Everyone Loves a Boston Girl

Those weekly e-mails I get from Ticketmaster are really starting to mess with my life. Not to mention my bank account. I have a habit of buying tickets to concerts on the spur of the moment, even when I have no one to go with. I always end up finding someone to go with; I guess I just have music interests that not a lot of my friends have. The funny thing is, my interest ranges from absolutely ridiculous how old are you type music, to really indie not many people listen to music.

I have to draw the line at buying tickets for Enrique Iglesias, which I found out about this morning through a Ticketmaster e-mail. My obsession with his music (not him, he kind of creeps me out) is a bit ridiculous and Sara is the only person I know who shares it with me. And since she has class on the evening he is in Boston, I am going to restrain myself from purchasing tickets because I really can’t think of another person who would attend this show with me. Back in high school, I dragged my friends to Ricky Martin and they still make fun of me for it. Whatever, I say. You’ll never look back and regret seeing him shake his bon-bon. I can’t help it if I think an Enrique Iglesias concert would be amazingly fun.

I already purchased 2 tickets to Ryan Adams fully knowing none of my friends really care about him or listen to him. And tomorrow, I’m sure I’ll purchase tickets to Drive-By Truckers and the Hold Steady even though I’m not sure who would be willing to attend with me. But since I missed DBT last time they were in town, I’m not missing them again. Luckily I have some pretty great friends who usually agree to give the music a try. Soo friends, start listening now.

Because my mom was insanely jealous that I got to see Coldplay a couple weeks ago, when I heard they were coming back in October, I immediately bought her tickets for her birthday. She thinks she’s “too old” to see Coldplay, but I disagree. When I found out Jason Mraz was coming in Oct, I also snatched some tickets to see him. Luckily, Chels and Sara said they would go too, after they both said, “I thought of you when I saw he was coming!” And I’m super excited to see Ingrid Michaelson in October with Meg too! She will also be at Ryan, so it’s good to know someone who shares my taste in music.

According to StubHub, Boston is the 2nd most rockin’ city of 2008. I’m not sure how accurate this is and I think it may only be based on StubHub sales, but still. If we have such a rockin’ city, we may as well take advantage of it. So many legends come through Boston and I want to see every single one of them I can. Not to mention, the Enriques and Jason Mrazs. Hey, I refuse to be ashamed.

Stores already have Halloween stuff out. Magazines are arriving with Halloween paraphernalia on their covers. Gross. If you know me, you know I hate Halloween. I can’t explain it. But there’s something about grown adults putting on cheesy costumes that makes me gag. I boycotted Halloween for a few years (visiting the sister, who also hates it, helped), but then I finally realized I was being a miserable person by not participating, and if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right? So while I do participate now, I still hate it. (However, I do highly enjoy candy).

I’m so tired after this busy, but fun weekend. But all this talk of Halloween reminded me that I didn’t include it on my list of “stuff I hate.” Since nobody, but my closest friends, read my blog back then, I’m re-posting it below. Please add Halloween to the list and subtract scallops, because sometime between May 28, 2007 and August 17, 2008, I have learned to love scallops. Also, I really don’t hate elephants and feel bad for putting them on the list. They’re not even close to being my favorite animals (and they’re dirty and wrinkly) but hate is such a strong word.

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My Hate List from May 28, 2007:

Monkeys-at all, ever, period. I think monkeys are the worst animal in the entire world and I am entirely confused as to why people think they are cute. There’s nothing I hate more than monkeys on t-shirts, monkey stuffed animals, monkey decor. Monkeys pick things off other monkeys. Cute? I don’t think so. I’ve never enjoyed monkeys, but if you must know, I saw 2 monkeys involved in a disturbing situation about 6 years ago and I have never gotten over it. Monkeys=gross.

Birkenstocks-Just don’t like ‘em. Never met a person who looked good in them; don’t understand the appeal of them. If you can change my mind on this and convince me that Birkenstocks can be attractive, by all means do so. But I don’t think you can.

