Elmo

In late April Chad got tickets to take Maggie to see Elmo's music/dancing show at the Save Mart Center. She loved it and screamed when she saw each of the characters. Her favorites were Big Bird, Bert, Ernie, Abby & Elmo, but really, she loves them all. We didn't buy her one of these $10 balloons, but we did take her picture with them. Ha!

Heading Downstairs

The last night we were in Park City Chad and I had dinner and then went to the club, Downstairs. I say club because that's what it was. An L.A., pretty people, dark room, loud music, dancing kind of club. And while it's been a long time since we've been to and enjoyed something like that, we wanted to hit up this place that night because Samantha Ronson was on the schedule. She started off the evening playing an acoustic set with Jimmy Messer. (I got brave and told him he was great and shook his hand. Go me!) Their set was somewhat pop-y and folk-y and the show was pretty decent. I'd say there were probably 30-40 people in the audience for the acoustic show and then, in typical club fashion, the young and beautifuls arrived fashionably late and ended up packing the house.  Samantha returned to center stage later that evening and spun records for the rest of the night.

The Weepies!

Friday night Chad and I went to see The Weepies at the Fox Theatre in Visalia. I had been looking forward to the concert for awhile--in fact the instant I found out about it I insisted that we go. My parents watched Maggie (thank you!) so Chad and I could see the band, and before the show we had dinner at Tommy's Restaurant. It was a great evening with delicious food, topping it off with such a super rad band. I really love The Weepies and never thought I'd get to see them in the Valley. Visalia gets all the good shows. Why wasn't it like that when I lived there? Anyway, a great night. Oh, and sorry for the super goofball photo of me here. I'm not sure why I thought that was a cute pose...I guess I was still really excited after the show.

Dancing Machine

This evening Maggie, Chad and I went with our friends to an event called Rock the Mall, a free summertime concert series where local bands play outdoors at a local mall. The kids enjoyed playing in the grass and running around, getting rid of extra energy before bedtime. Maggie crawled around like a maniac and seemed to be looking for trouble every which way. Before we left Chad and Maggie fit in a little dancing and, as usual, Maggie loved every minute of it. Can you tell?

Sweet and Tender Hooligans

Way back in 2000 or 2001 Chad and I went to see The Smiths cover band at Cane's in San Diego called the Sweet and Tender Hooligans. For some reason we had to leave the place early (I think Chad was working the over night shift at that point) so we only got to hear about 1/3 of the show. I didn't want to leave but knew we had to because Chad needed at least a few hours of sleep. He promised that if they played again and we were around we'd go and stay for the whole show. Of course, while I was living there they never came back, and every time they played in the Los Angeles area I was either busy or out of town. So...about a month ago I saw a flyer online for the band--they were coming to Fresno! I held Chad to his promise and made him take me to the show this past Saturday. We invited our friend Garin and we were all excited to see them perform. The band was awesome--even better than I remembered them from nearly 10 years ago. They played almost all of our favorite Smiths and Morrissey songs and did it with enthusiasm and skill. We stayed until the end and afterwards met some of the band members. They were nothing short of gracious and even seemed happy to meet us. After the show we were all super pumped. I can't wait for them to come back so we can see them again. Up top is a photo of Chad and me with the singer Jose Maldonado, aka the "Mexican Morrissey". (Ignore my freaky eyes--the flash was bright--yikes!) Chad and Garin are the clowns in this photo below.

Fair

When there's a chance to hit up a local fair Chad and I are always there. San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles County, Tulare County, Paso Robles, Fresno, etc. --we've been to them all and most of them more than once. We love going mostly for the people watching, but then there's the home arts, the animals, the food and the photography exhibits that we like checking out too.

At last year's fair we saw part of the Jonas Brothers concert. This year we went for Gretchen Wilson and her show was great. We got there early, found a good place to stand and stayed for the entire show. She played all her hits, a handful of new songs from an upcoming album (they were catchy and fun) and a few rock and roll classics that the whole crowd knew. She put on a good party concert and we're definitely glad we went.