JustMeAgain

A screaming fest!

First, I Loved reading all the comments from the last post!  Thank you guys!

Last night we took my daughter, and one of her friends, to see the Jonas Brothers in concert. A few things I need to remember for the next time:

1. Bring ear plugs!

2. Sneak in the big lenses.

3. Try to get in earlier...and perhaps, if possible, leave just a tiny bit earlier to avoid the crowds.  Well, I must admit, the leaving earlier part just might not work! 

4. Did I mention ear plugs?

The 11 year old in me loved the Jonas. The other 27 years of me have been in ringing mode all day from all the screaming. I'm surprised I'm not deaf. What I don't get is why this multitude of girls would want to scream so loud.  And I would get it easier if they would have screamed at the end of each song, but all throughout the concert?  My goodness! I couldn't even hear the music with all the screaming!  The good part was watching my daughter have so much fun.

All in all the Jonas are the cutest group of young kids ever. They write their own songs (and I thought they were mostly good lyrics), they play their own instruments and their voices are not half bad at all. I'd say my daughter, and the friend she invited to come with us, have really good taste.  As well as all the other thousand of screaming fans there. If I was 11 I would be in love with Nick! He is the youngest kid in the group and has diabetes. There is something about his spirit that just sparkles. Gotta love that.

Brandi Carlile: A concert to remember.

The last few days have been simply amazing having Linda for a quick visit. If you are one of my regular blog visitors, you may be well aware that Linda is working on a new book and she came into town to work on said project. On Monday, I took a vacation day off from my regular work so that we could head out to Santa Cruz to attend what I thought was, with no doubt, the best concert EVER!

Brandi Carlile is truly DIVINE. Brandi's music, her vibrant lyrics, and the way in which she connects with her audience, are spectacular!  Linda's visit was so very productive! We had several photo shoots, we met up with a few great friends (had we had more time we could have met with many more people we would have loved to see), we encountered a lot of FUN adventures and we had the incredible chance of taking SO MANY AMAZING shots together! Between the two of us we must have taken well over two thousand pictures in only a few days! It is going to be hard to get back into the regular routine after having quite possibly the best time EVER!

As you can imagine, I have tons of photo editing to do and many of these photos cannot yet be shared with the public (you will just have to wait a little for some fun surprises coming up) but I can share with you a few of the Carlile concert shots I took...and trust me, there are plenty MORE that I will be downloading on the Rev blog as well as here and here in the next several evenings...

Linda took several hundreds more as well so be sure to check out her blog and flickr page soon! 

I have a little problem...

I just got my copy of Neil Diamond's new CD called Home Before Dark. And I have a real problem with it.

A huge problem actually.

I cannot honestly decide what I like the most about it.

Is it the stunning photography by Jesse Diamond in the CD book? I mean, just look at these pictures. I could probably keep on staring at them all day long! 

Or is it the engaging lyrics? The fabulous guitar sounds? Or is it his enthralling voice that makes you want to fall in love all over again? This morning I was happy to have a long cummute to work. In fact, I was praying for traffic jams and every red light in town just so that I could have a little extra time with Neil's voice.

And I still do not know....the photos, the music, the words?  It's all too good to be true!  I had to blog about it because I'm afraid I'll wake up tomorrow and realize I was only dreaming! 

Feeling musical today...and crochet happy.

So who are your favorite singers right now? 

I probably have made it well known that I absolutely love the wonderful Josh Groban. No big news flash here, but if I had to pick a few others I would say Keith Urban is right up on the top of my list as well as Elton John and Bryan Adams. There is a song by Keith Urban that I just keep playing over and over lately.  I can say it has become one of my recent favorites. Funny how music sometimes just speaks to you. And moves you. Do you have any favorite songs right now?

