#MLconcertstheatre

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Early Valentine’s Day date! At intermission and I’m smiling ear to ear. The whole cast is great, especially my beloved Adam Pascal!! (at National Theatre Washington, D.C.)

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I totally forgot to report here that my BELOVED David Cook is going to make his Broadway Debut in Kinky Boots as Charlie on April 3.

I'm heading up to catch him with friends April 8 which gives me a chance to go back for a 2nd helping if it's the greatest thing since sliced bread! 

So excited to see two of my favorite things combined - and to finally check out Kinky Boots!

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Yesterday's @hanson concert was quite a workout (8pm-10:30pm) and pure exhilaration!

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Weekend Plans

Tonight I’m using an Open Table $20 reward voucher at a restaurant that a lot of people love, but we had a meh experience with. Still, it was the closest and most reasonably priced option I could use the reward at. So we’ll see. 

Tomorrow the plan is to wake up early enough to get to Body Combat class at 9:30 then I have a noon hair appointment. I keep wanting to CHOP all my hair off because it is SO long, but I’m going to have her put it in a bunch of layers and see if that helps weigh me down less! We also have a friend’s housewarming party to go to tomorrow - we haven’t seen the couple since their wedding in May so it will be nice. 

Sunday Lazy morning with T since he’ll be out of town for work most of next week. I also want to get a long walk in with Freddie and maybe yoga. Then I plan to do some Home Goods/TJ Maxx shopping in downtown Silver Spring before going to see HANSON (yes, THAT, Hanson) in concert with a friend. My sister was supposed to come, but her company just got sold/changed hands and she didn’t want to ask for time off so soon. Luckily my work friend who gave me the final push to join Weight Watchers is a music junkie and she’s pumped to come!  

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At a Hanson orchestra concert with 7 girlfriends for my birthday! #thisis35🎉 (at Wolf Trap, Virginia) https://www.instagram.com/p/BmE9RkdHG_lwXpNceTHRVShjqt8xMzbfkXewuk0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=19jfidxzwwdza

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Shout out to Wolf Trap (the ONLY National Park for the performing arts venue that is amazing and only like 10 min from me) for featuring this in their newsletter. 

I’ve always been okay with going to concerts or even more so live theatre alone. I rather go alone and fully focus on enjoying it as opposed to dragging someone and “worry” about if they are enjoying themselves. The best option however is having friends who like the same live music/theatre that you do, so you both get to fangirl out and enjoy it! Honestly, I’m ALWAYS down for a live show of any kind and happy to join anyone who really wants to catch a show, but isn’t quite up for going stag!

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Back to work, back on schedule?

Today’s my first day back at work since my trip and it’s been a doozy! I just ate lunch at 3:45pm, due to my schedule still being off and just craziness (some fun, some sad, some stressful). 

I took yesterday off to fully re-adjust, however day light savings and the brightness had me up early and of course last night I drove to Annapolis for a David Cook concert* that didn’t get me home until 12:30am and I didn’t fall asleep until 1:30am. 

You’d think tonight I could catch up on sleep, but NOPE. I have another David Cook concert in DC tonight. No rest for my one of my top 3 favorite guys (he’s in good company with Freddie and T, but the order is always changing). 

*Last night’s show was an acoustic set, that freakin’ jerk made me cry with one of his re-tooled for the acoustic show songs. Seriously it was a phenomenal show, his opener Andrew Riggs also was great. And OF COURSE, I had to stay after to chat with David. Got 2 hugs, chatted about my Ireland trip, his love of the Royals, and tattoos. No pictures because I was “playing it cool,” but we’ll see if I go to a picture tonight. 

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David Cook has rappelled down a building, run a marathon & 6 5K's, donated his time & voice, all leading to this. $1 Million for Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure.

I've run 5 of those 5Ks with him, in fact his first one inspired me to start running! And I also ran the LA Marathon as part of his team! Please considering this cause near and dear to my heart. I'd love to see David hit $1 Million while he is in DC for his fundraising concert on 12/2. 

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How does it feel to know you’re everything I need The butterflies in my stomach They could bring me to my knees How does it feel to know you’re everything I want I’ve got a hard time saying this So I’ll sing it in a song

Nick Thomas

Great show last night, I loved sharing one of my favorite musicians and lyricists with T. My favorite quote of the night however goes to T who said he wasn’t  ”emu” and I died laughing and said I think you mean “emo.”

