Live in Concert

Getting really behind in posting things I want to blog about.  Partly because I don't have a lot of spare time these days (at least it's all good things taking up the minutes) and partly because I wanted to include pictures but haven't got around to getting the pictures off my camera until, well, yesterday.

About a month ago I went to see Sara Bareilles in concert with my friend Shelly.  We'd been planning this for a couple of months, so we were both really excited.  Can you tell?

I really like Sara's music, but I was a little disappointed with the concert.  The music was fantastic and she is a very talented performer, but the atmosphere left something to be desired.  Turns out Sara has a potty mouth and so do lots of her fans.  There was also a lot of people getting drunk and being rude.  The concert was sold out, so it was really crowded too.  Someone started smoking pot down in front and made everybody stinky. By the end of the night my back was killing me after standing so long and we left during the final encore number.  I still like her music, but I don't really feel like seeing her live again unless it was a less-rowdy setting.

Sara's attractive and talented band member.  He (partly) made it all worth it ;-)

Sara, as herself.

The next night at the same venue KT Tunstall was coming to play.  I kept telling Shelly that I wish I could go to that concert too, but it was ridiculous to go to concerts two days in a row, and I didn't want to pay for more tickets. 

Tuesday morning I checked my email and got a message telling me I had won two tickets for the KT Tunstall concert that night.  I sat at my computer a bit bewildered and suspicious, then started laughing with sheer disbelieving giddyness.  The week before I got an email from Ticketmaster about the upcoming concerts in Denver.  To promote the KT Tunstall concert they announced a drawing for tickets.  As instructed, I sent an email to the designated address with my name, and lo and behold I won the tickets!

Since I won two tickets, I invited my sister in law Janna to come along with me to the concert.  The experience was so much more satisfying that night!  It wasn't crowded, people were actually listening to the music and not drinking themselves silly, no illegal substances made themselves known, and on top of it all she was an outstanding performer and extremely talented.  She was also very personable and funny between songs.  Janna and I had a blast.  I didn't get a picture of us, but I did take a few of KT.

That didn't end my week of concert going.  On Denver's tourism site they post events around town and every week offer 2-for-1 tickets to various goings-on for the week.  They offered some for the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra concert for that Friday night and I attended with a date.  The orchestra played with a special guest violinist and it was a great concert.  I swooned over seeing a harp.  I've only touched mine once since last Christmas, mostly because I've only spent 2.5 days in Idaho since last Christmas.  I didn't get any pictures of that concert.  Sorry.  Just know it was excellent.

The Thanksgiving Report

I write this because a lot of people seem to want to know what I did for Thanksgiving.  I stayed in Colorado.  Luke & Co went to Salt Lake City to spend the holiday with Janna's relations. They left on Monday and returned home the following Sunday so I had the whole house to myself all week.  I was never lonely though because I have excellent friends who made sure I was taken care of. 

I worked Monday through Wednesday, and those three days were full of catching up and late evenings at the office.  I shudder to think of the state of my mind (and office) if I had made plans to be gone for the hoilday. We added new locations half way through the month and the startup work put me behind in everything else, including time-sensitive tasks.  I'm happy to report I did catch up and all is well and back on schedule.

For the holiday itself I had multiple invitations for dinner, but alas I could not make all of them.  I did go to Marylou's for early dinner and Emily's for late dinner.  You 'aint never had second dinner till you've had a Thanksgiving second dinner.  It was delicious.  The company was also excellent.  Both families took treat me like their own. 

This isn't my first Thanksgiving away from family.  My first semester of college was spent in Nauvoo.  Travelling anywhere was a prevatitively laborious task, so I stayed in Illinois with most of the student body and we celebrated together.  That time was a lot harder, being the first time away.  This time wasn't so bad.  I called the family in the morning and talked for a long time. 

The rest of the week was mostly pleasant.  Saturday revolved around the BYU-UT game, the result of which lowered my spirits the remainder of the day.  Everyone arrived home on Sunday evening safely and soundly despite the wild weather all across the Rockies.  We weren't touched by the storm in this area.  It was sunny and lovely all week.  Today reached 66 degrees downtown.  Happy early Christmas Denver!