Last Friday kicked off our big Dave Matthews Band concert weekend. Every year we look forward to seeing this ridiculously talented group of musicians live.......and I'm pretty sure in Patrick's mind, him and Dave are best friends who've never met.
This day trip was extra special since not only did Patrick get to see his best friend he's never met, but I got to see one of my best long distance friends for the first time in foh-eva!! Jessica, her hubby, and their little mini drove an hour just to meet us in the Woodlands for a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, which is always delish.
Afterwards, while the boys hung out on a shaded patio, I accompanied Jess to her very first Anthropologie experience! We wandered around touching every piece of clothing, burying our noses in all the candles, dreaming of affording the extravagantly priced items guilt free, and just enjoying the unbridled girl time.
Before heading to the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (a beautiful venue), we stopped for my favorite fro-yo, Pink Berry, in attempts to keep from melting.
The Carolina Chocolate Drops kicked off the show with some good ol' back porch sittin' music, and by sunset it was time for Dave's first debut of the year.
I was impressed by his keen eye and good memory. After all, it'd been a year since he'd seen me last. "Did you get a haircut?" Dave asked.
"Actually I've been letting it grow, but the curls really take a few inches off," I replied.
"Well you look great." ......He was actually making small talk with everyone in the audience, but who's taking minor details into account?
Saying we were surrounded by an interesting crowd this year would be an understatement. It was intense. The short man next to us had the audacity to complain about the set list, yet decided later (after a couple more drinks, I'm guessing) every song was his favorite.
He'd tap both of us on the shoulder a few times a song just to let us know. "Oh, THIS one is my favorite. This is the BEST song ever."......"I take it back, the other song is in my top three, but THIS song is even better."......Weirdly, he asked Patrick to hold his beer a few times so he could take pictures, then would forget to take his drink back.
Short man's girlfriend could have been mistaken several times for someone filming a porno. "OMG! OMG! This is amazing!"....."OMG! OMG! I'm so sweaty; it's dripping everywhere!" When Patrick told her, "Just think what it'd be like if it was August," she responded, "We are from Texas and it's so hot in here August." Yes.....yes, that's why he said that....
The enthusiastic lady to our other side relentlessly cheer-leaded her way through the concert, constantly turning 360's to point people out and direct them to get more involved, yelling to the guy a row in front of her to tap his beer to hers for a repetitive toast.
The group of couples in front of us probably has enough drunk group pictures of themselves now to create a 1000 page photo album. I'm actually not sure if they even knew they were at a concert.
(Don't even get me started on the couple who brought a baby with no earplugs or headphones.)
Let's just say it was well-rounded craziness. And Dave....well Dave is always fantastic.
You may not realize the distance of your empathy's limits, but there's no one to blame. It's impossible to relate if you've never gone through a similar struggle.
When two people in love battle infertility, they look around and see healthy pregnancies everywhere. The time passes differently for them. It seems as though everyone else is having children on a whim or by accident. They cringe when people express anything but the uppermost gratitude of their blessings. Even the happiest of moments can seem bittersweet. Every wish they make is the same. They know they're not alone, yet feel isolated. It's personal. Swimming through this particular channel of life can be like slowly paddling through an ocean of molasses.
After years of symptoms (many of which have been more severe for the last 8 months), and trying to conceive for 2 years (somehow managing success once, but with an unrelated and unfavorable outcome), I've been diagnosed with PCOS (poly-cystic ovarian syndrome). What does this mean? It's now more prudent than ever for me to live a very healthy lifestyle to decrease the adverse health risks I'm faced with down the road, and we need lots of extra help to get pregnant. At least we have an answer and a stepping stone climb up from, but it doesn't make anything seem the least bit easier.
I've decided to start taking the cards we've been dealt as a compliment, because the strongest and most capable characters are always tested to their limits. Even though it hurts, growing through the pain only makes us stronger. And every week when someone new asks me if I have children, I'll just smile through all the heartache and say, "Not yet." Patience is a virtue.
