T minus 2 weeks to 3-0 = CONTEST!

I know I should really only be thinking about Jesus' birthday this time of year. But, in exactly 14 days I will be thirty years old. Thirty. 3-0.

My brain can't even process that concept.

I know I'm not going to die or anything. I know everyone says the thirties are way better than the twenties and I believe them. But, still... I can't help but be just a little scared about my birthday. Seriously. THIRTY!

ok... just breathe... just breathe...

Well, instead of panicking too much I've decided that it's best to celebrate! That means that YOU get to celebrate with me. YOU are getting a gift for my birthday! OK... so not ALL of you. THREE of you. One for each decade. Three lucky random winners will receive a give from me in the mail- some of my favorite things, things that make me happy and my "cropstar v.29: this was a crazy year" soundtrack. I know you're all excited... all 5 of you.

Leave me a comment and on January 3rd I'll pick the winners!

Happy two weeks until my birthday everyone!

PS- Me= Utah 12/22 thru 1/1 if anyone in utah wants to hang. let me know.

this is why i'm best friends with these people...

“Boys are like purses. You're always gonna have that one boy that you're always comfortable with and you know you'll always kind of like. That's your purse that you wear everywhere. Then you have that gorgeous bag that you want everyone to see you with but the gorgeous bag is usually an asshole or costs a lot of money. Then you have those other purses that you really like but you really don't want to be seen with.”

-Lauren Conrad

It's official!

I'm in!

Here's what I'll be doing on March 8th.

I'm so excited.

ps... I watched the video from the 2007 race and got a little emotional...

Concert Review

Last tuesday night I went to the Big Damn Holiday Jam sponsored by Area 108 fm (one of the better radio stations in Vegas... which sadly, is not saying much) at The Joint. I was pretty excited about the line up: VHS or Beta, Against Me, Angels & Airwaves. What I didn't realize is that it would be a fascinating study in behavioral sociology (is that a term? I just made it up).

Here's my review of the music, the spoken word and the show that was not onstage:

Just What a Band Aught to Be

I was really excited to see VHS or Beta. They'd been recommended to me a while back but I never took the time to check them out. They were perfect. Loved the music. They sounded great. They looked great. They even broke down their own set which is very cool. The only thing that disappointed me about their set was that it was too short (but that's the lot you get when you're the opener to the opener). I came home, downloaded "Bring on the Comets" and haven't stopped listening to it since. Highly, highly recommended. They're pretty much my new favorite band.

Age Appropriate

If you've never heard Against Me, you'll probably understand exactly what kind of band they are when I tell you that my vocal chords hurt after listening to them... and not because I was screaming, but because the lead singer screamed every lyric of their entire set and there was some serious moshing going on. They were really entertaining to watch and the music was pretty good. And man, their drummer killed me! He so did not look the part. I was fully expecting him to break out in some charlie brown dancing right on stage.

Imagine with me now... Against Me onstage. A bunch of punk teens and early 20-somethings all dressed in black, moshing, fist pumping, screaming right along with the lead singer.

Enter Fred & Barney.

At first glance you ask yourself what Fred is doing at a show like this. He's most likely in his early 40s, in town for a convention and taking advantage of the weeks liberation from the wife and kids. He must have come straight from the convention center because he's still wearing a suit, though he's attempting to fit in by taking off his tie and unbuttoning the top few buttons of his white shirt.

Barney is in his late 30s and is a Vegas veteran. This isn't his first time here on business and he's exactly what you'd expect to see at the hottest night club or walking down the strip accompanied by his hired help. He's sporting designer jeans, a button up shirt (cut on the biased, no doubt) and white, croc leather elf shoes and a $300 haircut (that looks exactly like a $20 haircut). In his head he's the hottest thing on the block and he's trying hard to make sure everyone else knows it. In short... he's a tool.

Now, I have no problem with guys of this demographic being at a show like this. I do however have a problem with them being. in. the. mosh. pit. People? Can I just tell how embarrassed I was for these two? They stuck out like a pork chop at a Bar Mitzvah. It was hilarious. The best part was Fred trying to high-five the mosh pit locals only to be met by blank stares. Classic!

