The Band Who

Last night something happened that I thought I would never get to see. Travis the band playing in Salt Lake. It's great because I've been a long time fan, since there The Man Who album came out in 2000, thanks to friends who knew that Brit pop is something I love.

They've never come to Utah in the whole of my fandom, so I figured it was just a matter of time before they followed my favorites, Gene, and broke up and never toured again.

When I found out they were coming I started listening to the new album online. It's good, a return to the energy of their first album but with more umph. I'm not sure how to put that into technical terms. But I didn't buy the album, by the time I got around to really listening, there were only a few days left before the show.

Erika and I were partners in crime and get there pretty early and ended up very close to the front. It was standing and so there was a lot of shifting as people pushed in and whatnot.

The opening band was Republic Tigers and they were great, it was hard to really hear them well, but they sounded very new wave but with some Killers mixed in and the guys voice oscillated between the deep of Peter Murphy to an amazing falsetto. He sang Blonde's "Heart of Glass" and he sounded like Debbie Harry, it was wild.

Then out came the fabulous Travis. I knew who the lead singer was, and I had looked up the names of the rest of the band, but the crowd obviously knew them all, which really helped me figure out who was who. The bassist, Dougie, came out in a long buttoned up peacoat and was basically a rock star the whole time. Fran was amazing, so full of energy. They rocked out! I was taken so by surprise. Most of their songs are pretty laid back, but none of them were at the show, they were all amped up to 11! The guitarist Andy was jamming on his guitar with his whole body and Fran got up on the bass drum and played his guitar several times. It was great. They played a lot of the new songs at first, which were familiar, and I was surprised at how clearly even up close I could make out all the words. They played almost every one of my favorites, "Writing to Reach You," "Turn," "Closer," "Humpty Dumpty Lovesong" and "All I Want to Do is Rock." During "Falling Down", Fran got off the stage and walked through the center of the crowd. We were too far on the side to be in on that, but he danced with some girl, shook hands, gave high fives, for almost the whole song! It was really cool. We were right in front of Dougie and let me tell you, this guy enjoys his bass playing. He smirked and rocked through the whole show, he was a treat to watch all by himself. It helped that he looked our way and smiled even wider. I like to think it's because I'm so freaking awesome.

It was also the night of the Britney Spears concert just yards away for our venue, so of course "One More Time" made an appearance, it was really fun.

The played "Slideshow" during the encore and on the album after that song is a "hidden track" after you listen to air for 5 minutes a song called "Flashing Blue Light" starts, and i thought "Wouldn't it be funny if they did that song right after?" and they did. To close the show they did "Flowers in the Window" acoustic and it was really lovely.

I bought a cool Travis shirt that I can wear and people will ask me who the heck this Travis guy is, but it's all good. It was great how chatty they were, mostly Fran talked, but Dougie also did a bit, and it was so great to hear their cute Scottish accents. Erika got me a copy of the drummer's setlist, for which I am very grateful, since I didn't know the names for all of the new songs, but now I have it forever!

We booked it to the side of the venue where the tour buses were. It was raining lightly and it was just us and some other guy there trying to meet the band. We walked around the loading area, but there was no sign of life, we even walked into the back of the venue and walked around but most the doors were locked. After a few minutes of serious discussion, we decided that this had to be the place they would come out. We were right, after a few minutes the crew appeared and straighted putting away the gear, including the huge gong used for one song. This went on for a while and it continued to rain and more people came until we were a little group. Finally the keyboardist came out and headed around us the tour bus. A few people talked to him, I decided to focus on official band members. I had brought my "Turn" single if there was a chance of getting something signed, that would be the coolest thing that I had. It also had the live cover of Britney's "One More Time" so it's a treasured possession and I'm really glad that I remembered that I had it that day.

Andy, the guitarist came out and posed for pics and signed stuff, he was cool. Turns out they are from Glasgow, so we could chat about that a little. The drummer Neil came out and he so reminded me of the Irish guy from Braveheart, very similar sense of humor and also the same dark, lanky hair. He was fun.

Dougie came out and was mobbed. Apparently he might as well be the band leader since he gets lots of attention. I can understand that, he's easily the most attractive band member, but mostly it was all boys that were calling out to him and shouting that they loved him. He's probably their man-crush. He was such a rock star on stage and very kind in person. He asked us our names as he signed our paraphernalia and was very gracious with all the people that wanted to get his picture.

After a few minutes Fran came out. The people were respectful, I'm not sure that giving them a CD of your band is the way to go, but I guess if the right person hears it and you don't suck, there's a chance. Still, I think it's dumb, but I'm not in a band. I should be, I decided that since I rock the house on Rockband drumming, I should be some one's drummer. Every band needs a drummer. But that's neither here nor there.

We waited patiently for Fran to work through the crowd. A nice guy named Robert was letting everyone borrow his sharpie to get things signed (what kind of groupie am I that i don't have a sharpie on me at all times?) and we told him we'd take his picture with Fran and e-mail it to him if he took ours. I took his picture and it looked good, then we tried to exchange the camera and it went crashing hard on the pavement. Even Fran said "that's not good." The view screen was all white. I wasn't thinking rationally or I would have tried to take out the battery and memory card, but we decided that it might still take pictures okay, so we took 2 sets of pics of me and Erika with Fran. One with Erika's cell phone and one with my damaged camera. Robert felt really bad, but it was an accident and I wanted a new camera anyway since it takes not so good shots at concerts. After Fran left for the tour bus, I took out the battery and put it back in and it turned on but said the battery was dead (which it was close before, so that could have been natural) but it wouldn't let me view the pictures, so I didn't know if our pictures with Fran had come out or not. Finally I got the screen to work, but it was upside down. Not the worst, but I was hoping for no real damage. We looked and saw that the pictures we took with Fran were there, but the one of Robert and Fran wasn't. I'm still not sure if it was erased or if it's somewhere on the camera. But look! Aren't we cute?

Of course we thought our adventure was now over and we headed to the trax station to get home. But Wait! Even though Erika had gotten the weekday schedule for Trax online that said the last train was at 1 am, the sign at the station said it really left around 11:30. And it was 12:05. Luckily Erika was able to call her friend and she headed right over to get us. Of course while we were waiting we thought some guy was going to kill us, but he just walked on by. Maybe he didn't know that trax was done running too.

So we got home very late and now I'm at work wishing that somehow I could sleep under my desk, but it was so worth it!

30 Months of Ups and Downs

This month has been full of ups and downs. You love school still, but come to find out your hitting and while I've tried time-outs and reasoning and taking away privileges, and you are doing better at home and finally after a few weeks, you're doing better at school. But it was a tough time trying to find a way to get through to you. But I think you're doing better.

You are also doing better using the potty! Of course if you're watching a movie or playing you still don't realise that you have to stop and use the bathroom, but mostly of the day when we're at home, you're wearing training pants. Which you like to call your "ariels" since I bought you underwear with Ariel on them, so now everything is ariels.