The joyful Dory may have been a bit dingy, but she was right. Now matter how deep, murky, cold, shallow, or viscous the water, we've got to "Just keep swimming."
(Project pretty is a personal commitment to share my weekly journey of keeping my non-New-Year's-Resolution: staying fit to improve quality of life while inspiring others to do the same. Let's all jump on the endorphin wagon!)
Remember when not too long ago I posted this extremely annoying grammatical error on Instagram? Not only is it an official sign made of thick plastic (not a piece of paper like I'd thought before I inspected it), but it was such an eye sore it caught my eye from across the building. Ever since noticing, I haven't been able to take my eyes off it!!
Apparently it's been plaguing someone else's nerves too, because this week I noticed someone had altered it.
And on the second improper sign located on the opposite side of the free weights station someone got really smart for there britches......just kidding about that "there" thing. Get it?? Get it????
I also noticed after putting these pictures side by side that I must wear green to the gym a lot. Now that I think about it, I actually have 4 green workout shirts......
And since this post is suppose to be about working out, instead of bashing the literal skills of people who work at the gym, here's an example of one of my low impact cross training workouts I made up this week to prevent boredom. It takes somewhere between 10-11 laps around our gym's upstairs track to equal 1 mile, and I can never pay attention long enough to count that far. It's actually a good thing I never run faster than a 8 minute mile or I'd get dizzy up there from all the turning!!
It was a pretty solid moderate effort workout to follow a busy 12 hour shift.
One of our favorite passtimes right now is cuddling on our amazing couch and watching movies together. Lazy, but oh so fun.
Any Netflix users out there? I know there's so many different ways to watch movies now days, but I just stick with what I know. Because Netflix is extremely slow to put brand new mainstream movies into instant download form and we are cheap, we've been watching a lot of independent films, the last one being Take This Waltz.
We actually started it becuase it was listed as a comedy with Seth Rogan, but even though their was some quirky "haha" moments, we both agreed the label was way too light for such a heavy message. Heavy, but true and real. I felt like there are so many people in this world who could benefit from the moral of this story if they were keen enough to really grasp it.
I've talked before about how love evolves. Nothing in this world ever stays the same. Everything requires maintence, everything. This day in age, we've become acustomed to having new things, but new is only temporary and people don't qualify as "things".
After all the anticipation, we arrived at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater 30 minutes before the doors opened to wait in line for more.....anticipation.
It's always a little confusing when you're doing something for the first time, and since we'd never had pit tickets for this particular venue we weren't sure how everything worked. After waiting in line for the doors to open, we had to get in another line once inside, for the banding process. As if we hadn't waited in enough lines, once banded, we were corralled to one more line to wait for permission to enter the inside of the theater. As soon as that last line started moving, it was every man for himself to score the best standing position possible.......and wait.
We chose a spot 3 people deep, centered with the drums. I had a feeling everyone else was hesitant for the spot because 4 very tall men had already taken position ahead, but I had the perfect plan to see through their shoulders.We waited in the pit for a solid hour before the opening band, The Virgins, came on stage, which gave me plenty of time to make friends with my neighbors and establish a territory. There was one guy to my right who didn't understand the concept of creating a space bubble, but being the pit pro that I am, stayed strong.
About 5 minutes after the opener starting playing a guy to my left fell to the floor, sending a Jack and Coke crashing down with him. His friend, my immediate tall-guy neighbor, helped pull him back up. I leaned in to assess the situation and only moments later he was collapsing again. We couldn't keep him up, and no one knew what was wrong with him, so we called a guard to help. As soon has he and his friend were gone, I started to get wide in attempt to save their spot, but two little teeny-bopper opportunists, plaid shirt guy and fuzzy headed guy, squeezed through a group of girls and took their spot. Rude. It got real serious when one of them, fuzzy headed guy, started standing in my visual window, but rest assured, I had the guns to have him put back in his place.
