Straight No Chaser Live at the Pageant

On Wednesday afternoon before the SLU Career Fair, a friend at work asked me if I wanted to use her extra Straight No Chaser concert ticket. The group was at the Pageant that night and she had really good tickets. After some maneuvering of how to get me there and then get me home (Husband and I shared the car that day), I was all set.

And oh boy, I was SO glad I went! These guys are AMAZING in concert. We had great seats, and I had to take some video. They even said it was ok! After all, they got their record deal from a YouTube video. So I guess it’s fitting that I can embed my own video of their “Heard it Through the Grapevine” here – complete with the Marvinettes! These guys are a hoot.

Another amusing point? They brought up the house lights at one point and took OUR picture. One of the guys came out with a camera and said they’d put the pics up on their Facebook page and if we could, when we had a moment, please go tag ourselves. We all giggled at that one. :)

Their concert was so amazing, we gave them a standing ovation before the end of their last song. We yelled and screamed and stomped our feet, and of course, they came out for an encore. They did their 12 Days of Christmas rendition. So funny! I didn’t get a video of it, but I really wish I had.

They took another bow and left the stage. But the house lights didn’t come up. So we kept yelling and clapping, clapping and yelling…

And then they sheepishly came out again. So of course, we got louder. :) Turns out they hadn’t expected or even planned on a second encore. So they had already taken off the mics. All ten guys stood on the apron of the stage, sans amplification, with the soloist in the middle and sang “In the Still of the Night.”

Let me tell you – you could hear a pin drop it was so quiet when they were singing. Some of us had to strain to hear because they weren’t amplified, but from our seats, we had no problem.

Chills went down my spine hearing that song. When you take away the mics, fancy lights, smoke effects and smooth choreography, what you are left with is ten amazing vocal artists who combined, make amazing music onstage.

If Straight No Chaser is coming to your town, please go see them. They are incredible and worth the price of admission ten times over.  (and no, I didn’t receive any compensation from this review. I just think they’re amazing. :))

Variety is the Spice of Life that I Ain't Got

Ok, so I've already told you that I'm addicted to podcasts.

I know that I have a problem.

But I still want more!

My Disney podcasts, as wonderful as they are, are making me sad that I don't currently have a trip planned to the World. And that makes me very sad.

I need more variety in my life! Well, in my podcast-listening habits, at least. There are a few NPR podcasts in there, but other than that, it's kind of one-sided.

Does anyone have any other suggestions of fun podcasts to listen to while driving to work and answering emails at the office? I've discovered that I get much more done when I'm listening to something. :) Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Travel Plans – A Bucket List of Sorts

We are going to spend Christmas in London and New Year’s in Paris.

I know, right? :)

Well, there a slightly sad story as to how the whole vacation thing came about. We’re going to spend the holiday there with Husband, my mother and brother. We don’t want to be at home for Christmas, and so, it’s off to visit family members in England for the holiday! I have no idea how we convinced ourselves to do this, but now that it’s happening, I’m really happy.

Since we’re visiting London, as well as Stratford and Shakespeare’s home, that is crossing off a few items from my bucket list. I figured I should come up with a list of the rest of the things I want to do at some point in our lives…

1. Ride a Barge in Burgandy, France
2. Spend a night in a Scottish castle
3. Visit New Zealand
4. Snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef
5. Ride a gondola in Venice
6. Stand on the Great Wall of China
7. Visit the Holy Land
8. Scandinavian countries tour

This list will grow as we go on, but I’m really excited that Husband loves to travel as much as I do. He’s a great travel partner – usually he does all the work! :) Seriously, I love the idea of spending my life exploring the amazing sites with my favorite person in the world.

Photo Credit

This Friday Just Keeps Getting Better and Better

The Fountain on Locust is one of my favorite places to eat – and drink – and then eat some ice cream. :)

Any place that has yummy sandwiches and both an alcohol and ice cream bar is ok in my book. They even have ice cream martinis! I’m there.

Husband wanted to take me on a date this week, and given our crazy schedules, Friday at lunch was the only time we could manage to get some together! So he picked me up and said I could pick anywhere I wanted. I had a hankering for the Fountain, so off we went.

Aren’t these decorations cute?

I really like the lamp shades.

The restaurant is in an old car dealership from the early part of the last century, as they explain on their website:

Our building was constructed in 1916 as the showroom for the Stutz Blackhawk and the Stutz Bearcat, both considered top of the line, high performance sports sedans of the time.

So it’s really a fun place to eat. Lots of things to look at! But mainly, the sandwiches and salads are just really good.

Once we’ve seen the decor and eaten our yummy sandwiches [egg salad with spinach for me, roast beef on a baguette for Husband], the time comes for the final part of the meal – the ice cream.

 

We ordered Three Coins in the Fountain – a HUGE bowl of ice cream with vanilla, chocolate and mint ice cream topped with an absolutely ginormous heap of whipped cream (made fresh daily at the Fountain) and a bunch of hot fudge. Of course, it’s topped with three chocolate coins – hence the name.

This is what it looked like at the end of the meal. We beat it, but just barely. Husband had to take one for the team and finish it off. I wanted to eat more but I thought my stomach might just burst.

The only problem with having lunch at the Fountain is that I always want to take a nap afterward, rather than going back to work, like I usually have to do.

If you’re anywhere around St. Louis, I highly recommend this place for either lunch or maybe a drink after the Fox. The theatre is just around the corner. YUM.

Even though I totally knew the ending, I loved it anyway!

Have I mentioned how much I lurve Netflix? The idea of having thousands of movies at the touch of my XBox or Wii controller button is just, well, awesome!

When my mom was in town for my birthday a few weeks ago, we wanted something to veg out to. There wasn’t something good on my DVR, so to Netflix Mom and I went. We both love Renee Zellweger and hadn’t seen this latest movie of hers.

Ok, so even though we knew EXACTLY what was going to happen at the end of this romantic comedy, it was still really, really, cute. Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr are just adorable together.

Basically, Renee is this big fancy dancy consultant from Florida. For her job, she’s sent to snowy small town Minnesota to oversee a manufacturing plant restructuring. She gets treated exactly like you’d think she’s be treated – no one wants someone coming in from out of town to redo everything about the one big business in town and who doesn’t even own a COAT. [Seriously, who moves to the frozen tundra and doesn’t bring anything heavier than a suit jacket?!]

Of course, you know what happens… she falls in love with the head of the union and manages to save the plan when the big bad company wants to shut it down. She also learns to love the back-waters-scrapbooking-dorky townspeople. So heartwarming!

We really enjoyed watching it, even if we could have written the script for them. :)

One more step towards my 101 list.