Paramore @ The Warfield

Dan gave me tickets to see Paramore for my birthday. Their October concert was post-poned due to the lead singer Hayley having laryngitis. We went to the rescheduled concert, last Tuesday, November 10th. My favorite part of the night was right after we arrived. We ran into our friends Natalie & Mark, who are at nearly every concert we go to. Dan hadn't mentioned that they were going so I was quite surprised when we were walking up to our seats and ran into them.
We had fun chatting while waiting for the opening bands to finish playing. We got there a little late due to work and didn't feel like climbing over people to get to our seats in the dark.

I was most surprised that Hayley's hair wasn't orange, but blond. Their stage was beautiful. I had to squint to see what they had positioned in the frames-light bulbs. Sometimes they would light and pulse to the beat of the song.Their set list was perfect. Mostly fast paced songs with a few slower songs. One of my favorite things to do at a concert/event is to look around and see how many people are there. Isn't this incredible? I love that Paramore has so many great fans. Even more, I love how everyone is taking photos.
The Warfield is one of those venues that is absolutely beautiful inside. I cracked up that they mentioned how scary it is outside. San Francisco can be rather educational in that part, especially at night. I have two new songs that I've been listening to on repeat since the concert: Ignorance & Misguided Ghosts. I hadn't really listened to the new CD Brand New Eyes before the concert, but I'm completely in love with it after hearing it live.

Here we are riding BART home after the concert:

Green Day

You know it! Dan took me to see Green Day and we met Kristi at the San Jose HP Pavilion. Kristi took us to the band's tour bus and we had a little fun taking pictures. Kristi took this one:And Dan took this one of us silly girls:
The concert was on a Tuesday night which I wasn't so fond of since I had to work after the concert and then go to work early the next morning. It was so worth the lost sleep though. I crack up every time I look at this photo of Kristi praying to Green Day.
We hung out for a while but then we separated since Kristi had general admission on the floor level while Dan & I had seats up above. The coolest part was being able to spot Kristi from our seats. Franz Ferdinand opened the show and I enjoyed them. I was pretty antsy to see Green Day and I think the rest of the crowd was right there with me.

Green Day's entrance was pretty awesome. They walked in through one of the entrance doors on the floor so they were walking behind and next to their fans. It was such an adrenaline rush to see how interactive they were with the the crowd. At first, I thought their stage was so simple and didn't appear to have much to it. When the lights came on, I was pleasantly surprised.
The lead singer Billie Joe is from Oakland and had us laughing the moment he was onstage by screaming "this is not a Shark's Game, stand up!" The concert was so interactive they brought an 8 year old boy on stage to dance, as well as two women to sing Longview. The first one was pretty bad. The next was decent and had never-ending energy. She was all over the stage, a great performer. She was dubbed an honorary bay arean when Billie Joe found out she was from Los Angeles.
Billie Joe also had his Mother come on stage with a super soaker and spray everyone in the audience while another band member used a toilet paper launcher on the audience. They also launched t-shirts into the masses for some entertainment.
The pyrotechnics scared me every time they boomed because I could feel the heat.
I couldn't believe that Green Day played 32 full songs. You can see their set list at this neat website. It doesn't list the snippets they played like Stairway to Heaven, Master of Puppets, and many others. I was really impressed that Everyone was rocking out from kids to full grown adults. We had some very entertaining people dancing in front of us. I loved when the band laid down on the ground and played their instruments. It really emphasized the small movements they made during one of their slower songs. This was the best concert I have ever experienced. If you ever have the opportunity to go to a Green Day concert, its is a must! Here is one last link of an accurate article written describing this concert.

What I imagine a Circus might be like...

Dan & I drove to Shoreline Amphitheater on Saturday evening and met these lovely ladies. We were so lucky that Suzy & Angel decided to get there so early to get us incredible seats in the very front of the grass section. Angel got so good at last second poses since I was constantly aiming the camera her way. The Sounds opened the concert. They were cool and very energetic. Paramore's performance was fabulous as usual. This was the third time I've seen them in concert and I swear, every time I see Hayley, her hair gets more orange!

Kristi got stuck in really bad traffic due to the concert and didn't find her way to us on the grass until Paramore was done and the lights were turned back on. I thought for sure that she'd never find us since we were front and center of a HUGE crowd.
Waiting for No Doubt to come on stage:
I'd never seen them in concert before. The show lasted about 1 1/2 hours and I was so impressed by the bands energy throughout the show.
I have always loved Gwen Stefani and her unique style. I totally want to be like her when I grow up. Her abs were amazing and I loved that she did her usual push ups during Just A Girl. Super empowering!
The stage design and video footage played during the concert was such beautiful eye candy. I took over 200 pictures on just my little point & shoot camera. That's not even counting the photos I took with Suzy's camera. I feel so sorry for her since she asked me to take a few photos. The woman didn't know what was coming... 500 photos later...

The drummer was wearing tighty whiteys and some knee high socks. Later, he donned a pink tutu and walked around the stage with a smaller drum. I loved his character so much!
The keyboardists were jumping, singing, and dancing the whole entire time! The one on the left is local, from Richmond, California! When you look at all of the photos I took from Saturday night, you see a mosaic of color. I think that I'll have to put the photos into a mosaic when I get around to scrapping this incredible night.
I'm so glad that Dan bought tickets for us to go to this concert. I jumped and screamed a lot with Kristi, Angel, and Suzy. I had so much fun looking over at him for his reaction each time something really cool happened. I think the most memorable part for me was when No Doubt left the stage before the Encore and people were just screeching. It wasn't pretty to hear so I told Kristi that we needed to get these people organized.