The entire opening performance seemed like a blur with craziness happening, and all I really remember about the band is the lead singer's white boxer briefs were hanging out of the huge whole in the back of his jeans, and the 16-year-old looking drummer had the oldest most stretched out wholly thin white tshirt on that I've ever seen being worn in public, but I'm sure they were good. Kinda sounded like Tom Petty. By the time passed-out-guy and his friend came back, it was difficult to make a space for them, but somehow we managed.
When the lightening bolt made it's appearance, everyone started to get super excited.
Then Brandon Flowers came on stage and things got crazy.
I'm not sure if there could have been a bad set list, since I'm such a fan of their music, but I think the one they went with was a great mix of old and new.
Getting to be so close was actually a huge surprise Patrick kept from me until about a week ago when he couldn't hold it in any longer.......then he had immediate regret for breaking out the big guns so early.
Patrick loves to pick out flaws in men I think are sexy........like how Brandon's pants were flooding. I insisted it was okay because it's "the rocker thing to do", but he wants to know why being a musician makes it "okay to wear bad style choices". He actually had a dream, the night before, that I got asked on stage and made-out with Mr. Flowers.....
Yeah right, Hunny......I guess it didn't help that after finding out about our tickets I teased about being close enough to blow kisses and have them caught.
But seriously, asked on stage or not, I had an amazing time.
If certain people I know thought I was a crazy fist pumper that one night at House of Blues when I almost hit Tim in the head, then they'd be scared of me on this night. Actually, I think quiet a few people were scared of me, because all those space issues I was having earlier in the night seemed to disappear and I miraculously had sufficient room to wave my arm in the air and jump around like I just didn't care, while shaking my hips from side to side. Like a toddler, with better rhythm.
There was only one instance I remember having to elbow some white rimmed sunglasses guy a few times in the gut who tried to push his way through while asking people to lift him up so he could crowd surf or get on stage or something. When my blows to his stomach weren't enough discouragement, that's when having tall man friends (including my handsome husband) really came in handy. He didn't last long in our area, but I have to admit, I actually enjoyed getting to elbow him......does that make me bad?
If I had it my way, concerts would be 4 hours long per band headliner. I really just feel like they don't last long enough.
As if we weren't sweaty enough already, a few times these crazy firework type explosions went off behind stage, so powerful we could feel the heat from them on our faces.
And then the confetti started falling from the ceiling, pouring down in abundance.
Sticky and hot from the dancing and the closeness and the excitement, the little plastic cutouts just clung on everywhere.
And when it was all over, Brandon Flowers started leaning over the edge of the stage to give out some high-fives. All of a sudden it was like were were in a human ocean. Our bodies shifted in his direction like a wave being pulled by the moon's gravity, without warning or choice, no negative space left between a single one of us. We were being pushed by so many people it was unpredictable and uncontrollable. Then the drumsticks were tossed into the crowd, one of them so close to where Patrick and I were innocently standing, and a stampede of greedy fans went flying into a pile of flailing arms and legs, inches from us. We quickly stepped out of the rubble and sped walked out of the chaos as fast as possible.
When we got home I was still finding confetti in places, like this lightening bold peeking out of my hair....
...And after I was sure I'd gotten rid of it all, this little guy was found in the shower with me.....
....Then there was another lurking on the stairs the next morning.....little reminders of an amazing night.
Have you ever thought it was worth getting trampled for a chance to high-five a famous person or catch a souvenir?
Patrick took off Thursday for our concert day, and after having a cozy family breakfast together we went on an excursion with the puppies. Little did we know the weather was going to try and throw a wrench in our plans. We were already invested when little sprinkles started hitting the pavement, which eventually turned into bigger and bigger rain drops steadily falling from the sky.
The smell of wild flowers and new rain was so refreshing, and despite being completely soaked, we still managed to break a sweat due to the muggy air. Determined to get a decent distance under our belts before surcoming to the storm, we did a lot of running and racing.
Let's just say the picture with me and Sumo was blurry because we are so speedy amd in no way reflects Patrick's phone photography skills. Patrick and I were both dying (bellies full of bacon isn't very conducive to feeling light and bouncy), but Callie and Sumo loved every minute.
