Concerts & Closings

I had an amazing summer. One of my goals was to attend 14 concerts in 2014. I achieved that before the end of June! (Interestingly enough, I have not gone to any since then and it's mid-September!)

One of my favorite concerts was Lady Gaga.  We were in the pit, so had a good view of the stage, but because she's so short and we were in the back of the pit, we mostly saw her backup dancers and saw her on the video screens.

We put lightning bolts on our faces, and I went with three of my favorite friends.

What an experience!

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Shortly thereafter, I learned that my favorite restaurant, which happens to be just a few blocks from my house, was closing!  My parents and I go here frequently, my best friend and I went at least once a month, I had many first dates here (maybe those are worth forgetting!)

In any case, my best friend and I went on the last weekend it was open, for old time's sake.  I took a day off of work and we had a great time.

It's going to reopen soon, as another one of my favorite local restaurants (a small chain -- this will be its 3rd location.)  However, my parents love Italian food and aren't exactly fond of Mexican, so we'll see if they even try it.

Monthly personal update

As frequently as I say that I'm going to try to update this blog more often, you'd think that I would!  However, real life is getting in the way.  When I was married to the most anti-social person in the world, I had plenty of time to blog, but now that I'm doing things with friends and still trying to keep up with the parrots, as well as holding down a much more demanding job, this is something that has fallen by the wayside.  Which makes me sad, as I'd love to have a more complete picture of the past couple years of my life!

But here is a snapshot of the things I did during the month of July:

I went to a baseball game.  I am sponsored by a local running store, and am friends with many of the employees, so they invited me along on their employee outing, which was rather odd, since I was the only non-employee, but they were so welcoming and I have been invited back for next year!

This one was June, but a local street festival was held to celebrate the solstice.  I went with a good friend and her husband.  We met the father of the lead singer of a popular local band (on the verge of signing a national record contract) which meant we met the lead singer and had a memorable evening.

 Supermoon!!!

 Front-row tickets to see three bands from my youth!!!!!

 Boyz II Men (my favorite, and I will get a rhinestone-emblazoned Phillies hat someday):

 Not sure why they look other-worldly, but I love this picture of them singing!

98 Degrees (I am actually a bit too old for them, and I didn't know many of their songs, but they were energetic and fun):

New Kids on the Block -- yes, I should be embarrassed to admit it, but I was there!  And when they went into the crowd for one of their songs, they all brushed past me!  Again, I wasn't huge fans of them, but I knew most of the songs they sang, and they put on a great show.

My sister and I went to a minor-league game that was one of the most exciting games I have ever seen. S he won a pair of VIP tickets.

The celebration after they came from behind in the bottom of the 9th inning with 2 outs, when they hadn't had the lead for the entire game:

I went to dinner with my friend J.  We split a pizza, which meant room for dessert.  This was one of the best things I have ever eaten.  That's caramel sea salt ice cream on top of the brownies.  And candied nuts.  YUM!!!  I showed my friend at work this picture, she made me show a bunch of other people, and quite a few made it over to this restaurant for this piece of deliciousness:

Celebrating Bastille Days (you can see French flags spread out along the street of this very American city.) 

On a date, I went bowling for the first time in over a decade -- and scored over 100 points (that's me on the top row.)

Same guy, different date.  French toast.  With ice cream.  Amazing concept, and one I'm ashamed to have not thought of myself.  This really was made for two to share, so I only ate half of the French toast, but I did eat all of the ice cream (caramel sea salt again.  Delicious!!!)

My parents and I go to a craft brew fest on an annual basis.  This year, four of my friends (two couples) joined us, and we ran into my cousin there.  What a fun time!  After, we walked to a different street festival, then we walked home, and my parents spent the night.  That part will continue to be a tradition, though I'm hoping to pick up a couple of used bikes for people to use when they visit as biking home will be quicker than walking!

It's still very early days, but I am dating an amazing man.  I was abused (verbally and emotionally) for so long, I rather forgot what it was like to be with someone who treats me as nicely as I treat him.  I'm glad I took many months away from dating to work on myself and figure out what I really want, as I'm in a good place to welcome a good man into my life.

He's met the parrots and finds them amusing and interesting.  Being prey animals, they are a little wary, but he'll win them over.  His middle name is Andres, which is usually what I'd use as his pseudonym, but since it's so close to Andreas's name, I'll have to think of something different to avoid confusion.  Though hopefully no one would think that I am dating my lizard!

Anyway, things are good, life is fabulous, and I need to blog more frequently!