She & I started chanting "No Doubt' repeatedly and before we knew it, a huge section of the grass seating was chanting with us. No Doubt came back out on stage before a minute had even passed. What an end to a wonderful evening.

Concerts!

Misty is having her baby, Madelyn Kate, this coming Tuesday. I am excited that I can finally share a few pages that I made for her A-Z baby album that the Amy put together. I made these 8x8 pages back in February.




Monday night I went to the symphony with Dan & Zena. We saw the amazing Anne-Sophie Mutter play the violin. WOW! I love the symphony hall and its beauty. I took a photo with my low quality camera phone.


Tuesday night Dan & I went to the San Jose State Event Center to see Jimmy Eat World and Paramore in concert. Here are my two favorite pictures from the night (again camera phone).



I hate going to concerts when they say no cameras allowed and then finding out they just don't want you to use the flash. I doubt they would have let me in with my big SLR anyway...

I had a grand time developing my black and white film that I shot on Saturday. I was so happy that I still know how to do it without ruining my film. It has been since August after all!

I am totally drooling over, is the sneak peeks from the Dozen's April Kit. Go check out Michelle's adorable work!

***** UPDATE*****

Everything Scrappn just got in the new Hambly! I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of these. Prices are 20% off for the first week! Show Heather some love. :D

Not So Silent Night

Thursday night Dan and I actually cooked a meal! We had delicious chicken burritos. Dan is cooking in his "can you see me on earth if you are in space?" shirt. Its a Norwegian thing... :D


Friday I received an e-mail from the company I interviewed with saying that they felt some of the other applicants were a better fit. I am very happy that I learned so much about their interviewing process.

I went to Not So Silent Night and it was so fun! Paramore was already playing but I didn't miss my favorite songs. Of course they play those towards the end! Here is a photo I took with my cell phone (cameras weren't allowed) from the ground floor. I love the flare from the lights.


We moved up to the second floor to relax and enjoy from the seats. I felt so lucky to see Jimmy Eat World perform. I love their music and they put so much energy into their live performance that you don't pick up from their CDs. If you haven't heard their newest CD Chase the Light, you ought to check them out.


Angels & Airwaves performed as well and Tom sounded like a motivational speaker. I couldn't help but crack a joke about being at some conference instead of a concert. I love the lines in this picture.


I got some fun goodies in the mail this week and I blame Michelle. :) She did such an amazing job with her guest design work for Elle''s studio I just had to get some yummies for myself. And since I was already shopping at etsy I thought I'd share the love with Every Jot & Tittle too. They arrived super fast.


Speaking of fun stuff in the mail, these amazing ornaments arrived from Australia, Singapore, and Iowa this week. I adore them so.


And here are my retro inspired ornaments that I mailed out to Singapore, Kansas, and Northern California. I got my inspiration from looking at Christmas ornaments year round. I'm going through a bright phase. I have one listed for sale here.


Saturday night I made a bracelet while watching the movie Waitress. It is a very inspiring movie for women to start their lives out fresh! Keri Russell and Andy Griffith are such incredible actors and actresses!

Lisa special ordered a glass bead, Swarovski crystal, and sterling silver bracelet for her mom. Here is the finished product. I really think she's secretly ordering it for herself since her favorite color is turquoise. Don't you adore the clasp?


After work on Sunday, I drove over to Walnut Creek for my Grandma's annual tree trimming party. I timed it right so I arrived for dinner and had a wonderful time being with the family. From left to right: Uncle Harry, my Dad, my Mom, me, my Grandma (I visit her every Tuesday), Aunt Sandy, and my cousin Kelley. The wonderful next door neighbor, Roger, took the photo for us.

New Stuff

I've been so busy that I have forgotten completely to blog. I've been working on altering an album for a secret sister swap in a scrapbooking group I'm in. I can't show it until she receives it though so it will be a while before that's posted. I finally got my photos from BFD back and they aren't that great considering the point & shoot camera I brought. Oh well!

My pattern came yesterday for my Le Borsa Bag. I can't wait to start on that project. I have plenty of fabric just waiting to be stitched together.

I decided to see if I could sell some cute hand made photo corners on my etsy shop. I plan to add lots of different colors. Worse case scenario I can use them myself! I also added some 5x7's to see if those prints would sell.

I also updated my photo portfolio website. My friend Roger is so wonderful that he's trying to hook my up with a commercial product photo gig. More on that later.

Tonight it my cousin Kelley's bachelorette party in San Francisco. I have to go find a pink outfit for that. Should be interesting. I think we're going to Bocce's Cafe in North Beach and then to a bunch of bars and clubs and t hen back to a hotel. I'll be sure to post photos of it!

BFD was a blast

Wow have I been busy. Each day I've meant to post something and then I got called in to work. We got in so much shipment that I definitely got my exercise this week. On Thursday, a photo classmate of mine photographed me (I tried my best to model). He shot 120mm film so I don't expect to post anything for quite a while on that.

I had an amazing day yesterday at Shoreline Amphitheater. Dan & I met up with Kristi and her gang. It was so nice to finally meet Sandy, Shannon, and Nick. I don't have any pictures back yet since I wasn't allowed to bring my professional digital camera into the venue. As many pointed out, I was shooting "old school film." The guy sitting next to me commented that I was a little young for film. I can't help but laugh at that thought.

There were so many talented bands playing that it was really hard to choose which to stay and watch. I'm disappointed that we missed my favorite local band the Matches, but I have seen them in concert plenty of times before. I'll just have to make an effort to see them again.