James Taylor concert

For Christmas 2011, I got Chris tickets to see James Taylor at Mud Island Amphitheater. The concert wasn't until July, so Sunday we finally got to enjoy his gift!

We were so blessed that the weather was incredible. We had rain earlier in the day which brought the temperature down, and there was an amazing breeze off the river. Add to that the thousands of bats that flew overhead to eat all the mosquitoes, and it was perfect combination!!

Here are five things I learned. 

1. James Taylor can still rock it out. In no way did he sit on his stool the entire time and play laid-back music. He was up, dancing, jumping around and all over having a fun time. It was a very fun concert. 

2. Video taping the entire concert on your iphone is ridiculous. From our seats, we could see loads of people with their iphones out most of the concert filming it. Now yes, it is nice to have a clip or two from the concert, but when are you going to re-watch three hours of a concert taped on your wide angle camera phone? For reference, this is what it looks like through your phone: 

It looked way better from our seats!!

Totally okay for nostalgia sake, but three hours worth? Not quite. 

3. There is always a lady up front standing the entire time dancing--even to the slow songs. Stand up. Put both your arms straight out, and raise your hands to the sky without moving your elbows. This is the constant dance position. Now sway this way in slow and then fast motions. You are now the lady up front dancing to every song. 

4. If you bring an original James Taylor album to one of his concerts, and you sit close to the stage, he will ask you to toss it on stage and he will sign it. No, this wasn't me, but it does show what a cool guy James Taylor is.

5. Another personality you may see at a concert is the guy who thinks he has the complete set list that he downloaded from the Internet. This guy sat in front of us. He had printed out the "James Taylor Set List" from the Internet, and he spent most of the concert referring to it, and talking to his girlfriend about it. It was a constant conversation about, "He's playing this next." "He didn't play it, what a waste." "This is terrible if he's not playing his originals." "Well, that's the end of the concert, so we should leave." The unfortunate/awesome part is that after this couple left, James Taylor played a three-song encore of many of his classics. This teaches you that 98% of things on the Internet are true...that's according to the Internet. 

A new car: an old car

Today I got a new car!

Yay!

I'm  very excited about the new Subaru Outback seen here: 

When I say that I'm excited about the new car, I really mean that I will be excited about the new car when the shock of spending a sizable amount of money wears off.

I really hate spending money.

I love saving money and looking at it on my bank statement, but dang I hate to spend it. Even if the money is saved up in order to be spent, I just don't like it. The minute I write the check, I have all these non-nonsensical thoughts like, "Wait, did I count the zeros in our bank balance right?"

"What if something happens before the check clears, and all of our money disappears?"

"What if they call me tomorrow and say they need a lot more money for no apparent reason?"

See what I mean?

Being responsible with money really has its limits. 

I am also sad to lose my old car, seen here:

Big V, the name of my now old Volvo, was an awesome car.

My husband is probably rolling his eyes because he was always afraid of an ever-pending, costly repair bill. BUT this never happened.

I think they just never really bonded.

Big V had 120,000 miles on her since 2002. She was always good to me, and I'm sad to lose her. 

However, it was time to let her go, and I hope to pass her on the streets one day, pimped out in neon paint with rims.

We do live in Memphis...

Our baby prison/ crib

Chris and I have had a milestone in our relationship, we purchased a crib....for a baby. 

 

Chris was very prepared for this crib with lots of tools...however we only needed a Phillips head screwdriver. 

 

So we opened the box and found lots of parts. 

 

I thought they were actually parts to a prison not parts to something for my baby.

 

But there were pretty parts. 

 

And instructions. Who reads these? Me. Me! My husband, not so much. So I secretly read them while he was moving the boxes out of the way. 

 

Miraculously, we got the crib together in no time!

 

I definitely helped, but I actually hated it. I was so stressed that we would do something wrong and the entire thing would break. 

 

Can you see the stress? This was not a difficult process, but I couldn't stand the thought of everything crumbling down. I love the finish on this crib, and I was terrified we (I) would screw something wrong and mess it all up.

 

Grace loved that we were hanging out on the floor with her, and she had to lay her love all over me. Not quite helpful but loving. 

 

And then all of a sudden there was a crib. For a baby! However, I made Chris go get our watermelon and put it in the crib. Watermelon is almost a baby...right? 

 

And then there was Porter. He actually tried to jump in the crib on the springs, but I realized he could break a paw on those. We put the cardboard insert back in the crib so Porter could get in it and to cover the springs. 

 

He was pretty happy to investigate the crib. 

 

So happy that he decided to stretch out.

 

And lay out. 

 

And get real comfortable. 

 

Chris and I are pretty happy with the crib, and we can't wait to get the bedding, wall decal and BABY to complete the room. But, until then, Porter reigns the crib. 

The universal song

Is this the universal song of all of mankind? Does it speak to us on some basic human level? Could it foster world peace?

 Twins love it:



Cool kids love it:

Little kids love it:

Dancing kids love it: 

Artists love it: 

Musicians love it:

Room at the inn

I got the best present when I returned home from the market Saturday, an empty room!!

Chris worked all morning to clean out our man cave so it can become Baby Everett's room. Yay!!

But where did all that stuff go? Well, in here. What used to be our guest bedroom.

It's not as bad as it looks, people. Most of this stuff just needs to be organized and moved around....in theory. 

But wait, do you see something? 

Yes, there's a cat in that chair!

Saturday night, we closed the door to the now-filled-room to keep Porter from getting in and getting hurt. If you have ever had a cat, you know that cats hate closed doors. More than they hate anything else in the entire world. 

Today, Porter finally managed to get the door open, and when we realized it, we found him here. 

No one with a cat is really surprised. 

Meanwhile, Grace is pretty sure this newly cleaned room is for her. 

But we told her it's for Everett! Sweet Everett already has a few things in his closet (which was also full of stuff).
My friend Laura has outfitted him with a few outfits already.

And,  my BFF Kathy got him his first book and toy.

And even some little shoes!

We've now made a little more room in our inn. 

Porter seems just fine with it...as long as we leave that chair on top of the dresser.