Christin at 27......3.......

Twenty-seven was an awesomely exciting year with a bumpy little beginning. 27 was my breakdown birthday. As in, I broke down then so I won't break down 3 days from now. 27 was my "All-right-everyone-stop-sharing-your-sex-stories-with-me-because-I-honestly-don't-care-anymore-because-what-it-boils-down-to-is- that-I-am-older-than-you-and-my-fertility-just-declined-by-half-and-i-love-someone-and-it's-not-like-a-baby-would-be-totally-unwelcome-right-now-but-I-still-STILL-am-not-having-sex-and-I-am-actually-NOT-totally-okay-with-that" birthday. I cried for a few hours off and on before I got over myself and had a birthday party.
So again, I spent Christmas in Boise. My roommates and I went to 6-1-6, a fabulous (a sadly now defunct) restaurant in Eagle where we had delicious fois gras (with no idea what it was), I had a passion fruit virgin martini lined with pop rocks, followed by a cognac creme brulee. I was told by the chef that I could not get tipsy off creme brulee, but I think he was wrong. I think it was worth it. Best creme brulee EVER.
When we got home, we had Lilly Jane's cupcakes and drank Martinelli's cider and I got a great UnderArmour sweatshirt that I'm wearing as I type this.

Josh O. was supposed to be there, but Colorado was holding him hostage. Remember the great Denver Blizzard of 2006? Oh, I do! I do! There was literally no way out of the state for 3 days, so while he was supposed to be there on the 21st, he didn't arrive until Christmas Day. While I was at work (making more than I had ever made in one day of work ever). He came into work when he got off the plane. I kissed him in front of everyone and made great tips that hour.
What else happened that year?
Boise State totally rocked the Fiesta Bowl. The only football game I think I could watch over and over again. My dad called me at midnight in MEXICO to talk about it. THAT's how amazing it was.
I went to Colorado to surprise Josh for his birthday. I drove a loader. I made Raspberry Game Hens. We pretended we were models at J. Crew. Emily Udy had Tessa on his birthday. Mindy called while I was in the dressing room at the bebe store.


During Spring Break, I flew to AZ to interview at Scottsdale Healthcare, the hospital at which I now work. Josh met me here, and my mom made him a belated birthday cake with a full-out farm. Niece Kaitlynn was completely fascinated.
I interviewed. I got hired.

And then, I graduated.

And I moved to Arizona, with the help of Jessica, Nate, and Josh. Josh and I carried out our scheduled break-up.
I lived alone for 3 months. I had a very clean house. I hated living alone.
I started this blog (for reals). That made things better.
I got lost a million times. I loved my new job. I loved Bridgette, my supervisor, who I consider one of my greatest Arizona blessings. I met Ariana. My first real Arizona friend.
I went to New York City!!! Brad was there for work, and it ended up being my cheapest vacation ever. I saw a Broadway show and the Empire State Building and rode the 4 train. We ate pasta in Little Italy at 1 am. I walked in Greenwich village and Central Park. I loved it all.

Brad moved in. We threw the coolest dinner parties University 5th ward has ever seen.


I took guitar lessons from a sexy sexy man. Then I quit them.
Turns out being 27 was fabulous. A busy, very fun, very fabulous year.

