My Post-Valentine's Day Gift (from myself...)

Tonight might have been the highlight of my year - and it's only February!

Tonight I was perma-smiling, and rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet all night.

Tonight I was in my happy place.

Tonight I felt complete.

Tonight I saw my boyfriend, musician Joshua Radin, perform at an intimate concert at the 9:30 club in DC. I swooned, I screamed, I screeched like an Ewok when its speeder bike takes off faster than it expected (yeah, you know what scene I'm talking about in Return of the Jedi), and I squealed like the little girl I still am.

It was bliss.

Joshua Radin might be my favorite person I've never met. He exceeds all other musicians, famous actors, interesting historical figures, and any other secularly interesting person (I thought that deserved a good qualification). This still relatively unknown musician is, unbenownst to him, the love of my life, and he proved why tonight. Even my friends who didn't really know him were in love with him by the end of the night - really, by about 20 minutes into the show; he's just that appealing.

I'm listening to his music as I write. His songs are great and his voice on his albums is so lovely to my ears. But in concert? That voice is just sexy (sorry brothers, but I said it. I won't apologize for speaking truth).

Long story short, I really enjoyed the concert.

Turns out, Joshua (we're on a first-name basis, also unbenownst to him) is also a pretty good storyteller; it was fun to hear the stories and emotions that brought about such beloved songs as "Free of Me," "Brand New Day," "The Fear That You Won't Fall," and "You Got What I Need" (that was a particularly funny story...), and he just seemed genuinely happy to be there performing and talking to us.

He also kept talking about how early the show was - he came on at 7pm. He couldn't get over it, he was still waking up, he said. My group laughed at his silliness, since we all felt really good about going to a concert at 7pm on a Tuesday night - we stopped and got milkshakes and chili cheese fries from the Ben's Chili Bowl, and I still got home and in my pjs by 10:30pm, which pretty much rocks my world.

The only thing that would've made this better would be if Joshua had come to Ben's with us and shared my milkshake with me. Now that would've been the perfect night.

Honestly, I'm gushing like crazy, but I love this man, and I really love him live, so I couldn't hold back. And when you meet him at our wedding in October, you'll completely understand why.

I'll send you an announcement just as soon as he can take a break from touring to do our engagement photos :).