Homegirl Quel (kel) in Austin

Whitney Houston Performing "One Moment In Time"

My local radio station is playing Whitney Houston's songs in heavy rotation today. I am happy that she shared her gift with us while she as here. My heart is heavy for her daughter and for everyone who knew and truly loved her. I am feeling a little sad. About as sad as I felt when Aaliyah died and when Michael Jackson died. They are people you always root for and want to see them do well, you know? Each of their stars were rising right at the moment they fell. How hard was I rooting for Whitney's comeback? I'm sad that we will not get to see her rock the red carpet when her next film, Sparkle, premieres in the fall. The past few years have been rough on her. I believe her soul is at peace now. She probably looking down on earth right now smiling at the mark she left that says, "I was here."

I would like to remember her when she was at her best. Her smile, charisma and voice are unmatched in the music industry, yesterday and today. I have heard this song twice today on my car radio. It is a reminder, not only of how beautiful Whitney's voice was, but also that life, for all of us, really is just one moment in time.

R.I.P. Whitney.

Diary of An Austin City Limits Music Festival Rookie

Thanks to The Austin Chronicle and  my uncanny luck with online contests (I don't enter many, but I win a lot of the ones I enter), I won two 3-day passes to Austin City Limits Music Festival 2011! I never have cash during early-bird pre-sales and had given up on going this year. I didn't even recall entering the contest. So when I saw the email that I had won, it truly was a pleasant surprise. The fact that the weekend kicked off on my birthday made it extra special. My husband came with me the first two days, our three year old son joined us on day 2 and was my date on the last day of the festival. Lots of planning and patience helped make this weekend awesome. Lots of pictures and videos make the memories that much sweeter. Here's what happened...

Guayaki Yerba Mate-Brett Dennen Show-SXSW 2011

I was ready to call SXSW 2011 a total bust for me this year. My son was home from school for spring break so daytime shows and screenings were already a no-go. Going out at night is almost always never an option for me, so I didn't even try. But I got an email last-minute that changed all that...for one day, at least.

The PR folks for the Guayaki Organic Yerba Mate- Brett Dennen show sent me a VIP invitation to attend the show, bring a guest and collect swag. There was also a documentary screening scheduled after the show. After working much logistical magic between the family of my plus one and mine, it was settled: the men watched the kiddos and me and my plus one were out to do it VIP style in the ATX! Which was awesome and also totally not what you think...

The show was on the rooftop at Whole Foods Headquarters. It's located on my favorite corner in Austin right across from Book People (where I have spent many hours drooling over the awesomest collection of stationary, handmade jewelry, scarves and oh yeah--books)  and Anthropologie (where I usually wear blinders as I make  a beeline for the clearance room in the back of the store) and Waterloo Records (which I've never been into because I'm not hip and am not into music THAT much, but is great for people watching from the street-level cafe seating outside Whole Foods. Anyway, so the show was on top of Whole Foods HQ. Brett Dennen performed a great acoustic set as children played on the playscape behind him. Oh yeah, there's a playscape on the rooftop at Whole Foods, mostly because Austin absolutely ROCKS when it comes to keeping whole families in mind and the best businesses always keep that in mind. Austin luh da kids. 

The Hey Lollies @ Cherrywood Coffeehouse Austin, TX

When I saw this concert posted on the Parent Wise Facebook page about a week ago, my first impulse was to skip it. Mainly because it was to take place on a Sunday morning at 10:30, when I'm usually in bed, at the gym or at church. Then I considered my son who is a ball of energy, just turned three and who loves music. I fought through my selfish bone and accessed my selfless mommy bone and put The Hey Lollies kid's music and puppet show  on my calendar. I also shared it with my Mocha Moms group. 

Yesterday morning we got off to a late start, but arrived at Cherrywood Coffeehouse just in time to see the second half of the show., and for breakfast! Y'all know I love coffee, I love to sing and I love to get silly-- so to sit with my son and enjoy all of the above was a treat. The performance was awesome and the women were, as expected, so warm and welcoming letting some kids sit on stage and engaging them with hugs and hellos after the show was over. I am an instant fan of The Hey Lollies. 

