A "Swell" Story of the Jacket of Destiny

Last weekend, I got a special treat. A friend from Michigan and her husband were in Key Largo for their belated honeymoon. They came up on Friday night for a little happy hour and dinner action, and we got to catch up. It was so great to see Sucker (and Jason too!!) and just talk and hang out. I still can't believe she's never been to Florida before! Crazy! But I kind of love this picture because we were laughing when T took it. :)

That Sunday, T and I went to the beach to hang out with a friend who's leaving Miami. It was so relaxing to just bake in the sun, and the water was so warm! There were tons of plants in the water so we didn't make it out too far, but chillin' in the shallow end has its perks too.

We stayed until the late afternoon and the tide started coming in, so we all began to build a moat to prevent water from getting our towels all wet. Mine was totally awesome--and effective.

As if all of that wasn't enough excitement, Monday The Aussie and I went to see a show at the Fillmore. I'm embarking on a one-woman campaign to keep that place open! I'm obsessed! But anyway, we went to see The Swell Season, a phenomenal band that began after the movie Once. The two actors/musicians from the movie, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, met while making it, fell in love (like they did in the movie), and formed a band. The song "Falling Slowly" from the film actually won an Oscar that year. Glen and Marketa have since stopped dating but they still make beautiful music together with The Swell Season.

Anyway, we went to dinner before at a Japanese place (that was delicious!) and as we were headed back to the theater, The Aussie realized she forgot her jacket at the table, so we turned around. This jacket, however, is no ordinary jacket. This was the Jacket of Destiny. As we retrieved the jacket and proceeded back to the Fillmore, who do I see coming around the corner but Glen Hansard himself! I go, "That's him. That's Glen."

"Huh, are you sure?" The Aussie replied incredoulsly.

"Yeah, that's Glen." At this point, I decided to pursue him, like ya do when you see a rockstar. I walked quickly, then ran a few steps, then went back to walking, then ran a few steps, until I was within speaking distance. "Excuse me," I began, "Are you Glen?" He said that he was, and I was like, "We're going to see your show in a bit!" We talked for a little bit, Glen claiming that the "spring break-ness" of Miami was a bit interesting, and then this other group of people came by and stole our moment, insisting on taking a picture with Glen. It was okay though, because then The Aussie and I made them take a picture of us with Glen. All of this was with much thanks to the powers of the Jacket of Destiny. :D

He was super cool to us and I loved his Irish accent a lot. :)

Anyway, we got to the show and our seats were pretty amazing, second section back right in the center. Not bad for buying them a week before the show! The opening act came out, a guy named Tristan Clopet, who apparently is friends with a friend of mine. Um, dude, next time you hang out with rock stars you LET ME KNOW. Kthanksbye. He was pretty good--guitar playing, singer/songwriter guy. He sang a song about his nephew and it was super adorable.

The Swell Season released a second album in October of last year (I think) called Strict Joy, and many of the songs they played at the show came from this album. They sang most of the songs I know from it, which was awesome. They opened with a song called "If You Want Me" and Marketa and Glen just switched back and forth between piano and guitar/microphone. They play together so well and even if they're not in love any more, their voices sure are. They just sound so perfect together. Glen's voice is kind of Bob Dylan-esque (if Bob, bless his heart, could sing) and she sounds like this haunting, ethereal bird or something. Just thinking back on it makes me wish I was there, again, in that room where magic was happening.

The pair talked to the audience quite a bit, and Marketa was shocked by the fashion choices of people (read: women) in Miami, and the fact that there was a roof top pool with a bar in it at their hotel. She called Miami "mental" but in the best possible way. Marketa's accent, by the way, is also extremely awesome. She's Polish (I think) and learned English in Ireland. Picture THAT combination! The Aussie decided that Marketa is her new best friend, and I couldn't agree more.