So, ok, can we just talk for a moment about what is and is not age appropriate? This has been on my mind as I'm now in the very late august of my 20s and a new decade is knocking... no, banging on my door.

At a show like this I believe there is proper physical placement for each age group. The younger you are the closer you may be to the stage with absolutely no elbow room. Take a step back for every year older you get and gain some breathing room. It's a simple formula. Let's stick to it. The formula may change for each musical genre but there is indeed an age appropriate location for everyone in attendance. So, where was I? Left of center, mid-way back.

You're not paid to talk, buddy. Now shut up and sing!

The headlining band for the evening was Angels & Airwaves. I knew a few of their songs before going to the show so I was looking forward to seeing what they'd be about live. Umm... You know when you leave a show liking a band less than when you came? Yep, that'd be my experience here.

First of all, I didn't know until I got there that the lead singer is Tom DeLonge (ok, color me ignorant), formerly of Blink 182. Did I forget to tell you that I hated Blink? Did I also forget to tell you that I really hated Tom DeLonge?

Well during the opening few songs of their set I was fascinated! This didn't look like that guy from that other band. It was almost impossible to take your eyes off of him. Amazing moves. Incredible stage presence. He seemed like a different person and I was well pleased... until he started talking.

There is an appropriate amount of verbal interaction a performer should have with his/her audience but this was way too far over the line. His 10 minute long stories had me snoozing not to mention the F-this, F-that, F-in F-er. I mean, come on. That's just offensive. To top it all off the vocal levels were way off. Couldn't even hear him singing. I was so ready for that show to be over. OK, it really wasn't so bad. They had a lot of potential to be awesome. Had the vocal levels been balanced and not so much talky, talky, I would have loved seeing them live. Sadly disappointed.

So, in conclusion:

Angels & Airwaves- stick to the ipod
Against Me- Worth seeing as an opener
VHS or Beta- go buy every song they've ever recorded and see them live every chance you get.

All in all- I'm down with the live shows. They're keeping me young- which feels totally age appropriate to me right now.

the wait is over

I apologize to all my fellow SYTYCD fans out there for taking so long to post my photos from the tour. I would love to give you a valid excuse as to why it's taken me so long but really I've just been lazy.

And just to remind you of my devotion to SYTYCD (the best show ever in the whole entire universe)- 3 of my friends and I flew... on a airplane... to a different city... where it was fareeeeezing... just so we could support our best friends (ie- the cast). We're so hard core.

Something happened to my camera a while back so I can't really see what I'm taking pictures of. I'm using the "point the camera in the general direction of the subject and hope for the best" method of photography. Mostly I got a bunch of crazy blurry photos. But, I did get a few good ones (captions above photos):

The SYTYCD posse (minus J who saw the show in CA)

I know the popular thing to do is be in love with Neil (and I am) but, I am so in love with Kameron! So, so in love.
Kameron & Lacey dancing the infamous Mia Michaels contemporary number.
OK Ladies. Here he is! NEIL!
It took me a while to figure out what this was a picture of. Can you guess? It's Neil. Doing a back flip. Very high. In the air. HELLO! This is from the disco number with Sara.
More Neil acrobatics. This time with Sabra doing the Mandy Moore contemporary to Sweet Dreams by The Eurythmics.
Pasha being... Pasha. And Dominic in the background mimicking with a red handkerchief. We got pretty lucky the night we saw the show. It was the LAST stop on the tour so not only did we get to see the Top 10, we got to see the Top 14 (including the 4 alternates who subbed during the tour for those who were injured, etc) and every single number that involved said alternates. So, that meant 3 solid hours of SYTYCD magic! It was heaven. And since it was the last tour the group was a little silly and doing some hilarious stuff. They were having such a great time together!
Another example of the groups last night of the tour antics. Had this moment not been totally hilarious (like, make you cry hilarious) I would have been pretty upset that they ruined one of my fav dances. This was the Shane Sparks hip-hop piece with Sabra and Dominic. However, half way through the dance out walks Hok dressed as a full on TRANNY and steppin in on Sabras part. So, ridiculously hilarious!
And this is the part where I was kind of crying (and also, not the only time I was kind of crying during the night. I mean come on! It was magical!) This was the Mia Michaels contemporary piece with Neil and Lacey. It was so beautiful how the whole cast came out dressed in white carried the daisies for the stage. Beautiful! Also... I may or may not have audibly gasped when they eluded that Mia Michaels herself was there to explain the piece. I really, honestly thought she was going to physically be there, so I was sad (and a little embarrassed about the gasp) when I realized that they meant she'd be talking about the number via pre-recorded video. Alas, still moving.
This one is especially for the ladies again- can you see Neil's abs?? Yeah?? Yeah?? Oh yeah!
The whole cast at the end of the show. So, my tour observations were thus: Danny- not as annoying as he used to be. I could actually tolerate him. Lauren- still totally hate her (and I mean hate with fiery indignation). Jaime- psycho and totally annoying. Seriously. Everyone else- LOVE!! The group numbers were so much better live than they were on the show! It was such a fantastic night. There were only one or two dances that I wish they would have done (including the sara/pasha suspender dance). I was so happy that they did all my favorites. SO HAPPY!
Sometimes I forget that I'm not Grace Kelly. I think the silliness of the sytycd cast wore off on my because this happened during intermission:
And don't worry that I totally bought a tour t-shirt and I totally wore it to the Angels & Airwaves / Against Me / VHS or BETA concert that I went to last night. Not even a tiny bit ashamed. (Also, don't worry that I came home and made a bitchin' spreadsheet detailing every episode of sytycd- the songs, performers, styles and choreographers... nope, not obsessed at all...)

