Observations

I'm sitting in the parking lot of the VERY crowded mall near my home, and I felt I needed to share a few things with my friends before I headed inside. (By the by, I'm actually posting this from my new phone. Santa came a little early to La Casa de ChiTown )

First, as I was circling the parking lot for the 42nd time, I stopped to let a mom and her daughter, who looked about 4 or 5, cross in front of me. Now, the temperature displayed on my dashboard currently says 33. Neither one of them had a coat on, and the daughter was drinking a slushy. Now THAT'S how we do it around here!

For about a week or so, the weather forecasts have been causing havoc around here because it's been unseasonably warm, AND we were told we would NOT be having a white Christmas. I mean, WTF, seriously?!

Well, as I was driving around, looking for a spot, and enjoying some SNC on my CD player, look what started:

Ok, now I'm off to fight the crowds. Thankfully, I don't think much could ruin my good mood now.

**Update**
Ok, it's about 2 am, and I'm just getting a chance to check emails/blogs. Apparently, I don't really know what the hell I'm doing yet with my new phone, cuz this never posted! And, the video wasn't attached. I fixed it, I think, but I don't think the video is very good. :(

Oh, and that's about all the snow we got. There's not one single flake hanging around. :(

Happy New Year!

Bestest Friend just sent me a link to this awesomeness. :)

Happy New Year to all my Bloggy Buddies!!

Oh, and I thought of something else for today's prompt:
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tell us about some of the things you experienced for the first time in 2010.

I went to Louisville, Kentucky for the first time, and met Tiffany and Ben for the first (but hopefully NOT the last!) time. All the things I did there (seeing Churchill Downs, the Louisville Slugger museum, etc.) were all things I experienced for the first time in 2010.

There, I feel better now that I have a 'happier' answer. (But, I STILL hate my job!)

Day 12

I don't know what came over me this morning. Maybe it's all the sleep I got from falling asleep before 9:00! Or, more than likely, it's the fact that I'M ON VACATION!!! Whatever it is, I was in full-on Mommy mode and actually made breakfast. I know, I know, most of you do that every single day. But, around here, neither Stud nor I are morning people, so his breakfast is usually a bagel w/cream cheese, or a couple of Nutrigrain bars, or whatever else he can eat in the car on the way to school. Me? I usually grab a fiber bar and yogurt, and then eat them once I get to school. If I'm lucky, I'll have time to stop for coffee on the way, too.

Anyway, after Stud came upstairs this morning, he crawled into bed with me to cuddle and watch Little House on the Prairie. A little while later, he decided he was hungry and asked me to make him some eggs with cheese. Well, not only did I make him some eggs with cheese, I made some yummy turkey bacon to go with it. I also had some cut up fruit (cantaloupe, honeydew and pineapple) and yep, those are cheese grits! And, no, that's not a pot of very weak coffee, it's a pot of raspberry tea for Stud. This picture still makes my mouth water, and we finished breakfast an hour ago!


I mentioned the other day that my Bestest Friend and I had a date yesterday. We went to see Straight, No Chaser!!! Woo hoo!! You might remember me sharing my obsession last year, about this time. If not, you can go here, or here, or here, or here!

I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the marquee at the Chicago Theater, where they were performing. Bestest Friend and I tried about 10 times to get a cute picture of ourselves. This was the best of the bunch.
I tried to get a few photos of the inside of this beautiful theater. This is above the stage.
To the left of the stage.
To the right of the stage.
I should have stood up and turned around to get the back of the theater, but I forgot. :(

There were two other bestest friends sitting next to us. After watching us trying (unsuccessfully!) to take a self-portrait, the one friend offered to take our picture.
I wish I had known that SNC was going to encourage the audience to take photos and video. I would have cleared my memory card. I did manage to get a few songs recorded. Let me apologize now for the crappy quality of the picture. I have a very basic (cheap!) camera, and I had to zoom all the way in, since we were in the balcony. Try to maybe close your eyes and focus on the singing. Although, thanks to my camera, that's not the greatest quality, either. Sorry...

This was their opening number. I didn't realize they were starting, so by the time I got the camera going, the song already started.

I forgot to zoom in before they started this one (my crappy ass camera won't let you zoom while videotaping, only before) but it's one of my favorite songs, so I just taped it as is.

I LOVE this one!!! I believe it's one of their originals.

This was always one of our favorite Christmas songs when we were kids. Somehow, we got a copy of it (on a cassette!) and we played it all the time. It's also REALLY one of my daddy's favorites. A few years ago, after I first figured out how to download music and burn CDs, I searched for this, along with some of my daddy's other favorite Christmas songs, and made him a Christmas CD. SNC does a really cute version of it.

This was a silly medley they did of theme songs from different cartoons.

A pretty major storm has been going on outside since last night. It was raining most of yesterday, and at some point last night, it changed to snow. Winter Storm Warnings scrolled across my TV all night. I see my weather widget is still in red, too. I really want to share some video of the storm with you, but seriously, Blogger takes so damn long to post pictures/videos, I just don't have the patience right now. (I just checked, and I started this post over an hour ago!)

