Happy 2017!

First of all, HAPPY 2017!! I hope your holidays and New Year were FANTASTIC! I know, I haven't posted in two months. Shame. On. Me. You have probably been wondering what I've been up to lately (okay, you probably couldn't care less, but humor me). I've just been so busy (so you can understand why I've been absent from the blogging world). I know, where are my priorities? Well, as you will see below, a lot of things were more important to me.

I have been hanging out with friends.

I went to San Antonio to see Billy Joel in concert. Shout out to my sweet friend Eric for taking me (it was my Christmas gift). We made the round trip in a day. San Antonio is about 4.5 hours from Dallas, so you can imagine, we got back like at 3:30am. Thanks to Eric for driving the whole trip as well!

I spent the holidays with my family.

My cousin Travis surprised my folks with a visit at Christmas. We hadn't seen him in eight years.  

I saw a handful of my nieces and nephews at Thanksgiving (no, this isn't all of them). Everyone takes a picture with Aunt Rachel (whether they want to or not). Lol.

I went to several Christmas parties.

My Sunday School class Christmas party

My friend invited some of his favorite co-workers (that would include me) to his church's Christmas party (which involves free steak). I won a door prize that included a free set of steak knives and a $100 gift card to a nice steak restaurant. Funny story: It was almost 80 degrees when I went to the party, so I didn't take a coat. A cold front hit during dinner, and it dropped to the 40s. I was quite cold when I left! 

I saw Breakfast At Tiffany's in the theater. Yes, I own it on DVD and have seen it 100 times (not an exaggeration), BUT, it was my first time to see Audrey Hepburn on the big screen. It was awesome!

I spent New Year's Eve with Stan Lee and a bunch of nerds/geeks (I say that lovingly). 

Stan Lee was super nice. He was so full of energy too. I hope I'm like that when I'm 94!

Maurice LaMarche and Rob Paulsen- better known as the voices of Pinky and the Brain (I'm standing by Rob- the voice of Pinky). Fun fact: When I worked for a newspaper, my nickname was Pinky. My friend was The Brain. We still call each other that to this day. When I got my picture signed, I told Rob that my nickname was Pinky, he signed it "From one Pinky to another". 

Peter Mayhew, better known as Chewbacca from Star Wars. Yes, he's tall. He's sitting down (and he's still almost taller than me).

I won an Emmy. Okay, I didn't. BUT, this is a real Emmy. It belongs to Mark Kistler. He's the host of a children's art program on PBS. He let me take a picture with it.

I would like to thank all my fans for making this possible....

I survived the great cold front of 2017. It dropped to temperatures my Texas body cannot handle. It was maybe 12 degrees at one point (all of you up north kindly stop laughing at me). HOW DO YOU PEOPLE LIVE LIKE THIS FOR MONTHS??

Okay, I am HOPEFULLY getting back to my What I'm Loving Wednesday post next week. Stay tuned!! :)

XOXO!

Billy Joel Concert Recap

Last night my friend Monica and I went to see Billy Joel at the American Airlines Center (AAC). It was awesome. I have liked Billy Joel since I was five (thanks to my Bubba) but until last night, I had never seen him live in concert. I was kind of "nerding out" about going to the concert. Lol.

The opening act was a guy named Jamie Cullum. He had a great performance. Honestly- I didn't know who he was before last night, but I like his style of music. Looks like I'll be downloading some new songs for my iPod this weekend!

When Billy Joel finally took the stage, I was beyond excited. It didn't matter that I was up in the nosebleed section (hey- even those tickets were NOT cheap), I was seeing him live and in person. And yes, I was singing along with all the songs (I apologize to those around me who had to hear my terrible, off-key, tone deaf voice). Lol. 

  One thing about going to a Billy Joel concert, you know he's going to play songs you know because he hasn't put out an album in almost 22 years (as he said last night, this has been by his choice). I found his Dallas setlist on this website, so I thought I would post it here so you would know the songs he played.

Yeah, there are some big hits not on there, like "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "Uptown Girl", but that's okay. I was a little sad that he didn't play "Uptown Girl" because Innocent Man is my favorite album (probably because it's the first one I remember listening to with my Bubba). But if he played all his hits, we would have been there all night (I would have been okay with that). He played over three hours as it was. Hey, the man is 65 years old and still had some good moves. Although we were worried he was going to fall and break a hip or something at one point. Lol.
The crowd was pretty much singing along the whole time, but of course, "Piano Man", got the biggest reaction. I like how he let the crowd sing by ourselves at the end of it. :)

After the concert I met up with my good friends Pam and Scott. Before I moved two years ago, I used to live down the street from them. I definitely miss hanging out with them! Scott was my Cowboys game watching buddy!

