Cinderella

Last night my friend Liz and I went to Hampton Beach Ballroom to hear the band Cinderella. They were one of if not my favorite band in the 1980's.  They were also Liz's favorite.  I had never been to Hampton Beach before and was surprised at what a nice venue it is.  Here we are just after we arrive.  I tried to fix the red eye and could not.  Well, I did feel devilish last night!:

I loved seeing the band's activities of the day!

We decided to secure a spot at the front just one spot beyond the security gate that separated the stage.  That meant that we were "thisclose" to the band which I love!  It also meant I can't hear much of anything today and does not bode well for my hearing given that this was just concert number one in a series of seven over the next six weeks!


Here are a few of my favorite shots from the evening.  I don't really have a favorite moment.  It was just a really fun, amazing night overall. I just kept thinking to myself...Here I am in a room in 2012 listening to Cinderella and being close enough to almost get sprayed with Tom Keifer's sweat.  The 1988 me would have simply died!

Freston Frenzy

Last night I went to Whole Foods where Kathy Freston was appearing to promote her new book The Lean.  I will admit that I'm not a super huge fan of hers..  I think that she focuses too much on processed foods such as fake sausage or bacon instead of creating healthy, whole foods, unprocessed meals.  However, it was too great an opportunity to hear her speak when it was right in my own backyard!

I had reserved a spot and paid $25.  In return I got an autographed, hard cover copy of her new book:

I also got this goody bag from Whole Foods.  It had several full size products including a really expensive brand of multi vitamins-score!  The bag also had a bunch of coupons and literature.  And the bag its self is pretty cool as well!



The talk was an interview question and answer style format.  Local wellness devote Meg Wolff asked the questions and it was comical that her very first question was probing into the whole processed foods issue.  Once that was out of the way Kathy spoke for about 45 minutes and she really was interesting to hear and she gave a lot of really good advice and tips about eating healthier in a plant based diet.  Already today I've had a breakfast of steel cut oats and am drinking a ton of water.  Both things I knew would be big health improvements but it took a little talking to for me to make it happen.  These pictures are dark as the sun was blazing bright behind them.

After the talk she did a meet and greet.  Isn't she beautiful?  Clearly she is doing something right! We spent several minutes talking about sugar and tips on how to reduce my intake.  Fabulous!



Does This Store Know What Decade It is??

Today at work I started a conversation with a co-worker by saying "Listen, don't take this the wrong way but...Do you know where I can go shopping to buy slutty attire?" You see next Friday launches the start of my summer concert series with the band Cinderella down in Hampton Beach. I couldn't figure out anything that felt right to wear. I wanted something a little edgier than I normally wear! So, one co-worker answered "You can go shopping in my closet!". Love her. Another answer was "Deb". So, this afternoon off I went to Deb down near the mall.

This is the sight that greeted me when I walked through the front door...Subtle it is not!!

I turned my head and saw this:

Holy neon! So, Deb clearly has 80's pop down but what about 80's rock.? You know- The kind of clothes that require a hairstyle with a ton of hairspray, clothes that sparkle and shine, clothes that would make a groupie out of anyone of us??

I found them!

And this just for good measure:

After an hour and a half of shopping (including two trips to the smallest dressing room known to me) I walked away with enough clothes to leave me appropriately attired for all of my summer plans.

80's Movie and Music

Several times before I have gone to special movie nights at Saco Cinemagic.  Last summer they had a "chick flick" each month and for $5 you could go see an older movie like Flashdance, Carrie, or Sex and the City.  At least those are three that I saw.  Just recently a friend was commenting that they had seemed to stop doing them.  It seemed like a real bummer because those nights are a lot of fun.  At 5PM last night I learned that Back To The Future was going to be playing that night.  The $5 donation was going to American Cancer Society.  I am a HUGE fan of the Back To The Future trilogy.  I've seen each movie about a hundred times.  I never tire of seeing that Delorian speed up to 88 miles per hour.  The icing on the cake was that the band Time Pilots that I saw last weekend was playing immediately after the movie.  It was too late to find a date so I hit the road south for my own fun night.

Here's the sponsoring radio station's van outside of the theater:

Here is the line that greeted me inside.  There was a bit of a delay while the Time Pilots did a sound check in the theater.

The movie was fabulous.  These kinds of showing are always lively and I loved when people cheered when Biff landed in the manure truck or when everyone snickered out loud at the very dated Sony Walkman or can of Diet Pepsi.

The instant the credits started rolling the Time Pilots broke into song with a Huey Lewis and the News song from the movie:



They played a full set of songs including "Jump", "Jesse's Girl", "867-5309/Jenny", My Sharona", Billie Jean" and " Don't You Forget About Me".  

What a great night!

Old Port Fest Fun

I haven't been to the Old Port Festival in at least 10-15 years. I decided that since the weather was perfect, it was walking distance and my friend asked me to go, that I would brave the crowds and see what the fuss was about. Turns out it was a lot of fun. We heard a couple of really good bands. We found spots in both the sun and shade to hang out and relax. I got to make my first trip to Gelato Fiasco Portland.

Here is Jeanne enjoying a lobster roll:

Here I am about to enjoy my sorbetto:

This band Time Pilots was great.  They do 80's music and the lead singer was spot on with both Billy Idol and Simple Minds. 

I loved that the WCYY stage was just down the hill from Amigos.  I admit that I flashed back about 16 years as I listened to a cover of a Nirvana song as I stood outside Amigos on the cobblestones of Dana Street.

Here are a couple of random street shots:

All in all it was a perfectly enjoyable Sunday afternoon!

Sweet Succulents

I've said it before but I loathe a trip to Trader Joe's.  But I needed to stock up on peanut butter and garlic powder so off I went.  At the door they had an amazing display off a wide variety of potted succulents.  I always love them but have not had very good luck keeping them alive.  I decided it was time to try again.  Here are the new additions:

A while back I posted that a friend gave me a cutting of a succulent.  She calls it a banana plant because that is what the little guys look like.  I'm embarrassed to say that for months it remained in water in the red solo cup it came to me in.  Although I haven't planted it yet I did upgrade it's container today.  It has grown quite a bit since I've had it.  I'm almost afraid to pot it in soil at this point!

On a completely unrelated note-Here is a picture of the sea glass and rocks that I brought back from Cozumel.  Love the colors!



Pretty Quote Pictures

A while back I copied a bunch of fancy quotes off of Pinterest.  I intended to do something with them but that has never materialized.  I actully started to have prints made at one point but the resolution of them wasn't a high enough quality.  Anyway, Here are a few of my favorites that I had collected.