November 22, 2011

MORE TEA PARTY!

Alright, show #2: Flames Central, Calgary, Saturday night. I had a beautiful and peaceful drive down.

The little red glow on the left side is the bottom of a rainbow believe it or not.
It was like having two suns. 

I had some time to kill before I caught up with Stevie and her man, so I decided to drive up Centre Street. I had never gone up that way before and figured, what the hell. What the hell indeed! I ended up in a beautiful area filled with huge homes that looked like the belonged in a magazine for modern homes and museum architecture. This is an area of wealth, not just material riches but the view that these people have of downtown Calgary is amazing.


Must say that I'm becoming a big fan of Calgary.

I met up with Stevie for the show and after getting turned around 3 times in downtown Calgary (too many one ways, and not in the direction we needed), we finally found a sweet and super cheap parkade with heated underground parking. Walking two and half blocks wasn't nearly as bad knowing we had a warm car waiting for us. Once we found our way out of the parkade and trekked through the cold, we ended up waiting in line to enter the venue for at least 15 - 20 minutes. Doesn't sound like much, but it feels like an eternity when it's nearly -25C outside. Luckily we had real printed tickets and we were bumped to the front of the line and welcomed the heat of the great indoors. My lovely friend Bashmore was not able to attend the show due to her roboknee but did create a link for us to some friends of hers that were at the show. These new friends happened to be the first to enter the venue and were able to grab the best seats in the house and save some for us. Stevie and I made some new friends that night: Cassy and Mike.

Mike (not nearly as far away as he looks here), Cassy, and Stevie.
A BIG HUGE THANK YOU HUG TO CASSY AND MIKE FOR SAVING US SEATS!
I can't thank you enough for that.
This is where we sat:


Best seats in the house for sure (next to practically sitting on the stage like many people in the crowd). In the past, I never had the chance to see the same band (my favourite or not) play two nights in a row. It goes without saying that this was an opportunity that I could not miss. It was a blast and definitely interesting to see the differences between the two performances. Performance of The Tea Party was fantastic both nights, but Calgary seemed to give them more energy. Why? Because the crowd was so full of life and excitement that it fed the stage, naturally the guys get pretty pumped up from that, so it reciprocates. There was no denying that the Calgary fan base kicked the Edmonton fan base in the ass. Which is sad because Edmonton is usually the rowdy one. Either way, I got two shows. Plus! Get this! Bassist/keyboardist Stuart Chatwood and I caught eyes during a few songs. I was singing along (of course) and he shot me a full sweet teeth smile and wave. How cool is that?! VERY! It didn't happen once, but at least four times throughout the show and then a couple more at the end as he left the stage. I'm pretty confident in my knowledge of Tea Party songs that the only time I stopped singing along was to scream at the top of my lungs, matched with an applause for them throughout the night. I'm not just a super fan, I'm a true admirer of their work, their art, and a smile and some waves make all the difference. It made me feel good, great even! I imagine it to be this: A personal and special acknowledgment from him, out of all the fans in the room, he saw that I was right there along with him/them, every note, every measure. Every beat. I will add that feeling to memory box and ride on that wave until the next show (summer 2012!).

Due to such an amazing vantage point, I was able to get some good photos. I regretfully left the camera in the car, but never before have I been so grateful to have an iPhone (Q, thank you for "bullying" me into getting one). A good chunk of the shots turned out blurry due to the guys' constant motion but I don't care, I had a birds eye view and was able to actually WATCH them play, to see the instruments and the grace and focus with which they play them. It was wonderful. Stuart was focused and played with such calm fluidity, he was graceful and a natural. He is one with his bass. I'm sure he could do it in his sleep. Jeff Martin: you can tell that his guitars are an extension of his body. Music runs in his veins. Jeff Burrows: best drummer of all time! Such power and accuracy. And he's f*cking quick too! Watch the video or any live performance footage of "Save Me" and you'll see. Let me know your thoughts after you pick your jaw up off the floor. Anyways, enough babbling, I will now bombard you with photos from Calgary's show.





A cup of tea in between songs.



My favourite moment that I didn't think I captured. Although blurry :(
That's just a tiny taste. Photos are a bit grainy but I think it's pretty friggin' good for an iPhone and some gentle fog machine use. Enjoy?

I surely did!


WE surely did.

