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It's my 15 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

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Home Sweet Home.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, the weather in Pictou was supposed to be (and was) pretty soggy on Saturday. Instead of trying to do things in the rain, we wisely decided to leave at about 2:00pm AT. We made it home at about 6:00pm ET on Monday. Had we left when had originally planned (5am Sunday), we likely wouldn't have made it home until SUPER late Monday.. and with life getting back to normal on Tuesday, the earlier arrival was really satisfying. Without question, the smartest decision we made on this trip. Far more than spending $17 on an Uber to go three blocks in New York City. Ha ha!

We made it as far as Waterville, Maine, where we set up camp at a hotel for the night.

The next morning, we got up and started making our way as far as we could, but without a specific destination in mind. Ideally, we were shooting for the Washington D.C. area, but that was to be determined.

What we did know is that we would likely make it to Delaware; a state we did NOT go through on our way up. We made our way to Wilmington where we got to have a dinner with our dear friend Amanda and her son Jonas (her husband Don and daughter Evelyn weren't able to join). It was a quick visit, but it's always so nice to see the Moyer family. <3

Hi, folks!

After dinner, we made the decision to push our way through to south of Washington D.C. We figured that Monday morning would mean HEAVY traffic in the D.C. area, so getting past that would probably be good. We landed at a hotel in the Potomac Mills area for the night. It was late, but considering our arrival time at home today, it was absolutely worth pushing it a bit Sunday night.

Jill's parents brought Freddie (and a lovely dinner) to our house shortly before we got home. I tell ya what... it was nice to have a home cooked dinner; our first since our first night in Pictou. BIG thanks for Bill and Paula for keeping Freddie while we were gone! We're so glad he was a good boy!

Good boy, Fred!

Before I close this out, I need to write out a couple acknowledgements.

I must first thank Bruce & Eloise MacDonald for opening their beautiful home to us. Their selfless hospitality was incredibly touching. We felt completely at home during our visit to Pictou. We also appreciate all the information about the town and for moving us around during our time there. I also appreciate that they shared some very sweet memories of my mom; stories I'd never heard before and that Jill and the girls also got to hear. Absolutely amazing. It's such a blessing to have family like them in our lives.

I also need to thank Turner and Sydney. They've always traveled really well (even when they were little), but this trip really put that to the test. They were SO patient and open to this crazy adventure that their dear ol' dad made them go on. They absolutely earned those new Lulu items. <3

This trip was my idea, but Jill was absolutely the architect of it... and without her efforts, an idea is all it would've been. Jill planned out pretty much every detail of the trip for us; hotels, budgets, transportation, ALL of it. She's just far more skilled than me when it comes to planning these kinds of things than I am. Furthermore, she knew how important this trip was for me, and I'm so thankful that she was even willing to do it. I don't know how I got to be so lucky, but I'm not questioning it. I love you, honey! <3

Finally, the road stats... WOW!

The starting mileage was 69000.

That's a wrap! Thanks for following along!

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Everything I Wanted It To Be

Lobster fishing is a BIG deal in Pictou, Nova Scotia. At the end of each year's two-month lobster fishing season (which wraps up at the end of June), Pictou holds their annual Lobster Carnival... and, like the fishing itself, it's also a big deal. The carnival includes rides, local vendors, food vendors, a VERY popular beer tent with a whole list of local and regional musicians, fun lobster themed competitions (like the claw banding contest), a parade, TONS of children's activities, and even a "Queen of the Sea" pageant.

I chose this week to visit Pictou so that we could not only experience the town where my mom was born and visit with family, but so that we could also take part in the lobster carnival. Pictou is a teenie tiny town, and there's not a whole lot to actually do (especially for the girls). Being in Pictou during the lobster carnival gave us an opportunity to have something to do while we were here. I'll talk more about the carnival a little further down.

