Not just a Dave Matthews Band song.
Friday Jill was in Baltimore for a conference, she raced home through the rain to meet me for dinner. I’d made reservations at Central Michel Richard, and we both made it, just a little late. I started with the cucumber gazpacho (very savory) while Jill had the French onion soup (a little too cheesy for her, but perfect for me). Jill had a glass of Pinot Noir and I had glasses of Blusser and Bells Amber. For the entrée, I decided to have the lobster burger and Jill had the hangar steak and a side of spinach. Both were good, though I think Jill preferred the fries from Monday. It was still raining, so we hopped in a cab instead of walking the 8 blocks.
We got to Constitution Hall with plenty of time to spare. I’d listened to the opening act and he was nothing special, so we had a drink downstairs. Tori came out shortly after in a wig. Her new album features five “American Dolls”, including her. The other four are her characters who sing various songs from their perspective. What that means in a concert sense is one doll opens each show with a set, then leaves and Tori then comes out for the rest of the show.
So it was an interesting exercise for me to try and predict which doll we’d get. I guessed Santa, since there’d been three appearances of the others but only two of her since the US leg of the tour started. I was hoping for Clyde (’cause she does “Bouncing Off Clouds” and “Girl Disappearing”) or Pip (“Teenage Hustling” as well as classics “Bliss” and “Waitress”), so I was surprised when we got Isabel. It was good, but the only new song she did I really liked was “Almost Rosey”. The rest of the show was Tori at her best (including the above jumpsuit) – I was particularly pumped to get “Cornflake Girl”, “Leather” and “1000 Oceans”. We caught another cab to the Metro and headed back to our cars.
Saturday was busier – our homeowner’s association was hosting a meet and greet to talk about some changes to our governing documents. I got up early to make a Costco run for some of the food, then grilled hot dogs. We met up before it started to set up and got all the tables and chairs ready. I was so happy the rain stopped – it would have been miserable otherwise. Everything went well, we just didn’t get much of a turnout as we’d hoped, but we’d sent letters and taped notices to the mailboxes. In the end we had a lot of Hard Times chili and hot dogs left over – I think I’ll take my portion into work.
Finally we brought the tables and chairs back, then we went home and collapsed. Jill took a nap while Illa and I played, then I made chicken Caesar salad. We had enough energy to tackle some DDR on the Wii, and then finally tried the multiple player option on Wario Ware. Most games there just switch off players, but there are a couple ones where one player uses the remote and the other uses the nunchuck, best in Bungee Buddies.
Sunday was almost totally relaxing. A good sleep, Jill brought me a bagel, a run/walk with Illa then out on the deck to catch up on papers. I came in to watch a miserable football game, then watched some other TV (finally finished the Doctor Who season off). Jill made marinara sauce for dinner, and I cooked the rest, but I had had a stomach ache for a couple hours and skipped dinner myself.