the good, the bad, and the ugly.

yes, my weekend included moments that fall under each of those categories. ready? here we go:

friday:

you already know i was fully and completely excited for the spice girls reunion concert the kid and i got tickets to. we spent the entire afternoon obsessing over what to wear and squealing in giddy anticipation of the show. the biggest bummer was the rain, because we figured there would be ugly, ugly traffic all the way to staples center. but we didn't let it bring us down. nothing could bring us down - we were going to see scary, baby, ginger, posh, and sporty spice in a matter of hours!

the hub got home around 5, excited to spend the evening alone with the bean (awwww!). and at about 5 minutes to 6, he was kinda buggin' - "are you ready yet? you should get going since you have dinner reservations at 7."

we had seats in the premier section, which gave us access to the exclusive (ooh la la!) arena club restaurant. the hub and i have eaten there before, and you get a fun view of the venue from there, too. i'd called earlier in the day and reserved a table for two at 6:30, but the hub suggested we make it at 7:00 instead, in case of the dreaded traffic. i couldn't understand why he was all up in the bidness about this, but whatever. i called back and changed our dinner time.

as we headed out the door, car keys in hand, the hub said "i got a surprise for you guys out here." and it turned out that all his buggin' was due to the car and driver sitting in the driveway! he'd secretly arranged for them to take us to and from the concert! woo-hoo! we were such rock stars. we climbed up into that escalade and kicked back the entire way, with the spice girls' greatest hits CD cranked up (which i'm sure the driver just LOVED, heh).

we didn't get to staples until almost 7:30. boo. i was envisioning a hot dog and chips dinner, which normally wouldn't be terrible, but i was hoping for something a bit more substantial, y'know? we made our way through the crowds (i haven't been around that much estrogen all in one place since the *nsync concert a few years ago - shut up) to the VIP entrance and up the stairs. after glancing at our tickets, we were directed to walk through the restaurant to our section. i asked the dude where we needed to check in for dinner, and i was told "the restaurant is closed, ma'am."

1. i fucking HATE being called "ma'am".
2. THE RESTAURANT IS CLOSED??

what. the. fuck. i was so annoyed, but then the kid said "who cares, mom, we're going to see the SPICE GIRLS!!" and we got giddy again and forgot all about dinner. well, sort of. i eyed the two available food stands and made a mental note to return ASAP. being me, i was absolutely starving. what else is new?

our seats were pretty damn good. we were in the 4th row of our section, which was to the stage's right side. we'd had the chance to get floor seats, but as we counted the rows to see where we'd have been sitting, we were glad to be where we ended up. on the floor, we'd have been stuck behind a shitload of folks on their feet. and let's face it - we're short asian females. heh.

i went back to the sandwich station and ordered a reuben sandwich and a big ass pepsi. EW, pepsi. oh, well. and as i waited for my food (the kid decided she wasn't hungry and went back to our seats), i indulged in some peoplewatching - which was quite interesting, given where i was. there were the most interesting (read: ridiculously, hideously ugly) outfits walking around, and i wanted to know what kind of mirrors these girls had at home, because they must've all been BROKEN. holy shit. it was kind of like halloween, where 14-year-old girls use the occasion as an excuse to DRESS LIKE WHORES. i wanted to take pictures so badly, but i didn't. you'll just have to trust me.

so i took my food back to my seat and was just about to start grubbin' when this lady came over and said "is one of you wan-nabe?" the kid looked a little scared, poor thing. ha! anyway, she turned out to be a rep from the arena club, gushing with apologies and explanations about how the decision to close the restaurant was a last-minute one (apparently, it was just crazy during wednesday's concert) and they'd "forgotten" to tell their reservation agents. whatever. she handed me a business card and said to give her a call the next time we were at staples for an event, and offered to buy our dinner. hell, by the time i get back to staples again, this heffa probably won't even be working there anymore.

here's a plethora of pictures from the show - i know that's really why you're even bothering to read this post ;)

did you know that geri/ginger spice's union jack minidress that was her signature outfit sold for almost $68K - and that makes it the priciest piece of pop culture memorabilia ever? it's, like, in the guinness book of world records and errrrrythang.