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I posted this on my Facebook/Instagram on Friday and figured I'd share it here as well. I've mentioned my grandparents several times throughout this journey. Well, several years ago, I was able to receive a BUNCH of scanned black and white pictures from their early years together. One of those pictures was this one from 1942:

Ship Hector Quay Monument, Pictou, NS

This picture is at the root of my inspiration to actually come to Pictou... because I wanted to recreate this picture with Jill. The Today, we got the opportunity to do just that.

we cute ;)

...and of course, I had to make this...

1942 vs. 2024

...we even got Turner and Sydney in on it.

Now, you might notice in the above photos that we're dressed a little nicer and that we're all kind of match-matchy. There's actually a reason for that. To commemorate our visit to Pictou, I wanted to get some nice family photos of the three of us while we were in town. About a month or so ago, I linked up Maggie (a photographer who is from the area) to get that done. At Maggie's recommendation, we met up with the her at a nearby park/beach for the photo shoot. Like many photographers, she has a backlog of events and sessions waiting to be edited, so we likely won't see the final results for another month or so. BUT, she also helped us take some professional pictures by the monument... and was even kind enough to use my phone to grab the monument shots posted above. I'm excited to see how the professional photos came out!

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After the photo shoot, we went back to Bruce & Eloise's house to change clothes, grab some lunch, and work out a plan for the rest of the day. We headed down to check out the carnival and do some shopping. We didn't go to the area that had the rides, though.

Pictou waterfront

We also got to see the "opening ceremonies" for the carnival. This included a local elementary school choir singing "O Canada" and several speeches from local dignitaries. We did also get a quick performance from a bagpiper which was pretty cool.

Nice kilt!

The opening ceremonies weren't quite as exciting as I I had they'd be, so we bailed out. We headed over to a local harbor front bar and grill for a snack and some drinks (adult and otherwise). No pictures taken there.

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For dinner, Bruce & Eloise ordered pizza from a wonderful local place that's famous for it's brown sauce pizza. It was really, really good. Again, no pictures of that either. ;)

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After dinner, we took a quick drive over to Stella Maris Catholic Church. This is where my grandparents were married in July of 1940. I can't say for certain, but it's safe to say that my mom would've been Christened here as well. I've only ever seen pictures of this church, so it was really nice to see it in person.

Stella Maris Catholic Church, Pictou NS.

Later in the evening, we headed back down to the waterfront to check out the Lobster Carnival fireworks display. It's not Washington DC, Boston, Philly, and New York level fireworks, but they were quite lovely.

Don't worry. Jill was in a safe place (the ice cream shop) during the show. :)

Our original plan was to also spend Saturday in Pictou to take in more of the carnival. We would then get up before the crack of dawn on Sunday to start our two-day trek home. As we looked at the weather for Saturday, it's apparent that the ENTIRE day is going to be rained out.

Because we've done pretty much everything I wanted to do in Pictou AND the fact that anything we'd try to do on Saturday would be washed out anyway, Jill had the idea of beginning our ride home around lunch time on Saturday; instead of stressing out about back-to-back 14+ hour days of driving.

Our visit to Pictou has been just so wonderful. Everyone we've met has been incredibly friendly... and also, very curious and outwardly intrigued about where we've come from to be here. It's been a lovely couple of days, and Pictou has been everything I wanted it to be... and more.

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Bar Harbor, Yarmouth, Halifax, & Pictou

Whew, what a busy couple of days! I'm a day behind on my updates, so this is going to be a LONG one. I'll explain why later.

At the end of my last update, we had arrived in Bar Harbor for the night. As the sun rose on Wednesday, we got up a little early so we could accomplish a couple things; check in to the ferry, grab some breakfast, visit Cadillac Mountain at Acadia National Park, and do a bit more exploration of Bar Harbor. We managed to do ALL of those things. What can I say? We pack a LOT of stuff into our adventures.

Breakfast was at a wonderful little diner called Jordan's. The best way to describe it? Well, if you've ever been to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, you might be familiar with a famous breakfast place there called The Log Cabin. It's sort of a hybrid of that and Waffle House.

