when two forces collide

the teen, the bean and i ran errands yesterday. all. freaking. day. long.

we headed out towards old town pasadena for the first stop - paper source. i have two invitation orders to fulfill, and i want to get them both done before we leave for paradise next week.
but first, we stopped at starbucks for some caffeine. and as we walked in, the teen remembered that our new friend mindy told us that starbucks and pinkberry collaborated on a new smoothie-drink-thingy that had just been released. and sure enough, there it was.

cold. creamy. pinkberry-y. oh, it's lovely. maybe a little pricey ($4 for a 10-ounce cup), but when you want the tart goodness right NOW, this drinkable version is a lovely option. at least till our local store opens. yay!

we sipped and mmmmm'ed as i scooped up all the required goods from paper source, and then we stopped in at a few other shops to browse before we were lured into the brand spankin' new juicy couture store. i'd been avoiding this place during previous visits to old town, but i knew the teen wanted to check it out, so in we went.

i loved this cute little pink satin purse. this thing was heavy! the handle of it is like a seat belt, complete with buckle. it was on sale, but the last thing i need right now is another new bag, so i settled for petting it, taking a picture, and moving on.

we left with a trail of drool behind us over all the cute clothes we'd seen, but not completely empty-handed. we picked up a little roll-on vial of their new fragrance, "viva la juicy." it's different from the original juicy scent, and we like it. now we're gonna smell the same. great.

as we walked out of there, we spied the line at the apple store across the street. i'm amused every time we pass a different apple store and see this.

the rest of the day wasn't interesting enough to photograph: michael's, lunch at yoshinoya, verizon store to replace my piece o'shit phone that had just been replaced two weeks ago, best buy to replace the piece o'shit broken GPS that i'd given the hub for father's day that had just been replaced last week (we've got really great luck with electronics these days), on to a different verizon store because the first one was out of my phone, a $100 gas tank fill-up, on to another best buy store because the first one was out of the GPS we wanted, and then finally to a scrapbook store for more invitation supplies. yikes.

we'd left the house at 10, and didn't pull into our driveway till 5. it was literally a full day of crap.

i fed the bean some dinner, put on a swim diaper, changed into a bathing suit, and the three of us settled into the hot tub to relax and unwind. it was a lovely way to end our busy day.

an hour later, the bean had been bathed, the teen had been fed, and they were both on the couch, knocked the fuck out.

gotta love it.

golden girl(s)

the hub's grandfather mentioned in passing last week that he was feeling kind of bad, because he'd been off on various fishing trips, doing charity work in mexico (he's part of a group that raises funds to build houses for needy families down there), and meeting up with buddies for golf on a fairly regular basis. this usually left grandma at home to care for great-grandma, who's 94 and living with them full-time.

so the hub decided to arrange for his mom to go and hang out with great-grandma while he sent the grandparents away on a well-deserved quickie getaway. he booked them a lovely room at the hotel del coronado, faxed over his credit card information, and they were thrilled. hell, who wouldn't be? it's the del!

on tuesday (the day they were due to return home), MIL and great-gram piled into our car and we headed out for a lovely afternoon of sunshine and strolling the shops at the grove and farmers market. great-gram had never been, and she was quite surprised to find herself "all the way out in los angeles to do some shopping." we got her settled in her wheelchair, strapped the bean in her stroller, and got down to the serious business of shopping for hats and shoes for great-gram.

she decided she didn't want a hat after all, but she had fun trying some on.

and she was astonished at the prices of shoes, even something as simple as a pair of sandals to wear to a birthday party. she loved these gold ones, and i took this picture just before she flipped it over and damn near had a coronary at the $285 price tag.

"is there a kohl's here? i know i can find something there."

haha! nope, grandma, not here, but we'll find you one another day.

i was slightly surprised at the line of folks waiting to get in the apple store. on a wednesday afternoon! ha!

and i literally screeched to a halt and did a double-take as we walked by the entrance to abercrombie & fitch. i love how they think a half-naked dude is what it takes to sell overpriced polos and tees. but great-gram seemed to enjoy the view.

lunch. i love me some corned beef & cabbage. so delish.

while we were there, i met up with a fellow nestie from the l.a. local board, mindymo25. she works there, and she brought us a fun farmers market goody bag, led us to a nice, private room to change the bean's diaper, and took a pinkberry break with us. and that cool-looking fruit stand next door, eple, is owned by pinkberry. apparently, the grocers at the market have suffered somewhat from the grove, because it's not all that easy to just pop in and buy groceries anymore. parking is pretty hellish. and pinkberry was told that if they wanted to open a store at the market, they'd have to open a fruit stand of some sort, too.

