Fiona's birthday and other news

I think we'll go with a bullet list today:

• Fiona's birthday is coming up in a little over a week. I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a good theme that 1) is appropriate for girls AND boys 2) we haven't done before (last year was circus) and 3) is something Fiona is actually into. Last night the girls were helping me brainstorm and somehow we came up with an underwater theme. Yes! Fiona's really into the ocean, sharks, jellyfish, boats and all that good stuff (thank you Spongebob) so this will be great for her. And we've already come up with a ton of good ideas. We're going with a blue and green color scheme. The living and dining rooms will be decorated with streamers to look like seaweed going up the walls, with lots of fish, crabs, and jellyfish pasted to the walls. When the kids arrive, they will make "seascape" pictures. We will use these for a fishing game by dumping fish on top of the pictures and having the kids fish them into their goodie bags. Then the pictures will be taped to one wall, together, to form the seascape. Next we'll do a craft, either building boats or perhaps a sea creature mobile. Then we'll play "stinging jellyfish" (aka "hot potato") and learn the "Fishies in the water" song and swim around the living room for a while. Next come cake and presents, and we'll finish it off by moving outside for the "shark and fish" game (aka tag). It should be a blast, I'm so excited!
  



• The Girl Scout year is coming to an end, and we're planning our closing ceremony for two weeks from now. I'm wrapping up financials and reports and getting ready for our camping trip the first weekend of June and our summer party at the end of June. One of the co-leaders is stepping down for next year (although she still plans to help out where she can) and I'm stepping up the the leader position. I'm very excited as I've already got a lot of great ideas for next year.



• The girls are doing really well in the theater troop they joined. They are preparing for a "Series of One Acts" play for the end of June. They will be doing a scene from Annie, Jack and the Beanstock, Rapunzel, and a shortened version of The Wizard of Oz. Saskia will be playing Molly in Annie and the giant's wife in Jack and the Beanstock. Fiona is an orphan in Annie and the cow in Jack (she's going to be SO cute). They will both be munchkins in the Wizard of Oz. It should be a great show! Saskia is doing really well and has memorized all her lines. She's definitely got a future in theater!



• I've been spending most of my time on the weekend working outside. Our yard has SO much work that needs to be done. We've dug up the front lawn and reseeded it and the grass has started to grow. I've also cleared a lot of lily of the valley and ivy from various flower beds. Next weekend I hope to have the bed running along the driveway, next to the house, totally cleared out and replaced with river stones. I love seeing progress being made, but I sometimes wish it was going faster (and that it made my back, shoulders, legs and hands hurt less!)



• I'll be going to see Blue October in concert with a friend on May 16th, woo-hoo!

That's all for now. Take care everyone!

Dirt Room

Blue October's new video "Dirt Room" premiered today. The album goes on sale in March. Enjoy!

The Blue October and Yellowcard concert last night...

...was absolutely amazing. The concert started off with a not too good garage band. They were followed by Shiny Toy Guns, who were pretty good. Then things really got kicking with Yellowcard. They were great! I didn't know their music all that well before the concert, just a few songs. But their performance rocked! The lead singer was really dynamic and spoke a lot with the crowd. He really got us going. The violinist was fabulous and really talented.

To back track a moment, I went to the concert with my DH. He wasn't really into it, so we started out sitting in the balcony. I wasn't feeling the energy up there, all the people were sitting there, still as stones, acting bored! So towards the end of Yellowcard I excused myself and went down front to dance. Apparently I was gone for 1.5 hours, because once Blue October started playing I totally lost track of time! DH was kind of annoyed, but seriously this is my FAVORITE band and I just had to dance...

Justin was incredible! I was about 5 rows back from the front and several times he came over to the section I was dancing in. Staring into his eyes while screaming along with his vocals is not an experience I'm going to forget! The band played 1.5 hours, and covered almost every song from Foiled, as well as several from Consent to Treatment and History For Sale. They played my two favorites, HRSA and X Amount of Words, so I was in heaven!

The only two down parts to the concert: The sound checks between each band took about 30 minutes each, so that was 1.5 hours lost. All in all the concert lasted 5 hours. So my babysitter bill was extreme... LOL, but it was worth it! The other thing that wasn't so nice was there were these 3 totally drunken jerks right behind me on the floor. They kept slamming into me and these 3 other "little" women. One of them spilled his beer all over a girls back... when we told them off they got in our face and started screaming about how they were "real" fans and we should go home and listen to the band on our radios... Assholes. I know, never bother arguing with a drunk as it won't get you anywhere but it was frustrating as they were sending such a bad energy into the crowd....

Anyone still with me? Okay, then I'll just say a few words about WHY I love Blue October so much. It's not just the music, although their sound is phenomenal. It is the lyrics too. You know that Justin has been through hell in his life, drug addiction, abuse, and hospitalization in mental wards. But he made it OUT, AND THROUGH THE OTHER SIDE. A lot of his songs are about recovery and how amazing life is. He has such a positive message about why life is great and worth living, and when someone with that kind of past says "LIFE IS GOOD!" you REALLY listen! Plus he is incredibly intelligent and has an amazing talent for poetry... I could go on but I'll stop now. Sufficiet to say, I HAD A GREAT TIME!