As we were leaving the AAC, Monica noticed a guy who looked like Babe Laufenberg. It turns out it WAS Babe Laufenberg (if you don't know who he is, click here). He ended up holding open the door for us as we walked out, so I thanked him and we made small talk. He was very nice and took a picture with both of us. Because of course only I would go to a concert and end up taking my picture with a former NFL player. Lol.

Thanks for reading! I hope everyone has a great weekend! :-)
XOXO!

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

So, I tried to find the blog that once hosted the What I'm Loving Wednesday blog link-up, but it seems that blog is now private. I don't think the phrase is trademarked, so I decided to create my own design for it. Maybe one day if I get back in the regular blogging groove, I'll try to run my own What I'm Loving Wednesday blog link-up (if you would be interested in ever participating in it, comment below or send me a message). :)

I'm loving...
That the New Kids on the Block are touring again this year. I've seen them twice in concert, I'm hoping to make it a third time! I was an adult before I saw them in concert (I wasn't able to go as a kid), so I'm making the most of it now. :) They are coming to Dallas on May 14. 

Some of these pictures were taken at the NKOTB after party that my friend Trish managed to get me and my friends in to. The picture in the center is a close up of Jordan Knight. That was taken moments before he leaned over and hugged me. **Insert 12 year old Rachel squealing here**.

Why yes, I did go all the way to Boston for a NKOTB concert. Oh, and to see my friend Jodi. :) **The close up pictures I stole borrowed from the Internet. Sadly we were not that close, and my camera does NOT zoom THAT well.**

I'm loving...

All the Texas Rangers talk in my Twitter timeline. So good to see some of my favorite local sports media tweeting about the team! Is it baseball season yet? I'm ready! :)

I'm loving...

That I got my taxes filed yesterday! My company sent our W-2s to us electronically yesterday, so I went online to TurboTax last night and filed them (BTW, I love TurboTax, it's inexpensive and easy to use. I've been using them for years). I'm also loving that Turbo Tax notified me when my tax return was received by the IRS. Weehoo! And yes, I already know what my refund is going towards- I'm paying off my credit card. I possibly used it to buy my Rangers season tickets, and some Christmas gifts, so I had a balance on it. By next month, it will be paid off. **happy dance**

I'm loving...

That I actually made an attempt to cook fried chicken and homemade mashed potatoes from scratch. This means without the help of Tyson or "potatoes flakes from a box". I know you, you are all shocked. The chicken was actually a baked "fried" chicken recipe I found on Pinterest (check it out here). I used this mashed potato recipe found here. I need to alter the oven time on the chicken recipe, mine came out a little burnt and crispier than planned, but they didn't taste that bad. Oh, and I learned the hard way to double check serving sizes. I made enough mashed potatoes to feed my family at Thanksgiving. Lol. And, yes, I had to buy a potato masher because I didn't previously own one. Maybe I'm on my way to having my own cooking show....yeah, probably not. :) BUT, I can update my 101 in 1001 list for new recipes!! :)

Just picture proof that I actually did it!

I'm loving...

That speaking of food, I have allowed myself one cheat day a week while I'm on my diet. I read somewhere that is allowed (if it's not true, don't tell me). :) I've been on it 3 weeks so far and am doing well between that and the working out. I should probably not value-size my cheat meals, but I was just so excited, I couldn't help myself. I will gradually reduce the size of my cheat meal. Lol.

And both of these tasted amazing...

I so relate to this

I'm loving...

That I got almost eight hours of sleep last night. I only got three hours of sleep on Sunday night and only two hours on Monday night. I took one of my sleeping pills so I could get a good night's rest (I don't like making a habit of taking those- I haven't taken one in a long time). I forgot how strong they were. I sent the following text to a friend of mine. I'm just glad I didn't send out any texts that I couldn't remember...

I'm loving...

That I will be seeing this guy tomorrow night in concert. I'm super excited. I've liked him since I was five (my Bubba used to play his music all the time!)

If you didn't know this was Billy Joel, please don't tell me! 

Hope everyone has a great day!

XOXO!