. Brillz. TOTESbrillz.

I didn't go to sleep until like, 4:30 in the morning.

On Monday! I was spending the whole day babysitting Maria's little sister, Joshie, who is awesome. She's 10. We did a lot of awesome things. First, we had breakfast. Then, she suggested that I take a quiz about puppies. So, I took the quiz. I didn't do too bad for someone who has never owned a dog. Or has never been a dog person. Then we watched the classic film, Dante's Peak, starring Pierce Brosnan. If you have never seen this cinematic gem, you must see it immediately.

In eighth grade, me and Maria were in Mrs. Schwingle's class and it was like, a half day or something. Or, maybe that was one of the week's that we had bomb threats every day and got to go home early. But, there wasn't enough time in the day to do anything productive, so we watched Dante's Peak. BUT - then the time ran out and we couldn't finish it. SO, me and Maria either immediately rented the movie, or immediately bought the movie, I can't remember which one. And ever since that day, Dante's Peak has played a major role in our lives.

We had to stop it like, right after the part where Ruth has to walk through the acid lake in order to keep the boat from sinking. YEAH. THAT'S A PART IN THE MOVIE.

Turns out, Joshie has a crush on Pierce Brosnan. After the movie was over, she drew a heart on this little marker board that said:

I
♡
PB

and she was like,

JOSHIE: That doesn't stand for peanut butter... it stands for PIERCE BROSNAN.

It was awesome. I laughed a lot. We also looked through lots of dog books, did some drawing, Joshie taught me the proper way to howl like a wolf, ate some chicken nuggets, watched some funny YouTube videos, Joshie gave me an alto saxophone, piano, and tenor saxophone concert... it was a time. A great time. I've known Joshie ever since she was a baby, so it was really cool hanging out with her just the two of us. OH - we were also texting. For some reason, texting is WAY more fun when you're in the same room as the other person.

Maria and her mom came home in the evening. We all relaxed on the couch for a while. Then, a bit later in the evening, I departed for my house. The long distance of like, 3 miles away.

Joshie also invited me to sleep over their house for an entire week. Sooo.... that's gonna be a good week. Love that fam.

Monday night was spent hanging out with my family. They are great too. Ruby Tuesday missed me a lot.

Tuesday was an exciting day. My mom had the day off work! Because she needs to use up her vaca time at work!!! Awesome! That never happened with me. I was literally waiting month to month to accrue more vacation time so I could take more time off. Haha.

We all got up early (10am) and went out for breakfast! And then had to go to Target. I needed to exchange a pair of glove/mittens that I had bought. Did I tell you about those? I think I did. Or wait sec... maybe I didn't...? Their like, gloves, with a mitten flap that goes over your fingers? And they're teal and brown? I feel like I remember typing out this.

OH. I think I typed it out to Keith. I don't think it was in the blog. Keith sometimes gets personalized blog entries, and then I get confused. It's a hard life, being an amateur blogger.

Or rather, blogging is confusing when you mix it with general correspondence, because then, like what just happened, I get confused as to where I have said things and who I have told.

Anyways, I bought those glove/mittens. They were from the kids section because everything is cheaper there and I have small hands. BUT, these glove/mittens were TOO small. They were for ages 4-7 and I should have bought 8-16. They fit, but it was a bit tight around the wrist.

So I went to exchange them, BUT THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY 8-16. Sadface. No glove/mittens for Julie. I ended up just returning them. And! The customer service lady was Grace Shaw! Who I went to high school with. Awesome! I feel like I'm back in high school. For real. It's crazy. Like, it's CRAZY. Maybe I'll just start going back to Noble. Maybe nobody would realize that I graduated like, 7 years ago. Weird. Both that I'm seeing all these high school people, and also that I graduated like, 7 years ago. WEIRD.

I also bought exciting items in Target including: allergy medicine and gum. I couldn't wait to open the gum, so I had to have a piece in the store, and then pay for it. I figured that was probably fine. Delicious gum, btw.

Then, we had to go to Home Depot. Since I've moved home, I've been to good ol' HD mayyyyyybe like, 25 times. Ok, that's a lie. It's been like, 5 times, maybe. Actually, maybe only like, 3. Too many to count, that's how many.

THEN, we came home and decorated the house for Christmas. Kara and I worked pretty hard putting up lights on the bushes outside. And putting out Frosty, who is the twinkling snowman that lives in our yard. My mom named him Frosty, but I think he looks more like an Eddie.

Then, we decorated the indoors. Put up the Christmas tree. Kara yelled at me because I was doing it wrong. The house actually looks awesome. I haven't been a part of holiday decorating in a lonnnnggggg time. Like, I can't remember the last time. So, it was kind of nice.

Then, Kara and I made macaroni and cheese and it was delicious. Like, soooo good. And we drank apple cider out of wine glasses. More fun that way. Currently I'm drinking soda out of a wine glass, and it rocks. Like, it's making everything wayyyy more fun.

Like when you drink a cold beverage out of a mug. Best thing ever.

It doesn't take much to make me happy. Like, not much at all.

OMG. omg. Omg. I haven't told you about HARRY POTTER.

I saw Harry Potter with Kara and Maria last week!!!!!!!!! O.M.G. What an amazing movie. Super creepy, super dark, bittersweet, heartbreaking, made you laugh, made you cry, all around GREAT movie. Yes, I cried. TEARS. Like, TEARS WERE STREAMING DOWN MY FACE. At the end.

This was also the first time I really HATED Voldemort. Like, the really first time. I mean, normally you just don't like him. At least, I don't. Because I generally don't hate anybody. Even if that person is Lord Voldemort. But at the end of this movie, when Voldy and Dumbledore are inches from each other.... I felt SO violated. I couldn't believe how angry I was to see that happen. And anger and hate are two emotions I never feel. And these were coming right after the tears happened. It was a lot to handle.

Also, I feel like I appreciated this movie so much. Like, seeing all the characters. Even Kreature. I was like, "awww, it's KREATURE!"

But also, for some reason, I mix up the Harry Potter movies and books SO BAD. Like, I can NEVER remember what has happened and when everything all happened. So, when Harry, Hermione and Ron go into the Black house, I was like, "awww Sirius will be there!" And then I got all excited to see Gary Oldman. And then I was like, "Hmm, when was the last time we saw Gary Oldman?" And then I remembered that it was in the 5th movie when Sirius died....

So, there would be no Gary Oldman here. But, I leaned over and asked Kara, just to make sure:

JULIE: Wait... did Sirius die...?
KARA: (shakes her head at me) Oh my God, I can't believe you're asking me that. YES.

And then afterwards she said to me,

KARA: I was embarrassed for you that the people next to me might hear what you were asking!

Kara is my go-to HP resource. She has read the books like, 5 times. She's like Harry Potter clifnotes. For realz.

ANYWAYS. The movie was amazing. Loved a lot of the camera angles. Like when Harry is trying to destroy the locket for the first time and he's like, trying all these different spells and the locket keeps jumping further and further back, and then he just goes crazy and THEN - it shows a quick shot of the back of his head. LOVED THAT SHOT. I don't know why. But, it was so good.

Also loved the shot when the snatchers were running after Harry, Ron and Hermione and they were running towards the camera, and the camera was like, running towards them. That doesn't make sense. It also doesn't make sense when I explain it in real life. But, I loved that part too.

Also loved the shot of Voldemort in Dumbledore's coffin, even though I hated that part.

Yeah, lots of great cinematography.

That was a great night.

:)

SO. Right now I'm sitting in the living room, enjoying the decorations. And the lights. Sights and sounds of the season, as some would say. Alliteration, much? Actually, there are no seasonal sounds playing currently. I'm listening to Paper Tongues. Their acoustic version of, 'Get Higher,' which is like, the most beautiful song ever.

Oh! But if I were listening to seasonal Paper Tongues, I would listen to their recording of Carol of the Bells. Great version. My mom even loved it!

I had a dream the other night about the whipped cream vodka that me and Kara had. The dream was, we were out of it, and Kara was going out to get more. And, I woke up just as she was leaving to go to the store. Great dream, right? Yep.

ALSO, been rocking out to Ke$ha a lot lately. Reallllyyyyy makes me want to go to a hott dance party. 'We R Who We R' is my jam. Actually, no. Not exactly my jam. But, a great song nonetheless. Kara and I had a dance party to that song while we were stopped at a red light on our way to Wal-Mart last week. YEP. #classy

WELL. It's about 1am. I'm tired. Ruby Tuesday is tired and wants to go to sleep. She's been out and about in the house tonight. We're going through this process of slowly reintroducing the cats to each other. Not going so well. Until tonight! Tonight was the first time they were together that didn't end in a screaming cat fight. So, progress!!! And now Ruby is running around the house playing. Awww. She's the best. Like, aside from Kara, she's probably the person I love most in the world. Notice how I called her a person. yep. She has the best personality of any cat ever. And, she has a better personality than some people I've met. You have to meet Ruby to understand what I'm talking about. And like, live with her.

She also just literally rolled down the stairs because she's chasing a green mouse around the house. It was pretty hilarious. Like, she actually rolled off a stair. Awww and she JUST ran into the living room with the green mouse in her mouth. Looks like she's in control of that situation. Don't want any loose mice in the house. Especially the green ones.

OK. I'm going to bed now. So is Ruby. She woke me up this morning and punched me right in the mouth. That's a true story. With her paw. Twice, this happened, and then I finally got up to feed her. She's awesome.

OK now it's bedtime.

I hope EVERYONE has a great day!! I have no idea what day it is! But, it should be a great one.

HOLY CRAP it's December 1st!!!! That means it's Wednesday, because that's when my storage unit payment is due. Don't worry, I already paid it.

ALSO::: MOST IMPORTANT NEWS YOU'LL HEAR ALL DAY =

My birthday is LESS THAN three months away. yep. Get ready, folks. 25 on the 25. Quarter of a century? Check. I should have a huge, blow out party. On a boat. A black tie, huge blow out party on a boat. That sounds awesome.

Also - Bro Tour 2011 will begin. This is the fake tour that I have made up in my head. With all the brother bands. yep. Awesome.

OK. I'm really going to bed now. I'm tired. Take care, friends. I will try and be better about updating. Life is pretty awesome right now, not gonna lie. Unemployment suits me well. :)


Until next time!


☭♡☼

and that's, PRETTY COOL

I hope EVERYBODY has watched the SNL clips of "The Miley Cyrus Talk Show," because it's kind of becoming a huge part of my life over here. I can't remember the name of the SNL cast member who plays Miley Cyrus, but she's PRETTY COOL. And she does an awesome impression of Miley. Like, screaming when she talks AND STUFF LIKE THAT. Ok, you have to watch those videos. They're maybe not funny at all, but Kara and I now say, "THAT'S PRETTY COOL" all the freaking time. It's super funny when you haven't said it in a long time, and then you're in the grocery store or something and say it really loud and in a Miley impression. And then we both start hysterically laughing.

GOOD TIMES.

Also, Florence and the Machine performed, and you all should watch that too. Lady looks like a red headed Cate Blanchett. Love that record sooooo much. Like, a lot. It's PRETTY COOL.

Sooooo I haven't updated in a while. Why? Well, I haven't been doing anything. Therefore nothing is exciting.

Just kidding. Everything is exciting. (Duh.) Our kitchen was repainted!!! I had to be awake early last week to let the paint guys into the house. Two guys, very nice. Kitchen looks great.

I also went stove shopping for like, three days with my mom. It was awesome. I pretend to hate "home stores" like Home Depot and Loew's, but then I really love them when I get there. I think because I love projects. And those stores are full of different projects to do.

This past Monday I dyed a scarf orange. Came out freaking awesome. I've had this scarf for a while now, and it was white. I bought it as a white scarf with the intent to dye it orange. This has been a work in progress for over a year now. Remember last winter when I set out to KNIT my own perfect orange scarf? But then I got like, halfway through and remembered that I'm a pretty bad knitter. And it just wasn't what I imagined the scarf to look like.

So! I ended up buying a white scarf for $6 at KMart and then dyed it orange on Monday. SO GREAT. I just love dying things! It's like, this fun, semi-suspenseful process where you just have to hope that the color takes to the fabric like you imagine in your head.

I should write a mystery novel about a lady who works in a dye store.

'Death at the Dye Store'
by Julie Evans

nice, right?!?! I just came up with that. It could be like, a Nancy Drew series. Just one book? OH NO!!! SERIES. A series of 'Death at the Dye Store' books. With some character with a sweet, innocent name. Something like, Carolina Blue, or something. I imagine there would need to be a color somewhere in her name, to make it even more cute that she works at a dye store.

What is a dye store, even? I think I also just made that up, because I don't know if they exist. Like, a store where you go if you want something dyed. That's sounds awesome. I want one.

Anna Grey? Violet James? Benjamin Yellow? Ha. Ben Yellow is kind of ridiculous. I've always liked Julie Blue. There's an album by Joe Purdy called Julie Blue.

River girl, she took me in
And I became her new best friend
She would laugh as she filled my glass with wine
She said "well, hold on boy cause we can't stay long
It's bittersweet, this river song",
So toast to you and I hope your journey's kind
Singing "goodbye river, I'll see you next time"

Those are the lyrics to the song, 'Julie Blue' off the record, Julie Blue. I discovered this last year when I discovered a baby name website that said the name "Julie" was totally OUT and old fashioned and LAME. They're like, "updated versions like, Julia and Juliet are a better choice," or some other CRAP.

So then I was feeling pretty down that the baby name website totally hated on my name. SO! I went in search of the best songs about Julie EVER WRITTEN. And I created an iTunes playlist called, "people love julie" and I will now share what is on that playlist.

PEOPLE LOVE JULIE

- Hey Julie :: Fountains of Wayne
- Don't Wake Up, Julie :: The Dreamers
- Julie :: Jared Strock
- Julie :: Jens Lekman
- julie blue :: Joe Purdy
- Julie :: King's X
- Julie :: Mano Solo
- Julie :: Oliver Lukas
- Julie :: Pete Francis
- Julie :: Shane & Shane
- Julie :: We Shot the Moon

After making this playlist, I felt a lot better about myself. I've actually been listening to Julie songs a lot lately too. My faves from that playlist, which I totes recommend you listen to, are:

- Julie, by We Shot the Moon
- Julie, by Jens Lekman
- Julie, by Pete Francis (listen to this one right now.)
- Hey Julie, by Fountains of Wayne

AND THEN, the number one, best Julie song EVER, is of course:

- Don't Wake Up, Julie, by The Dreamers

Written for ME by Andrew :) What's better than a personalized song? Um, pretty much nothing. That's PRETTY COOL.