At one point in the show, everyone left the stage except the violin player (who is now my new boyfriend) and he played an old Irish tune as a solo. He had a CD out, apparently, and now I must track it down. It was a super cool moment, especially having just (0kay, not JUST but you know what I mean) returned from Ireland where I got to hear all kinds of music of that sort. *sigh*

Towards the end, the two sang "Falling Slowly" together. How cute are they?

They, of course, came back for an encore. First, it was just Glen who grabbed the guitar and stepped away from the mic and just wailed this song called "Leave" acoustically, which was amazing. Angry Glen is awesome. Then the rest of the band trickled back out for a few closing songs (it was a long encore!), and a little tribute to Bob Dylan, whose birthday it was. They sang "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" acoustically and everyone seemed to just be jamming and having a great time. It was the perfect way to end an amazing night.

I think my version of heaven will be that concert, on replay, for eternity. I can dig.

Much love, friends.

New Kids, New Friends

Dreams came true again when The Weave and I went to see New Kids on the Block at The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater. It's definitely one of my favorite venues, certainly my favorite in Miami, and seeing the New Kids there was actually pretty awesome. The seats were General Admission, though, so we had to get there pretty early to wait in line.

Annie came down from Boca and we got ready and headed to the beach. We got there around 5 or a little after and made friends with the girls in front of us, who were all the way from Washington. Apparently the "New Kids Cruise" was departing the next day, and the show as a little appeteaser. Anyway, waiting in line was an experience and the ladies who were near us seemed pretty cool and not that annoying. At one point, Weave left to grab us some dinner. She bought us an $11 feast from CVS. It was kind of awesome. lol

The crowd at the show was a slice of humanity. There were cute, seemingly normal people (and by "people" I mean "women" because, like, what guy's gonna go to New Kids?) like The Weave and I. There were some people of questionable gender (jury's still out). There were people who thought they looked AWESOME and really just looked tragic. And then there were my favorite people (and by "favorite" I mean the opposite)--the whores. This one woman (who might have been a tranny) was wearing a corset and her boobs were almost completely exposed. Um... hi. I don't want to see some strange woman's nipples, thanks. Plus, she posed for a picture with her friend, and made a face sort of like this:

People watching was certainly a way to kill time before the show, and a source of endless entertainment. I did make friends with a short girl who promised not to date any tall boys, so that was a win.

The show itself finally began (after literally a 20 minute countdown clock) and it was great. I didn't really know how such a big show would translate to a small venue, but they did well. There were, of course, big lights and lots of flashy stuff and technical magic, lots of dancing, lots of nine and ten year old girls who are 20 years older now screaming--it was what you would expect. The guys still looked hot, of course.

They sang all the old favorites plus stuff from their newest album (which is now not so new but you get the idea). They also did this chill set in front of the curtain, with just a couple guys playing guitars and them singing. Kinda cool.

Jordan came out in the white shirt I remember from childhood, but there were no fans this time. Ahh well, he still looked hot.

Jordan, Donnie, and Joey all did solos (duh) but I made a discovery during Joey's--Joey has become completely gay. It was so weird. I mean, he comes out wearing tuxedo pants and a short tuxedo jacket with tails, and no shirt. THEN he sings "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics and "Twisted." And dances around with the microphone. I mean, don't get me wrong--he looked hot, but it was kind of out of control. Sue Sylvester from Glee would have approved is all I'm saying...

Anyway, at one point, the "Kids" went off stage and walked (heavily surrounded by large, large security men) to the middle/back of the venue (about 15 feet from us, BTW) and did a little ditty, and then walked back to the stage. I'm just saying, the white shirt in this picture is Jordan Knight. He was THAT close to us...

Magical. Of course, their last song was "Hangin' Tough" and it was full of lights and energy and memories.
I can't lie--I didn't really want to go to the show when The Weave first bought the tickets, but I had a great time and now I'm really glad I went. :)

The following Saturday, I saw The Weave again for her Preakness Party. Last year, she had a Kentucky Derby party which was actually pretty fun, but this year I think she was gone (I was too, actually). It was pretty fun--the guy who won was a Garcia, so that was awesome. There were some cool people there there too, and we ended up playing a pop culture game (my team won, woot!).

