The Good 'Ole Concert Days

I love going to concerts. It's as simple as that. I did not realize how spoiled I was when I lived in the bay area for 4 years having access to ANY and EVERY concert I could hope for.

Now living approximately 3 hours from any large city, my concert viewing has greatly decreased. Don't get me wrong, I am more than willing to travel for a band I love, however over the last few years bands are more commonly preforming on any day of the week...not just the weekends.

The closest concert venue we have is in Santa Barbara (1.5 hours south.) The venus not that big, so the performers that play there are either bands with one hit album, has beens, or Katy Perry since she's local.

We also have concerts once a year at the Paso Fair. If we are lucky they will have a band that we like (Weezer, STP, Velvet Revolver). This year they have yet to announce an act we would like to see...there is one more night free...let's hope it's not another country act.

Occasionally there will be a fluke...like when MGMT played in Avila last year. (I'm actually heading back to the Avila venue next month to see Sheryl Crow play for a fundraiser. Random, I know.)

I currently subscribe to all concert venue newsletters as well as all of the small bands I like HOPING they will play somewhere near by. I'm learning that it is also very common for smaller bands to play festivals...AKA multi day concerts. Most of these take place over a weekend, which is awesome except it's MULTI DAY.

I will painfully admit that I am TOO old to attend a 3 day concert. Ever since I turned 30 I have really felt the physical effects of getting older. Seriously. A simple weekend trip to SF/LA totally wipes me out. If I can't' take that, how could I survive a 3-day concert? Whatever happened to the 1 day concerts back in the 90's? KMEL Summer Jam? Kamp KOME? Anyone? Those concerts were SO AWESOME. Totally exhausting...but they were only 1 day so you had ample time to recover.

It really bums me out that 1 day concerts have now turned into these MULTI DAY 'festivals.' I'm sure most of you have heard of Coachella as well as Outside Lands. I name these two in particular because A) they both have bands I would love to see, and B) they are both in CA and I could possibly attend them...HOWEVER they take place over 3 days. 3 DAYS! Who has the time and money for a 3 day concert? Ok...so I know one person who has the resources, and that is my friend SA. I must say that I am totally pumped that I have at least one friend who is hard core enough to attend these awesome festivals...and that I get to live vicariously through her.

This weekend she will be going to Coachella for a second time. Read about her survival tips here...and read about her experience last year here.

New Blog for You

Greetings to my 7 friends who subscribe to this blog. I have the feeling that my other viewers are long gone as it has (sadly) been 2 months since I posted. Sigh. Blogging became so time consuming for me that I became more and more reluctant to sit down and write. It's supposed to be fun right? An enjoyable hobby? Hopefully it will start to feel that way to me again.

While I'm on this blogging hiatus I do have a new blog for you all to follow. My friend Christine has just joined the blogging world and has challenged herself to post everyday. Seriously! So add The Ravenous Mind to your reader right now. Don't forget to leave her some comments, as of now I look like a total stalker fan because I am the only one who has left any comments.

Note: Check back tomorrow. I'm working on a rant post.

Tasty

Last year for my birthday a group of my friends joined me in going wine tasting for my birthday. It has almost been a year since the day, but I FINALLY finished the video montage!

Wine Tasting

Life can Really Blow

So we are back…actually we’ve been back for a few weeks, and I’m finally getting over my post vacay anger. I can’t help it…it just happens. We’ve been really busy since we’ve been home and we haven’t even had time to look through our photos or John’s 362 videos. Trust me, I have grand plans of making some sweet montages for the blog, however your patience is required.

In the midst of my pouting I got an update from my friend Stephanie who is battling liver, lunch and spine cancer. She recently got some bad news that her CT scan showed another mass in her lung. I’m sorry what was I just complaining about? Oh right…not still being on vacation while my friend is fighting the battle of her life. Reality check. Done.

One of Steph’s closest friends helped organize a fundraiser for her last month, which turned out to be a huge success. I couldn’t make it to the event, but I was able to get some donations for their silent auction. I have made a few purchases from Lisa Leonard Designs as well The Pleated Poppy and when I contacted them both to donate they were more than happy to help out. It meant so much to me that they didn’t even hesitate since I only know them via blog land.

