Carolina's 2011 Summer Comeback Tour (just a reminder to myself)

So from time to time you need to remind yourself that life IS good. Even when you think your life is less than savory. It was an early June 4th morning when I got a little kicked in the stomach by "life."

Yeah I cried and I pouted and I drank a bit and became a little irritating. But sometimes you just gotta get it all out of your system and rediscover the Sunshine & Rainbows and Tattoos that IS your life. :) (cue the Green Day) lol

Good, Great, Awesome things that have happened since then:

STOMP @ the Music Hall

Chris Hardwick @ the Granada

Dallas Mavericks become the 2011 NBA WORLD CHAMPS!!!!

Going to the Mavs Parade with a Great Friend From High School

Ben Folds @ The Meyerson

Billy Elliot @ The Wyly

Top Golf with amazing friends

Spamalot @ the Music Hall

NKOTBSB w/ the Bestest Friend Ever @ AAC

Hula Graduation

Awesome dinner with Mi Familia for my Sister's Birthday

Last Min Trip to VEGAS for 4th of July Weekend

NKOTBSB @ Mandalay Bay

Thanked some Marines for all they do

Saw Fireworks

Texas Rangers' Game w/ Good Friends

Greg Behrendt @ The Improv (he kinda inspired me to write this tonight as I re-watch He's Just Not Into You) "life is good because CAKE exists." (or something like that)

As you can see...

I am incredibly blessed even if I have those lapses of stupidty. (i.e. crying, drinking things I shouldn't, calling people I shouldn't, texting people I shouldn't, knocking on doors I shouldn't, venting to people I shouldn't) I regret nothing. But I am sorry to any of you I scared or offended along the way.

I am fine and good and on the road to "normal." HA! Who knows what that is anyways. :)

"Forgret Regret...Or LIfe is Yours to Miss." --Jonathan Larson

All Good...

So the last couple of weeks have been full of extra curricular activities.

Not really all that motivated to talk about each one so here's a visual representation of each. :)

4ish times a week since January:





April 25, 2009 Henry's 25th Birthday:







April 26, 2009:



April 30, 2009

May 2, 2009 Kenny Chesney Part I:

May 3, 2009 New Shoes:

May 5, 2009:






May 6, 2009

Okay, okay, I have to talk about this last one. Last night Momma and I went to see Rent. We were on the front row. Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp from the original 1996 cast starred in it. It was amazing. I was having a so-so day...but as soon as Mark (Anthony) begins his intro:

We begin on Christmas Eve with me, Mark, and my roommate, Roger. We
live in an industrial loft on the corner of 11th street and Avenue B, the top
floor of what was once a music publishing factory. Old rock 'n' roll posters
hang on the walls. They have Roger's picture advertising gigs at CBGB's and
the Pyramid Club. We have an illegal wood burning stove; its exhaust pipe
crawls up to a skylight. All of our electrical appliances are plugged into one
thick extension cord which snakes its way out a window. Outside, a small tent
city has sprung up in the lot next to our building. Inside, we are freezing
because we have no heat.

Smile!

...My heart was once again filled with love and I knew the next 2 1/2 hours were going to be something special.

I wish everyone could/would see this and realize that it's all about love, tolerance, and living each and every day to it's fullest. So how can it possibly be a bad thing?

much love

New Year, New Look, New York!

Happy New Year to ya! Yeah, I know it’s about 13 days late, but nothing really exciting or spectacular to blog about until now. My Mom and I took a quick trip this weekend and had a great 48 hours…

Friday, January 9^th:

Momma and I landed in New York City (Center of the Universe…RENT reference sorry) at 10:30…the airport was empty (kinda weird since this has never been the case upon landing at La Guardia). We arrived by taxi in the Middle of Times Square at the lovely Double Tree Guest Suites.

Here’s the AWESOME view outside my window…

Thought about going out tonight, but there’s just something about the hotel beds that you don’t wanna leave. :)

Until tomorrow…

Saturday, January 10^th:

I woke up to a beautifully cold morning in Times Square. We headed off in search of…well not really what we were in search of at this very moment. Food? Shopping? Whatever we happen to encounter. :) We entered (one of the many) Starbucks (thanks to Steph for the bday gift cards) where we got “Tall” Caramel Apple Spices (cider). This was a first for my Mom and thus I had to explain that a “tall” is a “small” in Starbucks lingo. :)

We found a bench at the corner of 6^th & 52^nd and watched the pigeons...

...and taxis.

Love the store windows!

Then we headed towards 5^th Ave in search of the NBA Store. (Yes even when I’m not working, I still dig the sport…always have, always will. By the way, the was a few more Mavs merchandise in the store this time around, but until a ring is involved, the selection won’t be anywhere close to the amount of Lakers’, Celtics’, Spurs’, Bulls’, crap lol…I did however make a purchase of a pair of blue and silver, shiny, sparkly Adidas…I dig ‘em.)

Anyways, but before we found the NBA Store, we came to Rockefeller Center.

Several times before we have been lucky enough to see “The Tree” at Rockefeller Center.... This year we got to see it as well…well, what was left of it…

We arrived just in time to see them cutting it down in to pieces. Kinda Cool!

It was lunchtime and we ended up at Gallagher’s Steakhouse where we had a fantastic lunch.

(thank goodness we split it…there was way too much savory greatness…they try to first kill ya with the bread…

…and then finish you off with a piece of authentic New York Cheesecake…dear Lord!)

After lunch, we had just enough time to drop my shoes at the hotel (such a fan of the Doubletree now…location is such a plus) and walked over to the Richard Rogers Theatre for the 2 o’clock matinee.

Here we saw the 2008 Tony Award Winning for Best Musical, In The Heights.

