Weekend round-up

One more weekend down on the way to Christmas and I am happy to report the holiday shopping is in full swing at Casa Tara. I did SO much online shopping over the last 3 days that I'm feeling pretty darn confident about the holidays so far. My goal is to have all shopping done by December 1st so I can take my time this year and maybe get the house closer to the holiday image in my head.

As mentioned last week, this weekend was The Lost Weekend at the Townehouse here in the big city of Sudbury. Proud to report, I toughed it out for all 3 nights and had a great time with zero hangovers to boot! Friday started with The Sadies who are always awfully fun to see. This horribly boring band called Young Rival opened up for them (formerly called The Ride Theory) who had the unfortunate luck of opening for a band that is better than they will ever be. Such is the bad side of opening for a big band -- play with smaller bands more in your league and you have the chance of besting them and maybe getting noticed, play with a band like The Sadies and they just make you look like kids playing with their dads' instruments. Sorry guys, you tried though. Happy to report my merch buying problem carried on as I walked home with a fun new Sadies hoodie and their new disc. Yay merch!

Saturday started on a low point as Marc had me in the yard raking leaves. Boo to nature and her untidy ways. But he made up for it by after taking me for a surprise snack at Ti Amo, a new-ish little cafe/bakery that opened up with amazing pastries, espresso and yummy panini sandwiches. He even bought me a little travel bag of pastries for the road. Raking forgotten! Onwards to window shop for a new treadmill (separate post to follow on the joys of that) and then home to prep for another night out. The night brought a housewarming party for Marc's cousin Kristina,the arrival of Big City Kelly (yay B.C.K!)and the always unforgetable White Cowbell Oklahoma. I first saw them in 2001 and they have never failed to both rock my world, gross me out, and generally make me wary of being too close to the stage. On the WCO menu for that night was a metal grinder, chainsawing a pile of toilet paper, a guy in a clown mask and underpants, a stage full of dancing ladies, a massive inflatable mummy that literally took up the entire stage and of course, hardcore ass-kicking southern rock at its finest. If you ever get the chance to see these guys, please do not miss it. It's the most fun you'll ever have at a bar show.

Sunday was pretty low-key but started poorly with yet more shenanigans from our old man Bailey. Thank god he has his vet appointment on Monday cuz something is clearly not right with our poochie face. Lately he likes to wake us up as early as humanly possible demanding to be let out about 5 times and barking incessantly every time you try and go back to bed. We are perplexed. And tired as a result of his new routine. Sunday night we managed to haul our sleepy butts out one last time for the Bionic show. Unfortunately, the promise of an early show was broken and to put salt in the wound, we then had to sit through the opening band which was so not my thing it was almost painful. Trigger Effect, I'm sure you're great at what you do but I'm far too old for whatever that thing is. So loud on my tiny ears. Bionic (finally) was great though and played a short set thus getting me home before 1am.

Lost Weekend 2007 + Tara + no Rememberance Day holiday + bladder-challenged dog = one sleepy little lady.