WEEKEND ROUND-UP...LITERALLY.

This weekend was epic. I joined my homie, L, in Amador County. He's been building a barn up there and staying in a trailer park (well, it was a trailer VILLAGE) near the property. This weekend was the biggest event of the year in Amador... It was blazing hot and we had such a great time being out in the country and being Amerrrican.

First, we prepared for the pool. Yes, the trailer park had a pool.

Then, we hit the pool. And it sure felt goooooood.

After the arrival of our third amigo, B, we had more pool time and then we were ready for:

The Fair.

Some sort of insane slippery beef/dip sandwich thing the boys loved.

There was an Amador Idol competition...STELLAR.

And the Amador County Republican Booth was right next to the Bob Marley Rasta Booth. That made my day.

After our daytime fair romp, we had some more pool time and then I took a much needed shower where the party (obviously) continued.

I don't know about you, but I always shower with beach balls and beverages.

Feeling fresh and clean, clean, it was time to start the BBQ,

listen to tunes, and prepare for the big event of the night:

THE RODEO.

It was some of the best entertainment I have ever had in my entire life. The place was packed, and the competitors were fierce. They had barrel races, bull riders, roping competitions - anything involving a horse, a bull, or a sheep and they had it in the rodeo. I lost my voice because I was screaming so loudly the entire time. And, did I mention that the cowboys there were total studs?

All of their butts were covered in Wranglers like this:

Wrangler butts make me go nuts.

I was falling in love, like, every 2 minutes. But I was particularly fond of the fellow sitting in front of us who bought us beer to welcome us to the rodeo.

Exactly.

I digress. So the best part of the rodeo by FAR was the Mutton Buster competition. They basically put kids with helmets on a sheep, slap the sheep on the arse, and let the kids hold on for dear life. This little tyke completely dominated the competition and the crowd went wild. Luckily, I got it all on video. I am trying to figure out how to download it...stay tuned.

Some more highlights of the night:

L won me a teddy bear made entirely out of money.


We tried to give it to the sheep so they could snuggle, but apparently she wasn't into bears.




It was just like Charlotte's Web, except for big kids like me, and no one died. I even rode the Ferris wheel, just like Fern did.



They sold Kanye glasses. I am hip hop.

There was a Lynyrd Skynyrd cover band and they ROCKED.


We proceeded to dance the night away...



and so we went to bed on Sunday morning.



See you next year, cowboys.

TUESDAY TUNES/WEEKEND ROUND-UP PART TROIS.

I had the distinct pleasure of seeing the lovely Leslie Feist in concert at the gorgeous Greek Theatre in Berkeley on Saturday night. And she was the definition of lovely:

1obsolete : delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace : attractive.

The entire performance was a live art piece. Feist was adorable, and the show started in the dark with her creeping on with a little lantern. She sang a song a cappella behind a back lit scrim, then her band walked out in the dark, also carrying lanterns, and started playing in the dim light.


Besides getting to watch Feist, she had an artist working on an overhead projector behind her the entire time. The amazingly talented Clea Minaker used paper cut outs, paint, her hands, and various other props to create images that flowed with the music's tempo and everything. It was mesmerizing. Seriously.


Clea is an actor and puppeteer based out of Montreal and she blew my mind, but she doesn't have her own webpage!! Sad Boo to that.

Anyways, I highly recommend seeing Feist in concert if you can. She rocks way harder than I thought she would and some of the arrangements of her songs are totally different in concert...and I loved them.

Oh! And Feist was on Sesame Street and spoofed her 1234 music video. How cute is this?

COMING SOON.

Tuesday Tunes/Concert Review/Weekend Round-Up Part Trois is coming soon. Promise. Been crazy with work and rehearsals.

But I will write tonight during So You Think You Can Dance although I don't really want to watch it because they kicked off one of my boyfriends last week. A**holes.

WEEKEND ROUND-UP PART DEUX. OR, THERE'S A FIRE WITHIN MY SOUL.

