Ks Are Wild

I’ve been enjoying my summer….away from the computer.  Not that the computers or the internet has been functioning correctly recently.  Arg!  Somewhat the main reason for my lack of email, blogging, and facebook communication.  I’ll be cooped up in the fall and winter soon enough.  So I, and the rest of us Oregonians, have been basking in the summer sun, relishing the perfect temperature for evenings outside, and generally avoiding all things relating to or relegated to the interior of a home.  Thus, my noticing and enjoyment of said sky.

Tonight we went to the free concert in Central Park here in Corvallis and listened to three different acts whilst sitting on our picnic quilt and watching our kids gallivant with other youngins.  We couldn’t help but chuckle as the music seemed to match our children’s antics to a tee, making it the perfect soundtrack.  It was absolute mayhem resembling a mad chase scene from Scooby Doo or some other cartoon: they were running around in circles, doing mad puppy sprints, dog piles, dives back onto the quilt, cartwheels, and dress spinning while the band played.

Looking like this:

Only to music more along the likes of this only a little more 60s Scooby Dooish:

Later, a different band played some retroey funky stuff that Kham and I were sorta able to swing dance to.  I kept on wanting to break out into a frug like in some Bob Fosse number from Sweet Charity:

or the big dance scene in Austin Powers (which, by the way, if this music doesn’t make your toes twitch and you want to dance, you’re made of stone!!!)

And as we left the clouds in the sky were the most amazing peachy pink against the periwinkle blue…I wish I’d had my camera.  This is some other person’s random picture on the internet and it resembles our sky alot. 

I call it Maxfield Parrish sky.  We get that around here and it is so stunning.  How lucky am I to live here in this place where I can pretend I’m living in a Maxfield Parrish painting?!!  For those who don’t know who Maxfield Parrish is, well, he was an amazing artist who painted a lot of landscapes as well as nudes in fantasy settings with a blue and white sky undertoned background.  I’m not even going to attempt to describe his work to you.  But he is famous for the luminosity and interesting hues in his skies.  I’m sure you’ve seen posters and prints of his work or a coffee table book somewhere.  He is one of my favorite artists and here is a wiki link where you can learn more.  Maybe these will help jog your memory:

See what I mean jellybean?

If the exclamation point didn’t cue you in, I am VERY excited about this. Just Mommy and daughter, wearing our fancy shoes, maybe a party dress, perhaps some gelato beforehand….

OSU Theatre is doing Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance, a musical both Kosette and I adore. The only other person I know of who likes it as much as I have, is my dear friend, Jenny. It was something we bonded over as college mates. I’ve found that there are many who claim to like musicals, but balk at those whose songs tend to be more operatic.  Jenny, you are a treasure to me.  I wish I had known you earlier in life.  Horses and Musicals – we were destined to become fast friends!!!  I wish you were coming with us.

I think with me, it was very much a case of being exposed to it so young. We had it (1980′s the version with Angela Lansbury, Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith, and Kevin Kline) on our old Laser Disc system and my sister and I watched it almost as incessantly as Grease.

As I wrote in an earlier post, Kosette sings “Poor Wandering One” as “One Hundred One”. I’ve also noticed that she seems to be imitating my vibrato. It would be amusing if it wasn’t something that annoyed me about my own voice. I got teased for it growing up, especially by this girl in my Jr. High – Lisa Steckler. She wasn’t mean, or a bully or anything, she just was popular and very good at “bagging on” (playfully insulting or making of) people, so her zingers could really make you wince….

Wow, this is an old memory, but it’s very telling of what I was like growing up.  Lisa and I were walking over to 7-11 from my parents house and sang as we went along.  When we went under the freeway overpass and noticed the fantastic echo amidst the pigeons cooing and the cars whizzing past we couldn’t refrain from singing at the top of our lungs.  We barely knew any songs in common, so we took turns singing.  She sang a lot of New Kids on the Block, Boys II Men, and Milli Vanilli.  I sang, “Puerto Rico, you Ugly Island, Island of Tropic Diseases, Always the hurricanes blowing, always the population growing, and the babies crying, and the bullets flying.  I like the island Manhattan.  Smoke on your pipe, and put that in!  I like to be in America…” (That’s from West Side Story for those who don’t know.)   (It was not a popular move on my part to not be a New Kids fan.  My Jr. High years were the HEIGHT of that craze where birthday gift requests consisted of anything New Kids related.  In fact, I think Lisa was best known for her New Kids obsession.  I think she even had the sheet set.  But I just couldn’t fake it; not for her or for anybody.  I would have rather listened to something other than pop at that time; anything else or nothing at all.  And most of what I listened to during those years were Broadway tunes and Oldies.  Yeah, see the popularity hinderance?  I still couldn’t name any song by New Kids.)  Anyhow, she made fun of my “operatic” voice, even though I had actually tried to suppress the vibrato, and light-heartedly referred to me as Opera lady thereafter.  I swear I’ve been self-conscious of that vocal trait ever since.  That’s why I think I was so drawn to Pirates of Penzance…because my voice felt at home singing its songs.