Life really blows sometimes and it’s so important to put things in perspective. Do you have your health? Are your loved ones still alive? I hate the fact that other people’s tragedies help me with this, but what can I do about it? Another friend of mine lost her dad a few weeks ago as well. That makes 5 friends of mine who have lost their fathers over the last 2-3 years. Life is so unexpected. You really need to live everyday to it’s fullest.

The 80's are bitchin'!

As some of you know, Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. All year I wait until the perfect couples costume comes to me and then hopefully buy the costumes in September. However this year I had NO IDEA what John and I should dress up as this year...time to stress! Right when my stress was starting to peak I got an invite from my friend Ellie that she and her boyfriend were having a joint birthday party with her boyfriend and it was an 80's theme party. How sweet is that? At least now I had some sort of direction for our costumes!

So what do you think??(Nice of me to move the laundry basket out of the way right? At least they are clean clothes!)

We arrived to the party late as we had a Cal Poly football game to go to, but when we arrived the party was hopping!

Steph and Sam gettin' down

Unfortunately Mr. Miyagi's mustache did not want to stay on longer than 10 minutes and apparently tried to make a break for it, but got distracted by the sweetness of the cupcakes.

Mr. Miyagi and the birthday girl...showing Daniel Son his moves.

Rockin' out to some MJ.

What is this? How did this little buddy get on this small wine bottle?

Near the end of the night we got 'rained' out, but luckily it stopped before we had to bike ride home.

Goin' to the Chapel

One of my good friends, Molly, was planning a big wedding next month and asked me to be one of the bridesmaids! I was really excited to be a part of her special day, as we all know how much fun weddings are. Unfortunately some complications arose, which caused her to call off the wedding a month before the date and elope instead. However a week later she announce that the wedding is still on! She is unfortunately not going to have any bridesmaids or groomsmen, so I won't get to get all dolled up and wear my guava dress...but I am REALLY thankful that I even get to be there on one of the biggest days of her life. I would have been really sad if I had to miss it.

At the time of the party planning she was still eloping, so we weren't even sure if brides who elope have the pre-wedding parties, but we decided to have them anyway since they were already planned. Two weeks ago was the bridal shower in Sacramento. It was a lot of fun and surprisingly went off without a hitch (with only 2 weeks of planning).

The one thing Molly told us she wanted was cupcakes. So we took that and ran with it making it a cupcake cake themed party.

Our friend Amy was in charge of the food, and let me say she made the BEST finger sandwiches I’ve EVER had! They were really tasty.
Molly’s boss offered to make the cupcakes and I’m so glad she did. Everything was from scratch and they were really good. She made red velvet, chocolate orange, and raspberry lemon.

Click photo to enlarge

Molly also got some really nice gifts. Is it bad that I’m posting a photo of the gift I got her? I can’t help if its if super cute. Molly is the BIGGEST fan of bacon that I know, so when I saw these cards on cakespy I HAD to get them for her.
Her boss came through (again) by making this frame out of Molly’s grandma’s china. (Molly was getting rid of it at a garage sale, and her boss bought it). It was such a sentimental gift and even more special as molly never thought she would see the china again.
This past weekend was the bachelorette party here in SLO, and let me say I am still recovering from it! (Post coming soon)

DDD #22

How did we go from #27 to #22? Well I’m obviously WAY behind in my blog posts since I only posted once in May. I’m also worried as time goes by the critical DDD information that is stored in my head will slowly disintegrate before I can document it. THE HORROR! So…to avoid this I am writing about the most recent DDDs while that info is the freshest.

So back to #22. Last month after my second PRP injection John and I met up with Maggie at Baby Blues BBQ for our 22^nd Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

Like always we took Guy’s suggestions and ordered the dishes he featured on the show, but this time we were a little disappointed.

Click to enlarge

John got the pulled pork, which was pretty good, but a little dry without adding more BBQ sauce. We also got the corn since it was features on the show and it was just ok…not real sweet. I got the baby back ribs and they were AWESOME. By far the best thing we ordered all night…along with the GIGANTIC glass of Kool-aid.