Elephants-I am a huge animal lover, but not a lover of huge animals. Especially huge, dirty, wrinkly ones. Cartoon elephants are just lovely (ie Dumbo), but live elephants are just gross. And smelly.

Scallops-Maybe the only food I will absolutely not eat. They make me sick and that’s all I can say about them.

Whipped Cream-I lied; there’s another food I will not eat (if you can even call it a food…debatable). DO NOT come near me with whipped cream and don’t ever try to do that thing where you try to squirt a whole thing of it into my mouth (ok, that sounds dirty). Anyway, if I even hear the squirt of the can, I gag. Home-made whipped cream, slightly more bearable and at least it’s fun to make. Bottom line: whipped cream is NOT sexy.

Camping-Not fun. Why do I want to spend the night outside on the hard ground with bugs, etc? Take me on a long uphill hike any day, but then bring me home and put me in a nice warm, comfy bed. I love NOT camping.

Raspberry alcohol-Also makes me gag. Honestly, the thought of it makes me shudder. I do, however, love real fresh raspberries. I think the flavor people just haven’t yet figured out how to make a good raspberry flavoring, and in alcohol, the combination is deadly.

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Also, see what a good sport I was Halloween 07? Pregnant Nicole Richie. Getting attacked by Rihanna and Giselle:

Things I love right now:

Shazam application for iPhone

I haven’t even needed to use this and I’m in love with it. Basically I sit holding it in front of my computer to see if it knows the songs I’m playing on iTunes. And it always does! Shazam will be awesome for, say, when I’m in the car and really need to know what song is on the radio. And for real, this does happen to me a lot. I just cannot get over how well it works. YAY for Shazam!

Pilates

I’ve always hated those people who are obsessed with going to the gym. And now I’m becoming one of them. I finally understand how amazing working out feels. When I can run just a few more minutes at a little bit of a higher speed than I could the week before, that gives me a sense of accomplishment. When I can actually see my muscles, that feels good. But pilates is what I’m really obsessed with. I can see myself improving so much and becoming stronger and more graceful. But now I’m starting to freak out if I have to miss one of the two classes I take a week. And I have to miss the next two classes. That means no pilates class for 9 days. I am starting to get panicky. Not happy about this at all. But then, this brings me to my next point.

Sushi

Yes, I have to miss pilates class on Thursday for sushi, so I can’t really complain. I’ve been obsessed with trying the best sushi places in Boston lately. And since it’s Restaurant Week in Boston, Sara and I are off to Oishii for lunch. This is supposed to be some of the most amazing sushi around, so I’m pretty excited to check it out.

The Olympics

My highly improved sleep schedule has been greatly disrupted by the Olympics. And I know I’m not the only one. Are the Olympics 10 times more fun than they’ve ever been in the past?? Or maybe I’m just more into them. But it seems like everyone is more into them than ever before. They have been completely awesome and I am intrigued by everything from swimming to handball to gymnastics to tennis. And I cannot wait for track and field. Yes! The only thing I haven’t really gotten into is volleyball. I just can’t feel it.

Foodbuzz

Jessi must have been reading my mind and realized I was desperately looking for another social networking site to join. That was sarcasm. The LAST thing I need is another social networking site to join. Seriously, I don’t think there’s anything I need less. BUT. When she mentioned Foodbuzz, I obviously couldn’t turn it down. I mean, you have to admit, the site was pretty much made for someone like me. I’m already in love with it, though it’s taking me a bit of time to figure everything out. If you have a food blog or just plain love food, you really must join. And friend me obviii.

Martha and puppies

Paw Paw’s grandsons came to visit Martha and they are the cutest things in the world!! She’s going to pick one to be her new pup. Seriously though. If those things ever came to my house, I would not be able to give any of them back. Just wouldn’t be possible.

Oh. You knew that one already, huh?