I'm not kidding when I say you should be jealous of me. Be very, very jealous, people!

For the sake of posting...

1. First and foremost- the So You Think You Can Dance Tour was AMAZING!! I'm not even exaggerating one bit when I say that was the greatest night of my life... ok, maybe it's in a tie with the night I saw the Backstreet Boys in concert. But, still, ahhhhmaaaayziiiiing!! I'll post pictures tonight and elaborate a little more (though I really don't think words can do it justice).

2. I started running more consistently (again) and upping my mileage slowly (again). I'm doing 3-milers pretty easily this week which is pretty good for me especially since a few weeks ago (after not really running for the last 5 months) I was dying after just 2 miles. However, I've got a steep climb this month in order to get ready for the 1/2 marathon in January. I'd forgotten how much of mental game running really is. I know I need to push my limits more but when I'm going around that track for the 16th time (seriously, the track at my gym is a dizzying 5-1/2 laps per mile... yet better than running outside in the cold and dark) it's pretty easy to justify 3 miles as 'good enough' for the day.
I kind of can't believe I'm going to do a 1/2 in a month from now. I never thought that would be something I could do this soon. But, now it actually feels within reach. I really thought a 1/2 marathon was the absolute most my body and mind could ever do. But, now that I'm actually going do it I feel like a full marathon is a conceivable goal. Pretty cool.
This week I mixed up my playlist a little. Normally I have a lot of upbeat, fast, loud songs that pump me up. But, I was getting sick of the same old songs on repeat so I made a new playlist of songs that I just plain like regardless of their tempo and volume. It actually made for a pretty relaxing run.
I'm also trying to figure out the correlation between what I eat and my energy level when I'm running. I've been trying to eat more healthfully lately but I'm having a hard time balancing all the food groups (or whatever I'm supposed to do with them). It just seems like some days on the track I can go around and around without getting tired, other days it's like I'm carrying around a ton of bricks and am winded after my first lap. And I can't yet figure out what I need to do to feel like I have endless energy. I guess I'm gonna have to get less lazy in the kitchen. Hmph.

3. It's Christmas time. I have to keep reminding myself.
I've been in Las Vegas for 7 years (whoa!) and have acclimatized to the heat and lack of cold. Yet, I've never really been able to get in the Christmas Spirit here. To me Christmas involves freezing cold weather, snow, pine trees, snow capped mountains, seeing your breath when you walk outside, christmas lights, cranking the heater, scraping the car windows, coats, boots, gloves, scarves, hot chocolate and wassail, etc. It does not involve sunny weather, palm trees, rolling down the car windows, flip-flops (or clip-clops), short sleeves, frozen yogurt, etc
I've got my house decorated, tree and all, but I still kinda feel like I'm just pretending that it's "the most wonderful time of the year". If only I could get some snow up in here!