Say Cheese

Earlier this month Tim and I went to Seattle for the U2 concert. It was one of those weekends where everything fell into place... girl scout weekend trip for Carlie, Tim's brother in town needing a place to stay (i.e. cat sitter for us), gorgeous weather for a road trip... you get the idea.

Self Portrait, Seattle Waterfront

My love for U2 is well-known and long-lived, with my first U2 concert being back in the late 80s. I've only missed one North Amerian tour since then due to extreme pregnancy, and have seen them on the same tour multiple times when I've been able to. I'm a devotee, a loyal fan, like, hard core.

We got these tickets TWO YEARS AGO, almost a year in advance for the June 2010 concert, which was cancelled and rescheduled for June 2011. So to say I've been waiting for this is what we like to call a wee bit of an understatement. Plus, a perfect storm of work stress and kid drama made this the perfect time for a weekend getaway. As a little reward for waiting so long for the concert, we got an upgrade in the opening act. LENNY KRAVITZ. I'm here to tell you, that man is fine. Like, super fine. Like, holy shit look at those biceps FINE.

Lenny, not showing his biceps in this photo. But trust me, they're there.

Other than Lenny, and Bono, and the concert itself, and the getting out of town, and the spending time with friends, and the staying at an awesome downtown hotel in a fabulous city, I was most especially looking forward to the FAN CAM. Do you know about this? It is OMG awesome. Go, check it out, now. It's a giant gigapixel photo of almost the entire stadium audience at the concert, with enough resolution that you can find yourself and tag yourself. Unbelievable. I have been GIDDY with excitement waiting to tag myself at the concert. GIDDY, I tell you. GID-DY.

So I get my email that the fan cam photo for Seattle is up, and I barrel on over to the web site. I had to have Tim help me find our seats because, hello, have you met me? I have no sense of direction. He looks at the photo and points right to the section we were sitting in (how?) and I start zooming in. There were 70,000 people at the concert in Seattle, and I'm zooming in on myself, ready to tag it, so Bono can find me and we can get on with our happily ever after.

And I zoom. And I zoom. And BAM! There's my friend Lisa, who I was sitting right next to. But wait? What's this?

Seriously? I have been robbed of my moment of fan cam glory. You can't see crap in this picture unless you click and make it bigger, so let me take a closer upper picture with my iPhone of the computer monitor.

FAN CAM FAIL.

PS: Sit down, asshole!

My Endless Love

I loved you then... mullet and all.

And I love you still... aging rock star-ish and all.

And I have tickets for Seattle in June 2010.

Boo-yah.

PS: Don't tell Tim. It's a surprise. For his upcoming birthday. Also? He kind of doesn't want to go. Which will only make it that much more of a surprise, right? RIGHT?

Selfish who?

When Good Things Happen on a Monday

I almost went to bed without mentioning two big events happening in my world on Monday, wherein my world = the greater world of entertainment, by which I am so very entertained.

The premiere of Dancing With The Stars. SHUT UP, IT'S GOOD.

And...

U2 will be announcing their tour dates. If they do not come to Portland, we will travel to Seattle. If they do not come to Seattle, we will travel to Vegas, San Fran or LA. (Tim does not know about that second part yet... shhh.)

UPDATE: OK, only three US dates announced so far for Fall 2009 - Illinois, Boston and New York. Guess it'll be 2010 before they hit the West Coast? And woe is me.

My beautiful Bono

If you saw my Thanksgiving post, you probably noticed this picture of Bono, our bartender for the evening. And if you know me at all, in real life or virtually, you might know that I am a Bono fan. And by fan, I mean insane, screaming, lunatic, actually-cry-tears-of-joy-at-his-concert kind of gal. I've seen U2 in concert five times starting in the Eighties with Joshua Tree and most recently in both Portland and Seattle with the Vertigo tour (I think that's what it was called?), and then also saw that show in U23D at Cinetopia, and also have a bootlegged (not by me) CD of the actual Portland concert that I was at, which can make me cry when I listen to it and remember.

But I digress. This post is about the giant Bono head on my buffet. Or actually, about the girl who painted it, Erinna, my 15-year-old stepdaughter. She did it in school and framed it and gave it to us as an early Christmas gift (because she couldn't figure out how to hide it, plus she is so not good at keeping secrets). 

Her art class was studying composition and shadowing. She had to chose a photograph that has shadows on a face. She chose my favorite Bono photograph, not because she shares my love but because she could not find a shadowy photo of Peter Petrelli for the project. After choosing a photo, they enlarged it, transferred it to a grid and then made color choices and recreated it. 

Do you not LOVE my giant Bono head on my buffet? I love it mightily. She just gave it to us the day before Thanksgiving, which is why it is on the buffet leaning on the mirror. I'm not sure where to hang it, but it will have a place of honor.

Erinna is one of those kids who can do just about anything, and if it is something she actually WANTS to do, she does it well. Like really, really well. Piano? She's masterful. But she quit. It was boring. Soccer? She was tough and fast, though kind of small. But she has left soccer behind for tennis now. And tennis? She is absolutely wicked.

When I was 15, I was completely unsupervised. I was born and raised in New Orleans and my parents' attitude toward child-rearing was laissez faire, at best. I was not a good kid. But I was a good schemer and faker and my parents assumed that because I rarely got caught doing anything illegal or amoral, that I was a good kid. But really, I was just good at not getting caught (most of the time).

Erinna is a good kid. And she is parented half to death. She has two full sets of parents. Tim and I have been married for pushing 11 years, so I've had her since she was in preschool. And her mom has been married for the last five or six years to a man that she has known/been with on and off since Erinna was a baby. 

And we are all in her business, 24/7, in a way that has got to be borderline unbearable. Imagine your parents at their snoopiest, nosiest, most intrusive... then multiply it by two. Then have the four of them sit down for cocktails and plot your future. That's her life, in a nutshell. Yet she handles it unbelievably well.

So that's the story of the Bono head on my buffet and the artiste behind it. I can't even tell you how much I love that painting. It is, like, one of the best gifts of all time. It is seriously awesome. I've already attempted to commission several other works, to start a shadowy gallery (picture Johnny Depp in yellows and oranges?) but I was informed, "It was homework," as in "Why would I do more work if I don't have to. Talent? What talent? I can't really paint."

Oy, that girl.

Thanksgiving Photos

After I took the crappy cell phone pics, I remembered, oh, yeah, I have a real camera. I always forget about that thing.

I forgot to buy fresh flowers, so the girls had to improvise on the table setting. They did a good job, though!

And here's the table with the food on it. Turkey, Ham, Dressing, Tofurkey, Sweet Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, Brusselsprouts and Cranberry Relish. Is your mouth watering?

And this is why I love my circa 1950's maple table, even though it is sorely in need of refinishing. It is huge! Over 60 inches wide, it can easily accommodate having all of the food right in the middle of the table with plenty of room to eat. And since we only ended up having 10 adults at the table, we didn't put all of the leaves in. With all of the leaves, I've fed 16 adults comfortably at this bad boy.
Three little monkeys, munch on turkey.
Bono was our bartender. He did an excellent job.
Bar overflow was on the front porch.
A divine day, one of those days that gives you even more to  be Thankful for.

I am the saddest girl in the world

Oh, Bono, my Bono, how could you? Even if these photos were "innocent," why, oh, why is a man of your character and esteem hanging out with bikini-clad 19-year-old girls mugging for the camera? There is no best-case scenario here.