I know it’s already August and so, 2008 is officially more than half over (and eek, this scares the living daylights out of me!), but I realized that I never did my mid-year New Year’s resolutions check in (again, eek, this is scaring me). Ok, then. Here’s where I depress myself right? Let’s hope not too, too much.

Did I follow through on my resolutions??

1) Find a job that I really enjoy and can utilize my mad skillzz at- HAHAHAHAHA. Wait. HAHAHAHAH. I’m sorry. HAHAHA. OK, this really isn’t funny. I need to stop laughing. HAHAHA. Sorry. More than 6 months later and I still don’t have “a job.” At least not the kind I was talking about in this post, which is the kind that will make me “get out of my apartment and be around other people and stop constantly talking to myself.” HOWEVER, I have gained many more freelance jobs that are making me veryyy happy. Which means I put my great job search on hold as I’m quite content doing this. Of course I do still go a little crazy in my apartment (and I still talk to myself quite often), but I’ve also become much better at balancing my life.

2) Be healthier in terms of working out and eating- Woooot. I am rocking this one. Hardcore. Well, at least the working out part. Maybe not as much the eating. Anyway, I joined the gym back in April and have been hitting it hard, as in at least 5 times a week. And getting really into my workouts. And lucky me, I think I’ve gained upwards of 10-15 pounds since I’ve joined, which greatly depresses me, BUT I’m pretty sure it’s muscle (a girl can hope, right?). The other day at the gym, I actually felt muscles in my arm (you don’t even know what a big deal this is for me). A single tear may have fallen down my face as I sat at the shoulder press machine. I’m also taking pilates classes twice a week. And the other day after one move, my teacher actually said, “Wow Susie, maybe you can start subbing for me!” Obviously she wasn’t serious, but still. Yet another single tear fell from my cheek and landed on the pilates mat. I actually don’t look like a scrawny 11-year-old anymore. Thank you, gym!

3) Write a lot more- Hmmm OK, so I write a lot more for work, but I’ve definitely slacked on the blogging in 2008. Though that’s not quite true since 2008 was the start of We are not Martha. Still not writing and/or reading as much as I would like to be. I had a goal to read 50 books this year, but might have to trim that to 30.

4) Learn to speak conversational Japanese- Damn. I really am still learning. For seriously. It’s just that whole time thing getting in my way. Pesky. As soon as I’m better organized with the whole work schedule thing, I’m building this into it. I mean, I’m pretty good with my alphabets and all the characters, but I still have a long, long way to go. And I still do really want to learn this, despite people telling me I should learn Mandarin Chinese instead. Give me another year or so, K? Arigatou gozaimasu. Bai.

5) Get my finances in order- HAHAHA I want to laugh more. I mean, I don’t really know what I meant by this, except that “Hopefully a new job will help this situation.” It’s kind of hard to get finances in order when you need to start paying your graduate school loans back. Whatevs. Loans are the only debt I’m in so I consider myself lucky. And even though it’s a huge chunk of money out the door every month, it actually feels kind of fabulous to know that with each payment, I’m one step closer to being done. Grad school was fabulous and I don’t regret going so I’m fine dealing with the consequences. Not to mention, I live a pretty fabulous life and am sure I could save more moolah if I wanted, but would rather enjoy life. Without being in financial trouble of course.

6) Network more- Ooh yes, I have definitely been doing this. I’ve met up with several awesome bloggers and hopefully we will continue having meet-ups. And just plain meeting up in general? We don’t have to be so formal about. I’ve also been more active as a Yelper, another group of awesome people. And tonight I’m meeting up with the Boston Tumblr crew. Love it. I am realizing just how much I love meeting new people, friends, colleagues, etc.

