Mayday Parade @ Koko

Thursday night was the first time I've ever been to Koko in Camden. I thought it was a really great venue, with plenty of places to stand if you wanted a good view of the stage from above. The queue was pretty huge when we arrived as it always tends to be for Mayday Parade, so when we actually got in, we only caught half a Blitz Kids song (although this sounded pretty cool!) and decided against going down on the main floor. Instead, we headed upstairs for a great balcony view and the bar.

After a quick equipment change, out came American Band A Rocket To The Moon. They said it was their first time in the UK, but it seemed like they were already very well known - the girl next to me was clearly VERY excited, as were most of the crowd down by the stage. And I have to say I could see why immediately. Their songs were catchy and memorable, and after coming home and listening to a few of their tracks again, I can say that the live performance outshone their recorded material and gave it a little extra oomph, which to me is always a sign of a band who are going to do well. I must now immediately go and buy their album as I'm completely hooked. To see them on their first time in the UK, is something a bit special I think - I'm pretty sure they could sell out a headliner next time. 9/10

After ARTTM came New York band, We Are The In Crowd. Again, they were good, but something didn't quite gel right with me. A female lead singer was something a bit different, but I wasn't that keen on their ripped jeans look. Their sound was ok, and I thought that their extremely tall guitarist had a great voice, and the lead singer was pretty good as well but it didn't blow me away like ARTTM had. I didn't find the songs as memorable or as catchy. Still, I thought that they were ok as a support act, but I wouldn't go to see them again specifically. 7/10

Finally after a long wait (for no apparent reason), Mayday Parade took to the stage. I'd been a little disappointed in their October shows last year, but at the end of the day, I love their music and albums so decided to try again. Given that we were up high, we had a better view, and also I think the sound was better from up there. They started well, smashing through their songs, the energy of this band is just crazy, and the fans feed off it too. I was, as usual, particularly impressed with the drummers arms flying all over the place, but also the fact that he did a good amount of the backing vocals. They included 'Terrible Things' from their 'Valdosta' EP, which was a nice touch to freshen up the set a little, and again a really great song - but really, they have two albums worth of amazing material to choose from, so I don't really feel like the shows are too similar. Thankfully they'd ditched the part of the show where they would stop a song halfway through to get the audience to shout out (which attracted boos from the audience last year). Towards the end, I did feel like the lead singer was starting to run out of steam a bit with the vocals, but they slowed it down and sang the crowd pleaser 'Miserable at Best' pretty well. Next time I'd love to hear 'Save your Heart' as I think it's also a beautiful slow song that would make a bit of a change.

I think it was an improved show from last year, and my cousin was really impressed, this being the first time she had seen them; she said she was immediately off to listen to their music again. One thing though, whenever I see Derek, I just want to chop all that long hair off - I like to see a singers face while they sing, dammit! 8/10

Pressies!

Well, last week was my birthday. Hubby didn't quite know what to get me so I gave him a list.

And he's so lovely that he bought me tons of stuff, including some amazing stitching books from Sublime Stitching. Although I've always done cross stitch, I've never done any other kind of embroidery stitching, so I thought it would be something nice to have a go at, increase my skills, that kind of thing.

...Except that these books contain templates. Hundreds and hundreds of them, ready to be ironed onto things and stitched. They are all re-usable! I may never have any free time ever again with the amount of stitching projects now in my house.

It's great to have stash. I just hope I can get some good use out of it... but I'm pretty determined, so I think so. I'll post whatever I make up here on my blog.

And here's a little picture of what I got from hubby... it's a stitcher's dream!

Central line fun

Sooooo... the little note was dropped onto the second carriage of one of the central line trains last night when it was nice and quiet. I hope someone finds it and reads it!

And talking of the central line... here's something that had me giggling... I'm sure it's not much fun if you're a bit lost and trying to find your way around!

http://stickersonthecentralline.tumblr.com/

Notes from a stranger

A couple of weeks ago, hubby and I caught the Northern line to go and meet friends up on Hampstead Heath. As we got on, I saw a little envelope.



Inside was this:




I have to admit, I have mixed feelings. Happy that people actually do do this, I think its really sweet. Also a bit guilty because I didn't really need the pick me up, I'm pretty perky most of the time anyway. Maybe I should have left it for someone who needed it more than I did. Or perhaps I'll place it back on a train for someone else to find!

What next?

Well, after all the excitement of the wedding and our fantastic honeymoon in Australia, where we visited Perth, Uluru, Melbourne and Sydney, I had to do something to perk myself up when I got home again.

So I walked into the hairdressers and asked them to cut off the hair I'd been growing for well over a year and to dye it red. A change is good, right?!

The downside is that I'm now slightly more limited with my colour choices... not so sure that bright pink lippy works, or half the stuff in my wardrobe... so black it is until I have time to figure it all out! It looks totally cute in a ponytail too. I feel lucky that I can mess around with it so much!

I've not fallen off the face of the planet...

... honestly!
I've been a bit quiet because, well, I was off getting married. So that took up most of the weekends in February with the last minute preparations, and then March was the Wedding day and honeymoon in lovely Australia, which was our giftlist (www.buy-our-honeymoon.com - Highly recommended!!!)

The day was beautiful and went off without a hitch, and I'm so impressed with all our suppliers and all they did for us, and I still have to get round to writing all the thank you cards!

In the meantime, some of my internetty friends have been asking for photos, so here's a few of the day. What a handsome hubby I have!










The following made our day completely wonderful, so thank you to all of them, I couldn't have asked for anything more:
Rookery Hall Hotel & Spa (Venue)
Beverley Foster Photography (Photographer)
Amy Lewis (Hair & Makeup)
Fleurescent (Flowers)
Creme de la Creme (Cake)
Lourene (Jewellery)
Cheshire DJs (Evening party)
SCC Weddings and Events (Dressed the room)

And of course our parents, the bridesmaids, best man and usher and all our family and friends for making it such a fabulous day!

Cooking up a storm

I've been watching the Jamie Oliver 30 minute meals program every night. Rob caught the one where he was making Chicken Satay skewers. I've never really been that keen on Peanut butter, but Rob loves it so I thought I would give it a try.

The recipe is here.

I'll admit, I didn't quite manage it in 30 minutes, but this was the weekend and there was no hurry. We were not bothered about the fruity pudding, but I did manage to make the satay sauce, the chicken skewers and I thought the noodles were absolutely amazing, I think I ate about 3 portions.

Overall, very happy, I'd definitely make this meal again. The flavours were really tasty, it had a lot of zing, but not uncomfortably spicy. Rob gave it an 8/10. Yum Yum!