Concert Memories - The Monkees and Weird Al

Image: http://www.monkeeslivealmanac.com

My 40th birthday is next month and I had asked my husband to plan something special. He really outdid himself because he got us tickets to see Red Hot Chili Peppers in April!

I've seen quite a few concerts over the years and I thought I'd blog about them. I may not remember all the places and dates - my memory is still a bit screwy after the seizures I had a few years ago. But hopefully the internet will help some with that.

In the 80's, Nickelodeon started showing The Monkees TV show from the 60's. My sister, cousin and I loved it. We all had our favorite Monkee - mine was Micky! Because we all loved them so much, my parents got us tickets to see them on August 4th, 1987 at the Ionia Free Fair.

It was a big outdoor concert and we were pretty far back. The opening act was Weird Al, who I didn't know at all. Oddly enough, as an adult, I really like Weird Al.

I do remember him playing "Like a Surgeon" and "Fat" - he even was on stage, in August, with the fat suit on! A lot of the crowd was there just for Weird Al. He had started to become hugely popular around then.

But finally it got dark and The Monkees came on stage! They were missing Mike, because he didn't want to be part of The Monkees at that time. But it was still an awesome concert. I'd never done anything like that before - I was 10 years old at the time.

We danced and sang along with all our favorite songs. It was awesome! The glow of the stage, staying out way past my bedtime and knowing that my favorite singers were right there in person!!

Up Next - The Beach Boys

Birthdays and Wrestling

A couple of weeks ago, my dearest husband got another year older. Generally he doesn't care for his birthday but since he shares a birthday with my dearly departed mom, I make him celebrate. Earlier in July, I had heard a commercial on the radio that the WWE was going to have a show on his birthday in Asheville.

I had to buy tickets for his birthday. They weren't very expensive and I knew he would enjoy it. Plus Emily is old enough now that she could come with us. Todd and I's 2nd date was at a WWE house show, and that was also the date where Todd asked me to move in with him. So wrestling has been a big part of our love story.

The show took place on the campus of UNCA. Todd and Emily got in first because I ended up having to go back to the car to take my purse back. Their security was tight to the point that it was a little ridiculous, especially since I wasn't the only one who had to walk back to their car to put their purse back.

But finally I got in and found our seats which contained a Todd and an Emily. Our seats were very good considering how cheap the tickets were. We had some time before the show started but they were showing clips on the big screen from previous shows. Plus Emily and Todd went to get some snacks.

Finally it was time, and the show started. I wasn't sure how Emily would react. She's seen some wrestling on TV with us, but live shows can be quite loud sometimes. But she got really into it! She would pick a favorite wrestler or tag team and she would root loudly for them. Sadly for the first view matches she picked the heels so her people didn't win.

Todd and I have been watching WWE for long enough that we know the wrestlers and have our favorites. But Emily didn't find a favorite until the middle of the show. She really, really wanted to see some women wrestle. And finally she got her chance. She loved watching the women wrestlers, and she loved the Women's Champion, Sasha Banks, right off the bat. She kept talking about her for the rest of the show.

There was an intermission, and a few more matches before we got to the main event. We luckily got to see Dean Ambrose, who is currently the World Heavyweight Champ, wrestle against Chris Jericho. It was a great match!

Emily stayed awake and entertained the whole time. She cheered and yelled a lot! She also fell asleep on the way home because it was way past her bedtime.

We had a good time though. It was a great way to celebrate the birth of my husband!

Emily's Birthday Weekend!

Last Saturday, my precious daughter turned seven years old! My husband and I decided that it would be better to do some fun things rather than have a party. The first part of that was going to the Renaissance Festival, but we did some local things on her actual birthday weekend.

My husband's mom flew in for the week and arrived last Saturday. We waited until she got here. Emily opened her presents from us, which was Littlest Pet Stop sets. Then we headed off to the mall to get her a Build-A-Bear.

She wanted an Anna Bear from Frozen so we did that first. We did some shopping as well, and after a bit, I took Emily to the play area to play. Once we were done at the mall, we went to a local ice cream place, The Hop, for some ice cream.

