BayFest 2010

I am no longer a BayFest virgin.

Have to admit VIP was the way to go. (You rock, M & D!) No waiting at the gates. Food, beverages and a place to hang out? Count me in.

Awesome people watching. Some scarred the retina.

Hotel with Aveda everything? I sang praises each time I washed my hands!

And my first taste of fried green tomatoes. I am Southern… honest.

Great adult weekend.

Mötley Crüe -

Couldn’t recognize a song. But we were there!

What can you say?

Roller Derby girls showed now and again.

Yum.

Having fun hanging in a parking garage.

Bonnie Raitt? —    AKA known as never make a blog post when sleep deprived via iPhone.

*Yeh that would be Reba McEntire.

Don’t mind me. I just pretend to know what is going on around me.

Yup. A good weekend.

Labor Day — 2010

It was busy busy busy around here.

First up the kids did a bit of testing for my super talented friend, the artist and author and other assorted life titles — Angela.

They had a blast and made quite the mess.

After the great Art Experiment of 2010, I dropped Tori off with K for a few hours while the boys and I went out to help e finish up the big move. After a run to the GreenHouse we made an impromptu stop by the Bay to see Jenn and her kids. We even brought ice cream sandwiches as a fun snack. The boys were tickled they got a 5 minutes swim in the Bay.

We did a few runs to Goodwill, picked up Tori and headed back home to the GreenHouse to do laundry and pack the kids.

Once the kids left to go with their Dad, e and I went out for dinner  and drinks at Guy Harvey’s Island Grill. There was a band playing that was enjoyable in their own special way. I’ll leave it at that.

Afterwards we caught John Mayer in concert at the amphitheater. Yes, he’s the popular musician we all love to hate thanks to numerous big-headed antics on his part, but the man is talented. Very talented. His classical training shows through often and I really enjoyed the music. If I had a choice: I would have preferred listening to him just play an acoustic set while I lounged on blanket on the beach with some wine  (minus all the screaming women) but I’m NOT complaining.

*Thanks to Alabama Gulf Coast for the tickets.  Had a great time.

Photo below from online… but I was there! Waaaaaaaaaaaay up there!

Owl City

Interesting stage name, no?

But like the song.

and I really like who he’s opening for on Monday night.

The Concert

When the Jimmy Buffett and Friends concert was announced… I hoped to go. Yes, I think the man spouts of some political silliness at times, but I enjoy his music from way back when and loved the concept of the concert in general. We all tried to get tickets when they went on sale… but they were literally gone within minutes.

I shamelessly asked the Ticket Fairy to come visit me on a regular basis via Facebook. A large portion of the tickets went to the tourism industry in the area. The whole point of this concert was to help inject some life into the dying economy in our area. I thought it made TOTAL sense they  got so many tickets. They were trying to entice people down to the area. BUT I also knew there were going to be tons and tons and tons of extras floating around.

Sure enough… I started keeping track of last minute tickets friends got or people told me “Oh NO! If I knew you wanted them, I just gave them away half an hour ago.” Yeh, the grand total by the end of the night? 19 tickets. And I don’t know many people.

ANYWAY… I knew the tickets were out there and let it be known I was looking for them. And no, I wasn’t going to pay some scalper from MN $200 for some tickets. 1) Can’t begin to afford that kinda money for a concert — not happening and 2) It’s really defeating the purpose of the concert to buy a ticket from some guy up in MN, no?

By Saturday afternoon plans to watch the concert in the park in Foley had fallen through because my girlfriend that was going with me managed to get tickets. (See?!) And I was informed I wasn’t going with that many children alone. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. Fine. Whatever.

We were going to stay home and have spaghetti and catch the concert on TV.

And then…

A photographer by the name of  Tonya DeAnda from Gulf Shores posted a contest on her Facebook page.  (Check out her stuff by the way… gorgeous!) She gave people a 20 minute window to post a funny story or comment.  Funniest one would win 2 tickets. I took a chance and posted Tommy’s story about his sippy and Mississippi. To my total surprise and joy, she inboxed me and told me to give her a call. I had won.

Here’s the beach on Saturday morning… if you have been to Gulf Shores, you know those palm trees aren’t out on the beach here. Yeh, they were RENTALS. Cracks me up. *Pic from Alabama Gulf Coast’s fb page. I wasn’t down there. Yet.

