ACL - Day 1

Well, it is that time of year again my friends. Or I should say it was that time of year, last weekend. Time for Austin City Limits music festival! Jason and I, and usually Amanda and Jared, try to go every year. For those who don't know what it is, it is a music festival that is held every year in Austin for three full days with 130 bands playing on several stages all through out the day. It is always a blast, as well as super tiring, so I am a little exhausted today as I write to you, but I will do my best to tell you all the fun details of the weekend.

Jason and I headed out of Dallas after work on Thursday and met Amanda and Jared at a 'quaint' little hotel in North Austin just to have some place to stay for the night. We got up the next day for breakfast at Kerbey Lane (surprise, surprise) to find that there was NO WAIT. I literally do not think I have EVER been to KL when we didn't have to wait. I couldn't believe it. Guess cause it was a school/work day? Either way, we were stoked. After breakfast we walked down to Tyler's (Austin's version of Raquet and Jog for you Tylerites), and bought some new, much more comfy shoes to wear to ACL, then we headed to our much nicer and more conveniently located hotel downtown.

Now we had decided to stay at the Radisson on Town Lake because it said online it was only a mile from Zilker Park. Now maybe it was a mile, as the crow flies, to the very closest edge of where Zilker technically starts or something, but it is no mile walking to ACL. It was at LEAST two miles if not more. Basically it took us about 45 minutes to walk there, and when you are walking in the heat all day long around the park, the last thing you want to do is walk 45 minutes schlepping a bag chair on your back, back to the hotel. So we did end up paying some of those pedicab guys a few times to take us back and forth to the festival. I bet they made a killing this weekend!

So anyway, we get in to our nice new comfy room and unpack and get all our stuff together to head out to the festival. We walk and walk and walk to the park, but once you get closer to the park it isn't so bad because there are TONS of people giving away free stuff. Free koozies, free beer, free coconut water, energy drinks, fans, etc. There was also this tent full of hippies selling mostly pipes, to be used for tabacco use only I am sure, and shirts and stuff and every time we walked past they had some awesome song on, such as Michael Jackson's Dirty Diana the first time, and they were dancing around like crazy. We looked forward to that every time we passed. It looked like they were having a very good time. =)

So the first day of the festival was Friday, and it was my busiest day. The first band I wanted to see was Rodney Crowell, and he started at 12:30 (which we didn't quite make due to the walk taking three times as long as we thought), but I really only wanted to see him cause I like this song "What Kind of Love" that came out when I was in like 9th grade or something. So it's old and I am sure he didn't sing it anyway.

The next band we saw was What Made Milwaukee Famous. I knew a few of their songs, though I am not a huge fan, and they are a local Austin band so I thought they would be cool to see. I would say they were good, nothing outstanding. They sounded just like they do on the album, which I know is what a lot of people want in a concert, but I like a little something extra added to a show. Whether it is just a few funny quips from the lead singer or some jumping around on stage to add some high energy. I mean the Kaiser Chiefs lead singer broke his ankle last year at their show, not that I would wish that on WMMF, just would have liked to see something a little more from them. Not a bad set, just nothing special.

After WMMF was Sunny Sweeny. She is a Texas country artist that my sister is really in to so I had gotten her CD and had actually gotten to where I really liked it so I was excited to see this one. She also had a stage where we could sit in the shade so it was a nice break from the heat. Her set was great I thought. It was a much smaller stage with a smaller crowd and we were up pretty close so it felt more intimate, which is always better, but she was also fun and the songs were great. I always feel like if I don't know a song, but find myself really liking it on a first listen, then I am sold. So she got a thumbs up from me.

After Sunny, I had my only break of the day until Patty Griffin at 4:30. So we high tailed it over to the food court to meet up with the boys and to sample some of the fine local cuisine. I got some nachos from Salt Lick and they were tasty. I love nachos.

So after some much needed sustenance, we went to see Patty Griffin on the big stage. She is one of my all time favorite musicians and was one of the people I was most looking forward to. She was great, but we weren't able to get very close and the sound system just wasn't that loud so we were having a hard time hearing too. I was a little disappointed, but it made my decision on whether to stay for her entire set and miss part of Mates of State, or to leave a bit early for MOS easier. I left early and caught Mates of State entire set. Good choice Kelli. The first couple songs I think their sound was a little off, like the vocals were way louder than the instruments or something so it sounded a little strange. After that, though, the rest of the set was awesome. They have a bunch of songs where they bring out a cellist and a couple violinists and it sounds so pretty. They sang my two favorite songs 'Goods' and 'The Re-Arranger' so I was a happy camper.

