Girls' Night Out, Birthday Weekend

By now most of my friends have heard me talk about Straight No Chaser. If you haven't, they are an amazing a cappella group that started at Indiana University, I think in 1996. I left town for college around then, but fortunately one of my friends introduced me to their music. I have been a fan ever since. Sadly I was a bit slow in figuring out they were back together. But I am thrilled that they have three Cd's out and have been on tour. I kept waiting to see if they would make it out west near me. They finally added Denver and Salt Lake City to their Fall tour. I ran into some difficulty at first getting Denver which was my first choice. So I went ahead and bought tickets for Salt Lake. Eventually I had the opportunity to get tickets for Denver. I was not sorry to have tickets in two cities bookending my birthday. I thought it sounded like the perfect way to celebrate. It was not meant to be though. The show in Salt Lake was canceled for reasons I'm still not sure about. But at least I had the tickets for Denver.

I flew over to Denver on Friday to spend the weekend with the family, spoil that adorable niece of mine and enjoy Girls' Night out at the Straight No Chaser concert with mom and Amber. I spent some time with Trinity on Saturday afternoon before it was time to head to Denver. We went down early to have dinner at a great Mexican restaurant that Amber loves. From there we fought through traffic to get to the show. I have seen a lot of the SNC videos from their concerts on Youtube but to see it live is amazing. They weren't even through the first half before I was wishing to see them again. If you get the opportunity to see them in concert you have to do it. They are an amazing group of guys with amazing voices. And they look like they are having so much fun up there. Plus the choreography is fabulous and worth a few laughs.

After the concert there was a meet and greet in the lobby. Since the Salt Lake show was canceled I had requested that I be allowed to stay. Fortunately mom and Amber were troopers. One of the reasons I was a fan when they first started is because Charlie went to my high school. He was one year ahead of me and I had always enjoyed watching him in our school musicals. We were never in any classes or activities together, but I knew who he was. So it was fun to support someone from North. (Plus the group is great.) I had never officially met Charlie but wanted to say hi after the show. Along the way I had the opportunity to talk to a couple of the other guys and get a photo with Mike. When I got to Charlie it turns out he recognized the last name because my brother was in his sister's class. Bloomington really is a small world outside of the University. We had a nice, quick chat before I moved along the line. I am definitely looking forward to my next opportunity to see SNC in concert. And if you haven't been yet you should definitely check them out!

Mike Luginbill & Me after the show

Me & Charlie Mechling (North H.S. Alumni)

Me & Mom post show

Me & Amber post show

Sunday was a quiet day after our late night. I made it over to the ranch in time to see Trinity after her morning nap. The little one is turning into a total ham. She hears a camera turning on and she starts smiling. It is adorable. Trinity is also a lot more flexible than I could ever have been. She was sitting in her swing pulling her feet up to her mouth. Impressive.

Trinity showing off her flexibility.

When it was time for Trinity's afternoon nap I ran back to pick up mom. We had dinner at the ranch and an early birthday celebration for me. Mom made my favorite dinner and Amber made a bourbon cheesecake. Yummy! I lucked out with the most fabulous gift from mom. Technically she had already gotten me one by paying for my flight to Denver. But she couldn't wait for Christmas so I received a Kindle as well. This is looking to be my new favorite toy. Chris, Amber and Trinity gave me a Gap gift card (part of my improvement project) and the Michael Luginbill cd I had on my wish list. Altogether a fabulous birthday celebration with the family.

Monday mom had to work before I left for the airport. So I dropped her off at school and went to the ranch. I got there in time to ride along to the doctor with Amber and Trinity. Fortunately it turned out that Trinity did not have an ear infection. She was quite a trooper with the doctor and fascinated by the mirror next to the table. We played around until it was time for her nap. I was able to stay until she was up for lunchtime. We were watching Amber make lunch when Trinity bumped her head on the window. I couldn't get her to stop crying and she wouldn't stop for Chris. She was starting to calm down a bit but still crying when I turned on the camera. I swear she turned around and smiled at me through the tears. I can't wait to see how much fun she will be around a camera as she gets bigger. Hopefully she never wants to hide like I usually do when a camera is near. Overall it was a fabulous trip and a great start to a birthday week.

Trinity & Me.

Happy Family