Maggie was pumped to have the option to just order sides, since they are her fave, however they were dry as well, (without adding BBQ sauce).

Baby Blues and BBQ was featured in season one and I’m starting to think that the most recent restaurants featured on DDD are at a higher quality then some of the ones featured in the earlier seasons. Sad but true.

I also think this DDD was before Guy started using his stencil to mark the places he visited. However he did leave this behind.

DDD #27

Last week John and I headed back down to LA for my last(?) PRP injection. After my second injection I did notice that the pain had decreased. It still swells up a lot, but at least I’m seeing any difference in my foot. After the first month’s injections I only noticed a change one day, and was thinking that the injections weren’t doing anything. I’m not sure if they will heal my Achilles 100% but if I can run or jump by the end of the year, the mission accomplished!!

The third injections hurt just as bad as the first two, but I didn’t start to feel any pain until we got home around 11pm. With the first two injections I felt pain immediately after the numbing shots wore off. I’m not sure if that was a good sign or not, as my foot hurt pretty bad the next morning.

After the injection we had made plans to meet Maggie at Gloria’s Café for our 27^th Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. At the last minute I got a text from my sister-in-law that she and her husband were going to be able to meet us as well!

Gloria’s started out as a Mexican restaurant but over time she started introducing more and more San Salvadorian dishes. Every dish I tasted was REALLY good. The flavor was outstanding.

Maggie got the beef tacos, I got the 7 seas soup, and Molly and Michael split the popusas combo plate.

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John got the carne adbodaba and popusas.

The flavor of John’s carne and my soup, was SO good. I’ve never had anything like it before. I could have used some crab extraction utensils though, but I managed…as some of you know, I have a bit of crab cracking experience.

The décor was authentic and it had the neatest light fixtures…very 70ish. (Sorry no photo). If you didn't notice in the first photo, Gloria's has their DDD poster hanging in the window of their door. That is what I like to see! Be so proud that you risk the poster fading away to nothing. I'm sure Guy would replace it if they needed. Overall I LOVED Gloria's and can't wait to eat there again. Thanks Guy!

Thyroid Update

A few weeks ago I got some blood work done to check my thyroglobulin levels. (Thyroglobulin is a protein that is produced by your thyroid. Since I do not have a thyroid, my level should be at 0.) A year after my thyroid was removed my thyroglobulin levels were high at a 3.8, (I think). My doctor then found the cells in my neck, which lead me to my second surgery.

Six months after my surgery I got my levels check again and they were at 1.7. My doctor wasn’t that worried because she said she has some patients that never reach 0. As long as the number continued to go down, then we had nothing to worry about.

Six months later my levels were tested again and they were 1.4. I also had had my yearly ultrasound and my dr. didn’t see anything suspicious. Yeah!

Fast forward to my most recent blood work and my levels came back as 2.8. What the heck? I contacted my dr. and she isn’t worried, and doesn’t see it necessary for me to see her any sooner than my next appointment. She does think it’s a good idea to get more blood work done before my appointment to see if the levels test that high again.

So as of now the saga continues, but I’m not going to worry about it until after we get back from Paris. I will continue to say that I am one of the lucky ones. A friend of mine, (Stephanie on the far left), recently got diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer. If you’d like to follow her fight please visit her Care Page.

DDD #20

On my way home from Ukiah I met up with John, and his friends in Emeryville at Rudy’s Can't Fail Cafe for our 20th Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives! I can’t believe we have actually eaten at 20 different restaurants!

I got really lost finding the place…thanks to the GPS. The GPS is supposed to help you right? Not get you lost and get car jacked, right? It had me turn right instead of left and before I knew it, I was crusin’ through the ghetto with all these thugs hangin’ out in the middle of the street. It was the perfect scenario…a white girl in her cute little MINI Copper crusin’ in the ghetto lookin’ for for a burger joint! Luckily I know how to drive fast when I need to and I got out of there in a hurry. I even drove by PIXAR during the adventure, but I was a bit too stressed to be excited about it. Needless to say, I was very thankful when I saw John standing on the corner waving me down.

