We went out last night...

Wooo! Last night was our long awaited Kenny Chesney concert! And it was awesome, y’all. And, yeah, I just said “y’all”. What??

Let me tell you a little story first: We parked, we’re walking, we buy cowgirl hats, we’re walking, I say “Oh no! I forgot my sweater. Let’s go back to the car.” But then I instantly decided that I did not need a sweater, it IS the end of June and all. So, we keep walking, and thank God we did because we’re just walking along, not knowing really where we’re going and these security guards are all “Ladies, over to the side, get out the way” so we move over to the side, out of the way and we’re just standing there because like I said, we didn’t know where we were really going or anything. So, anyway, all these people are camera-ready and I turn to the lady behind me and ask “Why are we all just standing here, out of the way?” and she tells me that they’re hoping Kenny comes through, so we’re waiting and dont’cha know, here comes Kenny effin’ Chesney on a golf cart. So, we’re all screaming “Kenny! OH My GOD!! Ahhhh!” and he rode.right.by.me and I.SQUOZE his BICEP, I squoze his bicep, people!!! I touched Kenny Chesney! With my bare hands.

Take a lookie at how close he was to where we were:

Can you say "starstruck"?!! Bliss.

Then we went in, got situated and Lady Antebellum started the show. They were soooo much fun and even though the stadium hadn’t really filled up yet, they really worked with the crowd and it was a super good performance.

Next was Miranda Lambert. I just HEART Miranda Lambert; I probably have a girl crush on her. She’s so feisty and, well, I just love me some angry girl music. She was soooooo cool, she told stories, she had a bright pink guitar and I love her little southern twang. She rocks.

Montgomery Gentry took the stage after Miranda and they were very impressive. Eddie worked the crowd like no other, they were funny, and they played a lot of good songs. And T-roy looked really good. I’ve been very excited to see them for months and they totally delivered.

Sugarland. Ah. What can I even say??! There aren’t even words. They are one of my absolute, all-time faves and they were a.maz.ing. They way they interact with each other and feed off each other is incredible. Jennifer’s voice is so pretty and I just LOVE Christian so very much, he seems like THE coolest cat. And they did this really cool thing where they got into these giant clear plastic balls and rolled over the crowd and they were reallllllly close to us. (In that video, we were just over to the right from Jennifer.)

Kenny Chesney was okay. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he puts on quite a show but it seemed really short and kinda low-energy. I don’t know if it’s just that the build-up was so big, maybe too big, and I was left feeling let down or what. He came down from the “sky” which was really cool and yes, okay fine, he was good and lots of fun, I don’t know why I’m saying anything bad about him. I guess I just enjoyed the rest of the concert SO very very much, I wasn’t as impressed with the Big Guy.

My hands still hurt from clapping so much. I still have NO voice from all the screaming. But, I’m still smiling! I’m going again next year for sure.

Photos courtesy of Amanda. I didn’t bring my camera, of course. And do I know how to get to the pictures I took with my phone? Nope.

They've got Whatever It Is

My new love is the Zac Brown Band. They're so adorable, and even though they've only had two songs out on the radio (on our ONE country station) I've downloaded a lot of their stuff, and I simply adore them. I don't exactly know what it is about them but they've got something that I totally dig.

I also saw a little interview on GAC where they talked about how they write all of their own stuff and they just seemed like genuinely nice guys. And a lot of fun too, I'd love to hang out with them!



And I LOVE the fiddle in this one...



But this is my current FAVE song by ZBB, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOOOOVE the little bit of "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison they included in the middle of this live version I found on YouTube. I HEART Van Morrison, so now I'm convinced that Zac and I are, like, "right there".



Enjoy!

Oh boy!

Mother's Day was awesome. I love Mother's Day, I think it's my new favorite holiday. I slept in till 8:30-8:45 and the boys had made me a banner, and they gave me my gifts in bed (flowers, cards, a gift certificate to the spa... this is what Tim gets me for every single holiday) then, I went into the kitchen because Tim said he made coffee... but there was no coffee. Bceause my coffee pot broke. I don't know how or what the hell happened, it was fine on Saturday, then yesterday, it just wouldn't brew. It was turned on, according to the little green light, but it wasn't doing anything. We made 3 trips to Dunkin Donuts and 1 to Starbucks but now it's Monday, and I can't very well be dragging little kids around town just to fulfill my caffine addiction. So. I'm using a coffee press. A fucking coffee press. It makes 2 cups of coffee TOPS (if you use a big mug) and it doesn't keep it warm at ALL. It's bullshit.

