greetings from buffalo!

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Well, not really.

I’ve actually been home since Sunday, but I haven’t had time to compile my trip until now!

We headed to Buffalo, New York this weekend to attend a college friend’s wedding. This friend was the reason for the bachelorette party in Ocean City, home of the creepy hot dog.

We were able to visit one of my husband’s favorite stomping grounds for lunch on Saturday:

mighty taco

Mighty Taco is a chain local to Western New York, where my husband grew up. I explained it to some of my co-workers as a less-fancy Taco Bell.

Huh? Taco Bell is fancy?

Well, no … but Mighty Taco sticks to the basics!

The wedding was held outdoors, and they were blessed with a beautiful day!

fountain

It was a small wedding, but most of our best college friends were there.

They had cute favors (though, I donated mine to the after-party since we couldn’t take them home on our flight … I then had to leave the after-party and go to sleep after the 800 glasses of wine I consumed caught up with me!)

favors

They also had a great cake topper!

bobble groom and bride

Bride and Groom seem as happy as can be!

sushi departure

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The office was abuzz yesterday.

They were holding a board of directors meeting in our conference room.

Our office — the annex where about 50 techies moved after we outgrew our main office– rather than the main office, since our conference room is bigger.

This has happened before, and we knew what was coming.

Leftovers!

They always cater lunch, and they always order too much. We heard it was sushi from a local Japanese place.

So we held off heating our frozen meals and leftovers, and waited for the invitation.

1:00 pm: It seemed they had eaten, but the door was closed to the smaller conference room where they set up a small buffet.

1:15 pm: My co-workers and I kept casually walking around, waiting for the exec. assistant to grant us access.

1:50 pm: Rumors spread that the sushi is gone! They’ve brought it to the main office.

1:51 pm: My boss confirms the small conference room is now empty!

2:00 pm: Eat disappointing lunch of Lean Cuisine ravioli.

I was kind of hoping we’d go out for sushi today to fill the void, but we ended up at the Chinese buffet.

Closer than Lean Cuisine, but not the same!

entertainment overload: part 3

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This third installment should also be the final for now, as far as I know!

We returned to the Rams Head tonight to see Ingrid Michaelson — a brand-new artist to me.

I noticed her show highlighted in the Rams Head e-mail newsletter last week. They listed her as an “emerging new artist” and that her music has been featured on Grey’s Anatomy.

The Rams Head write-up (not updated to reflect the actual season finale date) said:

Michaelson’s crystalline tones blend Joni Mitchell’s soft-edged vocal shifting with shades of Regina Spektor’s witty kookiness. In the last five months, four of her songs have soundtracked the life, death and sex dramas on ABC’s blockbuster medical series, “Grey’s Anatomy.” Last Thursday’s season finale — featuring Michaelson’s “Keep Breathing” and will be included in the Grey’s Anatomy, Vol. 3 Soundtrack, to be released in September.

Despite the poor structure of that last sentence … I went to her site, listened to her songs on myspace and decided we should go!

I did remember “Keep Breathing” as one of the main songs in the season finale, and really like her sound.

I don’t know where they get the Joni comparison from, but you can definitely hear the Regina. Ingrid is a great singer, and an enjoyable performer.

Another great show to cap off our three concerts in four nights! (And another artist I will be playing repeatedly!)

entertainment overload: part 2

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What an incredible show!

Last night, we saw The Decemberists perform with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

They played at Merriweather Post Pavilion — an outdoor venue with lawn and shell seating. We got great seats under the pavilion — row B in the right loge. So, quite askew of center stage, but nobody was in our way!

The majority of the set was fully orchestrated (with a few songs sans orchestra, though Colin invited the orchestra to jam along if they felt the urge!). The lighting was bright white, rather than the usual semi-darkness with colored spotlights they bring out for concerts.

The orchestra sat on the stage behind the band. When they started playing, the sound was incredible — even from our off-center seats. From beyond the shell, it was even more amazing (I didn’t leave my seat, but my husband went to grab a beer and heard the full effect).

This was definitely the most unique shows I’ve ever been to. Combining an orchestra with a rock band — brilliant!

Next up … can this concert-going craziness possibly continue?