Mraz, Sax, and Mayhem

Oh geez, I feel like a little school girl still. My heart is still all a flutter. Last night was the big Jason Mraz concert. The one I've been waiting for since July 30th when I bought my ticket. He did not disappoint. He freakin' rocks my world!

A little background. Amy, Steffanie, and I went to see Jason and Gavin DeGraw on July 17th. We were lucky enough to be front row center. I had a WHOLE bunch to drink and was having a super good time. The saxophone player and I talked back and forth the whole show. We asked him to meet us for the Chicago show. After a few too many facebook and myspace messages, he caved.

While we were waiting in line last night, Carlos came out to say hi. That was really nice of him. It would have been nicer if he would have invited us inside, but no such luck. It was freakin' freezing as you can imagine. Chicago, November, No coats, Not fun!

When we got inside, we were fairly close to the front. Because I have way too much time on my hands, and because I had been looking forward to this night for SO long, I made up signs for the show. One said, "Carlos You're Saxy", the other one referenced a song lyric that was pretty damn funny, but I'm not repeating what that sign said. It did make them laugh, so that made us happy, or at least me!
The concert was great. Jason is absolutely amazing, and I hope to see him again, although I don't know when that will happen. I acted like a freakin' idiot and it felt good.

So after the show, we talked to Carlos again. We thought we were going to meet the band for a drink. We ended up at this goth bar that would have been hilarious and probably a little bit scary, but I didn't care. My feet hurt so bad I just wanted to sit down! After a lot of screwing around, we headed back to the Gold Coast on the El. It was 12:30. What a ride!
2 guys on the train were obviously looking for trouble. The started beating the crap out of a homeless guy. We were super scared. They were yelling at everyone to stop looking. One of them ended up stealing his hat. We decided to get up and move to the back of the train. The jerks continued to beat random people on the train. They broke a guys glasses and kicked a girl to the ground. They finally kicked them off and we were on our way again. WOOPS!!! The train was an express and we ended up missing our stop! We had to get off at a random stop. No one was at this station. You could just hear random yelling and cussing down the way. We seriously thought we were going to get robbed or worse. I hid my rings in my pants and we were barely breathing so they wouldn't know we were there!!!! Scary!
FINALLY, we make it to our stop. We got some Jimmy John's and headed back to the hotel. We all got ready for bed, ate our sandwiches and hit the hay. We had just turned out the lights and we heard fire trucks stopping close by. We all got out of bed and looked out the window (from our room on the top floor). What do ya know? Firetrucks are right downstairs! We decided if anything happened, we would have a super long walk down 14 flights of stairs. We then called it a day. At 3:30 in the morning, we packed up and headed for home! This was the LAST picture we took of the evening. I made it home about 6:30 am, just in time to see Evan wake up and the sun rise. I haven't pulled a 23 hour night for loooooong time. All in all, I had a blast. The concert was great, the signs were funny, Carlos was nice and I have great friends who humored me! I'm not sure how they feel, but this weekend is going down as one of my all time favorites. Fun (and scary) times to remember! I wish Andrea could have gone, I'm sure that would made it that much more fun, but when it's all said and done, it was truly an adventure! LOVE IT!!!!

2 Random Jeb Stories

Story #1
Evan has been extremely interested in learning all about the body and the functions of each organ and system. Pancreas, spleen, endocrine system, you name it, he wants to know what it does. One of his favorites is the uvula. . . as a kid I called it a "hoodler". To be completely honest, I still do. For whatever reason, it is a fascinating body part. So, because Evan has been talking about the body, guess who picked up on that? That's right! Little Brother!
In the car today, Jeb asked me how babies come out of tummies (oh Lord)! Thank God I could tell him that the doctor cut my belly open to get him out. . .gotta love c-sections! He then asked me, "When I was in your tummy did I sleep or play?" I told him he played a little and slept most of the time. He then asked me, "when I was playing, did I play with your uvulas?" Gotta love that child! God only knows what he thinks my "uvulas" are, but it was just too funny for me!

Story #2
Jeb has started to learn songs for his upcoming Christmas program for preschool. He came home from school today talking about "little Lord Jesus". I asked him if he was singing "Away in a Manger". We worked on the song a couple of times together. I love love love to hear little kids sing that song. When Scott came home from work, I asked Jeb to sing it for dad. He did a great job with a little help from his mom.
This was his version:

Away in a manger
no crib for a bed
the little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head
The stars in the sky look down where he lay
the little Lord Jesus asleep ON HIS HEAD!

Love it!!!

Thank A Vet

So, here I go, off on another tangent. Tomorrow is Veteran's Day. Probably not that many people think about it. Honestly, if I didn't have a kid in school, I probably wouldn't either.
Last night, Saving Private Ryan was on TV. That is one of "those movies" that never gets old for me. Every time it's on, I always watch it, and not just because I have a thing for Matt Damon. I am always amazed by what so many men (and women) sacrificed for our country. I'm sure it doesn't even come close to what actual war is like. I'm sure it is much worse. I can't imagine being brave enough to put my life on the line like that. Furthermore, as a mother, I can't fathom letting either of my boys go off into harm's way. I think about my grandpa who served on an aircraft carrier. He kept a diary while on board. That was a HUGE no no. They weren't allowed to keep journals for fear they might fall into enemy hands. It really is amazing to read. If I recall, I think they were bombed . . .it's been quite a few years since I've read it.
Tomorrow there is a Veteran's Day program at Evan's school. Every year that I go, I always get choked up. Sometimes I'm just overly emotional. What can I say. On the way out, after the program is over, all the vets line up by the doors and the kids and everyone else shakes their hands and thanks them for their service to our country.
So my thought for the evening is that everyone should thank a vet tomorrow. I think it's easy to become numb to all that we hear on TV about the war in Iraq. I just think it's super important to honor all those who have served our country and risk their lives for our freedom.
That's all.

Tangent over.

Seacrest out.