So, if you're ever in the mood for some great songs about Julie, please check those out. And, if you're ever feeling down about your name, I would recommend making your very own Name Playlist. "People Love (insert your name here.)" Because, it's probably true. People do love you, even if you were dealt a crappy, out of style name.

So THERE! Now go feel better about yourself.

I feel pretty good today. I'm currently freezing in my house. But, it's not really bothering me. Although, now that I'm thinking about it, it will bother me. And I might actually go turn up the heat now. Just don't tell my mom.

Aahhh, the house was a cool 59 degrees. YIKES. Too cool for comfort.

So last night, me and Keith ran into a crazy guy. We were hanging out together, and ran into a crazy guy, like you sometimes do. It was a crazy experience, to say the least.

This guy comes up to us and we're kind of like, "ohhh no." And at first, he asks if either of us have a light. No, we don't. Then he proceeds to tell us about like, all the deaths in his family, how his family owns this huge farm....? And now he's the only one left to take care of it...? Maybe? He was also pretty out of it, so we could barely understand what he was saying. At one point, he was talking about how his wife died 7 years ago from breast cancer, and I thought he was going to start crying. And then I ACTUALLY THOUGHT I was going to start crying. It got really heavy.

And, while he was standing there, rambling to us, I was reminded of all the other crazy guys I've met throughout my life. Including,

- drunk guy on the street in Ireland
- old guy in the store in Greensboro, NC

These are both guys who I have for some reason, started talking to, and didn't get another word in for like, 3 hours.

Drunk Guy on the Street in Ireland was pretty great. That night ended with us being kicked out of a bar, if I remember correctly. Or no! After that happened, we ditched Drunk Guy and me and Aliya ended up eating curry fries with Will and DAVE. Yessss Dave. That night was crazy.

Aliya was with me when we ran into Old Guy in the Store too. That guy told us about his entire family. Like, ENTIRE family.

And now there's Crazy Guy on the Beach to add to the mix. Awesome.

Anyways.

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving! I might do a special Thanksgiving Blog Episode, because I'll be alone for most of the day. Thanksgiving Blog Episode? Hm. I don't think that works. I think it either has to be, Thanksgiving Blog, or Thanksgiving Episode. Ah, what the heck, Thanksgiving Blog Episode sounds pretty awesome.

So yes, I'll be alone most of Thanksgiving. Which...I am thankful for..?? My mom has to work, and my sister has to work. I will be at home COOKING. Yessss, for the third time in my life, I am cooking the entire Thanksgiving dinner. (Except for the mashed potatoes. Because I am anti-mashed potatoes. Kara is making them.) I'm pretty excited to be alone and be cooking all day.

I like cooking if I'm alone. Same with cleaning. Generally, doing most things, I guess. But, those are the main things. I think I'm a pretty good cook if I actually care about it.

Ummmm maybe I should take that back. I'm good at cooking Thanksgiving dinner. And that's pretty much it.

Also!

On the fridge here at home, we've got one of my famous, "I love being awesome" magnets. And every time I see it, I just start laughing. I just think it's so awesome. Has everyone see this magnet?? Or, does everyone know about these magnets?? They actually exist in real life. Because I CREATED them.

Story:

One night I was very bored in college and decided to find all the free samples of things on the internet that I could find. As in, sign up for anything and everything free. I ended up with coffee, a sippy cup, something else that i can't remember, and these magnets.

This like, office supply online store was having these great deals where it was like, $4 shipping that you paid for, and then you could get like, 50 magnets of whatever you wanted, or like, a stamp, or business cards, or whatever. And you could personalize them.

JACKPOT.



That's a picture of the magnet in all it's glory on the fridge. I guess you could say, it's PRETTY COOL. And stuff like that.

It's so true, though. I DO love being awesome. It's so much better than being lame. Haha. I'm kidding. I'm sometimes lame. That's the next magnet.

I got Kara a fancy stamp that says:

Kara Evans: Certified Awesome Person

NO JOKE. She has a stamp that says that. Those personalized office supply online stores are dangerous, I tell ya. Anyways. I love those magnets. I have like, seriously, 50 of them. Never gets old.

Ohhhh. I'm in a great mood right now. Blogging was just what I needed today.

I'm going to admit something. Maybe you'll think it lame. Maybe you'll think it awesome. Maybe you'll agree. Maybe you'll hate me for it. Ok... here goes....

I like Pink. The singer. Her music is great for dancing. And rocking. And singing too. Her new song rocks a lot. 'Raise Your Glass.' Also though, all of her songs sound exactly the same, I think that's why I like them. Like, the progression of every song is the same. Kind of note for note, too. But hey, it works. I'm hooked. I like Pink. There. I said it. It's also really good music to listen to through headphones really loud.

PHEW. I've been holding that in a long time. It feels good to talk about.

TONIGHT!!!! I'm seeing Maria. MARIAAAAAAAA my bessttttttttt friend. We got the "best friends" award in the Senior yearbook. YEP. All you other best friends are just not as BEST as us. True that. Sorry if that was mean. I didn't mean it to be mean.

Anyways, I'm excited. We're going to see HARRY POTTER. I'mmmmm excited a lot. Likeeee a lot.

Today, I was thinking about nothing really, and then all of a sudden I thought, "I would really like to marry Leonardo DiCaprio." I'm not sure why he popped into my head. I mean, besides for the obvious reasons. Like, him being a hottie. I think maybe I was thinking about seeing Maria, and then thought about Titanic, and then that naturally progressed to thoughts of Leo. Mmmm nice thoughts. But yeah, I'd marry him. In like, five minutes.

ALSO WHO I'D MARRY IN FIVE MINUTES: Jesse Eisenberg. The kid from Zombieland and also The Social Network. Ummmmm what a CUTIE he is! Like, seriously adorable. I saw him on Conan last week and totally fell in love. He was so nervous! Talking nonstop about his cats! I'm like, "um, hello SOUL MATE."

Also talking about how he was called a geek all throughout high school and how like, he couldn't wait to leave high school so people wouldn't call him a geek anymore, and then recently Entertainment Weekly named him "Sexiest Geek Alive" or something and he was like, "why did they have to add in the geek part?! why couldn't it have just been, 'sexiest alive?'" It was super funny.

But also - Crash Kings had a song in Zombieland. So, there's that. "It's Only Wednesday," for those of you playing at home.

OKKKKK. Where is this going??? I should start a, 'Marry Him in Five Minutes' series. Like, blog series. Not a book series like, 'Death at the Dye Shop.'

New blog series, new book series, I think I'm good to go.

I think I'm going to go now, actually. My battery power icon just turned red, so that means it's time to plug in. I'm very satisfied with this entry, though. I think we've covered lots of important ground.

Alright! I hope everyone has a lovely night! I'll talk to you tomorrow, with the special Thanksgiving Day Blog Episode Madness. Yep, it turned into madness. Get ready. It probably won't be that mad, actually. Probably just a list of what I'm thankful for. Or something.

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?! Tell me!! I hope you're spending it with friends and family or other loved ones. Again, I will be alone, in the kitchen all day. Haha. Can my family ever have one normal holiday, please? Can my family ever not have jobs that require people to work on every holiday?? I guess not....

It's okay. I'll probably be here, with the cats, blasting the Pink. haha. It'll be PRETTY COOL. (are you sick of that yet?) (I'm not, so get used to it.)

ALRIGHT! Have a wonderful evening. :)



So toast to you and I hope your journey's kind
Singing "goodbye river, I'll see you next time"

color them wonderful

hiiiiii friends. I know you must be very curious as to why I have not updated in so long. I am curious as well.

Here's a quick recap of what's been happening in my life:

** I had my last night of work at Hannah House on thursday, 11 November. It went well. I was sad and almost cried like, 7 times. Especially when the baby would walk over to me and then throw herself in my lap for a hug. Yep.

** All last week I had been sleeping in a sleeping bag on my living room floor. Surprisingly, I slept totally awesome allllll of the nights. Which, I wasn't expecting.

** So, my last night sleeping in my apartment. I was up late and got up early. Still slept great.

** Friday was spent throwing lots of things into final bags and boxes to jam pack my car. Morgan was JAM PACKED. Sometime in the mid afternoon, I brought the final load down to my car (which included Ruby Tuesday), and we left. We left!

** Poor Ruby, she was crying the whole way. She hates being in the car.

** So, not long into our journey, I realized that my MP3 cord had become unplugged and I could not listen to my iPod anymore. This needed to be fixed, because I've started listening to this great band, Florence and the Machine, which you all must listen to, and I needed to listen to their record. Like, immediately.

(Keith told me about this band – and they ROCK. Like, I love their record so, so much. You may recognize 'Dog Days Are Over' from the radio. My fave is 'Drumming.' YESSSSS SOOOO GOOOOD.

** So, due to this situation, and also due to the fact that I hadn't eaten anything all day, I stopped at a Dunkin Donuts.

** I started shifting things in the back so I could open the center car console to re-plug in the MP3 cord. But no, the car was too jam packed and I couldn't get to it. So, the minor shifting project turned into totally unpacking and repacking my car in the Dunkin Donuts parking lot. YEP. That was me, for anyone reading who might have seen me. It probably looked pretty crazy, I'm not gonna lie. Whatevs. THAT'S how much I needed to listen to this record.

** So then we're finally back on the road. I can't see anything out of my car, because it's so packed full. And, my so far only major complaint with the Prius is I find the rear visibility to be bad to begin with. So, it was like blind driving.

** ANYWAYS.

** I finally arrive home! Aannndddd..... there's nobody there. Yep. Empty house. I did receive a lovely text message however.

** So I wait for a few minutes in the driveway, being mad that nobody is home, but also being happy that I AM home. Also being sad that Ruby is so sad to still be in the car. Poor little girl.

** Finally, my mom and Kara arrive home. In Kara's new car. Yessss, Kara was out buying a new, used car all day. Sooo.... now Morgan has a little sister!! Kara named her new car Maci. Morgan and Maci! Perfect car sister names. It's a very nice car. Cute and spunky.

** So then I worked getting Ruby Tuesday all set up in my bedroom. The vet had told Kara to slowly reintroduce the two cats. So, that meant that Ruby needed to stay in my bedroom for a few days. She's still here now. Where I am right now. She's the best.

** Then, my mom had cooked a lovely supper and we allllll sat down and ate together. It was really great.

** I didn't really unpack much that night. Because I was super tired and was feeling all these mixed emotions and also confusing emotions about leaving and being sad, but being happy. And then being really happy. But also feeling guilty.... it was a lot going on.

** SO, on Saturday I still needed to go back to Hannah House to get EVEN MORE STUFF. That wouldn't fit in my car. And also CLEAN. And return my PO Box keys to the post office.

** So, me and my mom headed back up North in the morning. It was a nice drive. We got to Lebanon and just started PACKING and CLEANING. And that was the whole day. Like, the wholeeee day.

** We stopped at the post office before heading to HH. I returned my PO Box keys. AND – I got a $2 key deposit back!!!! TWO DOLLARS!!!! I couldn't believe it! I had not remember that I paid a $2 key deposit so that was super exciting. And it was very sad saying goodbye to that post office. Walter and Sherri were working. Sherri was the lady who signed me up for the PO Box right after I moved, and she was the one signing me out as well. Fitting, I suppose.

Let me just say: that the post office in Lebanon, NH is maybe the greatest post office in the country with the most helpful, nice people ever working there. If you think you're post office could be better – I will gladly challenge you.

Anyways. Then we headed over to Hannah House.

** I always find that I like cleaning when I'm actually doing it. And then I'm like, 'why don't I do this more?!' Same with laundry. I really like doing laundry. I cleaned the bathroom like WHOA. I think I lost about 10 years off my life from all those bathroom chemicals. My mom rocked the kitchen. Thank you, Mom for being such a great help.

** It took us like, AALLLLLLLL day to clean the apartment.

** And then it was totally empty. Nothing of “me” there anymore. It was clean and fresh and ready for the next person. Very weird.

** So then I had to go say the final goodbye to everyone. The four residents living there, along with the two babies. It was sad. The residents were like, “noooo don't go!!! You're the best!!” Again with the mixed emotions of feeling terribly sad to leave them, but also super happy to hear that.

** Almost as soon as I walked out of the house, I started crying. And cried pretty hard for the next 15 miles of driving.

I had to put on 'Today, I Feel Like I'm Evolving' as the driving away song, to try and help me feel better. It's a good song to make you feel better. I highly, highly recommend it.

** It was a weird drive home. Thinking most of the time that it would be the last time driving this drive for a while. The drive that I HATED. Ohhhhh I-89 I will not miss you. Except in the fall when the trees are pretty. BUT NOT in the winter. Ohhhh not in the winter.

** Sooo, we got home. Didn't unpack anything. In fact, Morgan is STILL packed up with stuff. Yeahhh it's been like, 3 days. Ah well. The beginning of a transition period is hard, guys.

** Everyone went to bed kind of early. I of course was tired, but couldn't sleep. So, I decided to do some interneting.

** EXCEPT..... there was no internet. NONE. NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT. Lame, internet, lame.

** Luckily... Keith was still awake so he called and we talked for a while. That was really nice. He was kind of telling me all these thrilling stories, but I ended up laughing a lot, which felt really great. Yeah, it was really great. I was telling him about the hard day I had and said something like, 'I think leaving there was just as hard as working there.' And, I think that's a pretty good way to sum everything up.

Then, we said goodbye and I went up to bed and fell asleep immediately. Like, immediately. That was also really great.

** Sunday was good. My mom and I cleaned the kitchen. Wellll....mainly my mom cleaned the kitchen while I was too busy being distracted. But, I did some cleaning. I helped cook supper. Welll, I started to help cook supper, but then got distracted again. I guess Sunday was a day of me trying to be helpful, but mainly being useless.

