Concert Review: JOSH GROBAN!

I few years ago, I become a Josh Groban fan. Many of you might remember. :) I resisted, as I usually do these things. But when I finally listened to his album, I was smitten. And it went from there. In 2007, I went to my first concert of his, and promptly experienced my first real PCD! (post concert depression) I couldn't think of anything else for weeks. After that, every time he came to our city, I went. And I got tickets as close as I possibly could every single time.

Well, this year he came again. At first I wasn't going to go. I've pretty much spent my concert allowance lately! But then I suddenly realized, I don't need to get close. I can buy the "cheap" seats and just go and sit back and enjoy and listen.

So that's what I did! At the sort of last minute, I bought nosebleed section tickets (for a fourth of a kpop concert ticket, and half of a Broadway show ticket!) and convinced my husband to go with me, something I thought would never happen (it helped that Idina Menzel would also be there!)

And so I found myself at my FIFTH Josh Groban concert this week. Way at the top... and when he came on, he was a blur. We were even too high to see the jumbotron (the speakers were in the way). But it was all good as his voice FILLED the arena and I got chills many many times over. My love for Josh has not gone away. Only taken a back seat for a time!

Idina Menzel opened the show and sang for an entire hour. She is full of spunk and personality and is a joy to see. (This is the second time seeing her. We went to a concert for just her a few years ago.) She sang several new to us songs... but also included the ones everyone wanted to hear... Let It Go and Defying Gravity. So Much Fun!!!

Then after a quick stage change, Josh came out . (With much less fanfare than he usually does. I think he must be mellowing in his old age too!) He sang quite a few from his new album, and several of his old standbys too. Idina came back out and sang Lullaby with him, and I forget what else. A couple others. He did several covers, Billy Joel's She's Always a Women, and Paul Simon's Bridge Over Troubled Water to name a few. And he of course sang several Broadway numbers like Pure Imagination and Bring Him Home. Ah... SO GOOD!! He only sang a couple of his famous Italian songs... but one of them is my all time favorite: Alla Luce.

He "ended" the show with You Raise Me Up as he usually does, but then came back for the encore of Bridge Over Troubled Water and what else? Gah I forgot already. He did sing Awake, which brought me memories of that first concert mentioned above and also memories of life during that time.. and I was suddenly weepy. Dang good times those.

I'm so glad I decided WHAT THE HECK at the last minute and bought those way up high tickets. It was awesome seeing him again.  And so it turns out, I still love Josh Groban. :)

A to Z Blogging: John and Josh

Two of my favorite guys today for the A to Z Blogging Challenge. And I tried to resist. I really did. But, resistance was futile.

JOHN (Green)

I love what John has to say about creativity and inspiration in this, one of his more recent Vlogbrothers videos:




And you know I love the voice of this guy with all my heart:

JOSH (Groban)

A Josh Groban Funny

This popped up the other day on YouTube and cracked me up, so I must share. In case you haven't seen it, you really should watch and it's only two minutes. It will make your day, even if you aren't a Josh fan.

 
 

These Kid History people are locals and live basically just down the street from us. So, lucky them for getting to meet Josh and how the heck did they manage to get him to do this? So awesome.

And that's all I have for today. I'm working on my year end lists though. Stay tuned!

Concert Review: Josh Groban

On Friday evening, I went to see Josh Groban in concert.... again.... for the third time. I will never get sick of the experience. It's truly an amazing thing to watch and listen to him sing. Amazing.

The different thing about this show was that is was "in the round" as you can see from the picture below. Now, while that seems really cool, I must say that I don't think our floor seats were as good as the seats up in the bowl this time. That was a bit disappointing. I mean, it was AWESOME when he came to our end (yes, we were on the end) but when he didn't, we could hardly see him. And did he come to our end very much? NO! Dang it! But when he did come, it was heaven. I mean, he was just RIGHT THERE singing! Loved it, loved it.

Our experience generally was quite the same as last time, just a couple of years ago. (The full account of that concert can be found here.) I went with my sister Megs (from Sweet and Sour Sassiness, though dang it, she hardly blogs!) who is even more of a fanatic fan than I am! We managed to find will call and got our tickets without stress and then we waited to be let in...which was about 20 or so minutes later.

