May 15, 2014b

Farewell Tour (Rehab)

 

One of our Christmas Gifts gifted to us this year was 2 tickets to see Rehab.

With the tickets, was a sitter for the night.

We'd seen them quite a few times before & they put on a great show!

We went to dinner before the concert & headed over to The Thompson House shortly after.

The show was quite different from the others.

You could tell that the band was kind of over touring & played whatever their hearts desired.

I didn't feel like they really played for the fans.

Definitely left a little disappointed, but a great night out none the less.

 

 



May 2, 2014

Amos Lee

 

Creag got us tickets to see Amos Lee at the Taft Theatre.  It was actually part of my Valentines Gift & I was so excited to see him in concert!  His music is so soulful & laid back so I knew it'd be a great night for the two of us to enjoy.  The concert was amazing.  He put on a really good show with a mix of a lot of different music.  He even tried to throw some impromptu comedy in there!  The crowd was a little odd, screaming out nonsense & hollering when it really wasn't necessary.  It's funny how some concerts are meant for singing along, screaming in the middle of songs and so on.  His are not.  His are meant for complete silence & feeling the music...I did just that.  And I'll do it again, when we get to see him again in June!! 

 



February 14, 2014

We Won the Lottery

 

No, we didn't win the "Money Lottery", but back in September, we entered a Lottery for Jack Johnson Tour Tickets & got 'em!  You see, Jack Johnson is the type of Musician, who doesn't do it for the fame or the money.  He does it because he loves it, and he tours for cause.  He's done two Tours now, where all of the profit went straight to charity.  This time around, he played in very small, quaint venues with limited seating.  Only a select few were chosen, so we were very lucky to experience this.  The morning of, I found it pretty fitting to cook Banana Pancakes for breakfast.

 



 

My parents came over to our house to watch the kids, and we hit the road early afternoon to head to Indianapolis.  We had a drink and an appetizer at our Hotel Bar/Lounge before cabbing it to the Venue for the concert.  Poutine was on the Menu and Poutine is what we ordered.  Delicious!!

 

 

The concert was amazing.  Very different from the last one we went to, which was outdoors with thousands of people.  He played for awhile, and he played songs that Creag could sing along to the entire time...and he did.  I wasn't lucky enough to be able to since I don't know all of the lyrics.  It's always more fun to be able to sing along at concerts, don't you think?  

 

 

After the concert, we stopped at The Colts Grille for a drink and then headed back to our room for the night.  They had a wall of all of the famous/sports players that had dined there and I thought it was pretty cool when I spotted Jim Tressel.  On the drive home, we saw a Waffle House with all you can eat seafood, and even though we were hungry, we had to pass!!  Gross....

 

 

 

 

 



 

December 18, 2013

That Time I Got to Meet The Zac Brown Band

And Getting Back Into Blogging

 

Well here I am, back for the first time in a long while.  This writing thing is strange.  I'll get on a roll and blog for months, and then I'll hit a little speed bump of writers block & it is so hard to get back into writing consistently.  Truth is, I've been extremely busy with work and I just can't seem to fit it in.  I want to get back into it though, on the regular.  I think this blog will be so nice for myself & the kids to look back on one day so I'm going to hold myself accountable to sticking with it.

 

Creag & I have been following The Zac Brown Band since we started dating.  He puts on such a great show & we try to see him when he comes into town.  He played in Dayton, OH last week and I was so bummed that we couldn't make it up to see him.  It was on a Thursday night and the kids had school the next day so it was a no go.  Luckily for my sneaky husband, I didn't check the rest of the tour schedule because on Saturday, after the kids left to go with their Dad, while having lunch with my parents at The Pub, he surprised me with tickets to see him that night in Lexington, KY with Eat & Greet tickets to boot!  Best.Husband.Ever!  I was so stoked.  We finished our lunch & did a little shopping with my Parents.  Even though I was super excited, I was nervous because I didn't know what in the world I was going to wear.  You know, I wasn't prepared to meet ZAC BROWN!   My Mom came through for me & bought me a new shirt & necklace from The Loft for my Birthday.  Now I felt ready to head home, pack our bag & head South to meet my favorite band!

