What Ana Does

Alice is our huge Swiftie. And we tried but failed to get Taylor Swift Eras Tour tickets when she rolled through the USA last summer. And the secondary market ticket prices were absolutely ridiculous. $5,000 a ticket? Even the $2,000 was out of the question. So when she released dates for her European tour, it made sense to try for tickets. We had planned to go to Europe this summer for Leah's graduation trip and we knew we would spend less than $2000/ticket, even with the flights and hotel.  It was a very stressful experience, but I got GREAT tickets in Milan for the three of us to last summer for less than $500/ticket. We just had to wait 12 months before the big night.  We watched the Eras Tour movie on Disney, watched all the videos on social media from other fans at the concert. I studied the lyrics all year and ran on the treadmill so I was in fit for the 3.5 hour show. We picked out outfits and made 60 friendship bracelets to exchange at the show. We needed those 12 mon...

First, I'll admit that it took me WAY TOO LONG to rename our weekend Golden Girls. So I'll be using that a lot to make amends.  Our sister-in-law had a great idea last year while languishing away through COVID quarantine -- we need to get the ladies together. My three sisters, Mom and her ... let's go away! We settled on Denver so we could see a Brandi Carlilie concert at Red Rocks. Got tickets last winter and pulled it all together little by little. We were not surprised when ALL the sisters confirmed they could go. We love being all together.  I found a brand-new hotel (I love a new hotel) that just opened in Golden, and that brought the whole thing together. Cities are great to explore, but smaller nearby towns are way more managable for a weekend. So we booked it and that was that.  Here are some details and recommendations from our trip:  We stayed at the Eddy Hotel in Golden. We all shared a large room for the weekend but spend most of our time in the lobby. L...

My first concert was Cyndi Lauper when I was 13ish. My uncle took my older sister and I and I remember finding the whole thing overwhelming but fun. It wasn't until I met David did I start attending concerts often. In our 20s, concert-going was our main expense after food/shelter and we saw a LOT of amazing shows. He took me to my first Bruce show in 1999 at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. It felt like a religious experience. The showmanship! The talent! The excitement! Being in a stadium with the lights up for Born to Run and the whole crowd singing a long. I was hooked. Bruce is doing a concert to commemorate The River, a double LP he put out in 1980 and a big turning point in his career -- and we immediately knew the girls had to get tickets, too. It was time for them to come along. (Who knows how many more tours Bruce has in him!?) We got tickets, I ordered Snug ear protection for their little ears, and ignored the fact that the show, in Milwaukee, was on a school night. ...

Eight years later, I finally get my Pearl Jam shirt. From a show I was able to attend. And it fits ... Totally Wearing It At Work Right Now P.S. The show was absolutely brilliant. Eddie Vedder is a rock god.  Rocking Out!

Okay, here's my favorite Pearl Jam story. Eight years ago Pearl Jam was touring and we got tickets. For May. Weeks after Leah was born. We see a lot of concerts, but this one band had been alluding us. Either we missed out on getting tickets or they weren't coming to our area or we had scheduling conflicts. Anyway, we were really, super excited when we got these tickets. We also know my attendance was iffy. Who knows how I was going to feel or if the baby was going to be on time. Etc. Anyway, the time came and I was OUT; Too exhausted, overwhelmed, not up for it. Dave invited a friend and OF COURSE went anyway. I was OK with it. Bummed but OK. These things happen. They played "Baba O'Reilly" for Pete's sake. And this was one of the first time they did. So, ok. I'm maybe still not over it. But it was Leah's fault. Really. I don't blame Dave for not skipping it. But ... THEN HE GETS HOME WITH A T-SHIRT. For ME. A size SMALL. I had just ha...

It's been wait, wait, wait, wait ... and suddenly the GREEN LIGHT. GO! Everything is starting to fall into place quickly. Very quickly. If Monday goes as planned, I'll have a date, booked the movers, the car move and looking at plane tickets for our "final move" to Illinois. And Dave will be bringing his boxes into our new house -- only three months after our house-hunt trip in mid-September. And the anxiety is mounting. Not only are we trying to get this all in before the holidays, we've got tickets to see Wilco and family flying in. The next few days will be terribly exciting. Stay tuned.

One good thing about our long delay... we didn't miss the Guster show at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair. (See earlier post about missing them.) Spectacular show! They played ALL of my favorite songs. Dave and I danced the night away. But we needed Maggie to complete the tradition. Where were you MAGGIE?! GUSTER IS FOR LOVERS