Virtual Coffee Date, 2.

Hello, my friends.

If we were having coffee together, I’d have a lot to catch you up on.

I haven’t been neglecting the blog on purpose. I just haven’t been doing much. Well, in reality, it’s been the opposite: I’ve been super busy. Just not my norm baking & concert attending.

I’ve ran some races. I’ve started going to a new class at the gym. (Barre Sculpt, I friggin’ love. you.) Still going to my old classes at the gym. Also, I got a second job. So, now I work 7 days a week. On Fridays, I pull a double.  9am – 3pm at job one, and 6pm – 1am at job 2. Oye. Let’s just say caffeine and I are good friends on Fridays.

I’ve also found myself a boyfriend. We met, 3 and a half weeks later went on our first date (which lasted 7 hours!), and pretty much that was that. We had a talk a few days later, and I’ve been his girlfriend ever since. It all happened so fast, but when you know, you know folks. (And I knew from day one that I liked him. Butterflies, giddiness, all that teenage dream stuff…it’s silly.) I’ve been blissfully happy, and annoyingly smiley. He’s a good one. A real good one.

So, between two jobs, the gym, and dates with the boy, there’s not much time to blog. I haven’t even gone to a concert since mid-March! (And I passed up 2 Matt Nathanson shows…what the eff is wrong with me?!) Here’s a photo from my last show…I guess I owe you a blog about it, sometime…

My first day off in 50 days (!!!) will be on Monday and I simply cannot wait. I’ve been battling a cold the past week (duh, no sleep + non stop working catches up to you. Stop texting your boyfriend until 1am, Joslyn, and go to sleep. He will still adore you tomorrow.) so I have plans that include a few DVDs, napping, and all sorts of laziness.

So please bare with me as I settle into my new roles of overachiever/dating extraordinaire/gym enthusiast. I promise I am around, somewhere.

Breakdowns and honesty.

“I love unmade beds. I love when people are drunk and crying and cannot be anything but honest in that moment. I love the look in people’s eyes when they realize they’re in love. I love the way people look when they first wake up and they’ve forgotten their surroundings. I love the gasp people take when their favorite character dies. I love when people close their eyes and drift to somewhere in the clouds. I fall in love with people and their honest moments all the time. I fall in love with their breakdowns and their smeared makeup and their daydreams. Honesty is just too beautiful to ever put into words.”

The Rock Boat XIII: in restrospect.

It feels good to be here, lost in the dark.

Dance if you got a good life, a life you never wanna lose. 

A Lifehouse triple threat.

Right around the time that Lifehouse was scheduled to release their sixth album, they announced a few album release shows. California lucked out with 3 consecutive shows, the last being at the Troubadour in LA. The Troubadour is a small 300 capacity venue, so I made sure I was online right as the tickets went onsale. This proved to be a smart idea, because the show sold out in 4 minutes!

December proved to be a busy month for me. On the 14th I went to a Matt Nathanson show in San Francisco (my last blog post.) The 15th I went to a Holiday party that lasted pretty late into the night. The 16th I woke up at 5am, showered and packed, and was out the door by 6:15am. The first instore was at 3pm, and 6 hours away in Long Beach, hence heading out on the road early and beating the sun out of bed.

Once I arrived in Long Beach, I found Fingerprints and immediately went inside because I had stopped for coffee twice on the drive, and I needed to use the restroom desperately. TMI? Whatevs. No one else was there yet for the show, so I wandered the store for a bit before Lisa called me and said she was parking down the street. I went outside to meet her, and then I ordered ANOTHER coffee (red eye: half espresso/half coffee) because I am a caffeine fiend and I can’t ever get enough.  Pretty sure my bloodstream is contaminated by it.

While sitting outside, the band wandered in to sound check, and they all said quick hellos to us. Sigh. I love this band.

It started to rain at this point, and there was a line starting to form, so the manager of the store lead us in so we wouldn’t be stuck outside and get wet. Basically we got to watch sound check from the opposite side of the store, and it was like a bonus set. We were by the “bargain bin” records, and they had huge promo flats for sale for $5. I flipped through the stack and low and behold, look what I found!

You know I automatically bought that gem. Months later, I still have no clue what to do with it, so it’s been chilling next to my treadmill in my room. Suggestions?

Then we were let up to the stage, and Lisa and I realized that we were going to be RIDICULOUSLY close. Uncomfortably close. So close, that when the band walked out, Rick looked at us and said, “You guys are close. It’s a little awkward.” and we were like, Uh yesss, thanks for agreeing. I was practically sitting in Jason’s lap. Haha.

