The River, Work and Bread, Oh My!

It started last weekend when I went to Anthony's family 4th of July BBQ with Crystal. We hung out there all day. Lots of food, friends, alcohol and some karaoke :) (Crystal and I had no idea Marcus and Kelly were mean-muggin the camera!)

We camped out on the property only to wake up the next morning and get ready to float down the river. I had bought some tubes at Big O Tires in Healdsburg which worked out perfect. A friend of Crystal's came up from Monterey, so everyone had something to float on. We started on Fitch Mountain and went to Memorial Beach. That was an all day thing too. It was super nice except for the creeper who will not be named, and getting a little sunburn. The early part of my week was spent working, recovering, and babysitting.
I went to River Rock Casino on Thursday and doubled my money. Don't get too excited... I turned a $20 into $40. Then Friday night, at work, my UPS shipment system went down, then credit cards wouldn't work on the register and then the internet went out. We couldn't close out the day or shut the registers down completely. Lucky me worked this Saturday and had to deal with the craziness of all my systems being down. The general consensus is that our router went out, or maybe it was the modem...no I'm pretty sure the router. Anyways, it's UPS specific so they are the only ones who can really fix/replace it. The local tech guy just won't do unfortunately. We made things work, everything just took twice as long. It's still not fixed so Monday is going to be a blast. Just kidding....
Today I had a bread baking class with my sister in Healdsburg. I was watching crystal's dog too so I've been getting up super early, but I digress... The class was fun. We started at 10am and went until 2pm. Learned how to make foccacia bread, an egg bread, pizza dough, and ciabatta bread. There is a base recipe that all the breads branch from so there were a ton of other little goodies we made and/or got recipes for.

Lunch was sooo good. We had this creamy tomato soup with a grilled cheese made with multi-grain bread and white cheddar cheese. That's when we tasted all the other stuff we made. Lots of demos but lots of hands on too. The instructors were Costeaux owner Karl Seppi and head pastry chef Mairin Rossi. So yummy!
This coming Friday is Crystal's birthday. (She's getting a dog! I'm super excited for her.) I have to work until 6pm but I'm going to try and talk to Anthony about doing something fun that night. San Francisco maybe?!? In a dream world I would go to Santa Barbara the next day to see Delta Spirit's final show of this tour. Sunday I'm for sure going to see Blake Mills at Hotel Utah in SF. I think it's like $7, so if anyone is interested to just hang out and hear some decent live music, call me. I'm collecting a little list of shows I want to go to so I may be bugging you to come with me.
*Sat Aug 7th: Young the Giant @ Bottom of the Hill - This might not happen :( b/c I might have family over
*Thurs Aug 12th: Dawes @ CA Academy of Sciences Nightlife
*Fri Oct 15th: Matt Costa @ Slims
Oh man it's gonna be great! These are all cheap and SF local so yeah, good times!
Well, it's getting late and I have a full work week that starts tomorrow at 8am. Goodnight friends!

Summertime Flies

Happy summer! Hope everyone had a great 4th! Mine was pretty good. Saw fireworks Saturday in Windsor after work. Then on Sunday I went to the river with Crystal and that whole crew. Then I went to Lindsey's and we BBQ'd and saw Santa Rosa's fireworks from some hill-top. They had a much better show than Windsor, which is understandable.

I've been working a lot. Trying to save a lot...so hard. I seriously don't know how I did it when I was younger. Granted I didn't drive or have bills...but anyways, I'm getting closer to being able to move-out. Without roommates would be the best case scenario but that is going to be so expensive. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Oh man and tonight made me want to leave Windsor all together. I went to the farmers market with Crystal, Anthony, and Matt. It was fun but Applebee's after was a little ridiculous. My entire graduating class seemed to walk through the doors. I know it's summer so a lot of people are back home but seriously, I need to get out and explore other places and other people in this world.
Things have been pretty quiet and pretty uneventful around here. I'll leave you with some new tunes worth hearing!
Music to check out:
"Cosmic Love" by Florence + The Machine -> Great vocals and I love how it goes from soft to intense.
"Hey Lover" by Blake Mills -> New album this week (Break Mirrors)! He's a quiet force of guitar skills to be reckoned with.
"Fire Away" by Dawes -> Fell in love the first time I heard it. It's has been refined a bit but at lest there is an accessible version.

Updated

Do you like the new layout?! I was up late last night but I think it came out good. Not too heavy and bulky like the other one felt sometimes. Ok, now I just sound like a nerd.

So my boys' new album dropped! It is so amazing. There are subtleties in this album that you have to listen for and when you know stories about the guys and that it was recorded right down the highway...so cool. Ok, now I really sound like a nerd! The next day was their show in SF. Lindsey had to bail on me (I really have no idea why people like to cancel on me on the last minute of a Delta Spirit show.) but I took Ashley. The openers were good but you just can't compete with Delta Spirit. The audience was lovin' it, which made the boys play harder, so all around the show was awesome.

It was at The Independent and I had never been there before. Nice place, good sound, good size but the parking was absolutely horrible. There are no parking lots around so it's all street parking, and on that street it's always full. I parked like 4-5 blocks away but it was worth it.
My next concert isn't until October but hopefully that changes!
What else, what else...?
Oh yes...the weather has been pretty rockin' I've done one river trip and one pool party. It's finally summer and I love it.
My co-worker Nicole gave her 2-weeks on Monday so if your looking for a job we're hiring. I think it would be cool to hire a guy just to balance the crew out and so I can make him move the heavy stuff ;) just kidding. Anyone will do because I will be working extra hours if we don't get someone before she's gone.
I guess that's all I really wanted to share this evening.  Kind of boring but that's my life these days...got to save up to get out, ya know?! Anyways, happy Father's Day to all the dads on Sunday.

