So seriously, I wish that when you opened this post to read it, that it would automatically play a file of me screaming WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO really fucking loud. That is the only way to describe yesterday.

I got up and had a lazy morning at the salon. Decided I am going to try to grow my hair out but didn’t want it to look like it was growing out so my stylist Laura put some cute curls in my hair *with a flat iron*! After running some errands and throwing some laundry in, I threw on my outfit for No Doubt.

Naomi and I decided to get an early start to our day and head to Solo Cafe for some coffee before we headed to Cricket. Solo’s attached to my salon so we decided to do some browsing in the boutique store section while we were there. I ended up buying three dresses. They are super cute and so worth it. I had to wear the one out shopping today and received quite a few compliments.

We arrived at Cricket fairly early but that was fine with me. The weather was gorgeous and it gave us a chance to walk around and chat and so forth before the music started. A few days before the concert, I was sent a notice from Live Nation about some concert rules. One of them stated that we were allowed to bring in one unopened bottle of water. However, when arriving to Cricket, we were promptly handed a large Styrofoam cup and asked to recycle our water bottle. Hmm. This caused not only one hand to be tied up when trying to show my ticket and what not, but I also had to then promptly drink my water instead of saving it and recycle but also use a Styrofoam cup. Hmm. Fail.

Also to note, tour merchandise is insanely more expensive than it was when I went to my last mainstream concert a year ago. $40 for a tank top? Bitch please. No thanks.

Before The Sounds started playing (which is a truly amazing band I now need to listen to a lot) we landed upon a State Farm booth that was taking photos and then posting them online for you to download. As we were in line for that, we saw the booth next to it which was rock band. Everyone was in line to play Spiderwebs. Whichever group (or solo if you chose) had the highest score by 9pm won 4 upgraded seats for the No Doubt portion of the concert. I just really wanted to play rock band so I drug Naomi with me. Soon the 2 girls in front of us asked us if we wanted to play as one group (to increase our chance of a higher score) and we obliged. After we finished we were 1st.

Our seats were pretty decent. We were in the 2nd section in the pavilion and had a clear shot of the stage. We sat back down to see The Sounds and some of Paramore and headed back around 8:30 to check on our score and grab some food. We were in 2nd place. As we were standing in line to play again (might as well) we ended up in 3rd.

We played again a few minutes before 9 (and therefore were the last ones eligible) and won with a score I think around 580k. We were then promptly escorted to our new seats which were a section farther up. We had an amazing shot of the stage. Here we are with our group members after the concert ended:

The concert was so incredible. I’m still in awe over it a day later. We ended up having great seats 9 rows back from the pit, which was about 25 rows up from where we were. I got to see Adrian, Tony, Tom, Gwen, and the two other band members so close. Every song I wanted to hear they played, although they saved Sunday Morning for the very end of their encore set which had me nervous for a bit. Gwen is still as sexy as ever as are the rest of them.

Here is one of the best shots I have. More of them can be seen on flickr. Videos are on vimeo (but are of bad quality, I will warn you right off the bat).

My weekend was so busy. Even though I was away from my family for the holiday, I didn’t feel alone at all.

Saturday I was invited to a barbecue. I wasn’t terribly hungry, but I don’t like to miss out on chances to see friends and well, who has ever known me to turn down Rock Band? Ended up being a dual birthday party as well and I had some fabulous to die for white cake with cherries in it. I know what my next birthday cake will be!

I met even more new people including Dani’s awesome sister and everyone’s absolutely adorable children! I don’t get a chance to be around kids as much anymore and while I don’t want to have any of my own, I absolutely *love* children. I got to play Rock Band with them and we spent some time coloring too!

Rock Band was a great time. I spent a lot of time drumming but was given the chance to belt out some tunes as well, which is always nice. After the party died down a bit, I was invited by Todd over to Kevin’s house for a birthday party of sorts last minute, so I drug Scott with me too. As with most nights involving multiple parties, it was a late one.

Sunday was a slow morning; your classic lazy Sunday. After mulling around for hours in the morning, I went to run errands. First was Ikea to pick up lamps for work. Yay for the Basisk in solving the stylish floor lamp with a dimmer quest. Next was the grocery store for items for dinner/lunches this week as well as to make salad for Easter dinner at Kerri and Eric’s. By the time I got back, it was almost 3 already. Party was at 4. It was a nice relaxing night at their house. We played a few board games and had a great dinner and some dessert. We chatted for a bit and before I knew it, it was almost 10pm and I was ready to crash.

