the. best. concert. EVER.

so. last night a few of my lady friends and i stepped out on the town to see Pink Martini, performing with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

Hands down one of the best concerts I've ever seen.

they got a standing ovation at INTERMISSION. i made my usual dash for the bathroom at the end of the last song, and as i rounded the corner, down the stairs, and into the bathroom, i could still hear the crowd going wild in the theater above me. unbelievable.

the energy in there was unbelievable. people were cheering mid-song, at the end of every song. darn. i just can't describe it. i can only say, go see pink martini TODAY! www.pinkmartini.com

ps. mom- they'll be back in nov....maybe we can take in the show when you're in town?

aaalllll by myseeeeeeeelfffff......

this is not a self-pitying post. seriously. went on a date last night with someone who really seems to like me and it made me reflect (note: picture at left of me and josh at molly and jorge's wedding is not really related, but i thought it made a good image of couplehood, while i'm on the subject). these things always happen when i'm just on the verge of being perfectly happy on my own - really happy with it. not having to check in with someone else about anything, not having to worry about what someone else will think. it's such a relief. and i enjoy myself. i think i'm pretty cool. and i love that i get to do the things that i want to do.

comes even the faintest sniff of a relationship and i get nervous. what? i have to be accountable to someone else? no way. eff that.

i guess it isn't being alone that was killing me. it was being lonely. now i just need to work on being the me i'm meant to be. without all the other people getting in the way. dating is fun, but it should NOT be part of my self-definition.

ok. just a few thoughts on a friday morning!

ps. i do have pics from leia's wedding (during which my hair style was veering dangerously close to newscaster territory), but they're either a) in hard copy or b) on the photographer's website, in which case i'd have to buy them - can't just copy and save. bummer. in the meantime. here are some from molly and jorge's wedding.

exhaustion and exercise

back from my fourth and final trip east for the forseeable future. my best friend from high school, leia (and blogger on figure-this, where she chronicles her hilarious life in the classroom), is now married. (married? yes. married.)

i'll blog about that truly beautiful, fun, and exceptional wedding as soon as i get some PICTURES from those with digital cameras (mine, unfortunatley, is still out of commission). in the meantime, i have to tell you about this class i took yesterday at the gym.

(others haven't found this story too funny, but i think it's hilarious)

the instructor (named "gary") CLEARLY has Attention Deficit Disorder. as i was getting ready for the class (standing in one place, stretching, trying to wake up from a day at work), a red blur whizzed by my peripheral vision. he was running around the room - tapping the tape recorder, saying "hi" to regulars (and then running away), and throwing jumpropes on the floor at everyone's feet while the speakers screamed "i'm coming out". apparently, that was our warm up - jumping rope. during the entire class, he didn't speak but rather yelled in spurts that i could never really make out (they sounded like "WHOOP-WHUP!!") which, i guess means "switch sides" or "now do cartwheels" or "ok, stop".

occasionally, he yipped. "YIIIIIP-YEEE!!!"

while we were doing exercises, he started by demonstrating each exercise and then, because that clearly didn't constitute enough movement for him, he ran around the room - picking up props, putting others away, playfully trying to knock the balance balls out from under us, or pushing us a little to make us fall over, or adjusting our alignment, or playfully adding extra weight during an exercise.

at one point, he stopped to adjust my shoulder, and, feeling how tight it was, delivered some pressure to the knot and said "what is that?" then he handed me an extra weight and bounded off to another student across the room. that was the extent of our interaction.

even the class's music was totally ADD. there was no theme or rhythm or flow at all. no coordination of exercises to music. it was clearly something he put together thinking "OH! I LIKE THIS SONG! AND THIS SONG! WE SHOULD JUST ALL WORK OUT TO THESE SONGS BECAUSE I THINK THEY'RE GREAT! WHAT A TOTALLY AWESOME WORKOUT MIX! THESE SONGS ARE AWESOME!"

in the course of a one-hour class, we listened to:
Cake
U2
Keane
Various disco songs
G Love & Special Sauce

among other totally unrelated songs, artists, tempos and tunes.

how do people live with ADD? or live with people who have ADD? it's so exhausting!

it was perhaps the craziest exercise class i have ever taken. but, man, was it a good workout!

