Rockin' Chicks

Tiff, Bev & I attended Blondie and Pat Benatar's Invincible Tour last night at Tachi Palace in Lemore. It was held outdoors and we had bleacher seats and sat at the top, so the fence was at our backs, not too bad overall. The whole venue was smaller than the SaveMart Center, so I was closer to the stage than shows I had seen at the SMC.

Pat Benatar, Spyder calls her Patricia, was very engaging with the audience and gave background on her different songs, which was very interesting. She also mixed up the songs by playing one that wasn't really well known and then one of her hits. We really liked her portion of the concert. Blondie came on after Pat and was not as engaging. She did quite a few songs that were not well known and saved her more popular songs for the end of the show. She also had a habit of going to the side of the stage and singing from there or just hanging out stage right. Her energy was less than Pat's and her stage presence was lost in the mix. She has a beautiful voice.

We had a really good time though and it was fun to rock with the girls! A tip for concert goers, I'm not really a cool rocker when you find this out, I bought foamy ear plugs from Target before the concert and wore them for most of the songs. I didn't get the ear ringing I dislike so much that I usually do after a concert. My hair covered up the ear plugs, so hopefully I still looked cool :)

As we're sitting there listening to the different women rockers, I decided if I had a rock band I would want to be the lead singer and play the guitar. Ya, if you know me, you know I like the spotlight and, as my husband says, I never met a microphone I didn't like. Wouldn't that be cool to be a girl rocker? Ya, I'd wear boots, jeans, lots of black, maybe toss in a few skull accessories while I'm on stage and then dress preppy while off stage. I'd like the contrast. I think I'm going to have to think of a rocker name, my alter ego rock star goddess!

Some of Our Favorite Things

We had a really cool meeting at this month's Networking for Women in Visalia. The topic was bring your favorite thing to share and I wanted to share with you some of the neat things that were mentioned.

Are you going to San Francisco any time soon? Check out SF City Guides where there will connect you with a volunteer who will (for no charge) take you on a tour of a specific area in SF. The tour guides know the city and the history.

While you are there, check out the night life at California Academy of Sciences. Every Thursday night, those 21 and older can get in for $10 from 6:00 to 10:00 pm and enjoy music, adult beverages and provocative science.

Are you leaving the country and completely forgot to get a passport? go to rushmypassport.com where you can obtain a passport in an obscenely quick amount of time.

Ever wonder what it would be like to have your face on U.S. postage? Well, you can find out at zazzle.com where you can personalize postage as well as a host of other things.

Do you love cute shoes, but hate paying high prices? Check out Studio 32 Shoes and find oodles of cute shoes, none over $32!

Looking for a special, homemade item? Look no further than at etsy.com your place to buy and sell all things homemade.

Check Out Pandora Radio

Have you heard of Pandora radio? Go to www.pandora.com and register. You enter the name of an artist or song and it compiles a station for you based on that type of music. I'm going to see Blondie & Pat Benetar tomorrow with Tiff & Bev, so I plugged Blondie's name at work this morning and got to listen to them and Joan Jett. Way cool and they don't email you, which I really appreciate.

Helpful Internet Tip

I have been frustrated the past few months whenever I get on the internet at home as it has been very slow. I couldn't figure out what was happening...I did Ad-Aware and my virus scanner routinely, I would close other programs down, I was in the same room as our router, etc, nothing would work to make it faster. I hate waiting for pages to load and I wasn't doing much on my blog or on Facebook because of how slow the internet was taking.

Well, the other night I switched from Internet Explorer to Fire Fox for my internet connection. Wow!!!!! What a difference this has made! Searching the internet is quick again and I am once again a happy camper.

Now, in case you're not sure what I'm talking about...IE or Internet Explorer is the icon you click on in order to get on the internet. (It's not Comcast, cable or DSL, it's just a way to get on the internet).

This is how you get Firefox...get on the internet your usual way then go to http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/organic/ and download the software. The icon should pop up on your desktop. Close Internet Explorer and then click on Firefox and surf the web in a whole new, easy way!

