Barenaked Ladies in Reno! Love those guys!

We're back from our whirl wind trip. It was fast, just about 24 hours from start to finish, but it was fun and I'm glad we did it. My mom came with me since she is a fan of the boys by default. I'm not sure which number this was for me seeing the guys. Maybe show #40? Not sure, but that's about right, maybe 41? So how did my mom get wrapped up in all of this? Well, when I was following the band around to different cities, I had friends air out on the England shows. I did my best to keep that a secret from my mom, but she found out and wasn't going to let me go to Europe totally alone. In fact she said, "I will lay down in front of the plane before you get on it." Back then I was still in college, and there was drama going on at home, so I wasn't going to argue. Then last minute, she decided to come with me, along with my brother Ben. The only stipulation was, we had to go to France too! "DEAL! That was easy!" What an awesome trip that was. Those concerts were unbelievable! London, Liverpool and Cambridge. Super small venues, front row every time! Ran into Ed a couple times before the show. So cool! And France was so amazing because my brother spoke fluent French and took us on personal guides everywhere and to all the places he used to live. That was such a fun vacation!
So, back to Reno. We arrived at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino and just went straight to Valet. Since the place was hopin with basketball kids for national tournaments, it was completely booked and so we got upgraded to a really nice room.
We headed to the venue downstairs with our 125.00 a seat VIP tickets. We get to our seats and these are lounge tables? REally? So it's the front table but come on! I'm not there to sit and watch a show. I want to be in the 6 rows of seats down on the floor so I can stand up and dance. So I start talking to the Ushers and ask how to get on the floor. One usher sends me to another usher who tells me he can put me in "tip" seats. What the heck is a tip seat?? So he tells me you give him a tip, he gives you a seat on the floor. Hmmmm....Shady operation, but I was down and 20 bucks later we were in the seats on the floor.
So show review time. This show was obviously going to be totally different than their other shows because Steve Page left the bad. He was a co-lead singer of the band with Ed Robinson, but the dominant vocal talent and such an integral part of the Barenaked Ladies sound. Ah that velvety voice of Steve Page. *wipe away a tear.* But STeve is out and it is what it is. I am just glad that they didn't call it quits and dissolve the band. The four remaining guys still put on an incredibly entertaining, fun and even under the crappy circumstances of an early Jersey show and a cross country flight before hand, they managed to keep the engergy level going. I wish I could say the same for the venue. I can now say that I am not a fan of the Casino Lounge type venue. You would think pumping alcohol into the crowd nonstop would have the people jumping, but it just felt sleepy to me. To me it seemed like the crowd energy level was a little flat, but hey, I kept it up nonstop. You know, I need to have a special platinum ticket that puts me right smack in the front row for every show I go to. As a service to keep the energy up in particularly sleepy venues. (But maybe it was the free tickets they gave away to the old gamblers that were ruining the chi.)
I loved how they pulled off performing Steve branded songs. I wondered how that was going to go, but Ed did awesome. I think Ed's voice has even improved since the last time I saw them. The rest of the bandmates have been able to step it up and be center stage. There was the occasional void for Steve that I knew I would feel, but it didn't cast a shadow on the entire show. They did what Barenaked Ladies have always done and that is, put on a show that feels like you're at a party with a couple of musician friends entertaining themselves. The guys are constantly laughing at themselves and each other. But I have never witnessed Ed laugh so hard to the point where he couldn't even sing. That is why I love these guys. That energy is infectious. I wasn't going to go to the Livermore show, and I think it's pretty close to sold out, but I think I might just get a single ticket up close and go by myself. I can't not see them when they're 15 minutes away. It will kill me!
Oh and that's me jumping on the bed in our upgraded room. So comfortable. I so mad I didn't sneak my D300 in and get some shots of the band. I totally could have! It would have been EASY at this venue. Maybe Livermore.

Barenaked Ladies in Reno tonight!!

In honor of seeing The Barenaked Ladies in a few hours, this is Annaliese at age 2 singing Popcorn, from their Children's Album.

It's Raining...it's pouring...

I couldn't believe it rained today. My poor kids have been trapped in the house so when they saw the rain they wanted to go see and once outside they went absolutely nuts and I just let 'em go! Madelyn was squealing with delight. I'm sure the neighbors think I'm a crack pot for letting my 1 and 3 year old run and splash around in the rain and gutters, AND I let Annaliese do it barefoot. She ditched the boots cause they got in the way. I threw that big coat on Madelyn but she didn't need it at all. It was probably about 68 degrees out. It ended up being a giant sponge. Finally I brought them in for a bath. Annaliese cried, "But it's so much fun to play in the rain!" I had to call it when the camera was getting a little too soaked and all my pictures were turning out blurry with the droplets.

