They got the keys to the city but we got a lot of shakin' in our hips.

January was a month of trips and projects. Here are the fruits of last week's project: paint the kitchen. We used to have this yellow, as you can see below. The yellow was fine when it was a huge room, but once we built out the second floor of the loft, it made the kitchen feel closed-in and the yellow itself started looking dingy. Cue the bright blue!


The right side is primed, it used to be the same yellow!



The blue is called "Serene Sky." Apt.

I was exhausted last week coming home from work every night to tape, prime, and paint the walls. It was completely worth it though, now that the kitchen is far more welcoming and feels more spacious. And we're not even done with it! Jesse and I pooled our Christmas money earnings to frame all of our posters (well, the three posters I own and the 80 Jesse does. Ha.). The posters collection will now be adorning our heretofore blank 16-foot ceiling walls. Plus, we have one more paint project in us.

Jesse returned yesterday morning from Brazil, around seven in the morning, and I had breakfast waiting for him! Bacon, english muffin, and an Erica-approved egg & spinach quiche! The roommates Sam and birthday boy Jim also got to enjoy, as well as our neighbor Adam. Who knew breakfast hangs could be so popular?

Domesticity is all the rage for 2011.

Come down on the street and dance with me.

So there's a bit of catching up to do!

I've been fantastic. This past weekend reunited me with Jesse (several times!), I witnessed Motion City Soundtrack cover Nine Inch Nails SUPERBLY at the Hoodwink festival (picture above from backstage Friday night before they played, credit Colin Blake), had a tacos & margaritas girls night with Jaime, Lauren Ashley, and Cara, and Bamboozle'd it up on Sunday in the distressing heat.

I should mention that all members of MCS were incredibly nervous before taking the stage on Friday night to play those NIN songs. However, they all seemed cool as ice when they started playing: I was so surprised! I mean, I guess I shouldn't be as I know they are all talented dudes, but: WOAH. They were GREAT! IMPRESSIVE! MINDBLOWINGLY GOOD!

Also fun was watching Saves the Day cover Weezer's Pinkerton. My friends and I were all sidestage singing along and dancing. I remembered the days in which I would drive around in high school listening to Through Being Cool and was like, damn, I am freakin' right here now. Watching them cover one of my favourite albums. So strange. They did a great job, too!

Unfortunately, Jesse and Motion City had to fly out early Saturday morning from New Jersey to KANSAS for a show, and then return the following morning to the same stadium to play Bamboozle. Jesse was a tired boy.

My Saturday was spent more pleasantly, after a good ol' brunch with the good ol' boys Adam and Jim, the girls came over for tacos! Margaritas! Hilariousness!

My mind is being really crazy today with these writing hijinks. You think I'd be better able to control it. Nope.

The ladies night was a real lovely respite from the rest of the weekend's outdoor shows. Especially since we realized our varying relationship statuses went from married, engaged, serious relationship, and single. Also, all the "involved" people have dudes out on tour somewhere (we're "band widows," as Lauren Ashley says) - always leads to funny observations and conversation.

Rhyming, first sign of insanity.

On Sunday, Adam, Jim, Sam, Tyler, Pete and I got together and headed to Giants Stadium for Bamboozle! Where I got to see Jesse again. And I also got to witness fun. for the first time! We met up with other music aficionado and good times gal (what is that?) Liz and danced as much as we could in the blazing heat (trust me, you don't want to move a lot when you can hardly breathe in the muggy air). But wow! Fun. ruled. If you haven't heard this band yet - what?! Why haven't you downloaded Aim and Ignite?! It's so good! DO IT! NOW! HERE! It's only FIVE DOLLARS on Amazon right now!

Now that that's out of my system: we caught OK Go's set, as well as Good Old War's, and Minus the Bear before Motion City Soundtrack took the stage! Though there were some technical difficulties, I think everyone had a good time by the looks of the crowd! Were any of you there to witness it? What did you think?

After they played, I was going to stick around for Piebald's set, but that blazing sun and the ever-irksome crowds were draining me. I did get to see a lot of friends in town, like Aileen, Leslie, Dan, Ben, Steve, Luis, etc., but I had to go! Amber and I hightailed it back to the city with her newly spackled-looking sunburn (spread your sunblock evenly, y'all!) and my craving for a Nathan's hotdog. My craving was satisfied upon arriving at Penn Station, and Amber's sunburn was rudely pointed out by a girl with a lei while we were waiting in line. Seriously: done with people after that, and raced home to the comforts of a quiet apartment!

And Jesse returned home that night! Yay!

Last night a whole bunch of us dined on sushi and then giant ice cream sandwiches and then watched LOST. I call that a fun night. Except when you're crying in front of a room full of boys because of said tv show. But it's cool, I know they were crying on the inside.

Tonight - GET THIS - Jesse leaves again. But only until Friday! Motion City has a show at my college rival (PFFT) and so he goes (I'll bring home the turkey/if you bring home the bacon). Fortunately, I have some fun plans lined up!