** MONDAY – was Sister Adventure Day. Also known as, SAD. Yes, it was a SAD day. We drove north up Rt. 16 until we hit North Conway. Stopped at Silver Lake, which was proclaimed Kara and Julie's Hidden Gem of the Day. What a great lake! Then, coming back south, we took a left and drove over into Maine, made a loop up through Portland and then came south down the Maine Turnpike.

** We decided that we wanted to have a few drinks that night. Since although not officially 'moved in,' I was officially living back at home.

** And it's a great thing that grocery stores in Maine carry hard liquor. Thank you, Maine.

** Kara suggested that we buy WHIPPED CREAM FLAVORED VODKA. Yeah, like, whipped cream flavored. I am generally open to anything, so I didn't put up a fight. Also, it sounded delicious.

We bought some root beer to go with it. Also some rum and ice cream and brown sugar to make hot buttered rum drinks, which apparently my mom and Kara had been talking about making for a while.

** We arrived home – still no internet – and started the drink making. The buttery rum drink was good. BUT THE WHIPPED CREAM VODKA – ohhhhh man. It was like drinking whipped cream. We may or may not have been taking swigs from the bottle.

ANYWAYS.

We decided that while we were drinking, it would be a great time to watch Hot Rod. IT WAS. Yep. I mean, that movie is hilarious when you're drinking water. But it's really hilarious when you're drinking whipped cream vodka and root beer. I looove that movie, actually. It's like, so ridiculous, but seriously funny.

It was a pretty great night. In many ways.

** Tuesday, I woke up to a great text message and started the day of awesome.

Then I remember I had told my mom I would finish cleaning the kitchen before the painters came to paint on Wednesday. This meant washing the walls, scraping off the last of the wallpaper remnants. It wasn't actually all that bad. I just put on some great music and went to town.

And I finished the rest of the whole kitchen! And my mom came home and said that it looked wonderful and she couldn't believe what a great job I did. She also said she didn't actually think I would do it. So, that was great.

Tuesday night, I met Kara at the gym. Then, Kara was like, “will you come with me to get gas?” So, I said yes. And we went to the gas station.

And I pull up behind her and then this other car pulls up on the other side of the gas pump. And I don't even notice these guys. UNTIL – they poke their heads around the corner and it's these three guys I knew in high school!! Sean, Ben and Derek. I was super excited to see them. It was awesome, actually. I feel like I'm totally back in high school, or something. With all these people from high school seeing me and talking to me. It's kind of crazy. But, I love it. And it's like, all guys that I barely knew or barely talked to in high school. But it's super great reconnecting.

So nice.

Then, Kara and I headed home and I talked Kara into making me pancakes. Yumm.

Thennnn we watched an episode of The O.C. And then! Kara talked me into going into the bakery with her. Mainly the deciding factor was that there was free wi-fi there. :)

So, we packed up and left for the bakery around...11:30 or so, maybe. I hadn't helped her there in so long!!! It was really fun. Ohhh I have so much fun with Kara it's crazy. I'm SO HAPPY that we're living together again. Because she's my favorite. Ever.

She let me make the muffins. I made:

• blueberry

• chocolate chip

• coconut lime

• cranberry white chocolate

• bacon cheddar

YEP. I'm like a pro baker, actually. I also made blueberry turnovers. And also used the wi fi.

TO WATCH THE NEW CRASH KINGS VIDEO.

Okk, so the one week that I have no internet is the week that Crash Kings release a new music video. WHO KNEW THIS WAS HAPPENING?!?!! I didn't know. I tried watching it on my phone, but it didn't work. But, I was able to read Twitter updates on my phone, and apparently a lot of the video has footage from the Crash Kings show in Providence, that Kara, Ryan and I attended back in August.

The song is 'Non Believer.' Which, is tied for my top favorite song, I think. (this statistic changes almost daily.)

So, Kara and I watched the new video at the bakery. UMMMM IT'S MAYBE THE GREATEST VIDEO EVER. Like, I'd say definitely their best. BETTER than the original 'Mountain Man' video which included brief Mike nudity. So, that's saying a lot. It's super sweet and just kind of chronicles their life on the road, and also at home – because there's a shot of Mike and Tony's mom.

ALSO – Ryan is featured a lot in the video, as she was standing right next to Tony at the show. Also, SHOTS OF ME AND KARA. Quick ones, but they're there.

So FOLKS – I am officially in a Crash Kings music video. It's my music video debut, thank you very much. It was a very exciting time. Even Kara, who pretends to be sick of Crash Kings, but really loves them, was excited.

So how awesome is that? It's pretty freaking awesome. Like, PRETTY FREAKING AWESOME. I kind of can't believe it. My newfound fame hasn't yet hit. I'm sure it will. And I promise I won't stop talking about it for a while.

ANYWAYS. That brings us up to....

** Wednesday. I went to bed at around 5am. Woke up at 8:30am to let the painters in. They were supposed to come at 9, but didn't get here until around 9:45. So, thanks painters, for making me get up so early. I was kind of annoyed because I was so so super tired, but then I met the guys and they are super nice, so I wasn't annoyed anymore.

I went upstairs and immediately went back to sleep.

Kara woke me up before she left for work. I tried having a conversation with her, but I kept falling asleep mid sentence. For real. Ruby Tuesday is a little scared of all the hectic-ness happening downstairs.

I slept until around 1pm. It was nice. But, I can't really do anything because the whole downstairs is occupied with painting gear and painting men. So, I'm spending the day in my bedroom, with Miss Tuesday. I was gone most of yesterday and the day before, so I feel good spending lots of time with her today.

Although, I brought up a yogurt to eat, and she ended up eating most of it. She's a food stealer. And apparently likes pineapple yogurt. I think she liked it more than me. Then, she brought some toys up onto my bed, so we played for a while. Now, she's taking a nap, and I'm writing this blog.

I'm actually writing this not-online, (non-line?) since there's still no internet. I like it, but it doesn't have the same feel to it. The internet guys won't be here until Saturday. My mom spent a lot of time on the phone with them on Monday, and they can't figure out why it's not working, and none of their suggestions worked. Bummmmmer.

Tonight, I'm going to a place with internet, though. So that's when I'll post this blog. Then, Kara and I are going to the gym again. Yuckkkkkkkk. Ugh I hate being sweaty. But I kind of like listening to dance party music...so it's a trade off. But, I really only like listening to dance party music when I'm doing something. Like, at a dance party. Or at the gym. Not like, on the radio in the car.

I've been really into that song, 'Bruises,' by Chairlift recently. I don't know what it is, because I've never really listened to that song until recently, but it feels like EVERYTHING reminds me of it. And it's weird, kind of. That's the song that was in the iPod shuffle commercial where it was all the colorful iPods and then all the colors started melting off them. And it was like, this really pretty melting rainbow.

The song is about like, being bruised over falling for someone who you like.

And it's funny, because “Chairlift” comes right before “Chamber Singers” in my iTunes, so after the song, it's AGAIN, like a throwback to high school because it's all the music I sang in Chamber Singers. Funny....

OK. I have to take a shower. And then maybe start laundry. I literally searched my room for like, 10 minutes for something to wear to bed last night. Because, I MAY have not gotten dressed yesterday when I was doing all the wall washing and if that was the case, I MAY have gotten wall paper bits and wall dust on the only pair of pajamas that I had with me in my room. And I didn't want to bring all that into bed with me. But, this is all hypothetical.

ANYWAYS. I'm gonna get going. I'll hopefully talk to you all later....? I have to set up phone blogging on my new phone so that this doesn't happen again. Yes, I'll do that. Then at least when I'm lonely I can blog and not feel lonely anymore.

Ok, I hope you all are having a great week. I am, actually. Next week is Thanksgiving, I'm sure everyone is excited about that. I am. A lot. Yeppppp.

I'll try to make sure we don't go this long without talking again. Because, that really should never happen. OK!

Take care, friends!!!

'and I can't keep you off my mind. I have tried, but you come right back in again.'

Competitive Mind Sports: Game #1

Remember how last night I was going to challenge myself to cleaning my bedroom out with one full play of the River City Extension record??? Well, I did. It was awesome. And...


I WON!


Bedroom was allll cleaned out and swept up by the middle of 'Waiting in the Airport.' I may have cheated a little bit, by playing 'Today, I Feel Like I'm Evolving' twice... but this is the new song that relates to my life, so I think it's okay.

So for the second half of 'Waiting in the Airport' I just sat on my empty bedroom floor. It seems so big and echoy. I decided last night while recounting this experience to Keith, that my bedroom has turned into a canyon.

Anyways. Apartment is still a mess. I think because I will work really hard for a while, and then take a 2 hour break to blog. Like I did last night. TONIGHT - I will get a lot done. After work.

I'm about to work my last evening shift!!! I start at 3:30pm, go straight until 8am, and then I'm done!! Yikes.

Alright. I should go. Be productive. And maybe get ready for work. I have to shower and hope that the water doesn't run out on me. That would suck. Again.

OK!!! Have a great day, everyone. I'll talk to you later :)



♡

blog break

Having a blog is great for many reasons. One of them being procrastination. What was that great quote on Bored to Death recently?? I just got caught up on the most recent 2 episodes... it was like, "I don't procrastinate...I just like to do things later." Or something. Haha. That's funny. If that's the right quote.

Anyways. I've been packing and cleaning and gathering for a while now and I'm tired. Actually, I've been tired all day. I woke up to a lovely good morning text and then immediately wanted to fall back to sleep. For like, the next 4 hours. And then I had like, an hour where I was really motivated. But now I'm back to the wanting sleep. I sat on the kitchen floor for a while, and then decided to move into my bed. Or, my sleepover in the living room. It's really easy to feel tired when the only place to sit comfortably in your house is also your fake bed.

Ruby Tuesday loves the fake bed. She loves curling up in the sleeping bag and taking naps. mmmm so do I.

Anyways, I wanted to share with you a few pictures of things I found today. They are awesome.





THE CHE*ROLET!!!!! Everyone remember the che*rolet? From my senior year at Hampshire. Joe and Aliya went out one night shopping and came back with TONS of great stuff, including a silver remote control truck, Chevrolet brand.

I can't exactly remember what events occurred up to the truck being painted and decorated, but EVENTUALLY - it became the Che*Rolet.




See that? We just covered up the V in Chevrolet with a red star and it becomes the Che*Rolet! And in the top picture, that's a magnet in the shape of Che. Like, a finger puppet magnet. And he drives the Che*Rolet.

I guess I kind of got everyone excited about Che that year, since I was intensively studying the Cuban Revolution in my Div 3. Remember my Div 3? That made for some great blogging.

Anyways. I am very excited every time I see the Che*Rolet because it reminds me of how much fun I have with my friends. And how awesome they are.


SO THEN,


I was cleaning out my bedroom and found some loose CD's. I turned them over to see what they were, and this is what I found:




My October Break mix and Thanksgiving mix both from 2007. What possessed me to write 'ya'll' after both titles??? I have no idea. But I thought it was kind of hilarious. And funny finding them together, right?

Even back then I loved making new playlists. I would make a new CD like, anytime I went anywhere. Every drive that was over like, 30 minutes deserved a mix CD. I think it kind of rocked. And then of course, I moved on to making virtual playlists on my iPod. But, my lame iPod car radio hookup would sometimes not work out in Western Massachusetts, therefore I needed a trusty CD.

However, now that my fancy car, Morgan, has a MP3 hookup, we're good to go. All the time, every time. "60% of the time, it works every time."

ANYWAYS. I just made a new playlist today. I texted Keith this morning to randomly let him know that I had that Eve 6 song 'Here's to the Night' stuck in my head. I have no idea why this song was stuck in my head, but it was. And then he texted back like, "that song used to play at the same time as such classics as 'Drops of Jupiter' and 'Yellow.'" And then I was like, OMG PLAYLIST HERE I COME!

So, I made a playlist of great songs from the 90's and early 2000's.

- here's to the night
- barely breathing
- black balloon
- two princes
- lovefool
- crazy for this girl
- wonderwall
- mmmbop (don't judge, you know i'm a Hanson fan)
- i'll be
- jumper
- sex and candy
- save tonight

Just to give you a quick selection. (Maybe there was also some Britney... maybe.) Anyways, it's been great. Love having a new playlist.

Also, I took out my bedroom air conditioner today. And ripped my leggings in the process. Yep. Ripping clothing left and right. I was bummed. But, they were like, 5 bucks at Wal-Mart, so I can easily replace them. And, I'm still wearing them right now, so it's not that bad.

One of the things I've been very worried about moving in the bass pick I have from Mike. Of Crash Kings. The one that Kara got for me at their show in Providence last February. (that's kind of a funny entry, I would suggest you re-read it.) (also, there are pictures of the pick.)

Anyways, so I wasn't sure how or where to pack the pick so as to ensure it's safety in the moving process. It's been on my kitchen counter ever since February so I can look at it every day. For real.

So then I decided to TAPE IT TO MY LAPTOP. Yep. And so I took a big piece of packing tape, and taped it on. Now I know it will stay safe and I'll know where it is at all times. I think it's brillz.

Ok. So now I've just been re-reading old post-Crash Kings concert reviews. I re-read the first time I ever talked to Tony and like, how it was super awkward and he totally made fun of me because I wanted them to play 'Carry On' twice in the same set. Hey, it's a GREAT song.

And like, thinking about that time, and then thinking about the time last weekend when he immediately gave me a hug while dressed as a woman - I mean, it's just so great. Like, it's just SO GREAT. Great man. Great music.

Alright. I've wasted enough time. I have to get back on track now. My plan is to go to bed EARLY tonight and then get up EARLY tomorrow morning and continue packing before I have to go to work MY LAST SHIFT. :(

I have to say goodbye to babies :( I'm not looking forward to that. Especially the one baby who I've known for like, 5 months.

So, my "early" bedtime tonight will be MIDNIGHT. And my "early" awake time tomorrow will be "9am." Or.... maybe "10am." Maybe I'll do bedtime at "1am" and awake time at "10am."

Wow, I just started putting everything in quotation marks there. Like, I just went crazy. No, I'm gonna try and stick to midnight. And 10am. That sounds nice.