by then, great-gram was tired and was ready to head home. we bid mindy good-bye and braced for rush-hour traffic all the way home. it was just before 5:00. ugh.

but i was pleasantly surprised to see that the carpool lane was magical, and we breezed right through traffic and found ourselves pulling up to the house only an hour later. whee! and we ended our day with dinner at chili's - i had a giant burger topped with thick-cut bacon that had been rubbed with brown sugar and chili powder. it reminded me of "pig candy" - something nanette mentioned a while back. i can't remember if it was on her blog or in e-mails, but you know me - bacon is my kryptonite. heh.

hell, i want some pig candy right now. it sounds so damn gross, but oh, was it tasty. [drooling]

third time's a charm

okay, last night was the third and final night of the jonas brothers extravaganza. and somehow, we DID manage to save the best for last! our seats for this show were the best of the bunch - on the club level (where the suites are), and a little closer to center than before.

we left the house a little earlier in hopes of finding the wristband/audience wrangler dude, hopped in the carpool lane, and got down to the venue in half an hour. and then i decided to spring for the preferred parking lot ($25, ouch), finding a spot right near the exit. sweet!

i snapped a shot of the girls, again clad in their custom jonas brothers tees, pledges of love for the boys inked with colorful markers on their faces, arms, and legs, and clutching the new posters they'd made earlier in the day. and the teen decorated my arm a little, too. nice, huh?

i decided to throw caution to the wind and tucked my "good" camera into my tote. knowing our seats would be pretty good, and seeing other DSLRs at the previous two shows, i figured i had a decent chance of getting better pictures this time around. it's not anything special - just the nikon D40x - TOTALLY not professional equipment that any REAL photographer would use. i mean, don't get me wrong, i love that camera, and it's awesome for me, but i'm thinking that a pro wouldn't be caught dead with one like it. i threw my sweater on top of the camera, we crossed our fingers, and got in the long ass line of giggly fans waiting to enter the stadium.

again, the teen managed to run into a friend from school who was similarly dressed and decorated. after exchanging a few hugs and checking out each other's tickets, the others left to join their parents, who were waiting in line somewhere ahead of us.

burger king is one of the sponsors of the tour, and they'd been pushing their new "apple fries" with free samples - but were always out by the time the teen got there. this time, though, she hit pay dirt and happily took two bags. they're just plain apples, peeled and sliced to look like fries, and when you order them at burger king, they come with a caramel dipping sauce. these came sans sauce, but she happily dug into them anyway.

the doors finally opened, and the line moved pretty quickly. and when it was my turn, the lady noted the weight of my tote and asked me to take the sweater out. she took one look at my big ass camera, gave me a look, and pulled it out to inspect it.

lady: "you can't take this in."
me, playing dumb: "oh, really? it's just a regular camera, it's totally not professional equipment."
lady: "well, let me get a supervisor."
[supervisor saunters over]
lady: "is this camera okay to take in?"
supervisor: "this is too big. they don't let these in without a press pass."
me: "oh, no! i'm not a photographer, i just wanted to get some nice pictures for my girls." [girls smile and look innocent]
supervisor, turning to another employee: "what do you think?"
[i flash my biggest, "i'm just a girl" smile and fiddle with my hair]
employee, smiling back: "oh, i think it's okay."
supervisor: "go ahead, you're fine."
me: "oh, thank you so much! i promise, i won't make a spectacle of myself."

i love being a girl so damn much.

we made our way into the venue and headed up to the top level where i'd seen the wristband dude the day before. sadly, we didn't find him, nor did we see anyone else who could have possibly gotten us down onto that floor. i peeked inside and noted that there was already a large group of screaming, glow stick-brandishing fans down there, and knew that it was a lost cause. and so, off to our seats we went.

i don't know why, but my pictures make it look like we were actually sitting further away than we were. oh, well.

i got comfy while the girls debated going out and continuing the search. i was handed a menu of snacks and drinks by a club waiter, and happily perused it as they decided to go out and check things out.

i didn't order anything particularly interesting - just iced tea and soda, a soft pretzel and cotton candy - so i didn't bother to take pictures of them. i did, however, take this:

the girls came back, emptyhanded but breathless with excitement. "we saw where they were doing the meet & greet, mom - we were like TEN FEET AWAY FROM THEM!" and BFF said "yeah, i totally saw kevin's sideburns and we both saw big rob!"

