Nuthin’ but an H thang, Baybay…

PRINCE RULES.

Adam scored us tickets to Friday’s Prince concert and it was truly one of the best I’ve ever seen. His new stuff is infused with more funk and soul, and he adds a variety of horns to jazz it up. I don’t think you realize how talented an artist really is until you’ve seen them live – Prince is a great example. He did a few electric guitar solos that reminded me of my brother, Sean (who’s self-taught), stretching the limits of his ability by jamming on some random Iron Maiden and Led Zepplin riffs from the 70s/80s. My favorite part though, was when he dismissed his band and came out alone (in a pink polka-dotted outfit with diamond-studded high heels, no less). It was like an episode of MTV Unplugged, where he brought in some old tunes and some new. In the new song, On The Couch, he croons “I want to go down south…(pause for audience screams)…to Atlanta people, where’s your mind at?” Great concert.

In other non-purple news, the garage sale that Deb, Adam and I held went off without a hitch. We sold over 100 items in two days. The best part was getting rid of so much needless junk. Thanks to Deb for hosting.

Speaking of hosting, Adam and I hosted Father’s Day for his family on Sunday. It turned out to be a lot of work–I chopped food all morning, a rarity for me. Regardless, it was so fun to get them all together for a meal and they were very gracious. I really enjoyed getting to know them even better and I’m excited to be a part of their family.

June weekends are so nuts: graduations, weddings, parties, etc. The good news about last weekend’s events is that weather cooperated for the most part. Friday was the exception, rendering some crack-a-lackin’ rain storms during my cousin Kirby’s high school graduation party. It was a huge turnout of wall-to-wall people despite the weather. Afterward, Adam, Rob and I went to see the Stepford Wives at the Grandview. It was simply a fun movie and I’d recommend it.

Saturday, we attended the post-post wedding reception for my cousin, Johnny, and his wife, Casey. They were married in the Dominican Republic last January and decided to have the reception afterward during the summer months. What a beautiful day it was! They hired a caterer to do a fantastic pig roast-style meal. I was able to catch up with Johnny’s aunts and cousins on the other side of his family (people I haven’t seen since I was a teenager). Anyway, I’m so glad to have Casey in our family – she’s such an awesome chick!

Sunday, we celebrated Father’s Day early with my Dad because he’ll be in Hawaii again next week (yeah, we’re all pretty much teeming with jealousy). Daddio, Kelly, Anton and the Daydah all came over to our place for burgers and brats. We just sat back, relaxed and stuffed our faces with the spread Adam and I had prepared. We also spent a little time looking through all of my photo albums that chronicle our lives. It was great to reminisce, making fun of the clothes we wore, the way we used to wear our hair and whatnot. We missed Audra though, who now works nights and needed her sleep badly.

Now that all the fun’s over, I have to prepare for a job interview in Chicago on Wednesday that I’m pretty excited about. AND Deb and I are hosting a garage sale on Friday and Saturday this coming weekend. Like I said, June is crazy…but oh what fun it is.

….stands for Other People’s Property?

On the property front, I finally finished painting the dining room a couple of weeks ago. The color is called “Wine Tasting,” so you can probably guess that it’s a dark red. We wanted to have people over to enjoy the newly redecorated room so we asked Adam and Dena to join us for tacos and to play Cranium on Friday. It was a blast, and as expected, the ladies won;) We also had Ben and Noah over on Sunday for a bit before we attended Grand Ole Day. It was lovely outside and the first time I really felt summer this year. The sun was delightfully shining on the four of us all day. After walking for a few miles amidst thousands of other Grand Ole Dayers, we dragged ourselves over to the Lake Street DQ for some well-deserved ice cream. It truly was a Grand Ole Day.

Adam and I have now been working on cleaning/decorating the front porch. We have it looking decent enough to hang out out there. I taught him how to play cribbage and we listened to some Al Green. We’re still in search of some chairs that’ll work for the space though – we hunted for them all day Saturday. For now, the crappy plastic lawn chairs have been filling in.

Last night, we were invited to AdamV and Dena’s place for spaghetti dinner. The boys let Dena, Amy and me crash their normal Monday Guys’ Night. Dena is quite the cook and makes a mean spaghetti, enjoyed by all. After dinner, we watched a bit of AdamV’s newly purchased Dukes of Hazzard DVD box set – I forgot how much I loved that show! Yes, I’ll admit it: I was in love with John Schneider. He was so hot with all of that shaggy blond hair! Anyway, thanks to AdamV and Dena for the fun, fun times.

Last weekend was greatly spent at home for Adam and me.

On Thursday last week, I found Adam’s cat, Ange, in our alley struggling to walk. She clearly had some kind of injury but we couldn’t tell what was going on. We took her to the U of M to get help but they suggested she had cancer on her spine and couldn’t do much further. Ange had a long life (16 years), so we thought it best to put her to sleep. Adam’s cousin, who’s a vet, came over to put Ange to sleep at home, where she would be most comfortable. Adam was obviously upset; I tried to comfort him but it’s such a hard thing to lose a pet.

Also, I was sick most of the week – YUCK. I had some kind of a throat thing that seems to be going around. I’ve been sleeping like crazy, very unlike me. Adam has been the most wonderful caregiver. He brought me soup, medicine, candy, juice, etc. We watched the Legend of Bagger Vance with his friend Rob on Saturday–well, they watched and I slept through it.

On Memorial Day we went to my Dad’s for lunch. We hung out with my sisters, my niece and my Grandma Mason for a lazy afternoon. Later, we went over to Rob’s and sat in the hot-tub (against my better judgment being sick recently) with AdamV, Dena and Rob. It turned out to be very relaxing and I welcomed it. I can’t help being bummed out about this weather though. It rained most of the day and remained cool. Today, there’s no change. What’s the deal? Isn’t this May/June? Well, in honor of the sad weather, I give you Counting Crows lyrics!

Raining In Baltimore…Counting Crows

I need a phone call
I need a raincoat
I need a big love
I need a phone call
…
I need a phone call
I need a plane ride
I need a sunburn
I need a raincoat

And I get no answers
And I don’t get no change
It’s raining in Baltimore, baby, but everything else is the same
There’s things I remember and things I forget
I miss you…but I guess that I should
Three thousand five hundred miles away
What would you change if you could?

I need a phone call
Maybe I should buy a new car
I can always hear a freight train–baby if I listen real hard
And I wish, I wish it was a small world ’cause I’m lonely for the big towns
I’d like to hear a little guitar
I guess it’s time to put the top down

I need a phone call
I need a raincoat