A fantastic weekend.

Last weekend I traveled to Oakland for two reasons: 1) to visit my cousin Kim and her husband Nick; and 2) to see Jason Mraz in concert (again) at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. I traveled by Amtrak again and was so thankful that I did, seeing as it poured on the way there Saturday afternoon. The train ride was pleasant and stress free (as it was last time), and Saturday evening was spent at Zachary's Pizza in Oakland. This was one of the best pizza places I've ever been to, hands down. Delicious deep dish with just enough cheese, pesto, garlic and stewed tomatoes. As Nick put it, "It's what Zelda's in Sacramento WISHES it could be." And he was right.

Sunday we walked around Oakland for a little while, and then went to a place called Barney's for lunch (two doors down from Zachary's, which we were tempted to go back to but did not). Lunch consisted of burgers, spicy curly fries, and a delicious vanilla milkshake. So, so delicious. I wish I had taken pictures to share with all of you.

After that, we headed to the Greek for the concert, which was outdoors. Obviously, there was concern that it would rain, and since umbrellas are not allowed at the Greek, we were told to bring ponchos to keep dry. I prayed and prayed Saturday night that it would not rain, and thankfully, we didn't see a drop all night. The only drops I saw were tears of joy from the (once again) AMAZING performance by Mr. Mraz. It was such a phenomenal, uplifting, joyous night that I hated to see it end. He had two opening acts - one band called Two Spot Gobi (who are from the U.K. and stylistically sounded a lot like Jason), and an Irish singer named Lisa Hannigan, who was so great that I cannot wait to get her album.

When he finally took the stage two hours later, I was thrilled beyond words. He played mostly songs from his current album (We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.), got the crowd involved a lot, and was just a pleasure to listen to. I'm having a hard time conveying just how light and airy I felt once we left. I've never really had that feeling leaving a concert, but he has that effect on people. You can't help but be influenced by his positivity and amazing energy. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay for his encore since I had to head to the train station, but what I saw was enough to keep me uplifted all week. And since I had his CD in my car, I've been able to keep it going even longer. I found out that night that he was playing Freeborn Hall in Davis the next night (which I wasn't aware of when I bought my ticket initially), and considered buying another ticket to go see him again. It was that good. Granted, this concert wasn't as intimate as when I saw him in Santa Cruz back in April, but it was still great. I've decided that I'm going to see him every time he comes to town from now on. If you get the chance, take a listen to his album online or on iTunes - you won't be disappointed.

My thanks to Kim and Nick for their hospitality and for introducing me to Zachary's. And my thanks to Jason Mraz for bringing me endless joy this week.
















The fact that he's heart-breakingly adorable is also in his favor.