FNL

Okay, people, here's your chance. "Friday Night Lights" is coming to ABCFamily and you can watch it from the beginning.

check it out here. You won't be sorry. (mostly I'm talking to people that may be on maternity leave right now.)

it's, like, so good!!

Opening number

The Culmination

The highlight of my big day was 2 + hours with my boyfriend. As usual, he put on a great show. Here are Anne Lise and me waiting for the show to start. We got there a full hour before the opening act (Owl City) so I got a new t-shirt and a poster to remember my big day.

Because I got tickets through the fan club, we got GREAT seats. We were in the sixth row, over to the right side.

Yes, I did bring a sign, made by my cute sister, Valerie, but he didn't see it. Some people had the fantasy for me that he would see the sign, think I'm awesome, and bring me up on stage. But since I would probably pass out and die, I didn't really want that to happen.

On the way home, we got In N Out Burgers and shakes. PERFECT birthday.

Birthday cupcake report

Birthday morning, I woke up to presents and birthday cake! Since I obviously love cupcakes, Anne Lise made them the theme of the day (and that's so like her to have a theme). All of the things in this gift bag had cupcakes on them -- note pads, post-its, those silly rubber bracelets, paper clips, etc.


Then she gave me this cute little cupcake on a pedestal, where it belongs. It was her famous Norske skjokolade kake with raspberry filling. So delicious and so many memories eating this cake together.Unfortunately, sometimes you have to eat something besides cupcakes. Therefore, we went out to breakfast to a place recommended by Esther called Hash House a Go Go. Little did we know that when we ordered a dish, it was supposed to feed a family of four.

This is a dish that is a signature HH meal. It is like eggs benedict, but they do it all on top of a biscuit. This was Lise's breakfast. She made a valiant attempt to finish it.

Below was my meal, which was turkey & bacon hash over fried potatoes, with a side of scrambled eggs and a biscuit. In case you are wondering, biscuits are second only to cupcakes for me.

Next, we were off on a cupcake adventure. We looked online and found a few places. Here's one, called Eclipse Chocolate. They mostly have amazing looking chocolate, but most places have some version of cupcakes in addition to anything else they serve, and so does this place. We got three cupcakes--all yellow cake with chocolate ganache frosting. From left -- PB&J, salted dulce de leche, and in front, apricot/peach.

Below is the salted dulce du leche. mmmmmm.... the cake was so moist and the ganache so rich. Here are a few choices from a place called Babycakes. We got several from this place... from the left pina colada, red velvet, vanilla/vanilla, black forest, chocolate/vanilla, and black bottom. These were disappointing. All of them were kind of spongy, dry and tasteless. That didn't stop me from eating one the next day out of the refrigerator, and for some reason, they tasted better the second day.


Lest you think I was finished, two days later I got a package in the mail. Esther, knowing how much I love her friend's cakes, who is also now making whoopie pies, sent me 16 whoopie pies. SIXTEEN!! And they are good!!

Let's get this party started

I like to celebrate my birthday for as long as possible, so I started over the weekend. LT, Candace & I took the bus home with Jill after work on Friday night and stayed with her for the whole weekend. We started out the weekend right at Captain Ed's for dinner with lots of yummy seafood. I wish I got a picture of Jill's crab legs. Ridiculous.

On Saturday, we got up bright and early and went to the beach. Jill is lucky to live just a few minutes from the Jersey shore (and yet hasn't embraced the GTL culture quite yet). Here we are, protecting our skin from the aging effects of the sun. Nothing like a birthday to remind you about that. This picture was taken while Jill was at home, making me a cake. Yes, she left early and sacrificed a few hours of sun worshipping in the beautiful August weather (said without a hint of sarcasm -- we really are having a beautiful August) to make me a tres leches cake.

The next day, the cake looked like this. As you can see, it wasn't good at all (said with more than a hint of sarcasm).

Happy Birthday to me!!

I realized that if I pushed a bit, I could actually see my 40th John Mayer show on my 40th birthday. I know I said that when I went to see JM in Seattle back in March, that it was my 30th show (if you're keeping score), so I didn't actually see 10 more shows after that. What I did was I figured in shows I hadn't counted before, like the Today show and Live Earth. I figured those didn't count because he only played 3 or 4 songs, but I changed my mind and now they do count. (I still didn't count the times I saw Letterman because those shows are only 1 song. I have to draw the line someplace.)