Once we found our seats, 7th row on the floor, we climbed back up and out and spent a good 45 minutes in the merchandise line while Megan stressed about what to buy. I didn't buy anything as I was already wearing my merchandise which my work friend gave me last Christmas! Awesome! 

Then we came back to our seats and waited some more. The opening act was Judith Hill and she wasn't bad, I enjoyed most of her songs and they made me want to dance. 

Then we waited. Some more. During that time, I think it was when the two people sitting in the seats right in front of us finally came and sat down. See picture below. We laugh/cried about that for a good couple of minutes. Seriously?

Finally! The show begins with the violinist in the crowd on one side, and the trumpet player in the crowd on the other side! Then Josh runs in from back stage and starts singing Brave! 

And then, and then... he sang... all sorts of other things! Um, yes, I was going to remember them all, but now I can't. Several from his new album of course, but not Hollow Talk which we wanted so so bad. She Ran Through the Fair was beautiful and I can tell by the way he talks about this one that he absolutely loves it and that it makes him feel all romantic-y. I loved that he sang several songs from his very first album like Vincent (was that the first or second, I don't know) and To Where You Are. Of course he sang the few that he will ALWAYS sing at concerts.... You Raise Me Up, Remember When It Rained and Alla Luce, which is pretty much my favorite one. And then, his final finale.... Smile. 

Ah, and then it was sadness. I hate that feeling when it's over. We stood around and gawked at the stage until the security guy got nervous (as if we'd run up on it or something) and came and stood there. Then, we decided to go ahead and be true fan girls like last time and find where he would come out, just in case he'd do some fan greetin'. 

While waiting there, the violinist (I think the piano guy came too, but he didn't stick around for the whole line) came out and worked the line and was so sweet and nice to say hi and take pictures with everyone. Dang, he was a cutie and so very hot on the violin too! So that was fun.

And then, and then, and then... Josh came out! But... we were at the very back of the line and we realized that he was only going to go at the front were people could crowd up along the barrier there, so we left our spot and crowded up too. And my camera started being weird, but my sister managed a picture with her phone. So, that was cool, even though we weren't close enough for an actual true encounter or to get something signed... but still, he was just RIGHT THERE! :) Sigh.

And then we went home. Now, we'll wait for another couple of years, and yep.... do it again! One of these years we'll be front row, for a normal stage, so he'll be RIGHT THERE singing to us the whole time! I want to be in the spit zone!

In the Round!

The view from our seats.

Posing in my hoodie.

When the people came, here's our new view.

I love this singing stance of his.

The cool guitar player whose name I can't spell!

The trumpeter and violinist!

Love how this picture turned out.

Some singing emotion!

Josh's footprints on the stage!

With my sister and the violinist, Christian.
He is one tall dude!

Our close encounter, sort of.

And now, a little montage of some of the songs I captured on video, for what it's worth:

A French Song!

Here's Josh helping me celebrate my arrival in Paris:



Parfait, n'est pas?

Just Joshing

So, it's been awhile since I went on Josh overload, but these past few days have been just that. Well, except "overload" has a bit of a negative connotation, and this overload has been a good awesome thing!

Monday night Josh (do I need to say Groban?  Okay... Groban! For those newbie blog readers!) did a mini sort of concert in New York to celebrate the kick off his new album, which was yesterday. This concert was broadcast into 500 theaters across the country. I wanted to go so bad! But it was my son's 18th birthday and so I figured we'd be at home celebrating.

As it turned out, he and the other kids went off to an extreme sports playground (which I so can't do!) and while they did that, I went to see Josh! All by myself! (I know, I know, but it was seriously the first time I went to the movie theater to see something all alone!)

And it was awesome!

It was just like being at a concert, except the audience was a bit more subdued (we did little golf claps because it felt weird to REALLY clap!), and the sound still wasn't quite as loud as I like. But it was so fun to have him there singing to us and talking to us, the theater crowd, even though he couldn't see us. He was so funny and personable as always and had us all giggling, even all the old folk in the theater!

He sang many of his new songs, but also many of his old songs like February Song, Alla Luce, Vincent and of course, You Raise Me Up (which he introduced by saying for sarcastically that nope, he NEVER gets sick of singing certain songs.. nope never... ha ha! But then explained that he gets and he appreciates it and he will sing it forever!)