Today, I was packing up some food items that I can take with me. Like, baking supplies and things. And, I put the bag of confectioners sugar in another bag and then continue to go though the cabinets.

And then I hear all this plastic being ripped and look over, and Ruby Tuesday is nose deep in confectioners sugar! She had ripped open the two bags and was licking the sugar. I was like, "No Ruby! What are you doing?!!" It was funny. So, now I have to throw away the sugar. Luckily I caught her pretty early on, I suspect there would have been a big mess.

Also, I meant to put this item on the blog list that I made yesterday when I couldn't remember everything to talk about. And, this is the one I forgot.

This is a pretty good story.

SO. The other night, I'm in the shower, taking a shower, like you do, and everything was normal. It was nice. And, I start washing my hair, when suddenly the water starts to lose pressure very quickly. Until... there's no water. And I'm like, "ummmmmm." So, I wait a little while. Still no water. Then, I turn off the water and then turn it back on again. Still no water.

JULIE: Great. I love living in a house with 4 teenage girls.

(that was sarcasm.)

So, I got out of the shower with shampoo hair. I wrapped it up in a towel. It seemed to be okay. I recounted this story to Keith on the phone immediately after, and then told him about the 'vomditioner' incident of 2009. Where I made my own conditioner out of bananas..... yeah. Gross. He was pretty grossed out too. And LUCKILY - everything in my life goes in the blog, and the vomditioner got it's own entry.

OK. This entry was seriously just supposed to be focused on those pictures and that was all. But of course, it turned into a production. A great one, though.

And NOW, I have to get back to being productive. I need to get in "packing mode," which I haven't actually been in at all ever.

Ohhhhhhh it was TORTURE this afternoon. I hated it SOOO MUCH. At this point, I literally just wish I had huge bags to throw things in and be done with it all.

I mean, I kind of do, they're called garbage bags. Maybe I'll just do that. My goal today was to have my bedroom all cleaned out. I'm like, kind of almost there.

Alright. Hope everyone is having a great night! This morning I woke up and one of the first things I thought was, "I can't believe it's only Wednesday." (lyrics from the Crash Kings song, 'It's Only Wednesday.')

OK FOR REAL. I'm going now. I promise.

I think I might River City Extension it up for the last of the bedroom cleaning. And by the end of their record - I WILL HAVE MY ROOM CLEAN.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!!!!

Nice. Now I have a personal goal to work towards. I think that's what I need to do more. Personal goals. And then if I blog about them, so everyone knows, I think they're more important and I might actually work towards them. Like, a competition!!

Today I was cleaning out my kitchen drawer and found an old fortune from a fortune cookie that said, "You enjoy competitive sports." Immediately I laughed and said, "um, no." But perhaps I do!!! MIND SPORTS!!!

Competitive Mind Sports. That's what I'll call my personal goals. Ok, NOW I'm kind of excited.

I love blogging. All my best ideas come from the blog. Thanks, friends.

I'll let you know how the RCE/room cleaning goal goes. :)


TAKE CARE!

'taking two stairs at a time'

So, a while back, I had been listening to River City Extension in the car and 'South for the Winter' came on. I think it was a rainy day. I might have even blogged that RCE was great to listen to in the rain.

Anyways, I love that song. Like, I really love that song. I just think it's so beautiful. Also, it's kind of been my jam lately. Like, I'll listen to the song and think, "wow, this song gets me."

But the other day I was listening to River City Extension and 'Today, I Feel Like I'm Evolving' came on and I thought, "hold up, let me listen to this one again." And I stopped what I was doing and literally just sat and listened to the song. And now, I feel like this is the song that speaks to me. Because, I guess I feel like I'm evolving, in a way. Making changes in my life. And I just love listening to that song. And I just LOOOVVEEEE the lyric, 'I have been shaken by your sensitivity,' which maybe I have said before, but now I feel like it really relates.

OHHHHH music.

Anyways. There are a few things I've been meaning to talk about and this is the blog where I do it. SOOOO - let's make a list so I don't forget:

1. fake rips
2. burns
3. can't get enough

Yep. Sounds awesome, right?!!? Right. I'm probably not going to talk about them in that order. It's probs gonna be 3, 2, 1.

BLAST OFF!


3. "can't get enough"

If you didn't know, Rooney was on George Lopez last night! They performed two songs, 'I Can't Get Enough' and 'Not in my House.' Ahhhh so awesome. Love me some Robert Schwartzman. Yess I do. Also - I'm seriously loving Taylor Locke's shorter hair. Also, Kara's boyfriend Brandon on bass. So, everyone should go watch them rock. I hope there's a winter Rooney tour :)


2. "burns"

So, last week I had a rough week. I was taking something out of the oven one night and I burnt the palm of my hand on the hottttt pan. I can't remember exactly how this happened, but it hurt. Really bad. Like, it was burning and stinging. And it left a mark. It even hurt the next day when I forgot about it, and then banged it or something. Yeah, it still hurt.

So the next night, I'm trying to use up things in my cupboards, so I decide to make brownies. And, since I don't own any useful size baking dishes, I make them in a 9x9 frying pan. I've done this before. Why don't more people use frying pans as baking dishes?!?! It's totes brillz!!

Although, this is probably why..

I take the brownies out of the oven and set them on the stove. I immediately get into "this is a frying pan" mode and forget the handle is also hott, because the entire thing was in the oven. AND - it totally burns my wrist on my right hand. Like, the side of my wrist. And so again, I found myself running my burning hand under cold water.

TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW!!! Can you believe this?? Keith was like, "you gotta stop touching pans." So true.

So, again, I forget about the new burn because it doesn't hurt the next morning. Also, it's in a weird spot where I can't see it unless I turn my wrist around. A few days later, I'm looking in the mirror and I hold up my hand, and THERE'S A HUGE RED LINE across my wrist! Like, it turned into a bad burn!!!

AND NOW, it's like all scabbed over and gross. And I can't believe any of it. Crazy times over here.


1. "fake rips"


Do you remember how I ripped my jeans after coming back from the Crash Kings Adventure Weekend? I think it happened in DC. Lots of rocking there. WELL, I went out the next night to buy some new jeans. Nice, new non-ripped jeans. Well, turns out, you can't buy any jeans without fake rips in them! Nope. Not one pair in the style I wanted didn't have fake rips all over them.

Like, what?! Come on. I bought new jeans because mine were ripped and what did I buy... MORE RIPPED JEANS!!!! I don't understand it. Why do your jeans need to look like you've been in a fight? Or been attacked by a bear?

Kids. And their ripped jeans. Trying to look tough? No! Why does everyone need to look tough? Why can't we just all look nice?

So, next time you see me, I'll probs be wearing the ripped jeans. Just, don't make fun of me. Or try and start a fight.



Anywaysssss that's about all I have to say. I'm at work right now and it's super boring. They just watched 'Big Daddy' twice in a row. Like, for real. Twice in a row. I'm pretty hungry. Excited about eating something when I get upstairs.

Also maybe going to try and pack some more tonight. It's not as much packing as it is "gathering" everything. And then I need to seriously clean.

I can't believe I'm leaving here soon. Everyone is really excited for me. I'm excited for me too.

ALSO - we had cake and ice cream today in staff meeting because it was my last one, and it was the most delish cake ever. Like, chocolate cake with raspberry filling and then this other part that I don't even know what it was. Like, wow. It was so good. And then black raspberry chip ice cream. YES. Ohhhh man. So far it's been the only thing I've eaten today - and I have no problem with that. Sooooo good. And there's leftovers, which I will enjoy also.

I've been in a good mood today. Yeah.

OK. I have to go do some real work things now. LAME. But, important, I suppose. So, I'll talk to everyone again laterrrrr. Or, probs not later, but another time. Maybe tomorrow. Or, Thursday. Or, anytime really. IDK.

Now go have a great day!


♡.

Kara, Julie, and Kevin

Soooo today was a crazy day.

Today was the big move out day. (Mostly)

**also, SIDE NOTE... I'm having text conversations with THREE DIFFERENT PEOPLE right now. Ummmm how popular am I?? (that's never happened before.)

OK. So, during this last week, I reserved a Uhaul truck online. There was much confusion because I wanted a 10 foot truck for Saturday, but they only had a 14 foot truck for Sunday. So, we had to go with that plan. BUT, since they didn't have the 10 foot truck that I wanted, they gave me the 14 foot one for the price of the 10 footer. Good deal, eh? Yeah, I made out pretty well with that one.

But, I had to call the Uhaul service line. Like, who even knew that this existed? I had no idea. I figured that each store had it's own line. BUT NO. There's this national Uhaul call center that I had to call. And they put me on hold! For like, 3 minutes! I mean, that's not a very long time, but I was just shocked because I didn't even know the Uhaul call service line existed. I guess a lot of people need to move stuff.

Anyways, then I had to rent a storage unit. Luckily, the cheapest one in the area is in Berwick, where I am moving back to. So, I called the guy, Dave, who has a lovely phone manor and seems like a great person. He said he had a unit in the size I needed and that I should call him Sunday to figure out a time to meet. Great!

So, on Saturday, my mom and Kara came up to help pack. I was feeling very overwhelmed with everything, even though I don't think anyone believed me. I found myself just going from room to room just taking things apart and then being like, "OMG THIS ROOM'S A MESS." I hate packing and kept having flashbacks to the very last day of college when Kerianne, Elizabeth and I hugged goodbye and then all just burst into tears.

That's a different story.

Anyways, so they were a huge help. Like HUGE. I am so lucky. PLUS - I had to go to work yesterday, so they were up here when I wasn't even here, and they were still helping me pack.

And my wonderful awesome sister Kara, had to work Friday night until 8pm. Then, she had to work in the bakery after, and had like, a million cake orders for people. She did this baby shower cake and it came out amazing. Like, amazing. I can't believe the work she does.

So, Kara got like, NO sleep on Friday night, and then came up here and was packing for me all day. She's seriously the best sister ever. And my mom is the best too. Because she washed all my pots and pans and did great packing. I love her.

I especially love them both for doing so much because I was having such a lousy time at it.

Anyways, so I was hard at work watching 'Tropic Thunder,' and they were upstairs doing the dirty work. (Ummm I didn't like Tropic Thunder. I kind of knew that I wouldn't like it. But I got talked into watching it. First of all, I missed like, the part where they explained what was going on. They were really in the jungle? Like, no film set?)

(Also, I'm finding that in my old age, I just don't appreciate films with too much swearing. I don't know what this is, but I've noticed it recently. Like, it just sounds fake, or something. Also, it just sounds gross. Whatevs.)

So, I come back upstairs after work, and my apartment is all packed up! Like, weird looking.

Kara and I took apart my bed on Saturday night. Um, easiest bed to take apart ever. Thanks, IKEA. There were like, 8 screws. So, we set up the mattress on the floor last night and slept there.

I was up until 3:30 packing all my clothes in suitcases and garbage bags. (Yeah, I 'Angelina'd it.') (Jersey Shore season 1, anyone??)

Then I was woken up at 6:15 by the phone. One of the residents thought she was waking me up at 7:15, which was when I said I'd be up, but she forgot to set the clock back. Sooo, I was up at 6:15 and then couldn't get back to sleep. It was really lame. I hated it, actually. Because I knew that I had to be awake ALLLLL day moving stuff and I wasn't excited about today at all, so I just wanted to sleep.

But no.

So, I was up again for real this time at 7:15am. Downstairs. To babysit. An 8 month old. He's a BIG guy. And trying to rock this baby at this hour in the morning on 3 hours of sleep was NOT easy.

I babysat from 7:25ish to 8am. We played with the new crawl mat. It plays the Sesame Street theme song in lullaby form when the baby crawls on it. And it's like a "garden crawl mat," with like, plastic flowers that are rattles that stick onto the edges. And little plastic bees that spin around. It's actually pretty cool. I wish adults had things to play on the floor with.

Although, I'm on the floor now. I guess adult toys are called 'laptops.'

At 8am, I went upstairs and started packing things again. I ate a lollipop for a tiny sugar rush. I was feeling pretty crappy, I think because I got so little sleep. I sometimes get temporary "not enough sleep" colds. That usually last only until I get enough sleep. So, I've like, been sneezing and coughing all day. Also, packing up my apartment is a dusty job, and I think it's making my allergies pretty bad. Yeah, I'm lame.

Anyways, At 10am Kara woke up and we got ready to go get the big truck. I was super nervous about this because it seemed like kind of a grown up thing to do. Like, go get a rental truck to move things. I don't know. First, we went to Dunkin Donuts to get coffees. Yum. Then, to the Uhaul place. I was kind of intimated in there and felt out of place.

Also, GEEZE, renting trucks is expensive.

So, Kara was pretty excited about the truck because apparently she's always to be a truck driver. So, today she was living the dream. She drove the thing all day. And loved it. And rocked it.

As soon as she pulled the truck up in front of the house, it all became clear....

JULIE: We should name the truck Kevin.
KARA: Ok.

KEVIN!!!! Yep. That was the truck. The name fit him PERFECTLY. Like, he was such a Kevin, it was crazy. He just LOOKED like a Kevin! I loved it. Such a great name for a truck.

Then, came the horrible part. Moving everything out of the apartment. If ANYONE has been up to this apartment, you know it's the weirdest thing ever. Like, the super tiny hallways, the slanted ceilings, the crooked floors. Oddly placed doors. Small door frames. The most inconveniently placed door in the curved hallway, which is the only door suited for moving objects out, as the other door out of the apartment has a big brick fireplace column in front of it.

It's actually a great apartment. Very quirky and unique. Did you know I have a triangle window up here? Um, it's awesome.

So, moving the couch out was the trickiest. It took the most thought and puzzle-making..? Puzzle-ness? Puzzle-putting together? It was like a puzzle. Actually, it wasn't. Putting everything in the truck was a puzzle. Getting the couch out was like a slow motion car falling off a bridge. Like, slowly doing flips and turns every which way, over our heads and under our arms. It sounds beautiful, but it wasn't. We were pretty gross looking today, I'm not gonna lie.

Also, I'm on the third floor, so up and down and up and down was very tiring. And these are maybe the steepest stairs in western New Hampshire. At least top three.