The trip was your first ever experience with the ocean. It was great to see your reaction. You loved to run into the water and "touch your toes" I was worried that it would be too scary for you, what with all the crashing waves and the vast hugeness of it all, but I guess to a 2 and 1/2 year old, that doesn't matter. And now it's official, you are 2 and 1/2, I've been saying that for about a month now, since it's easier than saying 29 months.

Also, on our trip, you had your first experience on a "big girl" bed. The couch bed where you could get up whenever you felt like it, although I think that didn't really register for you, since you stayed put all night and when you couldn't sleep or when you woke up in the morning, you still fussed until I came to get you.

Naps were also completely given up on since I was obviously more likely to sleep then you were, and I'm very sad that this means I'll not have a few brief moments in the future to get anything done, but maybe with warmer months coming I can just send you outside for hours instead, I'm pretty sure that's what my mom did to us. I'm looking forward to gardening without worrying whether or not your were awake from your nap yet, of course I'll have to keep an eye on you, so there are still some pros and cons about that.
After a vacation where we could spend time out of doors without dying of exposure, has made me really excited for the coming months of summer where we'll be able to run and play at our hearts content (hint, I'll be content waaaay before you are) and all the good times we'll have.

I can't wait!

Mom

Let me Explain....No, let me sum up

That's really how I feel. A week's worth of adventures and now I have to write about them with clarity in hindsight.
February was when I realized there would be no daycare for our daughter during Spring Break, and so with that in mind, I thought it would be a great time to take a break. Husband is going crazy with school and I'm going crazy being here, so it seemed like the prefect time to escape for a few days.
Looking at rental cottages in Monterey was super fun, initially it was to be a larger family affair, at least in my mind. My parents, siblings and possibly nieces and nephews. But I guess my family is feeling the crunch of poor economic times. That or they are lazy. And cheap. That's right, I said it, cheap. I really wanted to spend time in the same spot I spent many summer vacations, near the beach, watching MTV. Okay maybe minus the MTV part, since I have MTV at home, it longer holds the attraction, and they stopped showing music videos years ago, so it's rather pointless anyway.
Found a tiny little cottage that was a decent price and booked it. I didn't look forward to the all day drive, but it was either take extra days off work and stay somewhere is Nevada (the armpit of the West!) or just push through. I wanted to push. We had done it before and we could do it again.
At 5 am on Saturday we got up and packed the final items and were out of the driveway by 6 am. Opting to head over Donner's pass since the weather looked decent it was a long boring drive, our only little bit of excitement came as our check engine light came on, but it went off again after a while, so we pressed on. The miles seemed to multiply as we drove, the day dragged on longer and longer, but luckily our 2 and half year old held up remarkably well. This is what can happen if one has a strong imagination and a portable DVD player. Many movies were watched and thank goodness, a nap was taken, which is quite different the the rest of the days.
We got to Monterey late and missed some of the good scenery in the darkness.
The cottage was quite adequate. It wasn't anything amazing, but it had all the things we needed. a bed, a fridge and a couch bed. Thank goodness Hayley has no spine, because the pull-out bed was terrible, even to sit on. We slept and were ready to spend a lazy Sunday. Hayley and I awoke and she was restless, so I took her to the nearby park. It was just a short walk, even for her tiny legs and very nice, plenty of slides and things to climb. We came home and got ready for church, we elected to go to church someplace that didn't start until 1. It was our vacation and we'd celebrate however we wanted. After church we drove along the coast and stopped at another beach side park. Hayley got her first good look at the water, we walked on rocks and played on the huge trees and ran around the grass. It was nice to see that other places are already experiencing spring.
The next day it was off to the aquarium! The Monterey Bay Aquarium is world renown and is amazing. I've been there many, many times but they are always changing little things and obviously I don't retain all the sea life information you can pick up there. I had never realized how much stuff there was for kids. Hayley had a blast, there were slides and play areas and coloring areas and stamps, not to mention bright colors, pictures, buttons to push and levers to pull. She had so much fun pushing buttons and pulling levers we almost had to force her to look at the fish. She really loved a little child sized cave where they had a few bright exhibits including a clown fish and seahorses. She loved the seahorses, I watched as she pointed them out to other children and even parents who crawled through the tunnel, and was almost as fascinated by the other kids as she was the underwater creatures.
Still, being a toddler and dealing with a toddler are both difficult experiences, so we had to make a few trips to the aquarium to finish it all, but once I decided to let Hayley move at mostly her own pace, things were a lot less tense. Of course if I had let her, she would have stayed all day turning the wheel that made the wooden penguins bow and bark at each other.
We went to restaurants and had amazing world class food. Husband had a filet minion that he said melted in his mouth (it better have for $50) and we had fresh seafood that had probably been caught the day before.
We went to the Fisherman's Wharf, which is a collection of restaurants and shops, and we shopped and ate and walked and it was almost just like it was when I was little. Although there are more restaurants that hand out free samples of clam chowder, if they had done that, we all would have eaten a lunch of free samples as kids, I know my dad would have appreciated a free lunch for all us kids.
The next day we went on the 17-mile drive, which I had never driven along, just walked some of it It was very interesting to see all the different golf courses and the enormous homes. We even pretended to be house hunting and picked up flyers for homes asking 1.6 million. Although, if you have a spare 35 million, you can have a home on the 18th hole on Pebble Beach! I'm going to start saving my pennies!
After the few hours of driving, Hayley needed lunch, or at least chocolate milk, so we drove into Carmel to eat at Friar Tuck's, which was even smaller then I remembered. A handful of little tables and a counter to sit at. The owner knows my grandparents, but even without him knowing who we were, he treated us a guests and came and chatted with us, but mostly wanted to tease Hayley, she didn't know what to make of him but was happy as a clam to get her "chocolate" milk, apparently if she can't see that it's white, it tastes like chocolate milk. Bless all the ovlatine she drinks and think is chocolate milk. Of course this was the last straw in the whole buying-her-food-when-we-eat-out thing, we spend quite a bit on food she wouldn't touch, not just not finish, but absolutely refuse to eat. From spaghetti to chicken nuggets, I tried to eat what she didn't but with my own large portions, it was not fun for me. So instead we would feed her before we went out to eat, since she mostly just wanted chocolate milk anyway.
After food, we went to the beach in Carmel. Beaches to the rest of the world means fun and sun. This beach has sand and water, but it's also freezing, even in the summer, but seeing as how it is not summer, it was colder still. Windy and cold, but we were not there to swim, we were there to put our feet in the water. Hayley loved it regardless of the numbing effect. She danced and ran and giggled. She was tired when we left, but I gave up on naps after 2 days there.
We spent our nights inside watching TV, after it gets dark, it also gets cold, so we stayed cozy watching movies. I took Hayley to Dennis the Menace park and she had a great time exploring. It wasn't as big as I remembered and most of the dangerous playground equipment had been replaced with plastic sets. There used to be tall sliding polls and metal slides that would get hot, but looks like they are all being replaced. After 2 hours Hayley was even ready to go and didn't fight to stay, she was all funned out!

Over the next few days we finished up seeing the aquarium and shopping on the wharf and on cannery row. As the time grew to a close to being done, it seemed like it had flown by.