And I loved the costumes.  I never could decide which color dress or shoes I would want to wear the most, or as little girls frequently mistake garb for identity; which girl I wanted to be.  I totally had a crush on Frederic and melted when he reached his high notes in “Is there not one maiden’s breast?”  And it’s the Pirates movie that made me love Kevin Kline.  As much as I appreciate his comedy in A Fish Called Wanda,

I think he’s a comedic genius as the Pirate King in Penzance.  I would’ve loved to put his film version of “I Am A Pirate King” but nobody has uploaded that yet.  Instead, here’s a snippet of “Paradox”:

I know I’ve posted this clip before, but, I can’t help it.  This and the scenes just prior are some of my favorites because you really get some good closeups of the girls’ dresses and shoes.  Plus, it’s the most fun for me to sing.

I want these nightgowns and robes.  Always have.  Wish I were a talented enough sewer.

I swear my singing voice is getting higher than when I was younger (especially when I’m nervous, then my vibrato is totally out of control) because I find I can sing all these parts I stretched at earlier, and it’s been a LONG time since I sang with any good, true, breathing discipline practice.

The only troubles I’m anticipating is Kosette not being able to see over the grown-ups’ heads, and keeping her from singing along in her seat.  This is such a momentous moment for me to be able to share this love of mine, with my daughter.  It really feels like one of those full circle big parent moments.  I know it was the kind I eagerly looked forward to as I awaited her birth.  I wish her Grandpa George and Auntie Kelli were able to come too.  They know what I’m feeling.  And I know Jenny gets it.

I sorta wish I could tell some of my old Jr. High (Laurel Hall) friends, because they REALLY would understand how big this is for me.  They were in choir, drama, and cheerleading with me.  They sang and danced with me at recess and camp.  We watched Aspects of Love at McKenzie’s birthday party, Into the Woods at J.J.’s, and Michael Pourcia and I sang and did a drama skit to “Part of Your World” our frosh year at NDHS.  Christie Nelson and I (sorry, it’s Christine now) sang every single word and part to Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music, and Les Miserables.  J.J. and I often sang The Little Mermaid and had Disney song-offs during our long car rides to Disneyland and Cheer Camp.  Wow, memories.  (Ladies, if you somehow stumble upon my blog, you are forever a part of my life and some of my most pleasant Jr. High memories.  Thank you.)  Come to think of it, I bet they’d be quite amused and unsurprised to hear that I named my daughter, “Kosette” (spelled with a “K” instead of a” C” of course).  Yep, Broadway madness was the my  Boy Band obsession equivalent.  In fact, I had a 5 disc cd changer and Les Mis and Phantom (both 2 discs) didn’t come out of their slots for at least a year.

Maybe I’ll get around to telling you how it went.

