Any and all of the above should rightly be their own blog entries, and I may very well be inclined to do so (oh hell, who am I kidding? No way am I going to have the time to properly document everything, so lucky you! The abridged version!) It's still going to be a long entry because I have two weeks to cover.
So then, in chronological order:
Happy 30th Birthday, Boy!: we went out for dinner at the Olive Garden (and yes, we did make them sing us the Buona Festa song - but they did so over a plate of OG Andes Candies. Better than crack, those little green treats!) I also played fun with his birthday cake: I went to the store and got a dozen cupcakes and those hard candies they sell in the cake baking aisle - the letters that you can spell stuff out with. I arranged the cupcakes on a plate, and placed one letter on each one, then gave it to him, saying "Sorry."
I neglected to get a picture - perhaps I'll recreate it one of these days, but the cupcakes spelled out "THE CAKE IS A LIE." (The boy is a Portal fanatic and I got a huge laugh out of him with it. (We did, in fact have a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for him, as per his request.) He told most of his WoW guild about it...and I think I've been voted Coolest Wife Ever... his one buddy said "Woooww...she really does pay attention, doesn't she?" So... Happy Birthday, Boy.
Sisters, Sisters...There Were Never Such Devoted Sisters: A couple weeks ago, I was having a rough time dealing with a lot of the stuff that was bubbling to my surface regarding my family situation. A lot of my issues stem from the fact that I'm having to redefine family in my head: who qualifies, my perception of my family of origin, how best to deal with that. My sister is probably the person who knows as much about our family as I do - and I was IM'ing with her about a lot of the things I've been dealing with. She sensed I needed (help? companionship? friendship? love?)... I needed a sister. She immediately popped online, found a cheap flight, and got herself up here post-haste. We spent 4 days talking about our family - and I learned so much about her formative years, specifically the time after I left for college. I'm six years older than she, and I went to college when she went to junior high. We had such vastly different teen years for a lot of reasons, and this visit really brought to bear our differences. The good news is that we have just as many commonalities, and at the end of the day, we're there for each other, no matter what.
We did lots of sister-type activities, including shopping at IKEA and the Nordstrom shoe department (two places which, for us, equal Valhalla). Overall, it was a fantastic visit, one which I desperately needed, and one for which I will be forever grateful. Love you, sis. :)
MATTY NAY!!!!!!!!
Dude. If this doesn't make my yearly recap...then I will have died and gone to heaven. I got pretty damned close last night.
God love my friend Jen. She's been a Matty fan for AGES and I was grousing to her the other day - I'd failed to procure a ticket for the MN/Lifehouse show at First Ave in Minneapolis before it sold out. I was tempted to go anyway and see if they would release tickets, but more likely I would have just let it go. I had a multitude of excuses, the least of which was that I generally don't like to go to events alone.
Jen was having none of this. She has done street team things for MN before, and knows his tour manager, Megan. After my diatribe, she promptly sent Megan a PM asking if there was any slots on the street team for the Minneapolis show. Ten minutes later I was "on the list."
Long story short, I spent 90 minutes waiting outside the club, got to the box office and was admitted, free of charge, to the show. And I will be forever grateful because not only was Matt a phenomenal performer (literally turned a laid-back Minneapolis crowd into a singalong choir, as well as complimenting us on our ability to withstand the Northern climate native to our area "Dude, I'm just sayin'...y'all are badasses if you call this spring!") He played a ton of his new CD, a couple of older tunes, and tossed in a little Journey and Rick Springfield for good measure. Amazing, amazing 45 minute set. He's got a stage presence which is great - he rocks his tunes, interacts with the audience, and dude, could I GUSH any more? I'm an instant addict.
After his set, I hightailed it over to the merch table...and life was great, because he was easily the nicest performer I've ever met. He only had 15 minutes at the table but I think he was averaging about 5 seconds per autograph, and he was cool with pictures and stuff. My camera malfunctioned the first time I tried to get a picture with him, and he was like "Just get it going, and I'll come back - I'm totally down with it!" And he DID!
I left before Lifehouse - I didn't really have any interest in seeing them (and I would have stayed if Megan actually did have street team stuff for me to do, but their postcards were delivered to Chicago, not Minneapolis, and they were out), but I was out of there by 9:45PM, home by 10:15, and in bed by 11. Now THAT'S what I call a concert experience! (I must be getting old...)
I'll save cleaning house and Easter and all that rot for my next entry. And it wouldn't be St. Patty's if I didn't say it...
No way November will see our goodbye, when it comes to December, it's obvious why
No one wants to be alone at Christmastime
And come January, we're frozen inside, making new resolutions a hundred times
February, won't you be my Valentine?
And if our always is all that we gave, and then someday we take that away
We'll be alright, if it was just 'til St. Patrick's Day...
As they say in Texas: Erin Go Bragh, Y'all!
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