The new songs he sang that I remember were Falling Slowly, Una Alma Mas (which he wrote), She Walked Through the Fair (an Irish folk tune,) Below the Line, and then he ended with I Believe When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever, which, he said, is something he truly feels. Ah, Josh!!! Fall in love already!!! No more excuses!

Sigh. It was awesome. (Wait, did I say that already?)

And then yesterday morning before I faced what would be a really crazy day, I went to Target and bought the exclusive edition with FOUR bonus tracks! (Don't you love the marketing? I just don't get it, but whatever. Like who would by the other CD sitting there, the poor CD without ALL the songs? NO ONE I tell you!!)

Then all day long as I drove kids here and there and here and there and back again, I blasted Josh. And fell in love with several songs already! So. Much. Fun.


(Updated to add: A link from Spotify! Just had to try this to see if it really works!)

So anyway, it's been a happy couple of Josh days around here and of course, I had to tell you about it.

What singer/band would you go to the store first thing in the morning on release day in order to buy their CD?

The Sunday Salon: A Pretty Good Week

Outside my window: It's a bit dreary out there today. Yesterday was awesome though, almost like summer.

I am listening to: Hans Zimmer station on Pandora. Rediscovering this one and all the fun soundtrack music that gets played on it.

Song of the week: You know, I can't think of a particular song that stood out for me this week. But I can share with you Josh Groban's new video for "If I Walk Away". It's really quite good, about what life is like on the road. It makes me sad though.



TV Talk: I've enjoyed being a part of the Downton Abbey buzz this past week. It makes we want a book about these people! I've just now watched the second to last David Tennant Doctor Who special called The Waters of Mars. Sad show and now I truly only have only one more DT one left. (Yes, all this time before when I was thinking I was at the end, I really had a handful more because he did "specials" that weren't technically part of the season. Don't worry, I got it all figured out!) The Vampire Diaries this week was crazy as usual, and I just know Jeremy is coming back. And ruthless Stefan freaks me out, but lovey dovey Damon is quite fun! I also watched the first two episodes of season four of Merlin on YouTube of all places. Not on Netflix but on YouTube! Who knew. Hey, and American Idol starts this week! So be ready to hear my run down of thoughts on that one now. It's always fun to see who I fall in love with right from the get go.

Reading Report
Currently reading: I'm very wrapped up in Persuasion at the moment. So fun to be re-visiting a Jane Austen book! UPDATE: I've just finished it! But am confused just a bit. I'll explain in a review.
Books I've finished: I finished The Fault in Our Stars by John Green the day after it arrived. I hope to figure out a review for it, but am dreading trying to find the words.
Books I've started: I read a few pages of Cinder by Marissa Meyer, who I got to meet this week!
Books I want to start: I really need to start and finish I Capture the Castle for book club this week! I also got Where She Went from the library (this one is TOTALLY to blame on Holly!) and need to read it quick and get it back.

I am thinking: that this past week was a really good Twitter week for me! You know, so many of you actually talked back! So, if you carried on a conversation with me on Twitter this past week, just know that I loved and it was appreciated! Thank you!

I am grateful for: stability. I tend to take this for granted, and I seriously shouldn't.

Around the house: I was hoping to report that I bought a new area rug to spiff up the family room, but that didn't quite happen yet, so maybe I can report that for next week? Here's hoping.

Recipe of the week: I can't think of one interesting thing I made this week.

Favorite things of the week: going to two fun bookish events with Jenny, making up fun bookish birthday cards at work that will be used for staff birthdays, reading a new John Green book, Twittering, finishing the Christmas M and M's so they won't tempt me any more!

Family matters: Big kids seem to still be adjusting and come home a lot as part of that, kid#3 went to bed sick which makes me quite glad it's a holiday on Monday so he can have extra time to get better, kid#4 went on a field trip this week to the Winter Olympic Sports Park, but sadly, no one was practicing the ski jumps into the swimming pool, or flying down the luge track either.

Things I hope to accomplish in the coming week: read a lot tomorrow to celebrate a day off, plan and prepare and host book club, help with a church activity on Saturday, buy an area rug!

