"If you're cool, than I'm cool, than we're cool"

I'm floating on cloud nine. D and I went to a super rad concert last night for one of my favorite R&B singers, Anthony Hamiliton.  I hadn't listened to his music in a long time, but while browsing upcoming concerts, I saw that he was going to perform at Club Nokia in downtown LA. I quickly emailed a link to the concert and asked if D would want to go with me. D said he hadn't heard of Anthony before, but would be down to go. I explained that Anthony was amazing and that he even performed on one of the early episodes of the Dave Chappelle show, that sealed the deal for D and I jumped online to get us tickets.

The days leading up to the concert, I listened to all of my old favorite songs by Anthony and listened to his more recent stuff too.  It was fun listening to my classic college jams, as it swooped my right back to being 20 and in full-swing college mode. I grew more and more excited, but was worried about us being out on a "school night" being too much strain on our busy work schedules. Plus, the last concert I had suggested, ended up in mixed results (ie - the Neon Trees fiasco at OC Fair). Finally, the night of the concert came and D and I headed to downtown.  We grabbed a couple drinks at the JW Marriott and then left for the concert venue. It was a really cool intimate club and the crowd was very lively and excited for Anthony to take the stage.  Once the music started, Anthony's voice was just as lovely and buttery as it is on record. The muscians were amazing and I felt like we were in the middle of gospel church with people all around us clapping and dancing and occassionally yelling out, "Sing It Anthony!!"  I heard all of my favorite songs and some of his new ones too.  Music is such a wonderful thing. I'm so happy we went to see him and feel lucky to be able to take advantage of the music scene here in LA.

If you would like to hear a sampling of Anthony's music, here's a link to a lot of his songs:

http://myplay.com/audio_player/myplay/56/443719/443736?allowBrowsing=1

My favorites are "Cool," "The Day We Met," "Her Hear," "Can't Let Go," "Mama Knew Love," "Charlene," "Since I Seen't You," "Comin Where I Come From" (The song he performed on Dave Chappelle) and "Lucille."  Looks like I've covered most of the list! 

Wedding #1 - Armenian Delight

Its been a busy wedding year for us!  Went to one in the summer, two in the fall, and have one last one to go to early December. D and I both enjoy going to weddings; who doesn't enjoy a festive atmosphere?! The first wedding we went to this fall, was in mid-September on a beautiful warm evening in Pasadena. The wedding was for D's medical school friend, who happened to grow up in a close-knit Armenian community in the LA area. The ceremony was at a lovely Armenian church, which was followed by an elegant outdoor reception at a mansion in Pasadena. I had never been inside an Armenian church before, but was interesting to note the difference between the interior of the church to the American Catholic churches that I had grown up with. The ceremony was split equally between Armenian and English, so we definitely go the gist of what was going on.  There was a really sweet part in the ceremony where the bride and groom rested their foreheads against each other and looked into each other's eyes and "breathed in each other's souls." After the ceremony, we headed to the outdoor gardens of a nearby mansion and were greeted with refreshing glasses of hibiscus lemonade. The food was outstanding and the bride and groom looked so utterly happy. My favorite part of the food was the gelato bar for dessert! A perfectly sweet ending to a lovely evening. Congrats M & A!