big rob is the band's main bodyguard - you can imagine why they call him that. and he's actually featured in their latest single, "burnin' up." hilarious.

anyway, since they didn't have special wristbands, they couldn't get into the meet & greet - and the teen even tried sweet-talking the attendant standing at the door. i was sad for them, but not surprised. those things are tough to get into unless you've got some sort of connection, and we sure didn't have one. but they shook it off and refocused their attention on the show, which was about to begin.

and sure enough, demi lovato came out a few minutes later and did her job as their opening act again.

and then, as "we will rock you" came over the speakers and the theater went dark, the screaming began in earnest and the show began. by now, we could tell you the exact order of the songs, and even recite some of their lines as they joked around with each other and the audience. ha!

this part of the show was always a showstopper - in fact, as they got to the top, the music would stop and they'd pause to listen to the screaming and cheering. the fans ate this shit up - the cameras would do close-ups on each guy smiling and blowing kisses, and they'd shriek even louder.



taylor swift's presence at the previous night's show was explained when the band announced a "surprise guest" and she popped up onstage, strumming her guitar and performing her latest single.

and it was funny when she finished, shouted out her thanks to the audience, and left the stage - only to return a few minutes later and repeat the performance for the rolling cameras. the filming for the 3D concert movie was still in full effect, and she was obviously a part of it as a guest performer - much like the jonas brothers themselves were guest performers for the hannah montana movie.

i took this for winnie, who's not a jonas brothers fan. at all.



check out big rob:

i took this horribly grainy video with my cell phone - boys in tight skinny pants jumping around and doing cartwheels and flips is highly amusing to me.



the show came to an end all too soon for the girls. and, all right, i'll admit it - i totally had a blast at this show. the entire audience was even more pumped and enthusiastic than at the other two shows, i got to take much better pictures, we had great seats, and okay, fuck it - i enjoyed the whole performance. immensely. i cheered, i danced, i jumped up and down, i even threw in a few fist pumps, and i sang along to a horrifying majority of the songs. i know i'm entirely too old to be a "real" fan, but tell that to the 45-ish-year-old who was on her feet the entire time, wearing a jonas brothers tee she'd made herself, with no teenaged kid in sight, and dancing next to her friend - who was roughly the same age. that's not creepy at all, considering the boys are 15, 18, and 20. but i can certainly appreciate the fact that they each play various instruments, write a lot of their own songs, and the that they can sell out entire stadiums within minutes of the tickets going on sale - despite a marked lack of radio airplay. disney truly is magical. mm-hmmm.

the girls paused for one final photo op:

they pointed out where they'd seen the meet & greet:

and as we headed down to street level in the elevator, the girls wished they'd had at least ONE of these:

in the car, as we waited in line to exit the parking lot, the teen let out a big sigh and said "i miss them already."

oy vey.

bonus jonas

any jonas fan worth their salt knows that term actually refers to the jonas brothers' little brother, frankie. but last night, for us, it meant extra performance time. bonus! see? get it?

the two shows at the honda center were being filmed for their upcoming 3D concert movie, a la the hannah montana/miley cyrus flick that came out earlier this year. a disclaimer had been posted on the ticketmaster site, which also stated that there was a possibility of the show running longer than normal - for re-takes and audience close-ups and fun stuff like that. of course, the girls were excited at the prospect. and today's show attendees included yours truly and the teen, plus BFF and one of my cousins - seven.

after a huge disappointment at the closest starbucks to the arena (it was CLOSED!), we arrived at the arena and the entire car of estrogen noticed the adorably cute traffic cop who directed us to the nearest parking lot. i asked the attendant where the best parking was, and she said "well, since the show's already started, this is the best you're gonna get." at our blank stares, she said "yeah, it started at 6."