I have to go get a new coffee maker. Tonight. I can't live another day like this.

Anyway, we met the in-laws for breakfast for Mom's Day, Tim's brother and his family were there, it was okay. Then we went to the Wildflower Preserve at Bowman's Hill, which was so nice and relaxing, we had lunch there and when we came home, both boys napped and woke up in fantabulous moods before we headed over to my parents for dinner.

And then, last night, Tim even watched The Sound of Music with me. And he let me sing at the top of my lungs without making any rude comments about how I should be in show-biz. Yesterday was a great day.

Tim does good on holidays. He doesn't always do so good on regular days. Maybe that's only because there's a lot more regular days?

Done!

Something unsettling happened this week. I had a period scare; I was over a week late. If anything, it just confirmed the following: We are done having kids. I am done having kids; I’m pretty sure Tim would have been okay if I wanted to just stop at one, but I wanted two and I wanted a brother for my baby boy and I got that, and now… I’m all done! Get me out of the chair and away from the table or I will start screaming and throwing my chicken nuggets and diced banana on the floor.

Needless to say, I was actually giddy when it arrived!

I like things how they are, thankyouverymuch. My boys are easier today than they were yesterday. And they’ve been getting progressively easier as they’re getting older. Maybe the word “easier” is being used a little too loosely here; they give me a hard time and I’m sure those hard times will just keep getting harder as they get older, but they ARE easier than a newborn baby, for crying out loud. Newborns, or infants, or anything younger than one year olds, are SO hard, yo.

They don’t cry when I walk out of a room; actually, I think they might just like it. They very rarely projectile vomit. They walk! Nate walked around his first birthday; Matthew was more like 15-16 months old. And he’s a tank of a child. 30 pounds at almost-2 compared to his brother’s 36 pounds at almost-4. They walk right beside me, they hold each other’s hands nicely, and we just walk like Real People into places. Sure, they might dead weight themselves as we’re walking out because they don’t.want.to.leave, but they still walk.

If Nate would stop coming into our bed in the middle of the night, I would be getting a full night’s sleep. But! Technically speaking, they do “sleep through the night”… which in my book means I don’t have to change or feed or rock them. If I just have to move over a little to let him squeeze in beside me, that’s fine, he can sleep next to me and rub my cheek as long as he wants to as long as he lets me sleep. I can sleep through his many verses of Old MacDonald, but I can’t sleep through a reflux-y baby screaming all night long, while my ‘pretty useless during the day – definitely useless through the night’ husband snores beside me. I like feeling rested when I wake up, even if they drive me so hard into the ground that I’m crashing by 3pm.

We can just get up and go places. We like that. No bottles or worrying about breastfeeding in public, or if we’ll need a blanket in the restaurant, what if it’s cold? No baby food! They can eat anything, anywhere, anytime! No worrying about naptimes, Mattie still takes a nap every day obviously, but he can skip and not be too, too, too out of control.

They have real personalities. They’re fun, and funny, and interesting and just plain ol’ cool little guys. I like hanging out with them all day long. I actually like my “job”. I’ve wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember, and when they were infants, I loved it, I thought it was everything I’d been waiting for, but really, this, right now, is exactly what I’ve been waiting for. School, and all the art projects and birthday parties and sports, and watching my boys be friends, playing together, fighting or sharing, snuggling or smacking, I love their interactions. I’m happy to keep moving forward knowing that we won’t be back in that place of caring for a newborn.

I’m sure that my uterus will still ache just a smidge every time I see or smell or even think of a brand spankin’ new baby, but after this last week, I know for sure that it won’t be mine. Well, not on purpose, anyway.

Rain, Rain: GO the eff AWAY!

So, stupidly, I planned this week’s menu without looking at the forecast. It's rain, folks, from today clear through till Wednesday night.

Smart. It’s not one of my strong points.

The menu consists mainly of meals that I need to cook, in whole or in part, on the grill. We don’t have a covered patio or anything in the back yard. This means Big Trouble or Big Change of Plans.

I’d prefer not to change The Plan. It's a delicious plan.