It wasn’t a typical Easter, but nothing has been “typical” since I moved to Phoenix, and that’s the way I prefer it. Everything’s been an adventure and turned out fantastic in the end. I’d have it no other way.

This weekend I had my first visitor here from the Midwest. My former coworker at Ford and friend Megan came in on Thursday evening and stayed until this evening. I was sick at the beginning of the week and was trying to relax and recover as much as I could. I think I did a fairly good job, but have a massive headache now, so I think I will be crashing early as I don’t have time to miss work this week!

I started off by picking her up around 7pm at Sky Harbor. From there we went immediately to operation food, which took us to La Grande Orange. I had the Mushroom Party pizza again. I just love that thing! Plenty left over to have again the next evening as well. I also tried the tropical iced tea for the first time and it was fantastic. Came with a delicious slice of orange. Afterwards, we rushed over to Space 55 in Phoenix to see the finals of the Phoenix Improv March Madness Party (P.I.M.M.P.). I was excited to see my friend Todd show up to the event as well. Also equally exciting was the fact that my friend Bob’s team, Searching for X, ended up winning the entire tournament!! There were festivities afterward as usual, but with Megan being 3 hours ahead due to jet lag, it was time for us to head home and sleep after.

Friday morning we headed out to breakfast at U.S. Egg near my house. Then we made a quick stop at my house before heading out to Scottsdale Stadium to see the Giants host the Indians in a cactus league game. It was the first cactus league game either of us had been to. It was super fun, and I am all over going to a ton of them next year. I saw by some eye candy that was fun to look at but too young to date Sat by some Indians fans but also our share of Giants. The Giants ended up kicking the Indians ass and we left before the 8th inning was over. We spent some time walking around Old Town afterwards. That evening we had an after work social event to go to. It was a bring an interesting beer to share party, and I found a great brew at Bevmo for the event. Kona Brewery’s Pipeline Porter. Kona coffee and a brew? FANTASTIC!!

Saturday we had a full day as well. We got up super early and wandered around the Old Town Farmer’s Market. Megan picked up a few items and then we had breakfast at Metro. It was phenomenal. I had bananas foster french toast and a mimosa. Mmmmmm. Pure heaven. We then picked up a friend and went to the South Mountain lookout and took some absolutely breathtaking pictures. On the way back we found a great little farmer’s market shop. I picked up some mouth watering looking cupcakes, some other produce, homemade bread for lunch and the best tangelos I’ve ever had. I had an hour or so to nap and then it was off to the pool/grill area in my development for a grillin’ spectacular party with some friends followed by some hot tub time! Yes!

Sunday we were up early to go to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. I had been there once before, but ended up seeing entirely new areas this time that we didn’t have time for or realize were there the last. It was a gorgeous day. At the gift shop I purchased a book that had all the trails with secluded waterfalls and ponds and cliff diving. I cannot wait to check some of them out. Around lunch we headed to Los Hermanos for a great authentic Mexican lunch. Then it was time to get home for some relaxing before the return flight to Michigan. Of course there was some Rock Band before that!

Megan took more pics than I did so I’m sure I’ll have some eventually to show. I don’t feel like uploading mine now. It was a busy but fantastic weekend. I love showing people the beauty of Arizona, and of course get a great tan while I’m at it!

Last night, East Valley Friday Nights (#evfn) was at Studio 5C in Tempe. It is three flights up on a building on the corner of 5th and College and has a gorgeous view of the skyline and the mountains. The artwork was fantastic and it was sponsored so we had free beverages and snacks (yay).

I hung out with my typical crowd and met some more people too (always fun). After viewing the art and chatting it up for awhile, I was convinced to head to Rula Bula after being told they had Strongbow on tap. Chaos soon began of course, and I believe I was quoted on twitter several times (and there were probably a dozen more that didn’t make the cut). We chatted, sang, I probably danced, and I got to try the most amazing ice cream I’ve ever had!!!! Well it’s definitely in the top five at least.

Afterwards, a few of us came back to my house to play Rock Band and it was fantastic.