Random things in May

I have been so remiss at taking pictures of things that have been happening!  But here is a short selection of things that happened to me in May:

One of Max's favorite artists, Father John Misty, was once again in the area.  I had seen him perform last October, before I knew any of his songs.  I bought the CD then, so this time, I knew them all!  I went with my friend who works at the venue (free tickets and the bartender said we were such fun to talk to that we didn't have to pay for our drinks, either!)

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One of my responsibilities at my new job (not so new anymore -- I've been there nearly 14 months) is to help coordinate our large client conference in the fall.  It was a huge success last fall, my first time, and we hope to make every year even better.

Last week, two of my coworkers and I went to the luxury resort where the conference is held.  We walked through everything -- it's almost like planning a wedding where we do tasting of the food, walk-throughs of the event, etc. -- and spent the night.  This place is known for their innovative bathrooms.

I always take a bath when I'm there, and this time, when I turned the water on, I was shocked that it started coming out of the ceiling!  I didn't really like this, so I hope I get a different room when I return in September.

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This is a partial view out of my office window.  Last week, the sun hit just right at the building down below.  All of a sudden, my office got so bright that I had to see what was going on outside.  I made the mistake of looking directly at it, and then my eyes saw spots for a few minutes!

In which Max makes me laugh

I'll admit it. I am a happy person and laugh a lot.

My therapist told me this is not always a good thing, as I endured years of abuse at Thomas's hands, thinking I was happy.  Yikes!  Interesting to think that I could have escaped years earlier.

But now that I am no longer in an (emotionally & verbally) abusive relationship, I am very glad that I have a high happiness base line.I think that's a good thing. 

I recently listened to a lecture on human behavior, and I learned that 50% of happiness is due to genetics, 10% is circumstances, and 40% is our behavior and how we react to things.  I am glad that my 50% genetics = happiness as I really only have control over 40% of my own happiness!

Max makes me laugh every single day. 

Currently, she is obsessed with the dark bathroom.

Here, she looks like she may want me to give her head pets; instead, she is just interested in heading to the bathroom.   She is a trickster!

As an aside, I may need to consider my parrots' opinions in great music.  They love Father John Misty, heard here, and his music is frequently listed as the best of 2012.

Note to record producers: I will loan out my parrots' expertise to tell you if you have a winner or not :)

Making an appearance

As I've mentioned in previous posts, Max likes to hang out in the bathroom.  She doesn't attempt to destroy anything; she just likes to stand, alone, in the dark.  It is very odd.

Prior to making this video, I had been trying to get her to come out of the bathroom and join me in the dining room.  I called her name, whistled, asked for kisses; nothing worked.

And then inspiration hit.  I put on her current favorite CD, by Father John Misty, and she ran right out, dancing along the way.  Less than a minute in, she got bored and returned to the bathroom.

After the video, I brought her out onto her stand, where she happily played; the bathroom, forgotten.

Max finds a new favorite artist

Last month, a friend called and asked me if I wanted to see Father John Misty perform.  I had never heard of him, but I decided to go.  Even though it was in a city over an hour away and it started at 10 pm on a work night!  Her friend had canceled on her at the last minute and she didn't want to go alone.

I loved it!  He was such a great performer (I might have picked up some new dance moves) and the music was great as well.  I purchased his CD and have been listening to it quite a bit.  One of the few albums that I love front to back.

I never know what music will strike Max's fancy. Sometimes I need to encourage her to dance, but sometimes she just likes the way something sounds.  She loves Father John Misty! 

Had I thought to take a video at the beginning on the evening, she would have been even more enthusiastic -- I think she was getting a bit tired here:

One of my new good friends works at the organization that comprises the three best concert venues in town, so I have been going to so many concerts these past few months.  I had forgotten how much I love to see live music!  This weekend, another friend and I are going to see a Queen tribute band.  Apparently the lead singer really channels Freddie Mercury.  I can't wait!

What I'm listening to tonight...

Music cravings

I almost never get cravings for any kind of food, but I do get cravings for music. I'm stuck in the past, and have a lot of CDs; I have not yet switched to downloads. Even though I know it's better for the environment, and my house's clutter, I really like having a physical CD.

I have uploaded most of my CDs to my itunes at work, so whether I'm at home or work, I can generally satisfy my music craving almost immediately. Yea! This sometimes drives Thomas crazy as I will listen to the same song 10 times in a row as we're cooking dinner. He'll beg me to play something else and I'll agree after playing this song "one more time," which I then do several times. He's done the same thing to me, so I don't feel bad!

This morning, as I was driving to work, I needed to hear a specific song. I only had 5 more minutes until I got to work, but I was going crazy! Finally I rushed into my office and satisfied that craving.