Bar Harbor

Acadia National Park is amazing and the view from Cadillac Mountain is STUNNING. If you ever get the chance to visit here, make sure you go. We were ill prepared for hiking like most people were doing, so we didn't spend much time there. It was also unseasonably warm for this time of year in Bar Harbor. Next time we go, we'll do it right; proper hiking shoes, lighter clothing, more time, etc.

Cadillac Mountain at Acadia National Park

Before we left for the ferry, we grabbed some appetizers at a funky little place called the Dog & Pony Pub. It's the kind of place that has stickers all over the restroom doors. If you look closely at the pictures below, you'll see where I added a Disc Jockey Etc sticker to both. ;)

Do you see the Disc Jockey Etc stickers?

We made our way to the CAT Ferry, which was a highlight I was VERY much looking forward to. It goes directly from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in a little over three hours. We drove right on to the boat and got the van all settled and secured. We then made our way up to the passenger area where we took our seats.

We played cards and also got to relax for a bit, too.

The views from the ferry were gorgeous. Driving on to a boat was also a first time thing for me, too. That was pretty cool.

CAT Ferry, Bar Harbor to Yarmouth

We arrived in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and made our way off the boat. After going through customs (and figuring out how to use our phones in Canada), we headed straight to dinner. Yarmouth is a cool little town, but we had virtually NO time to explore it. Our hotel for the night was in Halifax, which was about three hours away. More on that later. We did manage to get these two pics there, though. Rudders was pretty much the only thing open and close to the ferry terminal, but it was lovely and worked out great. Yarmouth seems like the kind of town that pretty much shuts down at 8pm, but this place, Rudders, was still open... and, subsequently, quite busy. We saw quite a few familiar faces from the ferry there, too.

We had dinner on the outside deck which was perfect for sunset. These were the only pictures we got in Yarmouth.

Rudders, Yarmouth NS.

After dinner, we hopped in the car and started making the three hour drive to Halifax. Yes. THREE HOURS. In hindsight, it might have been better to stay the night in Yarmouth instead of trekking up to Halifax... because we didn't arrive there until a little after midnight... which is why I didn't post an update last night. We were all BEAT.

We actually got to sleep in a bit Thursday morning, which was nice (and much needed). We got ourselves re-packed and headed out to explore the city of Halifax. Like our time in Bar Harbor, we didn't have a whole lot of time, so we wanted to make the best of it. We found a cool little breakfast/lunch spot called Elle's Bistro.

Elle's Bistro, Halifax, NS.

Right next door to Elle's was the location of our pre-planned escape room adventure. We've done probably 100+ escape rooms in many different states. We wanted to add Canada to that growing list of locations. This place was super cool, and we totally CRUSHED that escape room! (and by "crushed", I mean we escaped with time to spare LOL).

Captured Escape Room, Halifax, NS.

After the escape room, we got to explore the waterfront area a bit. There are a ton of cool shops and eateries down there. And just like every area of coastal Nova Scotia, the water views were spectacular.

It's tough to see, but the four of us are in that rectangle next to the word CANADA.

Did you know that Lululemon was founded in Canada? Yep. And our girls knew that. So they HAD to visit the Lulu store in downtown Halifax. I didn't mind, though... because while they were shopping at Lulu, I got to visit this cool record store. I felt it was necessary to purchase an album from a Canadian act while at a Canadian record store. That just makes sense, right? ;)

Taz Records, Halifax, NS The purchase: "Fully Completely" from Tragically Hip, 1994.

It was time to make our way to the town of Pictou... which was the primary reason we went on this adventure in the first place. It's only about a 90 minute drive from Halifax to Pictou... by far, the shortest distance between two destination cities on this entire trip.

If you read my first update from before we left, you may remember that the reason I wanted to visit Pictou is because it's where my mom was born, and where my grandparents started their family.

At long last, we finally arrived in Pictou.