Man, oh Man, do I love my brother.  I was really blessed with awesome siblings, it just took me until I graduated from High School to stop being petty and jealous an start appreciating my sister.  But my brother, Kalani, who is six years older than I were always tight and I worshiped him.  I wanted to learn about all the stuff he liked so that he’d let me hang around him more.  I think he genuinely enjoyed “teaching” me too – like how to climb a brick wall, chain link fence, punch, throw a ninja star, light a lighter, use hydrogen peroxide and Sun In on your hair, how to play PIT, how to boogie-board, this is Robotech, Piers Anthony, Depeche Mode, Samantha Fox, how to blow a giant bubble with Big League Chew, Star Wars, a Delorian, Star Trek the Next Generation, how to get to through the Dungeon levels on Super Mario Brothers, let me see the cover of a nudie mag, how to drive stick, he even was my guardian at the Renaissance Faire and I couldn’t be more than 20 feet from him at all times.  Alas, I wasn’t “in” enough to be welcome in his Dungeons and Dragons playing.  I was still the annoying little sister though, the one coming up with every excuse in the book to be able to knock on the teenager’s door to tell him dinner was ready, or mom wanted him, just to get him to open the door so I could see what he was doing.  And he’d open it, just wide enough to see one eyeball, and I’d strain past him to get glimpses into the forbidden zone.  I’d fetch stuff for him all the time.  I remember my mom telling him to get stuff for himself but I didn’t mind.  It was a free pass to leisurely explore his room as I made my way to the requested item.  I loved to touch his many-sided D&D die.  I browsed his tape collection, picked up nun-chucks to see how heavy they were, tried on his acid washed jean jacket, clicked his multi-colored pen, being very careful to place everything back exactly as I’d found it because I knew he would notice….It might as well have been a chapel with the deference I gave it; quiet, awe-struck, curious, reverent.

I felt special when I was with him.  He’d share things with me that he wouldn’t tell or show anyone else in our family.  He’d invite me in to the forbidden zone of his room and he’d help me with Math sometimes.  I’d time him on solving the rubix cube, or holding his breath at the bottom of the pool, or count as he added yet another Saltine cracker to the pile in his mouth at Bob’s Big Boy.  When I was bullied at school, I knew, at least he liked me and that he understood because he had his share of meanies growing up.

I just felt lit up and loved when he was around.  Although, he RARELY ever expressed or expresses those actual words.  When he went off to college in Colorado, I missed him terribly.  He gave me his childhood teddy bear for me to keep until he returned.  And even though I was in the 7th grade, I slept with that thing nightly.  He wrote me a letter on his college notebook that he sent back with my dad after helping him move that helped me through some of the anxiety I felt towards entering Jr. High with new kids.  Letters from Kalani are precious and few and I cherish that one the most.  And when he returned for summer break, he introduced me to Led Zepellin by playing “Stairway to Heaven” while we laid on the carpet and stared at the ceiling.  It was magical.

I guess there’s a lot I could attribute to Kalani’s influence: love of scifi and fantasy, a softspot in my heart and a tenderness towards “nerds”, love of 80s music, interest with the Renaissance Faire (where if I hadn’t gotten involved, I never would’ve met Kham and be where I am today), and a general love of all things Generation X (I’m the last year of that at 1977) – including “older” men like my husband, he-he.

And he’s fantastic with kids.

Kalani holding an infant Kellen at his wedding

Kalani and Jesse

But the bummer is that my kids barely know him ortheir Auntie Jesse because they rarely see or have much interaction with them.  I think that’s the crime of the century!  Kellen, in soooo many ways, reminds me of Kalani (and Kham’s brother Chris).  We joke that Chris had our naturalist/biologist son, and we had Chris and Kalani’s Engineering Techie son.  Well, we’re just going to have to foster his interests by sending him to Camp Kalani and Camp Chris.

The kids have been pumping me for info. on our relatives like what they did when they were little, what is their favorite _____(color? animal? candy bar? movie? musical? food?)? It’s been interesting because memories have surfaced from long ago and also, has shown me how much I’ve forgotten or don’t know about my own family that I know about my friends.  Kosette and Kellen just soak it all in and really latch onto stuff.  So when we went to the Benton County Fair last month and I saw Kellen’s fascination with the juggler, I told him that his Uncle Kalani could do that.  Their eyes widened in disbelief.

Kalani, part of the Juggling School, at 1997 So. Cal RenFaire

They thought I was kidding so I asked Kalani to send me a video clip of him juggling so they could see.  He did it within an hour of our phone call too.  It was awesome!  Those are the things that he does to show his love for people.  He might not say it or write it very often, but he does stuff like this.  My kids are so lucky to have him for an uncle.  And the older I get, the more my love for him deepens.

At my parents 2008

On a semi-related side-note, I have  enjoyed revisiting the series Freaks and Geaks, that was tragically canceled after just one season.  It is so well-written and performed and really launched the careers of its writers and actors.  You must rent it if you love that 80s decade!  It’s wonderfully funny, sad, and has an awesome soundtrack.  The weird thing is that unlike the last time I watched it, I’m seeing things from the parents’ perspective and judging their reactions to situations.  Boy is that an indicator of age and where you are in life.