Here is a video of my son enjoying the show, complete with photos and slow-mo toddler footwork action. Enjoy!

They have more shows scheduled for March. If you're in Austin, get ye there to see them. It's great weekend fun. Show times and locations listed after the jump.

Yo Gabba Gabba Live in Austin was awesome!

A little background. I entered a video of my two year old playing drums in the Yo Gabba Gabba Cool Tricks Facebook contest. Then I begged for my Facebook friends to vote for weeks on end. Thanks to their votes, he won! The prize: VIP tickets to the show, tons of organic toddler snacks by Revolution Foods and access to the after party to meet the Gabba Gang. I thought we would get to meet DJ Lance too, but when he didn't show up early on at the after party, we asked the door guys and alas, it was not meant to be. No DJ Lance. But we sat so close to the stage, that every time he came to our side of the stage, he appeared to wave right at us. Although I can't say definitively, my guess is that he did wave right at us because we stuck out like brown...brown...sore thumbs in a sea of white thumbs. Mhm. DJ Lance waving at us was enough for my son to think he had actually met DJ Lance, which works for me.

Help DJ Lance's awesomest little fan meet him in person, won't you?

*Update-- He totally WON! Thanks to everyone who voted. We're going to party with the Yo Gabba Gabba Crew LIVE, all thanks to your votes. This RAWKS! What to wear?!*

I couldn't resist entering him into this video contest. DJ Lance and Crew are coming to our town and the video that gets the most votes (per town) will be played at the show! And my almost-three-year-old will get to meet DJ Lance! And he LOVES DJ Lance. Please watch the video (he's not just fooling around, he really plays a tight beat) and PLEASE VOTE! 

He's a few months away from turning 3, and loves music, which is why I think he's so into DJ Lance and Yo Gabba Gabba. One time, a firefighter asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up...his answer...DJ Lance. He was also DJ Lance for Halloween... 

Corinne Bailey Rae Concert: Austin, TX

I hooked up with some of my lady friends and took in CBR's show at La Zona Rosa last weekend. I was surprised at how much she actually kinda rocked out. I had expected a low-key show, but it was live! Her band was amazing. Fortunately, her show was at a small venue, so we got to see her up close. How beautiful is this woman?! A friend of mine called her mesmerizing and that's exactly what she is. Pure talent is when an artist can stand on a stage, sans pyrotechnics and background dancers, barely move around and still command your attention. I didn't want to look away. Everything about her up there singing was awesome. I was kinda forced to look away for a quick hot minute when I passed out...yes...went blind and deaf and ended up on my hind parts on the floor during her first or second set. No I wasn't drinking--I was actually the designated driver, and No I'm not pregnant again--yet--I think. It was standing only and hot and crowded and I'm sure I wasn't moving around enough. Plus the air was stagnant and it all just added up to me falling out. It went down something like this:

After feeling like I had to puke and getting dizzy, I reached out and touched one of my friends on the shoulder...

Me: "Leesha, something is wrong. I feel like I'm 'bout to pass out."
Leesha: "You okay, Quel?!"
Me: "No."

Blind. Deaf. Floor.

 

Friday Randoms

• I went to see Maxwell live with my husband this week. It was so fun! The opening act was Laura Izibor. I hadn't heard of her before the show. She's Irish,has awesome hair and is a wonderful singer/songwriter. She performed with only a keyboard and a guy with an acoustic guitar, which was all she needed. That and her AWESOME HAIR! Maxwell put on a quite sexy show. The live band was so tight. He was so funny too! He talked a lot in between songs. After the show, he was like, "Austin, I really appreciate y'all getting dressed up and moisturizin' and getting your hair did, and fellas puttin' on your cologne." He gave Austin much love and we gave it right back. I tweeted through the opening act and after the show. Did I mention how sexy his show was?
• VOTE for ME! in the Black Blog 2009 Awards. Vote <<HERE.>>
• Dear lady at the gym who caught me looking at you crazy, I would say sorry, but I won't. Because when you wear a bra top to the gym sporting a 2-liter instead of a 6-pack, you should expect to be looked at crazy. Put a shirt on!
• Reminder, to any of you guys thinking about attending Blogalicious 2009 (at the W Midtown in Atlanta on Oct. 9-11), early registration for the conference ends on July 11th. After July 11th, the fee goes up to $265. Blogalicious attendees get a special promotional rate of $149 until mid-September. So register and book your rooms early!
  IMPORTANT NOTE: The sessions and events at this conference will focus on interests and issues of the female blogger of color, but it's all love at Blogalicious 2009--we're all brothers and sisters, so to my non-color blogger peeps, you are welcome! Come! You know you want to. 
• My twin brother is here with me! And my mom AND my bff are on the way and will be arriving today! I'm going to be in my happy place this weekend. :)
• And speaking of my twin...here's a totally random photo/photo of the day:

And yes, that's me with a LOT less hair. We'll talk more about that later. Happy Friday! :)

Surprise Surprise

I actually enjoyed a gospel concert. Actually, I should call it a gospel production. My husband's church had their annual concert this weekend. It had everything: gospel music, of course, a little theatrical production, some spoken word, plenty of lyrical and interpretive dancing. Basically all the things that would normally annoy me about a church service on a regular Sunday. When I go to church, usually about once or twice a month, I try to arrive a little late...after all the singing and dancing and productions...so I only hear the preacher's message, which is the part of church services I appreciate the most.  But Friday night and Saturday night (they had two shows) were nights for entertainment, and I have to say, were actually very entertaining. It was obvious that they put a lot of work into it. Billy actually took the week off to practice at home during the day and to make all 3 rehearsals during the week.

There are pictures...not so great ones, but the best I could get from my seat with the lighting and everything, <<here>>. That's my Billy, in the band, in the tan jacket.

I took some video on our camera too of Billy playing . (double click for larger view)

I also got the end of a dance-off between the two choir directors.

My favorite part of the show was this old man's old school performance of a song called Thank You Jesus (you been so good to me). I know there must be a hundred gospel songs called Thank You Jesus, which is one of the reasons I don't love gospel music--it's very redundant... full of clichés. But this old guy took it back for a minute to a bluesy version of the song. When the lights went down and that blues guitar started playing and an old head came out to the stage, I knew it was on. It reminded me a lot of Memphis and the church I grew up in and my old pastor/cousin who was an awesome human being. This was the highlight of the show for me.

I also enjoyed the spoken word performance. This guy named Brett performed a piece called "I. C. D. A. T." and it was really good. Some people in the audience snapped during parts of the performance, particularly on one part where he said something like, "The stairway to heaven is like an ES.ca.LA.tor RUn.ning in re.verse? The. first. wiiill beee laaaast? and the laaaast wiiill be first?"  It was a nice performance.

There was a pretty interpretive dance too...and not one of those...interesting... interpretive dances like miming what the words look like, but a literal interpretive dance by the signers who interpret for the hearing impaired during the curch services. It was very beautiful.

It turned out to be a fun night. After the show, Billy and I went to my favorite restaurant on the planet, IHOP, and had a good time. Spinach omelet, wheat toast, grits, and Billy. I couldn't think of a more perfect evening. :)

I was actually almost tempted to go to the second show on Saturday night with our neighbors, but it takes a lot for me to go into the city on a Saturday, and Friday was a long day so...

Austin Urban Music Festival 2007

High Points

• Kindred. What a cute couple?! Loved when they sang "Sneak a Freak In". It's the cutest song! Apparently Kindred, a husband and wife duo, have three kids, and the song is all about managing a family and sneakin' a freak in when you can. This was my first time hearing/seeing Kindred.  Great performers.
• Anthony David. He's an acoustic soul singer. He was on stage with just his guitar and he was awesome.
• When this black guy in the audience was dubbed "Captain Red" by the M.C. (Joe Torrey from BET Comicview). Captain Red was dressed in a red pimp hat with the requisite feather, red long-sleeved button-down shirt, black pants and red shoes, and a red cup for his drinks. He was with a woman dressed all in red and wearing a blond wig. 
• Funnel cake!
• Angie Stone's whole set. She performed this one really slow sensual song called "Touch It". Her male background singer, Gino,  showcased his skills (vocal AND physical) while singing something about getting it right and getting it tight. I actually don't know what he was singing about, but the whole things was sexy as hell.