We packed up and headed to Clovis to visit my family. It was a pleasant drive inland and we ended up in real Spring. It was great to see my family again, we don't get to spend a lot of time together as we live in different states, but these are my favorite cousins, the ones I spent the a lot of time with growing up. It also helped that all the ages of my sibling matched up with the cousins, so we all had a built in friend.

We had a lovely time eating BBQ ribs and chicken and awesome salads, not to mention good California produce, grapes and strawberries. If only we could afford to live there!

After not enough sleep we woke up and made the 12 hour drive home. Husband had never been through Los Vegas, so that was interesting to him, but we mostly just kept moving and driving. We hit some winter storms coming home, but nothing that slowed us down too much and then we were home. It felt like we hadn't left at all. Next time I'm going to have to stay a whole month, then maybe it'll feel real after we get home and get back to work. But I have a hoody that says Monterey on it, and hopefully it will keep me warm until we get some Spring here!

Live and Let Rock

This Valentine's Day was good to my family. We are now getting money for Husband's disability and I decided to splurge a bit and get us a Wii. My parents got one for Christmas and it's so fun, and I really wanted to get Rock Band and Wii Fit, so I figured we'd start there.
Well, Husband is too generous and sometimes ignores my pleadings to save money, so he got us Rock Band 2. I couldn't stay mad at him however, while I rocked it on the drums. I don't know that we'll ever play another game on our system. This game is so addictive! We've had friends over to play and everyone loves it. Some times it hard to coordinate after a while of playing it. The drums require you to be able to hit 1 or 2 different notes at the same time while using the kick petal and keep in time. I love the drums. Love them. I know I need to get better at guitar, but drums are so AWESOME!! I have also found love for the band Paramore, since the song list features their song "That's what you get" and it's my favorite to play.
Well, quite a few of the songs are metal or hard rock and that's just not me or Husband, so we've started to download songs! But unfortunately the majority of the downloadable songs aren't available on the Wii. Wh-what?? Apparently they are working on it, but not before I was all excited to down load Blur and Siouxsie and the Banshees, which aren't available. Poop. We still got some good songs, like Paramore's "Crushcrushcrush" which is a blast and Oasis "Wonderwall" and at $2 a pop for each song I'm thinking about just buying the first rock band game used, but then we get more metal and death rock songs, but we'll get the Killers too. Life is full of tough choices.
But I'm playing some of the super easy songs on Expert. I'm pretty awesome. I also love my little rock star that I made. She's so cool, long bright red dreads with green eyes and a rockin' outfit. I kind of wish I could be her, touring the world with my made up rock band, not a care in the world except hitting the right notes and staying on beat. Her name is Zena. I think I definitely have some of that in me.
So long story short, if you play rock band once, you want to play it forever and ever.

29 Months kicking and screaming

(Picutres are forth coming but I didn't want to delay this another day because I forgot the camera)
Okay, maybe not all 29 months have been all kicking and screaming, but this month had a rough start which is starting to pick up.

This month you started "school" or day care twice a week at the only place that I would even consider having you. You are a few minutes walk from my office and I can visit you any time I want. Although picking you up afterwards was like trying to shave a cat. You ran away, you kicked, you hit, your scratched. You definitely didn't want to come home at the end of the day. Finally about a week ago I came to visit during lunch, you freaked out at first but when you saw that you got to stay things calmed down. I stayed for book time and had 2 little girls whom I had never seen before climb into my lap and ask for stories. You were also glad to have me there, but didn't mind giving up your lap space. That day, when I came to get you, you came willingly. I have since brought treats to entice you, but you haven't needed them. You are always starving at the end of the day since if you don't eat what they give you, there is no other options, and while you eat a bit of it, you're not downing the fish fillet or sloppy joes to make sure you're not hungry later. But you love it. Yesterday you asked to go to school and went I told you it would be a few days, you were pouty. Which makes me glad that this wasn't the mistake I thought it might have been at first, what with all the violence.

Potty training is starting to see a little bit of light. Yesterday also saw you using the potty twice, in one day! There are still a lot of accidents, but maybe it's connecting a little bit, maybe. I'm excited, but we'll see how things go from now on, it's difficult to only have you not in diapers in the evenings and on the weekends. I'm sure that's a big part of why this is taking so long. But I think it's coming, soon. I hope.

Food is getting better, you're more open to things, but it's still mostly you getting your own meal and us eating something else, but a few times a week, we're eating all together and that's nice, but whenever I ask what you want for dinner, it's either goldfish, or fruit snacks. Lucky for you I know that's not healthy food and feed you hot dogs and chicken nuggets. Still, you've learned how to open the fridge and occasionally I find that you've pilfered an apple and left the door wide open. Now if you could just be taught about shutting doors, but I have a feeling that will be a long process to learn, like until you're an adult.

You're looking like such a big kid these days. seeing you run around and really looking at you, you're so tall, hardly the baby you once were. You have so much hair and it's still curly! Even some new hairs are coming in curly. I'm glad to see you still have mostly grey eyes, so I hope you get to keep those, much better then boring brown, you can thank your father for that later.

I love cuddling with you, and while you resist a fair amount now, it's so great when you finally let your guard down and I get to kiss those little cheeks and give you big squeezes.

Keep those coming and things will only get easier.



Love you,

Mama

Cross posting, Free of Charge!

Most of you prolly saw this on my facebook. Whatever. Here it is again:

I enjoy writing, but I never seem to find the time for it, so it must not be that important.
I’m annoyed by stupid busy work for classes and also loathe teachers who ask questions that are true/false and leave one word out of the text book explanation and then you have to decide if that word was crucial to the definition.
If I didn’t have a spell check, you would never have any idea what I was typing. And my typing seems to be getting worse rather then better.
I’m going to be 30 this year, but I don’t feel like a real adult.
I’m such a musical snob, but I really shouldn’t be since I only know the music that I already know, so I’m not really hip to the groove and I don’t know any indie or local stuff.
I’m incredibly tight with money and not ashamed of this. If I ever offer to buy your something, take me up on it, as it may be the last time.
I want to light people that make me mad on fire. I won’t. But I want to.
I fear that life is not what I expected it to be, and I’m trying to deal with that.
I like to quote movies with friends and family. And if one of us screws it up, the other has to say it correctly. We don’t talk in our own words, that would be strange.
I think birds are stupid for pets. They don’t love you! They just stare at you with their dead eyes and poop on stuff. I do like cats, but have enough of them.
I love Indian food so much I’m trying to cook new recipes once a week as I learn the way of the Curry.
I have a weird red vein on the side of one of my eyes. It freaks people out, so don’t look that close.
I’d rather be comfortable then fashionable. I see chicks in their skinny jeans and high heel boots and I think “seriously?” and want to laugh at them.
I just noticed that my own brother took me off his facebook. I guess he didn’t want me to see the “guy-liner” picture he has up.
I used to drink the watercolor water in preschool to impress boys. It’s only gotten worse from there.
I started writing many days ago and didn’t get very far.
I love broccoli. It’s the best veggie there is, since you’re suppose to eat those, I hear.
I adore dairy. Cream cheese and butter and cheese and sour cream and anything creamy!
I would rather work with numbers than lying liar people. People lie to me constantly an that takes me back to #7
I’ve met Matt Nathanson more times then I can count on 1 hand, I’ve also met Tori Amos a few times, and once she yelled at me. It was traumatic.
I think I have carpel tunnel, but apparently I don’t.
My Mom thinks I’m cool.
I have computer printed calendars on my desk that date back to December 2004. They document a month of my life I’ve given to this soulless institution.
Most of my music collection is Brits. They just make better music.
It’s taken a week to finish this. You had better appreciate it.

