"Lolly, lolly, lolly!!"

Those are the words of my good friend Aimee, who's "lolly, lolly" could mean pretty much anything, from a "lolly" with each step when walking, or "lolly-ing" your way through not giving a way a secret, or to merely express great joy and satisfaction with life while saying "lolly" through a smiling face. That's how I feel right now. :)

I got home for fall break (how wonderful!) on Wednesday night - my parents are still scared to let me drive through downtown Chicago traffic, and, let's be honest, here...I was pretty much mortally terrified to do so as well, so we agreed to meet up in Chesterton, Indiana. I, of course, had the better luck traffic-wise (think Indian toll road versus downtown Chi-town traffic) so I waited in the Bob Evan's parking lot for at least an hour and got to sleep my way into the beginning of Fall Break. :) My mom and dad finally arrived, and after dinner, drove the rest of the way home for me and I got to see my sister and my dog, Sam. It was good to be back.

Thursday was the day I was really looking forward to, though. A surprise gift to my sister was to take her to the Switchfoot concert downtown! So, we went and ate dinner there before the concert, and then took the EL up to the Vic Theatre, where tickets were being held for me since Ticketmaster never mailed my tickets on time. I look on the schedule of events at the Vic, and WHO was there the day before!? But, of course, the most elusive band to me ever, Nickel Creek. Now, don't think I wasn't thrilled to be seeing Switchfoot...but really now...let me tell you the story. First chance to see Nickel Creek was my freshment year when Bjorn was going to sell me his ticket because he couldn't go due to school work. I decided to go, then un-decided b/c I too had a research paper due REALLY soon, and knew that driving to Calvin College wouldn't be the smartest thing to do, so I stayed and worked on the paper. The second time Nickel Creek slipped through my fingers was this summer - they were having their lastest album debut IN HOLLYWOOD at the world's LARGEST INDE RECORD STORE the NIGHT that I was flying home. Augh! So, here it was, the THIRD time that I had missed them...by a DAY. grrrrr.

Well, the concert started with ReeveOliver, a new band which is VERY hard rock, so it wasn't quite my speed. It didn't have much musical complexity to it, so I had a hard time getting into it. The second opening band was Eisley, and man, were those kids young! They looked between the ages of 16 and 19 (maybe) and were all related. THey had a lot more musicianship under their belts, and they were all related (think Brady-Bunch garage band, but cooler) but the two lead singers had such incredibly whiny, wailing voices that they sounded super cool on the first, oh, 3 songs. After that, it started sounding really affected. Maybe I'm just a horrible critic.

FINALLY...Switchfoot arrived. It was a PHENOMENAL show. It has become a lot more lighting-pizazz, but it really was excellent, and I couldn't have liked it better. They pour themselves into what they are doing so much, and really know how to perform and never let the musicianship suffer. John Foreman even wrote us, the kids of Chicago and the Vic Theatre, a song on the spot to show us how he had been looking forward to performing there again for such a long time.

So, at the end of one of the songs....a beautiful girl with a violin gracefully walks out on stage....She looks so familiar, though I've never seen her before....I look at Bridget....she looks at me....WE START QUIETLY FREAKING OUT....why!? It was Sarah Watkins FROM NICKEL CREEK!!!!!! She and Tom were on stage, with Switchfoot!!!! THE ELUSIVE BAND FINALLY CAME TO ME, WITHOUT MY LOOKING FOR THEM!!:) This totally made my night about 100 times better. :) They played just one song with Switchfoot, and quietly left the stage as meekly entered upon it...but all the same, THEY WERE THERE. :)

The concert was so well-rounded with the classic favorites mixed in with the best of their new album. It was so completely worth it.

I'll be posting pics as soon as I get back to school.

Until then, hope y'all are having a great break! And, for those of you who read this thing and aren't having fall break...I hope you are all well and happy. :)