Seriously

I have a pretty good feeling that this is going to be an awesome summer!

The soundtrack for it is already shaping up nicely:


Bonus...
Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session w/ Dawes

What Next?

Why hello there...

Man oh man, I'm in a weird mood. My days are tough lately and I'm not sure how to fix things. Everything feels like it takes so much effort and I'm getting tired. My only answer is to move out. Move out of my house and away from my comfort zone. Logically moving out would only bring on more stress and costs into my already impacted account but I need something to give. I think this time of year has a little something to do with it. Everyone is graduating from their respective schools, where, I got my AA last year. A lot of my friends are moving out or are actively looking. 22 and living at home with a house full of people is not where I thought I would be. I feel like I've got nothing really to show for since high school. Work is good, I can't complain but I wish I was more involved in other things.
Lots of thoughts bugging me tonight.

There is something I can brag about, I saw Dawes again. I heard about a performance at some little restaurant in Davis. Hoping that I could get off work at a fairly decent time, I decided to drive myself over there and check things out. Matt came too. Things didn't really go quite as planned but we got there and saw an amazing performance by three great acts. Everyone was cozy on a small porch of this bar/restaurant. It was sooo great.

I was awkwardly close which I didn't intend on doing because the place was so small, but it worked.
Also, Delta Spirit is coming up and coming up fast. By some miracle tickets are still available so get them now. It's going to be amazing!
Summer is here even though many would argue that. The forecast says rain for the next few days but Dillon gets out of school day after tomorrow and people are making plans. I'm going to be working a lot but hopefully I can get away a little too. This weather is weird but it makes working all day a little easier.

Well, I hope the music gets louder, the weather warmer, and the day longer for me and for you ;)

I Got by Young The Giant from Big Ugly Yellow Couch on Vimeo.



Goodnight

A Dawes Kind of Sunday

I keep putting off writing a new post because the little picture of Travis will no longer be the first thing you see when you sign on here. I love, love, love that picture of him!
Anyways, Hello Hello.
I have to share my Sunday afternoon adventure. I was lucky enough to see Dawes in SF at Yoshi's yesterday. I entered in a contest with the radio station KFOG and got picked! There were more people there then when I got invited to see G. Love in the studio but it was still so great. I took Lindsey with me because she is a good concert buddy and she is who I first saw Dawes with. A little over a year ago we saw them open for Delta Spirit and they caught my attention. I bought their album "North Hills" and let it grow on me, which it quickly did. Taylor Goldsmith's lyrics are pretty amazing. Sadly, I have not been able to see them again until yesterday. They have since replaced their piano player and let me tell you he is a great fit. They also just seem more cozy onstage with one-another. Dawes did an hour set and only about half the songs were from the album. I was familiar with a couple of the new ones but "Fire Away" was a new one I had never heard and it blew me away completely.
*If anyone knows where I can hear or get a hold of that song, I will owe you greatly!*
Lindsey and I talked with a few of the guys afterward and they were all really nice and really grateful. I officially have a crush on the lead singer Taylor ;)
I'm going to try and see them again in Davis on the 14th if anyone is interested!?

I highly recommend Dawes to everyone but be prepared. Their album is not one that you just throw in the player as background noise. Their album is best when you can truly appreciate the musicians behind the music.


Bonus: W/ John McCulley and Matt Vasquez

Full of Fluff

This is long overdue, I know. My only excuse is that nothing exciting has been going on. Easter was good but low-key. It poured all day. The next Sunday was Travis' birthday. It rained again of course, but it was nice and Travis had fun.
In his Birthday outfit

Cupcake time

New Toys

This was taken tonight. Dillon cut holes in and painted this old cardboard box to make it look like a little house. Travis posed so perfectly while playing in it that I just had to throw it in.

I've been working a lot so I haven't had time to do too much fun extra stuff or I've just been too tired. I'm getting my car worked on tomorrow (cross your fingers they don't find anything weird.) That pretty much sums up my April so far.

Since this is a pretty boring post I'll try to jazz it up with some fun new music stuff that has had me all excited this month:
I heard about this song just last week. Now, I'm am not a hip-hop fan. There are good songs here and there but I usually pass. This song however features a Hayley Williams from Paramore. I'm pretty sure it is the only reason I like this song. Once again her vocals are amazing and this is a nice little chorus.

Ok, that was fun, now check this out. This is a little youtube clip that Hayley posted herself. Don't like Lady GaGa? Well, you will now!

I spent a huge chunk of money on concert tickets this month, let me elaborate...
First I'm going to see 30 Seconds to Mars w/ MuteMath on May 13. I can't believe how close it is already.
Then I bought tickets to a Local Natives show after I procrastinated on their first one and it sold out. Their new cd is in the mail, as we speak, on the way to my house. Enjoy this live version of "Camera Talk"

Another highly anticipated show isn't until October but it will be worth the wait. Jack Johnson is coming to the Greek and I'm going (for a pretty penny). Here is his new single "You & Your Heart." I think he directed the video which is cool but gets repetitive pretty quick.

And last but not least is my favorite guys Delta Spirit. This is off their new album and this clip is actually from the SF show I went to in early March.

This little gem is also off the new album. This is a stripped down version that I just cannot get enough of. His voice, the piano, just amazing! The full band version is great too but this is pretty special.

This post really took on a life of its own tonight. Fun stuff! Well, time for me to go to bed. Goodnight ;)