All in all - it's like the worst apartment to move in and out of - but a great space overall.

AND - we moved everything out. Well, mostly everything. We made a huge checklist the night before of everything that needed to go in the truck. Bed. Couch. Arm chair. Footstool. Bureau. Red chair. Ruby's chair. Pretty mirror. Kitchen table and chairs. Microwave. Coffee maker. Yeah... I'm living on bare bones here.

So, in the middle of all this, I called Storage Dave and told him I wouldn't be able to meet him today, but MY AWESOME MOM, would be. Because she was in Berwick, and I was in Lebanon. (NH) So, my mom went to meet Storage Dave and sign the papers and get the storage unit. I was really excited to have a storage unit. I'm kind of thinking of it like a hotel. Or second apartment. Or like, if I was an important congresswoman who lived in Boston, but needed to travel to DC like, 4 out of 7 days in the week, it would be my "condo" that I would stay in. The DC condo.

I don't know. I really like the idea of having another place. Like, not my home, not my work, not anything really. Just like, a place. The Berwick condo. Where I'd bring my boyfriend-on-the-side. Or, mistress. Not mistress, but, what's the male version of mistress? Mister? haha. Where I'd bring my mister? I guess you'd need a real-life boyfriend in order to have a boyfriend on the side. Or, maybe not. I guess I could take a secret boyfriend to the storage unit.

Ok, did I mention I'm running on 3 hours sleep? I don't know what that last paragraph was about. Forget it - let's move on.

So, Kara and I drove Kevin to the storage unit, where we met up with my mom. Then, we ROCKED the unpacking. Like, it seriously took like five minutes. Classic assembly line format. Works all the time. Or, de-assembly line format. Whatever.

Then, we drove Kevin to the real Berwick house (not the Berwick condo) and unloaded everything that was staying there. And then Kara ROCKED backing Kevin out of the driveway.

We then drove to the Rochester, NH Uhaul place to drop off the truck. I chose the Rochester Uhaul place because it was $3 cheaper than the Dover Uhaul place. I'm pretty thrifty. (Not really, actually.) Then there was some confusion about where to park and how to drop off the key. And there was some sort of bomb/battery charger just charging in the middle of the parking lot. It was kind of sketch. And then these siren looking red lights were going off in the store. It was an after-hours drop off. I don't think we did anything illegal. It was kind of confusing.

And then... it was time to say goodbye to Kevin. He was such a great guy. He's one of those guys where, if you ask him to help you move, he'll always say yes.

JULIE: Hey Kevin, I'm moving out of my apartment on Sunday, any chance you could help?
KEVIN: Oh sure! I'm not doing anything. I'll be over around 11am.
JULIE: Sounds great!
KEVIN: I love helping people move!

That should be the new Uhaul slogan that they write on all their trucks. Um, shouldn't all their trucks have names anyways? Like the Peter Pan buses. YES. EXACTLY LIKE THAT. And then on the side of the truck it would say, "I love helping people move!" That'd be so much more friendly. I should run Uhaul. Teach 'em a thing or two about how to do business.

SO THEN - we had a mini-photoshoot. To remember Kevin.




Newest truck driver in America, Kara Evans!!!! Look how excited she is to be moving your belongings!!! Now imagine this picture as an ad in a magazine, with 'I love helping people move!'written on the side of the truck. SO MUCH BETTER, right??! I bet they'd see an increase in rentals. Or, maybe they don't need an increase, since I was on hold for like, THREE MINUTES.




Me and Kara inside the back of the truck. It had this thing called a "mom's attic," which was basically like a loft. The back of the truck was like a classy Manhattan loft apartment. I had this idea of just buying a truck and living in it. Cutting three windows on the sides of the truck. High up, so as not to feel too exposed. Put a mattress up in the loft. Make the whole truck electric, plug it in at night and run it on a generator!!! BRILLZ. I'm just like, throwing out ideas left and right. Also, notice how sick and tired and gross I look in that photos??? Yeah, I noticed too.

ANYWAYS. Then, my mom and Kara drove me BACK up to Lebanon. They are great, really. I'm excited to be moving back in with them. We were all in the car on the ride up and I said,

JULIE: When was the last time we were all in a car together?!?!

And nobody could remember! It's been so long. I think I need some family time after living and working here.

Holy crap it's 2am. WHAT?!?!?! I've been awake way too long. And done way too much heavy lifting. My back hurts. And my legs hurt too. I kind of can't wait to go to sleep. But, I really wanted to blog first.

BUT BEFORE I GO::::

Remember that I said that Kara made a totally awesome baby shower cake at work???? She sent me pictures specifically so I could post here!!! Because I really want you all to see them. Because my sister is a famous baker. An award-winning baker.


Take THAT, Cake Boss.








Kara said the order included cupcakes as well. Aren't they adorable and amazing?? YES. I love this cake. I think it's so pretty and sweet. Just like a baby.

You all should order cakes from Kara. But not at once, because she'll get too overworked. And please give her 48 hours notice. She's the best cake maker ever. Cake maker.

KARA EVANS, Cake maker

Brillz.

Anyways. I'm going to sleep now. I've been awake like, 20 hours. Too long. I'll talk to you all later!!!! Hope you have a wonderful weekend! And it's MONDAY!!!!! You know what I love to say about Mondays????


THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!!!!!!


It's true, I say that a lot about Mondays. Mondays are like Januarys. Januaries? Januari? New beginnings. Love it.

Ok! Go have a great week!!!!

I just got really positive. And upbeat. Who can sleep now?!?!?!!? I probably can, actually. But, I'm suddenly in a great mood. See, I love getting you all excited because then it gets ME excited.

WOW. Know what this Monday brings for me???

My last week of work. This is officially the beginning of the end. Ummmm no I don't like that.

The Beginning of a new Beginning. Is that too lame? I don't know. Why do I keep talking?? It's so late and I'm so tired.

Yeah. I'm in a good mood now. I didn't get any positive energy text messages, so I must be creating this energy myself?? Self re-charging positivity??? If I ever write a self-help book, that's what it will be called.

Self Re-Charging Positivity
by,
Julie Evans

Self Re-Charging Positivity and the Beginning of New Beginnings
by,
Julie Evans

That could also be a very long band name. Like, I could be self re-charging positivity and you all could be the beginning of new beginnings. Because, you guys are my back up band. Nah, who am I kidding - you guys are the main attraction.

OK, seriously. I have to go to sleep now.

Alright. My POINT is - HAVE A GREAT WEEK. I'll either be blogging a lot because I'll be emotional, or not blogging very much because I'll be emotional. Either one could swing.

This is when I wish I had a "person." Like, someone to drive home with me. I mean, I have Ruby Tuesday. She hates being in the car, though. She'll cry the whole way.

Ok. Goodnight friends.


.you.are.the.best.

let's get together!

JARED FROM HAMPSHIRE!!!!

You commented in my blog last week and I was super excited to hear from you! I couldn't find you on Facebook, so I'm devoting an entire posting to YOU. Because, I'm excited that you just moved to Hanover. I'll only be in Lebanon another week before I move to Maine, but, if you have any free time in this week, we should totally hang out!

I hope you're reading this.

You should email me at the blog email address which is posted to your left, but I'll write it here anyways:

captainjulie225@gmail.com

**for all my other readers - i always love getting blog email. never by shy**

So, email me and we can hopefully set up some time to hang out. Even if it's just a high five. Ok! Great! Great to hear from you!!!

Love,
Julie

"All the little pieces of the world come together SO WELL."

Um, so I just had the best weekend ever. Like, the best, most exciting days ever. From Thursday to Monday morning. That's a lot of excitement to tell you about.

How long has it been?!?! IT'S BEEN TOO LONG since Crash Kings excitement graced this blog.

If, however, you'd like to re-live that last time, please enjoy that here. That was another 3-shows-in-three-days adventure that we love so much.


THIS TIME - was epic. GET READY for awesome. Because there's going to be a lot of it.


THURSDAY:

I drove to Malden in the mid-afternoon, thinking that it would take me like, four hours due to traffic. UM, NOPE. There was no traffic. Why? Because of the power of Crash Kings. There SHOULD have been tons of traffic, but the Universe knew I needed to get to Boston - and it got me to Boston.

I parked at Ryan's house and had to wait for her for a minute, because she was at the grocery store down the street. I didn't mind, because she was buying ingredients to make DELICIOUS cookies.

She came back and it was so great to see her! I had seen her back in September for the night when I went to her totally awesome gig.

I left again after about 15 minutes or so of brief relaxing, before walking down to the T station. I kind of rock the T.

Got off at Central Square, much like the last time I met up with Emily and David.

SO GREAT to see them. Like, unbelievably awesome. We walked into Harvard Square and over to this great Mexican restaurant, Border Cafe. We had a bit of a wait, but it was fun catching up and chatting.

The restaurant was super crowded! And our waitress kind of wanted to be our best friends. We were talking about past Halloween costumes at Hampshire Halloween and the waitress comes over and is like,

WAITRESS: OMG are you guys talking about Halloween??
EMILY: Yeah..
WAITRESS: I'm dressing up as a slice of watermelon! It was actually my costume from when I was little, but it still fits me!

Then she described the whole costume. Yeah, it sounded kind of adorable. Then she was like,

WAITRESS: ... And I'm wearing it to work on Saturday!!

Yep, great. Although, I would think it would be awkward being a waitress and wearing a giant slice of watermelon. Well not actual watermelon, but a watermelon slice shaped costume. And trying to waitress in between tables. Whatever, I don't really care about this, yet I've talked about it for like, 20 minutes.

ANYWAYS. We had a great dinner.

Then, Emily suggested we walk over and get some of the best hot chocolate ever invented. Um, how could I say no??? So, we did. And it was like, "Polar Express" hot chocolate. Tasted like melted chocolate bars. It was kind of crazy.

Then we walked over to this wall-structure, sat on the wall, and continued to talk.

It was a seriously great time and it really made me realize how much I miss my friends. And also being in college. But mainly my friends. And also Jan Term.

Sadly, we both needed to be on our way, as Emily had to wake up at like, 5am for work.

BUT WEIRDLY - They were going to be in DC this weekend for the Jon Stewart rally! So, we would be in the same city again on Sunday!

Anyways, then we parted ways. And then I was crossing the street to get to the T station and this guy approached me and asked,

GUY: Hey, is the Middle East this way? (pointing in the wrong direction)
JULIE: Um, no, actually! It's this way. (pointing in the right direction.) Maybe like, three blocks down, on this side of the street.
GUY: Thanks so much!
JULIE: Who's playing tonight?
GUY: (names some guy)
JULIE: Cool! Have fun.
GUY: Thanks!

Yeah, I felt pretty great. Because when he approached me and said, "hey...is the..." and I could tell it was a directions question, I was instantly bummed that I would probably have to say, "sorry, I'm not from around here." BUT NO!!! It was the Middle East, which is one of the best places, because it was the first place I saw Crash Kings.

Then, I continued back to Malden on the T. Rocked it again.

Excited to see Ryan again when I got back. Her roommate, Tony, was there too, and it was nice to see him.

Then, Ryan and I hung out in her room. Mainly discussing very important business things like Crash Kings and boys. It was very fun. Then, I blogged and she finished her CK transcription of 'My Love!' YES. #WIN.

(again with using the hashtags out of Twitter. it kind of makes me excited.)

THEN, I went downstairs to my domain - the couch - and set up shop. Did some FB chatting, because I'm so popular and awesome. Then, went to bed. Even though it was hard to calm down enough to sleep, because I was SO FREAKING EXCITED for the Weekend of Awesome.

Slept great.

Woke up the next morning, took a great shower. When I was getting dressed, I realized I had forgotten A CARDIGAN. Now, if you know me at all, you know that I love cardigans. So when I realized I had forgotten one - HORROR. UPSET. DEVASTATION. I had planned two outfits around a cardigan, and then had forgotten said cardi.

And, it was getting late.

SUDDENLY, I remembered that last night while on the T, I saw the reflection of a Target symbol in the window of the T. Seriously. So, I went on to the Target website and got directions to the nearest one. Not that one, but an even closer one! Like, 1.8 miles away!

I plugged the address into the GPS and was on my way. With my duffle, back pack, bag of cookies, container of water and Ryan's yellow raincoat. READY TO ROCK.

Except that I got lost on my way to the Targs. Even though it was a pretty straight shot - the GPS lady didn't tell me to turn left. I went straight instead and then realized I was in some parking lot for a T station.

I sat and thought for a minute, trying to remember what the Google map looked like.

And then I saw a guy walking, so I jumped out of the car and briskly walked over to him to ask for directions. He wasn't from around here, so he had no idea.

Then I got back in the car and thought about how to get out of here. THEN, I looked through the trees on the other side of the parking lot, and THOUGHT I saw the red Target symbol. GLIMMER OF HOPE.

So, I got on the Mystic River Parkway and sure enough - it was the right direction. It turned out to be an Office Depot, or something, not a Target, but it was in the same plaza at Targs! RIGHT ON.

Went into Targs, found a great silver cardigan with sequins that would work with both the outfits I had planned. Also bought a water.

THEN, ran back to the car and changed. Yep. In the car. In the daylight. Ashamed? Nope. Why? Because we were seeing Crash Kings tonight and there was nothing that could bring me down.

UNTIL I got to the traffic circle on the Mystic River Parkway. Um, what's the deal with that thing??? GET RID OF IT. Normally, roundabouts do not make me nervous. Let me try and explain this one.

Two lanes, in a circle. Four stoplights in the circle. Highway running above the circle. Another two lane road going through the center of the circle. MADNESS. Like, the worst traffic pattern ever invented. It was insane.

(Actually, no. The worst and most confusing traffic pattern would be on that road that me and Ryan tried to navigate post-Crash Kings show in Albany. Or, just outside Albany. The road that was like, 8 lanes and completely covered in orange cones. And it was kind of blind-driving through the cones to figure out the way. That was crazy times.)

ANYWAYS. I feel like this is taking me FOREVER. But, I guess there were lots of fun times even before we saw Crash Kings. I guess that's why it's taking me so long to come down off the 'high.'

