amazing weekend 3 of 3

two of my very favorite people, kerry and josh, came to austin on thursday night. they attended a surprise 40th birthday party for an old friend on saturday so their visit had to be kept hush hush. now that it has come and gone i can talk about it!

on friday we had a jbq at jason and lisa's. it was more fun than i can even put into words. by the end of the night i felt like i was going to burst with happiness. i was so excited to have the people who are important to me in austin meet kerry and josh after hearing me talk about them all the time.

the menu was fajitas and a shitload of sides/things to dip chips in. ha! i made a corn and black bean salsa that was apparently quite good. yay! it seriously took me almost an hour to make it. i never make dishes that take that long! there was just so much dicing and i'm not an expert with knives.

corn, black beans, red bell peppers, tomatoes, red onions, and 2 limes squeezed in

nels was preoccupied by the fish koozie

he finally likes watermelon! cecily was pretty disappointed last summer when he refused to eat it.

my beautiful friend kerry

and her handsome husband josh

at some point we decided to put up a sheet, get out a laptop and projector, and watch the wizard of oz with dark side of the moon. after that was over we watched the last waltz. it was a genius idea and soooo much fun!

at noon on saturday we had brunch at perla's. the service wasn't very exciting but the food was quite good.

the mimosas came in these great kind of stemless flutes

kerry's brioche french toast

josh's oysters and shit sausage. how could anyone think that that's an appropriate way to serve sausage?!

josh's egg in a hole. looks much more appetizing than the sausage!

my blueberry banana pancake. it was divine but HUGE. i think i ate about 1/4 of it.

after brunch we dropped kerry and josh off at the hotel they were staying in that night with all their friends who were attending the surprise party. a few hours later i met back up with jason and lisa and we headed to the bass concert hall to see neil young. the following things were prohibited at the concert: cameras, video equipment, cell phones and singing along. wtf?! we sat down in our seats and a few minutes later a couple of geeky teenagers sat down in front of us reeking of weed. i pulled out my phone to tweet about it and was strong armed by some stupid usher. he told me i had to turn my phone off and put it away immediately. the show hadn't even started yet! the house lights were still on and hardly anyone was in their seats. i couldn't believe they were so strict about cell phones before the show. 

burt jansch opened. he's a very talented guitar player and he has a nice sounding voice but i was pretty bored during his set. all of his songs sounded the same to me and when he spoke between songs, i couldn't understand a single word he said. i think the main problem, though, was that i was just way too antsy for neil to come out. 

when neil finally took the stage a little after 9:00 everyone went nuts. the guys behind us seriously lost their shit. they were screaming, "OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!" it was hilarious. as soon as he started to play the first song i got tears in my eyes. i managed to keep it under control until a couple of songs later when he played helpless. i tried so hard to stop crying but i just couldn't. i didn't feel a single ounce of shame about it though. his voice sounds just as good now as it did in recordings from 30 years ago. how is that physically possible?! the sound in the bass concert hall is exquisite. the whole night felt like i was watching a concert dvd. everything looked and sounded too perfect to be real. 

i have dreamt of seeing neil young live for a long, long time. i honestly feel a sense of ease now that i've done it. it was almost like my whole life was leading up to that concert and now i can relax. i know that must sound ridiculous but his music has had a huge impact on me for pretty much my entire life. to me, he's the most legendary musician i could ever have the chance to see live. 

i have been ridiculously exhausted all day today. the past 3 weekends have been some of the best times of my life but i am seriously looking forward to doing some relaxing.