1. November 23, 2002 -- Amherst, MA
2. August 25, 2003 -- Jones Beach, NY
3. August 29, 2003 -- PNC Bank Arts Center, NJ
4. November 1, 2003 -- Atlanta, GA
5. November 24, 2003 -- Madison Square Garden, NYC
6. February 14, 2004 -- Vancouver, Canada
7. February 2004 -- Crossroads w/ Brad Paisley at Hammerstein Ballroom NYC
8. April 30, 2004 -- Today Show
9. March 20, 2004 -- Providence, RI
10. August 18, 2004 -- Jones Beach NY
11. September 18, 2005 -- Denver, CO
12. October 6, 2005 -- Beacon Theater, NYC
13. November 22, 2005 Tower Records, NYC
14. November 23, 2005 Bowery Ballroom, NYC
15. August 25, 2006 -- Today Show
16. August 25, 2006 -- Saratoga Springs, NY
17. August 30, 2006 -- Jones Beach, NY
18. September 22, 2006 -- Vancouver Canada
19. September 23, 2006 -- Auburn, WA
20. September 24, 2006 -- Ridgefield, WA
21. October 13, 2006 -- Atlanta, GA
22. February 5, 2007 -- Huntsville, AL
23. February 28, 2007 --MSG NYC
24. July 7, 2007 -- Live Earth, Giants Stadium
25. July 20, 2007 -- Good Morning America
26. July 24, 2007 -- PNC Bank Arts Center, NJ
27. July 9, 2008 -- Jones Beach NY
28. July 15, 2008 -- PNC Bank Arts Center, NJ
29. August 23, 2008 -- Hartford, CT
30. November 17, 2009 -- Beacon Theater NYC
31. November 19, 2009 -- Ed Sullivan Theater NYC
32. February, 19, 2010 -- Mohegan Sun, CT
33. February 25, 2010 -- MSG NYC
34. February 26, 2010 -- MSG NYC
35. March 31, 2010 -- Seattle, WA
36. July 21, 2010 -- Jones Beach NY
37. July 23, 2010 -- Today Show
38. August 3, 2010 -- PNC Bank Arts Center, NJ
39. August 7, 2010 -- Hartford, CT
40. August 25, 2010 -- Chula Vista, CA

Hartford

My latest JM adventure was a lot like one from a few years ago. He was performing in Hartford, so I rented a car and drove up for the day. I talked one friend into going with me (it wasn't hard, actually) and she mentioned it to another friend who wanted to go, so there were three of us.

We got there early enough that we could tour the Harriet Beecher Stowe house this time, and we went to the Mark Twain house again.

You know I love Lego's!

Here's JM acknowledging the people and their signs in the crowd, and then making up a song for one couple who got engaged.

Boys of Summer

JM has been doing a few covers in each show during this tour. This was a good one, featuring the singer from opening act Train...

PNC

For JM's current tour, I decided that I had to limit my ticket purchases. After all, I'm not made of money and I'm saving for India. So I decided that I was only going to see him at Jones Beach and in San Diego on my birthday. Two shows! Could I do it?? After all, Leolani was going to NINE New Kids on the Block shows this spring/summer, how could I only do two? Then some things happened in my personal life that bummed me out. My roommate of nearly three years told me she was moving to Atlanta and I seriously entertained the thought of living alone. I thought of the scenarios that would make it possible, but in the end, decided that if I wanted to do things I enjoy most, I would have to find someone to move in to my spare bedroom. Luckily, someone fell into my lap and I didn't have to work at all to find someone and she's not a performer (a rarity among people looking for rooms to rent in NYC), so it all worked out.

But that meant that I was going to go to as many JM shows as I want, dammit!! The downside of making the decision at this late date is that my seats are not as good as what I'm used to. I got tickets for the NJ show (one of my favorite venues, although a pain in the butt to get to) and to the Hartford show. Jill agreed to go with me to the NJ show, which is awesome since she lives only about 30 minutes away. I also invited my new bro-in-law and he told me John Mayer is a TOOL?!? Now that he's family, he is over being on his best behavior, I guess.


This was my favorite number from the show. It's not one of my favorites from the new album, but was great live. Love the addition of the harmonica!

One Day...

...after posting my book recommendation of One Day, I got a super long email from one of my friends telling me what she did and didn't like about the book. We got into a bit of discussion with a third person. One thing I learned from this email book club of sorts is that they are already in the process making the film version. Yay!!

Starring Anne Hathaway! BOO!!

Here're the detes. Just seeing her in those glasses and Dr. Marten's makes me want to punch her in the face.

As much as I like this book, she will ruin the movie for me. I am so disappointed. They couldn't find an actual British actress to play this role? I think there are a few out there.

Something to pass along

I just finished this book, which I quite liked. Here is the review from the NY Times.