On Sunday, we all got up early to go to church. After church and Sunday school, it was time to go to Sky Top Orchard. It was really

chilly on Sunday but we still had fun. It took us a while to find some apples, but once we did we were able to fill up two baskets with different kinds of apples.

We stopped on our way back to the main building so Emily could feed the goats and the sheep. She really liked that and had a favorite goat that kept coming back to her.

After we paid for our apples and got Emily some apple cider, we let her play at the play area for a bit but then she really wanted to take a tractor ride. It was a fun ride through the whole orchard. Sky Top gets its name by being on top of a mountain, so the views are absolutely beautiful. It was a fun and relaxing ride.

From there, we headed over to the Mountain Play Lodge, the last stop on the Emily Birthday Express. She had a lot of fun, running around and playing. She even made friends with another little girl and they had quite the good time. It also gave the adults a chance to sit down and relax.

I was pretty darn pooped once the weekend was over, but I'm happy that Emily had a great birthday!

Emily's 6th Birthday!

Because the Browncoat Ball was the weekend of Emily's actual birthday, we opted to have her party the weekend before. My dad and his wife came into town a few days before and kept Emily with them.

This gave Todd and I a chance to go on a date night as well as get things ready for the party. Todd made her cake the night before and I put together the Lego sets that were going to be her cake toppers. Emily had also requested a Ninjago pumpkin. Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to carve that as well.

The morning of her party dawned very, very wet. This made me very nervous since the party was

outside at the park. And I had no idea how many people were coming because half of her class didn't RSVP.

I tried not to freak out and I went to church. My dad, his wife, Esther, and Emily met us there. After church, we went home and my aunt, uncle and Emily's friend / 2nd cousin, Elliot. We all went out to brunch at IHOP and then went home to wait for Todd's aunt and grandmother.

Finally it was time to go to the park. The sky was overcast but it had stopped raining. We had brought towels to wipe down any surfaces that needed to be and set up in the covered shelter.

Emily had wanted to have a Ninja party because she loves Lego Ninjado. While looking on Amazon, I found inflatable ninja swords and got those as party favors. It was a great purchase because for most of the party the kids were happy to run around the park, waving their swords around.

We all ended up in the pavilion, with the adults blowing up balloons and the kids chasing them about. Todd had forgotten the cake knife at home and while he was going to get it, Emily opened her presents.

Right after she finished with the presents, Todd arrived and it was time for cake. Todd's grandmother has a cake that is famous in the family and no-one has been able to duplicate it before. Todd tried the cake and failed badly but he managed to perfect the frosting. It got his grandmother's seal of approval. He's trying to make the cake - his 2nd attempt was better but not quite it.

The birthday party broke up and we took Emily's haul home. Then we went to see my dad and Esther for a bit since they were leaving early the next day. Emily fell asleep in my arms for a bit - she had had an exciting day.

It's hard to follow up Disney World, but Emily said she had a good birthday.

Happy Birthday Donald Duck!

On this day, 80 long years ago a star was born. Or at least a beloved animated character debuted in his first cartoon, The Wise Little Hen. That character was Donald Duck!

I grew up watching Disney cartoons and I always like watching the antics of Donald. Now my daughter is growing up watching some of the same cartoons as well as new ones like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

We met Donald when we went to Disney World last year. He borrowed Emily's Simba stuffed toy and raised it up above his head just like in the Lion King. Donald really has a great sense of humor!

So Happy 80th Birthday to the most famous Duck of all!

A Low Key Birthday

Yesterday was the day of my birth. Even though I'm pushing 40, I still like my birthday quite a bit.

I was a little bummed because we canceled our plans for this weekend but I still have the cold that never seems to end so it's probably good we aren't going out of town.

Instead we did some things around town. First we went out to dinner at one of our favorite Chinese places and had yummy, yummy sushi. After that, we headed into Asheville to go to the Hop.

Emily and I used to go to the Hop all the time when she was a baby for a meeting with other moms. I hadn't been there in years but it was still the same. We had some ice cream and Emily played in the kid's section

until it was time for the Multiverse's Game Night.

The Multiverse is the local geek group. Because of Todd working 2nd shift and me being on Emily duty, I hadn't been to any of the meetups yet. But we decided to give it a try last night.