It was great to spend so much time with The Weave, and relive a little bit of my childhood. Again.

Much love.

Epic Travel Tales

Well, here is is, lovely May with it's flowers. I've been up to some shenanigans since Ireland and it's time to share those shenanigans with you all.

We had parent-teacher conferences the week we returned from spring break, and, as always, they were depressing. I didn't see many parents, certainly not as many as the first session, and usually the "good" kids' parents are the ones that show. PLUS I spend 13 hours at school, which is about as depressing as life can get. BUT, we get the next day off, so I can deal.

Also that week, a friend from high school came down because his family owns a condo in Lake Worth. He, Annie, and I all met up in Boca for dinner and a little reunion. I haven't seen Antwon in a long time, so long I don't remember HOW long, and it was great to catch up. We had dinner at a Mexican place in Boca, and then went back to Annie's place to play a little Apples to Apples. It was a fun night.


The next night I was double booked--The Aussie's "Calle Ocho" party and Adam's birthday. I went to Calle Ocho first, in my finest chonga regalia. For those of you unfamiliar with the term "chonga" or the lifestyle one lives, check out this brilliant explanation. So anyway, here's me as a chonga, complete with black lip liner and faux tramp stamp with my initial. Hoop earrings are also key to the look...And yes, that is my thong underwear hanging out. It's a look, people!

Since I work with The Aussie, several of our friends are co-workers, who also all dressed up. Here we are... Now keep in mind that we teach children.

We. Teach. Children. After a couple of hours of being chongalicious, I walked to Crazy Pianos where Adam was celebrating his 25th birthday... again. It was a fun night, although tiring. Two parties in one night is a little intense. But still...

The following weekend, I took Friday off (it was a half-day anyway) and hopped on a plane (at 7 a.m., BOO) to Detroit for a weekend in Michigan.

I arrived without incident and Bob came to pick me up. We were gonna meet up with my mom, who called us about 10 minutes later and told us to meet her at the Bob Evans by the airport, which it took Bob and I about 25 minutes to get back to. Basically, the combination of Bob and I is a nightmare directionally. We finally got there and had a couple of drinks (Coke and iced tea, lol) and the waiter gave me some biscuits because he saw in my eyes the love I had for them. It was kind of a beautiful thing. It turned out to be the best thing because once we left it took about two hours to get to my grandparents' house when it should have taken an hour. Yay traffic for no reason.

We finally got there and I surprised Mema (she didn't know I was even in town) and spent most of the time at the feet of my favorite person on earth, my Grumpa. I used to think it was just me being wishful, but he really is better when I'm around. He even managed to say "I love you" to me, which is pretty amazing. A couple hours will never be enough time, but it was better than not seeing them at all, so I'm grateful for it.

The next day, I went to see Abita while my parents went to get some stuff for the house (they're redoing it). She was hilarious! I haven't seen her that "there" in ages, and we talked for, like, an hour. I completely understood her (she was even speaking in mostly English) and we had a great talk. She was telling me she wanted wine, and asked me how she could learn English, and told me I should get married. She was singing some songs in Spanish, too, which was kind of funny but awesome. Her voice is sort of bird-like now, so it was pretty funny.

I spent the afternoon with Liz and got to see her place, which is totally cute. We got ready and headed to Dusty's English Inn for our parent's party around 5:45. I didn't know most of the people there well (they're my parents' church friends) but they were happy to see that I actually DO exist and I'm not some phantom daughter they made up to tell stories about. lol. We had a lovely dinner and some drinks, and watched the Derby in the bar downstairs with some ladies and their huge hats.

Speaking of the pub downstairs, on my search for it (and a bathroom) I discovered a Harry Potter room--a cupboard under the stairs. It was so awesome!

After cocktails and dinner, we took a family photo in our Sunday finest, and then headed to sit outside and chat, I guess. We're some pretty good lookin' folks, if I do say so myself.