26 in the eyes of Christin...4 whole days to go

I know Maria is thinking "Holy Boobs!" again, but this is one of my favorite pictures of my birthday party. Twenty-six was a great year. Which is good, considering that I had looked forward to this year for a long long time! Basically, I had always thought that life would come together at 26; that I would probably get married; start my career; and have everything together. Not all of this happened, but I did turn out to be great.
For my birthday, my roommates and I went to Tapas Estrella, dressed up, and ate fancy food in a red velvet booth.
I spent my first Christmas away from home. My roommates all had interesting family dynamics, and Christmas just wasn't the same for them growing up as it had been for me. So I became the Christmas mom of our apartment that year. We all arranged to fill each other's stockings and give great gifts. We read all my favorite childhood books together and Luke 2, while we arranged the Nativity scene, just like when I was little. They all said it was their best Christmas ever, and I felt so blessed to spend Christmas with people I loved so much. And then the year really started...
So...in 2006, I had made the alternate list for the nursing program, which meant, once again, I did not get in. I was third on that list. The advisor told me nobody ever drops out of this program, and that the chance of me getting in by being an alternate was basically zero. But in January, two weeks before school started, I got a phone call at work. The nursing program was trying to track my down to let me know that, miraculously, three people had just dropped out of the program. I was in. It was a miracle I will be forever grateful for.
I quit all 3 jobs from 2005 and started working at Murphy's, the best serving job I ever had. I loved the people I worked with, especially Kevin, who teased me relentlessly and whom I just loved. It was great money, fabulous food, and a wonderful wonderful time. Getting that job was another miracle for sure, as the timing was just right.
I started cooking more; this probably began in 2005, but Williams-Sonoma healthy kitchen cookbooks helped me make huge leaps in discovering food I didn't know existed.
I met Rebekah Granat, my Jewish agnostic hippie rock-climber friend whom I love to death. I instantly thought the first day of nursing school that she was way too cool to be friends with me (and that she had the most amazing arms ever), but she ended up becoming my best friend in the program. We really wouldn't have made it without each other. She is still as cool as I thought she was that first day.
I started "dating" Josh Olson. I put dating in quotes because he wasn't Mormon so we told each other we weren't really dating, but we had a blast together. (We met through my roommates, who had been friends with him for awhile.) Even after he moved to Colorado two months after we met, I was pretty smitten and we had fun sending each other crazy little packages in the mail. We saw each other every few months, and even made the newspaper when we were saying good-bye at the airport!!
Because of him, I loved Boise a lot more, and we went exploring all over the valley, went fishing in Idaho City, and listened to Jimi Hendrix together. And went shooting. Basically, we just had fun together all the time.
In 2006, I started to love Boise and I started to become a nurse and I made a few amazing friends. And 26 was a fabulous year.

Opinionated Readers....

1- I was told that the picture I posted of Josh and I is not his best. Fine. Here are my two favorite pictures of him, where I think he looks fabulous.






2- And Mom, everyone who reads my blog is WAY too young to know who Patty Hearst is. No, my picture did not bring her to mind for any of us. :-) But thanks to Wikipedia, I now know her life story. And, ironically, she was a bank robber. How appropriate. Is this the picture you had in mind?

Five More to Go! Christin at 25...

So at times I've considered this year a total waste. In reality, it was nothing like that and actually paved the way for a lot of other aspects of my life.
1- I moved to Boise. With a girl I worked with in Pocatello. For most of a year, I lived with a Vietnamese girl named Chi and a Mexican girl named Elizabeth. By the end of the year, Chi had moved to Seattle to be with her boyfriend, and Elizabeth had moved back home because she was pregnant with twins! In the meantime, we had had a blast going dancing on the weekends and enjoying "Chick-Bacon-on-a-Tater"s on the streets of Boise. Our diverse little group always drew such fabulous looks; it was great.
2- The reason I moved to Boise was to go to nursing school, and I had been told I would totally get in. I did not. So I basically had to chill for an entire year.
3- I went to Boise State and re-took Anatomy & Physiology, which, it turns out, it way easier there than at ISU.
4- I got a job at a Medical office that I thought I would love and instead pretty much hated. There was a lot of pettiness there that I basically couldn't stand, and I quit before the year was out. But. While there I met Jessica and Tara who would become my next round of roommates. Jessica and I hit it off right away because of our love of SELF and Glamour magazine. We had some crazy ups and downs as roommates, but it was all part of the ride. Tara's boyfriend Craig moved in, and even though he was 6 years younger than me, he also became one of my very best Boise friends.
5- I did my first triathlon. I was working three jobs (waitresses don't deal with taxes very well, so I was working at 2 restaurants and the medical office) and going to the gym after work. I had never run 2 miles in my life, but it was awesome. I swam 400meters in a nasty pond, coughed weird for 3 days, biked 6 miles on a bike I had convinced a bike shop to loan me, and then ran my 2. It was my first ever race, and I felt so cool. And my sweet roommates all came to cheer me on, which I absolutely loved them for.
6- And Kaitlynn was born. 2 days after my 25th birthday (which means, yes, she's almost 5!) Her healthy little body swore me onto Apex Prenatals for every baby I might have. And I gained a new appreciation for my sister and her strong and amazing body. She continues to be an awesome mom, and Kaitlynn is still the coolest ever. And she really likes me. Which counts for a lot.
So, really, 25 was a weird little year. But definitely, a good one.

