June 2010

Silly Bandz!

Silly Bandz are the latest trend with kids – AND adults.  I have about 20 different designs myself.  If you aren’t “in”, Silly Bandz are rubber bands that have shapes  – I have drumsets, guitars, microphones and ‘rock hands’ as some of my designs.

These Bandz were designed by Rob Croak, based out of Toledo Ohio.

If you want to find out more about the latest fad, you can visit their website at http://sillybandz.com!  I have to get myself the pack with the crab in it, and of course the baseball pack! (I use them on my scrapbook pages as well as wearing them and I will also be sending some to the little boy in Africa that I sponsor – Moses! I hope he and his friends will enjoy them)

Scrap By Color! Website

I will admit it, scrapping only concerts can get a bit boring.  Especially when I now have to find creative ways to scrap Honor Society – my 24th and 25th time seeing them.  It’s hard to stay creative and keep ideas fresh. A friend recommended a page to me from scrapbook.com

http://www.scrapbook.com/color/

What you do, is upload the photo(s) you want to use on your layout.  It pulls out the colors that are in the photo and you can choose ones that you like and then find Monochrome, Complementary, Triadic, Analogous or Split Comp colors that will go together in a layout.

Below the suggestions, they also promote items that they sell in their store which would help you achieve this color layout.

Last month, I uploaded my photo of me and Jordin Sparks and one of the color matches reminded me of a paper that I had just put away. Within minutes, my M&G; with Jordin layout was complete! I am hoping the same will happen for the last few events from April that I still need to scrap so I can clear out all my photo cases for the next wave of June events which photos should be coming in the mail any day now!

Would You Rather Wednesday

June 24
Be dragged by a water skiing speedboat by a tether firmly attached to nipple piercings
or
have your toes smashed one by one with a hammer.

Ouch. Hammer to my toes, I think.

June 25
Be hole-punched to death
or
be eaten alive by the cast of ‘Lost’

Hole punched? Another ouch!

June 26/27
Always have to wear football shoulder pads
or
clown makeup?

Shoulder pads.

June 28
Have your face krazy-glued to the underside of a concorde
or
be trampled to death by the new jersey nets?

trampled by the nets.

June 29
Be suck in an elevator with jolly contortionists
or
giddy rabbis?

Rabbis.

June 30
have your head implode
or
have your head explode?

Explode.

Book Review: Pretty Little Liars Books 5-8

I just finished the Pretty Little Liars series.  I feel like maybe I should have stopped after the first 4, the story kind of became unbelievable in the last couple of books.  It still kept my attention, but in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but think everything was getting out of control and the author was grasping at straws to keep us confused and in the dark as to who was causing all this trouble in Rosewood.

We finally find out who killed Ali and who the new A is. (Yes, after book 4 when the girls think they have rid themselves of A, A returns to Rosewood to try and ruin the girls lives, AGAIN!)  We also find out about the title of the series “Pretty Little Liars” and how the girls get this name.  We also find out what Hanna really thinks about people who have blogs (she thinks they have no life! hmph!)

While the story was a little far fetched at parts – it still kept me up all night wanting to read more and I do believe that the last book tied up all the loose ends and provided closure on what all the girls went on to do once this drama had left their life.  The books were all under 200 pages and I flew through the last two because I so badly wanted to know what was going to happen (even if I wasn’t too thrilled with the path the story was taking)

I also can’t wait to see what the TV Series ends up doing with the story – the series has gotten renewed for another 12 episodes, so I suppose that those will cover these last 4 books.  Not sure where they will go with the storylines if they get renewed for a second season, unless they try to drag things out more now.

Overall I would recommend these books if you like the TV Series or if you like mystery stories that are geared towards teens.  They are quick reads and the characters for the most part are easy to relate to.

I received no compensation for reviewing these books, it is just my opinion on books that I read!

Adam Lambert MGM Grand @ Foxwoods June 24, 2010

As I had previously mentioned, our seats for the show were great and I think it is the closest I have ever been at a show at this venue!

Allison was out first, and did a relatively short set. She did a great job in the short time she had though.  For “Don’t Waste The Pretty” she was joined by Orianthi on the guitar.

Next up was Orianthi’s full set, and while I don’t know that she is the best singer out there – her guitar skills more than made up for that.  I thoroughly enjoyed her set, although it did seem to be a couple of songs too long.  Apparently the women behind me felt the same, but rather than keep it to themselves to blog later (as I did) they had to yell and scream after her last song that they hoped she was done and getting off the stage.

It was the commentary of the women behind me that led to me busting out the heavy duty earplugs for a second night in a row.  And my mom even asked for some of the other disposable earplugs I had, but then told me that they didn’t work at all.  I wasn’t very surprised though, as I could loud and clearly understand he commentary throughout Adam’s entire set and I don’t even want to think about how loud these women were without earplugs.  I mean, is a running commentary really needed? The all amazing Adam Lambert is on stage – take it all in ladies!