The Blog Report: I listed my favorite songs of the year, did you go listen?  I introduced you to Jane Austen, I sorted my Google Reader, and I reviewed a few movies. Oh, and I got threaded comments!

So, what's new with you this week?

Random Stuff You Probably Don't Care About...

.... but I want to share with you anyway!


Here's the book trailer for Dan Wells' Partials, which is unlike any book trailer you've ever seen:




Here's David Archuleta singing a children's church song that I'm very familiar with and it's quite impressive what he can do with it:

 

 Here's Josh Groban with his brother, talking about how on Monday he starts another album!! Awesome, yes?!! (Do you think these boys look like brothers? Not much I say... except for their smiles. It's really quite strange.)

 
I didn't say it would be a good vlog from Josh Groban on Vimeo.

Here's a song from James Durbin's (as in the dude I liked last American Idol) first album. I love it. I'm trying to decide if I love the other songs well enough to buy. I'm thinking yes.




Okay, enough for now!

Ya got any random stuff you wanna share with me?

Review: Josh Groban Straight to You Tour

It goes without saying, I think, that I loved the concert. He is absolutely amazing in everything... singing, instrument playing, audience interaction, sense of humor, emotional outpouring... everything. I found myself sitting, literally, on the edge of my seat, hands clasped under my chin, holding my breath, eyes glued to the stage, for most of the evening. Yes, you could say I was enthralled!

I went with my sister, who is also a huge Josh Groban fan, in fact she is the one who, years and years ago, said to me, hey, you should listen to this kid (because he was barely 20 at the time, maybe even just 19) who has this freaking amazing voice! It took me a year or so to believe her, but she is the one to blame for this Josh thing I have. So I took her with me.

Anyway, instead of going through the event minute by minute I thought I'd just list the highlights, and yes, even some lowlights, or maybe I could call them "baffling moments."

Highlights:

**When he came out from the back of the arena, and hopped onto a middle-of-the-floor stage. (A stage which I was actually closer to the the big stage.) I loved how the whole floor audience, stood up and turned around before that even happened. Yes, most of us knew that he was coming from the back, but it was funny to see that.

** The song Alla Luce del Sole... it was AMAZING! I was blown away. I didn't think he'd sing this one again (sang it last concert and all) but he did and wow.

** All the times he ran up and down the aisle right by us. Sadly, I was not on the edge, so no high five for me, but it was fun to be only four people away from where he was and see him close up. 

** The song Broken Vow, with just him, the piano and an awesome trumpet solo! That was so cool! I loved it!

** Much audience interaction and heckling! (By him, not the audience.) He took three questions people texted before the show, and he answered their questions but not before he made TONS of fun of each and every one! What a joker he is. He also brought up several people to sit on his "couch" while he sang a couple of songs. Lucky lucky people. 

** One of the questions someone texted was, "Will you sing some Kanye West tweets?" which of course he did. That was fun!

** The emotion in the song War at Home was intense. It was a definitely hold your breath moment. And then when he sang Machine, wow, another emotional powerful intense song! It's so awesome to feel so many different emotions from him for all the different songs.

** His shoes. Too cool. I thought maybe he'd be wearing boots, but no, it was stripped tennis shoes instead.

** Tons of piano playing this time around. I thought, now, do I want to see his face or his hands when he is at the piano? We had his face, and I decided that was the best choice.

** His opening act was a dude from America's Got Talent, Elew..... he was a crazy fun piano player. I was worried a long whether or not I'd be happy with my seats... 14th row on the floor, but when he played and I could see the funny facial expressions he made, I decided that it was good enough. However, when Josh came out mentioned that the first few rows were in the spit zone, I thought, yeah, spit zone would have been better! :)

** When he sang You Raise Me Up and had us be his gospel choir back up.

** The intermission song by the band... Live and Let Die by Paul McCartney. Awesome! Here's a video someone else captured of that, taken from pretty much near where I was sitting and shows you my view of the stage. What do you think? Not bad, huh?

** The ever present drum solo! Yes! I love it! Here's a video of that (not taken by me of course) all the wonderful facial expressions included.

** Every song, every single one, even Galileo!

Baffling Moments:

** Why was the AC not working? Wow, it was hot, and while I was sweating to death just sitting there, I thought what poor Josh, in his jacket, running around, and singing his heart out, must be feeling. He was hot! Ha, yeah, both uses for the word! THAT hot AND the other hot! :)

** On the way home we realized that he "forgot" to sing Hidden Away! Weird! Why did he not sing Hidden Away? The most popular song from this new album? Baffling.