28 Months Of Monkeys on the Bed

This has been a fun month, what with Christmas and getting to spend 2 week home with you. Christmas was a blast, you loved to help open every present and you showed appropriate level of enthusiasm for all your gifts. You even said "Oh cute!" when you opened clothes. You complete lost your mind when we got your Elmo Live! out of the box and the thing moved and talked all on it's own! You scored big time little girl. A little computer, talking toys, a dog that flips (Flipzy) and clothes that will make you even cuter.

I was just as sad as you were the day we finally had to put the decorations away, saying that we'll get them out next year must seem like a long way for someone who is only 2 years old.

New years I even let you stay up late! I think it was 10 pm when I finally had enough of your shenanigans to put you down. At night you like to sleep and go down without too much of a fuss, but nap times are hit and miss. Some days you're ready to go down at noon, but some days, even if I wait until later, you won't sleep no matter how much you need it, because trust me, I can tell the difference in the evening time when you've napped. Those are much happier days. Please sleep! for the love of all that is holy!

Church is also at the unreasonable hour of 9 am, but at least you're usually in a good mood in the morning. The same cannot be said of your father and I. We try, but good heavens, if you throw your goldfish crackers one more time you're never getting any ever again! Ahem. But this way church is over and we can pretend that you are napping afterwards. I think you're still too hyped up from nursery, but you will lay still some what quietly and I can listen to you hum or talk to yourself while I put together a puzzle. Even so, it would be nice if you actually got some rest, since you obviously need it not to be Miss Cranky Pants.

Potty training. This is difficult, as I only get you in the evening and on the weekends, so asking other people to let you pee on things probably isn't the polite thing to do. You're getting better at some of it, but mostly it's still accidents, but at least most of the time you realise your wet and I suppose that's a step in the right direction, even if it's a tiny step.

Making friends isn't your strong suit. There's another little girl at church who is roughly your age. She is your nemesis and also your best friend. You want to see her and play with her stuff, but you can't handle it if she wants to touch your things or play too close to you. You also love your baby cousin Macy, but don't know what to do with her. Push her? Hug her? Bring her toys? Take your toys away from her? So many possibilities, but you miss you when you don't see her. You've asked me many times in the past few days "Where Baby Macy?" like she should be at our house but you can't seem to find her. Hopefully you'll be good friends when your just a touch older.

It's fun much fun watching you interact with the world. With people and with things and see your understanding grow. I can't wait for you to grow more, but I'd also like to seal you in Tupperware so you never age again. But I think that's illegal, so I shall let you grow up.

You and Uncle Tee. He's a silly one, but I loved this picture.

Love You, Mama

Boring Boring Boring

"Why is Willow so boring?" you might well ask yourself.
The answers are simple and also complex. Or at least, that's what I tell myself.
I don't touch the computer much when I'm home, and I'm lucky enough that my holiday break was spent at home. but the principle that follows being home, is that when you get back to work, you have to work twice a shard to make up for the time off. i am no exception. So work has been filled with actual work. Surprising I know.
I have started out 2009 without resolutions. Since my goals always turn to naught anyway. Perhaps I'm starting 2009 with ennui or that I just know better then to set the bar too high. I have the same goals I have always had, so I'll keep trucking with those and see what i can make happen.
Also, no rock stars. What's up with that? I guess I could try and meet some up at Sundance, but Park City is about 45 minutes away! And cold, colder then it is here and I'm already complaining, but mostly to Husband and Cats. They know the full extent of my cold feet. But I have an electric blanket for nights, but I can't take the sucker with me to work. I should get one of those Snuggies™ to wear my blanket around. But that's probably not professional. They don't have people at their desks in the advertisement, but they should. I need one at work. Also I need something to keep me from chasing people and kicking them, and those things keep your legs fully encased.
That's what's up with me, working, sleeping, taking care of snotty, poopy child (who I still love in spite of the bodily fluids I have to clean up) and cleaning up Christmas. I finally did it. The boxes are stowed safely for next year. I can't wait to see my new tree with it's added height and white lights. I am set for next year. If I could just figure what to do with this half of the year.

27 Months Of Sass

You are such a sassy young thing. We are continuing your Christmas education. You're completely in love with Frosty the Snowman. You will watch those Frosty cartoons over and over and over. You're not quite as sold on the stop-motion things like Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Rudolph, but we're trying. If your father would make you watch those more instead of giving into your demands for more "snowman" then I wouldn't have to work so hard to get you to know the other stuff! You know that Santa will be bringing presents and you can recognise Santa and snowmen at will and you know what reindeer look like, but you still need to watch Rudolph again.

You're still throwing in nonsense words to your talking, but mostly when you talk to yourself, your pretty good about communicating with us. Your also singing more. Especially when your in the car. I've had to turn on the child window locks because you have figured out that you can step on the buttons in the jeep and buttons are fun!

You are still a pain to fix food for, but now eggs are on the approved foods list. You like scrambled eggs with ketchup, which is awesome. I love ketchup on my eggs. Your father is not so impressed.

I'm excited for the holidays to spend more time with you and hopefully get back to some potty training. We've kinda abandoned that after the first time and it was so frustrating, but it's been a month, I've calmed down and so have you ( I hope.)

You're starting to really get some separation anxiety. I almost didn't get to perform with the ward choir yesterday since you wouldn't let me go without crying and even taking you to Poppi's house you want to stay with me (until about 30 seconds after I've gone and you remember that Poppi spoils the daylights out of you.) It makes me feel bad, so thanks there, but it's also a little nice that you love me best, more than poppi or grandma. I want you to like me, even if I Put you in time out.

You have to sit in time out quite a lot. Throwing things is a bad habit of yours and it seems that even though you get put in time out for throwing food and crayons off your tray, you persist.

You're really into stacking. You take the candy tins and stack them over and over and now you're really playing with the wooden staking blocks that I got you for your birthday, your not just having fun pushing things down, you build! It's fun to watch your little mind work out which blocks will go on top.

I suppose we won't trade you in for a newer model yet.

Heart You!
Mama

It's A Christmas Miracle!

Friday, December 19th is a day that will live in awesomeness for all time.

