A Concert In Blacksburg, Family & Showers

May 28th - June 1st

We made it home on Tuesday night and successfully hide all the dirty laundry and miscellaneous stuff that was all over the house in time for Andrew Zap to get into town on Wednesday. Jed's cousin, Andrew is a very talented musician and on his Late Night Lo-Fi Tour scheduled a stop in Blacksburg. We were so excited to have him come and play at She-Sha but we very pretty bummed that he couldn't make it before all the students left for the summer.

Andrew did a great job and we did have some awesome friends that made the trip out on a random Thursday night to come see him.

On Friday evening, Andrew, Jed & I took off around town to help make a promo video for his tour. It was so much fun! Here are a few of the making of pictures...

And the final video...

When Andrew continued his tour west, Jed & I headed south for the weekend to Charlotte. We decided to make a quick pit stop in downtown Charlotte to check out Dish. It is a Diners, Drive In & Dives place that we have been wanting to check out.

The atmosphere/décor wasn't the best but the food was outstanding! This is definitely a place we would go again. After lunch we wandered around a few shops in the area before heading to Joel & Leigh to spend some time with them and our niece's & nephew.

On Sunday, we headed over to our friends, Jeff & Christy's baby shower. It was great to see everyone and catch up before little Arlo gets here.

Christy & Jed

Joel, Jeff & Christy

And finally, on our way out, we stopped to see one of Jed's old students, Mike. Mike proposed to his girlfriend, Paige over the weekend and we were so excited to celebrate a little with them and hear the stories before we had to head back home. Congratulations, Mike & Paige!

A Quiet Weekend At Home

March 1st - 3rd

Finally! A quiet weekend at home. At least that is what I thought...

Friday Night:
Suzanne Vega Concert!!

She was awesome! Jed & Lisa and Chewie & Natalie were there also so during intermission there was much discussion of the guitar player and whether or not he should be wearing purple skinny jeans. Unfortunately, we couldn't all agree on an answer but it was entertaining to see for sure.


Saturday:

A peaceful morning with a homemade breakfast that Peter and Calvin joined us for!

After that we headed to watch Katie in her dance recital. She did an AMAZING job! I loved her hip hop routine. I wish I could move like that!

Next up: A pajama birthday party! So Jed and I found coordinating pajamas and headed to celebrate Kaylin.

That evening we had tickets to go see Franklin in a play called Blinded. The great part was it was a free concert and all you had to do what reserve your tickets. The bad part is if you didn't show up 20 minutes before the show started they released your tickets. We didn't know that until we ran half way across downtown to get there with 5 minutes before the show started to find out that our seats were given to others. I completely understood why they did it but it didn't change my disappointment in not being about to see the play.

As a consolation "prize" for not getting to see Blinded, we headed over to watch the last home game for the Hokie basketball team.

We didn't win but it was fun to actually watch a Hokies sports event with Jed!

We had a great weekend together at home. Maybe we should try that more often. hahaha

Being Mauled by a Tiger

October 20 - 23

This weekend I headed south to watch Tech play Clemson. I was able to stay in Charlotte on Friday night and had the chance to spend some time with my nieces and Joel and Leigh. It was great to have some time to just hang out and catch up.

Saturday morning came way too quick and Kilby, Christy and Jeff hopped in the car with me to head down to the game. It was a pretty quick and easy drive down to Clemson until we got of the exit for the game and then we were just stopped. We thought we had left ourselves plenty of time for traffic but we were not expecting this. We spent 50 minutes trying to find parking.

By the time we were walking to the game most people were already in the stadium. The Clemson fans we did see out and about were very nice and helped direct us to the stadium. Some even stopped us to get a picture.

We made it in the stadium and to our seats just as they were kicking off. I was a little bummed that I missed there intro but I was so glad to be there.

Tech game out strong but Clemson was just a little too much for us to handle at the end. Clemson played a good game and their crowd was really loud and definitely affected the game. Clemson does a cool thing after the game where they let all the fans that want come onto the field and sing along with the team to the Alma Mater. So we went and walked around on their field and headed up the hill the team normally runs down at the beginning of the game.

On our way home, we stopped at a hot dog place that Christy's family owns and operates called Skins. It was really great and a fun stop to get our minds off the game.

On Sunday, after church Jed and I head out to enjoy the weather and the changing leaves. This time we chose to go to the Cascades. It brought back lots of old memories and stories. It has been a while since we have done that hike and it did not disappoint. The pictures just don't do it justice.

We ending the evening by celebrating Jed's birthday early with dinner and friends at Macados.

On Jed's actual birthday, he had to work late. He was able to sneak out for a few minutes to grab a quick bite for dinner at Big Pizza. And then we headed out for drinks late that night with friends at the Cellar.

But the highlight was definitely on Tuesday when we drove down to pick up Joel in Greensboro after work and headed to Carrboro, NC to see their cousin's band, Zap & The Naturals play at the Cat's Cradle. They did an AMAZING job and I look forward to seeing them again as soon as possible.

The Elton John

March 15th

Sir Elton John

What an amazing evening! When we heard that he was going to be in Roanoke, we had to go. Jed and Derley did an amazing job getting us 5 tickets together directly in front of the stage despite a lot of hiccups.

I have grown up with Elton John. Some of my first memories of music videos were of Elton John's. My dad loved Elton John and I have fun memories of looking everywhere to find my dad old LP's for different holidays.

The opening performers were amazing! They are called 2Cellos and they ended up playing in The Elton John Band on and off all night. I had no idea anyone could make a cello sound like what they did. Very impressive.

Elton John played for over 2 hours straight and played some old favorites and some unknown songs too. I think my favorite was Crocodile Rock. Derley and I had a great time dancing to that one. The concert didn't last nearly long enough but I am so glad I was able to see it.

 What a fun trip down memory lane while making new, funny memories. (Don't forget someone running into a pole as we were walking back to the car...)