Vegas, Baby, Vegas!

Susan, Emily and I headed West this weekend for a belated birthday celebration for Miss Susan. We gave her a ticket to the Garth Brooks concert for her birthday, and what a birthday treat it was! We loved the concert! It was a really intimate performance (well, if you consider 1,500 people intimate!) in which he told his life and career story through music. He began talking about the music of the 1960s - George Jones, Merle Haggard, Simon & Garfunkle, Don McLean - and then spoke about his teenage years listening to James Taylor, Bob Seger and Bob Dylan. For each artist, he choose a signature song and performed it for the audience. It was such a fun sing-a-long and it was great listening to him play music from so many different artists. He really has an amazing voice and is a terrific guitar player.

As he began to talk about his country music beginning, he spoke of the music of George Strait and Randy Travis and then he launched into stories of how he wrote some of his own songs. The show was a solid two hours, but surprisingly he only sang 10 of his own songs. We heard Rodeo, Thunder Rolls, Papa Loved Mama, Friends in Low Places, The Dance, Unanswered Prayers, That Summer, To make You Feel My Love, If Tomorrow Never Comes, and Shameless.

We loved every minute of the concert and tried to figure out ways to stay in the theater for the next show! Alas, they kicked us out!

The rest of our weekend was spent hanging out at our hotel - The Four Seasons. Loved it! Is it ok that I believe, deep down in my bones, that I was born to be a Four Seasons girl? I just LOVE luxury hotels! Oh, who am I kidding, I LOVE the luxury life! Bring on the Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, St. Regis any day of the week and I'm a goner!

Susan and I arrived on Friday afternoon and almost immediately hit the pool area. It was so blazing hot that the only respite was to stand inside the pool, while reading my book (I'm almost finished The Hunger Games trilogy!). I'm not much a pool girl - in fact, this was my first time pool-side in probably three years - but it was very nice to be still and quiet for 48 hours. Work has been totally insane, so this was a great break!

I'm definitely not a Vegas person - in fact, I kind of hate Las Vegas - but it was a great weekend that was made perfect thanks to two hour with Garth Brooks!

My Garden is Growing!

I love the garden gift that Gordon gave me!

I love walking into my garden and gathering a colander full of lettuce greens!I love walking into my garden and collecting handfuls of basil!

I love walking into my garden and seeing my tomato babies growing into teenage tomatoes! I can't wait until these little guys turn red and are ready to pluck!

Sawyer Turns 4!

I can't believe we're already celebrating Sawyer's 4th birthday! And, this year, he has the fun of celebrating with a brand new brother!

Unfortunately, this is the first time I'm not in Colorado to celebrate with Sawyer, but I still spoke with him (and sang him a beautiful rendition of "Happy Happy Birthday"!) and received a laundry lists of birthday presents, including a new T-ball stand, which he seems to enjoy! Hopefully, I'll be heading out to Colorado in the next few weeks and will get some Xs and Os from the little guy. Hard to believe how much the stinker has grown...Whooeee...talk about a grumpy gus! Even though his birthday was spent taking a tour of Mile Hi Stadium, someone was more interested in taking a nap!

Thinking About Going Under the Knife

After twenty years of talk, I finally mustered the courage to visit a plastic surgeon about a nose job. It's been no secret to those who really know me that I have hated my nose since I was about 9 years old. I think it's too big, too long, too wide...just too too much. I hate having my picture taken; I hate seeing my profile; I hate people being close to my face...and all because of my stinkin' nose.

My friends think I'm crazy - as Amalia told me on Saturday, "your sense of self is wildly skewed" - and yet, I keep coming back to a desire to have it changed.

Sooo...

Last Friday, I went for a consultation with Dr. Steven Hopping in Washington. Amalia's friend Shari went to him for her nose job and she raved about his treatment and her results. I spent 45 minutes with him while he took pictures and described how he'd make my nose symmetrical and "more feminine." I'm not sure I'm going to do it - it comes with a very hefty price tag - but I'm glad I went for the consultation and it now gives me something to think about! Maybe it'll be my 40th birthday present to myself!

Sawyer & Walker Celebrating July 4

Jocelyn sent a few photos of their family vacation at a lake house in Wisconsin. How cute are these boys??

July 4 Staycation

I opted to stay in Washington, D.C. for the July 4th weekend, and I'm so glad I did! I've been living a life of planes, trains and automobiles in recent months and sometimes I just want to take a breather!

I did a whole lot of nothing...I ate out a couple of time with Amber, Jill, Susan and Emily; I had Jenny Reeder over for lunch to talk about visiting teaching; I did a little cooking and cleaning (Amalia and Gordon moved out two weeks ago); I read some magazines; and I played a lot of Scrabble games on my iPad. I keep thinking it's a waste of time, but on the other hand, I'm learning lots of new words!

The finale of the weekend was a cookout at Trish's and watching fireworks from the Capitol balcony. Amber provided a fine rendition of "Grand Old Flag" with all the Broadway pizzazz she could muster.......and Trish put on a delicious BBQ for everyone... Once again, I was reminded that it pays to have friends who work for Congress! Trish's family, Amber, Jill, Kristen, Susan and I all piled onto the Capitol balcony to listen to the symphony and watch the fireworks...it was loads of fun with a minimum amount of humidity! Yippee! It's hard to believe that we're already at July 4th! Where has 2011 gone!?!
After the fireworks, we headed home via Army Navy Drive, which Amber began to term "draggin' Army Navy"...except we do dragging middle-age style......we obey all traffic signs, we never break 35 MPH and our riskiest maneuver is sticking our hands out the sunroof. We really know how to walk the wild side!