Then, there was a traffic detour in Malden and I had no idea where I was going. There were no detour signs. Lame. So, I had to pull over and GPS it into Boston.

Then, I get off the exit after the tunnel, (I picked Ryan up at school), and there's a huge traffic jam. And it's not moving. And then, an ambulance decides to come through. And then, two police cars and another ambulance decide to come through. And then a huge bus gets behind me. And then - MORE MADNESS.

Eventually, after some very stressful driving, I made it to Columbus Ave, which was where I was picking up Ryan, and where she used to live, so I was kind of familiar with it.

And then we were FINALLY off!!!!!


TO PHILADELPHIA!!!!!!!! The City of Brotherly Love, as I learned from Elizabeth, who posted in my Facebook blog after I didn't know the nickname.

SO - TOTES PERF - because Crash Kings is made up of 2/3 brothers. And they love each other. And we love them. So, great.

I can't remember how long it took us to get to Philadelphia. We left Boston around 12:45pm. Got into Philly around.... 7:45, maybe? I can't actually remember. We hit traffic a lot on the way down, through NJ, south of NYC, and trying to go over the George Washington Bridge.

BUT WE MADE IT IN TIME!!!!!!

We parked, and navigated our way to the venue, the Theater of Living Arts. Nice place.

Immediately walked in and found spots in the crowd, which was pretty big.

The line up for all three shows we saw was this:

- Civil Twilight
- Crash Kings
- Anberlin

Civil Twilight went on soon after we got there...






I think the lead singer, Steven, looks like Robert Pattinson. I told this to Kara, when I was showing her pictures and she said,

KARA: Robert Pattinson mixed with Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl.

YES. That's exactly it. If you didn't know, Kara is the queen of figuring out which celebrities people look like. True story.

So then, I pushed my way through the crowd to be closer to Ryan and also closer to other Crash Kings fans. YES - there were others!!!!!

OMG. These moments before they came out were so exciting and horrible at the same time. It had been SO LONG since I had last seen them and I just couldn't wait any longer.


AND FINALLY....




Hey IT'S JASON!!!!! How great is it to see Jason in the blog again?!!? Yeah, it's pretty great, I know.




TONY. Yep, there he is. In all his piano glory. Actually, he's claving there. I like this picture. Because it's sexy.






Did you miss these guys?? Come on, admit it. You were kind of looking forward to this weekend so YOU could get to look at the candy results. I know, I know. You guys are in love with this band just as much as I am. :)





OH! When the CK crew was setting up their stuff, there was one notable thing missing = JOSH. There was Jimmy, but there was no Josh. It was a mystery. This guy seemed to be with them, and kept having to come out to fix Jason's drum mic, which kept falling over.





Jason was just KILLING it on the drums. He had all these great solos in 'War Pigs,' which they covered, and played as their final song. Before they played it, he got up and went to the mic and said,

JASON: I just want to dedicate this show to my grandmother... she's here tonight and this is the first time she's seeing me play, seeing this band play. I'm so excited she's here!





During, 'Raincoat' when they have the big, super intense, way awesome, hardcore jam sesh at the end, Mike went over to the piano and Tony reached up and was playing Mike's bass! It happened for like, 5 seconds, but it was totally awesome. I've never seen that happen before. Aww, they're brothers.




And THERE'S Mike. Due to my position in the crowd, pictures of Mike were rare. Which was a bummer, because DUH, it's Mike. And he's really great to watch. (Because he's usually sweating.)




Tony was wearing this hat. I liked it more seeing him in person, than when I had seen other pictures of it.




MIKE.





Someone taking a picture of Tony on her iPhone, while I take the same picture of Tony.


THEY PLAYED A GREAT SET. And surprise - there was a clavinet solo during '1985!' I KNOW. No, I KNOW. You're thinking, "WHAT? Clav solo in '1985?'" TRUE STORY. It was shocking.

The sound was great. Like, everything was perfectly balanced. And it felt SO GREAT to be out there, rocking and dancing and singing at the top of my lungs. Like no time had passed. EXCEPT THAT SO MUCH TIME HAD PASSED AND OMG WHY DID IT TAKE THEM SO LONG TO COME BACK TO THE EAST COAST?!??!?!!

After their set, Ryan and I jetted towards the back to try and catch them at merch. We waited. And waited. And waited.

Jason walked by really quick, saw us, said hello and we quickly exchanged "great show!" "great to see you!" sentiments. Jason is so sweet.

Then Anberlin started playing. I got no pictures of them after "attending" three of their concerts, so this is what they look like:




(haha.) Like, why is that guy putting on his jacket? And why is he wearing that huge watch?? It's like a spy watch. We weren't crazy about their music. But their LIGHT SHOW was cool. We decided it was a "smoke and mirrors" effect. To distract from their "eh" sound.

I texted this to Keith, while we were waiting for Crash Kings to come out, and THEN, Tony walked by.

TONY: Hey hey, guys, I'll be right back, I just have to go see some people!!
RYAN AND JULIE: UMM OKAY, WE'LL WAIT.

yep. We would wait there someday. (Non Believer, anyone??)

So, we waited in excitement for Tony to come back. Because, ya know, he said he would.

AND HE DID. Oohhhhh, he did.

I had decided during this waiting time that I wanted a Tony Hug. So, he walked back over, I outstretched my arms, and went in for the goods. Mmmmm.

He seemed seriously happy to see us. Like, seriously. And I don't know if you've ever seen Tony smile up close - but it's one of the greatest things on the planet.

Ryan asked about Josh, and Tony said that Josh left, and was working on his film and photography, which is really his passion. He said it was totally good for him and there were, of course, no hard feelings. CRAIG, their new tech, is much more experienced and knows much more about "tech things," so it's awesome. And, his name is Craig. And Tony said something like,

TONY: Craig's a big guy (making "big guy pose") so he can handle my set up by himself, which is awesome.

AND HE DOES. Craig sets up the folding piano by himself. I was really impressed by that. Because, dude, it's a piano.


So, when Tony was walking off stage after they finished playing, he grabbed the set list and handed it in Ryan's direction. Then, this random girl who totally hadn't been standing in the very front and rocking, reached across like, five people and grabbed it away, like, screaming at the top of her lungs.. (Ok, maybe I'm making it seem more dramatic than it was. But, it was a bummer.)

So then Tony says,

TONY: Did you end up with the set list?
RYAN: NO! This screaming girl reached over me and grabbed it.
JULIE: It was crazy, she like, totally LUNGED for it.
TONY: (laughs) Wow, sounds like things got pretty aggressive.
RYAN AND JULIE: Yes! She was lame.
TONY: (laughs) (and smiles)


Then Ryan gave Tony her transcription of 'My Love,' which he was very happy to get. She asked him about the chords, and they discussed that it was a suss. Then they discussed how much Tony loves susses. And he PLAYED AIR PIANO and shaped his hand in the way you would play the chord on the piano,

TONY: It looks like this.

And then we all stared at his hands, which are beautiful, by the way. I was standing across from Tony, so he kept looking up at me while he was talking. It's a great thing. This was the reason I was staring at his hands, because he was standing across from me, holding the sheet music. And, I just love looking at the heart on his hand.

Then we discussed how Ryan only has three more transcriptions to do before she's got the whole record down.

- Raincoat
- You Got Me
- 14 Arms

(I also pointed out that they didn't play '14 Arms' tonight. Which I was bummed about.)

Then Tony said,

TONY: It'll be interesting to see how '14 Arms' looks on paper.

Or something like that. Then Ryan mentioned that she would do that one next, as he had mentioned that before. (I think at the Portland, ME show, when he wasn't being groped by drunk girl on the couch.)

Then Jason came over, was super happy to see us, and gave us great hugs. Jason is a great hugger and he loves giving them out. I have no problems with this.

We then discussed the clav solo in '1985.' We were excited to tell Tony how surprised we were. He said it was new, they added it for this tour. Then! He proceeded to tell us all the new things for this tour:

1. Clav solo in '1985.' He said,

TONY: Ya know, we're trying to make it more 'Queen.'
RYAN AND JULIE: (laughs) YES!!!
RYAN: Everything should be more Queen.
TONY: (laughs) 'Everything should be more Queen,' that's the quote of the night. That's awesome.

2. Tony's hat. He said he's trying to wear it as a new thing, and his goal is to wear it at every show. I think this is awesome. It's a great personal tour goal.

3. Position of the piano on stage. They turned the piano slightly, so the crowd is more able to see Tony's hands. Hence, the reason why most of the shots are of his back. (Which... I have no problem watching...)

TONY: I know that my back is kind of to the audience, but I really want people to be able to say, "wow, that guy is rocking on the piano!'
RYAN AND JULIE: YES. Awesome.

His hands are a blur when you're watching him. It's incredible. For example, please watch this video Ryan took from the Portland, ME show of Crash Kings covering, 'Hey Bulldog.' Note: piano solo at the end when Tony is playing so fast he can't even sit down. That's the best, when he's just rocking so hard, and he's jumping, and standing, and sitting, and standing, and kicking over the piano stool. And I love when he gets is leg stomping.

BTW - I just showed Ruby Tuesday that video, and she was purring the whole time. And, she never looked away. So basically, cats love Crash Kings. (and you should watch that video)

In talking about this rocking, Tony then said that from now on, when he does radio interviews he's going to say that Crash Kings are the only piano rock trio in the world. Because, until someone comes forward with a hard piano rock trio, they are. And then he gave us an example:

TONY: Like, 'You're listening to 92.9 WBOS and this is Tony from Crash Kings, the only piano rock trio in the world.'
RYAN AND JULIE: That's awesome.

And, I love that he used the Boston radio station as example. Not like, some famous one in LA. That whole thing was awesome. When he pretended he was doing a radio interview. Because, we were talking to someone who does radio interviews. WHAT?!

I can't remember how we got into this next part, I think just because Tony was excited about it and wanted to tell us.

He told us that he had bought this keyboard on eBay and it was THE keyboard used in the recording of the Radiohead song, 'Kid A.' We were all very excited about this. So, a friend was picking it up for him, and he was getting it tomorrow. He stressed that it wasn't just the same type of keyboard, it was THE ACTUAL KEYBOARD used in the recording. Me and Ryan were super impressed and got really excited, because he was so excited about it.

Then, a slightly drunk guy came over and said how awesome Crash Kings were and introduced himself to Tony, they shook hands, etc. He was like,

GUY: Do you guys have Facebook?
TONY: Um, yeah. You can just Google Crash Kings and you should find it.

It was funny. And then there was like, an awkward silence between Tony and this drunk guy. Then drunk guy was talking about how he could hardly hear now because they were rocking so hard and Tony was like,

TONY: Earplugs!

And then we discussed the importance of earplugs during rock shows. I mentioned that I've never worn earplugs and Tony disapproved.

TONY: Aww, you gotta wear earplugs. I got mine from Northeastern University, they were like, a hundred bucks, but totally worth it, because they special make them to form in your ear, and the sound is great. Nothing is muffled or cut out, everything is just at a lower volume.

Basically, Tony cares about my ears. :) I wore earplugs the next two nights, per Tony's recommendation.

And then drunk guy left.

We talked about the sound on stage, and Tony says that he can't hear anything that's happening in the audience, except a little through Jason's drum speakers. We all remarked on how weird this is.

Then, Tony included two other girls in the conversation who were standing by, waiting to say hi to him. They basically just wanted to gush to him and then have their picture taken with him. I took the photo, and assured them it came out really nice.

The girls left, and Tony turned back to us. He like, just wanted to hang out with us the whole time. We talked a little more... both him and Jason were SUPER excited to hear we'd be at the next two shows. It's really cool when you're presence at these shows makes the band happy. It was definitely like a mutual appreciation.

Then, Tony and Jason had to leave, them being rockstars and all. Jason gave us hugs goodbye and we all said we'd see each other tomorrow.

Me and Ryan were UNSTOPPABLE walking out of that place. (we left right after the chat, as we weren't crazy about Anberlin.) Like, NOTHING could bring us down. It was a pretty great feeling. Like, yeah, just hanging out with Tony and Jason. They love us. He could have cut the chat short and went off to do other things, but NO, he just wanted to talk and tell us about the new keyboard he was getting tomorrow.

It was the first post-show chat that seemed more "friendly" than "fan." We were just like friends, standing around, talking. We were all interacting with each other, laughing, chatting, hugging.

It was so amazingly awesome, I can't believe we found our way to Stephan's apartment.

We were staying with Ryan's best friend, Stephan. He lives in this super nice apartment with a totally black cat sometimes named Benjamin, sometimes names Kitty, sometimes nameless. He made us tea and we sat around talking, listening to great music, recounting our awesome night with Crash Kings.

Hard to calm down enough for sleep that night.

I slept on this great couch!! Really comfy.

We woke up the next morning and brunched at this place down the street called, Ants Pants. I had a cheddar, apple and bacon scramble. DELISH! Came with these potato homefries chips. And I got coffee, also. Great breakfast. Great conversation. Great place! The lady at the cash register told me she loved the blue in my hair.

We walked back to Stephan's apartment, hung out for a little while, and then Ryan and I left for NYC! We were driving back to Philly that night to sleep there again, so we didn't need to bring much. Nice.

So, I only had about 30 miles left on this tank of gas. So, we get out of the city and figure we'd get gas on the highway. So, we're driving, driving, driving, and there are no gas stations. Like, no signs for gas stations off of 95 north.

Then, I get down to 10 miles. 8 miles.

JULIE: Ok, I'm getting nervous.
RYAN: Me too...

No gas stations. 7 miles. No gas stations. 5 miles.

THEN - sign comes up - TWO GAS STATIONS to choose from. 2 miles away.

3 miles left on the gas tank, we pull into the Shell station. THREE MILES. It was scary times. And it cost $27 to fill the tank, which was the most it's ever cost. (small tank, great gas mileage.)

So that was a scary time with Morgan. (Remember that's my car's name?) But, she pulled through and got us there. And thanks, Ryan, for buying me gas :)

Super easy drive into the city. Except for the bummer $8 toll to go through the Lincoln Tunnel. It's a nice tunnel, I guess.