Rudy’s was packed, but the wait wasn’t very long. On the show they showcased burgers and a few other dishes, however I think the other dishes were ‘specials’ as we did not see them on the menu. BUMMER! I got a buffalo wing chicken salad, John got a blue cheese bacon burger, Jessie got a portabella mushroom burger, Nory got the Cajun bacon burger, and Kiera had a bottle.
Unfortunately this DDD was pretty disappointing. I’m not saying it was bad…it just doesn’t compare to the other places we’ve been to. I’d rate it a 19 out of 20…20 being the worst. I think our expectations should have been a little lower because it was mainly a burger joint. We have learned that lesson for next time. The fries were good, and the cheese on John’s burger was good, but the meat wasn’t anything special. Either they were having an off day or our expectations have really gotten high from the last few places we’ve eaten at.Overall it was a really cute place, the vibe was cool, and the atmosphere was totally funky. On to number 21...

First Ukiah Visit in 9 Months

A few weekends ago John and I headed north to visit some friends. John’s travels ended in the East Bay to visit his college buddy Nory, his wife Jessie, and their super cute baby Kiera. I on the other hand traveled two more hours north to Ukiah to visit my friend Rebekkah. If you recall, I mentioned how she and her family moved to Atlanta this past summer. This was their first trip back to CA, so of course I had to make the trip!

The youngest Steinbuck, Addison, had her birthday on the day I drove up. Do you all remember when I was able to be there for her birth? I will never forget that day! It’s hard to believe that it was 2 years ago. Sydney, the oldest Steinbuck will be turning 5 in a few weeks so of course I had to bring them both birthday presents.Thanks to my friend Molly, I have recently become obsessed with Nerd Rope and have been trying to convert everyone in my path to become a lover of the Rope like I am. Hence the reason the kids found them in their gift bags.Come to find out, Addison is a lover of all candy, which is awesome. Syd on the other hand thought the nerds were a bit too sour. Bummer! Maybe I will try it again when she turns 7. I’m not giving up that easy.

One huge change that I noticed since I saw the girls in November was that Addison is talking like a wild woman…but I cannot understand a word she says! Ok…I take that back. I can understand like 2, but for the most part I am clueless. She will say something…I ask her to repeat it…she repeats it…and I still have no idea what she is saying! It was really frustrating. I know my mom told me when I was younger my sister had to translate for her all the time. At least Rebekkah knows what she is saying.

Sydney was lucky enough to have a birthday party with her friends in Ukiah at a local place called Jumperz. You would not believe how much the kids love that place! It’s crack for 5 year olds!

My visit seemed really short but I am very thankful that I got to see the Steinbucks since I’m not sure when I will get to see them again. Maybe Thanksgiving 2010? One can hope!

DDD #19

Before we headed back to SLO, we had planned to go to the Cuban restaurant Mambo’s on our way out of town. However I waited until Sunday to check their hours and I found out that they were closed! BUMMER! Luckily we had a back up located in Eagle Rock called The Oinkster.

After the realization that we would not be having Cuban food, Maggie was still game to make the trek out East with us. (It’s always an extra bonus for us when we get to share our DDD adventures with our family and friends.) I had never been to Eagle Rock before and I always get excited driving on new roads in CA. (Is that nerdy? Whatever). We passed the WB studios, and then this HUGE cemetery where Michael Jackson is buried. There were tons of people on the side of the streets selling flowers just in case you forgot to buy some for the King of Pop. The drive out there was really pretty and there were even snow-capped mountains in the distance. I was surprised how big Eagle Rock was and it looks like it has a bunch of neat coffee and taco places. It was a beautiful day when we were there, however it gets really hot there during the summer.

