rest in peace, my baby brother.







thank you for 6 wonderful years.

This is the story of how I came to believe that God didn't want me to go to Newark yesterday.

First, Andy picked me up from work at 12:30pm. I was blissfully unaware of the torture ahead and was so freaking happy! I felt like I was going to giggle myself right out of my skin. We parked at the airport and bounded inside. Since we planned to land at 5:15 and head straight to the 7pm concert, we weren't even carrying any luggage.

( it all goes downhill from here )

After laying awake all night worrying about the kittens in the alley, I took Mama and babies to Animal Friends!

( meow )

I haven't posted my DC and New York trip photos yet, and that makes me sad, because writing my livejournal wrap-up is always one of my favorite parts of taking a trip.

So here. I'm posting about DC tonight, and I'll write about NYC this week.



( My visit to DC last month was simply lovely. )

Hey, I'm at Madge's pretty apartment in New York City. I think once you combine three forms of transportation - trains, planes, and, well, automobiles - your trip officially starts to feel like a pilgrimage.

But the DC concert made me feel so dang happy! Seriously--just bliss. It was a great setlist, and Eddie is truly a new man, post-fatherhood and post-solo tour. He is happy, confident, humble, authentic, funny and sweet.

This is my favorite photo from the DC show. Look how happy everyone is. Everyone in the whole band is just celebrating the joyous release.



On the agenda today:
- breakfast
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- high tea at a place called Alice's Teacup
- Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden!!!

Lucky me!

>

When Pearl Jam announced their summer tour, I thought, "Hey--Tampa! Why not?" and bought tickets. So, on Thursday morning, Andy and I took off for my 20th Pearl Jam concert.

( Tampa picture post )

Every time spring rolls around, I fall in love with my city again. I love how my street is lined with pink and red trees, and how I can walk under ... what are they, dogwoods? I hope so... on my way to a movie or a coffee or an ice cream cone. Right now I'm happily sitting on my porch, next to a big pot of orange-pink begonias. The final frost is supposed to come Tuesday night, but after that, I'm going to plant seeds all over my balcony.

As Eddie Vedder said that night, "The rest of the world is a dark and scary place compared to Santa Barbara."

( happy Santa Barbara picture post )

I met Eddie Vedder!

and I can't help it, but I don't want to wash the hand he shook! :)

The concert was amazing, and I'll post all about it soon. It ended at 11:30, and Melissa and I joined a crowd of about 30 fans at Eddie's tour bus. And waited. At one point, Eddie sprinted past us into the bus. Hours went by. Temperatures dropped. We were shivering and tired and hungry. We felt tortured. More time passed. The crowd dwindled. I thought about Lollapalooza and knew that if I could sweat in a mosh pit for 11 hours, I could do this.

Finally, at 2:30, a security guard came out, applauded us for our devotion, and gave us the drill. No photos, no hugs, one autograph each. And then Eddie came out, and gave each of us a heartfelt, patient moment of his time. While he signed my program, I told him that I've met the kindest, most amazing people because of him. He leaned back and said, "Aahh, isn't that the best part?" Then I told him that I was also getting to see amazing places because of him--and Melissa told him we'd have never seen Santa Barbara otherwise--and he said, "That's a great by-product, isn't it?" Then I thanked him. He held my hand and looked me right in the eye. His was the softest, silkiest hand I ever felt.

Of course, it was wonderful.

I feel very aware that I'm just one in a million fans--that he was granting me a favor, he was just doing a job. But I'm also grateful and exhilarated and awed by his gentle kindness.

I'm really happy. :)
What a wonderful man.

Hi! I'm still in Santa Barbara, and taking lots of pictures of palm trees. Santa Barbara looks like this.

Today we had breakfast at a cafe on the beach. Then we walked two miles to State Street, where a lot of fun shopping could be found. We ducked into antique shops, clothing stores and kept caffienated courtesy of coffee shops. I got a cherry-and-jasmine iced tea that was delicious, a pink cardigan, a cute purse with birds on it, and happily strolled along the palm-tree lined street.

We found the theater where Eddie will be playing and got giddy butterflies. It's a movie theater that's set up like an open Spanish courtyard. Tomorrow we're going to mill around in the afternoon in hopes of catching the sound check.

Today I tried Excedrine Migraine for the first time, and it kicked a sickening headache to the curb in about 20 minutes flat. It's funny...not only did my massive headache go away, but I was so medicated that I didn't even notice that I was getting a giant blister on my foot. That's good stuff!

mbangel10 and I made it to Santa Barbara! Yesterday really did start to feel like a pilgrimage. First, we flew to Phoenix to wait for a flight to LA. By about 10:30 Pittsburgh time we landed in LAX, where we had to catch a shuttle to Alamo to rent a car. Then, we had to stare at our car keys in horror and figure out which of us was going to brave the LA highway.