Christin at Twenty-Four

So I have to confess: I'm totally terrified to write this entry. Because Josh's wife reads this blog (and I love hers), but I haven't officially met her. And Josh had a lot to do with this year. So here's hoping that Ashley forgives me for posting a picture of me with her now-husband. Just like Tara hopefully did yesterday. :-) (These are the kinds of things that happen when you're 30, I guess!)
K- so this picture is the ONLY picture I have of my 24th birthday. I found it a few months ago in the back of a photo album and gasped. I had totally forgotten it existed. I had known Josh McGavin for only a few months, but my social circle was (as always) very small, so he came. He and I and Emily Inglet and Charlie my roommate (and her fiancee?) went out to eat at Continental Bistro. I had crawfish bisque and Denver Sole that were to die for and Charlie and Emily got me totally inappropriate panties as my presents. It was the first year I went out to dinner for my birthday, and it would be the first of many. I had permed my hair the day before, and Josh got pulled over trying to keep up with me on our way back to Idaho Falls (I was going home for Christmas).

Let's just say the rest of the year was a whirlwind. I continued to live in the armpit of Pocatello, Idaho and continued to work at Applebee's. I bought my first real furniture- Red Couches that I still totally love, rocked a road trip to Seattle, and started pre-reqs for the nursing program (after a lot of prayer and soul-searching). 2004 left me with some of my most fabulous memories and a few of my saddest memories. When the dust settled, I was left with a great pair of white Kenneth Cole heels and a deep appreciation for possibly the kindest, most sincere, most good-hearted person I have ever had the chance to know and love. Oh, and way too many Pearl Jam CD's.
And I wouldn't change a thing about it.

Intermission of the Countdown: ebay + craigslist = childhood Christmases re-lived

As a child, Christmas meant a lot of things to me: the felt advent calendar on the wall, The Polar Express, Jolly Old Santa Claus (the book), and Christmas records. Mostly really annoying records that my mom and dad put up with for most of the month. My personal favorite was Sesame Street singalong, which was produced in 1984. And never again. It is very hard to find when your mom got rid of it thinking her children must have outgrown it. I have looked on ebay for years. And I found it 2 weeks ago. I now have a pristine copy of my favorite childhood record and can go around singing "Counting the Days" whenever I want to. Because I also found a record player. In likewise pristine condition. For $15 on craiglist. Whoo-hoo!!!!
p.s. Is there anything from your childhood that you always hope you will someday find on ebay?

Christin at 23....one week left!

Oh, my life at 23. What did I ever do? Well, I graduated from college three days before my 23rd birthday. I also realized that I wasn't going to get into dental school and then changed my mind about becoming a dentist after all. I set about deciding what I wanted to do and spent 6 months just looking for a job that fit my degree. I never found it. I almost got hired as an accounting executive for an advertising agency, which would have been pretty cool. But it wasn't meant to be.
I lived with a girl named Charlie, and we had a ton of fun together. Mostly just being crazy girls. We moved into a cute little townhouse together and had a blast.
And I met Byron, this man right in this picture. I met him at a wedding in Texas in October, and we hit it off right away. Little did I know we would still be friends 7 years later. This picture is of us in November when he came to visit me. In December, I went to visit him for his baptism. He is now sealed in the temple with three adorable little boys, and I couldn't be more grateful for such a true friend.
I think that about sums up 23. I maybe was a little bit smarter than 22. ;-)

Christin at 22....8 (deep breath) days to go....

Oh, my mom hates hates hates this picture. So what did I do at 22? Well, technically in this one I'm still 2 months away from 22.So I bought this awesome shirt to commemorate the World Trade Center in October 2001. I was feeling totally hot in the convict's friend's beret and had my former roommate Stephanie take this picture in front of the temples at her house. We thought we were so funny.
I kissed a LOT of boys that year.
I also taught gospel doctrine for 2 years starting that year and I loved it more than any calling I've ever had.
All girls are crazy at 22.