The Oinkster is a BBQ joint, and it did not disappoint. Maggie got the reuben, John got the chicken and I got the pulled pork.
(Don’t you love how the food is over exposed? Nice work on my part right? Maybe next time I should make sure the food AND the person look good. DUH!)As you can see the portions were HUGE, but you must try everything when eating at a DDD = no sharing allowed. The fries were also flash fried for extra crispiness and accompanied with some great dipping sauces. I also got the Oinksterade for my drink and it was AWESOME. I think it was more of an orangeade vs. lemon, and it was SO good!

I am happy to say that The Oinkster is PROUD to be featured on DDD, as they have their stencil displayed:I also loved the architecture and signage of the building…it was totally 70’s.Amber’s Rule of Thumb:
If every type of dish at a restaurant is exceptionally good, i.e. beverages, sides, and main courses, then that is proof of an awesome eatery.

You know what? The Oinkster totally fits that category. I’m just bummed it’s not more accessible, and that it wasn’t our milestone 20th DDD. What will our 20th DDD be? I don’t know…stay tuned!

So Cal Adventures

A few weeks ago John and I went down to LA for the weekend. My good friend Maggie helped us get tickets to the 2010 Paley fest, where we saw a panel with Modern Family and LOST.

The first panel we saw was Modern Family and they were SO funny! Let me put it to you this way. Normally you pay to see one stand up comedian right? Imagine paying to see 8…all on stage at the same time! Plus these are PROFESSIONAL comedians. Not some Joe Shmoe living paycheck to pay check. They were cracking jokes right and left and harassing each other. We even got to see a new episode of the show, which was totally unexpected.
Unfortunately I did not bring my camera with me, (as I thought they were not allowed), but we were in the balcony anyway. I did however bring it the next night for LOST and got a few good shots and videos. You weren’t supposed to use your flash so my videos turned out better than the photos, but Maggie emailed me a few of her photos, which turned out pretty good. For the LOST panel, She got to enter the auditorium before the majority of the fans, so she and her boyfriend, Jeff, got second row seats! Sweet right? Well what is even sweeter is that she saved John and I seats too!! So we got be in the first row of our section!




My expectations of the LOST panel were a little too high after seeing the cast from Modern Family. I didn’t really expect any of the producers to spill any beans about the plot, but I was hoping they would have given us a better clue than ‘water’. Really? That was the big reveal? Could they be any more vague? They also only showed us 2 minutes of an upcoming episode. A little week compared to MF.

Unfortunately the panel only consisted of 3 actors and the rest was writers, producers, and directors. The 4 actors were actually the most interesting and the rest of the panel was just ok. They actually thought we were there to be entertained which caused them to crack HORRIBLE jokes all night. They were such dorks! I know I was comparing them to the MF panel from the night before, but still…those dudes just weren’t funny. I know 98% of the crowd disagreed with me, but whatever…only 2% of the crowd weren’t dorks.

After the first panel Maggie and Jeff took us to MILK for some dessert. I had never heard of the place before, but my milkshake was one of the best ones I have ever had! Well let me rephrase that…John’s was the best I had ever had! He got The MILKIE Way Malt, which consisted of vanilla ice cream, malted milk, chocolate chips, and caramel-chocolate swirl. The vanilla ice cream was to die for! I got the Mint Chocolate Crunch Shake, which consisted of cool mint ice cream with chocolate chips and mint crunch malt balls. There were so many other items I wanted to try that I have got to go back. They should consider putting a sampler on their menu.
This is not a photo of our actual milkshake. Some how my camera got stuck in my purse…or maybe I couldn’t focus on anything else while shoving the ice cream down my throat. You choose.

Before we saw the LOST panel we treated ourselves again, but this time we went to Pink Berry.
I had never been to one before, and let me tell you it did not disappoint! The raspberries I had on mine were some of the freshest I’d ever had and overall it wasn’t that sweet, which was a nice change. I just read on their FAQ page that all of the fruit is cut fresh daily. Impressive!
I can’t wait to go back and try a new combo. I wonder if someone will open one here in SLO. There is one in Santa Barbara, so you never know. It will be interesting to see how fast they start opening in northern California.

Our weekend in LA was one of the best ones I had had in a long time. I’m not sure if it was because we got to go everywhere I wanted to go, but I know a big part was spending time with good friends and family. (L.A. food posts to come).