I, the girl who was terrified to get behind the wheel just 4 short years ago, decided to drive. Probably because I really wanted to pick the car. I picked this one. I hope I never have to parallel park it.



So, we drove down the coast, wishing the whole time that we could see blue water instead of pitch black night. We only had one mishap, when I thought the GPS wanted me to get off at an exit, but we took refuge in a Whole Foods parking lot before hitting the highway again.

We found our hotel-- The Inn at East Beach.



Notice how, instead of a photo, they show you an artistic rendering. That is because they took some artistic license. It's a little funny here. I feel like I'm staying in Veronica Mars's apartment complex. Mmm, Logan...

So now it's morning in Santa Barbara. It's freakin COLD here. We were prepared for this "sunny California" everyone's always talking about. So far it feels like we left nicer weather in Pittsburgh. But, we're going to try to get a shuttle into town and do some shopping. The Eddie Vedder concert is tommorrow, in a cute old-timey movie theater that has twinkling stars on a fake starry-sky ceiling. I wish it was tonight.

I wish I didn't have a headache, but I'm having fun.

CELL-PHONE DIPLOMACY ON MIDEAST
By Peter Grier

A ringing cellphone distracted Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Abed Rabbo while he was making a speech on the status of East Jerusalem at an international peace conference held in Morocco Dec. 16. After the phone was turned off, Mr. Abed Rabbo found that he could not remember what he was talking about. "The ring tone was one of those songs from the Eddie Vedder soundtrack to "Into the Wild," said Abed Rabbo. "I really loved that movie."

Embarrassingly, Israeli negotiator Ehud Reve then found himself unable to recall his nation's position on the Palestinian right of return. Mr. Reve apologized for forgetting to set his phone to vibrate, and said that Mr. Vedder was one of his favorite artists. After several hours of intense talks, the two sides issued a joint resolution honoring the Pearl Jam frontman.

"This shows why the two sides need to get past their differences of political position and focus on their common human qualities," said US President-elect Claudia Zirconium in a statement issued Dec. 19.

• Peter Grier writes for the Monitor from Washington.

====

It's okay, Ehud Reve. Eddie Vedder makes me forget what I'm talking about, too.

Merry Christmas!

I had a sweet day with people and pets that I love, and I hope you did too.



( picture post )

I had the best time with my Amy this weekend.



We ended up just sitting (clothed, and dry) in my giant bath tub, giggling and chatting. It felt a bit like being 8 again.



*love*

As far as the Pittsburgh calendar of events goes, this weekend always ranks right up there with my birthday. Today I got to go to the Handmade Arcade (!), which is billed as an "indie craft fair."

Every year, I spend every last dollar that I bring. This year, I bought so many pretty crafts from pretty, crafty girls:



( don't you want to see the rest of my loot? )

And while I was there I ate:
- Mushroom curry bisque
- Parmesan artichoke hummus with pita
- Artichoke & sundried tomato quiche with greens
- an avocado cupcake

You know? I'm really having a wonderful weekend. On Thursday, Andy, my friend Kay & her boyfriend and I went to see the comedian Mitch Fatel.

Last night, that crew plus my friend Julie and I went to see the band Ten at the Rythm House. The band was great, and I discovered that vodka and cranberry juice goes down real easy.

Also...Reason #946 why I love my boyfriend: he just came home with a little takeout container, which is unusual for him. It turns out, he brought home scraps of steak sub for Firefly!

(I think it's a good sign that, the more time I spend with Andy, the more I like him.)

I had a jam-packed weekend!

This dog is pissed.



( So cute, they're scary )

Andy and I caught a flight to Chicago Midway on Friday morning. We landed, caught a cab, and headed out to Lincoln Park. I had chosen the Lincoln Park neighborhood because the guidebooks promised it to be Chicago's "college town" -- and it ended up being exactly what I'd hoped for. Our hotel was just down the street from secondhand stores, coffee shops, and funky boutiques.

( My Lollapalooza Post )

Words can't describe what we put up with to stand in front of 220,000 people.

It was a weekend of extreme highs and lows. But here was the payoff:


(photo by Andy)

Long Lolapallooza post to come!

Wow. Our new apartment is stunning.

Andy and I toured it so quickly --way back in April-- that I honestly couldn't remember what it looked like. Today we got the keys and explored.

I would like to shine good moving karma onto the sweet young couple who moved out of the place, and left it so clean and shiny that my toilet brush, post-use, is still as white as it was when I took it out of the package! That is awesome.


The front porch. I die.

( photo tour )