Every day Should Be a Holiday From Real

If Jack's Mannequin ever comes within, oh, 200 miles of you, GO. Seriously. Grab your friends, jump in the car, and make a roadtrip out of it. No excuses, whatsoever. Take our case: the concert was two hours away, a winter storm bombarded us days before, and we both had exams the very next day. Luckily, sanity hit us and we came to the realization that we have a lifetime to sleep and study. The concert was fantastic and thrilling and everything I hoped it would be. I would go see them again. Tonight. Or right this second.

Instead of arriving at 5:30 when the doors were set to open, we decided waiting outside in the 10 degree weather wasn't quite our scene. Coat checks are so passe. Instead, we ditched the opening bands and treated ourselves to a mexi-fiesta dinner with friends, followed by delicious coffee drinks at one of the cutest cafes I have ever seen. We finally made our way to the venue around 7, which was incredibly timely. We didn't have to wait for a second in the sub-zero temperatures, we got a parking spot literally 10 steps from the door, and we saw 20 minutes of the opening bands (which, let me tell you, was plenty).

Because it was Valentine's Day and we were feeling rather bold, we elbowed our way through the punk rock-poser high schoolers in "the pit" and finally pushed our way to the front, leaving us approx. 7 feet from the luscious - ahem, lusciously married - Andrew McMahon. The performance was just incredible from start to finish. I almost fell into depression when they left the stage without playing my favorite song in the world - the cd's hidden track called "MFEO Part II: You Can Breathe." But then the boys fled back onstage - Coronas-with-limes in hand - and made my wildest Valentine's dreams come true.

Although it was too dark to properly see the concert-goers' outfits, I made one clear observation: if I had half a dollar for every black leggings + Vans + heart-shaped plastic earrings (oh, how clever those are... right...) ensemble I spotted, I would have a years worth of Starbucks lattes.



And on a musical note, let your iPod be as emo as your tunes with "emotibud earbud set" from Pixelgirlshop. Cute!







-tf