Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Date Night - Dierks Bentley Concert

Well, I had originally intended to post about something else today, but since my weekend post ended up being two miles long yesterday I thought that something had to be moved to a new post… so Dierks, you get your own post today.  :o)



Last week B and I had a date night (on a school night – a rarity these days!) to see Dierks Bentley, Cole Swindell, and Jon Pardi.  We kicked off the night with a double date with my friend Adrienne and her hubs to a gastropub here in town.  We had been there for drinks before, but we had never tried it for dinner, and it did not disappoint. 

B started the evening with one of their craft beers, and I started with one of their specialty cocktails – a Pear Smash – Breckenridge Vodka, fresh pear, lavender basil, and St. Elder liqueur.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  So unique and so yummy.    


For dinner I decided to keep it simple and I ordered the house burger, but B went super fancy and got their famous donut burger.  It’s a cheeseburger with bacon and egg with a donut for a bun.  I wanted so badly to try it, but the whole egg thing turned me off a bit.  B said that it was delicious, though.  Their fries were also amazing.  And their ketchup – so good!  They make their own and it had a unique kick to it. 

After dinner we made our way to the concert… traffic was terrible and we ended up missing Jon Pardi, but I’m not a fan anyway, so it didn’t hurt my feelings.

Adrienne and her hubs sat right behind us, and fun fact, we didn’t even originally plan that!  She and I just happened to get tickets right close to each other without even trying!  We were in the 10th row so the seats were excellent, but I did happen to have the world’s tallest man in front of me and he had a crazy dancing buddy, but luckily they moved around so much during the show that they weren’t as in the way as I had worried they would be.



By the time B and I got in and settled Cole Swindell had just come out, and he put on a great show.  I’ve seen him live once before, but I enjoyed him more the second time around.




Dierks came out last and he was just awesome!  He played a bunch of old songs as well as new, and he even brought Jon Pardi and Cole Swindell out to jam with him for a couple of songs.  




Toward the end of the concert, Dierks walked through the audience to the back of the venue to sing a couple of songs for all of the people in the back rows.  On the way back to the front stage, he walked right by us!  Adrienne was able to pet his back – haha!! – and I got a super close-up picture of him.  I didn’t even have to zoom because he was right.  there.  



He ended the show with Drunk on a Plane, and y’all, he had a whole jet on the stage!  He dressed like a pilot and came out of the jet and people started going wild.  Cole and Jon came back out once more to sing with him and it was just one big party.  






We left with our ears ringing and made it home around 11:30.  I was dragging the next day, but boy, was it worth it!

And that wraps up date #2 for the year… we’re aiming for at least 12 again!


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Monday, February 27, 2017

Olivia's Birthday Weekend

Whew.  What a weekend.  I was going to kick this post off with a summary of the Dierks Bentley concert that we went to on Thursday evening, but this post was already so long that I thought I would just give it its own post tomorrow. 

So.  Olivia’s birthday weekend.  We did all the things.  We have been going nonstop since Friday morning and it has just been the best weekend!

Friday B and I took the day off to spend with Olivia so she could have some one on one time with Mommy and Daddy while Jacob was at school.  She requested Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast, so that’s exactly what we did.  After we were done eating, we grabbed a dozen to go and brought them to my mom’s office to surprise her.  You may have noticed that Olivia has a little mark above her left eye (when we were at the concert Thursday night she fell out of her high chair – the tray wasn’t locked in place – and she hit her eye on the corner of the table), and I wanted my mom to check it out just to make sure that she didn’t think that she needed stitches.    We completely lucked out because it just so happened that a nurse was at my mom’s office when we were there so she looked at it and said it was fine.  No stiches needed.  Whew!  The craziest part about the whole accident is that Olivia never even sits in the high chair anymore.  As a matter of fact, we just sold it and we’re waiting for the person to come pick it up!




Anyway, the next stop was the playground, but we decided to swing by the Kmart that is closing since it was on the way, and I was so glad that we did because I found the absolute cutest cold shoulder tops for the summer for only $5!  They are Joe Boxer brand and they are so comfy!


