Let there be rock

So last night Miguel & I saw Flickerstick play at the Jammin Java. For those of you unfamiliar with this venue, it's in Vienna, VA and initially was supposed to be a Christian coffeeshop. Now, obviously, it has changed to host various live bands. I've been a fan of Flickerstick since they were on that VH1 show "Bands on the Run." And they still come out to tour in this area, which I'm thankful of. SO last night we met up with a bunch of people from their message board and had a great time. This is probably the tightest version of the band that we've ever seen. Todd is an amazing drummer. Brandin's voice is SO good. In a few days they will be in NYC and showcasing to several label reps. Plus they recorded four new songs and hope to get some sort of deal. They played three of the new songs live for us last night and they were incredible. I would be surprised if they didn't get some sort of small deal out of it.
Anyways, a good time had by all. Great to see some people I haven't seen in a while. And I swear to God I will get a tan somepoint soon...

Everybody was kung-fu fighting...

So last Saturday, we drove to Harrisonburg to see my girlfriend. Her two older sons were competing in a karate tournament. What a great time! Her oldest, Dylan, competed in three events - sparring, kata and weapons. The guy placed FIRST in weapons!!! He received a trophy that was about as tall as he was! He placed 2nd in kata and 4th in sparring. Nik placed 4th in kata, but this is still impressive because he is only 6 and he was advanced to a class full of older kids because he learned the kata routine so quickly. (the class had been learning it the past few months. Nik learned it in two weeks). And he was the only one from his karate school that even placed in his particular kata category. WOW! (For those of you wondering, kata is when they move smoothly from one position to the other). We enjoyed watching the various events at the tournament. Then we went back to my friend's place for dinner & refreshments. What was nice was that Miguel was GREAT with the kids - especially Nik. He & Nik were like peas in a pod and were playing with each other almost the entire time. Let me just say, that was VERY encouraging and fun to watch! Plus, it proves my theory that he would make a great dad - YAY!!
Here are some pics from the day. (I took video shots of the karate tournament, so couldn't post here)

How I love thee, IKEA, let me count the ways...

Actually, let me count my dollar bills as I buy another item from your inventory!! So my Easter weekend wasn't HALF of exciting as some of y'all's. On Easter Eve (Sat), we went to eat at Margaritaville in Woodbridge, and then headed over to IKEA at Potomac Mills. It never fails, we always walk out of there with something - and I just love the whole look and smell of the place and I could easily spend hours there. This time we were on a mission to buy not one but TWO dressers since the drawers on our old one broke. So we ended up finding some lovely dressers, plus other items, of course. And would you believe they actually had a STRING QUARTET playing in the Bedroom section??? We should have just started making out on one of the beds right there since they were setting the mood anyways...Well shopping was the easy part. The hardest part was bringing the two completely disassembled dressers (that came in 110lb boxes) up four flights of stairs to our apartment. I was cursing the whole time that we live on the top floor of our building. But we finally did it, assembled the dressers in about a couple of hours, moved all our clothes over and then - DONE. Now it looks like our bedroom is new all over again - whoopee! Easter itself, well, we actually didn't do much of anything. I did the Mass thing, of course. And then we went out for lunch at Potbellys since it was one of the only places open, and that's about it! Wasn't that enthralling??

Happy 45th!

45 years ago today, my parents got married. Isn't that amazing? In this day & age when the divorce rate is so high, since people use it as an "easy out" in my opinion, it is nice to see that a long marriage IS possible and CAN survive. Now, this does not mean that they didn't have their ups & down - believe me, they did! And they still bicker at each other. But in the end, when it all comes down to it, they remember the deep love they have and why they even married in the first place. We all can probably learn a little bit from them. I know I can. There is no such thing as "the perfect marriage" where no arguments exist and there's wild sex every day. Please! It's all about compromise, respecting each other, etc. And it's something that needs to be worked on constantly. Scary shit, eh?.....So last night I went out at the last minute with my girlfriends. We saw Sonya Kitchell at the Jammin Java. This girl has an amazing voice. What is even more impressive is that she is only 17 years old and writes her own songs! Plus, her band is pretty cute too. Anyways, one of my galpals wanted to go see her since she liked the one song on the compilation CD she has from Paste magazine. So off we went. It was good! Then afterwards we went to Starbucks and just chatted. If you want to see what Sonya Kitchell is like, she will be performing on Letterman on Tuesday....While I was there at the Jammin Java, I saw posters for the upcoming Flickerstick show. I still can't believe they're playing there. The place is SMALL and I know they will certainly have to turn down their amps. It's definitely more of a coffeehouse place, so I'm still quite dubious about this show....Oh did I tell y'all that I'm going to go see Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand on Tuesday? Yep, I am! I love Death Cab's latest album. I'm looking forward to it!

The Dance is over.. :(

I think this picture pretty much says it all. GMU lost last night to the Florida Gators 72-58 and their tourney trip is over. Their three point shot percentage was the lowest out of all the tourney games they've played thus far. While the Gators hit almost every three point shot they attempted. Still, despite last night's result, you cannot deny that they have made a HUGE difference here. Finally people are sitting up and taking notice of the CAA and our local school on a national level. Everyone identified with the "david vs. goliath" theme, and rooted for the underdog. What an incredible journey! I watched the game last night with a bunch of alumni at Grevey's, and at the end, we all stood up and applauded. It was a very cool atmosphere. Everyone recognizes the achievement of this team. So Farewill Patriot Team of 06 - and to all the seniors like Lamar, Jai and Tony - I wish them well and hope to see them on the court again very soon. *mwah*