celebrity look alike

Have you ever walked past the mirror and noticed you look like a celebrity? That happens to me every time I wash my hair and let it dry while I sleep. Unfortunately the celebrity I wake up looking like is Tim Burton. If I was brave enough I'd take a picture. But I don't want anyone to pee their pants today. So be forewarned..this is something that is coming..mentally prepare, and I promise to do it next time, cause I look freakin' awesome!
Today is a breakfast and a matinee date. The kids go to Lani's house. (She's the baby whisperer.) Madelyn doesn't cry and Annaliese begs to go over there. We have yet to find a evening babysitter, so we stick to what we got. We'll hit MiMi's Cafe and head over to see Iron Man. That's the middle ground of movie options for us. I can't handle shoot 'em up thrillers and Jonathan can only take some much of the lovey dovey stuff, so Iron Man it is.
Looking forward to next week, my friend from Spain-gland will be back in town. She takes care of me and the girls and lets us hang out while she serves cakes, muffins and tea. One of the best cakes I ever had in my life by the way. And we ate it with our fingers. Simple pleasures.

And she lived...

This is a scrapbook page from almost a year ago when Annaliese was 2 1/2 that deserves a highlight on this blog. This is before we moved when we were living in my mother's house. It reads:
You walked in the room and with a proud smile you said to me, "Mommy I colored on the piano!" I shot right up and said, "YOU DID!?" So proud of yourself you happily said, "Yes, I DID!" So I walked into the room where my mothers grand piano sat and I was overcome with a mix of pure horror and uncontrollable laughter. Something I've never experienced before and hopefully will never experience again. Horror that it was a Sharpie you used on this beautiful grand piano, and laughter at the adorable little faces you drew all over the white leather piano bench. Your graffitti had really evolved. It was actual faces instead of scribbles. So after expressing to you just how naughty this was, I handed you a sponge and told you that you had to help me scrub it off or you were going to bed. You scrubbed for a second, dropped the sponge and headed up to your room. I said, "Where are you going?" You said, "I can't get it off. I'm going to bed." I had to drag you back down. Luckily mommy got it off before your Nanny got back from vacation or it quite possibly could have been your last day on Earth.
scrapbook credits: Moody kit by Lauren Reid @ The Sweet Shoppe

Losin it

So I lost it yesterday. Mother's Day is a perfect day for that right? Well, attending church with two little ones, or MY two little ones, (because not everyone seems to have this problem), is in a word, CRAZY. Attending church is wrangling kids. Correction...non-stop wrangling of my crazy kids.
So the highlights. Baby Madelyn was on my lap, and Annaliese was next to me. The sacrament came and Annaliese first had to decide which sacrament cup of water she wanted to take. It took so long that Madelyn had managed to grab herself a cup and dump it on my skirt. Annaliese was still slowly slurping or savoring her water, I don't know which, and by the time she was finished, she flat refused to hand over the empty cup to be taken away. Jonathan was trying to quietly rip it out of her tight fist, which prompted her to pull tighter and burst a hole in the lovely silence of the room with, "I want to play with it!" To avoid a big commotion we motioned for the Deacon to move on, because the Deacon had been standing there long enough. While all of this was going on Madelyn had her entire left had in the tray of water just quietly flicking it around. Four fingers in four different cups of water. That was my first "Really??!" moment of the day. And I guess yelling, "I want to play iwth it!" is better than last months outburst of, "I have to poop!" and then the 10 mintue later returned outburst of, "I didn't have to poop!"
I'll skip the story about Annaliese stuffing Kix cereal between the seat crack to land on the feet of the poor people in the pew behind us. (Oh I always feel sorry for the poor folks who unknowingly choose to sit behind us.) But apparently, and I should have known that this would be the ill fate of the mediocre snack food that I handed her. Especially when it was NOT the chocolate she had asked for. (It was See's chocolate and it was in my purse, it was a gift and it was mine! Hey, I gave her piece earlier..obviously she has a chocolate problem.)
Oh what was next? Primary with the kids. I have my little class of 4 year olds that I sit with and Annaliese is supposed to sit with the 3 year olds, but she never does. She can't sit still to save her life. She wants to hang on me, sit on my lap. She is up, down, on the floor rolling around. Yesterday they were doing a singing game with bowling, so in between bowls she was on the floor with the pins. So I would put her back in her chair in between bowls. Finally she got fed up with me putting her in her chair and she even realized she was being watched by all the kids, because she looked out at everyone with a proud glimmer in her eye. It was an all of a sudden realization of, "I have an audience! COOL!" Well, she picked up a bowling pin and threw it at me. Which prompted me to grab my stuff, scoop her up and send her into the hall. Luckily Jonathan was out there with the baby. Maybe unlucky for Jonathan because I handed over Annalise and said, "I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore. This is ridiculous." At which point the men came in to take over our classes for "Mother's Day" where I was supposed to go to the women's class, but I promptly drove home.
When I came back to pick up Jonathan and Annaliese, Annaliese ran to me with a candy and a rehearsed apology. Where did she get the candy? The Bishops office. "I ranned in and I ranned out." The Bishop has candy for the kids who are "caught being reverent", or for the kids who run in and steal it and run out. Well, it was a peace offering.
Will I be there next week? We'll see. Is Jonathan worried about me going inactive? Just a little.