After the set, the band was signing autographs, so we got in the line to get our vinyls signed. The band passed us as they headed to the front of the line, and Jason said, “hey guys!” and as he passed, squeezed my shoulder a few times. Oh my god. Just stop. You are perfection and you’re going to make my heart explode anytime you touch me. Hah.

The line was getting rushed pretty quickly, so we only had a minute to say hello. I was wearing a sweater with a fox on it, and Rick was totally captivated by it. “Your sweater! I love it! It has a fox!” Yes, yes it does.

Lisa and I thought about mingling after to say a better hello, but we both were tired and decided not to be creepy and stalkerish, so we headed back to our cars, to where I had an adventure getting Matty to fit in my backseat and Lisa laughed at me. Ha.

Since I have friends in Long Beach, we planned for me to visit and stay with them that night. I headed over to Danielle and Alicia’s place to where Danielle was being lazy and I totally approved. We drank coffee (I know, MORE?) and then headed to Alicia’s place of employment to say hi on her break. Where she hooked me up with her employee discount. Scrapbook stuff. You don’t even know how geekily excited I was.

Afterwards, Danielle and I ran some quick errands, and then went back to the apartment to make dinner and cookies and watch a movie. I brought one I had checked out from work which seemed promising, but lacked the humor it was supposed to be and disappointed both of us at the end. Boo. At least the cookies were good.

Soon after, Alicia came home and we chatted for a bit before going to sleep.

The next morning Danielle had to go to work early since it was a Monday. Alicia and I hung out for a bit and then decided to roam around Long Beach for (no surprise) coffee. She took me to this adorable cafe that I fell in love with.

After coffee, we ended up near Danielle’s workplace, and they were kind enough to give her a longer lunch hour so she could to have lunch with us. Yay!

After lunch, we headed back to the apartment and I gathered my belongings and headed out to Glendale for Lifehouse show number 2. They were playing in a mall and the whole set up was utterly disastrous. There was a mob in the crowd and it was just…ridiculous.

Lisa came to meet up with me once again, and it was so cold that I bought coffee just to hold. Probably the only time I bought caffeine and didn’t drink it all.

After the set, we had our CDs signed (you had to buy the CD to see the show, and I figured might as well get it signed since we were there, and they had sharpies in hand, right?) Again, the line was rushed, and the only thing I had time to talk about was trying to convince Jason to play Anchor live again. To which he replied, “Well, I can’t play it tomorrow…” and I was like, “NO. Next tour. Learn it for us old timers?” We shall see…

By then I was hungry and I had a mad craving for some french fries (I don’t even really like fries, so I allow myself to give in to the every once in a year craving I have) so we went to this little diner in the mall so I could chow down. I was staying with my friend Monica that night, and she met up with us there and we hung out for a bit before parting ways with Lisa. Monica and I headed to her house and we watched a few episodes of Friends and then pretty much went to sleep soon after because we’re old and like sleep.

The next morning we were lazy like crazy, and didn’t get out of bed and have breakfast until noon. She took me to Fred 62 and I had the most epic egg sandwich. AMAZING.

We wandered around a few boutiques nearby, and then headed back to her place. I hung out for a bit, and then headed out soon after, because it takes an hour to get anywhere in LA. I wanted to get to the other side of town before 5pm, otherwise I’d hit traffic and it’d take me a week to arrive. It was buy one/get one free day at Sprinkles Cupcakes though, and they had holiday flavors, so I definitely stopped there on the way to the Troubadour. Sup, Gingerbread and Egg Nog cupcakes? I love you.

I saved the cupcakes for later though, because I was on a mission to consume Sprinkles ICE CREAM. Um, red velvet cupcake swirled into ice cream?!! Where have you been all my life? (And I’m sure those calories are still lingering on my ass.)

After I ate my calorie fest, I met up with Lisa yet again in front of the Troubadour. As the sun set, the wind picked up and I cursed in line and froze. I ended up chatting with the girl in line in front of me the entire time (Hi, Aimee!) and we are pretty much the exact same person. We talked about boybands to the max. I’m glad I am not the only boy band geek out there. I met a few other people while in line also, which is probably one of the best things about being an avid concert goer. Gotta love music bringing people together.

After what felt like forever, we were let inside the venue and I slowly defrosted. Lifehouse had a “surprise” opening act, who turned out to be Carolina Liar.

I blogged about them back when they opened for Kelly in the summer. Yeah, still have the same feelings about them. Still not so much my cup of tea. But I clapped when they said clap, and sang their one song I know, as it passed the time until Lifehouse took stage.