Pictou, NS

We're staying with Bruce & Eloise MacDonald who have known me since I was born. Bruce was a very close cousin (by guardianship) to my mom, and Eloise ended up being one of my mom's best friends. These folks were (and still are) a big part of my life growing up. We would visit them when they lived in London, Ontario pretty often. They also were guests at mine and Jill's wedding in 2002. On this trip, they were so incredibly kind to open up their home and host us for the next couple nights.

They also treated us to a lovely home cooked meal; something we haven't had since the night before we left for vacation. This is the only picture I got with them today, but there will be plenty more in the days ahead.

Bruce & Eloise MacDonald

After dinner, we went into town (all of 200 yards away) to explore a little bit at sunset. My goodness, how pretty is this town??

Pictou at sunset is just gorgeous.

It's hard to believe I'm actually here; a town I've only heard about my entire life. A place where my mother and grandparents walked and lived... and I get to experience it first hand. Even better, I get to do it with my OWN family. It's truly a blessing.

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Northbound.

Our vacation entered it's next phase today as we left New Jersey for Bar Harbor, Maine. From Jersey, we went through New York again. When we got to New York on Sunday, we didn't get a picture of the state line sign since we went through the Lincoln Tunnel (it snuck right up on us and we missed it). When we left New Jersey this morning, we found ourselves (crawling) on the George Washington bridge. Here's a picture of that sign.

Excelsior.

After New York, it was Connecticut...

Connect-I-Cut

...then into Massachusetts...

Wicked!

...then New Hampshire...

Live Free!

...and finally, into Maine.

The way life should be.

I had to take a picture of this... because you don't see signs like this very often (or at all) in Georgia. Unfortunately, we didn't see any. Maybe on the way home.

We must have seen half a dozen of these signs.

We arrived in Bar Harbor and went straight to dinner at this cool little spot.

Thirsty Whale, Bar Harbor, ME.

We didn't get to do too much exploration after dinner because the town pretty much shuts down at 9:00pm. It's okay, though. We're planning to get up and out pretty early tomorrow to see some sights. We're also going to make a visit to Acadia National Park which SO many people have told us not to miss. Definitely looking forward to that.

This is such a cool town, but our time in Bar Harbor is brief so we're making the best of the time we have. It will come to an end when we get on the CAT Ferry to Nova Scotia tomorrow... and that will start the next phase of our trip.

Stay tuned!

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Start spreadin' the news.

Boy, we sure packed a LOT of New York City into two days.

We took the train from Newark Penn Station to New York Penn Station (that was easy) and headed straight to world famous Liberty Bagels right by Madison Square Garden. Jill, Turner, and Sydney all got everything bagels with cream cheese. I, of course, had to get their famous rainbow bagel. A great meal to kick off the day.

BAGELS!

From there, we made our way to the Flat Iron Building plaza where thew new NYC Portal is located. If you're not familiar, The Portal is a new "art" installation where people in New York are watching people in Dublin, Ireland... and the people in Dublin are watching New Yorkers. One lady standing nearby recruited a handful of us to do the YMCA dance to see if our Irish counterparts would follow suit... and they absolutely did. It was really neat to be able to interact with people thousands of miles away in real time.

The Portal, New York City, Flat Iron Plaza

One of the things we talked about doing prior to our trip was a harbor cruise. Some of them are SUPER expensive, and others are dirt cheap. We opted for a middle-of-the-road cruise, and we were NOT disappointed. Our tour guide, Steve, was born and raised in lower Manhattan and gave us a lot of info and some great laughs to go along with it. Views of downtown, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty were nothing short of breathtaking. We also got to cruise under the Brooklyn Bridge (twice, out and back) and the Manhattan Bridge. The weather was absolutely perfect for it, too. Like Jill said... "Blue skies for days!".

Hudson River Harbor Cruise

We missed our chance to visit the 9/11 Memorial Plaza on our first day, but since we were close to it while downtown, we were able to get there... and I'm so glad we did. We didn't do the official museum (that's a "must do" for our next visit), but we did get to spend a few minutes by the South pool (the North pool was under maintenance). It's still tough to believe that an awful tragedy happened in that very spot; and that it's so beautiful and peaceful now. Before we left, I made sure to take a minute to reflect on that.