Low Points

• When Shanaynay and Friend and their blond hairpieces decided to camp out in front of us and light up cigarettes. Cigarettes! So annoying.
• When the sun went down and the temperature dropped to 41 degrees.
• Every time Joe Torrey, the M.C. was on stage. He was very unfunny.
• Cancellation of day two of the festival due to sleet.We didn't have plans to go to day two, but I just feel bad for the old heads who missed out on the O Jays, Mint Condition and Cameo and 'nem.

Jon McLaughlin=Sexy Beast

He can sing too! He's here in Austin for the South by Southwest music festival. *We saw his show last night.

He's awesome. The music, the lyrics, the show, the man...awesome. He's a pianist and plays that keyboard with so much skill and power and conviction. It's quite sexual. I dare anybody to watch one of his performances and not liken it to making love. He has a way with his instrument...I'm just saying.

My favorite song is Human, but Beautiful Disaster is really good too. His album drops May 1, I think. Check him out on MySpace.

*Shout-out to Billy, Cheronda & Tres, who, apparently suffered through his show-- they claimed they did it because they love me, which I don't doubt. I love them too...they're my husband, my dear cousin and her husband--family. However, it was not very loving of them to call me "2/3 [enter race opposite from Black here] " just because I looked forward to and enjoyed last night's singer-songwriter set and Jon McLaughlin's show. Everybody has preferences when it comes to forms of entertainment, and I feel like people who limit themselves to one type of music, films, literature, whatever, are missing out. To say that Black people should enjoy X and white people should enjoy Y and that anybody who enjoys a little more X than Y is faulted it misguided and narrow-minded. Anybody who fractions up somebody's race just because they don't fit neatly into a racial stereotype is misguided and narrow-minded. I digress.

Reggae Music Festival, etc.

The reggae concert on Friday was fun--a great way to end a long work-week. Billy picked me up from work and we went straight to the venue, this place called The Backyard. It's outside and standing mostly. Some of the songs performed brought back so many memories of my college days. I remembered doing this one dance routine with my friend, Blen, to Shabba Ranks & Maxi Priest's-Housecall. I actually got a little emotional as I did parts of the routine I could remember. Needless to say, after working all day then standing/singing/dancing to Maxi Priest, UB40, Third World, and a couple of other reggae bands until after midnight, I was dog tired.

I slept all day Saturday, waking up only to pick my car up from the mechanic's, eat and go to the bathroom. Finally, after about 6:30pm, I got up, took a shower and had coffee. The lazy Saturday was much needed. I woke up refreshed this morning.

Now, after a couple of cups of coffee and watching The Cheetah Girls 2, which was, of course, awesome?, I have the rest of this day to try to have a somewhat productive weekend: MUST wash & Chi my hair, MUST do a manicure/pedicure, MUST take defensive driving online (very last minute of course).

Friday Randomness

• Disney's latest musical, Cheetah Girls 2 is debuting tonight. If you don't know I love Disney musicals and Raven Simone by now, you will never-ever-ever-ever know me.
• We just got a DVR so I can record Cheetah Girls 2 since...
• We're going to a Reggae Music Festival tonight to see 4 awesome bands including Maxi Priest & Third World. More on that later...
• Idlewild is coming out, finally. I also love musicals in general...black musicals are icing on the cake. Looking forward to Dream Girls @ Christmas.
• Pluto's not a planet?! What does that mean for astrology?
• My lunchtime latte @ Starbucks was extra special yesterday 'cause there was a reading for kids of The Little Engine That Could. Kids y'all. So cute.
• Billy's starting his new gig on Monday. Long story short, his company sold his division and he set out for greener (pun intended) pastures.
• The Devil Wears Prada is an awesome read so far. Loving it.
• It's Friday y'all!

Burbs livin'

We went to the 2006 National Poetry Slam individual finals last night at the Paramount. I loved the vibe there. Everybody seemed so free. I really felt at home...at ease. (I NEVER feel like that in crowds, so I've got to get to poetry sets more often.) Some of the poets were awesome; some where not-so-awesome. The energy in the room was great--very positive. And the MAYOR showed up! I'm so glad Austin is hosting it again next year.