Christin at 21....9 days to go

So I found a photo album. Of enough pictures of me at 21. Or at least a few. So, a few of y'all got married this year. Whoo-hoo. I instead met the person I lovingly refer to nowadays as "The Convict." I hesitated posting a picture of him and then realized that pretty much my year was defined by the craziness that was him. This is one of two pictures I have of him.The other involves a wig and a cigarette and will not be posted for public viewing. This one involves the child he had with his ex-girlfriend while I continued to adore him. Yes, it was that crazy. We have no pictures together. That would be his decision. Let it also be noted that the picture to the left is of me and emily painting her icky Boise apartment lavender hours before she told me she would poke my eye out with her pen if I went to his house.
I still have both my eyes.
I totally went.

I thought he was hot and looked like Johnny Depp and really I thought I was madly madly in love.

I thank the convict for the things he taught me, most notably:

• How to kiss
• Who Alice & Chains, Ozzy Osborne, and Tracy Chapman were
• Tolerance, acceptance, and understanding
• How to make a tatoo gun out of a pen in prison
• The difference between Malboro's & Camel's (Malboro's will kill you.)

I still blame the convict for:

• basically every shady decision I may have made since then.

I wonder sometimes how the 36-year old convict is now doing. I am lucky to say, I really have no idea.

p.s. Thank you mom and dad for your love and support during all of this. I am forever grateful and I love you both.

And Emily. You too.
p.s. It was robbery. I know you all are wondering.
p.s. And he loved me too, by the way. ;-)

Christin at 20....Countdown to 30

So...in honor of my approaching 30-ness, I sorted through lots of old pictures trying to find ones to document my 20's. Turns out this actually involves pre-digital photography, so I had to take some pictures of pictures (no, I don't have a scanner.) I managed find pictures of every year except 21. So I guess no picture tomorrow. And my mom hates 22 (aren't you excited?). So a little about this one....
Most of my pictures are of my birthday parties, but not age 20. This one is in the summer. Hiking with Maria and her brothers and emily. My bangs still getting used to not being curled. About to move away from home again (I think). GPS's still brand new and not that effective. I had terrible roommates that year, but emily and I watched Dawson's Creek together and that pretty much saved the year. Oh, 20's. Gotta love 'em.

"Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving"- The Pictures

Meet You at the Valley Ho!!

(What I love about flickr is stealing the picture of the outside of the hotel where you stayed since you forgot to take your own!)
So last night I went to my own 30th birthday!! Technically, my birthday isn't until Christmas Eve, but people always seem to have plans (lame) on that day. So Bridget planned it a little early. And then, when she couldn't come (boo), John took over the hosting duties.
First, we ate at olive & ivy, which I ADORE. It was positively delicious and it's such a cool place. I've been there for breakfast and lunch, but I'd never been for dinner. Bridgette and Brittany from work (and their guys) came, Phil & Vanie& Natalie (who hauled there straight from work), John, Me, & Vanessa. Arriving just a little past schedule were Lena, Ariana, & Tyler. :-)And Brad met us at the hotel. Along with the Amber Ray & her friend Steve. The girls (mostly) wore red and the guys (mostly) wore black and it was great times. Vanie had bought me the shirt as an early birthday present and it was so flirty and perfect and I loved it.
So dinner....Our appetizers were amazing hummus & delicious bacon-wrapped dates (yum). I had sea bass, veggies, and mushroom ravioli. John had Free-range chicken which was incredible. Phil had sweet potato ravioli. Vanie had a flatbread pizza. And everybody else was sitting too far away to know for sure, but everyone was happy. Ariana and Tyler had fries with truffle dipping sauce. yup.