9/11 Memorial Plaza

Before heading to dinner, we made a visit to Greenwich Village. Turner wanted to see a very specific door/address on Cornelia St because of its relation to a Taylor Swift song. On our way to that (and sort of by accident), we stumbled on the F*R*I*E*N*D*S building. The show was shot in Los Angeles, but the outside of this building was used frequently throughout the series. Fans of the show will definitely recognize it.

F*R*I*E*N*D*S building at the corner of Bedford & Grove in the West Village.

With so many tall buildings in New York City, there are also a LOT of options when it comes to observation decks. With only a short time in the city, we chose to visit Top of the Rock on the 67th, 68th and 69th floors of Rockfeller Center. Top of the Rock kept showing up at the very top of every "Best Observation Deck" list I found, and I can see why. 30 Rock isn't nearly the tallest building in the city, but the stunning 360 degree view allows you to feel like you're EVEN with all the other buildings... rather than looking down on them like you would from Empire State or One World Trade. The girls were also able to get some really cute pictures. We'll do the other observation decks on our next visit, but I'm so glad Top of the Rock was the one we picked for this one.

Top of the Rock, Rockefeller Center

After the observation deck, we headed to dinner. Jill made us reservations at this lovely little Irish Pub just off Times Square. We loved the vibe here and the food was excellent.

O'Donoghue's

Times Square was up next. Both Turner and Sydney wanted to experience this crazy place that they've seen so many times on TV and in movies. They also wanted to get some cute pictures. ;) TSQ is definitely a bit nuts, but it's such an iconic area. We didn't see Naked Cowboy, but we did make sure to steer clear of Times Square Elmo. Ha ha!

Times Square, New York City

Well, that wraps up the first chapter of our vacation. We had such a great time visiting New York City. Like I said at the top, we were able to pack in a LOT of activity in these 48 hours, but there's still so much more to see and do. We'll be back, though... and with as much as the girls loved it, I'm guessing our return will be sooner than later.

Our adventure takes us to Bar Harbor, Maine next!

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"They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway."

As our day began, we had to figure out the best way to get to Manhattan; and there are SO many options! Public transit, Uber/Lyft, etc. Maybe we're a little nuts, but after much discussion, we decide that we would actually DRIVE ourselves IN to Manhattan. We reserved a parking spot at a garage neat The Plaza Hotel (which the girls wanted to visit). From there, we'll just take taxis, Ubers, and walk from place to place.

We parked at a garage right next to the famous Plaza Hotel, so of course, we had to stop in. I liked the little "Home Alone 2" display case. We also looked up the cost of a regular room (not even the "Kevin suite" as Turner calls it)... and honestly, how do people afford to stay at this place??

The Plaza Hotel

We has some time to kill before heading to see "The Great Gatsby", so we headed over to Times Square for a bit; The M&M store, and of course, we HAD to stop in the Krispy Kreme store. The light was on!

A few sights in Times Square

The theater showing "Gatsby" was half a block down from the Ed Sullivan Theater... home of "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert. Jill and I visited this theater on our honeymoon, but in 2002, a guy named Dave was still doing a show there. ;)

Ed Sullivan Theater - Home of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert

"The Great Gatsby" was absolutely fantastic. The actors were (in my unskilled opinion") practically flawless. The music and arrangements from the live orchestra were catchy and beautiful. The scenery was stunning, too.

We also had a super nice usher named Cesar (Valentino) who was kind, helpful, and gracious. We ran into him as we left the theater, so of course we had to grab a selfie with him. We're Instagram buddies now. ;)

If you have an opportunity to see this show, DO IT. It's outstanding!

"The Great Gatsby" - Broadway Theater

The weather forecast had been calling for rain and thunderstorms ALL day. It pretty much started AND stopped while were watching "Gatsby". Since it cleared up so nicely, we were able to do a bit more exploring than we had originally planned.

