Day 161: London & Brad Paisley Recap

All I can say about London was wow. It was so beautiful and amazing--I think it ties with Roma for my favorite European city! Gorgeous, and the Brad Paisley concert wasn't too bad either. ;)

Tuesday morning, Katie and I got to the airport and went our separate ways--she had to book a different flight to London. After a very long layover in Munich, along with almost missing my flight because they decided to change the gate on me at the last minute, I made it to London City Airport. It's much smaller than Heathrow, and much easier to navigate. I was so thankful that there was no language barrier, because I couldn't figure out the overground subway system that connected up with the tube, London's subway system. A nice middle-aged man pointed me on my way and I was so happy! On the subway ride to the tube, we passed by the O2 arena where Brad would be playing Wednesday night. I fell in love!

 A camel in the Munich airport outside the "Camel Smoking Zone."

Wednesday Katie and I woke up and began our tour of London. We were surprised how ingrained into our brains it is to look left while crossing the street. Thank God the British helped us out:

 We first took the tube to the Westminster Abbey. Across the Thames River was the London eye:

And of course, the ever-popular Mr. Big Ben.

We wandered around the Abbey and got a couple good photo ops.

 Of course, I had to get a sign of the Union Jack flying high.

Then, on our way to Buckingham Palace, we walked through St. James' Park. It was a perfect day, about 70 degrees F, and we found ourselves wishing we could have a picnic!

We saw several of these as we were walking, a sign for Princess Di's memorial walk.

 Loving the Union Jack flags along the road. ♥

St. James Park, again.

Buckingham Palace and their gorgeous flowers.

 I could definitely live here!

This is how we do it in London. :)

 Westminster Abbey and Big Ben.

From across the Thames.

London Tower.

 Tower Bridge.

Tower Bridge, again.

 The pub where we ate lunch.

 Pretty flowers were our scenery for our lunch! I had fish and chips.

 The pub came complete with a noose over the bar.

After lunch, we went to see a Broadway musical, Wicked. It blew me out of the water! I had never seen a Broadway show before and I was in love.

Right after the show, we jumped on the tube and went to the O2. Isn't it gorgeous!?

What greeted us right inside the O2.

We had plenty of time before the show started, so we stopped into TGI Friday's and got drinks. We decided to each get a shot and a drink (you only live once!), so Katie decided on shots of Southern Comfort and lime, and we each got drinks. Unfortunately, the bartender thought we wanted Southern Comfort and lime drinks, so we ended up with no shots and two drinks each. Ha!

 Drinks & tickets at TGI Friday's.

 Another shot. Amazing!

 Darius Rucker was Brad's opening act. So good!

 No need to zoom in.

 Yep--we were this close!

 Katie and me.

 Belting it out!

As I've said before, and you can see from the shots of Darius Rucker, we were CLOSE! When we went to take our seats, I knew we were in the center and 5th row, but I didn't know exactly where we'd be sitting. We ended up right next to the catwalk--as in, if either Darius or Brad had reached down, I would have been able to touch them. *sigh*

Brad put on an amazing show, as always. 

Mud on the Tires.

 Welcome to the Future.
No, this is not zoomed in at all. Wow!!

We got some amazing views from behind too. 

Celebrity.

This is Country Music.

 "If there's anyone who still has pride in the memory of those that died defending your red, white and blue... This is country music, and we do."

Remembering Norway's fallen.

I swear he had just looked at me and my camera, and then back down at his guitar.

Probably my favorite shot from the night.♥ 

In the middle of "I'm Still a Guy," Brad started talking in a British accent. I caught the last bit of it, plus the last verse of the song. At the end of the song, as he was walking back down the catwalk, he tossed his guitar pick to me. :D

 

Welcome to the Future.

 Water.

For the last couple songs, Brad brought out Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood to accompany him. Too cool!

 It's never a Brad Paisley concert without "Alcohol."

Brad and Darius singing "Alcohol."

The concert was just overwhelmingly amazing. Afterward, we took a boat ride down the Thames that was supposed to have awesome views of London. It didn't disappoint!

 Walking down to the pier.

 The O2 at night.

 Windswept hair, ha. Can it get any better than this?

 Tower Bridge by night.

 London Bridge!

 Labeled so everyone knows.

 London Eye, Big Ben, and Westminster.

 Big Ben and Westminster at night, with a bridge slightly in the way.

Our night was complete, and completely amazing. I was blown away by London. The next morning, I had to get up at 5:45 to catch the tube to the airport again. I got one quick shot of the tube stop nearest our hotel, Grand Portland Street.

I made it home around 8 pm, exhausted but completely relaxed. My London getaway was exactly the therapy I needed. I will be going back soon!!

