last night + the perfect present.

so, last night i went to the american idol concert in tampa – oh yes, i did. and to be perfectly honest, it was pretty awesome. i’m a fan of the show, so getting to see all the different performers live was super exciting, especially because i’d already forgotten some of them (chikezie, ramiele). also exciting was getting to see how much they’d improved since the show; granted, each sang songs that catered to their particular niche, but they still sounded awesome. plus, no horrible opening act to sit through (just a random emcee). anyway, here’s a brief rundown of the concert:

10 chikezie – three pretty forgettable performances, but he’s just so cute.
9 ramiele – the people i was with kept calling her “ram-a-lee,” which was funny; she also sang three pretty forgettable songs. also? the girl is tiny. maybe we should have been calling her “ramekin.”
8 michael johns – i loved him on the show and he was really good in person (also? hot). he sang a queen song, a bluesy dolly parton song and…something else. i sadly got distracted because the people in our row kept getting up during the song i can’t remember.

7 kristy lee cook – not my favorite. she sang two country numbers and “god bless the u.s.a.,” which was a real crowd-pleaser and totally sincere (oh wait, no). one of the people that i went with said that the only other thing she needed while singing that song was a puppy. (don't get me wrong; i'm not unpatriotic by any means. in fact, my grandfather was a general in the army during world war II. but kristy lee cook hits a sour chord with me in general.)

6 carly – she was really good and looked great. she sang a song by evanescence, complete with some wind-machine action; “crazy on you” by heart; and “i drove all night” (which was surprisingly good, i thought).
5 brooke – sang “let it be,” “1234” (by feist) and “yellow,” by coldplay. she was good, and i really like all of those songs, but – as one of the people that went with me said – i think her future may be in recording songs for children, and i don’t mean that as an insult in any way. she looked really pretty, too.

(insert break for group number promoting idol gives back here – chikezie, ramiele, michael, kristy lee and brooke sang a u2 song. it was pretty good.)

4 jason – forgot the words to “somewhere over the rainbow.” yes, i’m serious. he was a little more “with it” than he was on the show (i guess 37 tour dates kind of forces that), but still the same goofy guy. also, he has perfect teeth.
3 syesha – the reason i was so into idol this season was because syesha is actually from sarasota – in fact, i met her when she was doing her whirlwind trip home during the competition. she sounded great last night; hers was by far the stongest female voice of the evening. she sang “umbrella” (rihanna), “if i ain’t got you” (alicia keys) and “listen,” which was sung by beyonce in the movie dreamgirls. “listen” was awesome – a total show-stealer.
2 david archuleta – ok, i was not a david a. fan, but can i just tell you that he sounded awesome last night? his voice really, really soared. he sang four songs instead of three, like the others, presumably because he was the runner-up. he does need to work on his stage banter, but overall he sounded great.
1 david cook – after some really intense lighting stuff, david c. came out. he sang “hello,” the idol fan-written song, “don’t wanna miss a thing” and “billie jean,” which was awesome. i like david cook and i’m glad he won, but he is a leetle too self-aware. also, he was wearing a touch too much eye makeup. still, he looked good and sounded good and again, i was rooting for him to win the whole thing so it was pretty cool to see him live. (if he had substituted his version of “always be my baby” for the fan song, it would have been a perfect set.)

then they all performed one big group number – “please don’t stop the music” – and off we went. the concert was exactly three hours long; the idol people really have that thing perfectly planned.

in other news, yesterday was even more awesome because the present i bought myself for my birthday – a kitchenaid stand mixer in ice! – was delivered! YAY! words can’t even describe how excited i am about this thing – above is a picture. isn’t it beautiful? i love the color; i was going to get pistachio, but a lot of people have that one and there’s something so retro about this shade of blue. you better believe i will be baking up a storm this weekend; i’ll show you the fruits of my labor on monday.

i hope you all have a wonderful weekend. xx.

{ snatched the photo of syesha from a google image search; kitchenaid mixer picture taken by me! you can see my little owl from anthropologie peeking out from behind. }