All week different spots in Austin hosted no-cover slams featuring competing poets leading up to the finals this weekend. I didn't get to catch any of them 'cause of my living situation. There are so many places here in Austin that host poets and musicians on open mic nights on a regular basis, but they're usually during the week and I have the suburbs to get back to every night. That's one thing that sucks about living so far away from the city I work in everyday.

Don't get it twisted; I love my neighborhood and my house. Sometimes though, I feel like my situation be hinderin' me...

Like Monday night, Connie Bailey Ray Corinne Bailey Rae is playing at Antone's downtown. I'm trying to figure out how I can make it home after work to walk my dogs, go back to the city to enjoy the show, make it back to the suburbs afterward and then to work on Tuesday morning. One of my coworkers lives 5 minutes from work AND from downtown Austin. He (and I imagine college students and other nine-to-fiver-city-dwellers) actually has time to enjoy weekday Austin events. I'm so jealous.

I'm gonna have to figure out a way to enjoy Austin more often and not totally neglect my husband, my pets, or my sleep. Maybe I should settle for weekends. No, all the cool stuff happens during the week. Maybe I'm asking for too much.

Destiny's Child Concert

This weekend was amazing. This was my first big arena concert and the show was great. The after-party was great. SO much happened! Too much to try to write about in structured paragraphs, so I'll highlight the happenings to hopefully make for an easier read.

This is a long one:

1. Friday morning, my friend Summer came down from Dallas for the Destiny's Child concert in San Antonio. Once we got there and got checked in to this amazing Hotel, the Westin Riverwalk, we ate, got glammed up and went to the show.
2. Our seats were AWESOME!
3. When we got there Amerie was performing This One Thing. She is as perfectly beautiful as she looks on TV. Then Mario came out and got the girls all excited. This was my first big arena concert, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. There were a lot of kids there, but many parts of the show were very R rated.
4. Beyonce, Michelle, and Kelly did what they do. They "catered" to 3 guys from the audience and Beyonce's guy, George (pronounced horhay) from El Paso, sang to her in Spanish. It was cute. There was this young Hispanic guy sitting across the aisle from Summer and he was definitely a Beyonce fan. He couldn't have been older than 15. I could see the poor baby's was in awe every time Beyonce was on stage...he screamed out the cutest things, "Beyonce, I love you more than anybody!" and "She's so hot!". He and Summer were doing D.C. choreography in the aisle all throughout the concert.
5. Speaking of D.C. choreography...after the concert, when we got back to the Hotel, we saw, what looked like the tour manager (we call him Chicken Bone, 'casue the whole time we talked to them, he was chompin' on wings) and Mario's background dancers in the lobby. Chicken Bone saw us looking and was like, "yep, that's them." Summer asked where the party was and he told us Joe's Volcano.
6. It was like 1 a.m. and we weren't sure if we were going out, but we figured why not. When we stepped off the elevator back into the lobby, Destiny's Child's female background dancers walked by us. We couldn't believe it! So we walk over and Summer (she's the bold one) says hi and we tell them how awesome they were in the show. They were really friendly and one of them, Aisha, said it was her birthday and she was all excited to be going out.
7. The the male dancers from the show stepped of the elevator and it was like everything went into slow motion. Those guys were as good looking as you would expect them to be in person. We couldn't believe this was happening. We were all waiting in the lobby for valet to bring our cars around, so we were just chillin' there...WITH DESTINY'S CHILD DANCERS! One guy, Anthony, came over and shook hands and introduced himself to Summer then to me. Eventually everybody was introduced and our car came and we were like, "see y'all at the after party!"
8. We get to the club and the line is crazy long. Then we see a shorter line and Summer goes to investigate...you had to valet park at the club to get in the shorter line and there weren't any more spaces. So we're at the end of the long line, it's like 1:30 and there is no way we're getting in...the place is filled to capacity and it's like a 2 out-2 in thing going on and we knew we weren't gonna make it in. Summer goes back to the valet line which is empty by now and talks to the guard...not one minute passes and she's flagging me over from the back of the 'we're-never-gonna-get-in line and INTO THE CLUB! I gained a whole new respect for my girl that night. She knows how to make things happen.
9. We had a great time. (Although the music sucked...the DJ kept playing all this rap and no real songs you could dance to...there were kids practically making babies on and off the dancefloor, and lots of smoke, but it was an experience.)
10. In the interest of not incriminating certain individuals, the following events will be generalized and abbreviated: When the male dancers finally came out of the VIP section music continued to play and the professional dancers danced amongst the non-professional dancers, whom they recognized from a previous meeting.
11. We got back to the hotel at almost 4 a.m. and rehashed the whole night to make sure it all really happened.
12. The next morning, I got up a bit early to go out on one of the balconies in the lobby to read. [When we got there the day before, I made a mental note to experience reading in the morning on that posh balcony...overstuffed cushions on overstuffed sofas and chairs under ceiling fans and overlooking the canal.] So I was out there reading and Summer woke up and realized I had left the room and came down to the lobby and who else is there checking out...D.C.'s dancers...who still remembered the night before and were like what's up...