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Concerts Galore

I'm so glad I'm back in the swing of going to concerts and somehow able to see some of my favorite artists multiple times lately!

Coming up:

Nov 15: Andrew McMahon at 9:30 Club (my first time at 9:30)

Nov 18: Nick Thomas (formerly of Spill Canvas) at Jammin' Java

Dec 2: David Cook at Jammin' Java

Earlier this year:

May: David Cook at Hamilton's

July: David Cook on Long Island & Darius Rucker at Wolf Trap

August: Andrew McMahon/Matt Nathanson/Gavin DeGraw at Wolf Trap & Nick Thomas (formerly of the Spill Canvas) at Jammin' Java

October: WMZQ Fall Fest Featuring Darius Rucker

Bonus: I saw Hedwig and If/Then on Broadway which aren't concerts exactly, but I mean come on NPH and Idina are both legit

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Joie De Vivre: Summer 2014 edition

This has been one of the best summers of my life. 2004 was a great summer, also 2006, but I think this has been my favorite summer since! This is especially wonderful since last summer was one of the worst ones ever. Last summer my work was consuming me and making me miserable, on top of the fact I was not coping with turning 30 well. It was a REALLY dark summer. However this summer held so much light and joy. I went back and reread my journal from the summer,  it loved reliving all of these moments. 

May David Cook acoustic concert Race for Hope 5K Sister came to visit Baltimore/Os game

June Busch Gardens & Williamsburg trip Dates galore - including meeting T QU Alumni Weekend Jazz in the Garden with T Kickball League

July 4th of July in Raleigh/Charlotte Old Rag Hike Kayaking Camping with T David Cook concert NYC trip - If/Then and Hedwig on Broadway Hootie Darius Rucker Concert Triathlon #1 Sand Volleyball League

August Dewey Beach Trip My Birthday Billy Goat Trail Hike with T Gavin DeGraw/Matt Nathanson/Andrew McMahon Concert Rock climbing Kayaking Old Rag Hike Nick Thomas Concert Triathlon #2 Kings Dominion with T

I am also really looking forward to Fall, lots of things on the horizon to look forward to as well. I'm just so happy that I'm so happy. One of my favorite quotes is "It is always the darkest before the dawn." I pushed through the darkest hours and the light has never felt so good. 

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Weekend in Review

Friday

5.5 mile bike ride to Sports Authority to get new nose clips since I somehow lost mine, followed by a 5.5 mile ride back home (found a cute new park in Potomac Yards)

400m Swim

Laundry and couch potato status with my roommate

Saturday

9.5 mile hike on the Billy Goat Trail at Great Falls with T

Cooked a yummy and healthy dinner for us

Snuggles on the couch and watched 6 episodes of "Naked and Afraid" on demand which led to some interesting "what if" conversations 

Sunday

Church for the first time in weeks (I literally haven't been home to go since the end of June)

Food prep for the week

2 mile speed run with Freddie

400m Swim

Andrew McMahon, Matt Nathanson, Gavin DeGraw concert at Wolf Trap with a whole gaggle of friends. This was somehow my first time seeing Andrew who was stellar. I went in feeling neutral about Matt, but DAYUM does that man put on a show. He won me over for sure, I'm currently listening to him on spotify, debating what to purchase. Gavin played a great show and sounded on point, but he wasn't super interactive. 

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1 MONTH

1 month from now I will *hopefully* be an official TRI-ATHLETE!!

I'm headed down to southern Maryland tomorrow to meet my friend's dad who is a swim coach for some lesson/tips/advice. I'm excited to see what these next 4 weeks of training bring! 

PS - My Darius Rucker (aka Hootie) concert is also in 1 month. I'm looking forward to the shower and power nap between the tri and the show.

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Hedwig Bootcamp?

What sort of exercise routine do I need to start doing so I can recreate NPH's Hedwig performance at the Tonys?! I can't wait to see the show next month!

So many squats, pelvis thrusts, and jumping to his feet on the hood of a car from the kneeling (NEILing) position (see #10 - http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/amazing-moments-from-neil-patrick-harris-tonys)