This morning I had about 7 twitter friend follow requests. Yay

I just have to say that while I miss Vancouver and all my IxD friends terribly, this is what I saw on my drive to work this morning:

It was so beautiful and I remembered part of the reason I don’t regret my move here one bit.

While my original plans for tonight and tomorrow included organizing my checkbook, sorting out bills, doing laundry, and writing up my thoughts on Interaction 09, they will have to all be crammed into a mega session tomorrow. I had overlooked the fact that it was my friend Bob’s birthday today so I treated him on our afternoon trip to Starbucks!

Tonight he had his birthday dinner at Cibo, and since it’s on my list of restaurants to eat at, and it was a birthday, there was no way I was missing it. When I was first told of Cibo, I noticed they had a white pizza section, which instantly puts a restaurant on my list as I cannot stand tomatoes unless I’m really hungry or in other rare circumstances.

I ended up having a pizza with sausage, cheese, and potato on it and some of it is still in my fridge for tomorrow mmmmm. I’d also like to mention they had an amazing Moscato d’Asti (reason 2 for me to visit an establishment). It was so delightful I had to capture the name for future reference:

Another thing I was looking forward to was a repeat of the many Crepe-palooza sessions I had in Vancouver. Unfortunately not only was I terribly full after pizza and wine, but I realized nutella and banana crepes (reason 3) wouldn’t be the same without Mario.

As a special treat, our party favors for the birthday dinner were vintage unopened packs of pop star trading cards as well as Yo MTV Raps trading cards. We didn’t feel the least bit odd as we looked through our cards, traded them, and had contests such as the MC Hammer Off, which was a competition for the best MC Hammer card. Dinner was followed by gelato cake (mmmmmmmm)and some Rock Band.

Tomorrow I finally get my dirty furniture looked at by the claims person for the van line that moved me from Detroit to Phoenix. I get to stay home a little longer, so hopefully that means I can sleep a tad bit more and maybe get some random stuff accomplished in the morning.

I made a ginormous change in my life today – I called and had my cable television disconnected. This also means bye bye DVR. It’s the first time since I was 5 that I haven’t had cable TV. It was a little awkward tonight. Immediately after I canceled my cable I had to leave for a meeting in Phoenix. I returned home a few hours later and sat down to eat dinner, realizing I had no cable anymore. I ended up getting my Heath Ledger fix in by watching “10 Things I Hate About You.”

The first reason I canceled my cable TV (not the Internets.. I just couldn’t survive then) was the outrageous prices here. I can afford it, but it’s just the principle. I’ve lived in quite a few states and never had cable this expensive. I paid 90ish for my cable which was basic digital and an HD DVR. In Detroit that got me all the digital channels, a phone, and some pay channels AND karaoke on demand. The on demand channels here are pathetic as well. On top of this, I was told I can’t get above channel 22 on any other TV unless I get a receiver for those TVs. This means I didn’t get Nick at Night down in my bedroom and we all know this is what I fall asleep to. I have now resorted to really old VHS tapes. I love Center Stage but I can only watch it so many times.

Secondly, I really want to try to make myself get out and do things here. I think not watching mindless reality shows will help that. Those along with the Gilmore Girls and SVU are my weaknesses. I can just zombie out to them forever. This way all I’ll be able to get are the major networks, which means I am only going to watch sports. I never remember to watch shows when they are on so without my DVR I am in a much better place. I think this will help me socialize as well as head to the gym more often.

It’s a big step. We’ll see how long this lasts. One of my friends is letting me try out one of their old antennas tomorrow to see if it works enough to get me football. Then I’ll be a happy camper.

And no, I am not just doing this to check another thing off my list that white people like. I still have my TV. I’ll use it for Rock Band.

Dave and Busters wasn’t the only fun aspect of this week. I can easily tell it’s the onset of the holiday season.

Wednesday my community had a holiday party. It wasn’t as amazing as the event to celebrate the opening of our community center, but it was close. The day was sadly ruined when Applebees charged us out the ass for our beer afterwards. Still, the wine and people were great!

Friday, we had a fabulous visit to Delux for our holiday lunch at work. I had a nice flight of fruit inspired beers and an interestingly good white chocolate ale.