Following my celeb encounter in the lobby, I managed to pull it together and watch "Mamma Mia!" with 3 of my fabulous lady friends. I give the film a hearty "enjoyable" rating. I mean, the musical is totally nuts and barely makes any sense, so the movie didn't have a lot to work with. But, Meryl is fabulous (as always) and any movie with Colin Firth in it is worth something because he is always bumbling and adorable.

Biggest problem of the movie can be summed up in 2 words:

PIERCE and BROSNAN.

The guy is a total train wreck. He looks like he's been on steroids because his face is kind of bloated and the guy cannot sing worth his life. Like, it is PAINFUL listening to him and he looks like he is in pain himself trying to squeak out the notes. It is just not good. But other than that, the movie is a hoot. And it makes you want to go to Greece, get a tan, and get your drink on.

Best part of the movie: in one of the final dance sequences at the wedding reception, Colin Firth does this amazing leap thing where he flings his arms in the air shirtless, eyes closed, head tilted back. He looks like some gay nymph frolicking through Arcadia or something. I want to buy the DVD just so I can freeze frame that moment and laugh. The entire audience cracked up when it happened. Look carefully or you will miss it. He is on the right side of the screen.

Oh, and the guy that Sophie is engaged to totally looks like he could be in the British version of Menudo...if it existed.

I recommend it for some good, lighthearted fun. And try to go with my friend Parmer because she proceeded to sing and fling her arms around while chair dancing throughout the big numbers. It was highlare and raised the entertainment factor 10 fold.

WEEKEND ROUND-UP.

SO much to cover from these past few days that the Weekend Round-Up will have to be divided up into a few posts. But, I have to start at the end.

I had the best celebrity siting of my entire life today. And I am not joking.

This person was part of my all time favorite TV show. A show that was the essence of wholesome childhood, simpler times, great music, best friends, and growing up. I still watch it whenever I can, it still makes me cry, and it has the best goddamn voice overs in the history of television.

And, it provided me with my first real childhood crush that has never gone away:

Kevin Arnold.

If you don't know what show I'm talking about by now, I feel badly for you and you should feel badly about yourself, too.

Kevin Arnold didn't love me. Instead he loved someone he talked about all the time...

"Over the course of the average lifetime you meet a lot of people. Some of them stick with you through thick and thin. Some weave their way through your life and disappear forever. But once in a while someone comes along who earns a permanent place in your heart."

And for Kevin Arnold, that person was:

Winnie Cooper.

And today, I could have reached out and touched the love of Kevin Arnold's life.

It all happened so quickly. I was standing in the lobby of the movie theatre waiting for my girls to show up for a matinee of "Mamma Mia!" and suddenly, the mighty person upstairs summoned me to turn to my right. I did, and there was Winnie, rushing right past me with her cell phone up to her ear. I was stunned, shocked, moved, immobilized, and full of, well, wonder. She looked distressed, probably because she didn't marry my boy Kev and decided to write a math proof instead. Whateva.

I will remember that moment forever.

Oh! Or, maybe she is still upset because her brother was killed back in 'Nam. But it was so nice of Kevin to hug her by that tree. SO nice.

I will leave you with just one of the many brilliant ponderings from the show that will never, ever be topped:

“Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder what's to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come. The thing is, we didn't have to hate each other for getting older. We just had to forgive ourselves... for growing up.”

I DID IT.

As I was driving to a trail to go running this morning, some blatch drove through a stop sign when it was my turn. I honked and almost threw up my finger, but then I remembered my mission.

I put my hand down.

And when she parked a block away, I drove past her and I TOTALLY BOOED HER.


I gave her the angry boo and it felt GREAT!

I'm off to see one of my favorite female singing ladies tonight in concert...review to follow!

SLAP THE BUTCHER.

I'm so glad you're here! Grandma's been raped!

Episode 1, Part 1




Episode 1, Part 2



Episode 1, Part 3