First it was the annual Christmas party at my work. Erika and I had spent many hours with our gay boys in the department getting all ready for our lip sync. This is the 4th year we've done this and it's stressful but a lot of fun. This year we picked Christina Aguilera's "Candyman" which uses the music from Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, so it's all forty's sounding and familiar, but it's a little dirty, which is what we aim for. Our crew got to work at 7 am to practice on the stage before our 8 am party. The party got started and there were eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes! Forget budget cuts people! It was lovely, but Erika and I were starting to get nervous. This year they made the entertainment not just lip syncs, but also talent. Which is stupid, because if it's going to be talents, we can't do a silly lip sync next year. They also brought out judges! Supposedly American idol style. Someone was suppose to be Paula and Simon and Randy, but I don't' think any of those people have every watched American Idol before. Finally it was our turn. We rocked! Erika and I were the USO girls and our boys were sailors, complete with real and fake tattoos. There were only a few tiny little mistakes that I'm sure no one but us noticed. And we looked awesome. I have a new hair style I guess, when I can be bothered to curl it. Everyone clapped and laughed and loved it. The judges were nice and they said we were all winners. I guess they didn't want the other people to feel bad that we were really the best.

After the party it was hard to work, so when Husband was downstairs at his office's Christmas party I joined them for lunch. The the snow came, and came and came! At 2 pm our whole company shut down all offices and sent us home. It was brilliant. i would have left at 2 anyway so that I could get ready for the real treat of the day.

Thank goodness for 4-wheel drive, I was fine on the drive home even with all the snow. Now I had to get ready of the Matt Nathanson concert!!!! I re-curled my hair and decided to wear a scarf over my head to keep the snow off. Then it was off to the trax station so that we wouldn't have to drive down town in the weather and the venue was literally just steps away from the trax station. Keeping in constant contact with Erika, we found out our trax train was about 20 minutes late, but I had my ipod, so I was good! In my purse I had my item for Matt to sign, the pen he needed to sign my item and his present. After the last concert in Boulder, when he put us on the guest list, I wanted to thank him properly and so when I found out about this show I went online to look up the union jack Def Leppard belt buckle that he worn on that first Boulder concert that was so awesome, but had since broken. I paid expedited shipping since I had to have it for the concert. And I told no one, except Magen when she told me that she wouldn't be able to come to the show. I suppose I was a little worried that my friends might think I was a freak that I'm getting Matt a present, because, let's be honest, it's a little bit over the top.

The trax train came and luck would have it that I was standing right in front of the car that Erika and Dawn (from England!) were in so I got a seat and to have great conversations with them as I was getting more and more excited. I showed them the buckle and they both seemed delighted and not at all freaked out that I would do something like that. I also showed them my item to be signed. It was a picture of the first time I met Matt 3 years ago in Boulder, when he had been wearing said belt buckle, but you can't see it in out picture. I looked great since that was when Husband was in Iraq and I spent my free time working out.

The venue is Keys on Main where they have dueling pianos most nights, tonight's "event" was to be a wine tasting supposedly hosted by Matt, so I wanted to get there right away just in case he really was wandering around talking to people. We got in and got our commemorative wine glasses (mine I misplaced) and took a seat at a table, there were seats set up in front of the stage, but there wasn't anyone sitting there yet so I refrained from jumping into the front and center seat. Since it was a wine tasting there was food. Thank goodness! I ate cheese and carrots and olives and crackers and chocolate, oh my! It was great to sit and get to talk to Dawn. We're both great friends of Erika's, so we know all about each other, but since she lives in England, we don't see each other much. I loved that she and I both felt like we were too young to be there at a fancy wine tasting, even though we're both married with kids, it seemed like we were far too youthful. I also got to tell her about how I feel in love with Matt. It's a long story, but I love to tell it and Dawn was a great listener. I love to share Matt with people, he deserves to be well known and I feel like I'm really helping the cause, and really, everyone should love Matt, what's not to love?

With Trish and Nicole we save our six seats, right up front, in the first 2 rows. I of course got to sit on the first row, since I'm the biggest fan (ever). He came out briefly to do a sound check, when people started to clap he put his hands to his lips and motioned that he wasn't really there. Apparently his flight had been delayed. Here's what that looked like and how close I was.

Then he left and we got to wait for the concert to really begin. The show was suppose to start to 7, but sound check was at 6:30, o that didn't happen of course, but it was only about 20 minutes late, which was lucky for Trish's friend, since she got there at about 7.

The radio station announced him and out he came. he started with Car Crash, the newer acoustic version which I love. Trish has a little bit of video of it, but he sings it slightly different from the album and band version and I adore it, but I wasn't smart enough to start recording. He was wearing the scarf he had worn when we met him after the Denver show. Dawn was swooning! I know he's adorable, but it's nice to have confirmation. Someone in the audience asked him for his scarf and other people were yelling that they loved him. He calmed the drunk people by telling them that he wanted them to love him quietly and only love him loudly when that was called for. he said he needed the talking stick. Next he started Gone, and during the opening chords he looked up and saw me and did the eyebrow raise/half smile thing you do when you recognise people but can't say hi. I turned to Trish and Erika and was freaking out. I was trying to squeal but I was really just making some weird "fff" noise and accidentally spitting on those around me. Eventually I was able to get out "He saw me!" a few times I kept turning around so that he couldn't see me look like a freak of nature. he took off his jacket and told us he was dressed like an Eskimo and he would be removing his clothing in layers. He told a story about the having to do #2 at the airport. You really thought the story was going one way, but leave it to Matt to take it in a totally different direction. he was really chatty and people were really drunk so there were lots of fun conversations. he played To the Beat of Our Noisy Hearts, which is one of my favorites off the new album, and I finally remembered that I should be taking some freaking videos. Nicole was taking pictures and they were turning out really well and my pictures, well they are not so awesome. My camera is getting old and can't keep up with the new fancy cameras of today, so I figured I should take videos and let others take the good pictures. he played Still and that song is growing on me, but I think I enjoy it better live where you can see his facial expressions. He played Lost Myself in Search of You and told us that we would probably feel the funk in our nether regions. That song is funky! Erika called out for Amazing Again, but he needed to play his new songs for the new fans of course. After that he was going to play Starfish, but the crowd didn't seem like they were into that, so we did a sing along of Journey's Don't Stop Believing instead. It's standard. He said he would play 1 or 2 more songs and it was confirmed to me that this was a radio promo show and not a real show, which means that he wouldn't play as long, I figured this, but now it was confirmed. He of course played Come on Get Higher, the crowd seemed very into it. Before it he told a story about how this song was about ice cream. And something you're really enjoying the ice cream and you get to the bottom and you just want more and you want to spank the ice cream and pull it hair. Then he did he fake "We're done! Thanks" thing and headed off while the radio guys had us clapping and cheering. he came back out ans said he would play a new song and an old one. I was excited. he played Falling Apart, which I do love, but it makes me want to hear Fall To Pieces, which is my new goal to hear live. He doesn't play it very much, so that might take some doing.

Then he started playing Bon Jovi's Livin On a Prayer which was incredibly fun, but I do want to hear Matt songs when I see Matt play, but I'm a greedy fan.

He said he'd stay and sign stuff for people so we jumped in line and found out that the venue people weren't allowing pictures since they needed to get ready for the dueling pianos thing.

