so much to do, so much to say...

friday morning michelle, mitch, and i packed up the car, turned on my ipod to my 90's r'n'b mix and headed over to seattle. as we drove through ellensburg, michelle and i decided to do something crazy and actually stop at the "thorp fruit" stand. now this place has always just
been a landmark to me on my numerous roadtrips from seattle to moses lake growing up, and now i was finally gonna see what was inside. random, i know...but it had to be done. we picked up a huge box of peaches and headed back on the road.


pulling into issaquah i primped up my hair, reapplied some lip gloss and headed into the costco to pick up some pita bread and avocados. why the primping for costco? a. you should always look your best in public places and... b. okay the real reason is that my high school crush (yes i said high school...how many years ago was that again?) is rumored to work there, and i wanted to make sure i looked fabulous just in case i decided that this time would be the time i said my very first words to him. but no luck...he wasn't working.

after a stop at the beauty supply store, we headed to a restaurant called salumi's. (a cured meat's place that my brother mitch wanted to check out). i think mitch may be under the assumption that i have a part time job as a taxi driver in seattle, cause all he gave me was the address and i was expected to go from there. nice. luckily, i am a pretty smart girl with a good sense of direction, and we found the place.
we saw this

and decided to drop mitch off to save us a spot while i found a place to park. i learned how to parallel park the night before my drivers test and haven't done it since, so finding parking in seattle can sometimes be a chore. you know what else is a chore? figuring out where to go when you have a driven down a one way street and 4 lanes of traffic are coming straight for you.

with a calm "oh crap" [yeah that's what i said..... ;) ], i pulled into that small parking lot by the beige building, caught my breath, and proceeded to find us a parking spot. michelle and i shared an amazing oregano salami and fresh mozzarella sandwich as we headed to drop mitch off at his hotel (again, just an address was given, and i navigated the rest...i am kind of amazing) friday was finished off with a trip to mall to shop for pants (i can't talk about it yet..i hate shopping), dinner, and a movie. i love my life.

saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed over to bumbershoot. first just let me say that i am seriously considering writing a letter to the people at seattle center asking them to make sure they hire people who have a clue about what they are doing. man it is so frustrating trying to figure out if you are in the right line, how to get somewhere, or where mainstage passes are being passed out when to every question you ask the answer is "um...i dont' know". aghhh. overall the day was amazing though, great weather, good music, and plenty of people watching, and now that i am a bumbershoot expert i would totally go again.
here are my....


TOP 5 THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT BUMBERSHOOT:
1. music is awesome. i love it. it is such an amazing way to express emotions, thoughts, feelings, etc... i am so impressed with those who are musically talented and have the skills to perform. during the day we heard a bunch of different styles of music, some i liked and some i...well.... didn't.
a. the day started out with an amazing hip-hop performance by a couple local guys named "step cousins". i thought they were amazing. and while i was in the crowd "waving my hands in the air like i just don't care", i was slightly falling in love with the white rapper "macklemore"

b. while sitting on the grass and watching the people walk by we heard a couple funk bands, one was called honeycutt and one was the saturday knights. both were actually very entertaining.
c. one of the mainstage performances at night was supposed to be +44, a band made up of mark hoppus and travis barker from blink 182, but they cancelled and were replaced by schoolyard heroes. wow....not my favorite. a major screamo band.
i thought maybe i was finally was showing my age but then i saw this kid....

and realized the kleenex in his ear was a good sign he wasn't enjoying himself either. i did, however, enjoy it when they said that anyone who came to their next performance would receive a free lollipop...a blood-flavored lollipop...you can't make that stuff up...
d. gym class heroes rocked my world, and any bad things we had to put up with throughout the day was well worth it to see these guys. they put on an amazing show.




(travis came out before the show to take pictures, sign autographs, and shake hands with the fans--this is me and the stage---this is the crowd during the concert)

2. teenage alternative girls kind of scare me. especially girls waiting in line for the mainstage. calm, cool, collected...these are not words to describe the craziness that lies in the hearts and heads of these fans. try as they might, the security was unable to make these girls "walk" to the entrance, instead i became a victim in the human "running with the bulls" event just getting into the stadium. i was running for my life, and trying to save my body, my shoes, and most of all my sanity as hundreds of teenagers descended upon michelle and i. the funny thing was, everyone who was in the first seated line from the first to the last got excellent stage side seats...so who knows what the rush was about.

(this is at the starting gate before the rush of death occurred)

3. you do not need to get up early and wait 2 hours in line for the mainstage passes. although it gives you alot of time to converse with your friend, and constantly question if you are in fact in the correct line....the passes and are not few and far between and will still be around two hours into the opening of bumbershoot. but hey. i put in a lot of stress, annoyance (why do adults feel the need to take cutsies? are we in the lunch line in fifth grade? seriously.), and hard work into getting mine and the satisfaction i got when the pass was handed to me just might make it all worth it.

4. when the weather is nice, just sitting and watching the craziness around you can be the funnest thing you do. whether is was on the grass watching middle age men in khaki shorts dance around to funk-soul music, parking our tired bodies on a park bench to watch the concert goers, or quietly mocking a 9/11 protester with his "9/11 was an inside job" sign as he passed out paraphernalia we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.... plus the rest for my tired feet was much needed.


5. i don't get performance art. this was just plain awkward to watch, and yet needed to be captured on film....

(to get the full effect click on the picture to see the larger version)

after a long yet amazing day we got our denny's on and headed home. oh how my body ached for the comforts of my bed....