A Girls' Day Out with Michael Buble

My good friend, Michelle, and I had been looking forward to our Girls's Day Out for many months. I think we bought our Michael Buble tickets back in February, and the day had finally come at the end of June. Our day began at Olive Garden for lunch--soup and salad and a VERY tart lemonade drink that made my eyes bulge out of my head and my tastebuds somersault on my tongue.

The day continued with pedicures at the mall in Overland Park. Since they couldn't get us in right away, we took ourselves down to NY&Co for some shopping--30 minutes, a new credit card and two cute dresses later, we were on our way back to get our pedicures.

Since orange is my new favorite color, that made my nail color choice easy! (Notice no mole on my toe? I had it removed back a few months ago--PAINFUL as anything I've had done, but now my feet are so cute!)

We raced out of the mall to make it to our massage appointments. I thought we were going for a stress-free one-hour massage that was going to make me love life and feel invigorated for the concert. Ummm...NO NO NO! Instead, I was pulled, pushed, squeezed, and even bruised by my lovely massage therapist Hilda. (Her name was something nicer, but she should have been named this after the torture she put me through.)

 I had never had a swedish massage before and didn't know that the Sweds were into this kind of pain! The best part, other than the end, was the stretching. She did stretch my arms and legs into positions I thought I could only do in yoga. When we left, we were both sore and bruised but ready for dinner at Cheddar's with our friends--Kelly from Boston and the other April :)

Naturally 7 was the group that opened up for Michael Buble, and although I had never heard of them before, they brought the house down! This talented group of seven calls what they do Vocalplay rather than Acapella. They "play" instruments with their voices and sing as well. If you watch the video below (be sure to mute the music at the bottom), you'll see what I mean. Notice no instruments--just air drums, air guitar, air bass, etc. You'll also have to turn your head to the side because I filmed the video with the camera turned and have no idea how to flip it around so it plays rightside up. :)

Michael Buble, my other boyfriend, performed a much better show than even I was prepared for! He was funny, sang all his hits plus one that I fell in love with called "Best of Me", and even embodied Michael Jackson before the night was over. That was one of the highlights, as well as becoming Ferris Bueller for the famous parade float scene. Michael was so charming, and he made the giant arena feel like a more intimate show somehow. Some of the songs he and his band performed were Cry Me a River, Mack the Knife, Crazy Love, For Once in my Life, Home, Feeling Good (one of my faves!), and of course, I Just Haven't Met You Yet.

As you can tell from the pictures, our seats were WAY up in the air. Next time he comes to town, I don't care how much the tickets are, I will be on the floor up close and personal. Michelle and I both will be!

This is the video of Michael B becoming Michael M. (Sorry for the loud scream--a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do--and sideways video.)

I was saddened to see the show and night end, but I will always have this memory.

Chicago

Arturo and I were fortunate to take a quick vacation up to Chicago a few weekends ago. We were there for two reasons: 1) Arturo wanted to update his Peru ID and get a new passport, and 2) take our first trip together and see if we could survive. We did! :)

Since neither of us wanted to take our own cars (my 10-year-old Focus and his gas-guzzling Mustang) on the road, we rented a 2010 Dodge Caliber. I fell in love with that car, but I know I what I want, and I'm still saving for my new Focus.

We passed this bull on our ping-pong walk along Michigan Ave. It was sooooo hot and humid, and that did not help our situation. We could not find the right building for Arturo's embassy, and we literally walked the same few blocks 3-4 times until we finally realized we were at the point where the street numbers split North and South. Oh boy!

After tackling the city streets of Chicago and living to tell about it (don't I sound like a badass? :)), we made our way to the Navy Pier and spent the rest of the day here. I didn't realize there was so much to do here that would take the entire afternoon and evening--eating, Cirque show, eating, boat ride/tour, eating, shopping, eating,...did I mention eating?

The Cirque Cloud 9 show was good. I say good because it can't compare to the "real" Cirque de Soleil shows I've seen, but the acrobats could definitely put on a show.

This woman amazed me--she was literally standing en pointe on top of her partner's head!

When Arturo and I finally decided on a river architecture boat tour (after looking at the dozen or so offerings...), we had no idea we'd be in a torrential downpour in the middle of the Chicago River. At the point of departure, the weather was perfect--90 degrees or so, sunny, and hot. Within 45 minutes, the temp had dropped to the upper 60s and was raining cats and dogs!! See the pic below to see the rain clouds coming in.