** And why did he come out and sing Play Me by Neil Diamond for an encore? That was strange to me. It was awesome, and I loved it, but for his encore? Very baffling.

** Why did the floor section, full of adoring fan members, not scream and give standing O's more? Maybe it was the heat? Hmmm.... baffling.

** Even if this show was meant to have an intimate feel, why were there no jumbo-trons? I felt bad for the people in the nosebleeds, because they were pretty much were there to listen, and not see, unless they brought their binoculars. I'm so glad I could see him, really really see. Know what I mean? (Just found this video of a nosebleed "view." That would have been sad.)

** Why do they make us wait for 1/2 hour between the warm up act and the actual act? Oh my word, that was a long 1/2 hour! I guess they've got to mess around with the stage a bit, but still. Do they really HAVE to? And isn't it interesting how long that 1/2 hour is, but how very very short the following two hours are? Yeah, that's baffling, but not really. Here's one thing I did during the wait:

** I was frustrated with the whole camera thing. So, they say you can't take them in, but everyone has something... a phone particularly. But does that mean I can't take my good camcorder? So, to be safe, I didn't. Which meant I tried to use my phone, and my daughter's camera. Nothing worked, but everyone around me was getting good shots, so I didn't get it. So yeah, that was frustrating and baffling. Finally, I gave up and just enjoyed looking with my own eyes, and not through a camera and enjoying the songs instead of stressing about capturing the moment.

Here's my one not bad picture:

Here's my one very bad video... a teeny little bit of Changing Colors (opening song) before I gave up realizing I was capturing a little ghost Groban and that the camera wasn't going to do any better:

Afterwards, we decided to be true fangirls and went to find the back door where he would have to come out. Once there, we realized we are NOT true fangirls because we had no idea what was going on. Everyone was forming this HUGE line, and I thought, why a line if he just comes out and we wave and say bye and thank you etc.? I didn't get it. Finally, I decided he must often come out and actually talk to people and sign things. We didn't have anything for him to sign, so we didn't get in line, but just hung out on the edges hoping to just see him some more and watch him interact with everyone. We waited and waited. And we wondered, was this for real? Is he really coming out? What is really going on here? My sister said, what if they are fooling with us and they sneak him away? After nearly an hour from when the show ended, a dude came out and confirmed her suspicion and said, "Josh is not coming out, he has to be in LA in the morning, and he has already left!" WHAT? How did he leave and we not notice? I think he must have been in one of the normal looking cars that just pulled out and left and we had not a clue! This morning he tweeted that he landed in LA, so I think perhaps he actually flew, instead of riding the bus, so maybe he truly did have a plane to catch. Anyway, so that was kinda funny, and we were sad, but oh well! It does seem like they could have come out and told us a little sooner though. So much for being true fangirls.

Okay, well, I think this has gone on long enough, and I think anyone reading this understands that I absolutely loved this concert, even the baffling moments! If you ever get the chance to go, go. Even if you aren't a huge fan, you will be upon going to his concert, I promise.

Music Stuck in My Head: Pirates and Such

I have music to talk about!

First off, I've been listening to the soundtrack of the new Pirates movie... it's streaming on Facebook if you like the page! Here's just one song:



And of course I LOVE it. I mean how could I not? It's Pirates! Can't wait to buy it! Can't wait to see it!

This week, I really truly have not been able to get enough of James Durbin singing Without You. I've been literally blasting it non-stop it seems.



So sad to see him go last night. I'll be keeping my eye on him to see what he does with himself this next while. However, I decided to NOT buy American Idol tickets. Sad, but true. Oh, well. It will just have to be Josh Groban for me concert-wise this year...except for the local outdoor concert stuff, and I'll be sure to tell you about that as it comes. There's some good ones!

Speaking of Josh... his tour started last night, and THREE MONTHS from this very date, it will be my turn! I'm getting butterflies already.



So I've never really been a huge Glee fan, but when it comes to Matthew Morrison, I'm hooked. And now he finally has his own album! And I just need to decide whether I'm getting an old fashioned cd or downloading it, which is a handful of dollars cheaper. Hmmmm.....