After a while of hanging out outside, Liz, her friend Jamie, and I headed back home to change and we went out for a little bit. We went to a place called Morty's (I think) and I met a guy who was 6'2" that I was in love with for about an hour SOLELY because he was 6'2". Short Miami boys are messing with my head... I MISS TALL BOYS!!!!!

Anyway, it was a fun night and it was cool to meet some of my sister's friends and hang out with her, 'cause we don't get to do that much.

The following day, Sunday, was the day I had to fly home. And it was an epic journey.

It all began when my sister took me to the airport, after an extremely necessary stop at Beaner's (I will never call that place "Bigby." That's lame and dumb.). I got there around 11:15 and had a flight at 1, so it was all good...until I checked in at the self-service kiosk and it said my flight was at 5. Um... no bueno. So I proceeded to the ticket counter where a lovely woman in formed me that my connecting flight to Chicago was canceled, so I now had to go through New York and would arrive in Miami at 11:40 pm, to which I replied, "No. No. That is not happening." And I was thinking, If I don't get back until 11:4o tonight, I will kill someone tomorrow, and it will probably be a student, and that will be bad for everyone. Then I heard two guys behind me who were also supposed to go to Chicago on the same flight, and I started talking to them. The lady at the counter asked me to get them up there as well, and while she was booking us another flight, one guy leans over and says under his breath, "Hey, do you watch 16 and Pregnant?"

"Yeah," I responded, more surprised that he knew the show than embarrassed to admit to watching it myself.

Then he says, "Remember the couple who gave their kid up for adoption in the first season?"

"Yeah..."

"The girl's mom's right behind you."

I turned around and lo and behold, there she was. "Celebrity" sitings at DTW. The excitement.

By this time the ticket agent, who was super nice, had booked me on a 12:30 flight to Cincinatti with a connecting flight to Miami at 3. The new flight was on another airline in another terminal... and it was already 11:45. Luckily, the guys I'd just met had a ride waiting outside the terminal, and, since we all had to go to Delta, I hitched a ride with them and proceeded to security.

I head to the security line, which wasn't too bad (a fact my paranoid traveling self was ecstatic about), and as I'm about to step through the metal detector, I see a resident of mine from Copeland when I was an M.A. there. Crazy! I haven't seen him (other than on Facebook) in about six years! We had a quick catch up, as much as you can in a security line, and my insulin pump alarmed, of course, and we all moved on.

The flight to Cincinatti was uneventful, but that airport was hilarious. The airport's not acutally in Ohio, you see--it's in Kentucky. I was in Kentucky the day after the Derby. You can imagine what I saw. The airport was filled with ladies with giant hats, and with giant hat boxes, and people who looked completely hung over and sort of like death. It was entertaining, at least. Took my mind off of the fact that I was, theoretically, in Ohio.

I found my terminal and waited for the flight, which was supposed to leave at 3. Around ten minutes to, a woman came on the speaker, to announce what I assumed was boarding. This is what she said instead, "Ladies and gentlemen, the plane that was supposed to take you to Miami has been struck by lightning and there's a crack in it. We have to cancel the flight." At this point, everyone starts to freak out, I'm about ready to cry, people have to catch connecting flights ... It was madness. American Airlines, though--problem solvers! They ended up canceling a flight to Chicago (running theme?) and using that plane for our flight. We took off at 4:45.

But, ladies and gentlemen, this epic tale is not over. I literally sat in the first seat on the plane. I could see the pilot and co-pilot and the jump seat for the flight attendant was about three or four feet from my own seat. And this dude was a trip. I swear to you--he was Slingblade. He kept telling stories and going "umm humm" like Billy Bob Thorton. And he LOOOOOVED to tell stories too. At least the ride home wasn't boring!

After all that, I made it back safe and sound to Miami and the chance to see my family was such a blessing. I can't wait to see them again soon. :)

Much love.