Then we all headed over to the Valley Ho. Now, this party was initially supposed to be a surprise, but some kinks got in the way of that, so I knew about it. But I hadn't seen the room until that afternoon. So originally, Bridget & John had gotten a studio. And then, through some conniving, we got an upgrade. To a CONDO. With a sweet retro kitchen, concrete ceilings, a glass shower, a rotating flatscreen TV, and it. was. amazing.
John had gotten a cheese platter from Whole Foods (delicious) and some crackers and 5 different flavors and bottles of Sparkling Cider. So we had a "roast & toast." During the "roast", I got teased about my blue steel look in the mirror (yes, it's that bad), my absent-mindedness, and my utter refusal to spend more time on my hair. And my flirtiness. Among some other things. And everybody was really sweet to me on the "toast" end of things and I felt totally loved and appreciated and it was so awesome.
Then we ate a few little cupcakes from Lulu's (that Brad picked up) and watched 13 going on 30. Which is kind of long the second time around, but still felt very appropriate. There are definitely a few classic lines from it....I told everyone they could call me "Thirty, Firty, and Thriving" all year long if they wanted to. :-)

Just a couple of us stayed the night. So this morning we cleaned up and then took pictures all over the room to make sure we remembered every little bit.
I left wearing my pajamas and their slippers. And with the soap. And the stationary. And.....well, I won't be forgetting the Valley Ho anytime soon.
Thanks everyone (especially John & Bridget) for your ideas and all your very hard work yesterday (John).
It was a totally rockin' party, and I couldn't have imagined anything more fun.
THANKS!! LOVE YOU GUYS!!

Thank You

This is Bridget:

Besides being crazy hot, she is also an amazing friend.She is loyal.

And a little crazy.

She is devoted.

And she will eat ice cream with you whenever you want.

And when you turn 30 she will plan you the best birthday party ever.

Even when a small calcification in an unwelcome place prevents her from attending.

I will take pictures.

And I will miss you something terrible.

Thank you.

Not My Fault

There were a few things that ran through my mind when I saw this plant at Fresh & Easy tonight:

1- Really? You're trying to sell a dead plant for 30 cents?

2- Did the other dead plants all get sold?

3- SEE!!! It's HARD to keep those little basil plants alive!

(If you'll remember, I myself have killed three of them.)

4- How sad!

So after some frank discussion with a couple employees, they agreed that

a) They should probably just throw it away and

b) I could have it for free to blog about, make myself laugh, and because they would feel guilty making me pay for it. One guy helpfully suggested maybe some water would bring it back to life. I reassured him that it would not, having witnessed many such plants in this state of demise.

Consider me basil hospice.

Black Friday 2009

Oh yes, we did it. Sometimes I find a reason or two to "heart" the recession. Mainly just this one. Black Friday started at midnight. I worked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Staying up wasn't all that hard. After an incredible Thanksgiving Dinner at The Matheson's and Pie Night at Ariana's Parents' House, I took an hour power nap, and Brad and I gathered up all our coupons and headed to Chandler Mall.

Silly me thinking it wouldn't be crazy. Oh, no, it was crazy. The entrance to the mall looked like some sort of end-of-the-world exodus in a disaster movie. The thing about the midnight crowd is it's pretty young. With a few smoking grandmas thrown in.
We really didn't know where to start. But Banana Republic had cashmere sweaters buy one get one free! Unfortunately, they were ugly, so, I didn't get one. And so were mostly all of the GAP sweaters and pajama pants on the same deal. So we headed onward. We ended up getting a couple shirts and a pair of pants at Express. But the line was so long, I hid all my stuff in a pile of untouched sweaters and we came back 45 minutes later (We saved about $50 there). The Body Shop made me the happiest. I love this video because I've actually never SEEN myself so excited about anything. My purchase should have been $175, but with my birthday discount, love my body card discount, and the Black Friday discount, it was $87!!! !!!
I talk about the line to Bath & Body Works in the video, but I forgot to tape it. Let me just say the line to PURCHASE anything went through the entire store and out to the hallway. I guess thank goodness for honesty! Even though I had 3 coupons for free stuff, we abandoned that endeavor for another day or time. Oh, and they had to make a TWILIGHT fragrance? Really?!
The other stores were actually not as exciting as we had hoped, and maybe Brad is getting sick because he got tired, which never happens, so we took him home.
At 3, Old Navy opened, and it's only 1 mile away, so I went. Our Graduate program is buying homeless children jeans for Christmas, and all their kids' jeans were $10, so I totally stocked up! And I bought socks for myself for $2.50.
I came home again, chilled for a little bit, and then went to Target at 5, simply to watch a store like that open. I'd never ever done it before, and I had so much fun. Mostly because I wasn't fighting for anything. But really, everyone seemed really polite. The first 500 people in line got special reusable bags, and I was #493. (And someone else had abandoned theirs, so I took it. Which seemed very "crazy shopper" of me. But nobody else seemed to care.) The line was INSANE!! People were checking out before I even got in the store. I got a bunch of movies and all the seasons of Friends for $9 each. I might take some of it back, but it just seemed to be too good of a deal. And because I spent over $100, I got two $10 gift cards. Sweet.
I think I'm going to bed now for a little bit.
Long live Black Friday!

