I know I have been absent for the past month. I know the blog has not been updated. I know we have been up to more fun things than I can shake a stick at, and I must apologize. Documenting adventures is hard when one is busy living them all the time. The bottom line is I have not had enough time, and when I have had enough time I have spent it planning the next show or event. So let's recap a little bit.
I'm back to living north of the boulevard. I went back to Utah for a total of 4 days last week and have taken a couple of trips to Santa Cruz, but other than that I've been staying put. In between I've either been working, or have been hanging out pool side with all the new books I've bought. In case anyone's wondering, I am many shades darker, and my olive tones have turned golden, especially on parts of my body where I accidentally forgot to spray sunscreen. To those that are not a regular part of my adventures, this type of lifestyle might seem frivolous, wasteful and even parasitic. Actually, I feel that way sometimes too, but I just have to remind myself to take it easy and enjoy the summer months with my friends, two of which will be moving out of town pretty soon. But let me show some photos, and then I can share some experiences and opinions.
Kami, Dylan, Jordan, Tim and I went to UCSB for Extravaganza. We saw Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros, Chromeo and Drake. Obviously my favorite on the line up was Drake. Just kidding, I can't stand that guy. Anyone who starts out a love song with "this one goes out to all the single ladies in the audience" loses points in my book. But then again, anyone who can entertain to the point where girls in the audience take their tops off wins points in my book. So Drake might be breaking even for me. No worries though, I'm not about to go buy his record or anything. Extravaganza itself was fun, especially the part where some people rushed the gates because it was taking forever to get it. This resulted in our missing most of Edward Sharp's set, but I can say I saw enough to notice they had really bad sound problems, resulting in a less than thrilling experience. Chromeo was cool, and Drake was, well, Drake.
Brett and I took a weekend trip to Santa Cruz. Besides sleeping until 4 pm on Sunday afternoon, everything went as planned. We had lots of fun, actually enough fun to get us to come back for a second time.
Enjoying a lychee-cucumber martini at Aqua Bleu. This and the next photo are what make me want to live in Santa Cruz.
New Leaf Sandwiches!!!! I kid you not, they are the best. One can get anything from sun dried tomato pesto to fakin bacon on their sandwich of choice. I have yet to find any place in Los Angeles that has the same variety of ingredients. I guess I could try Whole Foods, but I really don't like paying an arm and a leg for a meal, so maybe not.
Amongst other things we have been up to, we went and saw Neon Indian at the Natural History Museum. This was the last show of the First Friday series. I thought the tickets have gotten terribly over priced, and I hardly got enough music for my buck. Neon Indian's set was um...short, and they pretty much played their entire album track by track. I guess it could have been worse. Sound wise I thought it was decent, but I didn't dig the crowd at this show at all. Photo-wise, this is what most of the night looked like.
Dylan, Cate, Brett, Jesse, Matt and I then headed to Big Foot lodge where we met up with some other UCSC alumnis. Before venturing in, we had some very spicy papusas, after which, in typical Claudia fashion, I decided I'd rather nap in the back of Jesse's car and hope that no one tries to kill me.
This week that just passed, I went to a couple of shows. Woods + The Mantles + Real Estate = one of my favorite shows I have seen in a while. Then on Thursday it was Broken Bells on Jimmy Kimmel, which made me realize: 1. I like the Shins a WHOLE lot better, 2. Seeing a band on talk shows is not the best way to see a band, 3. James Mercer is now, officially, a rockstar. Yeah.....
Anyway, there's a lot more to do and to talk about, but now I have got to walk away from the computer and go do something more physically engaging.
Yours truly,
Claudia