More Men

Although my favorite type of book features a woman as the central character, I will admit to loving two series I just finished reading. Christina Dodd's Darkness Chosen series features the Varinskis family and their ancestor's pact with the devil, which has enabled them over the past 1,000 years to be able to turn into a predatory animal at will. The story centers around the Wilder family, a Varinski man who moved with his wife to America from Russia to start anew, and their four sons. There are four books in the series and each book focuses on this couple's adult children and their loves. Action and romance abound. My favorite book in the series is Into the Shadow.

The other series that features men as the main characters is the one I wrote of previously by Gena Showalter. Even though a man is the central character, their woman is given equal time on character development and it's basically because of her that they are redeemed. Maybe it's the strength of the woman that the man needs that causes me to like these stories...maybe it's just the hot guys.

Taking a Break For Pete's Sake

Ya, I know I'm reading a lot. Last weekend was spent on the couch reading two books. Just finished another one tonight. But you know what? I've been planning a wedding for the past nine months and the weekend before I was working my tail off to put on the most beautiful wedding there ever was and I did it. Can't wait to show the pretty pictures. So, this is kick-back relax time for me for the next couple of weeks. Until I get a new project that is. Perhaps it's working on my golf swing :)

Good Times

Maddie's friend, Kim, took this photo of us at the reception.

Finding Light in the Dark

My friend let me borrow her Lords of the Underworld series by Gena Showalter, which begins with The Darkest Night, then The Darkest Kiss and finishes with The Darkest Pleasure. Well, finishes for now. There is more to the story...and I can't wait to read it! These are very yummy books, but not suitable for all audiences. If you want a steamy romance for a hot summer read, these are the books for you!

Maddie & Dan, Married At Last!

These are just some wedding pictures I took while Cesar was taking the "real" wedding photos. He took some shots before they got married of just the two of them.
Such a sweet couple!

Maddie wore navy blue, peak-a-boo, pumps with pink polka-dots.

Beautiful shot :)

Coming out of the temple after they were married!

At the wedding luncheon. I didn't really take any pictures after that. I can't wait to see Cesar's pictures. We did some unusual location shots and I think they're going to be fabulous.

The Week Of...

We have officially begun the week of...the wedding. We have our schedule and list of things to do. I am heading into this week with a peaceful heart, knowing I have done all I could do to prepare and I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

This has been a great month with Madison home. I enjoy being with her so much. Here she is in my wedding dress. She's so pretty! I can't wait to see her on her wedding day.

What's With the Titles?

So I read Zen and the Art of Vampires, which starts out rather poorly. Some of the lines were so ridiculous that I bust out laughing at them. But then, something happened mid-way through the book and I finished it wanting to know what was going to happen next. The second book, Crouching Vampire, Hidden Fang is the follow up to the Zen book and now I'm hooked on Katie MacAlister's books! She combines vampires, called Dark Ones, and the Brotherhood, which is an organization that kills Dark Ones in Iceland where our heroine, Pia Thomason, is vacationing. Pia ends up becoming a Zorya, which is someone who helps ghosts pass over. In the book, Sex and the Single Vampire, the heroine Allegra Telford is a Summoner. Allegra and her Dark One, Christian are also in the Crouching book. Her heroines are flawed, in their own eyes in some way. Pia is too curvy for her own comfort and Allegra's eyes are two different colors and walks with a limp. The men they fall in love with are devastatingly handsome. The two women meet their men and are their Beloveds, which means they return their soul to them and they can communicate telepathically and the sex is really, really good. Fun, light, summer reads.

Night World

L.J. Smith's young adult novels Night World 1 2 & 3, are over 600 pages in length, but each include three seperate stories. The books all center around Night World and our world. Humans don't realize there are vampires, werewolves and witches amongst them who compromise the Night World. Each of the central characters in the books seem to make an appearance in some way in the subsequent books, nicely tying story lines together. An overarching theme through each of the stories is the soulmate principle, that everyone has that special person and when they meet they are able to communicate soul to soul. True love, action and good versus evil abound in each story.

A great young adult novel. Would recommend it from sixth grade and up as it is pretty clean.