Delicious Fall Cereal

This cereal is called Kashi U. It has walnuts and black currents and is the perfect fall cereal. It is also a pain in the butt to find. As in it's only at ONE of the Whole Foods nearby. Hiding in a little box on the bottom shelf. But I love little indulgences like this, so I bought two boxes for the season. :-)
p.s. Other Kashi cereals make me feel like my insides are being stabbed by a fork on the way down. I've decided to stay away from them so I don't have to focus so hard on chewing thoroughly. :-)

Caprese'

I go through phases of my favorite foods; they last quite awhile.
My favorite food was ice cream from about age 6 months to age 22-ish.
Then it was peanut butter. But I may actually at some point in the last six months have OD'd on this a little bit. Not that I don't still eat Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches at least three times a week. Just not toast every morning.
But I digress.
When I was 26 I started working at a place called Murphy's. They had a mozzarella, tomato, basil salad that was amazing. I ate it whenever it was available.
And then I realized sometime this year or last that it was often called Caprese'. And it is available all over the place. So I order it pretty much every time I go out.
And then. I found a recipe. Consisting of these ingredients:

I love it. I love that Fresh & Easy makes balsalmic glaze and round balls of cheese that aren't expensive. I love that there is a meal involving vegetables that I literally adore. I have gone through three basil plants eating this meal. They keep dying. Luckily they are only $1.98, so it seems kind of worth it. I would like to figure out how to keep one alive, though.
I have a new favorite food. Maybe I should have made this discovery when tomatoes were in season.
Oh well!!

Expectations

Isn't it funny how we get mad when we start to get flabby after a month of not working out?
But after working out and eating well for about 5 days, we'd like to see the body of an athlete staring back at us in the mirror?

Gross. Part II.

Once again I'm letting you all know a product to never ever buy. Last summer it was Trader Joe's Essential Greens. This week it's Rachel's Flavored Cottage Cheese. I'm really always up to trying new things, and I was so excited to try these pretty little cups of flavored cottage cheese and all their 14g of Protein healthiness. I love Tomatoes and Salt and Pepper on Cottage Cheese, so tomato basil seemed like a great choice. So did all the other ones. I bought 6 of these cute cute little cups, even though they were $1.69 EACH.
And they were terrible. I choked down two, thinking they tasted a little like perfume. Brad refused to try them. John ate a bite or two and declared it tasted like "acidic vomit." I felt validated.
I took the other three and my receipt back to Whole Foods and the super nice guy there gave me my whole $10.52 back (I think that included tax). So I bought some delicious milk and yogurt and will never ever do that again.
Now you know.

Where The Wild Things Are

I didn't like this book as a kid. I just didn't. The story wasn't that interesting. The book was kind of dark. It was okay, but I never was like, "Oh! Read This! Read This!"
But I couldn't get away from this movie. I mean, not only has everyone been talking about it forever, it looked beautiful. I just had to see it. And it was playing at 11:30. So we went.
Now, I think there are plenty of people who can relate to this Max's childhood. I am not one of those. My world was a much more rose-colored one than this characters. I think those who grew up in rose-colored worlds tend to distance themselves a little from Max's world and were a little disenchanted by the movie.
These are the things that I loved about it:
I loved the ocean
I loved the child who played Max. It could not have been cast more perfectly.
I loved Karol. I cried at the end. The "monsters" were very real and the relationships were powerfully emotionally charged.
The thing I love most of all was the element of escape, which I think appeals to all of us. I think at some point every person needs a few days to be in a whole new environment. Without family. Without familiar crutches. Without life. With total permission to just be yourself. And maybe to discover who you are a little bit more than you could otherwise.
When Max first stands on that cliff with a monster on either side, I felt that feeling again. And was once again grateful for all the experiences that have made me who I am today.
With that said, I would never take a little kid to this movie. But I really liked it. A lot.