Never Mind: There’s not enough time to get it made since it conflicts with their Halloween projects. But the patterns, and the company are still cool. Thought I’d share those. Now I need to make a trip up to Portland to go to the Nordstrom’s rack to find something suitable. Wish me luck on that. Hopefully, I won’t have the kids with me for that task. That would suck, royally.

Speaking of shopping, Kosette starts first grade on September 9th! So it’s back-to-school shopping time. She’ll be in school with the big kids (literally, she’ll be in a mixed age class of 1-4th graders) until 3pm and eat lunch there daily. The thought of being responsible for packing my kid’s lunch daily, makes me feel old. There have been lots of moments in this parenthood gig where a line from the old tv show Mad About You (I loved it and watched it all the time – Come to think of it, I could totally watch that again now) with Jaimey and Paul where she freaks out at impending mommyhood saying, “Oh my God, I’m the mommy. I am the mommy!” Wish I could find the clip. Here’s the theme song:

I know, I know, you’re probably thinking, “What’s she freaking out about, she’s already done the first day of school thing last year with Kindergarten.” Yeah, but that was “just” kindergarten, the true pre-school not the the Pre-Preschool that Preschool is. She’s going to have homework and actually NEED to use her backpack. It’s not going to be just a prop. And I’m going to have to make sure she has a nice nutritious lunch 5 days a week. Not just the after-thought, makeshift pbj,…the who cares it’s just 1 day a week, I’ll feed her better tomorrow. I’m really, truly, in charge now. I am the mommy. Poor girl.

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I need your help ASAP in choosing from Vintage patterns to have a dress made for myself for my sister, Kelli’s wedding. The dress would be in black no matter what color, or print, you see on the pattern. I envisioned something pretty comfortable, shortsleeved, casually/cocktail, and highly danceable (swing dancing friendly), with little black flats or kitten heels. My hair will probably be parted 3/4 on the side with a large fresh flower pinned up behind my ear or a red white or black fabric headbandy thing and sorta bubble flippy hair. Please leave a comment and vote your two cents. I love all these retro inspired looks and for some reason can’t get the picnic scene “Once a Year Day” from the Pajama Game out of my head. I especially love the surprising detail of the colored petticoats – great pops of color, especially when paired with colored flats.

Two things to remember are that I’m busty and short waisted and could easily have it a little shorter than shown (like at the knee or above the knee) if you think that would be better.

Here’s the awesome website I found all these terrific vintage patterns on: http://risingfeenix.com/

Style 1

Style A with NO collor.  Black dress with sheer black overlay.

Style 2, WITHOUT chevrons

Style A, with red crinolines underneath

Style A.  The black and white polkadots is sorta cute as a fabric choice though.

Style 1 with white frills and belt.

Style B.  But I sorta like the idea of a sheer black lace over the body as shown in style A.

Style 2

Style A with White color and belt and buttons and red crinolines.

One of the lovely things about parenting with a partner is being able to share the experiences, the good with all the love and joy and laughter and the bad with all of its frustrations, burdens, and anxiety.  There’s nothing like the end of the evening wind down where you divulge all the nitty gritty details of your day where you don’t have to worry about eavesdropping children.  The other night Kham cracked me up when Kosette wailed her way into her bedroom because she couldn’t stay up later and he said, “She’s so ludicrous, she sounds like Lucy in the “I Love Lucy” show.”  That was a spot on observation, if ever there were one.  I tried to find a clip from the old television show as an example, but it was hard.  The best I found was this:  Skip to1:30 and 3:30:

In looking for that, I came across this montage of clips where Lucy makes fun of Ricki’s English and then all of her “ewww” sounds.  My neighbor and now, one of my dearest friends, Herma, is Dutch and sometimes I can give her a hard time, as only close friends can.  It reminded me of the loving teasing.  Lucille Ball was genius at her profession.

