When in doubt, stick with what you know.

Another day of sleeping in, but I didn't have any trouble this morning. I had a headache last night, and I had it again this morning, but thankfully Advil works really well for my headaches (typically). Kristi and I cleaned the condo and then drove to North Forest Beach to eat lunch and walk out to the beach while we were there. The condo is at the beach too, but we figured we'd just do it everything all at once.

I always like to go to Coligny Plaza in North Forest Beach whenever I am in Hilton Head. My parents used to own an old house close by with many other families. The families bought the house incredibly cheap in the 80's when Hilton Head was not as touristy, and my parents bought a share while I was in high school or middle school...I forget which. Anyways, the property was second/third rowish, and became so valuable that most of the people wanted to sell a few years ago. My parents would have rather kept the house, but there were enough other families that said they would reinvest into another house farther back, so they weren't too upset. It was one of the few small old houses left, and the company that bought it completely tore it down and built one of the largest houses I have ever seen. Once the house sold I guess the other families decided they needed the money, and the other house thing just never panned out. That's why my parents bought the condo a little while later.

The weather was pretty nice today, and there was a good number of people walking on the beach. We just stood there for a little while, and then went to lunch. We ended up going to Wild Wings. After our experiences yesterday, we wanted to stick with something safe. I had Ranchilada wings, which are some of my favorite, right up there with the Honey Mustard at Guiseppi's. I consider myself somewhat of a wing connoisseur, as they are one of my favorite foods and I have eaten them at many restaurants.

After lunch we left for home, stopping to get Kristi some shoes that she decided she wanted on the way. Traffic was pretty bad on the way home, which is never very fun. I like to set my cruise control, put my feet up, and take a nap when I'm driving long trips. Kristi just screams when we are about to hit something and I wake up and adjust accordingly. There was no sleeping today though.

While on the way home we arranged for some socializing in the evening. MiMi's Japanese Steakhouse just opened a Simpsonville franchise, so we decided to eat there with my parents and the Blackwells, and then go back to my parents' house for presents afterwards. Also, our good friends the Hurleys were on their way to Tennessee tonight, so we arranged for them to stop by on their way. I listened to the Copeland CD a good bit on the drive, as I am becoming addicted to it...especially track #1. I love the smooth vocals, the interesting melodies, and the production. It's almost like they decided to produce the drums in a way that makes them sound like drum loops. The snare has this really woody/thuddy sound with tons of the actual snare wires in there. You should give the album a listen, it's called "You Are My Sunshine."

MiMi's was kind of different. Instead of a big restaurant, it was a small storefront with a small bar, two hibachi grill setups, and two regular tables. I guess they just aren't planning on getting much business in Simpsonville, but it seemed to work well because there were never people waiting but tables were usually full while we were there. They didn't have mustard sauce at this one, which was a big disappointment to me. I made a few jokes about it with the chef thinking that maybe they will get some because of the attention. They have it at the Woodruff Rd. one, I don't understand. We also couldn't use our free entree coupon because it is only good at the other one...that was lame.

When we got back to my parents' house the Hurleys had just arrived. Lucy didn't know whether to be excited to see us, or be nervous about the Hurleys when we came in. In case you weren't aware, she struggles with warming up to people she doesn't know, especially children. It was great to see the Hurleys, even though they couldn't stay for long. After they left we exchanged gifts with the Blackwells. They were our neighbors at our old house, and became very close family friends, not to mention I mowed their lawn for many years. A very interesting fact about them is that Phil is a golfer...but he is blind. Not only is he a golfer, but he has won the national USBPGA championship several times, and he is now the president of the association. He also is a great musician, and has played in several bands. They gave us a cool clock/thermometer that will show us the outside temperature. This is good because I routinely check the weather in the mornings for Kristi...now she can just look at the clock! Although, I guess it won't tell you the highs and lows for the day.

We left around 9:30 and came home to unpack. Oliver was extremely excited to see all of us, especially Lucy. Unfortunately Lucy was mostly just tired so she wasn't really in the playing mood. After getting things situated we got into bed, and I remembered to look up a performance I saw on Leno not too long ago. I am only slightly familiar with Sara Bareilles, but I saw this and thought it was one of the most amazing live TV performances I've ever seen. It's so flawless it's almost like they're lip-syncing. Enjoy:

Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson "Winter Song" Live on Jay Leno 12/9/08 from mmmc on Vimeo.

I also learned about a technique I was not aware of on some of my favorite forums called "parallel compression." This involves doubling a track (or input live) and severely compressing/limiting just one of them and then mixing them together. This makes so much sense, I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I am definitely going to play around with it at home, and I also think it would be really cool to try with the bass guitar at Southside. I have the bass input absolutely slammed with limiting; it would be fun to have another channel of the same signal not quite so processed. I guess I sort of do this with the kick already, although it involves two different microphones.

Tomorrow I think Kristi and I are going to go to the mall just to see the holiday rush. I love seeing the crazy people buying last minute gifts on Christmas Eve. After that it's off to work to get ready for the Christmas Eve service. Following the Christmas Even service Kristi, Lucy, and I will participate in the great Stoeber tradition of driving around to look at Christmas lights. There is this one house in Mauldin that has the most amazing lights you've ever seen. Mom and Dad said this year that they not only have a popcorn machine, they have a piano player as well. I am pretty excited!