We thought we were going to get lost when we left the tunnel because you exit it and then suddenly it's like, "HOLY CRAP WE'RE IN MANHATTAN....NOW WHAT!?!!" And there are very limited directional signs.

Luckily, it's pretty easy to get back on track in NYC, and we didn't end up getting lost or needed to turn around at all. Why? Because we're made of awesome.

I had thought I had forgotten to print out directions to the parking garage, and instead printed directions to just the venue. But, we followed the directions and it led us to the parking garage I had in mind, so it was great. The Sleepy Hollow Garage. Super short walk to Irving Plaza, where the show was that night.

Now, we had arrived like, four hours before doors opened. Let me make that clear: FOUR HOURS. 4 HOURS!!! Before they were even letting anyone into the place. And there were already Anberlin fans lined up. CRAZY.

I called Joe and told him I was here!

JULIE: I'm here!
JOE: You're here? Like, here, here?!
JULIE: Yes! I'm on 17th street!!!

It was very exciting. Ryan and I walked around a lot while waiting for Joe. We made tons of block circles in every direction. We walked past the Crash Kings van, The White Knight. Then, we decided to stand in line, too.

We saw Merch Guy, who was running the merch booth last night. The merch is in this giant blue truck that says, 'Florida Moving Company' or something like that. We also saw all the members of Civil Twilight. Either their tech guy, or one of the actual members, had the same shoes as me. My Clarks. That I love.

JULIE: That guy has the same shoes as me.
RYAN: Oh yeah! I guess you really do have a talent.

(Referencing my recent blog entry where I talk about how I notice people's clothes and reference them back to where I've seen them before. Amazing ability.)

Then we saw Jason walk over to the truck,

JULIE: Jason!
JASON: (turns around) Hey guys!
RYAN AND JULIE: Hi!!

Then around 4:30, JOE SHOWED UP!!!! He just walked right over!!!! REUNION!!!!!! EXCITED HUGGING!!!!! Soooo great to see him!!! Like, it was awesome.

Ryan stayed in line reading her book, and Joe and I walked over to Union Square and sat on a bench and caught up. For two hours!!! Talking about everything! Jobs, houses, cars, boys, girls, Hampshire... it was lovely and awesome.

We people watched a lot. There were two guys playing frisbee across the path from us. People trying to give me free sneakers worth $20. Lots of film students walking by with cameras, which made Joe excited, because he is a filmmaker. Um, a FAMOUS ONE. He was assistant editor for a recent Nickelodeon documentary about Dora the Explorer. I think this is amazing.

At 6:30, we headed back to Irving Plaza. The line for the show was around the corner and down the street. HUGE LINE, guys. Anberlin seriously brings the people out. (???)

Now, it was dark and freezing and it was very hard waiting in the line. Also, they had opened this VIP/Fast pass line, or something, so even though the people ahead of us in line, plus Ryan, had been waiting like, 3 hours, the VIP fast lane people got to go in first. LAME. Lame, Irving Plaza.

Finally, we got in and BOOKED IT to the normal spot. Anberlin fans are aggressive, too. This bunch of 12 year olds pushed their way right next to me and were being super annoying.


Civil Twilight took the stage FINALLY!!!











There's this very confusing part of their set where the lead singer hands his bass over to this random guy who runs on stage. Then, he grabs the mic and does a little dancing at the front of the stage, as evidenced in this next photo:




That's the random bass player guy.

Then, the lead singer comes up to the crowd and lets the ladies fawn over him. He's leaning into the crowd, hands all over him, he's loving it, I'm just kind of annoyed at how he seems really into himself.





I hope that person wanted a close-up picture of him.






Then he came right in front of me, stood there, leaned in, and sang.

Then, he puts the mic down, and begins running through the crowd. He did this the night before, so it was no surprise to us. But, he runs right behind me and rubs up against me, not once, but TWICE. I don't know how I felt about this. (Later in the night, I noticed he was kind of staring at me from the merch booth. At one point, I actually thought he was getting ready to come over to me... but he didn't. Maybe he recognized me from the night before.)

So, the people love Civil Twilight. I was more bored during their set this night than I was the night before. And also, just annoyed with the guy. But, I did get a video of their single, 'Letters from the Sky,' which came out dark, but you can hear it.


THEN THEN THEN THEN THEN, Crash Kings came out.





"Wow, look at that guy rocking on the piano!"





Like that one.





Annoying 12 year old girls next to me went crazy. Like, I think they ACTUALLY went crazy. During '14 Arms' I can't tell you how many times I was 'hair-slapped' by the girl next to me. She was rocking and twirling and jumping with MAJOR hairography. I was kind of ready to punch her in the face, but I managed to remember that I was at a Crash Kings show, and I turned the bad energy into good energy.

Also, they changed up their set! They played 'Carry On' and '14 Arms.' I like to think they played '14 Arms' because I was bummed they didn't play it the previous night. Yep, for me. :)






Mike was very hard to photograph these two nights. I was just never at the right angle. Which distressed me, because I love taking Mike photos. He's usually rocking the bass and is all sweaty. Being sweaty should be a prerequisite for playing the bass.





Like that one, too. I did a good job taking photos of Tony, bathed in gorgeous light.







Check my vids:

- Carry On. Including super hott clav solo intro.
- 1985. Including the new clav solo. Towards the end, right after the lyric, "While quietly delivering the sound..."
- You Got Me (end jam). Including the always hott end jam of You Got Me, where Tony never fails to turn into a jazz musician. That video is a little blurry, but I think it adds to the sexy alluring nature of the song, and the man.


Before they played their last song, Tony said,

TONY: I just want to shout out to my family, who's here tonight! My cousin, who I haven't seen in five years!!

I looked up in the balcony, and there were his parents! Tony and Mike's parents, who I'm BFF with.

(If you want to read the recap of the Portsmouth, NH show where I became BFF with Tony and Mike's parents, please click here. And here, for pictures of the show.)

So now, I was thinking, "aw man, I really hope I get to say hi to their parents."

Um, show rocked. Not as hard as the night before, but COME ON. They were still the best.

After, Ryan and I headed towards the lobby-merch-area. Merch Guy was at the merch booth. Civil Twilight was at their merch booth (this was when the lead singer was making eyes at me). Lots of fans taking pictures and going crazy.

Another guy walked by me and did a triple-take. Like, looked at me, looked at me again, and then looked at me again. Why? I don't know. Maybe because of my teal hair? Maybe because I was radiating awesome? Or maybe just because I'm super hott... ha. haha.

So THEN, Tony and Mike's mom and dad come into the lobby area and immediately recognize me and get really excited that I'm there. I told them I had seen the show the night before, and was seeing them again the next night, and they were both super thrilled. We talked for a few minutes. They asked if the boys had been out yet, and me and Ryan said no, they hadn't, we were waiting for them.

Remember their cousin who Tony hadn't seen in five years? Yeah. She's this totally beautiful woman with a handsome husband. Their mom told the story of how we all met in Portsmouth at the show, and she even said my name, Julie, even though I don't remember saying it again. Did she really remember my name all the way back from the summer?? Maybe?! Or maybe I did reintroduce myself, and just have no memory, because the moment was full of awesome.

Anyways, then their dad yells,

DAD: There he is!!!!

And Tony runs in for a dad hug. Then, he exclaims,

TONY: MOM!

And hugs and kisses her. Then, him and his long-lost cousin have this big, slow-motion reunion hug. Much like Joe and I a few hours earlier. They hug for a while. Then, she introduces him to her husband. At first they shake hands and then Tony says something like,

TONY: Aw, we're family now!

And then goes in for the hug. Yep, they're just a normal family. Then, Tony starts telling his parents this story that starts with...

TONY: You'll never believe who I just saw in the dressing room....

But, I couldn't hear who he said it was. Lame, right? Yeah, I got really excited too. But, he like, leaned in and lowered his voice, like maybe it was a famous person, or something. He was totally, totally excited to see his family and it was so great.

Then, he saw us standing there too, and turned to us, with a kind of "oh wow, you guys are really here, i can't believe you come to all these shows" face. Actually, I could sum that up in one word and say it was a 'gracious' expression.

And then he made a joke, ya know, because we're close like that:

TONY: I just saw you guys last night, I never get to see these guys! .... NO, I'm totally kidding!! Thank you guys so much for coming, we love you! You guys are the best Crash Kings fans ever. Really, thank you for coming.

He always thanks us profusely.

We only talked for a short while.... Ryan asked him how the new keyboard was, Tony said it was cool, although not as exciting as he thought it would be, but that it might end up on the new record. How bummed was I about this keyboard disappointment? SO BUMMED! He had been so excited about it the night before! And now it wasn't as great as he expected it to be. Awww man. Me and Ryan were really disappointed.

Then, we asked if they were planning on dressing up for the Halloween show... Tony said he wasn't sure, as it was so last minute and they didn't have anything planned. He said that maybe the hat and the beard were enough. (He's kind of growing out a beard.) (LIKE.)

He asked us if we had seen the new Crash Kings shirt, one with their faces on it. Yes, we had seen it.

RYAN: I bought it last night!
TONY: Great! Now go do your signature thing to it!

UMMMMMMM yeah. Ryan takes Crash Kings shirts and makes them beautiful with beads. Like, beautiful. And the boys love it. Remember at the Mercury Lounge back in May when Ryan told Jason she was wearing a new shirt, and he pulls out his iPhone and uses the light to inspect it?? Yeah. That was awesome.

So, Tony knows that Ryan has a "signature thing." Awesome. So awesome.

Then I wish Tony a good night with his family, he (again graciously) thanks me. We say goodbyes, and again, all say we'd see each other tomorrow.

(I then imagine their parents talked about me all night.)

Ryan and I walked out of there AGAIN, like rockstars. It's like the feeling when you're out in public on your birthday and you're so excited that it's your birthday, but nobody else around you knows. Like, if you're in a store or something. You know? Does anyone else get this "I'm just a little bit cooler than you today" feeling? Anyone?

Well, it was LIKE THAT walking out of the theater. Like, all these normal people on the sidewalk have no idea that we were just hanging out with a totally amazing rockstar who may have turned into our friend.

Again, talking with Tony was super natural and easy. Also, he was standing to my right, and like, 6 inches away, because Anberlin had started to play and he needed to shout. In my face. That we were the best fans. I was fine with this.

We make our way to the car. Pay. $38 to the Sleepy Hollow Garage. Then, we realize that I have forgotten to print out directions from the garage back to Philadelphia. We could just retrace our tracks, but that would mean paying $8 for the Lincoln Tunnel again.

So, we turn on the GPS and wing it. It takes the GPS FOREVER to decide on the route and also get the signal. So, we just went straight for a while.

Amazingly enough, these post-show Crash Kings chats are getting more normal, therefore it is easier to focus on directions afterwards. Whereas, remember the time in New Jersey that we got TOTALLY lost because I couldn't focus on anything except Crash Kings??

Also, it's very hard to drive when 'You Got Me' is playing in the car.

ANYWAYS, we drive past The Magnolia Bakery which is very exciting to me. And we go through the Holland Tunnel - WHICH - is free. :) I had never been through that tunnel before. It's nice. It's long, like 2 miles. Crazy. And then we made our way back to Philadelphia. Actually, we got pretty lost in Philadelphia. It was weird, actually. It took us probably a half hour longer than it should have.

I think I mentioned that we got lost in the parking lot of the train station for like, 10 minutes. No, I'm actually not exaggerating. It was a very confusing parking lot and we couldn't figure out how to get out of it.

Finally - we made it back to Stephan's house. Took us a while to find a big-enough parking space, as the parking sitch in Philly is pretty ridic. Like, crazy hard to find street parking at night.

Fun night again. Hung around. Did internet things. Went to sleep early.

Woke up early. Well, at 11am. My 'Saving Grace' alarm tone went off, but I couldn't find my phone, because the cat had pushed it way under the couch. So, I had to get up, move the couch, and get the phone. Silly.

I showered and we got ready to leave. We wanted to make sure that we were there EARLY to get a good spot. And the drive to DC was a little further than the drive to NYC.

But, a pretty easy drive. We went though Delaware and Maryland. Both fine states.

Then we're in DC!!!! Now, I was NOT looking forward to driving in DC, because of what happened the last time I was there with Aliya. That link takes you to the whole blog post of our roadtrip from Florida to Western Massachusetts. The DC part is kind of in the middle. But the whole thing is pretty great, duh.

So, we find a great parking space right on the street like, 2 minutes away from the club.

AND THERE'S ALREADY A LINE.

I mean, OK, it's great that these Anberlin fans are so dedicated. Will this be me when Crash Kings turn into a super huge, famous band? Um, DUH. But, Ryan and I were talking about this, and we decided that we don't like Anberlin because we're used to such high-quality rock music, that anything less than Crash Kings is no good. It actually makes sense.

So, lots of people are dressed up in costume. Lookin' pretty crazy. I'm standing next to a person dressed as a wolf.

THEN, Civil Twilight comes out! For the third time this weekend.




Guy was like,

STEVEN: We're from South Africa so we don't have Halloween, but it seems like a really great holiday! You all look amazing. We actually sent out tech guy out to buy some costume-y things for us to wear tonight.... but he hasn't come back yet. Haha.

It was a funny story.






Part where he hands the bass over and does his own little thing. Tonight he chose to kneel.




Love that pic of the drummer.




Yep. Then, he took a sip of his water bottle, and then splashed it all over the audience. So, thanks guy, for getting water all over my face.

Tonight I was mainly bored with Civil Twilight. I think because it was hearing the same exact songs for the third time. Same show. And, it's pretty good music, but it's not really.... driving. Ya know? I think they sound A LOT like Coldplay.

So then, they start to set up things for Crash Kings.

AND THIS HAPPENS:


Craig and Jimmy come out wearing dresses and very elaborate eye make up. Craig in the lovely black and white pattern, while Jimmy chose a lovely peach colored number.

(That other guy just had a sign on his back that said, 'Jack the Rippa.' Um, lame.)




Also, please notice how high the slits on Jimmy's dress go. YEAH. yeah. YES. He looked goooood.




Setting up Jason's IHOP mat that he plays on.





Craig setting up the piano BY HIMSELF. Rocked it.

The kid next to me was like,

KID: What's going on here?
JULIE: That's a piano.