So, what's been stuck in your head this week?  What new music do I need to check out? What old music do I need to revive?

In Which I Buy Josh Groban Tickets

While most of you were going calmly about your day this morning I was feeling extremely stressed! After all, today was the day I had got to buy Josh Groban tickets for his upcoming concert! Now remember, tickets, of any kind, freak me out. I get anxious for movie tickets even. In a week we have to run for the Markus Zusak tickets, and I'm anxious. Buying tickets, for ANY concert, is over the top anxiety! Remember my Muse experience? Double booked tickets? Visions of that dance in my head now every time I hit the button to buy. Nothing is guaranteed. And seats? I need GOOD seats. There's just something about good seats. It's not quite enough just to be there, you need to be there AND see.

Thus my anxiety this morning because tickets for the next Josh Groban tour went on sale for the fan club. All these years I've resisted that dang fan club. I feel wrong, just totally wrong, paying money for the privilege of being a fan! BUT, I succumbed just these week in order to get the pre-sale code for this concert... to ease my quest for the good seats! It was scary I tell you, waiting to see if that code appeared on my page! But it did! Yes!

So I left it there.

Then this morning I though, hmmmm... maybe I should move this code to another location, so I copied and pasted. Not minutes afterward, the site crashed because of all the fan traffic! Wow, THAT was lucky!

Ibeeeg and I were twittering like mad giving each other moral support in our ticket buying stress! That made it fun! Afterwards, I had to report to her how it all went for me, so I thought I'd share that with those of you interested in what goes on during a concert ticket buying moment by a frantic fanatic who freaks out about tickets and seats in general!

So I sat there, all ready with my password, and my ticketmaster account all set up. The clock chimes ten and here's what happened:

1. Password does not work... dumbfounded... did I copy and paste wrong? Panic..... panic panic panic!!!! Ten minutes go by.
2. Check JG website has been down for hours, but I check anyway..... IT's UP!! YES, and sure enough I have doubled the letters in my password! WHY? HOW? I don't know. So I fix THAT problem
3. Now I'm in... first I click on wrong buttons and it thinks I want four tickets.. no I just want TWO! Start over
4. DUMB VERIFICATION THINGS!! I have to type them in over and over again with shaking hands!
5. Finally I get some tickets up... I look at seating chart... WHAT's THIS?? Strange layout, I have no idea if these seats are good.
6. I try computer #2... same spot (yes I had multiple computers going. I realize later that multiple windows would have probably done the trick, but I aim for the hard way!)
7. I try computer #3.. same spot
8. I refresh.. .same spot
9. repeat 5 through 9 about five times
10. SAME SPOT!!!!
11. Give up and decide I guess that's suppose to be my spot!! on the floor 14 rows back from stage extension... all I'm saying is he BETTER come out on that extension thing A LOT!!
12. THEN... I have a ticketmaster account... all ready to go... but this is their sister site... won't recognize my stuff
13. So I make NEW account... says "There's already an account with that email!" Clock is ticking down!!! WHAT?
14. Try again... won't work.
15. Make new account with other email.. worked.
16. Now I have to now add card info, which I thought would already be done.... clock is still ticking down....
17. Use auto fill in... puts in my sister's address!!! (because I've sent her stuff from Amazon and Chrome has remembered that? I have no idea.) Have to fix and fill out.... clock is ticking down!
18. Whew.. finally hit button.. .Seats are bought. And I really hope all my info is right because I can't take time to double check a gazillion times!
19. BUT NOW.. have to fill out FLASH SEAT info.. since that's the only way they are selling these things this time... Makes me nervous all over again.

I'm taking my sister who will be, she promises, all fan girly with me. She has only ever been in nosebleed sections for concerts, so being on row 14 on the floor has GOT to be better than that! Ah, now that the stress if over, we are so excited and I'm sure you'll be seeing all sorts of count down posts by me through the summer. Date of our concert... August 13! Can't wait!!

Music Stuck in My Head: Happy Birthday Josh!

In honor of his birthday coming up on Sunday (30 years old!), this Music Stuck in My Head post today has got to be all Josh Groban. Besides, it/he really has been stuck in my head this week, surprise surprise.