We didn't get to meet the headliners of the shows, but we went to the concert, met with the dancers on the way to the after party, at the after-party and at check-out the next morning...when all we expected when we got there was to see the show. I'm so happy Summer chose to make reservations at one of the nicer hotels downtown. It was just one night. And it was totally worth it.

Let the count down begin

10 days to D.C.!

Shout out to Summer, for reminding me on day 13 that we're fast approaching our weekend in San Antonio for the Destiny's Child concert. I gotta git my hair did! :)

Another Girlfriend Reunion

My friend, Terri came to visit me recently. We've known each other since we were like 10, so she's more like family in many ways. Anyway, since I've been "out" for a bit I haven't had a chance to fill you in on our visit. I was a little sickish most of the time, but I think I did an ok job of masking it...although I did say, "I'm sick" fairly often. It was an eventful visit...plenty to recap. I hope I don't forget anything.

Here goes:

• First we had to introduce Terri to the mutts, which was an experience. Even though she showed them NO love, they showed her love anyway. They can't help it, they're lovers:)
• The first night we went to the Beres Hammond concert at Flamingo Cantina. His opening act (some non-singing guy from the U.S. who use to sing R&B, but switched over to Reggae and should have switched over to any non-singing occupation) was terrible. But B.H.'s background singers came out and did a great job. Marcia Griffith (the Queen of Jamaican music) is touring with him, and she was as cute and as entertaining as ever. As always Beres shut it down. I love his shows. His music is all about love and feeling good...classic reggae. You could feel the love he was giving out and could totally tell he was feeling the love we were giving back.
• The next day after breakfast, I took Terri on a driving tour of Austin. We stopped by Book People and ended up at, where else, but Mozart's. During our college days Terri and I frequented a Midtown Starbucks in Memphis and this really cool coffee house called Otherlands, so we had to do our coffee thing. It would have been nice if we could have walked to the one in my neighborhood, but the ones in the city are better for people watching. The only thing I don't like about Mozart's is that the tables inside are always taken. You have to hawk everybody and when you see somebody packing up, it's like a race to see who can get there first. If the weather were nicer, it wouldn't have been such a pain. It was hot y'all! That night we went to Speakeasy. Terri introduced me to the Bay Breeze mmmmm and the Apple Martini mmmmm. I whipped Terri and Billy on 2 games of pool (one summer Terri, my cousin Cheronda and I played pool everyday--I still got skills), and the band was realy good. The lead singer did a tribute to Luther...you could feel Luther up in there. He was really good. On the way home, Billy wanted to stop to get chicken to smoke the next day and the stores that I just knew were open 24 hours were closed. It was so funny every time we pulled in and realized they were closed.
• Then we went to San Marcos to the outlet stores, where I spent way too much money. All of that stuff isn't really priced as low as you would think. They have some great stores, but sometimes the clearance at the actual store is better pricewise. The outlets have more sizes though.
• We ended up on South Congress at the Antique shops and butiques down there. It was ok, but I didn't see anything I was crazy about. There were some earrings that I loved that I might go back and get. I'm trying to decide. If I wear them, I'll have to get my teeth bleached. They are these really beautiful, really big white-bead chandelier earrings and they make my teeth look very not-so-white. 
• Terri and I  watched I Robot and then the beginning of I Robot again (if you've seen it, you know why the first 5 minutes got an encore), and enjoyed Billy's smoked chicken for dinner on her last night here.

