summer playlist

with some old and new favorites.

There is a city by the sea, a gentle company...

Over the fourth of July we spent the week at a house by the beach with my family in Oceanside, California. It was a great trip with most of our time spent at the ocean, playing games, or hanging out with family. Some of my favorite moments of the trip were strawberry picking, swimming with sea lions, and watching dolphins in the ocean from our balcony. We had such a great week spent by the ocean with family.

Wide-eyed walker do not wander through the dawn...

In May Jason and I took a weekend getaway to the romantic destination of... Tucson.  I had won a two night stay and a game of golf at the Omni Hotel in Tucson at my dad's office party back in October, and when we found out Fleet Foxes were coming in May it was deemed a perfect time to go. The golf pass had actually expired last year but they were nice enough to extend it for another year. We didn't use it so we'll be going back to golf for the first time.

We spent the day of the concert driving around to thrift and vintage clothing stores. There is not a whole lot to do in Tucson and that is something we enjoy and it quickly passed the time.  The concert was at The Rialto which is a historic theatre in Tucson. It was standing room only and pretty small but we were lucky enough to get close to the front. The Fleet Foxes came on and they did not disappoint. They are one of the few bands I've seen that are actually better live then on their CD. Harmonizing is their strongest point and while they do it on all of their songs, on a few songs the music would stop and it would just be their voices. It was so powerful and beautiful it actually brought tears to my eyes. I felt a little embarrassed but I looked at the guy next to me and he was wiping away tears as well. It was just that good.

Here is a video I found on youtube of them live. It gives a glimpse of their greatness.

sometimes i can't believe it, i'm moving past the feeling

Back in April Jason and I got to see Arcade Fire in concert.  The first time I heard them was in '07 the year we got married and I immediately loved them.  That love has only grown and now they are in my top favorite bands if not my most favorite.  When I found out they were coming here the tickets were already sold out, but we were able to find tickets on craigslist.  It was such a great show and probably the best concert I have ever been to. I don't think I stopped smiling or dancing the entire show. We had seats and I wanted so badly to be in the front pit area so I could dance more.  I just had so much energy and excitement and I felt so constrained by the seats. That is the only negative thing I could say about the concert. Jason had a blast as well and I think he agrees it was the best concert we have been to.

The lead singer Win and the backup vocalist Regine (she also plays many different instruments) are husband and wife which makes it a little more special. Regine sang a couple solos and her voice is very unique and it works perfectly with their sound. She sang Sprawl II (Mountains vs. Mountains) for the encore song and she was so captivating to watch. She was spinning around with streamers on the instrumental part and was a great performer.  

Local Natives were the opening band who I had known before the concert and was happy to be able to see them too. They were signing autographs afterwards and so we had all of them sign a cd.

back to blogging

It has been far too long since I have updated last.  I have gotten behind and have dreaded the thought of getting caught up.  I always feel like I should only update about big events, but I want to attempt to write about the smaller things as well. First I am going to try to catch up a little on some fun things from the past 6 months.