Kosette told me multiple times today that she wanted to be a “star” (She even used Jazz hands when she said it so it was difficult not to giggle when she was being so serious).  She’s been watching Cats, Les Miserables, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Mamma Mia, and Hairspray.  Her interest in dancing has been revived.  I have to say it has been a lot of fun for me to share this common interest with her…to see what song gets stuck in her head that day.  What little move did she pick up?  But the “star” thing bugs me.  We’ve started discussing today what just exactly a star is and what does it mean for their lives?  What are the repercussions?  Starting to broach the subject of “celebrity” and looks without talent and both without an additional skill…the importance of knowing math and science to understand music and dance and how eating healthy things can make your body strong enough to dance those difficult moves and the energy to practise and perform for hours.  Lots of good parenting lesson material linked into this star business…  These Britney Spears songs/videos came to mind when she said it though, and it was hard to not sound judgmental in my response to her expressed desire.  Britney is the perfect case in point for this.  Michael Jackson too.  The sad thing is, I bet Kosette would just eat up these videos if I let her watch them.  I’d say there’s a better chance of me converting to Mormonism than that ever happening any time soon.

It’s hard to tell my girl, no easy to tell just not easy for her to believe, that stars shouldn’t be envied but pitied in many ways.  When she’s older I can show her the pathetic pot footage and slutty ditziness from her infamous reality show and say “That’s why.”

I don’t want to leave you with the bad taste of those Britney videos in your ears.  Thought I’d leave you a wonderful song by Lily Allen song called “The Fear” that has to do with a bit of this.  She’s my newest musical obsession by the way.

Our friend came across these videos on YouTube where someone redid the lyrics to comment on what was literally happening during the video.  Pretty silly and funny and you realize how completely random and weird some of those 80s videos truly are.  They put the new lyrics as subtitles too.  It’s like Mystery Science Theatre 3000 for music videos.  So if you like that kind of humor, you’ll like this.

Kosette’s birthday party went pretty well.  6 girls total plus 2 little siblings plus baby plus little sibling friend.  Put Maude in the garage to stay out of the way and Kellen at the neighbor’s.  Managed to pull it off by the hair on my chinny chin chin thanks to the help of Mrs. Robinson and the other moms I knew.  But there was a moment there when I was crazed readying the house, and amidst the chaos of the party where I thought to myself, “Calgon…Take me away!!”  All I wanted was to soak in a deep bath for an hour with a glass of wine and quiet.  I have a kickass bath too (too bad it runs out of hot water before it’s full enough to my taste).  You remember that old 70s/80s commercial where the bath product looks like the boxed form of Cascade for your dishes? Here:

I Love It!  And I cracked myself up.  That’s one of those times when you realize you’re alone with kids all day and you’d really like to share the joke/laugh with others.  And you feel kinda lame because you’re laughing aloud and your kids think your nuts, and you can’t explain the joke, and you actually make a mental note, “Need to remember this funny joke to tell Kham when he gets home.”  But you feel like you’re searching for a laugh, or just some understanding of your physical and emotional state during the day.

There’s a dozen or so movies that I can think of that I would always watch when they came on tv.  Not that I planned it out and checked the tv guide or anything, the ones that are cyclical or seasonal that the basic tv stations would air every so often.  Didn’t matter how many times I’d seen it or even if I owned it, it was a guilty pleasure thing that would suck me in and I’d watch while doing some task.  Splash comes to mind and Swiss Family Robinson, pretty much any musical ever, and Babes in Toyland starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon from 1961.  It’s a musical of all the characters from Mother Goose’s book of rhymes and tales.  The scene with the talking moving trees used to scare me but I’d still watch it.  Mainly, I’d just watch the first half of the movie for my favorite part; a song called “I can’t do the Sum” by Annette Funicello.  Remembering how much I enjoyed this movie, I knew Kosette would like it too.

Well, watching this particular scene, and hearing the lyrics to this song, I was appalled at its message.  I have never been terrific at math (understatement of the century).  At my tutor’s house, I was mortified that her 1st grader could do what I couldn’t at 4th grade.  And a very sharp memory, that still pains me and probably would make my mom cringe if I refreshed her memory, was when I was in the car on the drive home from 6th grade, excited, because I’d finally figured out what I wanted to be —– a zoologist.  And you want to know what my mom said dismissively, “You can’t do that, you suck at math.”  Now I know, and I can recognize that my mom’s tone of voice, and technique, showed that she was using a bit of reverse psychology.  But it backfired.  Even though I protested, I did so weakly, because there was this little bitty part of me that just gave up hope, “Well, if my own MOM thinks that I’m bad at math, I really must be.”  Completely unintentional on my mom’s part….it’s just one of those learning curves as a parent I guess.  Something I’m going to try to avoid with my own kids.  There’s a whole mess of other mistakes already made and waiting to be made.  Sometimes I feel, I’ve been searching for a profession ever since.