In between all the going, we had some great laughs reminiscing and just hanging out. Just like the good old days.

So Far So Good

This weekend has been great so far. I had my mom alone for a few days before everybody else got here. We've had so many cool moments together. I feel like I've been laughing non-stop. She's so silly...spotted hula hoops inside the entrance to Party City and decided to give it a go right there at the door..the people who were waiting to get out and who were coming into the store just stood there and rooted her on as we waited to see how long she could keep it up. So goofy. We spent most of Friday afternoon at Mozart's just talking...and laughing of course.

My aunt, uncle, and dad made it in early Saturday morning. They all went to sleep and my mom and I set off to shop for the party on Monday and Billy went to his butcher in Taylor to buy the meats. He goes to Taylor, 'cause apparently that's the best place to get goat and sausage.When we were all back at the house, I cooked for everybody (it was one of those rare moments I felt like a real grown-up) then Billy and I got ready for the John Legend concert. We got tickets and didn't realize that we would have guests the same day...but they're family, and they totally understood.

The John Legend Concert

...was AMAZING! He's so good! He gives great show. It was so hot (the concert was outside) and the opening act, Lyfe (totally feeling him right now), was an hour late starting and we had to wait another hour for J.L. to hit the stage. It was so worth the wait. He did an awesome tribute to Luther Vandross. We held L's in the air as he sang. It was an emotional moment for me. During the wait, Verizon had a screen set up where people could text message pictures and messages to. Billy texted, "luv U Quel" which was cool. There were proposals and rejections and pictures of puppies and people in the audience...it was only entertaining for a few minutes. Everybody was getting pissed that we were having to wait so long (some people were in line at 5pm, the doors opened at 7...John Legend didn't hit the stage until 10).

I was SO happy that he sang the songs like he did on the album, so we could all sing along...which I did VERY loudly...and so did Billy. There's this one song on his album that called So High. I really feel that song, and so when he sang it, I just closed my eyes and sang along as loud as I could, and listened to Billy sing along into my neck. It was a great feeling. I really felt high in that moment. Maybe it was the song, maybe it was the 2 guys in front of us who were "puffing" and "giving" most of the night, I don't know.

I'll post a proper album of the pictures soon. Some of them look like abstract art (couldn't figure out the settings on the camera), but there are a few good ones in there. I'm reading the book, because I want excellent photos from the D.C. concert in August.

Mt. Bonnell

After church today, we had lunch at The County Line and then went to Mt. Bonnell. Billy wanted to show everybody the sights up there. 2222 is not my favorite stretch of road in Austin. Billy was zipping around those curves in his GTI and my dad was keeping up in my uncle's huge truck. I thought I was going to be sick...

It was hot. It's a pretty nice set of stairs to the top, but it was a great time. We had some good laughs on the way up, and on the way down. My mom, from whom I inherited my goofiness, lost her footing when we were walking around up there and laughed hysterically on the way down...luckily my dad caught her before she hit the ground. My uncle Eddie and Billy decided to take the trail down...the rest of us hit the steps and made it back to the truck (and to the a.c.) a good while before they met us at the bottom.

I had put off going to Mt. Bonnell several times because I didn't see the point...and I hate 2222, but I'm so glad I went. We made some pretty cool memories today.Check out the cool pic of my folks looking at Austin from up there...they look like the Fantastic 5...Eddie and my dad repel evil powers with their bellies:)

HUGE party tomorrow at our place. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh. Yeah.

We just scored tickets to the Destiny's Child concert! I logged on as soon as they were on sale to the public this morning at 10. Those tickets went fast, but Summer and I got pretty good seats.

I might brave the radio waves all summer to enter contests and stuff to try win backstage passes.