It's a darn good thing I had a towel in the car for emergency situations!
After the four of us got cleaned up and dry, Patrick and I set out across the Metroplex before the highways turned into afternoon parking lots. Little did we know, two different GPS systems would do a sufficient enough job of keeping us from where we were going without needing the brake lights of traffic added to the equation.
We drove in circles for a solid 30 minutes before we accidentally located one of the restaurants on the map. When we finally found New York Pizzeria, against our phone's will, we realized it was a tiny "take out/delivery only" place connected to a gas station.........sigh. Starving and with limited options, we ordered anyway.
Patrick walked over to the gas station to get us drinks, and as we were leaving we got the bright idea to drive back to the little park area we stumbled upon while aimlessly lost (andtrying to keep our sanity and optimism in check).
It happened to be the perfect place for a pizza picnic.
Some people joke about me carrying too much stuff around, but those people are the ones who wouldn't have had a puppy potty pad in the back of their car to place on the dirty picnic table so their white dress wouldn't get dirty, or an infant blanket to use as an extremely large cloth napkin.
Even though things went completely not as planned, it all worked out. The food was delicious, especially the garlic cheese french bread, we actually spent less money than we would on a normal Whataburger run, and we didn't even finish one piece of the pizza.
Since we'd done nothing else normal that day, Patrick continued the streak by drinking his 40 in a plastic bag instead of a paper one. It's all about improvisation. Nerd.
We took a stroll by the muddy creek while I finished my hard lemonade, then we were off to the concert!!!
I wore my Mom's favorite dress from her 20's. I hadn't brought it out in a while, so it was ready to see some action.
Have you gotten into any fun accidents lately? What's the oldest peice of clothing in your closet that you still wear?
(Project pretty is a personal commitment to share my weekly journey of keeping my non-New-Year's-Resolution: staying fit to improve quality of life while inspiring others to do the same. Let's all jump on the endorphin wagon!)
All my running around on minimal sleep eventually caught up with me on Sunday and I crashed super hard. Patrick wasn't thrilled about my day long napping, but couldn't hold a grudge against this cuteness (which he couldn't resist photographing) for long.
The puppies are loving the weather so much lately, they are completely content with just lounging outside......of course that excludes instances when they hear key words like "walk" or "run".....
But Patrick found my rollerblades, so I finally got out on my wheels for some full blown doggie sprinting!!
I took them out to the nature preserve to cover a few miles and if a dog could smile, it'd be the only description suited for their faces.
My pigtails standing on ends from the speed, their flowy hair parting back from their faces in the wind......we were living the life.
I'm convinced if unleashed, Sumo would full on run about 20 miles before he ever slowed down......
.....especially when the weather is nice and there's plenty of shade to block the sun.
Something super weird happened to me in yoga this week. Half way through class I started having some tingling and numbness in my left palm/fingers.
I think the onset was during an extended hold of downward dog, but my memory starts to blur after I've been awake for 20+ hours. I actually think I fell asleep in final corpse pose, which only lasts maybe 3 minutes. A couple of days later it was just coming and going, but I'm interested to see if it flares up again in my next class. Did I mention I looked like a total sissy trying to do multiple sorry excuses for real pushups? I've really got to step up my arm game.... At least I was the only one in class who could get into the Bird of Paradise pose. Everyone's body is so different, and I've got to celebrate the few things my body excels at!!
Lastly, I finally found a taker to accompany me on my first outdoor run since the half marathon....it was hard....granted it was hill work after a 12 hour shift....but damn the devil it was hard!! They sky was gorgeous, though, and we were even graced with a few sprinkles to cool us off. The two miles of running followed by two miles of walking (because I felt like I was going to throw up if I ran another step) was the perfect after work workout.
Have you ever had tingling/numbness in your hand associated with yoga?
A mishap prone, silly, and adventurous Texan. Can be found stalking life with my camera, singing badly and loudly while dancing in circles, and soaking up some sun in the process. For a good time, you can reach me at #867-5309.
For more details, please refer to the "KP Whatta Who" link from the home page.
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