The Best $6 I never spent

It's always kind of a shock to my system to wake up and be ready to go party on Saturday night. But. A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do so I do.
Case in point:
Last Saturday I'd been up for about an hour when John and I were on the phone and he mentioned that Kelly Clarkson was playing at the state fair. Then Brad mentioned he had bought advance tickets to any show at the fair for $6. And he still had two left. Whoo-hoo!! (John had other plans anyways...)
Let me be clear. I may have made fun of Jessica for going to see Kelly once. I really don't follow her music. I do know more of her songs than I think I do. I rarely change them if they are on the radio. And I totally followed the scandal when SELF magazine airbrushed her cover a couple months ago.
She is a sensation. I get that. And I wasn't about to waste free tickets!
We first got funnel cakes (seriously, by far, the best I'd ever had). And lemonade. We got to the concert about five minutes before it started. And she totally rocked. It was packed and there was so much energy. Seriously...one of the most excited crowds I'd ever seen at a concert. We had so much fun. The best were "Since You've Been Gone" and "My Life Would Suck Without You." I was all kinds of jumping up and down being silly. And I've caught myself singing her songs in the shower everyday since. And I don't sing in the shower!!

An extra little insight: So she's put on a few pounds since this performance in 2005 (which is still stinking awesome), but what made this concert great was that she honestly didn't seem to care. It was kind of like, "Guess what? I still have my voice. I'm still freaking amazing. And if you still want to show up and think I'm cool, that's fine. I don't really care if you don't." It made her very. very. real. Like she was totally breathtakingly talented and she would still go have a brownie at Applebee's with you after the concert. I think every girl there felt like she was their best friend. And the 8-year old next to us rocking out with her dad was awesome.
My OTHER favorite part was her mash-up of Kings of Leon and Alanis Morrisette. Brad recorded it, but there are better clips of it on YouTube. That song probably really made me her fan.
After the concert, we rode the ferris wheel, watched the hypnotist, and went home and then.... well, that's the next post. The night doesn't end at 10:30!!



As a side note, look at the ground in this ferris wheel picture. Is this the cleanest fair you've ever seen? It shocked me!

A "Just Right", Interesting, Up & Up Night

I'm such a blogging slacker! Quickly: about Halloween. I had the night off, but you all know I work nights and didn't get up until about 5 when it was basically time to get ready to go out. I was just going to wear my Goldilocks costume from last year (I was in Salem!! Nobody saw it here!), John was going to be "The Most Interesting Man in the World", and Brad had no idea what he was going to be.

So Brad and I went to the store to get white eyeliner and a curling iron while John went to the liquor store to get a bottle of Dos Equis to carry around all night. Brad and I brainstormed for a while until he finally said, "I thought a little about being the house from the movie "Up." Sweet!!

We ran to Party City where we got 12 bright balloons two minutes before they closed (it was 8:30). Brad got to work building a cardboard house. (Note: this is a project that Brad could easily have worked on to perfection for three weeks had I let him. In this time crunch, it just involved rulers, a Sharpie, chalk for perfect shingles, and printed windows. He acknowledged that he knew how sad it was that he just drew the porch instead of actually building an extension. I love how dependable his OCD is.)

We just went to a party that ended up being quite big and pretty fun. My favorite costume of the night was a couple who went as Kanye and Taylor Swift, but peeping tom, the Mad Hatter and the Chesire Cat, and Kramer and Elaine were pretty great.

Brad was the center of attention and loved how many random girls asked to take pictures with him. I loved my curls, but missed the Udy family being my three bears! I had to carry three stuffed ones around all night. And John gave a few people a heart attack at this non-drinking party with his empty beer bottle. Which we all found hilarious.

Happy (way belated) Halloween!