I decided I wanted the set to be a surprise, so when their roadie taped the setlist right down in front of me, I avoided looking at it. It was the hardest thing ever, because I’m always like WHAT ARE THEY PLAYING, WHAT ARE THEY PLAYING?!? the second the setlist comes out onstage.

I had Lisa take a picture so I could remember it later…but then I went home with one anyway, so yay!

I loved hearing the new songs live. I loved finally seeing a full band set. I love everything about this band. My 15 year old who discovered them inside me was screaming, while the 16 year old who first met them was crying, and the 27 year old me was standing there with a huge grin plastered on her face and sang along to every word. So much love.

Natasha Beddingfield came out and sang the new single with the band, and it was all together good fun.

After the set, the band was signing CDs again, but I had enough of that and I had to actually drive the 5 hours home. Yeah. In the middle of the night. Because I am stupid and had to work the next day. UGH.

I got home around 5am (oh my gooood) and woke up just a short few hours later (why body whyyyy) I ate a cupcake and then Zombie Joslyn’d around the library during my shift, before promptly coming home and finally crashed.

Such a good 3 days. Can I do it again, yet?

No more Cure songs to get lost in.

Four months after Matt said he’d perform a new song live, it finally happened. And nearly four months after that show happened, I am finally blogging about it. Guilty.

The concert ticket cost me a big ole Ben Franklin, but it was a Concert for the Kids benefit which benefited a children’s hospital in Oakland. I’m using the fact that it went to a good cause to make me feel less guilty that I dropped that much cash on myself.

It was a long day. I woke up at 6am to get ready and head to work for a few hours. Then I was off to drive 2 hours to San Francisco. The show was being held at the Nob Hill Masonic Center, which is the WORST PART OF DOWNTOWN SF EVER. Super hilly, to the point where your cars rolls backwards without your control. Super freaky. Also sucky? PARKING. The venue costs $30 to park in their lot (um, no) so I drove around in circles for close to an hour to find (free!) street parking. Which happened to be halfway down California street, so I hiked nearly a mile UP the huge inclined hill to get to the venue. It nearly killed me. Free workout. Thanks, San Fran.

My friend Megan was working for KFOG that day, so I headed to their booth to say hello. This day happened to be when the Sandy Hooks school shooting happened in Newtown, so there was such a glum funk hanging over everyone’s heads. We were raising money for kids here in California, and across the US, all these poor innocent babies died. It still breaks my heart all these months later.

I met up with Yvonne soon after. We weren’t sitting together, but she was only a few seats away, so she kept coming over and sitting in the seats empty in front of me between seats. I had a second row seat, and the people in the first row never showed up. Who does that?! I can’t complain though, because thanks to them, I had a perfect view. Ha.

Allen Stone played first, and the dude is amazing. His voice and style reminds me a lot of Marc Broussard, whom I’ve seen a good two dozen or so times. Also amazing? His hair.

His entire set I was transfixed on his curls, and I wanted to touch them. Yes, I am a weirdo. But seriously, he’s only 25 and he’s going to go places.

Blind Pilot played next, and while they were good, they just weren’t quite my cup of tea. I found my mind wandering a bit during their set. Or maybe it’s just because I knew Matt was next?

I’m pretty sure Matt spotted me almost within the first 3 minutes he was onstage. He was telling a story (that lasted probably 6 minutes before he played his first song, no lie) and when he looked in my direction, he almost paused while talking. Yeah, yeah. It’s me. Up front. No, I did not pay the people in front of me to not show up…ha. Now, lets address the hair…Hmmm. It is…big.

The entire set, I waited patiently to see if his promise of a new song would happen. And it did.

Oh. My. GOODNESS. I swear to you I held my breath the entire song. The chorus KILLS me. I just want to hug that song and tell it that everything is going to be alright. Every cent I spent was worth hearing and seeing that performed for the first time ever up close. (Thanks Yvonne for talking me into buying the “premium” ticket.)

After the show I said bye to Megan and Yvonne, and then headed back home. I tweeted Matt before I left, and got a super cute reply.

You bet I favorited that shit. I’m spoiled. He loves me.

I eventually got home around 1am, but couldn’t sleep. OH, OH, OH. THIS happened:

200,000 miles on my car. I need to learn to stay home. Oh, and yeah, I speed late at night. Whoops.

I watched that damn video probably until 3am and then forced myself to close my eyes. I cannot wait for a new album this year. <3

That one time I saw Matt Nathanson for the 86th time, then stayed awake 40 hours to meet Kelly Clarkson.