I have no idea what buildings these actually are, but the riverboat docent aptly named these two the "Corncob" buildings. Are they condos? Offices? No idea other than if you look closely at the bottom of the picture, you can see cars parked in the circle too.

There's nothing really spectacular about this picture below other than the story behind the building. Apparently this was one of a couple of buildings in Chicago that was used to film "The Dark Knight" with Heath Ledger.

Two pictures I have (above and below) of the famous Sears Tower. We didn't have time to go to the top--on my list for next time--but I love this second pic of it. Does it look like it's flipping you off? :) I know...I'm sick.

Here comes the rain!!!! Once the downpour started, we all stayed in the lower part of the boat and bought $3.00 ponchos to get us back to dry land without soaking us through and through.

During the rainstorm, we checked out some of the shops at the Navy Pier. Lo and behold, look who I ran into--my other boyfriends Jake and Edward. Mmmm...

I hoped Arturo wouldn't get too jealous of this chef. He allowed me to share my kiss with him. :)

I thought we were going to eat at Hard Rock Cafe so I could add another glass to my collection, but when I saw Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. at Navy Pier, this was it. The food is good but nothing special, but I just love the atmosphere (plus the scrapbook collection I can add). And I was able to add one of their glasses to my collection!

You can't go to Navy Pier without riding the world-famous ferris wheel!

When we FINALLY returned to our hotel (the train was an hour delayed due to the storms), we noticed something peculiar about the area surrounding the hotel--everything was dark. Literally dark. Apparently we didn't care since we were so tired, but we used Arturo's cell phone to light the way to our room, then used mine as a flashlight so we could find our way around the room. Lights out (pun intended) for us! I do have to say, though, after talking to the manager upon our return home, although we won't ever stay there again, he was gracious enough to refund both of the two nights stay. And it's not his fault his hotel did not have any power, but I wanted him to know how we were treated by his employees both the night before and morning of checkout. Let's just say hospitable was not in either girl's vocabulary.

Instead of going back into the city for our last morning, we decided to head home and take in President Lincoln's home tour in Springfield, IL. I'm glad we did that--we didn't have to rush around, and now that I'm older and obviously more mature :), I tend to enjoy these types of tours more than when I was a kid.

Lincoln's front formal living room

Lincoln's only home office area (no real office for the President??)

Lincoln's bedroom--notice the wildly different patterns from the wallpaper, blanket and carpet

I love that Arturo can be playful and fun alongside me--he's trying to be a tough Union soldier here

and I'm just his damsel in distress...Save me Arturo!

An unfortunate incident from our vacation was the disappearance of my big Canon camera. Something happened (no details here...) while we were gone, and now I've had to replace it. I chose a different camera instead of just getting the same one--not that I don't want a new digital SLR, but I want a camera I can actually take with me that's not soooo bulky. I chose the Sony Cybershot HX1 and so far, so good. I've only played around with it, but I plan on taking it with me when Mom and I go see my brother later this month. A few aspects of the camera that I like so far--20x zoom, 1080HD video, tilted screen, the ability to turn off the screen and use the viewfinder (great for concerts and bright days), and easy access to change ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. Some of the cons I've noticed--I can't delete a picture right after taking it but instead I have to view all the pics and then hit delete, and too many "special" settings to figure out. ???

100th post long overdue

Should I begin with the most recent and work backward or vice versa? I never know where to begin with this thing, unlike my scrapbooks. Those are always done in chronological order, but this is different. So much has come up since my last post--Mother's Day. Ummm...it's after the 4th of July now.

Summer school is almost over (2 days left!!), and this summer has definitely been tougher than last year. I don't know if it's the days--I was on vacation this time last year--or if just the kids are different, but Friday cannot come soon enough for me! On the plus side, with teaching summer school, I get the chance to read every day. While I can't say that I've read any fascinating academic books, I did re-read Eclipse and Breaking Dawn before seeing the new flick. No Academy Awards will be earned, but I love those stories and movies just the same. Now I'm in the middle of the new addition to the Twilight family--The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner. Next up will be The Book Thief (Thanks Hayley!).

This summer also saw the completion (as much as could be done at the moment) of my basement. It's been painted, carpeted, and furnished. Now I just need to add a TV and surround sound system to finish off my "woman-cave".

These four pictures came extremely cheap--they are 12x12 scrapbook paper. I love when I can re-invent something into art.

My Disney scrapbook room was already painted and mostly furnished, but I changed out my utility shelves for some cute white wooden shelves. Now I just need to actually sit down and scrap!