Then, when Craig set up the clavinet this kid was like,

KID: Don't tell me they're going to put that keyboard on top of the piano.... OH! Whoa. How many people are in this band?
JULIE: Three.
(then Craig soundchecked the clavinet)
KID: HOLY CRAP WHAT IS THAT THING? It sounds like a guitar!
JULIE: Um, it's a clavinet... it's basically a keyboard with guitars strings on the inside. This version that he has is modified with a whammy bar. There are only 12 in the entire world.
KID: (stares at me in awe.) (for serious.)

Then we randomly started talking about how many times these other people had seen Anberlin. One girl was like, "I've seen them twice!" So I was like,

JULIE: This is my 18th Crash Kings show!
KID: I'm sorry... what?
JULIE: This is my 18th Crash Kings show.
KID: Whoa. That takes some dedication.
GIRL NEXT TO KID: Crash Kings are so good. I'm really excited for them.
JULIE: They'll blow you away. They're amazing.


AND THEN - Jimmy came out and hung up a sign behind Jason's drum set:




They were not Crash Kings tonight - OH NO - they were Crash Queens. (ALSO - Evans! Brand of drum heads. BUT ALSO MY LAST NAME. On the Crash Queens sign. Basically means I'm soul mates with the whole band.)

If you DON'T know, there was a group of fans called Crash Queens started almost a year ago by Christina and (West Coast) Julie - super fans in California. Crash Kings know about this group, and kind of love it. Or, at least they pretend to love it. Christina made this awesome amazing bedazzled shirt for Crash Queens and the boys love it.

SO - the fact that they were "Crash Queens" on this night - was sooooo freaking perfect.

PLEASE ENJOY these next photos....




Dear Mike. He's seen here wearing a love bright red frock. He's got his chest stuffed with balloons or something. And, he's wearing a ridiculous bright red afro wig. Also he has the brightest red lipstick EVER. It's like, 'recital red.'




Oh Tony. The first show where we have a great view of his face, because his hair is pulled back into pigtails. He had on a lovely black dress with ruffles at the bottom. He was also wearing this sheer black sparkly long sleeved thing over the dress. He looked amazing.

And when they first announced, 'CRASH QUEENS,' he was totally strutting on stage holding a martini glass. He looked pretty classy. With his studded belt over his dress and black nailpolish - he was pretty fashion forward.




Jason, oh Jason. Pictures of him were a bit tricky, because he was behind the drums. He had on a trashy leopard print dress that had chains for straps. He also sported this disgusting mullet-wig. Add in his mustache and bright pink lipstick - he looked like a cheap hooker. GREAT. Ohhhh Jason looked so great.

They opened with '1985' and Tony could barely get through it because he was giggling so much. It was adorable.





NOTE: person dressed as a wolf next to me.




Tried to get a good shot of Tony's black nail polish. I was so happy he was wearing it. This photo turned out a lot sexier than I had intended. Yep, that skirt is above the knee.





Amazingly enough, it was still super sexy watching him on the clavinet.







And, he was wearing a lovely string of pearls, completing his ensemble.







During 'Raincoat,' he looked right at me while he sang the lyric, "I never thought I'd live my life without you." And it was happening and I was just thinking,

JULIE: OMG THIS IS NOT HAPPENING.

But it was. I wanted to shout back, "SAME TO YOU, BABY!" But I thought that'd be kind of a weird mood killer.

And then, as is usual, me and Ryan were the only ones to "hold out our hands" when Tony sings, "hold out your hands," and he saw us and said,

TONY: YEAHHH!! Everybody get 'em up!!

As he usually says when nobody but us does this. Everything just seemed better because he was wearing a sparkly dress and makeup at the time.








UM YES. Mike, please make that face all the time. He was totally hamming it up.




And Jason was just killing it. During 'War Pigs,' a drum stick FLEW out of his hands. He picked up another, missed like, one beat, and was RIGHT back on track. Ohhhh I love that man.




Nip slip. NIP SLIP. Yep, that happened. Tony even said,

TONY: Jason has a nipple out!





I love this picture of Tony. The skirt, the slightly puffy sleeves, the pigtails. THE LEGS.





MIKE. YES. MIKE. Yep, he made that face also. This picture half scares me, and half turns me on.




This was during 'War Pigs.' Tony was, of course, jumping whilst claving, which he normally does. Only tonight, he was wearing a dress. He had to hold his mic pack down to his butt while he was jumping. AND - Ryan got a video of this song. Which includes many upskirt shots of Tony. haha. Because, again, he was in drag.

You should really watch that video. It's a great performance. I'd say one of their best. I know this because I remember standing there, watching Tony playing the clav solo at the end (or, I should say, 'guitar solo,' I guess) and I couldn't barely rock out, because it was so mesmorizing. This happens quite frequently to me. It's like, you can't do anything else, because you have to watch him play.

Also, I'm finding I'm like a cat when watching him. Mainly on the clav. Like, my head just moves in the direction he's moving. Like, I'll lean back, head up, head down. It's very sexual.




Also, the hair came down for full rocking potential.




Aaanndddd..... I love that last picture. Click on it to make it bigger, and you'll see a better shot of the tattooed hand on Tony's heart. I mean, wait. No, the tattooed heart on Tony's hand. Haha. If he had anyone's hand tattooed on his heart - IT WOULD BE MINE.

The whole experience was amazing. What a GREAT SHOW to end the weekend. They killed it. The whole thing. Everything. Best band ever invented.

SO. Tony had said they'd be around back for pictures and to say hello. So, after grabbing some water from the bar - PITCHERS OF WATER - YES. Smart, smart thing, we headed back to wait. First we waited in this tiny hallway that led to the merch, but then heard someone say that Crash Kings were on the other side, taking pictures.

So, we followed this kid and hung around, watching them take pictures with people. Mike and Jason were TOTALLY hamming it up for everyone. It was great. They're super funny. Especially Jason.

Finally, there was a lull, and me and Ryan walked over. Seriously - they're faces LIT UP when they saw us. Tony and I immediately hugged each other, and Ryan and Jason immediately hugged.

(feel free to go back and read that line again.... 'Tony and I immediately hugged each other.')

AND IT WAS THE BEST TONY HUG I'VE EVER GOTTEN. Usually, Jason gives the best hugs. Mike never wants to hug anyone and Tony always is like, a one arm hug, or just not very into it either.

NOT TONIGHT. Nope, I got a great, two arm, wrap around, nice and tight, Tony Hug. It was great. Then we stood around telling them how great they looked.

JULIE: (to Tony) I love your pearls!
TONY: (makes 'why thank you, I know' face)
JULIE: (touching Tony's arm) Very classy...

Um, then we just had a dance party with them. Ya know, like you do. No, but seriously - they just wanted to dance with us. ESPECIALLY Jason, who was the King of air drumming and air punching. It was awesome.

Anberlin had just started playing, and we were standing in a circle, dancing together. Like you do at school dances, or something. It was, Me, to my right was Tony, then Mike, Jason, and Ryan. GREAT. YEP. SO GREAT. We danced and jumped and air drummed together. Most fun time ever.



Ryan snapped this photo gem of Jason. Yes, that's what he looked like. It was amazing.

Then, they actually turned to watch Anberlin for a sec, so me and Ryan did too. Anberlin like, wasn't really dressed up. It looked like some of them were wearing bags over their heads. Like, to maybe look creepy. After a few seconds, Tony turned around to us with an unimpressed face and yelled,

TONY: Um, we totally won the costume contest! I mean, look at us. I'M HOTT. I look hott!

Me and Ryan assured Tony that there was really never any contest, and YES, he looked hott.

Then, the bartender gave the guys each a plastic cup with a shot of something in it. Tony again, turned to us and half smiled, half made a "omg look how much alcohol is in this cup right now" face.

AND I am like, freaking out, because of all those dreams I have where I'm doing tequila shots with Tony. Well, not "all" those dreams. But, there's been two. And that's kind of weird. So, here is Tony, doing a shot right in front of me. It rocked.

Then, Tony screamed,

TONY: Actually, we were pretty drunk on stage... hope it wasn't too obvious!
ME AND RYAN: Nooo! Not at all!
TONY: Ok, good! (we all laugh)

Ohhh drunk Tony wearing a dress.

THEN. Tony gestures to my hott-pink dyed Crash Kings shirt and says,

TONY: I love this, by the way.

I take that to mean, he was staring at it all night. This was the same shirt he remarked on in Burlington, VT in August as being awesome and said he wanted to do a line of them.

Then, he moved back a little, but continued to talk to me, and I couldn't hear anything, so I moved up real close to him...

JULIE: What??
TONY: Did you see we've got a new version of this shirt? It's in black now!

Yep. He screamed all that into my ear as I was standing very close to him. Like, I don't know, 2 inches away.

Then, Tony said that he needed to go change out of these clothes. Ryan told him we were driving back to Boston tonight, and he suddenly became very serious, very sweet, and pleaded with us to have a safe trip. He loves us like that. He's always very concerned about our traveling.

Then we said goodbyes. He thanked us again and again for coming. We thanked them for being awesome. And then he was off!

In the lobby however, as we were headed out the door, we met up with Jason, who gave one of the best hugs EVER. Not just Jason Hugs, but EVER hugs. He's one of the most sincere people ever. Even when he's dressed as a trashy hooker.

Then, in our triumphant post-Crash Kings show chats, we headed out.

What an amazing weekend.

I think we had the "real life" discussion in the car that night. Like, "holy crap I can't believe this all happened in real life." It wasn't dream life, or fake life. REAL LIFE. We hung out with Tony all weekend. It was for sure the most Tony time I've ever gotten. So good.

So then we drove from Washington, DC to Boston, MA. It was a fine drive. We went over the George Washington Bridge around 12:20am, and dropped Ryan off at her house just after 3:30am. Great time.

Then, I was feeling pretty awesome, so I continued to MAINE!! Yep. Drove to Maine. Arrived home around 5:30am. Just in time to spend some time with my mom before she went to work. So great. I still couldn't sleep. Too excited. I looked at all my pictures, watched some videos, sat in amazement that earlier in the night we were in DC, dancing with Crash Kings.

It was awesome. I can't even say anything else, because there are no words.

What great guys. Great musicians. Great music. Ohhhhhhh it was so good.

Can't wait for the next Crash Kings Adventure Weekend. CAN'T WAIT.

AAAHHHHH SUCH A GREAT BAND.


SO. That was my weekend. How was your weekend? I hope everyone experienced the same type of excitement, only probably it took a different form. It was Halloween! Did you dress up? Trick or Treat? Go to a party? Carve a pumpkin? Tell me about it! Sometimes I forget that there are other people in the world besides me and Crash Kings, so I'd love to hear all your stories.

Monday, I slept from about 7am to 12:30pm. I woke up wide awake and still so freaking excited. So, I got up. Nobody was home. So, I hung around by myself. I was like, "um, where are all the rock stars??" They weren't there.

In all my rocking this weekend, I had ripped my jeans. And I don't own many pairs of jeans. And now this one had a rip. So, I got my act together and went to the mall to buy two new pairs.

I've never come off a Crash Kings Adventure Weekend with any physical damage (unless you count the fact my car died after the first one...), until now! I woke up with:

1. 3 scratches on my left hand
2. heart shaped bruise on my right arm
3. rip in my jeans

HARDCORE. I assume the heart shaped bruise is from wrapping my arms around Tony too much. Or, too tightly. His heart on his hand rubbed off onto my arm. I like that one.

Kara thought I should go to a tattoo parlor and get a tattoo of the bruise. Ha.

So, I bought some new jeans. Hung out with Kara at work. Saw Meg! Who was working that night! We gave each other big, big hugs, as I hadn't seen her in a LONG TIME. Much too long.

The rest of the night was spent hanging out with Kara and my mom. It was great. I was still really amped from the weekend. All the Crash Kings tough love.

AND NOW, I'm back at work. In Lebanon. Ruby Tuesday was sooooo happy to see me. She hasn't gotten off my lap once since I've been back. Except when she was on the floor eating crackers.

AND, something amazing just happened. I got a text message saying that River City Extension had a Twitter update! They were announcing a show in Boston with Dashboard Confessional!!! So, I immediately went to Twitter to read the whole update. They're at THE PARADISE!!!! How great is that?!?! I super freaked out for a minute.

THEN, I got a text message saying I had a Facebook update. So, I went to my Facebook page and JOE, the lead singer of River City Extension had posted a link on my wall about the show! He just wanted to let me know personally, ya know.

HOW GREAT? So great. Musicians love me. It's true. Awww, that made me really happy. That Joe posted on my wall. :) He's so great. Like, for real.

We listened to River City Extension A LOT while driving through New Jersey, because we were in NJ a lot. We also listened to them while not in NJ, but it wasn't the same effect.

That car ride from DC to MA was really fun. Me and Ryan had some good times. As always, really.


OK. So, this was a pretty epic update, no? YES! I'm really excited that I get to share all this with you. I'm still super excited about it all. And I still have a slight touch of that, "I'm just a little bit cooler than you" feeling. Because, nobody around me knows that I was hanging out with Crash Kings this weekend. But I know. And that's pretty freaking cool.

So, I'll talk to you all later, dear friends. I've got some pretty big things happening in the next couple weeks. With moving and all.

Have a great evening! I have to go out to the grocery store, because I have nothing to eat here. For serious, actually. It's like, I don't have enough of anything to make a complete meal.

We'll talk again later :) Love you all.


♡♡♡,
Julie


Also, I feel like I should mention this real quick... So, after all my semi-hating on Civil Twilight... I woke up Monday morning with one of their songs stuck in my head. And then I missed them. And so I downloaded four of the songs they played:

- Next to Me
- Soldier
- Trouble
- Letters from the Sky

and I like them all a lot. When he was singing 'Trouble' live, I couldn't figure out what he was saying, but it sounded like, "everybody's got a sunburn." This confused me. However, in listening to the song, it's quite clear that he says, "everybody's got a trouble." Makes more sense.

So, Civil Twilight, maybe not that bad after all. I appreciate them more now that they're not rubbing up against me and splashing water in my face. :)


OK! CONTINUE HAVING A GREAT DAY!!!!