OH MY GOODNESS! The greatness that was witnessed! By now, I’m sure you’re aware of my fondness for the Broadway musical. This one, In The Heights, has definitely entered my TOP 5 Faves of ALL TIME! That being said, and the massive amount of musicals I’ve seen in the last 28 years, I will proudly show it from the rooftops (or here at my keyboard where the soundtrack is currently playing) that I LOVE this musical!

After the curtain closed and the lights came up, we headed back to the hotel to kinda figure out what was up next on the agenda. OH! Did I mention that it’s been SNOWING (actual SNOW) since about noon today! Crazy, beautiful, cold!

By this point in the day, it’s only 6pm so we decided to grab a quick dinner at the Hard Rock Café. (yes it’s touristy, yes it’s cliché, but get over it I dug the one in Dallas and since that’s no longer in existence, I will go to any one of them that I am in close proximity to… I dig the HRC!) Well everyone else had the same idea for dinner.

But, with even a few minutes to spare, we arrived at the Imperial Theatre. For tonight’s main event, we saw Billy Elliot, with musical lyrics and music by Sir Elton John.

(I had the pleasure of seeing this in London 2 summers ago and so glad I went back for a second round.) The kids in this musical were absolutely amazingly, talented. And it’s also a great story. (If you haven’t seen the movie, I suggest you do.) :)

After a few more “Times Square” pictures, it was back to the hotel.

As I had a few friends/co-workers in town working PBR at MSG, I wanted to go say hey. So I ventured out solo in search of their hotel about 8 blocks away. It was cool to see them but very random at the same time. As they had an early call the next morn, I made my way back to Doubletree about 1ish.

*There was only one casualty of the day. Because it was cold, I must have taken my gloves on and off about 20 times today. During one of those times I lost one of my rings. So if you’re ever in NYC and you find a gold and silver puzzle ring with a DIAMOND on it…its most likely mine. :(

Besides that…Such a great, supremely BRILLANT DAY! Good night!

Sunday, January, 11^th:

This is our last morning in NYC. Grr. As it had been icy earlier this morn, Momma and I decide to forego Central Park. (Don’t feel bad for us. We’ve been there before, and I’m quite certain that we will be there again in the future.) Instead, we had room service delivered, (yum) and watch Because I Said So on TV. How appropriate. :)

After it was over, we got dressed and packed and I ran down to the street one last time, in search of that “perfect” souvenir…success!

Back upstairs with Momma and luggage…out of the hotel…in a taxi back to La Guardia…the announcement for our flight just came over the loudspeaker…the flight is taking us back to Dallas…back to reality. *sigh*

much love

Prop. 8 ... The Musical

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

I think you know where I stand. :)

much love

Weekly Randomness

Gooodbye, Love
So last week was the week of the rock-opera. It began by seeing The Who's TOMMY twice. It ended last Thursday when I went and saw the final Broadway performance of RENT. (it was filmed and shown at a few movie theaters around the country) So many emotions went through me. After 12 years and 5,124 performances, the curtain closed for good.

This has been so much a part of my life for the last, well I guess TWELVE years. (doh) A honestly can't tell you how many times I've seen this show. I do, however, remember the first time...it was New Year's Eve 1997 and my mom and I went and saw on it ON BROADWAY. It couldn't have been more perfect. (thanks Momma) The story of how it came to be and the show's story itself inspired me (way back when) to not take a single moment of this life for granted.

Forgive me as I share my favorite lyrics from the show:

The Heart May Freeze Or It Can Burn
The Pain Will Ease If I Can Learn

There Is No Future
There Is No Past
I Live This Moment
As My Last

There's Only Us
There's Only This
Forget Regret
Or Life Is Yours To Miss

No Other Road
No Other Way
No Day But Today

This (to me anyways) is exactly what Seizin' the Day is all about.

Next...


Saturday...Stars played and won...hardly anyone was there to see it.
Sunday...Cowboys played and lost...to the REDSKINS (grr)...and a TON of people saw it.


Monday... Mavs Media day. I love this day. Why you ask? Because this means that the NBA season is just around the corner (hazah!)...and I get to put mics on "the boys" (as i like to call them). :)


Monday night...I ventured over to the Palladium (aka used to be Gilley's) and saw The Swell Season. This band is headed up by the two leads in the movie (one of my favorites of last year) Once. (see it if you haven't already)

Besides that, they were great live. Some people/groups/band touch you in such a way that you're heart (and soul) is filled with goodness. This happened tonight. Glen Hansard is just so passionate about what he sings and the violinist kinda made my heart melt. He is also a big fan of the sing-a-long, and hence the audience joined in on most of the songs. (we didn't sound too terribly awful either lol) Loved it all! (really dark in there and i was pretty far back so the picture is not the greatest)



The "added bonus" was near the end of the set when they broke into an acoustic version of Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River". Brilliant! lol (this wasn't from Monday, but from the night before at ACL in Austin)

Tuesday...was a pretty chill night for me...but my sister-in-law, Pam, was in a pretty bad car accident. She's still in the hospital with a broken arm and a fractured neck bone...but other than that, looks like she's gonna be ok. SOOO thankful!

Wednesday...got some pictures from Iraq. My brother-in-law, Mikey, is stationed there (for those who don't know) for the second time. I love hearing from him or hearing that my sister, Nena, has heard from him. Take a look ...he's the shortest Mexican :) Hopefully he (and the rest) will come home SOON! ...

After watching the season premier of Pushing Daisies (still brilliant)...I headed out and did something pretty silly/dumb (which I won't go into here) but it did make things (that I already knew) quite clear. I also had a great phone conversation (pretty much venting about weird/stupid people) with a new friend. (what up Son of a Preacher Man!) :)

...life (in general) is still pretty good.

much love