Monday:

Chicken Fajitas
Corn on the Con
Salad

Tuesday:

Grilled Pizza (thanks DMC!)
Salad

Wednesday:

BBQ Chicken
Fruit Salad
Corn Bread

Thursday: (my parents are coming over)

Cheeseburgers
Baked beans
Salad

Friday:

Chicken
Pasta
Salad
Garlic Bread

Saturday:

Steaks
Baked Potatoes
Grilled Asparagus

So, now, I have to decide first if you can even grill in the rain? Would that be stupid? I have rain boots and a matching umbrella! ???

If grilling in the rain is not possible, do I pull a major white trash move and grill out front where I can seek shelter? I mean, it’s L-town, no one would even notice, probably, right?

But if I do, do I have to put my sofa out there too? The picnic table? A lamp?

Nice and Normal

We had a pretty good weekend over here.

My parents took the boys overnight on Saturday night. We dropped them off around 2pm on Saturday, then Tim and I did a little shopping before we came home and did some stuff around the house. I reorganized the kitchen cabinets, Freecycled a lot of junk and ate Jelly Belly’s; Tim worked on the yard and washed our cars. We’d already marinated a couple steaks for dinner, but at the last minute changed our minds and decided to go out instead.

I called PF Chang’s around 7, thinking that an 8:30pm reservation would be just perfect. All I could get was 10pm. Wow. 10 P.M. We hadn’t eaten that late since before we had kids… a period of time that we lovingly refer to as our “Glory Days”.

It was surprisingly… nice… to be out having dinner that late. There wasn’t a single child in the restaurant. In fact, the whole place was full of adults. No crying, no screaming and it’s not the kind of place with balloons, so it was really (here’s that word again)… nice. Calm, relaxing, we ate slowly; we weren’t two steps ahead of the waiter, asking for take out containers during appetizers and requesting the check as he delivered our meals. We ate like normal adults. Isn’t it peculiar that we felt weird acting normal?

By the time we got home and ate the desserts we brought with us, it was close to one in the morning, which was fine because we got to sleep in until around 11am. It was really (here’s that word again, again)… nice. And weird too. Yep, nice and weird, just the way I like it.

We picked the kids up around 2pm on Sunday, and we took them to the lake and then spent a lot of time outside. Later, we grilled the steaks we marinated the night before and it was a nice, relaxing evening, even with the kids. But there was the regular fussing, fighting and "OMG shut up!" moments, but that's our "normal" and, you know what? That's just the way I like it, too.

Yep, pretty good weekend over here.

Ten Things I'm Loving Right Now

1. Old Country Music

Merle Haggard, George Jones, Johnny Cash, Johnny Paycheck, David Allen Coe, Hank Williams Jr., I'm sooooo loving some older country these days. Ho' down!


2. Bare Escentuals Warmth

After hibernating through the winter months, I need a little warmth on my skin. And this one doesn't look fake. Bravo, Leslie!


3. Pirates!

Arrr! I love me some pirates and skulls. Actually, I dig the whole scene. These fuckers have made it hard to justify my pirate love, but, really, I just dig the make-believe pirate scene. I'd have made a good pretend pirate, I think. I look good in tight pants and blouse-y tops.


4. Starbucks Peppermint Mocha Latte

This whole love affair started at Christmas. Because -- OMG -- They had peppermint whipped cream. They don't have that anymore, but I've carried the Peppermint Mocha addiction straight through Patty's Day and now that's it's warming up, I'll just ask: Peppermint Mocha Fraps, anyone? Or should I ask, 17 grams of fat, anyone?


5. Clorox Greenworks Toilet Bowl Cleaner

I just like it. As much as one can like a toilet cleaner.


6. The weather

It's creeping towards spring and I love warm, yet breezy days. This rain can hit the road though.

7. Brie Cheese

Tim and I go through these wacky dessert/snack phases like soft pretzels with Cheese Whiz, brownies with peanut butter or s'mores but right now, it's Brie on buttery crackers, spread with raspberry jam. God damn, it's good.


8. V-8 Splash

It's such a yummy fruit juice. It's sugary sweet BUT, don't fret, it has vitamins!


9. My slippers

I got new ones at Wal*Mart for $9.97 and they are the best slippers I've ever, ever owned. They're very old man looking, which was the inital attraction, but now that's just a bonus.


10. Softlips

Remember Softlips? From high school? I found some at Target earlier in the winter, became an addict and I've blown through six tubes of it already. It's tingly, and I get tingly when I think of all the memories that it brings back.