Here's to 33!

Greetings to my 5 faithful readers that (I hope) are still out there! I know I said I would start blogging once 2010 arrived and here I am! Granted it’s February, but hey…even I had doubts that I would be back. I must give credit to Chris, Sarah, and Cindy for inspiring me to start writing again. Thanks ladies!

So where should I start? Let’s see…how about with the most recent current event? Ground Hog’s Day was yesterday and Puxatony Phil saw his shadow.I know a lot of my co-workers were none too pleased with the forecasted 6 more weeks of winter, but I say whatever! Leave poor Phil alone. Anyone who lives in our area knows that we only have two seasons here on the Central Coast. Summer and Fall, with 2-3 weeks of rain a year. I will be really surprised if the temps don’t start hitting the 70’s by next month.

As most of you know yesterday was also my birthday. Yeah for being 33…I think. Who knows what 33 will hold for me, I’m kind of indifferent with this age, but I guess I should be glad that I’m not close to another milestone…like 35. Is that considered middle aged? Or is 40? Regardless…let’s hope that 33 is a good one.

Working on your birthday plain stinks, right? Well thanks to an awesome co-worker of mine she made my day realllllllllllllllllllly special. When I showed up to work there was French music playing on my computer, a chocolate croissant, a cappuccino, a French book, a box of fake French cigarettes, and mini roses waiting for me! It was such an awesome surprise. Are you wondering what is with the Parisian theme? Well this fall john and I are going to Paris! Granted we aren’t going until October, but by having my office all ‘Frenched’ out it made me even more excited to go! I think I need to start eating croissants weekly. My cappuccino intake has already increased thanks out our Italy trip…maybe I should wait until after the trip.
For lunch the theme continued when we went out to eat at Et Voila, a local French restaurant. John and I discovered the place a few months ago and really like it. I had homemade mushroom raviolis and they did not disappoint!

When we got back to the office I definitely thought the surprises were over, but low and behold there was dessert to be eaten! My co-worker tried to get a local baker to create a crème puff tower, (inspired by the Eiffel tower), but they were lame and said they couldn’t do it. So she had to create her own, and it was awesome!! It wasn’t as tall as this one, but you get the gist:

When I got home John had his gift and flowers waiting for me. Check out his awesome wrap job!
I had no idea what was in this huge box but I was SO EXCITED when I saw what it was.
I saw this suitcase in the airport last year and fell in love with it. John some how remembered it and bought it for me. I know this may not seem like that big of a deal, but some days John can’t remember what he had for breakfast! (No offence Honey, but you know it’s true).

After the suitcase excitement wore off we headed to dinner where I had my first good chocolate martini, (thanks to my friend Lori’s suggestion), and it was AWESOME.
It really feels like I’ve been celebrating my birthday for over a week thanks to all the nice cards and gifts I have received in the mail.Do you see that tin? Do you know that the WHOLE thing was filled with cheese and caramel popcorn? My sister had it when she vacationed in Chicago and wanted to share her love for it with John and I. At first it was a little odd, but that stuff totally starts to grow on you! I am ashamed to admit that we finished the WHOLE THING. Granted I’ve felt a little sick from eating it all week, but I couldn’t stop! It’s like crack!

I got a few more gifts for our trip, which include the French Rosetta stone from my parents and that cute Eiffel tower name tag from my friend Maggie. I had both the Rosetta stone and a Kindle on my Amazon wish list. Both are pricey, but one was a need, and the other was a want. As much as I am thankful for the Rosetta stone, I am mad that practicality won.

Do you see the Gnome Bowling kit? How awesome is that? I actually got that from my friend Cindy in the UK, who I met through this crazy blogging world.

I sent her some of her favorite Bath and Body Works products, and I received this in return. It just so happened that it arrived last week. What a great surprise! I’m hoping to take a few action bowling videos soon.

I also got the hat an necklace as gifts, so of course I had to wear them today!
So overall this 33rd birthday totally exceeded my expectations. In fact I’m still on a high from yesterday! I am so thankful for my wonderful family…friends…and blog readers!