After Kmart we made our way to the playground and Olivia played for about 15-20 minutes before announcing she had to potty.  The library is right next door, so the plan was to take her up there to potty and then maybe find a couple of books to check out, but when we got up there, we found out that they were doing a special Mardi Gras music time for the kiddos and they had a five piece jazz band there playing music!  All of the kids had shakers to they could jam out with them, and it was so much fun.  Two of my friends were there with their kids so we had an impromptu play date.  Afterward, the band let the kids see and touch the instruments. 







Olivia wanted Chick-Fil-A for lunch and who are we to say no to that?!  We headed over there for some nuggets and fruit, and then we let her play on the playground there as well.

After CFA we headed to Toys R Us to let her pick out a small toy, and then we headed to pick up her cakes from the bakery as well as Maui who was finally groomed, and then we headed home for nap time. 


I had to wake Olivia a little after 4 because she was still snoozing, and then we took her three year old chalkboard pictures while the lighting was good.

After that it was time to pick Jacob up from school, so we all headed over there, grabbed him, and then stopped at yet another playground to let the kids get their sillies out before dinner.  The weather was absolute perfection, so we couldn’t resist a little more outdoor time anyway.


We had Panera for dinner, and then headed home and called it a night.  My congestion was still out of control Friday evening, so I was ready to relax and use my beloved nasal spray.  Lol.  What would I do without it?!

Saturday was Olivia’s actual birthday, so we let her choose breakfast.  She wanted cinnamon rolls at Panera, so we headed out early and indulged in coffee and bagels, and cinnamon rolls for the babies. 


The day was going to be gorgeous, so we decided to take in some of the sights downtown.  There is a farmer’s market down there every Saturday morning, so we strolled through and looked to see what all of the vendors were selling.  There were people selling homegrown produce, funnel cakes, soap, jewelry, art, scarves, clothes, baked goods, lemonade… you name it!  I grabbed a couple more jars of local honey from my honey guy, and then we walked around some more. 










We headed home around lunch time to let the birthday girl open her presents.  Her favorite gift was (obviously) the eleven pack of princess dolls that we got for her.  She already had Elsa, Anna, and Moana, so she now has every single Disney Princess in Barbie form.  Lucky!  I would have died to have something like that when I was her age!  Although, I guess there were a whole lot fewer princesses back then, so the collection would have been twice as small.






We had sandwiches and fruit at home for lunch, put the babies down for naps and quiet time, and then when Olivia woke up, we headed to my father-in-law’s house for Brian and Olivia’s birthday dinner.  We had pizza from our favorite local place followed by a Reese’s Cup Blizzard Cake from DQ.  Y’all, we ate a lot of cake this weekend.



Sunday morning was lazy… I finally had a chance to put all of my letter board letters in my Walmart organizer (thanks again, Heather), and I cleaned up a few things around the house before getting ready to head to my mother-in-law’s house for lunch.


We had the first of Olivia’s two Beauty and the Beast cakes after lunch and it was perfect.  They could not have done a better job!  Olivia opened her gifts (spoiler alert – it was a lot of Disney princess stuff) and B also opened his.  We had celebrated Brian’s birthday with my family last week, but we had not yet had a chance to celebrate with his family.




It was another gorgeous day – a chilly start – but warming up to near 70 in the afternoon, so we spent the afternoon outside.  The kids jumped on the trampoline and ran until they could run no more.  We had to give them plenty of time to burn off all of the cake and frosting that they had consumed!  While we were outside, Jacob stopped and picked a flower and said, "Here Mommy, I picked a flower for you."  *Heart melt.*



Sunday evening was Olivia’s birthday celebration at my parents’ house.  My mom made spaghetti (Olivia’s favorite), we opened a bottle of wine, and then we enjoyed the second of Olivia’s Beauty and the Beast cakes.  This one was my favorite.  Just gorgeous.



She opened her presents (spoiler alert – even more princess stuff) and then we all hung out and watched The Oscars.  

Olivia started running a low-grade fever toward the end of the evening and she wasn't feeling well at all - she kept complaining of a sore throat and a tummy ache and kept saying that she was going to throw up.  We're not quite sure what's going on just yet, but we may be running her to the doc today to test for strep as it's been going around lately.

Aside from her impending sickness, this was such a great weekend and everything was just perfect – an extra day off, gorgeous weather, delicious food, and more family time than we could ever want.  

I’ll be back tomorrow to recap our date night Thursday night.  It was such. a. blast. 

Back to reality now!  Happy Monday!


*Linking up with B Loved Boston for Weekending.