I am NOT knocked up.

in response to a few emails and posts i've gotten since blogging about erin's baby (er-and posting the sonogram picture), i thought i'd clear this up.

I AM NOT PREGNANT. the sonogram below is of my friend erin's baby (yet to be named).

(good lord. can you imagine if i was and *this* was the way i told people? heheeh)

crazy, crazy changes.

well. tomorrow night i flag the redeye home to boston for my best friend from high school's wedding. it's only now hitting me and i honestly can't believe it.

and as if that weren't enough, i got an email out of the blue from my dear high school friend erin. we reconnected at her wedding about two years (!!) ago. she's going to have a BABY!!!!! i'm stunned. all of these changes in other people's lives are just overwhelming me. YIKES. (that was meant to be an amusingly self-absorbed statement. but now that i read it, it just sounds self-absorbed. oops!)

obviously i'm happy and excited for both of them. it's just one of those moments when things move very quickly at once and you're left reeling.

reeeeeeeeeeeeeelllll.
erin's baby blog: http://weebabylee.livejournal.com.

pictures from my dearly departed camera

i guess when you know good people, you can't help but have a wonderful time when they bring all of their friends together for a celebration. this wedding was almost like camp - we stayed in a big old inn, with little cabins and bikes and a pool and beach (admittedly nicer than my girlscout camp, but bear with me). the weekend started off with a lobstah-bake/rehearsal dinner. so, we all met each other - molly and jorge's friends from dartmouth, boston, connecticut, chicago, and elsewhere. then there was a beautiful slide show of both m and j as kids up to adulthood.

normally i HATE this stuff. but to be honest, this was really beautiful. they are such genuine, warm, generous people that an otherwise hokey slideshow became in fact a fun, funny, touching and tear-jerking group conversation about molly and jorge. (with a lot of help from jorge's friend who put together an incredibly synchronized visual/musical montage)

then there was a CAMPFIRE, S'MORES, and a HOTTUB (in which there were definitely some naked people...self not included. i always make it a point to take a bathing suit or two wherever i travel. you never know! this time i brought two. which meant that my friend liz cate and i were sometimes the only suited bodies in the tub).

then the next day, liz and i explored up to wiscasset, maine, to the local strawberry festival. the berries were fabulous. picked that morning in the driving rain, we ate them 3 hours later and had juicy dripping chins. yum. then to the town of boothbay, and then just enough time for a massage before the wedding.

the wedding. by this time, we were all pretty much good friends. and we were part (not just watching, but a part) of a beautiful ceremony that celebrated not only molly and jorge, but also their family and friends. because that's just the kind of people they are. everyone was a part of this. meg ansara read a piece she'd written about how molly and jorge build community and leadership just through their own relationship, and through their friendships with others.

i'll give you an example. i knew 5 people at the start of that wedding, besides the couple. i went to college AND geneva with two of them but we all knew molly and jorge through different ways (tufts, 2020 dems, high school). one of them i knew threw my work at harvard, and she met mj through a completely different activity. i didn't even know she'd be there! two of them i met directly through jorge (and 2020 dems). this is what i mean. they find good people and they bring good people together.

whew. after a beautiful wedding, and a beautiful best man speech by josh (not just funny, but also very touching), there was food and MUCH dancing. and THEN there was the "game room". which had CANDLEPIN BOWLING LANES (i fell in love with it). jesse foote had set up a craps game on the ping pong table. and everyone else was just hanging out. afterward, hot tub.




i've tried to summarize (poorly) how AWESOME this weekend was. i met some great people and had a great time. but most of all, i witnessed two best friends commit themselves to each other and to their community. and i feel so honored to have been a part of that.