 

 

The drive flew by, or was it just Creag going 90MPH the entire way?  Either way, we were both really excited & ready for the night ahead of us.  We checked into the Embassy, freshened up & then had a drink at the Hotel Bar while we waited for our cab to take us to Rupp Arena where the concert & Eat & Greet would be held.  When we got to Rupp, we were instructed to go to Will Call to get our wrist bands for the Eat & Greet, so that's what we did!  After we put on our bands, we got in a line and waited for them to direct us back to where we were supposed to go.  By this point, Creag & I were both starving!  We were toward the back of the line, so when we finally got in the room it was pretty crowded.  A small room with maybe 100 people.  Most of the people in there had already gotten a seat.  While we were in line for drinks, we decided that maybe one of us should go grab seats and the other would stay in line for drinks.  I pointed to two open seats right around where we were standing and Creag headed over to save them.  Those seats turned out to be the best seats in the room.  We were the first table that the band walked by when they came in the room & I actually got to shake Zac Browns hand right away!  One of the coolest moments of my life!  The Chef came out & introduced himself and let us know that we were going to line up by table for food.  The entire band served it up to us & Zac stood at the end of the line to talk to the fans.  I of course had to go introduce myself & rambled like a crazy lady.  I told him I was his #1 Fan.  Pretty corny, right?  I also told him that it was my Birthday & he could sing Happy Birthday to me if he wanted to.  He didn't sing, but he did say "Happy Birthday".  I guess that'll do! 

 

 

So the food was great, and even though we were both starving, I kind of lost my appetite.  I was so in awe of everything going on around me that I couldn't even eat.  Creag had no troubles finishing anything.  They had a Beef & Pork dish, the beef one having a rub that Zac came up with himself.  They also had a pasta salad, Collard Greens, Jack Knife Cole Slaw that was Zac's Dad's recipe and a few other things.  It was honestly all pretty good to be put together for that many people on the road like that.  While we were eating, someone came over from the Staff & asked Creag if he was Homer.  We were like, Homer?  No.  Not 15 minutes later, we looked up & Homer Bailey, the Red's Pitcher was standing there.  Creag said, "there's Homer".  Creag ran into him 3 more times that night & was going to ask for a picture, but didn't because he even felt like he was stalking him when really it was just coincidental that they ran into each other that much.

 

After dinner, we went out & got our places in The Pit for the concert.  There were a few opening bands that were just ok.  Zac came out at about 8:30 & THEY ROCKED IT.  I swear they get better every time that we see them.  They have such energy & play such a great mix of music, it is just an unbelievable experience.   

 

We heard Jolene live for the first time which was awesome.  They also played David Allen Coe, Guns N Roses, Metallica, Led Zeppelin & The Devil Went Down to Georgia along with so many of their great songs.  The kicker was when they came back out to do the Encore in glow in the dark skeleton costumes.  Who does that in country music?  No one, except for The Zac Brown Band!  It was such a great concert & a great night with the hubby!!  He really knows me too well and puts the biggest smile on my face.

 

Set List

 

1.  Jump Right In

2.  The Wind

3.  As She's Walking Away

4.  Natural Disaster

5.  Toes

6.  Whatever It Is

7.  Day for the Dead

8.  Who Knows

9.  Free/Into the Mystic

Acoustic...