it was an awesome show - we didn't sit down the whole time, although i couldn't get the kid to dance for anything. and victoria/posh was the clear local favorite, being an l.a. girl and all. what cracked me up was when each girl took the stage solo to sing a song that reflected her personality, posh simply donned some oversize sunglasses and strutted down the stage like a runway model to rupaul's "supermodel (you better work)". didn't sing a note, didn't dance, just strolled to the end and struck a few poses. i always pegged her as the spice who couldn't sing, because they only let her sing a few lines in every other song. ha!

we pushed our way through afterwards for t-shirts, which i shall model tomorrow. and then we met up with our driver and came home. the spice girls CD was still playing, and the kid passed out in spiced-out bliss.

saturday:

i had to take the kid back to her dad's house by 9 the next morning. boo. and then later that morning, the bean and i took off to costa mesa for the paul frank warehouse sale. i was hoping to find a few gifts and stock up on some fun tees and hoodies for myself. and i was shocked when my friend lilcee called to say she'd been standing in line since 8:45 that morning and was still waiting to get in - it was already noon! holy shit.

i got to the warehouse, found that the rest of the street was blocked off, and went to turn around to find parking. and then...i hit the brake about half a second too late. i bumped into a car that had snuck up behind me that i TOTALLY hadn't seen. i muttered "FUCK!" (because the bean was asleep) and hopped out to view the damage.

luckily, the girl i hit didn't seem too worried about the scratches on her rear bumper. i didn't see any damage to my car, although i'd have rather had the scratches than have to deal with fixing her shit. damn. we exchanged information and then both took off.

it wasn't too hard to find parking within a relatively decent walking distance, but i was pretty dismayed to see that girl park across the street from me and start heading towards the sale. dammit, i was going to be stuck standing in line for god knows how long next to the girl whose car i ran into. crap. i ducked back into the car and tried to find something to kill some time, haha! but then i called lilcee, and luckily (for me, not really for her), she was still in line. i made my way through the line (trying not to take note of the evil glances coming my way) and met up with her and her hub. whew. i saved some line-waiting time AND avoided a potentially awkward-as-hell scenario.

we stood in line for probably another hour before being set free to run amok and scoop up goodies from the boxes and clothes rails set up inside. i managed to find gifts for everyone on my list, but not too much for me. bummer. i made my way to the cashiers and ponied up my $170, and then met up with lilcee & hub again to snap a picture and walk back to our cars.

after explaining the incident to the hub (who thankfully didn't get mad, but i endured a few fun comments about asian woman drivers over the rest of the weekend), the bean and i made our way home and relaxed for a few before we took off again. this time, we headed out to pasadena to do some more christmas shopping and grab a quick dinner. and then we went home and watched "waitress" with keri russell. weird movie, but i think we both liked it. it was cute and funny, and left us both wanting pie. i wonder if i can figure out exactly what "marshmallow mermaid pie" is. it sounded yummier than "i hate my husband pie" or "i don't want earl's baby pie", and besides, i heart marshmallow.

sunday:

we slept in and ended up hitting the latest church service at 11:15. from there, we headed out to find something to eat and found ourselves back in pasadena, at crocodile cafe on lake. we'd never been there before, but i quickly learned that they have the best lemonade ever. i watched the dude make it, with fresh-squeezed lemon juice and yummy sugar water. it was almost better than philippe's, but theirs cost a little more than $.60. heh. after stuffing ourselves silly, we headed over to the old town area and stopped in at pottery barn to look for christmas decor. upstairs, we were looking at an area rug in a brown and cream print when a salesgirl came up and started gushing about how much she liked that particular rug.

girl: "isn't that a great rug? i love that it's in brown, it looks so good."
me: "yeah, but does it come in other colors? i'd rather have it in black."
girl: "black?? i think it would be so tacky in black."

the hub and i exchanged amused-slash-incredulous glances before he said "yeah, babe, you're so TACKY." and that stupid girl was absolutely, positively oblivious to the whole thing. i mouthed "i'm tacky. what the fuck." to the hub while she just kept on talking. finally, she was called away by another salesgirl across the floor, and we just started cracking up. now that's the way to get customers to buy shit - insult 'em and tell 'em they're tacky. wow.

we met up with the hub's grandparents back at church for the annual "song of christmas" show and then had dinner at cafe mundial in monrovia.

and today, i'm going to wade through the zillion boxes of christmas gifts, the result of my recent online shopping extravaganza. i'm hoping to get them all out and wrapped, and toss the boxes in the trash for tomorrow's pickup. doesn't that sound exciting?