Thinking Of You

If ever asked the question: "Would you rather be blind or deaf?", I chose blind every time. I am a huge music lover! So, this summer when my pal Sara kept asking if I wanted to go to some concerts, I was fully on board. I have never been huge on concerts and I can't say I have been to more than a dozen of them. Typically, I go to them when I am invited and it's free for me. {grin} We weren't picky about where we sat though, so we went with the cheapest seats in the house. The concert was a couple hours south of here in Raleigh, NC. We drove downt the night before, checked in to our hotel, and went to find some yummy dinner. Let me just tell you, this is the best shrimp & grits I've ever had:

They were so smooth and creamy and flavorful!! We were looking for seafood and after a google search didn't return much, we ended up picking the 42nd street Oyster Bar & Grill. Being that most of the menu was seafood, it was semi expensive and if you are on a budget, I wouldn't recommend it. If you are in the area and looking for a great seafood place and you plan to spend about $50 for two people, then you will love it! As mentioned int eh name, they do have a raw & steamed oyster bar. I didn't get them this time, but I am a fan of steamed oysters.
The concert wasn't until the next evening, so we got up early and headed out to a fun breakfast spot. Sara is a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland, so she had already scouted out a place she was wanting to try: Mad Hatter's Bakery. This place was yummy and had good portion sizes that were healthy and reasonably priced (about the same as a panera combo) and I picked something I knew I would like: Egg's Benedict:

I also grabbed that carrot bran muffin to eat later since we weren't planning on getting lunch, but having an early dinner before the concert. Not far from here, we headed over to the outlets and did some relaxing shopping and wandering around. I was able to find some birthday presents for friends and stay within my budget, which is always a plus! After hitting up all the stores we wanted to, we headed to lunch. Now, I have to preface this by saying I never thought I would want to eat sushi, but Sara was just itching to ease me into liking it. I made sure I wasn't going to try anything that wasn't cooked though. We went to Shiki Sushi and got their just in time to still get something off the lunch menu, making it a not too expensive meal. We started wtih calamari (how could you go wrong?):

Then I had my shrimp tempura (on the left) and spicy tuna tempura (on the right):

I have to say, with the green wasabi, I am a fan of the cooked things, but I don't like imitation crab, so I don't know if I will ever eat that kind...but I look forward to trying more:)
We then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the concert. I'm not sure why, but I really wanted to go 80's so this is what I wore:

The concert was super fun and I was not ashamed at all to sing along to all of the pop hits! I don't even own a Katy Perry CD, but I enjoy all of her music. My pictures didn't turn out too well being that they were taken from my phone and the lighting was always changing. But Sara got some online and put them on her blog (check the June archives~I'm behind I know) about our trip if you want to check it out. Happy reading bloggers!!