I'm seeing SAM ROCKWELL and Christopher Walken on Broadway tonight in the play A Behanding in Spokane. Yes, the title is intriguing enough, but when Adam told me Rockwell was starring in it - after just seeing him on the streets a couple of weeks ago - I was 100% in.

Tomorrow night Adam and I join forces again with some other geek friends to see IRON MAN and IRON MAN 2 in theaters. Yes, double feature! Super RDJ-ness! DOING IT! I am so glad I have friends who I can get uber nerdy with. It's really the bees knees.

And that's what's what!

But when I'm rolling in forward motion I think about only you.

Back in February, I desperately wanted She & Him tickets. They were playing two shows at the Bowery Ballroom on March 30th and 31st. I waited on Ticketmaster, refreshing at 11:59 the day the tickets went on sale. I refreshed to no avail: they were instantly sold out.

Cut to a couple of weeks ago, when my friend Alana who works in PR e-mailed Erica and I about an Audi event in which She & Him were performing. "Would you like to come?"

Oh an event held in an Audi showroom with a small group of partying people enjoying free drinks and hors d'oevres? YES. YES YES YES YES.

Last night - after rushing home to welcome my dear husband back from tour, then promptly bidding him adieu - Erica and I met up at the Audi showroom on 47th and Park. I didn't even know there was a showroom in New York. The crowd was definitely a mix of downtown folks (I spotted model Jessica Hart) and auto industry people. We saw some badges around necks: apparently this week is the CMJ of the auto industry.

So Erica and I sipped the free champagne and discussed how excited we were for She & Him. And we discussed buying a car:

(Yes, all I had was my iPhone and that light was RIGHT on me! Ick!)

And while the DJ was playing some great songs (straight out of an Erica Dagley night at Trainwreck, lemme tell you), we decided to go right up to the stage that She & Him would be performing on. We saw setlists! (And also signs not to take any pictures, not even cell phone pictures, of the band. Damn.)

AHHHH! You realize how amazing this setlist is, right?

I mean it started off with the song Jesse and I put on our wedding mix! And NRBQ = "Ridin' in My Car, a cover from the newest She & Him album Volume Two; it's a great, great duet song. And they even did M. Ward's song "Magic Trick." SO GOOD! They sounded amazing! Zooey played the ukelele, they both got together on the keyboard at one point, Zooey was bouncing around to each song. They put on a really fun live show.

And yeah, I was three feet away from Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward! Literally: front row, no barriers or security guards. I placed my champagne flute on the stage in order to dance.

Here's a pic Erica sneaky-snapped:

Zooey and the backup singers! Here are some professional wire images:

That photographer was right beside us. And! At one point Zooey entreated everybody to dance - "nobody will remember seeing you dance tomorrow" - and so, obviously, Erica and I got down in the front row thinking everybody else would as well. When we took a look back: nope, nobody was dancing, and a lot of people were just standing there "taking it in" while Erica and I were singing along.
After the show I was walking to the restroom when someone stopped me - I turned and saw all of the band members (minus M. Ward and Zooey) and they told me thank you for dancing! They said that nobody else was dancing except for me and my friend and "we played for you guys!"

I DIE.

I then proceeded to tell them how awesome the band was, how awesome they sounded, and how awesome they were to notice me. I rambled, admitted, but I was just so excited. I shook all their hands and thanked them and then excused myself, trying to cut myself off from looking like a ranting and raving fangirl. Accomplished, methinks?

Then Alana told us Christy Carlson Romano from the tv show Even Stevens was in attendance. Erica and I nearly flipped out because, um, we used to love that show. No, seriously, we talk about that show at least once a month...and often lament at how funny Shia used to be. Then:

Us and Christy Carlson Romano! She talked about her off-broadway show and some joke that was made about her in Hot Tub Time Machine - but we haven't seen it, so we don't know what the joke was? Ha. I am seeing that soon, for sure! She was so personable and lovely, and we may or may not have invited her to hang out in the future.

Then! We saw M. Ward come out to talk to his band members. We went over and I told him what an amazing show it was, and he thanked us for being the only ones into it. Yes! And then I asked him for a photo - and he obliged though I could tell he hesitated. I think She & Him have some strict photo policies...but:

OH YEAH!

He was incredibly nice and we had a good conversation regarding his new album and how I've been trying to go to a She & Him show ever since I heard Volume One. At one point I said, "even my husband was working all his music connections to get me into that Bowery show!" and then he asked what my husband did and I explained Motion City Soundtrack. So fun. Matt (as he introduced himself) and Richard (I think that's what he said his name was - he's a guitarist for the band) told us that they hoped to see us dancing at the next show. We told them, of course! ....well, if we even get into the next show. No future show could top last night's though!

So we said bye to them and rejoined Alana and thanked her profusely and then the drummer from She & Him walked up to me with the setlist and said, "it's not much, but it's all we've got, thanks for coming!" Then him and the band were heading out the door and they all waved bye to us.

WOO HOO!

Thank you, dear readers, for letting me geek out on you and get fangirly. THANK YOU!