PS: A big shout out and super thanks to the lovely Bashmore for letting me use her comfy couch as my bed. I'm delighted that you remember my pillow preference and made the couch-bed to my specifications. And thanks for the brunch and shopping date. We met a Pharaoh! That guy is slick. Anubis, you are mine. Thanks m'dear!

THE TEA PARTY!

Oh my goodness, I have been busting at the seams to share this with you all. This past weekend I attended a couple of concerts. The first one was on Friday night at the Edmonton Event Centre: The Tea Party! They're baaaaaack!!!!! Holy sh*t I am so excited about this! I waited 6 years thinking that they would never join forces again, but my #1 favourite band is back together and better than ever. I was a mess of emotions (sounds a little odd for a rock concert but with music filled with such power, emotions are all over the place). They played many many favourites and some songs that I had never heard them play live before. Not only did they play my faves so loud that my organs shook, they also played Zeppelin's "Kashmir" inserted into "Save Me". HOLY SH*T. AMAZING SHOW. I only snapped a handful of photos from the show because I choose to drink it all in and enjoy (plus I knew I would get more shots at the next show). Here's what we got (aside from my totally awesome shirt, seen here at the bottom):

Moi et Jenny Babe.

Mr. Babe & my babe, Q.

Q, Kristy, and Dennis.
So many good friends to share the show with!




Now I know that these photos of the stage and the guys aren't the greatest but it's just a frame of reference for you to see how "close" we were.

After the show, I was all a-flitter. Super happy and ready to get movin' to Calgary for the show at Flames Central the next night. The high of the show was heightened with the beauty we stumbled into on the way back to the car. West Edmonton Mall is decorated with some of the most beautiful Christmas trees and lights and all things shiny and pretty:



I heart these big flowers that hang over one of the newly renovated seating areas.
A total fairytale feeling in this spot. I love WEM late at night when there's no one around.

Stay tuned, Calgary show is coming up!


Exciting Things!

Good day friends!

I'm sure it's obvious that I've changed the look of Breathe and I must say that I like the crisp colours (or shades I guess), feels safe and sound to me. Reminds me of old black and white movies. I love those. So, colour change is an exciting thing, another exciting thing is becoming a national sensation. Well, I like to think that I'm a national sensation because it puts a smile on Q's face, either way I was featured on a wonderful blog this past week (sorry for the late post about this too). The blog is Tanya's Dans Le Townhouse. I'm so thrilled! Thank you Tanya of Townhouse! Check out the feature!

Want to know the other thing I'm excited for? Mother and Seestor are going with Auntie to the 'Zona to visit the grandfolks, and I fully intend on decorating half of the house for Christmas by the time they get back. I say half as in my half of the house (aka Q & mine's new home) because Mother doesn't want to do any decorating before December 1st (Q has the same idea), but I'm getting too excited to wait. I heart Christmas and the snow and upcoming Christmas parties are really feeding my holiday decorating addiction.

Hear that Mother and Q?! Christmas is coming early in the house!


November 21, 2011

Friday's Pretty Outfit & Pretty Cool Outfit

I think it's become rather apparent that I too am jumping on the "blog about your outfits" bandwagon and I'm totally ok with that because I feel that I have some nice looking pieces and can put together some really good combinations. So here's what I wore to work on Friday:

Unfortunately it's not the greatest photo because the walls
in our offices are either swiss chocolate brown or puke yellow. Nice right?


Anyways, my dress is a warm camel colour by Joe, the flower belt is by Artisan (that I got from Home Hardware in Bridgetown!), cardigan from Suzy Shier, and cute birdie necklace from Bootlegger (a whopping $1.99!). Not pictured are black opaque tights from le Chateau, and black velvet flats from Army & Navy.


Sweet dress ensemble + my hair cooperating for once = good day and feelin' pretty.

By early early early Saturday morning, this was the showpiece of my regular casual jeans and sneakers look:


More on this bad boy later. 

An Even Bigger Sorry For The Delay

To my aunt:

MERRY BIRTHDAY!

Her birthday was yesterday and I feel bad because I didn't do her birthday post yesterday and the awesome and funny ecard I put on her Facebook didn't work. Bad niece with bad computer/iPhone skills. So here's her post:


I stole this one from her Facebook page because the only photos of her
that I have are like the one above: silly.
She's a silly and beautiful motorcycle riding momma/auntie. She's fun and super cool, so a big happy birthday to you!