Don't you think that could have waited? I mean, come on, freaking Matt Nathanson people! The line was really long and Erika had to jump out and fight over the last Some Mad Hope CD at the merchandise booth so that Dawn could have him sign it and become an uberfan like me! I pulled out my picture to have him sign and the silver pen so it would show up and the buckle. Erika and Dawn went first and Dawn played the "but I'm all the way from England" card and he told them to wait and he would get a picture with them. I was so nervous that I was shaking of course and I had far too many things to say, to give him and whatnot. I got up to him and said "You remembered me!" Meaning from the stage and he said that of course he remembered me and gave me a hug. Trish said that I had a 3 year anniversary gift for him and I told him that I really wanted to thank him for getting me into the Boulder show and that I had tracked down something I thought he would like. I gave him the box and he opened it. It was his turn to be amazed. He started to tell me that he had one of those and Erika jumped in and said "Yeah, that's why she got it for you." he hugged me and it wasn't just a regular Matt hug (which is nice, btw) he put one hand on the back of my head and really hugged me. I wish that I could have appreciated that gesture at the time, I was still a bit too keyed up though, but I really do now. He said that when pewter breaks, it really breaks and obviously really like it. He handed it to his manager who looked at it appraisingly. He hugged me again with his hand on my head. I recall that his shirt was a bit moist with sweat, but he smelled fantastic. I showed him the picture and he said "look how young I look!" and I wanted to say the he looked the same but more awesome with his longer hair, but I instead said, "Yeah, look how hot I used to be!" He took my silver pen and held the picture on his thigh to sign it. We finished off with another hug and if there was anything else said, I can't recall. So I waited with Erika and Dawn to the side where they had told us to wait until everyone was done. But of course afterwards the lead Matt into the back, I of course followed. Matt said Dawn could get a picture, the VIP room was tiny and in the back, but they had it well guarded. This Venue doesn't mess around and boy do they have some thugs at their service. We asked politely about the picture and were told "no" in very certain terms. So we decided to risk it.

We got our hands stamped and headed for the back alley behind the venue. There was a van and someone from the radio station putting gear into it. A bouncer came out back and asked us what we were waiting for. I told him "Christmas" and Erika I believe told him a "Christmas miracle" he of course told us that "the artist has already left" which is of course, what they always say. I think they teach them that in bouncer school. But a few snowy minutes later out comes Matt, we tried to be polite and we reminded him that he said he would take a picture with our girl all the way from England. and he said "Of course I'll take a picture with Dawn!" She swooned more that he remembered her name from all the people inside. They posed and Dawn pulled me into the picture, which at first I felt like she should get her own since she was from freaking England! But I really appreciate the gesture, she knew how much I love Matt and wanted me to get a picture. next Erika and Dawn took a photo with him and the swirling snow made it so pretty! Then I got a bit greedy (of course!) and said that since I paid expedited shipping I deserved my own photo. He hopped into the van while Erika called out "Merry Christmas" and I remembered to say "Happy Hanukkah" and we walked back out the alley. The van started to drive out, as Matt had to get back to the airport and I moved to the side of the alley and stopped to wait for it to pass, Dawn and I waved and we could see clearly from the front seat, Matt Nathanson waving back at us. Dawn turned to me and said, "He waved at us!" and said that was the reason right there that I loved that man so much, he's so gracious to his fans. He really does care.

We walked back to the venue, and said our goodbyes to Trish, since she needed to drive home on the slippery roads. We were still high on the Matt love and agreed to go and look at the lights on temple square. We skipped and sang and had strangers take pictures of us. We saw some nasty Santas with naughty elves and some drunk/homeless person being picked up by an ambulance. Ah, downtown! We walked through Temple Square and enjoyed the beauty of the lights and the temple in the fresh and still falling snow. After that we were trying to decide where to get a cuppa chocolate. It was earlier then it felt, only about 10 pm. Then we spotted the horse drawn carriages. Neither Dawn nor I had had ridden one and so we asked how much. $50 for a 30 minute ride. Ouch! Well that's what I thought anyway, but Dawn and Erika were both on board. We got a nice young woman driver and we piled the blankets on us. We drove around singing Christmas songs, some more then once and having Dawn call out "God bless us, everyone!" to strangers. It was fun, but after the half hour I was ready to get warm again. We walked to the nearby JBs and got seated. Our server took our picture when he saw we had them out. And we all ordered hot chocolates. I think he was disappointed that we weren't getting real food, since he never talked to us again.

After some warming up we decided it was time to hop on the trax and head home. Unfortunately that was also when the Neil Diamond concert had let out, so the train was super crowded. Dawn had to get a bit fresh with a poll and it was packed and very cozy indeed. I headed home and reflected on the events of the evening. It got tons of Matt love and hugs. I had given him a gift that he loved. It made me so happy to give him something that he can take with him and I'll know that it was me that gave him that buckle, and hopefully I'll see him wearing it and that will make me the happiest. But really, I wanted to thank him for being so incredibly gracious and warm with his fans. He really does apprecaite all the "little" people that are spreading the word about him and sharing his music. He has shown me and any one else meeting him nothing but kindness. It's really his personality that wins over people. His music sin't really want I would consider my type of music, but knowing him him as briefly as I do, it makes his music that much more exciting and interesting to me. Thanks Matt! I hope you continue in your rise to the top!

See? Matt thinks I'm hot!

The Cookie Monster

Unfortunately I have discovered cupcake cake bites. This is unfortunate for a number of reasons. Mostly being that I don't have them. And secondly, i don't even have the ingredients to make them. And thirdly, even if I DID have said ingredients, I wouldn't want to make them, seeing as how I would eat them and ruin my whole "I'm eating healthily so that clothes still fit after the holidays" and it's killing me.

I've been reading bakerella.blogspot.com so many times in the past 2 days that I'm starting to see these little suckers in my sleep. I think about which cake mix I would use (red velvet or white? chocolate or yellow? Moist or bargain brand?) and how I should decorate them (snowmen! snowflakes! Christmas trees? stars?) So while I was at groups last night with husband, while the menfolk talked about their "feelings" I was envisioning where I should purchase the melting chocolate and whether I could use my skewering sticks or if I needed to buy lollipop sticks. You can't see it in this picture (but it's so cute anyway) but you can put them on a stick! Food is always so much better on a stick! Imagine corn dogs with no stick and you see what I'm talking about.

I'm also trying to pretend that I'm not Christmas shopping. All day long. But chances are, if you're getting a gift from me, it's already in my shopping basket. Metaphorically. I just hope you like it! And that's why it's still in my basket instead of on my charge card. What if you don't like it? I'm such a bad friend getting you something so obvious, this is why we're going to have that falling out soon. I don't blame you. I will try and move on to people who don't expect too much from me. Or you'll love it! I'm a good friend and we'll be besties forevs and evs because I got you just what you wanted. I shall bask in your praise at my ninja-like shopping skills.