10.  Day That I Die

11.  Why Don't you Ever Call Me By My Name (David Allen Coe Cover)

12.  At Last (Glenn Miller Cover)

13.  All Apologies (Nirvana Cover)

14.  The Frozen Man (James Taylor Cover)

 

15.  Jolene 

16.  Keep Me In Mind

17.  Goodbye in Her Eyes

18.  Knee Deep

19.  Sweet Annie

20.  Colder Weather

21.  Enter Sandman (Metallica Cover)

22.  Chicken Fried

 

Encore (in Skeleton Costume)

23.  Uncaged

24.  Kasmir (Led Zeppelin)

25.  The Devil Went Down To Georgia (Charlie Daniels Band Cover)

 



July 22, 2013

Wasting Away Again in Margaritaville

 

 

So my 5th & Creag's 30 something Jimmy Buffett concert last week was a little different than the previous ones that we've been to together.  We didn't really pre-game too much and we sat down on the lawn for the beginning of the show.  This was a first for us, ever!  We're usually the ones that are standing, dancing & singing along.  Instead of all of that, we flipped our shoes off, relaxed & just people watched for a bit.  Either our age is getting to us, or we had just been doing way too much and were ready for a night at home doing nothing.  I'm not saying that the concert wasn't fun, we enjoyed the music & our late night cheeseburger, but there was just a different feel about this one compared to the others that we'd been too.  I'm sure we'll be back next year though, so until then, Fins Up, Parrott Heads!



July 16, 2013

Fins Up

 

Tonight, we're going to see Buffett at Riverbend!  This will be my 5th time to see him with the husband and in light of that, I give you the many faces of Buffett....

 

I'm missing the picture from our first show in Ft. Lauderdale, but these concerts are so much fun!  Any excuse to dress up tropical & drink Corona is a good time in my book!  Were you born a Parrot Head, or did you just marry into one?

 

 



July 15, 2013

Snapshots From Our Weekend

 

Friday:  We cut out of work a tad bit early to get home & get ready for the OAR/Dave Matthews Band Concert.  We got to the venue early enough to stuff our faces w/ a Brat & a beer at one of the food vendors outside of Riverbend before going in.  My friend from High School, Beth joined us at the concert & it was great to see her! 

 

 

Saturday:  We got up early to have breakfast at our favorite little spot, First Watch, and then took Sammie to her first Tennis Lesson of the year.  After tennis, we dropped Sam off to her Mom and then got lunch at the Pub & packed up & headed to the River with Michael.  We were expecting to be on the River with the Jet Ski by 4, but a string of events held us back a bit.  For starters, Creag about blew his face off trying to kill a huge spider with starter fluid & a lighter.  No exaggeration...I thought for sure he was going to be sans eyebrows & vision after that one.  Luckily, he was fine and I'm pretty sure he'll never do that again!  Secondly, we find the Jet Ski key, so we spent some time searching for that.  We ended up giving up and just putting the boat in and relaxing on it for a bit.  The River was a bit of a mess, but we enjoyed ourselves to say the least.  I got a little sun, and the boys did some fishing.  We docked the boat at dark & stopped by McDonalds for dinner where we were entertained by a couple of crazies who were obviously on drugs or something.  We laughed our butts off.  I swear it was like they'd never eaten before a changed their order about 20 times.  After that awesome dinner, we then headed to Snappers to listen to Live Music.  The band ended up playing "You Look Wonderful Tonight," and since that was the first song that Creag & I ever danced to and also had our first kiss to, he asked me to dance.  I think I fell in love with him a little more on that dance floor.  During the song, while we were dancing, and looking into each others eyes, with no words just smiles and love I wondered how I got so lucky.  It kind of felt like it was just him & I on that dance floor.  Nothing else mattered.  He told me when we were finished, that he knew from the very beginning of our relationship that he would marry me someday.  I had never heard him say that before, and it meant so much to hear that from him.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday:  Creag & Michael got up early and went fishing on the boat while I had the pleasure of sleeping in.  They came back to get me at about 10:30 to get some breakfast.  We took the boat into Ripley & parked at the public landing & walked to the little 50's Diner where we like to eat.  After breakfast, we stayed on the boat for a few more hours while they fished & I did nothing but catch some sun.  After pulling the boat in, we packed up & headed home.  After we got unloaded & Michael left, Creag & I went out for sushi, because we obviously never eat at home.  After dinner, we headed to West Chester to get Hank from his Grandma.  It was pouring rain & we spotted a beautiful rainbow!  While waiting on Hank to get to Meijer where we were meeting them, we got in our grocery shopping for the week & then finally headed home with my little one in tow. 