Day 154: Weight, softball, and London

It is amazing to me to see pictures of myself from just a couple months ago and see the difference. I know I haven't lost 50 pounds (I'm still stuck at 18, two from my goal), but still. There is a difference:

March 9, the day Arron was supposed to leave. (He ended up leaving 5 days later.)

July 22, 18 pounds down. (I think having a tan helps too, ha.)

My main exercise routine since May has been softball, both slow- and fast-pitch. So when I got notice at 1 am Saturday morning that there would be a slow-pitch super draft going on that day, I jumped on board. A super draft is when everyone puts their names into a hat and the teams are drawn at random, therefore you're playing with almost complete strangers. We started at 10 am and played for 12 hours--not straight, since we had breaks, but still. I think we ended up playing 5 or 6 games over the whole day, and let me tell you, I'm hurting today. But it was so, so worth it. I had so much fun and our team ended up winning the championship. I was the only female out there, out of four teams, so it was fun getting to meet new guys and watching the women in the stands impressed. Ha!

Tuesday is a day that I've been waiting for for the past couple months: LONDON! After a changed mind and a changed ticket, my friend and co-worker Katie will be accompanying me to see Brad Paisley next Wednesday night at the O2 arena. We have 5th row seats!!! I am so stoked, I can't even begin to express how excited I am. Eeeeeekk! I've got a list of things that I can't wait to see, like Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and the Tower of London, just to name a few. So keep an eye out for pictures, because there are sure to be a ton! We'll get into London Tuesday evening and leave out Thursday mid-morning. :)

That's all for now. Ciao ciao!

Day 151: Records

This is going to be a blog full of randomness. Warning issued.

Arron's been ordering guitar accessories lately, including a guitar stand/rack that holds up to 5 guitars. I figured I'd put it together for him so that it would be all ready.

That thing was hell to put together. How sad is that!? It's missing a nut because it wouldn't screw onto the bolt right. Whatever.

This past weekend, 30 American servicemen were killed when a helicopter went down in Afghanistan. It was the single deadliest incident in Afghanistan since the war started. My heart broke for those families and friends and loved ones. There is nothing we can do to bring them back; however, we can try to extract justice. And that's just what Arron's F-16 squadron did Monday night.

"Air Force F-16s and an AC-130H, as well as Army AH-64 Apache helicopters conducted the operation, a spokesman for NATO troops in Afghanistan told Air Force Times.
The F-16s dropped GBU-38 and GBU-54 bombs, and the Spectre fired its 105mm and 40mm cannons. The Apaches attacked insurgents with 30mm cannons." - Air Force Times, August 10, 2011

I think it's crazy how much history their squadron has made while downrange. They were there while Osama bin Laden was killed, and they've already surpassed every other F-16 squadron's record on the number of bombs dropped... and they still have over two months left.

Lastly, karaoke tonight. I may still be stuck at 18 pounds lost, but I think I look pretty good. :)

Ciao ciao!

Day 146: Softball and Research Papers

This past week has been super crazy and fun at the same time, although I can't say that I wasn't jonesing for the weekend to come quickly!

I signed up about a month ago to help with a fastpitch softball clinic that a dad wanted to host for the girls on base. The first week (this past week), we worked with high schoolers, to make sure they had the basics down. Next week we start with the younger girls as well, having the older girls help teach them. It's been a lot of fun and it's definitely helped cure my not-catching-anymore-sickness. I missed catching for fastpitch (slowpitch catching is a joke)--I missed being in charge of the game, calling pitches, and throwing out girls who were stealing. I missed the connection I had with a pitcher, and being the ultimate team to get our team where we needed to be. Let me say this--working with this clinic has made me so happy and has fulfilled me in ways you can't imagine. Now, for the news: the high school girls' coach was at the clinic, and he approached me and asked if I'd like to be an assistant coach for next spring's season. I'm pretty sure I'm going to take it, because it just sounds like so much fun.

And now to the other topic for tonight: research papers. I have one due next Sunday (a week from tomorrow). The topic is John Lennon's peaceful protests on the Vietnam War, and the effect on the American public. It's been very interesting to learn about it all, because honestly I didn't know that Lennon was that outspoken about the war. I watched a documentary today about it, The U.S. vs John Lennon, which had Beatles songs playing almost throughout the entire thing, and it was crazy to connect the dots and realize that songs I had heard my whole life were about something I never realized. Crazy, huh?

Anyway, I've got to finish the research paper soon, because one of my best friends comes back on Wednesday and we're going to party it up next weekend. :) I can't wait!

It has almost been 5 months now since Arron left, and it looks like we have about 2 1/2 to go--ish. Hell yeah!

Day 141: Finally August!

All I have to say tonight is that it's finally August!
16 more days until I see Brad Paisley in London, 5th row!
28 more days until our two year anniversary, and 29 more days until Arron's birthday.
28 more days until school starts again for the kids and summer is over.

Thank God you're here, August. I missed you.