Today I have a fun announcement...at least for me it has been fun.  This weekend my mom just taught me how to crochet! Who knew it could be so easy to learn?  I've always admired what she creates, but I feel like if I was looking at a rare bird. Always so pretty, but complicated. And surprisingly it's not so. So not complicated at all. It's only very pretty in the end...and fun in the process!  So thank you mom for sharing one of your passions with me. I'm glad I finally opened up to try it. Sometimes we just have to try those things that we fear. And we can surprise ourselves.

Josh

Listen to this.  His voice is truly magical.

Imagine.

And since when has the National Anthem sounded so overly heavenly?  You must hear this.

I love this man. 

And for memory sake...one of the photos I took at this concert last March.

Thank you Beth!

 

This was by far the best concert I've ever been to. And thanks to my friend Beth, any future concerts have been spoiled for life! Front row sits are heavenly. I don't think I'll ever want to go to another concert unless I get the front row. Which means I'll probably never go again. Really Beth, thank you! I loved every minute of this. Every second in fact.

I drove back home listening to the CD again despite the fact that I had been listening to it every day for the previous week during my long daily commute.  Seriously, when I die and go to heaven this is what I expect to hear when I step into heavenly gates. Josh Groban's voice. This man is so absolutely talented. His voice, his lyrics, the way he plays each instrument. This is what I call authentic music talent. And while I was admiring his voice, I realized this whole event was so powerful also because of the people he chose to collaborate with. Everyone on that stage did an outstanding job. You can sense the passion in their art. From the cello player, Colette Alexander, to the violinist, Lucia Micarelli, and everyone else in his band, they all made the evening sublime. I even spotted the camera man, immersed in his work, passionate about his call. I kept thinking about passion and how it can orchestrate great things. Like tonight. It was a great thing indeed. And I came home to share all the pictures I took with my mom. She is a night owl like me. Loves to stay up late. We had a chance to talk and look at pictures together while everyone else was asleep. I love having my mom here. She totally gets me. And loves many of the things I do. Including my taste in music. So cool to have that connection. Tomorrow I'll share a layout for Lainie's contest and the long promised pictures of Nana. Tonight I'll share a few favorites of my evening with Josh.  Beth, did I say thank you? A million times thank you!  

You are loved (don't give up)

I just have to share that I just found out Josh Groban has released a new CD only a few days ago!  So excited about that. I've been really waiting for something new from him for a while now.  I've been listening to his prior CDs over and over and over for months and months.  His new song "You are loved (don't give up)" is simply sublime. And the video he made for this song is more than just a video. It's almost a spiritual experience. Magnificent, like his voice.  If you get a chance listen to his new song. It will lift you up for sure.

And since I have no pictures of my recent projects to share yet...(sorry, time seems to slip away faster than I can catch it) I'll share instead this digital layout I made with pictures of my daughter. She really is simply amazing!

Cirque Du Soleil

I have been saving this post in my draft files for a couple of weeks now.  I wanted to have a few extra minutes to write something about this, rather than just post the pictures and briefly talk about it.  I wanted to have some time to put down my thoughts about this experience.   

A couple of Fridays ago we had the opportunity to enjoy a fantastic show thanks to our great friends Scott and Cynthia who gave us, as a Christmas present, tickets to see a presentation of Cirque Du Soleil.  The show was phenomenal.  This presentation we saw was called Corteo and it was incredibly rich in imagery and illusions.  A couple of years ago we had the opportunity to observe one of their other shows called Varekai -which was also very fun to watch- and at the time I remember thinking there is no way they could ever outdo themselves.  I was fascinated.  But how wrong I was, because now I feel that if we had to pick a favorite one out of these two shows, I'd have to say Corteo was by far the best.  With Corteo, they far exceeded my expectations! 

Corteo creates a world of fun and spontaneity in a place between heaven and earth...it is captivating to say the least!  It is amazing to witness what artistic imagination is capable of creating.  This is a show that one must experience, rather than simply watch.  The sets are fantastic, the costumes are superb, the talent in everyone of the athletes and performers is extraordinary...in sum, Corteo is one amazing experience!

Thank you very much Scot and Cynthia for such wonderful gift!  I hope you'll know how much we truly enjoyed this event!