So then I had a choice to make.  Should I donate the movie to someone else because it doesn’t fit my feminist standards?  Especially when I still sorta like it?  I opted to keep it, as I have others, to use it as a prompt for discourse with my children about messages they’re getting.  She’s going to ultimately come across stuff like this, does so on a daily basis.  I want her to be able to recognize it for what it is.  The movie is now in the category of “with adult supervision and dialogue ONLY”.

The total bummer…Don’t know why I never noticed it much before but most musicals are absolutely horrible in they’re gender messages.  I have to completely suspend that part of my brain and stay in complete denial now, when I, and we, watch them.  Like Twilight.  Don’t think about it from a Feminist perspective, it’ll kill the books I so guiltily love….they are the ultimate guilty pleasure for me.  When I was in college I took a Gender and Feminism in Film class.  That would’ve made my perfect final paper – sexism and gender roles/identity in the American musical genre.  Instead I did something based on all of the Alien films.  Betcha didn’t know I liked those did you?  They’re very different from Babes in Toyland and Beach Blanket Bingo side of me.

What do you think?  I wish I could’ve found the lyrics somewhere.  Looks like I’m going to have to sit down and write them out myself one day when I have all the extra time in the world – yeah right.

After all the anticipatory hype for The Flight of the Conchords concert in Portland, how can I not tell you how it was?  Frackin’ Awesome!  You know, the kind where your cheeks hurt from smiling so much.  It didn’t matter that I was still sick with a cold, drinking throat coat tea, blowing my nose a bunch, I still screamed my lungs out and sang when it came time for the ladies in the audience participation.  Yes, there was a requested audience participation – remember the Exgirlfriends song with all the exgirlfriends singing like a choir in Season 2 called “Carol Brown (Choir of the Exgirlfriends).”

It began with their entrance in the tin foil box robot head costumes from season 1,  progressed into the “Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor” complete with the discoball collander codpieces, and was filled with the typical banter of their characters making fun of the random audience screams, squeezing in a “congratulations you pregnant bitches” in the middle of a song, an outrageous dance to “Sugarlumps” that women went wild for (even a drunk lady in front climbed on stage to maul Bret with a hug and security had to be called in), a couple of “pussy palace” pet store comments and other such jokes poking fun at Portland’s largest number of strip joints per capita and Oregonians love of nature.  There was also a lot of physical comedy with large flowers thrown by an audience member trying to be stuffed and stay upright in teeny water bottles on stage.  The running gag of trying to find a suitable container or decoration spot on stage continued throughout the show.   They also had a really cool, and might I say pretty handsome cellist that accompanied with them through much of the concert.

But the best moment of the entire show hand’s down was an impromptu performance of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird.”  Well, not really impromptu, the guy who yelled it out was a plant, and those guys were just too skilled at its comedic rendition and I was able to find it in some YouTube clips of previous concerts.  Bret even jumped over to the drums to further rock out, Jemaine’s vocals were perfect, and they broke into miscellaneous bird trill noises – hysterical.  Based on the YouTube clips I did see, I think they worked out all the kinks and practiced more because by the time they hit our Portland concert in MidMay, it was killer.  I’m amazed anybody got any footage because security was pretty on the ball in grabbing people’s cameras throughout the performance.

In short, they are not to be missed.  I would TOTALLY see them again, only next time I hope Kham is able to come with me.  They were a great cure and distraction for someone with a nasty headcold.

And by the way, I LOVED Portland!!!   I can’t wait to see more of it.  A big city that is beautiful.  Go figure.  There are so many mature trees.  Didn’t dig driving around it though.  I would much rather be taking public transportation, which I should be doing anyway.

Beforehand, we grabbed pizza at a place called Hot Lips Pizza amidst Portland State University buildings.

It uses all local, organic ingredients and I must say the zucchini, cilantro pesto, feta cheese slice I had was absolutely delicious; very zingy – even with a cold.  Afterward, we nabbed unique donuts (Captain Crunch covered was the one I wanted) at a local sorta underground spot called VooDoo Donuts where “the magic is in the hole.”   Next time I want to try the maple bacon kind that people rave about.

The concert itself was held at “The Schnitz” as the locals call the “Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.” I really liked the theatre.  And our seats were great – the first row center of the mezzanine.

Thanks Kriste for inviting me!

Happy   Double 18th Birthday!!