Best.Night.Ever!!!!!!

This past weekend I experienced one of the best nights of my life!  My friends, Allison and Brooke, and I went to The Package Tour Concert at the Target Center in Minneapolis.  This concert consisted of Boyz II Men, 98 Degrees and New Kids on the Block.  We started our night by getting ready at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Nicolet and enjoyed a few beverages too. Then we went to Pizza Luce for a yummy dinner with some of Brooke’s friends who were also attending the concert. 

Around 7:15 we walked a few blocks to the Target Center and were ready for the adventure to begin. We had floor seats, row 18…seats 14, 15,16. This is tough to describe because now a days concert stages are set up so differently but basically we were right next to what used to be the main stage (back in the day). Row 18 was the second to last row and our seat were right by the walkway to the “new” main stage.  Begin on the floor is awesome because you have freedom to move around and see the acts in different places. If while doing this you happen to find a better seat, no problem. Try it out for a while and stay until you can’t.  Yes, we moved seats a few times and got some awesome views! 

Needless to say, the concert was amazing! Boyz II Men were fabulous and could have definitely be on stage twice as long.  98 Degrees were good and GREAT to look at. But, the reason we came were for the New Kids and they were……they were AMAZING!!!!!  The songs they sang were perfect, a good mix of old favorites and new songs from their 2008 return until now.  After the concert our night was not over, oh no! We had tickets to the after party. Let’s just say that it was epic. 

Here are some highlights from the night:

* Moving seats and finding a better view…although all view from the floor were amazing!

*Waving to Wanya Morris of Boyz II Men and having him wave back

*Singing along to so many favorites of Boyz II Men and New Kids (and a few of 98 Degrees)

*Enjoying an adult beverage or two

*Getting a hug from Donnie at the end of Hangin’ Tough when he ran down the aisle by the stage…..SO COOL!

*Attending the after party

*Getting a group pic with 4 of the New Kids and the Boyz II Men

* Partying with the guys and having a blast with Allison and Brooke

*Getting another hug and pic with Donnie! 

What a night….here are a few pics that help sum it up:

 

 

 

 

Scrapbooking and Photoshop!

Today my dear friend, Shawna, introduced me to Photoshop!!!!  That’s right, I have never used Photoshop.  I purchases it a few weeks ago, upon her recommendation, and installed it last night. Today we got together at her home, with our laptops, and created some amazing 12x12 scrapbook layouts. Now I am on the hunt for templates, actions (although I am not quite sure what they are), and other cool things to add to my digital 12x12 layouts.

I will be using these layouts an a monthly introduction in my tradition scrapbooks. Don’t get me wrong, I love to create a traditional scrapbook page, but I also find that I have SO many pictures and sometime it doesn’t make sense to scrap a whole page for a random event. These 12x12 collage pages are the perfect solution.  I have made one, shown below, and am creating my 2nd tonight.  Wish me luck doing it on my own for the first time!!!!

An inspiration!

Last Thursday was quite the night! We had church pictures for our directory which were actually pretty fun and easy. I was surprised at how nicely Adam sat and SMILED for the camera :)  Before we were called in for pictures he ran around the church like a mad man so that was fun. He was quite a hit!

After pictures we headed to Dick's Market to meet author Tasha Schuh. I first heard of Tasha on the TV show Twin Cities live back in February when we had a snow day. Adam was sleeping and I spending some downtime on the couch with my ipad watch the TV. Tasha was being interviewed about her accident and life afterwards on Twin Cities live and her story and positive attitude caught my attention immediately.  I had to know more about her because her spirit was so amazing.  I looked her up on Facebook, found her page, liked it and requested her friendship.  I also added her book, "My Last Step Backward" to my To-Read list on goodreads.com. 

2 days later at work, a friend of mine came into the teacher's lounge and gave me copy of Tasha's book. She has a few connections to Tasha including that her husband was her UPS man :)  I wasn't able to start reading Tasha's book right away because I was finishing another (New Kids on the Block by Nikki Van Noy....so good!) but shortly starting My Last Step Backward after Spring Break. 

I have to stay that Tasha's story is amazing. She tells a very factual account of her accident on stage at the Sheldon Theater in Red Wing and the events that follow to the present day.  A wonderful book of hope, faith and inspiration. I have to say I found myself smiling more and more through the reading of the book and cheering as Tasha made small steps into her new life. 

Meeting Tasha was so cool!  She is so personable and down to earth.  I enjoy just chatting with her about life and her up coming wedding. She signed a copy of her book for me (even though I had already read it I had to have my own copy!) and talking with her gave me such a wonderful feeling of peace and positivity.  I left Dick's Market beaming.  If you are interested in reading Tasha's story, let me know. I will loan out my copy as long as you promise not to read it in the bath (I have had too many book/tub incidents!).  Tasha does a lot of local appearances and I would encourage you to go to one if you have a change. She also is an inspirational speaker and speaks around our area at churches, schools, etc.  Check out her website:
www.tashaschuh.com

St. Patrick's Day

We usually don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day except to get the occasional Shamrock Shake :) This year we read that River Falls was having some fun festivities in honor of the day including a medallion hunt, potato soup tasting/contest and open container rule for the downtown area. To use this sounds very similar to the annual River Dazzle Chili Crawl that we have attending twice so we thought we would check it out. The weather was quite cold but we all survived and enjoy ourselves! We did read a few of the clues for the medallion hunt we were too tired at the end of our adventure to think of where it could be. Erik and I tried about 8 different potato soups. I really dislike potatoes....not the taste just the blahness of them and really do not like when they are in big, thick chunks. So, I wasn't sure how I would like the soups but they were mostly good. Some had really thin potato pieces and I loved that. Some were also really creamy and delicious! We ended our outing with lunch at Coach's and some green beer! Adam had a blast being pushed in his strolled and meeting lots of fun people. Here are some fun pictures of our day!

Trying some soup!

Green beer!!!!

Lack of motivation!!!!

I am seriously done with winter! I know I live in Wisconsin and snow, cold, ice and crappy driving come with the territory but enough already! We have had so much snow this winter and it keeps coming. It's the middle of March for crying out loud! The amount of snow, long drives to work and dealing with the winter clothes, boots, etc has really bummed me out. My motivation has been leaking out like a balloon with a small pin hole ever since the New Year and it is about deflated. Spring can't come soon enough! Any ideas how to get some of that motivation back???? Not to be a total downer but this is my blog so I can complain, right? :) I have been putting off writing ever since I decided to get back on the blogging saddle because I haven't know what to write about. So, tonight I have a bit of extra time and thought.....now is as good of a time as any to get going with it. I promise the next entry will be more interesting and hopefully more positive. On a good note, the snow has made for some fun picture of Adam and some fun play time in the evenings....I do enjoy the longer light in the evening (but of course, I hate the darker mornings).

2013?

Yikes! Can it be 2013? What happened to 2012? According to my blog it didn't happen! Actually it was a wonderful year full of fun fun fun! Of course, we have been busy with Adam and I think blog just slipped my mind. I have been more busy keeping up with scrapbooks, photo frames, baby books, etc. I also still try to read for fun and enjoy a movie or two with Erik once in a while :) So, blogging hasn't been at the top of my list. Let's see if I can change that! I am currently taking an amazing class on-line through UW-Stout (where I got my undergrad and masters....see more in December 2009, Shawna....how do you do that link thingy so I can link right to that post?) and that has reaquainted me with writing and blogging. So, here I go. My dear friend, Shawna, does some pretty sweet blogging. I think I need to have some training from her so I can make my blog more user friendly. Look for that to come soon!