Back in August when I was in New York, I had bought a ticket to see Matt play at a college in Rohnert Park, which is about 165 miles north of where I live. A few months later, the day finally came to attend the show. I took a half day at work, so I could take my sweet time driving up and just enjoy my day. Um, yeah. It ended up taking me almost 4.5 hours, when it was supposed to only take me less than 3. Talk about not relaxed, or enjoyable.

But once I finally stepped out of my car, things were better. I met up with Tara, and we headed to get a quick bite to eat before the show started. We headed over to the college and found Yvonne. We were all sitting separately, so we hung out as long as we could before the show started.

A guy named Noah Guthrie opened, and he was AMAZING. He’s only 18 but oh man, his voice is so matured for his age. I am a fan of it. I guess he’s pretty well known in the YouTube world, so you may have heard of him already? I hadn’t.

Matt played next. Out of all of the times I had seen him, this soared to the top and as the second best show I’ve ever seen him play. He was so perfect this night. He told a million hilarious stories, my face hurt from laughing so much, and the room he was playing in just enhanced his overall brilliance.

The staff was playing camera Nazi that night, so this is the only photo you get. Boo.

After Matt’s set, Tara and I found one another and then drove 40 minutes down to Corte Madera right away.

A week before, I had found out that Kelly Clarkson was playing at the opening of the new Microsoft Store, and the first 100 people in line got to meet her after the set. Tara and I had original plans of her following me home and having a touristy weekend in Monterey, but I asked her to be crazy with me instead and she agreed. Haha.

They had allowed camping out starting at 10pm, so I was afraid that we wouldn’t make the 100 cut off, since we were at the Matt show. We arrived around 11:20pm, and luckily were only 86 – 88 in line. We had talked Yvonne into coming with us at the Matt show. Not really. I said, “Are you a Kelly fan? Want to not sleep and try to meet her with us?” and she said, “OK!” (We’re all insane.)

So, from 11:20pm – 11am, we waited in line. Yup. Almost 12 hours of sitting and/or laying on concrete. We tried to sleep a few times, but it was 45 degrees out, and even piled under blankets, my body just wasn’t having it. I watched the hours creep by, and then watched the sun rise and gave up. All nighter, what up.

The good thing about being crazy, is there was staff patrolling the line all night, and they gave us multiple bottles of water, and free food. Cheesecake Factory grilled cheese for dinner, Peet’s Coffee pastries and coffee in the morning. Thank you!

Once 11am arrived, we were let into the store, got our wristbands, and then finally left the mall for a bit. Tara and I booked a hotel to take a nap and to shower. Only…the nap didn’t happen. We tried to fall asleep but both just laid there, so we got up to find lunch instead. Bummer. After lunch we headed back to the mall to wait in line again to be let into the concert.

We were settled in about the 4th row, and I was completely happy with it. These teenagers kept trying to get in front of me, and I seriously was about to beat them down. I even yelled at one of them at one point, because I was so frustrated with them. You are 14. I am 27. I’ve been awake since 6am Friday, and its now Saturday evening. Don’t mess with me.

Kelly played for an hour and a half, and at this point all the waiting would have been worth it for just that! But then we got put back into ANOTHER line and had to wait about a half hour to meet her. Oh my god, lines. It was like Disney Land. Or Black Friday. Waiting, and waiting, and waiting…

Finally it was our turn to say hello. I let Tara and Yvonne have their turns before me, because I wanted to watch them talk to her, haha.

When it was my go, I walked up and Kelly says,
“Hey! You! How are you? It’s great to see you again!” (Oh my God…Kelly Clarkson remembers me!!!)
“I’ve been awake for 38 hours.”
“Oh, SHIT.”
“You’re worth every second of it though!”
“Oh my…” and she was giving me this look like, I am so not worth it, but I am so thankful.

Then I told her it was actually my 20th time seeing her, and she got all loud and was like, “OMG! That’s so many times! This was like an anniversary show then! It’s a party!” and we both went WOO and held our hands up and I love her so much its ridiculous…

Then they were rushing me to take the photo, and Kelly was thanking me for being such a dedicated fan. So in my picture she wasn’t even ready and was talking. Haha. Then I was saying goodbye and she was like, “WAIT! What was your name again?”
“Joslyn.”
“Joslyn! Joooslyn…” The way she said it the second time was like she was trying to commit it to memory. She’s adorable.

Then I was saying goodbye and she was like, “Thanks so much. I hope you come to the next show.” and was rubbing my arm and I just gave her a dumb look and said, “Uh…of course I will!”