One of my favorites from this newest album:



Singing Shape of My Heart with Sting and Chris Botti, which I love love love:



Another favorite from the new album:



And one of my all time favorites, from the Troy soundtrack:




So, what's been stuck in your head this week?

The Sunday Salon: Josh and Other Excitement!

Wow, it's been quite the weekend! Tons of excitement around here!

First off, I got the mail on Friday and found there a little surprise from Deanna (Ibeeeg) from Polishing Mud Balls. I knew she had something up her sleeve, but when I opened it I couldn't believe my eyes and nearly hyperventilated right on the spot! Inside was Josh Groban's new cd... and it was SIGNED BY HIM!! Personalized to ME! I guess Deanna's mom was lucky enough to see him at a signing in Chicago and so she asked her to get this for me. How well she knows me already!

Oh my. It's still freaking me out actually. If only I could have personally been there too. Maybe some day, huh. Anyway, thank you so much to Deanna... isn't she awesome though?

And then, Christmas came early when we all got new phones on Friday. I thought this day would never come. But come it did and now I'm in the process of learning what a "smart" phone can do and how to text on a touch screen. It may take some getting used to! But it will happen, and I'm going to have tons of fun with it!

Also on Friday (it was overload on Friday I'm telling you) we fit in Harry Potter. I enjoyed it. My brother said  there wasn't enough comic relief, but I thought there were quite a few cute and funny moments. Bummer we have to wait longer for the conclusion to the whole thing. I'd totally forgotten the book, but as I watched, it started coming back to me.

Finally on Friday we had a little mini family gathering with my side of the family. Ate more pie and played Catch Phrase a bit. And I showed my sister the above tidbit and we squealed like teenagers! Yeah, she gets it.

Saturday I got a much needed haircut, hung the outside Christmas lights and did just a teeny tiny bit of Christmas shopping, but at least I can say I've started. To those who can say they have finished, I say you are amazing.... or crazy... one of the two.

Oh then there was Thanksgiving of course. This was with my husband's family, the side of the family where we've had the recent and still raw loss. So for the most part, it was a fine Thanksgiving, but there were also moments where we just wished things were normal and we were ALL there, without that "someone is missing" feeling.

Earlier in the week there was the BIG BLIZZARD of 2010! Wow, I've never ever EVER seen the news and the weather guys get us all worked up about an approaching storm like they did this time. They sent everyone home early from nearly everything and we proceeded to batten things down and hunker down, prepared to light a fire and cozy up with the family all safe and sound. And we kept saying to the kids... "any minute it's going to get here!!" And then we waited, and waited and waited. We built the fire, watched a movie, told the teenager she was confined to home and waited, and waited and waited! Finally, we went to bed, and heard nothing all night long. We got up to absolutely no change. Yeah, for us, the blizzard never came! It was the most anticlimactic non-event we've ever experienced! Pretty funny. (Places just a bit north of us did get hit though, some harder than others. But still, I think we have had WAY worse than this in past years.)

Whew, like I said, it's been an exciting week!

And yes, I've been reading. in and through and amongst it all. For the last few days I've been totally loving North of Beautiful. Really loving it. I also finished Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld, which was very fun too. Ugh, I'm getting massively behind in reviews. But still, I had hoped to read much more than I did during this vacation weekend. Isn't that always the case? Oh, well.

Well, so I think that's all I had to report on. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, whether it was a holiday for you or not! Now, on to December!

Oh wait, a video... the song Josh signed on, and one of my favorites on the new album:

Josh Groban's New CD!

Josh, and we his fans, are a bit excited this morning! Finally! A new CD! I'm so excited! I may have to wait until tomorrow to actually go buy it though. And I have this compulsion to find the exclusive CD/DVD version so I can watch Josh talk about the whole process and the fun bloopers and all that. And it usually has bonus tracks on it too, so anyway we'll see how it goes.


Finally!!!!!! from Josh Groban on Vimeo.


Want to listen to the whole album? You can by clicking on this link which takes you to a "listening party" at Josh's Facebook page. Is that cool or what?

Anyway, I couldn't let the day go by without this little celebration.