We made our way to Rockefeller Center for a bit...

30 Rockefeller Center (all decked out for Pride Month)

...and then headed downtown to (attempt to) see the 9/11 memorial plaza. They actually close the entire plaza down at 8:00pm, and we had JUST missed it. We may or may not make it back downtown tomorrow, BUT... that plaza (like many of the other things we're missing on this quick visit) isn't going anywhere. We'll get to see the full thing, up close, eventually.

The top photo below is as close as you could get to the North pool without breaching a cheap, plastic fence. There was plenty of security around, though, as one could imagine.

I did get some trippy photos of One World Trade, though. If you have vertigo or trouble with your equilibrioum when looking directly up at super tall buildings, I don't recommend doing that at One World Trade. ;)

One World Trade, lower Manhattan.

There wasn't much else to do in that area, so we grabbed a taxi and headed back to the parking garage. We collected our car, and made our way back to our AirBnb for the night.

It was such a great day exploring a bit of New York City... and that's exactly what we plan on doing tomorrow. Apart from a vist to the top of Rockefeller Center (which, we're told, is the best observation deck in the city) we're not sure exactly what we're going to see or do, but we've got a short list of ideas going. No matter what we do, it's sure to be a good time... with lots of steps.

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14 hours, 7 states, 850 miles.

Our day began at 4:00am when our phone alarms started to go off. There wasn’t much packing to do except for bathroom stuff.

After the last few details and double (and triple) checks of everything, we got in the car and started our journey.

Departure time: 5:20am

Starting mileage: 69000 (anyone care to guess what our ENDING mileage will be?)

It was actually 68999, but Jill made me wait until it got to 69000 just after we left our neighborhood. LOL!

We drove about 850 miles over almost 14 hours and traveled through ALL these states:

That's a lot of states to cover in 14 hours!

Before heading to our AirBnb in Newark, we stopped for dinner at this cool little pub.

Bello's Pub & Grill -- Newark, NJ

As our trip started to get closer, we started discussing what we wanted to do while we're in New York City. We really only have two days, so we had to prioritize. Figuring we'll be back to NYC at some point (and the fact that many of it's iconic landmarks and touristy places aren't going anywhere) we decided to skip stuff like the Statue of Liberty and museums.

The weather is supposed to be pretty rough on Sunday, so our activity will be a bit abbreviated. Instead, we decided to do much of our exploration on Monday. We plan to get up at the crack of dawn on Monday to get out and enjoy the day. The weather is supposed to be PERFECT, so we're going to make the very best of it.

On our way to our destination in Newark, we decided that we would get tickets to see "The Great Gatsby" musical on Broadway! Real talk... this was Turner's idea. She read it in school this past school year and LOVED it. I have to believe that pretty much ANY show on Broadway is worth seeing. :)

The Great Gatsby

It's been a LONG day, and now that we're settled in to our temporary home, we're going to crash for the night. Our vacation is off to a great start!

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Vacation, All I Ever Wanted.

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to visit the Canadian town of Pictou in Nova Scotia. It's where my grandparents lived for the beginning of their lives together. It's also where my late mother was born.

After years of talking about making that trip, it's finally happening... and I fully intend on using this blog to document the heck out of it.

Here's the basic agenda of the trip:

Jill, Turner, Sydney, and I will first be heading to New York City for a couple days. We're driving this ENTIRE thing, too. Flights are WAY too expensive.

↑ Time Square, New York City

From there, we'll head to Bar Harbor, Maine where we'll spend about 24 hours.

↑ Bar Harbor, Maine

We'll then take a ferry from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

↑ Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

Our next stop will be Halifax, the largest city in Nova Scotia.

↑ Halifax, Nova Scotia

After a 24'ish hour stay in Halifax, we'll drive up to Pictou.

↑ Pictou, Nova Scotia

I plan to document this entire trip here, so details will be filled in as we go along.