After MOS, I headed over to see Jenny Lewis. She is/was, not sure if they are broken up or what, the lead singer of Rilo Kiley, as well as a fairly well known child actor. You may know her from playing Shelley Allen's daughter in Troup Beverly Hills or as Fred Savages crush in The Wizard. Two of my favorite movies growing up. Anyway, I had gotten her CD and really liked it so I was excited to see her. I had to get there late and leave early so I really didn't get to see but just a few songs, but she did an amazing job. She is adorable too. I swear she is like 5 feet tall and she was such a sweetheart. I think I would like to be friends with her. Do you think she would be interested? No? Ok, fine.

Next up was the Eli Young Band, who I have become a big fan of in the last year, so I was excited to see them. They were pretty good too. Sang some stuff off their new album that I haven't really gotten a chance to listen to much, so that was nice, and also sang my favorites off their old album. The lead singer, Mike Eli I believe is his name, talked to the audience a lot which I like, so again, thumbs up for them.

Right after them was The Swell Season. These guys you might remember if you watched the Oscars last year. They were featured in an Irish movie called Once, and won an Academy Award for best original song in a motion picture. The song is called Falling Slowly and is beautiful. You should check it out. Anyway, I only got to stay for a little while because it was getting dark and everyone else was supposed to 'find' me and there was no way they were going to after dark and we had no back up plan. So I left early to go back to where they were. After Swell Season was Mars Volta, who I kind of wanted to see, but I am not like a huge fan and everyone else wanted to go ahead and go because they were meeting up with people later on. I was exhausted anyway, so we left and walked alllll the way back to the hotel. I showered, got in bed and konked out until 9:30 the next day. It has been a while since I slept that late!

Coming up...Day 2!

Ike is Gone, Baby, Gone

I was in Tyler this past weekend while Hurricane Ike was on the rampage. Friday night we watched as it rolled in to Galveston. The news was reporting anyone that stayed in Galveston who lived in a single person home faced 'certain death'. Pretty bold statement when there was a reported 20,000 people who decided to ride it out. I understand the need to make people take things seriously, and there were around 30 deaths, but out of 20K? - I would say the odds were pretty good. I feel like the media cried wolf on this one and maybe next time even less people will evacuate and it could be a lot worse. Who knows. I mean those people who stayed are not very smart in my opinion anyway, but that's beside the point.

So I was in Tyler visiting the parents and siblings on Saturday when Ike came to visit East Texas. It rained and was really windy all day, but not too bad honestly. We lost power about 2pm, but luckily my dad had a generator so we could still watch TV and had the fridge running and they even had a little mini stove to plug in. So we were ok. We just watched the news most of the day and then that night we watched Gone, Baby, Gone on DVD. Now, I saw this movie in the theater and thought it was so dang good that I told mom it might be a good thing for us all to watch. I warned them it was a pretty heavy movie, but as long as they were down for that, so was I. I still think this movie is so great. Great actors, great script, interesting storyline, just wonderful. Amy Ryan got an oscar nod for her role last year, but in my opinion, the whole movie was not given the attention it should have gotten last year. I mean No Country for Old Men? Come on. It had some great acting and was very well done, but I hardly know anyone who came out of it saying 'man that was the most amazing movie I have seen all year!'. Of course, that is just my opinion, but the basic point is Gone, Baby, Gone was wonderful and you should see it.

Sunday we got up to survey the damage. We were still without power, but the weather had done a 180 and was just gorgeous. It was clear and the sky was blue and the temperature was down right fall-like. We didn't have any trees down in our yard, just a lot of big limbs, but pretty much every neighbor had a big tree that had fallen. One of the neighbors had one fall on their house and destroy the roof. The men in the family went down to my dad's land to see what had happened to the trees there and so the women decided to go see The Women. The movie was cute, funny, and kept my interest, but the main thing I got from it was I MISS MEG RYAN! What happened to her? She looks great and was great in the movie and I need to see her in more chick flicks. Hollywood, are you listening? I hope so. I also love Annette Bening. She is always greatness in my book.

So I am now back in Dallas, where there was barely any hurricane type weather from what I hear. My parents STILL don't have power, or didn't as of last night, but hopefully they will soon. Are you listening TXU? =)

Movie Review: Tell No One

So this weekend Jason and I were going to see Burn After Reading, the new Coen Bros movie, with Chris and Jessica. Now those of you who keep up with movies are probably saying, but wait! I didn't think that movie was out yet. Well, you would be right. When we looked it up, though, it defaulted to the next movie times, which are two weeks from now. We just didn't look at the date. So we made plans to meet at the Magnolia to see it, but for some reason I decided to double check it on the Landmark Theaters website and low and behold realized it wasn't playing. So I will see that in a couple of weeks and tell you what I think. However, this day we decided to see something else. Chris said he had heard of this French movie 'Tell No One'. I had heard about it too, from Richard Roeper and Michael Phillips on at the movies and they had both said 'See It'. So we decided on that.

Just a note, in case you missed it, this film is French, meaning it is in French with subtitles. I know some people aren't crazy about that, so I just want to make sure you know unlike the lady sitting behind us at the movies. As soon as the credits started rolling (in French) she turns to her husband and says 'This better be in English!'. Of course it isn't. Anyway, it was kind of funny.