 

 

Football practice starts tonight for Hank and we have Buffett tomorrow night so this week is gonna be jam packed full of all kinds of fun things.  Bring it on!

 



 

 

 



 

 



March 26, 2013

COLUMBUS, OH

May, 2011

 

This post is going to be short today because lez be honest, this snowy weather in March is killing me and putting a huge damper on my mood.  It's been snowing for 3 days straight, when last year around this time it was in the 70's!  You heard that right, the 70's.  We're lucky to hit high 30's lately!  Easter's this weekend so I really hope it warms up by then.

 

Back to the reason for the post.  We went to our first OAR concert in May of 2011 in Columbus.  We stayed in the same hotel that we did when we went to the Blue Jackets game in hope of getting some of that delicious cheesecake again that I had mentioned before.  We stopped for dinner at a very popular burger place that had been featured on Man Vs Food.  I can't remember the name of the place but it was super crowded!  We ended up ordering burgers to go & eating them in our hotel room before the concert and they were amazing!

 

 

 

After dinner we took a cab to the concert. The crowd was a little surprising to me. Very young and everyone was very inebriated. I remember watching a girl who I swear was on Ecstasy & all I could do was shake my head. OAR put on a great show & we had a great time besides my little mis-hap with getting trapped in a bathroom stall and having to crawl out!  After the concert, we went back to the hotel lounge in hopes of ordering the cheesecake to take back to our room but the kitchen was closed.  It was a huge bummer, but still a great little road trip.

 

 

 



March 19, 2013

COLUMBUS, OH & INDIANAPOLIS, IN

ALL IN ONE WEEKEND

NOVEMBER, 2010

 

I'm back again with another weekend road trip that we took back in 2010.  This was an event filled weekend that we had and we loved every second of it!  Creag's Birthday is October 29th, so for his birthday that year I had bought 2 tickets to see the Columbus Blue Jackets.  He had never been to a professional hockey game before, and neither had I so it was a first for us both.  When I bought these tickets, I didn't know that he had also bought 2 tickets to see Zac Brown in Indy the same weekend, different day! 

 

We drove up to Columbus on Saturday afternoon, checked into our hotel & then walked around a bit.  Columbus is a big college town & their Arena District is awesome!  We stopped in a few bars before we went to the game & the atmosphere was great.  Jam packed with tons of Blue Jackets fans, that's for sure.  I don't remember a ton of details about the game.  One of the things I do remember is walking around to find food & buying chocolate covered strawberries:)  Yum!  After the game, we went back to our hotel & spent some time in the lounge & ordered a slice of caramel cheesecake to take back to the room.  We got back to the room & our heat was not working in the room so they had someone come up to take a look.  I wanted to eat that cheesecake so bad & was a little tipsy so I remember asking Creag to please make him leave!  HA Don't mess w/ a woman & her dessert, I guess lol!  That piece of cheesecake was the best cheesecake I've EVER had...we even tried to get it again the next time we went back to Columbus!

 

 

The next morning, we checked out and headed straight to Indy for the Zac Brown Concert.  It was our second time seeing him.  The first time, he opened for Dave Matthews.  He put on an amazing show, of course!  We both absolutely love Zac Brown.  He is so humble & an amazing singer.  After the concert, I had my first Dueling Piano Bar experience & loved it!  It was so much fun, and I still love going to them to this day. 

With that busy of a weekend, I'm surprised we pulled it off without being completely exhausted at the end, but we did it.  I love, love, love road trips.  Getting away for the weekend is the best feeling and doing it with someone you love makes it even better!!