After that we were handed autographed photos, and I had a fan girl moment to Tara and Yvonne that she remembered me, haha. We then headed back to find our cars and go our separate ways. Tara and I were awake for probably another hour or so before we closed our eyes, then finally, slept. It was daylight savings time too, so we scored an extra hour. 12 glorious hours of sleep. Mmmmm.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and went to a cute cafe to have breakfast before we had to leave one another. Holy crap, so simple, yet delicious.

Tara and I said our goodbyes, and then headed home. Exhaustion hit me a few hours after getting home, and I had to keep re-caffeinating to keep myself awake to a semi-decent time to go back to sleep. No one wants to go to bed at 6pm and wake up at 3am.

So worth every second awake.

Walking between the raindrops with you.

I’ve have loved Lifehouse since I was 15 years old. So, that’s going on 13 years of my life.

I have seen them multiple dozens of times live. They were the first band I ever met, or had front row for. The band knows who I am. I am greeted with open arms. I’ve been an extra in one of their music videos. I’ve had my name said from onstage in the middle of a show. I have met some of the best people I could have ever asked to call friends because of them. Long story short: they mean a whole deal of a lot to me.

The band likes to do this cruel thing called hibernation when they are recording a new album, and I get to go through withdraw. The last time I had seen them live was on board the Vh1 Cruise back in April 2011, so I had been dealing with more than a fair share of withdraw.

Their new album just came out on December 11th, so they had been doing a bunch of private radio promo shows back in late October to promote it, and the first single. I was a sad panda because you had to win your way into them, and I lived too far from any of the places they were playing to listen and win.

On a Monday afternoon at work, my curiosity got to me as I had a missed call, and a voice mail from a somewhat familiar number.  I listened to it right away and I’m pretty sure I automatically started jumping up and down, because it was from my favorite radio station in San Jose inviting me to a private show that Thursday! 3 days later, what.

I had to pull some strings to get part of my shift covered at work since it was so last minute. For a moment I was told it wasn’t possible, but I am a master at accomplishing the impossible of schedule tweaking, and once I figured it out, I was stoked. LIFEHOUSE!

San Jose is only a little over an hour away from me, so the morning of the show I woke up and got my sweat on (6am workouts really suck), then headed out to the brewery they were playing at around lunch time. It was raining and I was wearing shorts (thanks for the totally incorrect weather report, Google…) and I was freezing.

I was allowed to bring a guest to the show, so I invited Lisa. We actually met because of Lifehouse about 6 years ago, and she and I had always gone to all their shows together. Again, I am grateful for this band, because I would not know her without them. She met me at the venue and we couldn’t resist the fro yo place across the street,  despite that it was cold and raining.

After awhile, the radio station people invited us in, and we were placed into a “holding room” where they fed us a bomb ass lunch. Seriously, there was some amazing mac & cheese and grilled veggie action happening for this girl.

Finally, one of the radio employees said, “Follow me!” and I literally bolted up and out of my seat and ran after her to the seats in front of the stage. I was on a mission to be in the front, and that was a mission I accomplished. Lisa got totally lost in the crowd, so I just sat on two seats until she found me. Ha.

I’m pretty sure as soon as the band walked out my face exploded into a huge grin. I kept looking at Lisa and she had the same smile. Oh, we missed you boys.

They only played 6 songs, and told a few stories and answered short questions between each, but it was just enough for me to feel complete again. I got my fix. Ha. There was a point in the middle of the set that Jason noticed us and his eyes went big and said, “Hi, guys!” and I melted in my chair. Oh, hello, beautiful.

After the set, we got to say hello to the band. Two days before had marked 11 years since the first time I had seen them live, so after hugs and hellos and “it’s been so long, how are you girls?!” I was telling them about it. I busted out my phone to show Jason a picture of us from that day. Considering I was 16 and he was 19 in the photo, we both got a kick out of it, because it doesn’t even look like either of us!

I mean, come on. Who are those people?! Insane.

Jason was like, “That is a Bruce Springsteen shirt I was wearing in that photo.” and I replied, “And that’s a Lifehouse sweatshirt I was wearing, which I still have!” “Really?!” Random comments…

We took a quick group picture with the guys (with two strangers, who I cut out. Yeah, I’m spoiled like that..) and then we said goodbye soon after, because the band had to catch a plane to fly to another city to play another show. Lisa and I had to part ways soon after also, because I needed to head back home to work. Such a short trip! I walked around the library with a huge grin on my face the entire shift.