Last night it was supposed to storm, so we stayed and and rented a movie and made a nice dinner, opened the windows and waited for the storms to hit. Man, we love summer thunder. But alas, nothing.So we went to bed expecting to hear the storm overnight (and left the windows open). And we woke up late this morning. And nothing.Today was dark and gray all day, and I was waiting for the storm. It sprinkled off and on, but again, nothing. FINALLY around 7 pm, the wind picked up and it started to rain, like really, really rain. And there was one flash of lightening. And about five minutes later it was done. And that was it. And tomorrow it's supposed to be back in the 40s. Boooo.

We woke up this morning and headed to Hell's Kitchen for brunch to celebrate Jamie's dad's birthday. Stan would have been 80 years old today, and we wanted to mark that, but with something good. And man, talk about good. The food there is just so amazing (have you had that peanut butter? Man-oh-man). Jamie got the lemon ricotta pancakes, above, and those are about the best pancakes I've ever had.Also, I finally posted my 4onthefloor photos from yesterday over here. Enjoy!

So, you may remember last year on Jan. 3 (2011) when I saw the 4ontheFloor play with the Evening Rig at the Triple Rock. That was the first time I'd seen them (not the Evening Rig -- been catching those guys for a long time). Tonight, about fifteen months later, these two played again -- except they sold out First Avenue. For you out-of-towners, last year there were roughly 30 people at the show. This year? 1,500. Pretty impressive, eh?And man, did the 4ontheFloor bring it. They had a wall of lights behind them (like they're U2 or something!) and side lights and smoke machines. I'm not even kidding when I say confetti canons and pyrotechnics would not have surprised me. And they nailed their performance. NAILED IT. And the crowd? They knew every single word to every single song. All the way in the back up in the balcony, I'd walk by a group dancing in the corner, shouting the lyrics. I am so damn proud of these boys. What a fun evening.Of course I took a ton of photos, but I'm too tired to post at the moment. I'll get them up soon though, I promise. The photos are posted here. Enjoy!

Tonight I met up with several friends to catch up on the week, and I had a lot of fun learning more and more about these people (which is really what happy hour is for, right?). For instance some of them cannot handle vodka. Others? Whiskey (neither of which was consumed this evening). I also learned that one of my friends was once gifted a hat by Flavor Flav. How awesome is THAT? And someone else's first "concert" was Milli Vanilli. And typing that name out? It just looks wrong. Like so many facets of that group...

So last week, I'm at work, and I get a call on my cell from a number I don't recognize. I (hesitantly) answer, and it's a man asking if I'm home. Uh... I don't know about you guys, but when a strange man calls to ask if I'm at home, I get a little skeeved out. He said he was from a florist and he was there to deliver some flowers. Likely story, eh? Listen, I've seen CSI and I'm not falling for this. But it turns out he DID work for a florist (which I confirmed by getting his name and the name of the florist in case I came home and was robbed clean) and he left this beautiful bouquet at the front door.And then I called Jamie to see if he sent me flowers. Uh, yeah, that was an awkward silence. Nope, not from my man. Since it wasn't any sort of holiday or special occasion, I was stumped as to who would send these. You know who it was? It was a client! The mom of the puppy I shot a few weeks ago! HOW NICE IS THAT?!And now, almost a full week later, the flowers still look and smell great. This side-business of mine sure has its perks.

Tonight I had my monthly dinner with Nyberg and we tried out the new Eat Street Social. The best part of the meal, by far, was the drink. I had asked around the newsroom before heading down there, and word was that the bartenders there made fantastic drinks. So I ordered the "Jackson Pollock" which was gin with grapefruit juice, lime juice and sparkling wine. YUM. Plus it was decorated with red and green flavoring that was dropped in and then broken up with a toothpick to look like a Pollack painting. Clever, eh?

So I don't know how YOU guys spend Easter evening, but around here we go to Japanese metal shows for some stellar entertainment. The guy standing behind me before the show started was so excited that he exclaimed, "Forget Jesus Christ, Guitar Wolf is about to show you the resurrection of Rock'n'Roll!"And man, they did put on quite a show. I didn't understand a single word the entire evening, but I do think the lead singer was trying to say "Minneapolis" a few times. And you know what? The language thing didn't even matter. Everyone had a blast. You can see more images from the show over here. Enjoy!Oh! And yes, this photo was taken yesterday. But I worked on processing them all today since it was such a late night, and I still wanted to show you guys the magic. So once again, I'm breaking the rules...