With this is mind, I have not thought of one solid thing to get for my 2 year old. She of the movie watching variety. We have so many stuffed animals, but wouldn't she just love a care bear? We also have so many Disney movies that she hasn't even watched them all, but we don't have Sleeping Beauty, she would love that! And she's got clothes! A lovely mother is our neighborhood whose daughter is about a year older than Hayley gave us all her hand me downs. She has clothes coming out the wazoo. I only have her wash her clothes about every 2 weeks and that's barely re-wearing the perfectly good jeans from the day before. And I fret. She's tall in her torso, she can wear 3t in most shirts now, so I don't want to buy her 2t stuff just because that's the size she should be in, but sometimes the 2t are still big. So I don't want to buy her clothes, but she has a multitude of toys she neglects to watch more Nemo (again), so I don't want to buy her toys. But I'm afraid her mind and muscles will wither while she watches TV, so I don't want to get her DVDs! Argh! Christmas! Why can't you be more about the baby Jesus then what is in those packages? I'm just as guilty. I finally took pity on my husband and made him a wish list, and also one for my brother who has me in the family gift exchange. I have two separate wish lists! I haven't had a wish list since I was 14 and asked my parents for a Pearl Jam CD (yeah, Pearl Jam, remember when they were cool?)

Where was I? Oh yes, this post is about cake balls. So please, come over to my house with a box of cake mix, some melting chocolate and some sticks, you might just leave with all the ones I couldn't fit into my mouth while you weren't looking! It's a Christmas miracle!

26 Months of Wonderful

I can't believe how much you change even month to month. This month you've started adding non-sense sounds to actual words and phrases. I'm not sure if it's wanting to sound like you have more to say, or that I just talk so much that you're trying to keep up.
It's really difficult leaving you every morning, but the loves and kisses that come when I get home are very nice. It seems like you actually miss me, even though I know that when I get home, the TV gets turned off and then it's nothing but whining for "Credibles" or "I's Age" and I'm the mean parent that refuses to let your brain rot when there are shows I could be watching instead.
Your still a very picky eater and very much in charge of what you eat. We go through the list of things you will eat at meal time. Tacos? sandwich? mac and cheese? it's anyones guess, but you still have a little belly, so I figure that means you're not starving. You can put away sweets like it's no one's business, but real food only gets a few bites in before you are totally done.
I'm a little sad, all the 2T clothes I've been saving for you, well the tops are a little short. Apparently you have a long torso but stubbly little legs. I do not have a long torso, so maybe this is something that you will grow out of and become a normal sized child, or maybe you're going to be a freak of nature, but I hope not. I hope that some day you eat and grow like a normal child, but for now we'll just try and make sure you are eating something with some kind of vitamins. Although I gave you some toast with Nutella on it, and you loved that more then life itself, it was like candy! That's what I do with stuff, just smother it in chocolate and call it good.
Today your favorite color was green. We were looking at a Christmas tree here at work and they had fiber optic ornaments that changed color. You were only happy when the lights were green. When they would change you would say "Oh! Green gone!" and wait until it turned green again and say "There is!" It was pretty cute, but I've never noticed any affinity for green, so maybe it's just today. I can't wait to put up our tree. Last year you were still pretty young and didn't get the whole Christmas scene, but this year, what with all the Christmas videos i have, you'll be an expert!
I'm hoping that this thanksgiving you try the food. As I recall the only thing you tasted last year was jello and even that wasn't good enough for you. What kid doesn't like jello? Even I liked jello! I have high hopes once again for stuffing. It's my favorite, and I'd like to pass on my love of fatty goodness. Actually I would hope that you remain aloof from food. If you have my genes at least, time will tell, as your father has no sisters what the female body shape will end up being. My fingers are crossed for "never needs to think about what she eats" body type. My life would be so much better if that's where I was. And if I wasn't obsessed with diary. Wait, this isn't a post about my insecurities? Oops. Anyway, I hope you eat things at some point, that's all I'm saying.
Here's to the next month!

Kisses,
Mama

Nothing Dims Theses Stars

(Final Chapter)

With visions of being a VIP at the show still in my head, we got to the venue in Boulder just as the doors were opening. And there were 2 insane lines. I was nervous, I figured we would have to wait at will call, but that's not what I wanted. I didn't want to get into the back of a long line, and they were letting the people who already had their tickets in, so the people who waited at will call then had to go to the end of the line of tickets. Urgh. So I checked with the venue staff just to make sure the tickets were at will call, I didn't want to wait in line if I didn't have to. But my dreams of being ushered in and swept back stage were dashed. They were just dreams, but there was a glimmer of hope right? Waiting in will call, which was a shorter line, was still torturous. It seemed that no one was moving. It took 5 minutes for each group ahead of us. Their were people without ID and then they had to figure out what to do with them and their were people that they couldn't find on the list for 5 minutes. Ugh. By the time we got close to the front the long line of people with tickets were all inside. I started to silently panic. Poor Erika, she could tell I was really frustrated, but there was nothing else we could do but wait. I didn't want to be really far away from the stage, but that seemed inevitable now since hundreds of people already were inside. We got to the box office and were a little sad when we only got little "admit one" tickets which we then had to relinquish to the door staff. So while Erika had been having her tickets signed, now we didn't have one. We saw the Matt posters for the venue outside. They said Matt's name, and the date in swirly psychedelic colors and had an outline of a girl licking a lollipop, it was so random, especially since most of the venues that have posters are the ones from Matt's people and have a picture of Matt on them, like the one I had gotten the night before, but these people made their own and it was not the better for it. We went inside and were so lucky that we got a spot right up front, only a few people back from the stage. Unfortunately I was behind tall people a little, I could maneuver and see well, but it was annoying, but fine considering we got inside with only 8 minutes before the show was suppose to start. But it didn't start! We waited and waited, and really, we wanted to see The Break and Repair Method again, because we'd been listening to their album on the driver to Boulder and were super excited now that we knew the songs even that much better. When they finally came on they were great. Every song I would turn to Erika and say "I love this song!" Every song, really. CHECK THEM OUT. Okay, enough said. I wasn't in a good position to see the singer who was more stage left but I was able to watch my new favorite drummer, Ryan. He was rockin and having a great time. The crowd seemed really into them. It was over far too soon. But we found out the 3 of the 4 band members are actually a part of Matchbox 20 and we almost told their uber fan that Rob Thomas is a d-bag, but we restrained ourselves. They played their untitled song and again asked the crowd what to call it, Erika screamed out to call it Boise, and Paul chuckled and relayed the story of what happened in Salt Lake and how all us Mormons were offended. Even though I thought it was funny, maybe some people were offended. How should I know? But this song is Erika's favorite. Then we had to wait for the next opener. And when she came out, she played for 45 minutes! After about the 3rd song, I kept hoping she would say "okay, this is the last song, goodnight!" but it took forever. My feet were already starting to go numb, I was trying to move around and dance to keep my circulation going, but it was not working very well which made me even more irritated that she wouldn't just stop. After an eternity she was done and now it was just time to wait for Matt. We saw him run from the stage level to a downstairs level off the stage.

