Weekend Redux

So, from here on out, my summer is going to be incredibly busy. In an effort to keep more updated and have plenty of ~*~lovely memories~*~ going forward, I'm going to do my best to document what I do. I don't really use this blog anymore for political rants and whatnot, so it may as well serve some purpose.

Anyway, this last weekend was relatively uneventful compared to ones that will follow or the one preceding, but we did end up doing plenty of stuff. Dana came over late on Friday after a Guided by Voices concert with her friends - it worked out well, since I worked fairly late myself. We tried to get to sleep reasonably early for the events of the next day.

Saturday started with driving up to Stockton, New Jersey for the modestly-sized farmer's market there. Immediately when we entered the building (it's an indoor market, which I presume is pretty rare), we ran into my old friend Caitlin, who I hadn't seen in quite some time. For about a year and a half now, she's worked on her mother's farm. Primarily, Tullamore farms sells farm fresh eggs and beef from cattle they raise. While we were there we had some incredible (if a bit pricey at about $12 apiece) sandwiches, bought a pound of ground beef, and ate some ice cream that was made that morning. Dana opted to get the salted caramel flavor, which seemed like an odd combination but tasted incredible. Already we're planning on going back and getting a quart!

Best sandwich ever

Tullamore Farms makes awesome grass-fed beef

After heading back from Stockton, we only had a few hours before we had to head out again for the concert that evening, Architecture in Helsinki. Dana had to finish up some homework and I headed into work to print off the tickets, and then we were off to Philly. After finding a place to park on Walnut and realizing the doors didn't open until seven, we decided to wander around. Little did I know, Dana had an agenda! We ended up in a record store about fifteen minutes away by foot and Dana bought two singles - she knew it was a good place immediately since she saw two things she wanted without even sifting through.

Next up was the concert, and since we were there super early, we were the second couple up on the mezzanine. You really don't appreciate how great it is up there until you see it. The layout consists of a front row of couches and a row of bar tables immediately behind them. Behind that, it resembles more of a restaurant than a concert venue - we had a great dinner prior to the show thanks to the excellent waitstaff who continually checks on you throughout the show. Pretty awesome service!

The concert was excellent. The first opener was Norwegian Arms, who were a bizarre duet consisting of a lead vocalist playing what appeared to be a lute and the percussionist who played a blue garbage tub. Next was Hooray for Earth, who I didn't really care for - they seemed to be trying too hard to be an edgy 'indie' band. Architecture in Helsinki was amazing as expected, and had an incredible amount of energy, pretty much as I expected.

Norwegian Arms

Architecture in Helsinki

Architecture in Helsinki - so many keyboards!

HEART IT RACES

We were exhausted from the non-laying-around activities, so we headed to bed to rest up for the next day. On Sunday, we drove to Dana's dad's for a Father's Day cookout after stopping by to get some additional supplies. We stocked up on chips and hot dogs in addition to the ground beef we'd gotten the day before.

The cookout was wonderful and the grass-fed beef was amazing. The one hitch was when the door got left open and the cat (Binks!) escaped and decided to chill out underneath the deck. After about a half hour of chasing the big fella around I managed to corner him and snatch him up by the scruff of his neck. He was hissing and howling at me but, as any cat-lover knows, if you get a good hold on the back of their neck they're pretty much paralyzed. Not a single scratch or bite!

Anyway, that was the weekend. Stay tuned for an even more exciting EXTENDED edition next week as Dana and I journey to a foreign land - Montreal, Quebec!