We took the shuttle by County Road 6… which dropped us to the Zoo. We still had quite the walk. Can anyone say blisters?

When we got in to the concert we just kept working our way up forward. Kept going… going… going… and in the end…

*pic above from Mobile Press register via AL.com

JB on stage.

Shot from Mobile Press Register from the back of the venue

Having fun, even though it was hot as HECK. Thank goodness we were in the shade.

Here’s a link to ‘The Coast is Clear’ with the updated lyrics. It was cool… but a bit sad there was a need to update them.

And thus ends my concert post.

Music at the Saenger

Last night enjoyed a concert at the Saenger with several friend.

Mithril opened for Billy McLaughlin and the strings of the Mobile Symphony.

MIthril is a local Celctic/World music group. My parents like to catch them now and again at the local Irish Pub.

When I was at South we caught Billy playing a number of times. In fact, some of us were there the very first time he played in Mobile. He’s overcome a neurological disorder  and made a comeback into the musical world after retraining himself to play left handed. One of his songs even plays in a Purina commercial now.  How’s that for hitting big time? No, really, love his stuff. Always have, always will.

Darius Rucker and Rascal Flatts Concert

Dinner at Big Fish before heading down to the Wharf for the concert.

Had a great time. It was the last night of the Unstoppable Tour and it was funny to watch the bands playing pranks on each other. Rascal Flatts had Darius arrested at the end of his set for impersonating Prince. Meanwhile Darius directed a small marching band that showed up on stage in the middle of Rascal Flatts’ set.

I was freezing… and had a great time. Very amused to realize just how many country songs I know… and love.

It’s true. I admit it.

I also admit that a certain guy pictured below took me to the concert. (Score on the tickets, awesome!) You have no idea how confident it makes me feel to have a guy snap a picture of me and inform me that I’m beautiful. No comments telling me to stand up straight, tilt my head a certain way, or (my personal fav) ‘you have a stupid look on your face.’ My guy below? He just looks at me and smiles.

And in return… I smile back.

For all of you that have told me for years I don’t really smile anymore… or not very often.

This one’s for you: Blurry and granulated… and totally all me. Smiling. Happy. (Probably slouching a bit… and hair could use some product… and I do not care one little bit.)

Below is one of my favorite  songs. The senior girls at Tori’s dance studio used this song for the 2009 recital and I totally teared up. I am such a sap.

I went to the Portapotty one too many times tonight.

Okay, not really, but I just just keep smelling that lovely Portapotty air freshner… and that is not good seeing as I’m not in a Portapotty as I type this. Yeh, shower about 5 seconds after I finish this post.

Why, my dear 3 readers, was I in the Portapotty in the first place? Why, it is THE  “in” place to hang out these days, didn’t you know? Okay… fine….

Yes, it may shock many of you… but I went out tonight.

I know.

I’ll give you a moment to collect yourself.

Better?

Yep, a friend called inviting me along to the Angel Ride concert with their friends since they knew Tim was out of town and she figured I needed some adult interaction. Boy, was she right.  And yes, shock of all shocks, I agreed.

I’ll give you another moment…

Gama and Pop Pop entertained the brood while I went out. Had a great time. Really enjoyed the first band, Mustang Sally.They were beyond funny. Seriously, when a country singer busts out in “I’ve got a big butt and I cannot lie…” (yes, yes, I know the lyrics are diff, she sang it that way)…  oh GAWD it was drink spitting out hysterical.

And, well, Gary Allen was good, I think. I’ve been to plenty of loud concerts, plenty. But when the table cloth starts to vibrate off, well, they might need to turn it down a bit.  It was so loud I truly I had NO idea what the man was singing. Then I started feeling old for thinking he was too loud. Sigh. Oh, and by the way, I don’t think he was hot. Girls were going CRAZY about him. I just hung out.. It went downhill when I asked one of the women at our table (one of Tori’s old dance teachers) why he was singing about “steaks.”  And, between giggles she let me know that would be “mistakes”… well,  I just went back to the people-watching.

And, ooooooeeeeeee, was there some good people-watching. Bikers. And wannabe bikers. Leather pants and enough chaps to last a lifetime. And for what it’s worth: my friend’s husband commented that the one thing he learned from the night: only woman should wear the chaps.

I’d have to agree.

I’ve collected the passed out children and brought them home. And now I’m going to go to sleep myself. (Well, after my shower. Ewwwwww!)

Night.