A Little John, Josh and Janette Love

Some random fun videos I've come across this week that I simply must share:

Why I love John:

(a video where John Green talks to a 15 year old version of his brother and discusses critical reading by comparing it to eating pizza... or something. Be sure to watch to the very end. Just sayin'.)



Why I love Josh:

(Okay, so you all know why, but this montage clip of the past few years really shows it all! New album people! New album!)



Why I love Janette (as in Rallison):

(This just cracked me up because it's so close to my reality...minus the Cheez Its, which I just really can't stand.)




Anyway. Enjoy! A lovely Friday and weekend to you all!

A Little TV, Books, Movies and Music

All that blogging over the weekend must have fried my blogging brain because I'm suddenly wiped out from all blogging ideas! So I thought I'd ramble today, because, it's been awhile and everyone seems to like the rambling posts, and since I want to blog, but can't think of anything, it just makes sense to ramble, you know?

TV

HEY!! Guess what starts up again tonight? American Idol! Who's with me? Are we ready to discover some more amazing singers? I actually can't believe it's time to start it all over again. I'm looking forward to Ellen as a judge. I think she will be quite fun really.

Ah wasn't Chuck great? He's such a dude. And Lost... it's coming up soon! Then Heroes is back, as weird as ever. But I'm still hooked. Oh, then there was the Survivor finale. I was SO rooting for cute Brett. Oh, well. But the new all stars season looks like it's going to be fun. Rock on Survivor!

Books

I haven't finished any books in, like, forever, because I'm reading two huge chunky epic fantasies! Epic I tell you! (Great word, epic.) I'm loving them both, and so far, haven't had too many problems mixing them up in my brain. We'll see how long that lasts. I can't wait to tell you all about them! And once those are done, I have classics to read. Fantasy, classics! I love 'em both!

Movies

So have you all seen Avatar yet? Thumbs up or down? Thumbs up for me. I thought it was so so cool. The 3D made me a little woozy after it was all over, but still. It was worth it. I have yet to see Sherlock Holmes and I'm dying to. Soon, very soon.

Music

I "discovered" a "new" Josh Groban song. I have no idea what it's saying, but it makes me totally happy. You've got to listen:



But mostly it's been all about Adam Lambert around here since Christmas. It appears we all love his album, as for me, it's his mellow songs that I especially love:

So how about you? What TV are you enjoying this new year? What cool movies have you seen? What books are you loving right now? And what music is currently stuck in your head?

Okay, enough rambling. Time for spaghetti!

Weekly Geeks 2009.29: Books and Music

I'm really bummed I don't have like a gazillion ideas for Weekly Geeks this week. Books and music together? What could be better? But, when I really try to think about what song makes me think of what book, nothing really comes to mind. It's making me crazy.

However, I do remember awhile back, when Twilight first came out, it was around the same time I was totally playing Josh Groban's Awake song over and over and over again. And I LOVED the lyrics... and I thought, hmmmm.... this could describe Bella and Edward's feelings at the end of Twilight perhaps, when their future together was a bit bleak.

I don't know, what do you think?




A sample of the lyrics:

So keep me awake, to memorize you.
Give us more time, to be this way.
We can't stay like this forever
But I can have you next to me today.

We'll let tomorrow wait, you're here right now with me.
And all my fears just fall away, when you are all I see.

Oh, and in keeping with the Twilight theme, because I know you all love it so much.... I always thought the song My Immortal by Evanescence described the happenings of New Moon. Beautiful song.

I don't know, what do you think?

Just Listening to Josh

A whole different sound to this song. Love love love it!

Watch more AOL Music videos on AOL Video

Pictures That Make Me Smile

We recently got our family pictures taken. Maybe I'll post the one with me it eventually. But for now, here's the kids. Oh, and in my blog hopping today, I found two others that just make me grin and grin, so I had to share them too!

My kids

My kids

Josh

Adam and Kris

Happy Birthday Josh Groban!

Yes, it's his birthday today and you know I can't let it go by un-noticed, because of course, what a perfect opportunity for me to once again, shout out about my fanaticism! :)

So I've decided to see if any of you are Josh fans, and share a "name that Josh tune" video I did nearly two years ago, set to some fun pictures taken by either me or my husband.

Let me know if you can name any songs. Or if you can't which one jumps out at you as a possible favorite.

And Happy Birthday Josh! Here's to many many more singing years!