They came on again to Queen. But they switched things up this show and started with To The Beat of Our Noisy Hearts and it was a great way to start. There seemed to be a lot of songs from Beneath These Fireworks, which I love every song, so I really enjoyed this show. It's funny because he'll introduce the songs as being off an "old" record and so I'm expecting something from albums before that, but I guess it was released in 2003 which is pretty old now, but it was my first Matt album, so it has eternal youth in my mind. But it was great, he played Sad Songs, Weight of it All and right after played Curve of the Earth, not to mention the Angel/ I Saw combination. I loved it! During solo time, Matt wasn't going by his set list. He played what the 2 uber fans behind us were yelling out, but the first song was Church Clothes, which is a song that I really love, so that made me very happy. It's a song that when it gets stuck in my head I really enjoy it.

The next song he told us was about his brother who had been kicked out of Boulder or Colorado and I think when i saw him here in 2005 he mentioned his brother, but he didn't play this song. It was a song I had maybe heard once, called Miracles. It was really mellow and I wish I had known it better. But don't worry kids, I recorded the whole thing so we can all get to know it better.

Church Clothes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbBqUHPOVOw

Miracles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vrX8tsIQ2I

Once the band came back we were ready to rock again, he finally played Gone, Car Crash and Wedding Dress. We also got another Chance at the sing along for Take On Me. Finally my side won! But then it was discovered that the balcony on my side was the over 21 crowd that was drinking and the other balcony was under 21 and not drinking, and so a draw was called since alcohol in a sing along is like steroids at the Olympics. Dang it! I almost won! But it was still fun. But as he close with All We Are, I knew that this amazing Matt trip was coming to an end. Once again they made it back from just being on the jet to come back and play us an encore. Detroit Waves and finishing with the standard Come On Get Higher. At this point Erika and I are both so tired, since we only got a few hours of sleep the night before and had been going all day hanging out with her family. I was lucky enough to get a little 20 minute nap, so Erika needed some Red Bull, but we were still starting to come down from our Matt high. The show finished. Last time I saw Matt here, he came out to the front area and signed and took pictures and was just awesome, but we were getting kicked out again! We talked a little to Aaron and found out they were going to be flying out to Portland to play a show tomorrow before playing the next tour stop. Aaron and John said how this crowd was so fun, so much better then the drunk crowd in Denver. They said it was one of the best shows. I thought the best show was the Salt Lake one, but this set list was incredible. Talking to the band we waited as long as we could. I still had backstage hope, it was quickly fizzling away. We saw his manager and thanked her for the tickets and said we wanted to thank Matt. She told us that the tour bus was parked on the next street and to just wait there since he's got to get on the bus at some point, so we decided that that was our best bet, we weren't seeing any of our band members where we were, so we might as well go wait in the cold for a chance. We told her that we had come from Salt lake and she said that that had been her favorite show and gave us the information that David Archeleta had vlogged about the show (which I linked to in the SLC post.) So we headed outside and saw the drummer of B&R Method and said hi, he seemed to be headed somewhere so he didn't stay and chat like the night before. We talked to each of Matt's band members, Erika had gotten one of the ugly 70-ish posters from the door and had them all sign it. I had decided that all I wanted was a few pictures and to thank Matt, no signing for me, I had gotten enough from him in the past few days that I wanted to be a little more laid back, but I still had the new CD in my purse in case I changed my mind. Although the band knew us at this point and signed nice things, not just their names on Erika's poster so I was little jealous that I didn't also have something signed, but I had gotten all the posters and set lists from other shows, so it was her time to sign. Although they were nice enough to shine, no one really chatted like they had the night before. Konrad and Aaron kept busy and John stopped briefly and awkwardly to chat with the other girls for a bit until they had run out of things to say. I felt bad because they would pause in saying something and I would interject just as they were saying something again. I was a total jerk, but it wasn't on purpose I promise.

The lead signer for the opening band was walking by, we had seen him briefly in Salt Lake, but never talked to him. He looked determined to ignore us, but after I called out his name, he turned. There was only Erika and I and a group of 3 other girls, so he probably figured we were just waiting for Matt (which was true, but we're not going to pass up an great opportunity) and so we all introduced ourselves and it was very formal, he would get our name shake our hand and say "I'm Paul" or "Paul" for every person, even though we had all heard his name. Maybe he wanted to make sure we remembered him. Erika and I told him how much we loved his set and he seemed really taken back. We told him that we bought a CD and the other group said they had too. He seemed kind of insecure about whether the crowd had liked them. We told him that this was our third show and just loved all the songs. I told him I loved how he played like he was on fire, really banging the keys and that we loved how he had used his foot to slam the keys in Denver. He was really buoyed by our loving words, or maybe he's really self deprecating. We wanted to tell him how much we hate Rob Thomas, but we didn't know if that was a sore spot or not, so we'll save that comment for next time. Erika almost forgot to ask about the "Boise" song, but she asked if she could download it or when she could get it and told him that it was the song that made her a fan. Someone with him said they had recorded it that night and so had a live recording, so we'll see if that's made available. I hope that it is, because that song will light your pants on fire! The whole band hoped into a car and made a get away.

Then Matt came out! He was only wearing a scarf and jacket and said, "Okay let's do this before we freeze our butts off!" Which meant, this needed to be quick, but luckily there weren't many of us. He talked with the other group, they got their set list signed. One girl asked if he could have a friend of her propose to his girlfriend at his show on Saturday. Matt seemed sympathetic, but adamant that he couldn't do that for one person because then everyone would would want personal things done for them and it would all snowball, which I can understand, but how cool would it be to be proposed to at a concert that you both love. Oh well. I found out later from teh set list picture that I took that during the solo part he was suppose to do Wings and Gospel. Which I actually called out for Wings and Gospel is one of my other favorites, they are both on my favorite album, Still Waiting for Spring, so that would have been so great for me, but i guess we can't have everything, can we? If I had known, I would have chastised Matt, so it's good that I didn't know.

We took their pictures and then it was our turn. Matt said something like "well willow, you made it"and I went all fan girl and had to rush in for the hug. He remembered my name! Officially! yeah it had only been one night and he had written it on his hand (his hand!) and so it was not likely he would be able to forget so quickly, but it was still fun. We took a group shot, we wanted individual shots, but we were taking what we could get and trying to be gracious. I had done my hair curly instead of the usual "dressed up" straight and he touched my hair and and said "Your hair looks cute." Then I died. Right there. We thanked him profusely and he hugged us again. I think I got 3 hugs. It was a little hazy. We wanted to get our individual pictures but after seeing Erika's poster and finding out that the band actually liked them the other girls asked if there were extras, so Matt was going to get them a poster and we decided our time had come. We wished them a good trip up to Portland and said goodbye. We practically skipped to car. It was over, but it ended with an incredible show and we got to say thanks and goodbye, what more could we ask for? Then next day was the drive home, we had come, we had seen, we had kicked Colorado's trash and had a better time than we ever imagined. We got into both shows, we meet Matt after every show, had decent conversations with him, met all the band members and found a new group to love.
I know that while some of friends would definitely be up for a road trip, it's unlikely that any would be able to drop everything with only 24 hours notice and be gone for 3 days, on the chance that we would get into one or two sold out shows. So my thanks go out to Erika, and her brother, the people who sold us tickets and to Matt and his band and manager and all others who made this the most fun I've had on a crazy whim! Peace out!