Truth.

The Lumineers

I am a huge fan of the roots revival music of the last few years. Like Mumford & Sons, The Avett Brothers, and now The Lumineers. There is something about the rustic, heart-on-the-sleeve music that kind of nods to tradition while setting off into uncharted territory that I love! It's soulful, sweet and fun to sing to. I've brought up the Lumineers before on this blog here. Last night was their (sold out) concert. I paid $30 for two tickets and after seeing them perform live, I would have paid double that for each. They were awesome. When we got to the Santa Ana Observatory, where the concert venue was. I was a little concerned. It was right behind my old college, yet I never knew that it existed. Although Wes likes the Lumineers too, he wasn't all to excited to stand in line with a bunch of hipsters near the back of an Ikea parking lot. But once inside the place was pretty cool. It was like a low budget house of blues but waay smaller. They had a full open bar and even though it was all general admission with no actual seating we got a prime standing spot where I could see the stage perfectly and felt close enough that I might as well have been part of the "mosh-pit" area.

When The Lumineers came on stage they looked exactly the same as they do in this picture. We had said in the car ride there that the show wouldn't be the same unless one of them was wearing suspenders and wouldn't ya know, the drummer was!

In fact, I think that's the only thing he wears. 

Although the 3 main band members consist of: The lead singer, Wesley, the drummer, Jeremiah, and the cello player, Neyla. The base player and the keyboardist had pretty large roles as well. 

Between every song it took them a minute or two to change instruments. I was surprised that each of them played at least 3 instruments and they all swapped with each other. At one time there was a cello, a mandolin, an accordion and a xylophone and a tambourine. That's talent.

Plus, they were a ton of fun to watch. The sound was great, they got the crowd really going and maybe, I'm just a little bias but Wesley was sexy. My Wes is pretty hot too though ;)

They were so good live that I left the concert thinking that it had to be the best one I had ever seen. It probably helped that the venue was so small that the intimacy made the music more special.

Their whole self titled album is only 42 minutes long but they played for over an hour singing cover songs of Bob Dylan and some of their new not even named yet stuff that will be on their next album. After only hearing a couple of their new songs once, I know that I'll be buying the album as soon as it comes out.

Incase you've only heard their one hit song on the radio, "Ho, Hey" I have posted a couple of their songs that they performed live, so you can see for yourself just how good they are!

Hope your Monday goes by quick!

It's the F**king Catalina Wine Mixer!

This weekend was mine and Wes's Birthday weekend! Yup. On Sunday I turned the young age of 27 and the old man turned 31. To celebrate our birthdays being on the same day, we took advantage of the free ferry rides to Catalina, (for birthday people only) and spent the night on the beautiful island. It was our first romantic getaway weekend alone and it was wonderful. One of the nicest weekends and definitely best birthday I've ever had.

Our ferry left at 7:45 Sunday morning, which is MUCH earlier than I cared for, but well worth it. After waking up at 5:50am and dropping off little Rox at her puppy hotel, we were on our way to Paradise. Literally.

The boat ride there is about an hour and a half and the waters were a bit rocky, but a couple bloody mary's and we were fine!

When we came in to port around 9:15am, the weather had cleared and Catalina was beautiful.

When we got off the boat we stopped and took a few pics of the town before dropping our stuff off at the hotel.

There were very few "normal sized" cars there. Original Mini Coopers and Golf Carts are the vehicles of choice.

See what I mean?

We stayed at the Glenmore Plaza Hotel. It was next to the beach and right in the middle of town. Very convenient, and it was super cute!

Just look at our sweet little beach cottage room! The magic totally happened here.

Once our stuff was dropped off we headed to the Pancake Cottage for breakfast. 

Apparently Catalina is considered 'Birthday Island' the whole town has special offers for your Birthday and they gave us ribbons to wear. It was extra fun being both our birthdays and getting to wear ribbons!

While Wes was busy planning out our day, I took time to show off his birthday present to me. They're Rayban Wayfarers fold ups. They fold to practically the size of the lenses and fit so cute in a tiny little leather case! I love them!

After breakfast we rented a golf cart and toured the town on our own!

There were so many pretty things to look at. I love this pink hotel!

There were also cactus galore!

The view we got from our golf cart tour. It seriously felt like we were on an island in the middle of the Caribbean and not 40 miles from home.

Another couple, also doing the golf cart tour stopped and took this pic for us.

And this one too :)

Wes wanted to look like he was thinking. 

Showing off our Birthday Ribbons!

Wherever we went someone told us Happy Birthday. I thought it was the locals just being nice but Wes insisted that there was some kind of 'plot' behind it. After some Google research it turns out he was right. The locals are encouraged to wish guests Happy Birthday. Interesting....

Beautiful.

We took a pit stop to watch some people zip line and take in the scenery and ran in to this little cutie. I tried to see what his name was but the only tags he had on were for rabies, so I guess his name is healthy.

After Golf Carting we went to the pier for some lunch. We had booked a tour on a submarine, so we had some fish and chips and beer while we killed time for our adventure.

I'm not a very good double fister.

I told Wes to pretend he was a Pirate and this is what he came up with. Arrrr!

Some of the fish that we saw through our little window. 

After the Submarine tour we did some more sight seeing. I thought this little courtyard was so pretty.

Then we went to Luau Larry's for some cocktails. Wes got his Wiki Wacked with a Wicki Wacker drink.

I went more subtle with a Pina Colada.

I thought it was hilarious that their parking spots were mini for their golf carts.

After Luau Larry's we went back to the hotel for a nap before getting ready and going out to a romantic dinner at Steve's Steak House.

You can use your imagination for how the rest of the evening went.

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The rest of the evening was Fantastic! We woke up refreshed the next day and did a bit more sight seeing before we hopped back on the boat to come home.

Bison are all over the island of Catalina so we had to take a photo in front of this jazzed up Buffalo.

Wes's Dream car....

On the boat to come home.

This is Catalina's Casino. You don't gamble there though. Its more of a theatre/ event center. Inside it is the world's largest ballroom. Pretty neat huh?

The boat ride coming home was much smoother than getting there.

This is coming back into Dana Point.

I loved this dog with his little life vest on, giving us the pirate eye!

On the car ride home I was kind of sad that our trip to Paradise was so short. I would have loved to stay another day. But after picking up Roxie from her hotel and heading back to Wes's, the sun was shining and the trees were glistening and we still had a view of the ocean. I shouldn't be upset. I freaking live in paradise! 

The rest of the day we napped and watched The Voice. A perfect Birthday Weekend!