They had videos set up as well as board games. It was themed to the 80's so it was a lot of old school games. Emily and I played an old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game with a little boy and his dad - it was a ton of fun!

Once we got home, I got Emily to bed. I sat down and watched some of Iron Man 3, but I was beat so I went to bed early.

It was low-key but fun. I got a lovely present from a Bpal friend of mine that had BPAL, a travel mug, notebook and other things. I also got a card and Saving Mr. Banks from Emily and Todd.

Here I come, year 37! Here's hoping it will be awesome!

Happy Birthday J.R.R. Tolkien!

On this date in 1892, one of the most beloved authors of fantasy fiction was born. J.R.R. Tolkien and his books have fans of all ages that are all over the world. But I have a personal reason for being a fan of Tolkien and his books.

As a young child, I would sit on the arm my dad’s chair as he would read to me from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. It was my first taste of fantasy and I loved it. I think that was the start of my life as a geek as my love for Tolkien’s works haven’t diminished since I first heard them.

Today I'll be celebrating one of my favorite author's birth by watching the end of Fellowship of the Ring and the beginning of The Two Towers with Emily. She ended up watching part of Fellowship with me and she was fascinated by the Balrog. 

Happy Birthday J.R.R Tolkien and thank you for the gift you gave the world of Middle Earth!

The Birthday Party Gauntlet

A few weekends ago, Emily was invited to two back to back birthday parties. Originally, Todd planned to come with us, but since he got a new job where he works on the weekend, I had to endure the birthday parties solo.

Now I don’t mind taking Emily to parties, but I’m an introvert and a geek. It’s hard for me to make normal conversation with people sometimes. So the whole afternoon was really tiring – it made me think of the episode of Hercules where Xena has to go through the gauntlet. Of course, with less hitting and pain than she had to endure.

The first one was an outdoor pool party. It’s been unseasonably cool for August

in NC, so it was I wasn't sure if Emily would want to swim. She did and ended up having a great time splashing in the pool and tossing water balloons. Though she would stop playing every little bit because she want her towel and want me to hold her. My pants got a little wet.

I talked with the other parents. The mom of one of the birthday girls and I talked about Disney since they are going a few weeks after we are. The same birthday girl’s grandmother is someone I know from church so I talked to her a bit too. I also took a lot of pictures on my phone.

As the time when on, it got even more overcast and Emily got cold. We got her changed and then it was time for cake. They had a bunch of food to munch on plus hotdogs so we were able to have a good lunch. There was cookie cake too which Emily liked, but was more interested in getting more

fruit.

We left with just enough time go get across town to the 2nd party. At this point, I was starting to feel tired. I hadn't slept well the night before since Todd had been working all night and it was starting to catch up with me.

The 2nd party was a Dora themed party at the Little Gym. The kids got to run around and play on gym equipment while the Dora theme song played over and over. This was the most painful part of the day because I don’t like that song even once. But dozens of times got to be very grating on my ears. The guy running the party would stop the song o’ doom to do some activities with the kids. They played with a bouncy mat, got to run around after bubbles and had some fun with a parachute.

Emily’s best friend, William, was there so she spent most of her time running and playing with him. Once it was time for cake and presents, I was really tired. We stayed long enough to watch the birthday girl open her presents and to have some cake. Then we headed back home.

Even though it was tiring for me, I was glad we went to both parties because Emily had a great time. It was nice for her to see her friends since she didn't have a whole lot of playdates this summer. 

Happy Birthday to my Husband and my Mom

Me and Todd on our
Wedding Day

Today my wonderful husband was born. It’s a bittersweet day because it’s also my mom’s birthday and she has been passed away for nearly 11 years.

I didn't start dating Todd until after my mom passed away. They attended the same wedding once. My college best friend married Todd’s childhood best friend and we were both in the wedding. My mom was a guest at that wedding so they were in the same room.

My mom and I

I think my mom would have really loved Todd, and of course she would have adored Emily. I miss her a lot all the time, but especially on this day.

We didn't do much for Todd’s birthday. He doesn't really care about his birthday and both of us had to work. But we’ll be going out for dinner and making a cake this weekend.

Happy Birthday to the love of my life and my dearly missed mom.