Stay tuned!

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After being a husband and a father, my journey as a DJ has been one of the greatest joys of my life. Happy National Disc Jockey Day! 🎧🎶🎤

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Life is short. Buy the concert tickets.

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Let’s talk New Year’s resolutions

Prior to 2018, I never really set official new year resolutions. However, going into that year, I set out to do the “1 Second Every Day” video project. I’m now going into my seventh year of that. I KNOW, RIGHT?

I’m still not really setting “resolutions” for 2024, but there are some things I want to do. For starters, I plan to continue to improve my health; both physical AND mental. That’s always going to be my priority. I also intend on striving to be the best husband and father I can be. These are, of course, constant and ongoing goals for me.

To mix it up a bit this year, I’ve set myself a goal AND a challenge of sorts.

The GOAL: Whether it’s in a giant arena, a medium sized theater, or even a local coffee house or brewery, my goal is to experience more live music this year. I’ve already got some shows lined up!

The CHALLENGE: I’m going to attempt to listen to a new (to me) song every day of the year. It could be a new OR old song… and it could be a band/artist I know well or an act I’ve never heard of. It could even be a cover of a familiar song that I’ve never heard. As long as that song has never hit my ears, it counts. I will, of course, track this on a spreadsheet as well as a Spotify playlist that I’ll share throughout the year (maybe quarterly). I may even source new music from people like you! Either way, I’m excited about discovering some new music in ‘24.

What about you? Do you have any goals for this new year?

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Jane

Was dazzled by her smile while I shopped there It wasn't long before I lived with her I sang her songs while she dyed my hair

Jane, divided, but I can't decide which side I'm on Jane, decided only cowards stay, while traitors run Jane, Jane

I'd bring her gold and frankincense and myrrh She thought that I was making fun of her She made me feel I was fourteen again That's why she thinks it's cooler if we'd just stay friends (She thinks it's cooler)

Jane, doesn't think a man could ever be faithful Jane, isn't giving me a chance to be shameful Jane, Jane

I wrote a letter, she should have got it yesterday Life could be better by being together Is what I cannot explain to Jane

The girl works at the store, sweet Jane St. Clair (Still dazzled by her smile while I shoplift there) Still dazzled by her smile while I shoplift there (The girl works at the store, sweet Jane St. Clair) No promises as vague as heaven (No promises as vague as heaven) No Juliana next to my Evan (No Juliana next to)

Jane, desired by the people at her school and work Jane, is tired 'cause every man becomes a lovesick jerk Jane, Jane (come on)

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That's a wrap!

Comment with a number, 1-100, and I'll tell you the song it corresponds with on my top 100 Spotify Wrapped ‘23 playlist!

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The definition of irony: this woman filming the entire ceremony… with the “welcome to our unplugged ceremony” sign right in the shot. 😂🤡

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My eldest daughter (a 16-yr old 11th grader) wanted to go the senior night football game tonight. When we got there, I told her the story of MY senior night football game.

November 1994. It was just like any other fall senior night where seniors from the football team, cheerleaders, and band are recognized. We would walk out on to the field with our parents while the PA announcer (our semi-dopey school resource officer) would read from a form that we submitted the day before. Elements of this mini-speech would include our names, our parent’s names, and what our plans were for the following school year (college, military, etc).

When I walked out to the field with my dad, the PA announcer read my form VERBATIM: “Aaron Elya [he mispronounced my last name, but that was to be expected] is Drum Major of the Meadowcreek High School Marching Band. He is escorted by his father Richard Elya [again, mispronounced]. This fall, Aaron plans to attend Gainesville College majoring in either music education….or (short pause) …underwater basket weaving.”

The band IMMEDIATELY lost their minds. My dad shook his head with a smile. As for me, I was left in complete disbelief that the PA announcer actually read it. Out loud. 😂

This was, without question, one of the greatest highlights of my senior year.

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Daylight Saving time ends this weekend, so here's that Cher meme for the 178th time.