It's so damn hot today - I spent an hour at lunch today because this is pretty much the hottest day we've had so far yet this year, and I wanted to enjoy it, but I have a bit of a lingering lunch coma that's preventing me from being totally productive - and what increases productivity more than updating one's blog?? ;)

Birthday Update

So, everyone came to dinner on the 27th, and it was very nice. We went to the Cheesecake Factory, and naturally we all had cheesecake for dessert...aaaaand they had to sing for me. So embarrassing!! ;) But it was really good to see everyone. And I got the seal of approval on Jens from my other friends! The only other thing I remember is how ridiculously full I was afterwards...

I didn't do a whole lot for my actual birthday. It was a pretty casual day. I went to the gym after work, and then Jens came over and we had frozen pizza and watched the Alias and Friends season finales. I had TiVoed the Friends one to tape it for Allison, and I was waiting to watch it until I taped it for her. Some of the bits at the hospital were pretty funny, although I might worry about getting kids from a mother that, um, out of it. It wasn't the best episode, but it was a fitting ending.

Noo Yawk Citay

I took advantage of the long weekend to go to New York and visit Allison, meet her new boyfriend, and "help" her shop for her European vacation that she's going on in a couple weeks. I drove down Saturday morning, and then we went shopping in the afternoon. I went into Ann Taylor Loft on a whim, and I ended up buying a dress for my friend Wendy's wedding. I'm a bridesmaid, and originally there wasn't really going to be any structure to what we were wearing or anything, but I thought it might be nice to have some sort of theme. So we decided on black and white. The dress I bought is a small black and white flower print, with about 1" straps and an empire waist. It fit so well that I might have had to get it even if it didn't work for the wedding! (Aside for Chicago peeps: this wedding is actually in Iowa on August 14th, so I'll be back in Chicago briefly that weekend because that's where I'm flying in and out of. :) The best part is that this means that I'm a bridesmaid in two weddings on consecutive weekends - woohoo! It'll be fun, but I'm just really glad that only one of them requires air travel.

Back to the shopping...well, of course we got a little carried away at H&M (we all know how easy that is!). I got a couple of cute sundresses for my upcoming vacation on Cape Cod. Allison had the fortitude to stand in line twice to try things on (crazy!), so by the time we were done there, we were ready to take a breather. So then we went and met her boyfriend for dinner at an Indian place in midtown, which was very yummy. After that we took the subway downtown to Greenwich Village and did an abbreviated pub crawl, which means we made it to just about two places. So much for the raging of yore! ;) It was still a good time. Sunday we went into the city and stopped at the Strand bookstore, before meeting up with Matt, his boyfriend Brad, Allison's boyfriend David, and our other friend Feng, for brunch. It was an all-you-can-drink mimosa brunch. ;) Not that we really had that many, but it was rather odd drinking alcohol at noon on a Sunday! So I got to catch up on what everyone was up to - Matt and med school, Brad and his job, etc. After that Allison and I went to finish up our shopping. I got a great deal on some pants and a skirt at the Gap, and we both bought a couple things at Old Navy. I could not resist the aqua terry tube dress. mmm! After a couple hours, the shopping and the mimosas took their toll, so we decided we were done and walked over to Bryant Park, which is behind the New York Public Library. There's a rather nice patch of grass there, and we just lay down and actually took naps, right there! The weather was so gorgeous - it was about 75 and sunny, so it was just right. I really lucked out on the weather this trip. After the sun disappeared behind the buildings, we went and had some dinner and then saw Mean Girls, which I was very much pleasantly surprised by how good it was. Tina Fey wrote a great script. So, that was New York.

Concerts galore

Last Friday I had an orchestra concert, which was all jazz music. It was a pretty orchestra-centric week, as I had two rehearsals and then the performance on Friday. Tuesday Jens came over, and I made baked ziti and we just watched a movie. Wednesday I had dinner with my ol' roomie Kristina at our favorite restaurant, Not Your Average Joe's. Best. Bread. Ever. :) The concert ended up going ok. It's always a bit touch and go with the jazz folks, because even when we figure out beforehand what we're playing when (because they take solo breaks), more often than not that ends up changing while we're in the middle of playing the freakin' piece. It's definitely a different feel than the normal classical orchestral music. But it worked out ok. Jens came to my concert, which was nice. Most of the time none of my friends make it to my concerts, so it was really good to have someone there. Saturday I putzed around and then went over to Jens' to watch Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Talk about a loooong game. But it was cool to see TB win. Sunday I went out for a bit of a girls' lunch with Amanda and Kate - it was a de facto celebration for Amanda having taken her level 2 CFA on Saturday. She's so talented. :) Monday night Jens came over so we could watch Game 7 (Game 7!!) of the hockey finals. Seems like Calgary was just a bit demoralized by that Game 6 loss. But it was a good game. *sniff* No more hockey until October!

Last night my friend Jon and I went to the No Doubt/blink 182 concert outside of Boston at the Tweeter Center. We hadn't bought tickets ahead of time because I strenuously object to paying those hideous Ticketmaster service charges if at all possible. (For this concert, the tickets were $40 and the service charges NINE DOLLARS. uh, yeah.) Well, we were waiting to buy tickets, and of course there were a couple scalpers around offering up tickets. This one guy had two tickets that were seats, not the lawn, that he was willing to sell for $75. We didn't have quite that much on us, so he had to settle for $67. We didn't even really look at the seats when we bought the tickets. One of them ended up being in the center front section about 2/3 of the way back from the stage. I went and used that one for the No Doubt portion of the concert, and it was unbelievable. I don't think I've ever been that close up at a concert ever before. Especially facing center stage. So not only did I have a fantastic seat, but No Doubt put on an awesome show. Gwen Stefani is clearly my new girl crush. ;) She rocks. They hit all the good songs in their set - Ex-Girlfriend, Bathwater, It's My Life, Spiderwebs, Sunday Morning, Don't Speak, Running, Simple Kind of Life, Hella Good, Hey Baby, etc. I don't even think I realized how much of their music I really like. It was a very good show. Now I am so looking foward to Annie Lennox/Sting in three weeks. Wheee! :)

Was that really all just two weeks? Holy moly.

Anyways, just as a bit of aside commentary...the thing with Jens is going really well. We have quite a bit in common, we enjoy each other's company, we like to do the same sorts of things, and all that. It was slightly overwhelming at first, but I'm really enjoying it and I really like him. The best part is that I think he feels the same way. =) It's been almost six weeks, and still, so far, so good!

Well, I've recovered from the lunch thing - my body has finally adjusted to the nicely air-conditioned indoor temps. :) Time to do some actual work...