WTF?? a quick glance at our tickets confirmed it - and the girls started to panic. but i reminded them of how long it actually took the boys to make their grand entrance, and they relaxed.

by this time, we were standing at the curb, waiting to cross the street. i whipped out my camera and nonchalantly snapped a shot of mr. hot cop, and seven and the girls laughed their asses off. and i was so not slick about it, because he totally noticed what i was doing, grinned, and pointed me out to the other cop standing next to him. dahahahaha!

well, i was busted, so i took the opportunity to snap another shot - and this time he flashed me a bright smile. so accommodating! seven was melting into a big pile of mush next to me, and as we crossed the street and passed him, i looked up, smiled, and chirped "hi!" the girls damn near lost it, and the others who were crossing the street with us were totally amused.

and then it was like the day before - bag inspection, ticket scanning, eyeing the food booths (i was determined to get food this time, because we all starved last time), finding our seat. and we were happy to see that our assumptions were dead on this time - the venue was much smaller and more intimate, even with our top-level almost-nosebleed seats. whee! we had a great view of the stage, albeit off to the side. and we noticed these signs, with disclaimers about the filming of the concert.

seven bears a remarkable similarity to another disney channel star, brenda song. i made the comment that it would be awesome if we got bumped up to better seats because of how much she looks like her, which drew an exasperated look from seven and longing squeals from the girls. she said that she's been mistaken for brenda song so many times that she's actually ended up having to sign a couple of autographs for a few tenacious, overzealous fans. too funny.

we decided to go out and get food before it got too crazy. and once we saw folks walking around with giant milkshakes from ruby's, we were set.

but the lackluster food offerings (cheeseburger nachos? ick. boring hot dogs? blah) sent the girls off in search of better choices, while i stayed behind to order those lovely shakes. and as i waited, i could hear lots of screaming, both inside and outside - plus groups of giggling girls excitedly running down the stairs. having noticed a bunch of fans down on the floor near the stage, i figured they'd been chosen to join that group for filming.

seven and the girls reported back with dismal findings - nothing exciting, food-wise. the teen and BFF decided to take the shakes and go back to their seats, so seven and i decided to grab whatever we could find. and as we stood in line for teriyaki chicken bowls, we chatted and caught up on each others' lives - it'd been a while since we'd had a chance to talk.

behind us, another group of excited girls were running towards the stairs, and this time, we noticed an official-looking dude wearing a headset and a name badge that identified him as an employee of the filming crew. we walked up as he was handing out wristbands to another set of girls, and when i asked him if he had any more, he held up his hands and shook his head.

"i wish i did, but those were the last ones i have, and i'm the only one assigned to hand those out. i'm really sorry," he said. and even a bribe didn't get me anywhere. boo. the girls would have flipped the eff out. oh, well.

we finally got our food and returned to our seats right as the show was starting. and just like the day before, they opened with my favorite song, so the food sat on the floor near our seats while we jumped and danced and sang along and had a good ol' time.

the teen's favorite brother, nick, was diagnosed with diabetes a couple of years ago, and part of the show involves a screening of an interview with him, where he talks about living with the disease and how it affects his life at home and on the road. and then he appears in the center of the stage, sitting at a piano, and performs a song he wrote about it. the teen always gets all teary and sympathetic at this part.

and when it got to the last song and the band disappeared along with the boys, the lights didn't come on like they had before. of course, this always signals the "real" end of the show, right? but not today. nope. instead, the group's manager came out and announced that everyone was taking a 15-minute break and then would come back out to perform a few more songs. of course, this was all for the sake of the concert film, but everyone was stoked - bonus jonas, remember?

while we waited, we watched the filming crew set up, cheered for the jonas parents when they came out to join the crowd on the floor, and noticed taylor swift being escorted out into the audience and into an area that was roped off from the general ticketholders.

then the boys came out, recreating their big entrance - complete with fireworks, dressed in their original outfits, and performing the opening song again. they followed it up with about three more songs, all while being closely followed by the giant cameras, and then it was over. the lights came on, they shouted out thanks to the parents for letting the audience stay for the filming, blew kisses, and then it was over for real.

as we walked out of there, we realized that we were directly across from where the tour buses were parked, and had a great view out of the windows. we hung out there for as long as we could, hoping for a glimpse of the band, until security came along and politely asked us to make our way over to the exits. ha! so much for our perfect vantage point.

it was easy to find our car, as we'd made it a point to park near the exit (i'm finally getting smarter about that kind of stuff), and that was that. being closer to home, we walked in the door at 11:00, and right as i set my bag down, i heard the bean cry out as she woke up.

one more show, and tonight's seats are the best of the bunch. we'll be a level below where we were, and a little more towards the center. it'll be a much better view, hopefully with yummier food choices, and we're planning to get there earlier in the hopes of hunting down that audience wrangler dude. maybe the best actually WILL be last. i hope so, because the teen's already bummed at the end of her big jonas brothers-filled weekend coming to an end.

wish us luck.