After work there was a meet up at Papago Brewing. This was my first time at Papago. I loved the selection of items on tap as well as the selection of bottles. The atmosphere is nice as well. Unsure of what to have, I asked for a pale ale suggestion from the bartender. I ended up having Stone’s Pale Ale and upon thanking the bartender for the wonderful selection, I was informed by the gentleman next to me that women with good taste in beer, such as myself, are in high demand. I should’ve mentioned that I am addicted to watching NFL games as well and that I enjoy Rock Band, Mortal Kombat, and I still dress up unlike a tomboy. I guess I really am just that amazing

Last night I went with friends to see the holiday production of the Phoenix Neutrino Project at Space 55. It was a great production and I even donated my Starbucks coffee cup (empty of course) as a prop. Afterwards we attended the “cast” after party for a bit. I won a fabulous glass tray in multiple shades of purple in an auction to benefit the Phoenix Improv Festival but sadly left before the karaoke began.

I also would like to comment that I received all my Christmas presents from my parents and I have only opened one.. and only because I thought it was a piece for my nativity set. It ended up being a gorgeous scarf though that I am seriously in love with and cannot wait to wear!

My plans for today? Watching some football (go figure) and then who knows.

Lately I’ve acquired a bit of a fondness to playing the drums, and at least as far as Rock Band is concerned, I’m not all that bad at it either.

I am considering getting some drums of my own but honestly don’t have the slightest clue where to start. I don’t really want electronic drums, but I live in an apartment and am not sure if there’s any way an actual set could get soft enough to be fine to play.

I have no clue which drums are good, which are bad etc.. and the average price of a basic starter set of drums (not looking for anything extravagant at the current time).

So for all you drum fanatics out there, let me know!!

Thanksgiving was such a blessing this year. It didn’t end up as I had originally planned, and I was graced with some additional guests, but then again, what is the fun in that?

My brother and Alex arrived around 9am that morning with their two other travelers. I set up the futon for them to take a nap and put out the air mattress as well, but Billy and Alex were not tired. Billy and I then started preparing the turkey and the sweet potatoes I was to make. I made a glaze loosely based on a recipe on my roaster oven box, which used olive oil, pepper, and dry white wine, but I added my own touches as well and pretty much just used every spice in my cabinet. Since we had until about 4pm or so, we set it on very low.

My brother took a passing at recreating my grandmother’s gravy made from flour, pepper, a little water, and the turkey parts no one likes to talk about. I have to say, it was a damn close comparison to my grandmother’s.

Two of my other friends who were joining us for dinner came over around 1:30 to prepare what they were making. They brought asparagus, salad, cheesy potatoes, and cherry crisp. We had some wine and played some rock band, watched some football, and enjoyed a new Cranium game I picked up last week at Starbucks.

Dinner time started getting closer, and it appeared as if the turkey was never going to finish. Around 4:15 we turned it up all the way and in 5 minutes the steamer thermometer popped and it was ready to go.

My brother’s two traveling friends had plans that ended up falling through and were going to head out and venture on Thanksgiving. We all decided they should stay as we had enough for them as well and Thanksgiving is not the time to be wandering a new city. It was a great night, but we were all worn out by the time midnight rolled around.

Luckily for me, they all decided to stay another day as well and I got to spend Friday with Billy and Alex. They joined me in my venture to check up on Jack and Jill, cats of friends of mine, and then took me to a restaurant I had never been to before for breakfast, First Watch. Not bad. Afterwards we headed to Old Town
Scottsdale for the afternoon, discovering a winery on the way, toured Tempe and ASU, and then relaxed and bought some items to cook for dinner. Billy and Alex made me an amazing fettuccine Alfredo with homemade Alfredo sauce and broiled chicken and sautéed vegetables. It was delicious.

Another visitor joined the slumber party at my house Friday night and also brought me back a Riesling having heard that I like sweeter wines. It was such a good time, and I made some great new friends. I think everyone enjoyed their time here and I enjoyed playing hostess.

Today I made an attempt to test how feasible resuming lunch sessions of Rock Band would be. We left work around noon and made the 9 mile or so trek to Tempe. It ended up taking about 20 minutes highway but part was due to trying a different exit. I think realistically it would’ve been 15. Either way, it’s not going to work unless we want to get 2 songs in.

I guess we will have to appreciate our sessions even more when we get them. Then there’s the fact that I own the game, but it’s not as much fun playing by yourself.

Site Note: I also got my license today but that will come with part of my blog on the usability of DMV’s.