I've got the upstairs oven on (just took cinnamon rolls out, yum!) and I think I'm going to get a jump on my holiday baking. I'm actually contemplating turning the downstairs oven on, as well, and really go to town!

Oops, I did it again....

Ok, I just did it AGAIN!!! All my buddies are posting awesome videos today!!

This one is really great, and reminds of my obsession with SNC, who by the way, Bestest Friend and I will be going to see at the Chicago Theater in December. Woo Hoo!!

Impromptu Concert

I've been meaning to share this for a couple weeks now, but we all know my brain is slowly turning to a pile of mush. I had intended to do a post about Stud Muffin, and the rest of the drama club, and their spring play, A Few Good Men. I'm really not up to a lengthy post about it right now (since it's freakin' 70 outside, and I'm REALLY cranky!) but let me just say, the show was DA BOMB DIGGETTY!! I'm SO incredibly proud of those boys, it's riDONKulous!

I will share this little clip, though, that I was able to capture in the green room during intermission. I wish I had captured the entire 15 minute intermission, because it pretty much was all like this, but by the time I was able to get my camera, it was just about time to start the second act.

Look out, SNC! ;-)

I have issues...

What the hell is my problem? Why can I not stop obsessing over these guys?!!? Here's tonight's favorites...

Definitely LOVE this one, as I love the Jason Mraz songs they covered, but the sound quality isn't the best here...

OK, I'm well aware of the fact that Christmas is over, but I loved this one because it's done completely "unplugged." No microphones, no recording studio "tweeks," just their awesome voices.

Alright, enough! I HAVE to go to bed! I've been watching SNC videos for over an hour now. Jeez, I'm a loser.....

Happy New Year!

Seriously, I can NOT get enough of these guys!! Happy New Year to all my Bloggy Buddies! May 2010 bring you health, happiness and prosperity!

I think I need an intervention...

When I did the last post, I only googled SNC to get a picture to post, but then, obviously, I found their website. Now, I made the mistake of searching them on YouTube, and suddenly, it's dark outside, and it's time to pick up Stud Muffin!!! I can't stop watching these guys. Somebody, help!!!!

This was Dan Ponce's farewell from Channel 7 here in Chicago.

Yay! I found the code to embed this one!!

This one's just for fun...

Christmas Music

I bought myself several new CDs over the past few weeks, and my current OBSESSION is Straight, No Chaser - Christmas Cheer. (You have GOT to click on the video of Christmas Can-Can. It's awesome!) I love these guys, and have from the moment I discovered them some time last year. If you aren't familiar with them, they are an a cappella group, made up of 10 smokin' hot guys, who can actually sing!! I'm pretty sure you can hear some of their music if you clink on the link above. Dan Ponce, the founder of the band, is from Chicago, so you KNOW I gotta love 'em! If you're interested in their story, go here.

I also bought myself Andrea Bocelli's new Christmas CD, My Christmas, plus his newest CD, Incanto. The Christmas CD has some interesting duets, including one with Mary J. Blige. The other one I especially like because it's the old Italian songs that I grew up listening to my family sing. I can't help but smile when I listen to it. One song in particular, Mamma, was always one of my grandma's favorite songs, and the first time I heard that track on the CD, I didn't even hear Andrea. It was purely my Grammy, singing her heart out. It was awesome!

My other guilty splurge was (ok, now brace yourself, I'm pretty sure I've warned you guys before that I'm a straight-up geek!) glee - the music (Season 1, Volumes 1&2) I LOVE this show!! And, even though it was a total impulse purchase, I'm glad I bought them.

One of the ways I rationalized buying myself (gasp!) 5 new CDs is that I decided, as I was buying each one, that I would burn copies of them for my family as part of their Christmas gifts. (And, please don't leave me any nasty comments about copying and sharing the CDs. There was no way I could buy 20+ CDs, plus I actually BOUGHT a copy of each one, instead of downloading the songs for free from the internet. So, I don't want to hear it.) Obviously, my parents and siblings love Andrea Bocelli as much as I do, and I'm excited to introduce them all the Straight, No Chaser. I made glee CDs for my nieces, mom and bestest friend. (Oh, shoot!! Bestest Friend, that was supposed to be a surprise! I made you a SNC CD, too. Enjoy!)

It's been snowing today, pretty steadily, and it looks just gorgeous outside. I actually took some video for you guys of our first day of snow, but I obviously haven't gotten around to posting it yet. Maybe today, while I'm waiting to pick up Stud. The boy suddenly has a very busy social life. I took him to a friend's about an hour ago, to hang out with the friend and his extended family, who are in from Michigan. (Stud met the family when his friend took him to Michigan for a weekend this past summer.) I have to go back and get him in a few hours to then drive him over to another friend's house for a party. Oh, yeah! I forgot, I promised to make a snack for him to bring. Shoot! Guess I'd better get off this computer and get to work, huh?