 



March 12, 2013

ATLANTA, GA
August, 2012

 

Let's see, we're on trip #4 and we'd only been dating about 8 months by this point.  That's a lot right?  We were just talking about this trip the other night with Michael while he was over the night we made Fried Chicken for dinner.  Brian Veneman & Michael both went with us and we were discussing how long we were actually there.  Michael thought it was just over the weekend, but Creag and I think it was more like 4 days.  With everything that we did, I'm going to go with 4 days.

 

We drove the Navigator straight through to Atlanta, and the reason for the road trip was to see Jack Johnson in concert.  The first night that we were there, we checked into our hotel & just hung out close by and had dinner at an Irish Pub Restaurant (I think).  The second day, we hung out by the pool for most of the day where Creag did his awesome/retarded run into the pool and jump multiple times which was pretty entertaining.  Michael followed along a few times and I just sat there, in my lounge chair, shook my head and laughed.  That night, we went to the Vortex for dinner.  It was featured on Man Vs. Food so before we left this was on our To Do list, for sure.  It did not disappoint.

 

Triple-Bypass Burger

2 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (as buns)

2 Burgers

Cheese

Mayo

Bacon

Lettuce

Tomato

Onion

 

 

Elvis Burger

Burger

Peanut Butter

Bacon

Fried bananas

Lettuce

Tomato

Onion

 

 

The Vortex had a great atmosphere and the food was phenomenal!  Creag looks pretty happy about this sandwich.  I'm pretty sure his mouth was watering.....

 



 

I think that night, we hopped on the subway and went downtown to the "Underground" which was very interesting/scary.  We ended up at an all black bar, where outside this nice black girl warned us that we should probably go somewhere else.  We went in anyways, and didn't end up in any confrontations but definitely felt out of place.  On the ride back we stopped to get our tickets at the subway, and Creag had gas like you wouldn't believe!!  We had to have help from one of the workers & she looked right at Creag and said, "You ain't got no mannas (manners)".  OMG I still die every time I think about this.  It was hysterical & she was right.  He didn't, but I guess the Buy Pass Burger got the best of him.  Sorry babe, had to include this story!!  The next day was the day of the concert.  It had rained on & off all morning, so we decided to do a Brewery Tour of Sweet Water, which is a beer that's only available in the South & Creag & Michael both really liked.  We got there and they gave us a glass that we got to keep with about 4 beer tickets each. 

 

 

After we left the Brewery, we took a cab to the concert.  The beer had gotten to us all, especially Creag so he napped the whole cab ride.  When we were dropped off at the concert, we were amazed at the tail-gating area & how young the crowd was!  There were teenagers that filled up the entire parking lot drinking w/ beer cans & bottles on the ground, everywhere.  A cop actually came through and it was funny to watch them all scatter.  G-Love opened for Jack, and we only caught about half of his show.  Like I said before, it had been raining on & off all day but when Jack came on it started pouring!!  It was probably the coolest concert I've ever been to because of the rain.  A lot of his songs talk about rain & the rain seemed to sync with his lyrics in a weird way.  If he sang about rain, the rain came down harder & it was amazing.  Everyone was soaked & having an amazing time.  That night, Michael was trashed & kept coming in and out of our room so we did not sleep at all!  The next day, which was our last in Atlanta, we walked around town & a few parks & ended up at Taco Mac for lunch. Atlanta was definitely a cool trip & Jack Johnson put on an amazing show. We can't wait for him to go back on tour!

Setlist

1.  You and Your Heart

2.  If I Had Eyes

3.  Taylor

4.  Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

5.  The Horizon Has Been Defeated

6.  Inaudible Melodies

7.  To the Sea

8.  Go On

9.  Upside Down

10.  Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology

11.  Bubble Toes

12.  Wasting Time

13.  Breakdown

14.  My Little Girl

15.  Banana Pancakes

16.  MudFootball

17.  Turn Your Love

18.  Country Road

19.  Give Voice

20.  Flake

21.  The Joker

22.  Good People

23.  Rodeo Clowns (w/ G. Love)

24.  Staple it Together

25.  At or With Me

 

Encore

1.  Do You Remember

2.  Angel

3.  Fall Line

4.  Better Together