THE EAGLES HAVE LANDED!

WOW! How lucky was I to see The Eagles, Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban all in the same night and at Soldier Field, to boot?!? I was moved to tears during several songs that mean so much to me. Hey, side note...it seems like there are a lot of tears flowing lately, no? It's a good thing...I promise! WARNING...pictures aplenty ahead. I had trouble adding my videos, so look for them in a future post. I added The Eagles first, out of respect for my elders (them and my mom...hehe)

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO MY AWESOME BIL, DAVID, FOR THE TICKETS AND PARKING PRIVILEGES!

I was really close to the stage :)

HERE ARE THE EAGLES
IN ALL THEIR GLORY.

Some of the best guitar playing I've ever heard...









AND HERE ARE MY CHICKS...

They have such beautiful voices!

P.S...Thanks mom for applauding them. Your two fingers showed so much enthusiasm. Would it have been too hard to clap with all ten fingers?








AND FINALLY, KEITH URBAN...

Great voice, cute face, and loving husband who had the audience sing Happy Birthday to his wife, Nicole Kidman!

Sorry there aren't that many pics of him, as we (ahem) got there a little late.



All in all, a fantastic evening was had by all except for a few small things.

The following scents do not mix well in hot and humid Chicago weather and made me want to vomit...
*pot
*patchouli
*b.o.

Oh, and this jerk who enjoyed jumping from open seat to open seat without a real ticket for our section but mostly ending up directly behind me and my aunt whilst spitting his chewing tobacco into a cup and trying to entertain the people around him but just riling them up instead whilst spilling said cup of spit and tobacco several times over my aunt's back. Thanks buddy! Your parents would've been embarrassed by you; I know your friends were...

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

Today was a really sad day. It was Nicholas' last day of preschool and it did not go so well. He was tearful all day about his friends that will be "lost" over the summer. I tried to explain that he would find them in a few months, right back where he left them! We went out to dinner to celebrate his summer freedom and ran into some old friends of ours. They had their three beautiful kids with them and I didn't give it a second thought until I asked how old their youngest is. As my friend said "almost two", Joey reminded me that we both kept getting pregnant at the same time...didn't I remember?

Of course I remember.
Of course I remember all the time.
How could I forget what was "lost"?

Seeing their three kids and our two, how could I forget that a little one was missing from our table? Thank God that we were on our way out because I could not hold the tears back for long. The tears were coming hard and fast, just like the horrible rain storm that had just passed. And then, just as soon as it began, it ended as I turned around and saw a beautiful rainbow shining through all the clouds and rain and sadness.

And then I remembered
somewhere over the rainbow,
our other little one was at God's table
and I thought to myself,
what a wonderful world!

Sometimes it takes darkness
to see the light...

LETTING THE DAYS GO BY

I have been so out of sorts since my last post. I have also written about 10 posts that are still in the editing process and not yet to my liking, so please be patient!

Until then, here is a quote from one of my fav books. Stay with the run-on....

"The hardest thing to convey is how lovely it all is and how that loveliness seems all you need. The ghosts that haunted you in New York or Pittsburgh will haunt you anywhere you go, because they're your ghosts and the house they haunt is you. But, they become disconnected, shaken, confused for half a minute, and in that moment on a December day at four o'clock when you're walking from the bus stop to the rue Saint-Dominique and the lights are twinkling in the bateaux mouches, luring the tourists, but still...you feel as if you've only escaped your ghosts, if only because, being you, they're transfixed looking at the lights in the tree on the other bank, too, which they haven't seen before, either. It's true that you can't run away from yourself. But, we were right...you can run away."

Where would we run to?
Does it matter?
Would you miss us?

SING, SING A SONG

Sing out loud.
Sing out strong.
Sing of good things, not bad.
Sing of happy, not sad.
Sing, sing a song.

I love when the unexpected happens. I love that my day started out really bad, which was an overflow from yesterday. I guess since I don't sleep, I couldn't sleep it off! Do you know what I loved the most about today? Somehow and quite unexpectedly, music found it's way into almost every moment of my afternoon and evening and turned things around! It was always the right tune, even though I was mostly OUT OF TUNE!

I sang out loud and
I sang out strong and
I sang out with my family and
They took aspirin :)

I TURNED 43 TODAY!!!

The secret to staying young is to
live honestly, eat slowly,

and lie about your age!
~Lucille Ball~

I have been working on being more honest.
With myself.
With others.
With my expectations.
With my limitations.
With my reality.
With everything except my age!

I again refer to my theory on why women should lie and represent themselves as being years older. You don't ever want to say you are younger than your actual age and get that awkward smile from someone who is about to call you out on your lie. You know the look. It is usually followed by silence. Instead, I prefer to say I am years older so I get the other smile. The one that tells you that even though you haven't really brushed your hair since Pepper was born; and the bags under your eyes are no longer considered carry-on size; and your smile is a little less vibrant than the rainbow it once was; you still look pretty young. I don't care as much about how young I look, but rather how young I act. I am so thankful that my children keep me young in spirit!

And speaking of eating slowly, Joey and I had the most relaxing, slow dinner ever. I had been waiting weeks for my birthday dinner at Heritage Prairie Farm and it did not disappoint! They are an organic farm in Elburn, which is right past St. Charles and Geneva. I would LOVE to join their C.S.A. this year, but it is a little out of our price range.

Salivate over my personalized Valentine's Day/Birthday Menu. Every savory morsel that passed my lips was more delicious than the next. I will, for a long time, dream of the cucumber and lime granita. I had never had microgreens before but they were so packed with flavor! When I saw the ravioli, I thought, where is the marinara? It was so light with just shaved pecorino cheese on top, I didn't even miss the sauce!

This is what helped me enjoy dinner.

Here is my sweet dessert.

I was full but I could not be wasteful!

Joey looks like he had more to drink

than I did. Not true in the least!

How hard do you think it was to find cute black flats to wear with my favorite dress and new bolero? I checked 6, yes, 6 different stores to no avail. On my last stop, I found these little purple beauties. The awesome Paris box is a birthday gift from Mil and Fil!

After asking her for fashion advice, my sister warned me that I couldn't wear heels to a farm. She was right. They were way too gorgeous and inexpensive (85% off) to pass up! Besides, a girl has to buy herself a nice present once in a while! We got to the farm halfway through cocktail hour and had to park at the end of the gravel and snow covered driveway. It was a long and slow walk. We almost missed the second half of cocktail hour. I decided to pretend I was just making a slow and graceful entrance, just like a queen would! Here is the walkway to the farm house. And lastly, please take note of my ever-present, yet only occasionally photographed angel.

ART SMART

How art smart am I???

I got all these

art supplies

at a warehouse sale

for a grand total of...

$ 25 !!!

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HALLOWEEN 2009

Yes, I am so enjoying my time in sewing.

Meet the Modern Stone-Age Family....

WITH LOVE,

WILMA FLINTSTONE

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