And because I was late in posting this, I will post the canine love of her life, her adorable dog, Rusty!

He's got the best demeanour for a rescue dog and the cutest face and big floppy ears.
xoxo!

Sorry For The Delay

We will now return to the regular "scheduled" programming. When we last saw each other 20 days ago (yikes!), Q and I were in the process of moving home from Bridgetown. Well we made it. We've moved into our own little piece of home. Once I tidy it up a bit more, I'll give you a tour.

Our two boys, Floyd and Arkham were a little confused as to what was going on. Floyd's favourite sleeping spot had disappeared:

We turfed the couch because it was old and ripped to shreds on
the sides from our two monsters.
Floyd was nonetheless upset that his couch was gone.
And Arkham just jumped into and onto everything as we tried to pack up:


Ultimately, everything got packed and wrapped, and the monsters were snuggled into their carriers for the long drive. The whole ordeal was daunting but necessary. Want to see what we woke up to in Bridgetown the day before we had to drive home?


Really pretty (I heart fog) but not a nice thing to see when you have to drive five hours with a U-Haul truck full of stuff, a Jeep full of stuff and two cats (one of which is not a seasoned globetrotter like his brother). On moving day however, was a different look. Different as in you couldn't even see the tree because the fog was so thick. So in addition to Q having bronchitis and myself having a UTI, we had to delay our travel start time by nearly 3 hours. Not the worst thing in the world but enough to make you hang your head and say: "Awww sh*t".

Drive was good, unloading was speedy (naturally) and organizing boxes into what needed to be used and what could remain stored happened a few days later. Alls well!

November 1, 2011

This Is The Last Post.....

.....for about a week or so. Gotcha! And you thought you could get rid of me so easily. Ha! Q and I are packing up and moving back home. Unfortunately our journey in Bridgetown did not go as we had hoped. Although we are grateful for the opportunity, this is not the place for us. Bridgetown is a beautiful place.....to visit for a weekend or so I think. I'm a city girl I guess. A big city girl. So we are packing up and going back home. That means that there won't be a new post for a little while, but never fear, I received a gift from China the other day. Once we've done some very basic settling in to our new home, I will tell you what this adorable little gift is.

Have a great rest of the week everyone and I hope your weekend is beautiful!

xoxo.

And In The First Few Minutes of November 2, 2011

Another birthday! Holy toledo! A very jolly birthday to me Ma!

she's so cool that she golfs as the devil.
To the greatest Momma out there. The coolest and super fun, absolutely stunning and warm, beautiful blue-eyed, big smiling, most supportive woman. The saviour of sanity and rock of my life, I love you so much! Have a great birthday!

I heart this photo. Big beautiful blues!
xoxo

In The Remaining Minutes of November 1, 2011

A very merry 26th birthday to my bestest bff: Britt Britt!

One of the best photos of us.

Happy Birthday m'dear! We both know that we don't hug each other much (except only when it counts) but I do wish that we would hug more, you're a good hugger. So I owe you a big birthday hug! Anyways, to my bestest bff, I heart you and I am so thankful that we are connected like no other.

xoxo and I will see you soon!

Pirates, Ye Be Warned.

How cool is this house?! I was in awe. And envious. It's amazing.

The house is a friggin' pirate ship! And that's one handsome man admiring the work.
;)

The moon is the perfect eerie yellow when lit up at night.
Skeletal riff raff and a jolly roger.


These two chaps were my favourite.


So fun!

A Time To Share Some Ghouls

Hey party people! It's time to share the fun costumes of this past Halloween weekend. Let's start with Seestor as a pirate. I think she looked awesome and I had such fun helping her put it together!

I'm a touch sad that Jags wasn't in his costume for this photo.
Throughout the weekend my friends were disguised as a pirate, Marilyn Monroe, The Black Swan, a mummy, and a vampire. There was also Alice and the Mad Hatter, an alive-again drowned couple from Creepshow, and so many more. With all of our ghoulish buddies we shared in scrumptious food and sweet candies, games and liquor. Halloween is always so much fun!
Me, Q, and C-Man.



Winner of Scariest Costume 2011! Special thanks to Q. xoxo
Never thought I would be able to top Harley Quinn. Boy oh boy, next year will be tough.

What was your disguise?