So this movie is great. I really can't write much about it without giving something away, and there are a lot of things to give away. But basically the movie is about a man and his wife who were childhood sweethearts and have been together forever and are super in love and happy and all that. At the very beginning of the movie the wife is murdered and the rest of the movie hinges on that, but takes place 8 years after it has happened. There are a lot of twists and turns and even some funny parts since the man is a doctor who is owed a favor by a French gangster. Also, a quick warning just in case you were planning to take the kiddos. Like I said the movie is French and the French just aren't as modest as we prude Americans. So there is some nudity, like full nudity. No love scenes, just like skinnydipping where you indeed see them in all their glory. Just wanted to make sure you knew before you go in case you are also a prude American and don't want to see that stuff, or might just want to anticipate it so you can cover your eyes. =) Otherwise, if you enjoy a good murder mystery with an interesting storyline, see it. Also, it has Kristin Scott Thomas in it, who apparently speaks fluent French. Who knew?

M-I-C See ya real soon!

So this past weekend my mother, sister and I went to Disney World. For those who don't know me well, let me catch you up quickly. I love all things Disney and this, of course, includes Disney World. I like to go there as much as possible. The question I get a lot is why? Why do you love it so much? Wouldn't you rather go somewhere new? Well, Jason and I do travel a lot, and I do love to see new places, but I truly think I could go to the World twice a year for the rest of my life and not see everything. There is SO much to see there. In the four parks alone you could never do all the attractions and shows and see all the other stuff that goes on in one trip. So that is one. Two, Disney is one of the most creative companies ever. If you can truly appreciate the attention to detail that goes in to every little part of their 'campus' for lack of a better term, I don't see how you couldn't want to stay for as long as possible. I really don't have time to go in to all of it because I could spend DAYS talking about all the little hidden gems of WDW, but if you want more info just ask. It is just about my favorite topic of conversation. =)

Now, more about our recent trip. Jason had decided he was going to Vegas with some friends, so I figured if he would be gone for a long weekend, I should go somewhere too. So where else? Disney. And yes, I was going to go alone. It really is so fun to just be able to do whatever you want at whatever time you want. But to make a long story short, over the course of the summer, my mom and sister decided to come along. The three of us went last year too, and my mom made the comment that it would be her last trip there for a long time. So I was surprised she even wanted to come, but excited. So anyway, we flew out last Friday, just as Hurricane Fay was leaving, and got there with no issues. We were staying at the Wilderness Lodge resort, which I was very excited about because I had never stayed at a deluxe resort before! Annnnd now I probably won't stay anywhere else again. It was the coolest place. SO well themed and decorated and laid out. I mean there was even a geyser that went off every hour on the hour to make it feel like we were off in Yellowstone Park or something. Pretty cool.

We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning Saturday and spent half the day at the Magic Kingdom and half the day at Hollywood Studios. It was good weather until about 4, then it kind of rained off and on the rest of the day. The second day was our busiest. We hadn't gotten to ride the newest ride at Hollywood Studios - Toy Story Mania - or see Fantasmic, so we had to move our schedule around a little. We went to Epcot first and rode Soarin' - a ride we all love SO much. We spent a couple hours there and then headed over to eat at the Kona cafe. Then we went to Magic Kingdom for a while and then headed back to the resort. After a nap, Mom wanted to spend some time at the pool so Amanda and I headed back to Hollywood Studios. We rode Toy Story Mania and then met mom to grab some food before Fantasmic. Fantasmic is my FAVorite show at the World and it was great as always. After that we rushed back over to the Magic Kingdom to catch Wishes - their fireworks show - and then Amanda and I stayed for Extra Magic Hours for a little while.

Monday was our last day there and we spent it all at Epcot. We rode Soarin' again and then spent most of the day in the World Showcase. I had never seen the American Adventure and wanted to make sure and get that in. It is basically a show with audio animatronics that describes the birth of America up to present day. It was really good and got me all goose-bumpy and patriotic. =) We had to be back at the hotel by 3:45 to catch our bus to the airport and we ended up waiting forever for a bus to the hotel and missed it. But luckily there was another one shortly and we ended up getting on an even earlier flight.

Jason was supposed to be getting back around the same time as me, but his flight was cancelled/delayed/etc and so he didn't get home until almost midnight, when I was already fast asleep. =) It was a great trip, very quick though. It was my first trip where I really had no agenda and I am honestly not sure I liked it like that. I usually have my Disney trips really planned out, and I just think you get more done. Yeah, you are rushing around and exhausted at the end, but no one ever said Disney was a relaxing vacation. You want relaxing - go to the beach. Anyway, my next trip will need to be longer for sure. Until then...K-E-Y - Why because we love you! M-O-U-S-E! 8O