7) Sleep more/get on a better sleep schedule- Only just recently! And now, GO ME. I try to be lights out by 12:30 or 1:00 every night and am up by 7:15 at the latest. This is amazing, considering back last year (or like 2 months ago) I would go to sleep at 4:00 a.m. and get up at 9:00 or 9:30. I realized that I am very much a morning person, but also a huge night owl. So, I’m trying to get the best of both worlds (there really needs to be 6 more hours in the night). The thing is, if I get up early enough, I’m actually really tired at night and that’s fabulous. I do miss my late-night pow-wows (with myself), but enjoy my morning ones much more.

Figure out what I want in life- Ummm. What does this even mean? I thought I knew what I wanted in life? Maybe I was feeling uncertain in 2007. Obvi. there are many things I have no idea about, but really, who does? Wait, don’t answer that if you do.

9) Cook more- I should get awards and medals and trophies and stuff for this one. I’ve been a crazy cook lately. And I’m sure you’ve all seen over at We are not Martha. Cooking is one of my favorite things in the world to do and I love that the more I do it, the better I get.

10) Start some of the business ventures I have in mind- Well yes, Chels and I started our website, which I think is pretty cool. I’m really not even sure what other “business ventures” I had in mind. But my freelance business is doing well and I may even have a few others things I’m not revealing too much about right now. Maybeee. Maybe not.

OMG. This is how I ended my resolutions list in January:

BE HAPPY!!!!! I love being happy and really, it doesn’t take much to make me happy, sooo I’m pretty sure I won’t have a problem with that. But I want 2008 to be the happiest year yet!

HAHA. Wow. Am I not the lamest person in the world? Well, at least we’re clear on that. Thank you Susie of January for being so happy. And yes, I’m still happy, so we’ve got that one covered at least. But wow, I still can’t believe I’m that ridiculous. Sorry you had to deal with that. I probably shouldn’t go back and re-read any more entries for risk of making myself seriously ill.

Anyway, happy half-way year!!! Now, GO BE HAPPY!!!!!! 2008 isn’t planning on sticking around too much longer!!

How excited am I to see Coldplay tonight? Incredibly crazily can’t sit still excited. This has the potential to be one of the most amazing shows I’ve been to (and I’ve been to a lot). I started liking Coldplay back in Senior year in high school and I vividly remember sitting at my computer in my sister’s room downloading music on Napster (with dial-up!). And yes, my new computer had a CD burner so I immediately put “Yellow” on a CD called “First Mix,” which also included the likes of Dispatch, Smash Mouth, Train, and more.

I’m a big fan of the new Coldplay album, but I really do love everything they have done. My all-time favorite song is probably “Warning Sign.” I obviously knew the song already, but when I heard it while watching The Last Kiss, I literally just sat there with tears streaming down my face. It was right during the time when the ex and I were in the process of seeing each other again after having broken up for a couple months. “When the truth is, I miss you….and I’m tired, I should not have let you go.” There were so many regrets and so much sadness and this song just totally said it all. “So I crawl back into your arms. Yes, I crawl back into your arms.”

Coldplay has songs that fit pretty much every part of my life, which is partly why I love them so much. And also why I’m going to be crying for the entire show. They just do that to me.

And don’t even get me started on the fact that I’m going to Ryan Adams in September. He’s pretty much my fave person in the world. And then there’s Jason Mraz in October and I’m pretty sure he’ll put on an amazing show.

In other music news, I’ve solved my bored at the gym dilemma. If you want music that will keep you seriously energized and entertained, download the new Girl Talk album. I’m not lying when I say it’s the best workout music in the world. AND if you go to their Myspace you can download it for however much you choose to pay. I’m telling you, this is the most fun music ever and it’s making me enjoy working out! I mean, where else can you hear Kanye, Britney, Jay-Z, Michael Jackson, Heart, Ludacris, Radiohead, Donna Summer, and tonnns more all together?? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Also on my list of new favorite bands is Spiritualized. “Soul on Fire” is an amazing song but all of A&E is fab. “Baby, set my soul on fire. I got two little arms to hold on tight and I wanna take it higher.”