At first, we weren’t going to stay for Adam’s set at all.  Then it was.. well maybe we’ll give him a chance of a couple of songs.. to.. well we’ll see how much of it we can take… but we ended up staying for the whole set.  (We were already there, why not)

I must say I really enjoyed it.  There was minimal screeching, which was good.  I hate that and I do think he has a great voice when he is just singing. (Which I had the pleasure of hearing at 6am at the Today Show soundcheck last year!)  The screams/screeches seemed to be fit into the songs in a place where they almost belonged and weren’t all over the place and annoying.  Of course until the end of the set, during the encore when he seemed to screech for a couple of minutes straight..

The show was very theatrical, which was to be expected.  He had 4 dancers and occasionally he danced with them and the boy has moves.  This show combined with Bieber’s dancing the night before made me realize just how much I missed boybands and their shows. (NSYNC reunion now please?)

Adam’s set was just over an hour – with the whole show running about 3 hours with all the set changes.

Another item worth noting – a woman a couple of rows in front of us had a baby doll she was holding in the air for all the sets.  I noticed it during Allison’s set and it gave me a laugh.  When the lights came on we realized it had on a little leather vest and then at one point she turned it around and it had on eye makeup! We decided it was a baby Adam and her waving it around during the show was almost as entertaining as the show on the stage in front of us.

Overall, it was a great show and I would recommend it – though it seems like the majority of his tour is sold out so you might have to resort to entering contests to get in!

Adam Lambert M&G

When I picked up my tickets and M&G; passes we were instructed to meet at 6:45, but there was no real destination listed.  At 6:30 we headed over near the box office, because the woman who had called to tell me I had won told me to meet Maze, one of the morning show DJs, near the box office at 6:45, so we were looking for him.  We ended up finding another 2 people with passes on so we stayed with them, and then saw a few other people with passes as well and finally Paul came out to get all all together. (Maze never did show up and Paul told me that he was there earlier interviewing Adam)

About 7pm, when the M&G; was scheduled to start, we were taken through a door for authorized personal only and taken to a side door of the theatre.  Paul instructed us to wait there and that “Adam would be with us shortly”

While Paul left us to go make sure he had all the people with passes, venue security told us we had to wait inside the theatre on a ramp and we would be instructed when to come back to the area that we were in.

Another group of people with passes went through the theatre and right past us, back to where we were told we couldn’t wait.  We never saw them come back out and had no idea what was going on.  Paul mentioned that Allison would be on first at 8, and as 7:30 got closer we were beginning to worry that we would miss her set because we would be with Adam.  Finally around 7:45 we were brought back to where we were told we couldn’t wait, and 2 by 2 we went into the room to greet Adam.

It was quick!  He asked me my name, I told him it was Katie, he said Hi Katie! and my mom introduced herself as “Katie’s mom” so he said “Hi Katie’s Mom!” and laughed.  Adam’s brother Neil took our photo – but said the first one came out blurry so he wanted to try another one so we got back in position and then Adam signed my picture retrieval card (If I had known we’d get autos too I’d have picked up a hard copy of his cd, but oh well) and he signed my mom’s ticket. As we were leaving he said that he better see us dancing and to have fun at the show LOL

Then we waited for the group to finish so we could get our tickets scanned and go back in the theater, but then we were told not to bother and just to find our seats.  My mom was showing all the ushers her ticket and they were all getting excited that it was signed! LOL I even offered to swap places with one of the ushers while she took my pass to go meet him real quick! 😉

Our seats were in the second row of the Parterre – they were really good seats!

Adam Lambert Setlist

Allison Iraheta’s Setlist
Holiday
Robot Love
Scars
Don’t Waste the Pretty
Heartbreaker (Pat Benatar Cover)
Friday I’ll Be Over U

Adam’s Setlist
For Your Entertainment
Voodoo
Down The Rabbit Hole
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash Cover)
Fever
Sleepwalker
Whataya Want from Me (Acoustic)
Soaked (Acoustic)
Aftermath (Acoustic)
Sure Fire Winners
Strut
Music Again
Broken Open
If I Had You
Mad World
Whole Lotta Love

Justin Bieber – XL Center – June 23, 2010

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Justin’s show, aside from a bunch of screaming young girls.  I got to the XL Center around 2 to meet up with my friend Amber and to see if we could figure out how to get to meet Justin (no luck there)

Doors opened at 5:30, but we hung around a bit for the crowds to go in and also to wait for Christine and her niece to show up.  When I went through the line to get my bag checked, the guy said GloSticks weren’t allowed, so he made me leave Amber’s on the table.  Except that 2 seconds previously he had let Christine through with the glosticks I had given her, and I had more on the bottom of my bag (and when are they ever not allowed?) It was odd.  He also was like “I don’t think they are allowing them…” He pretty much just made it up.  But Amber was able to go around the other side and steal them back so we got them in.

I had won 2 sets of tickets and they weren’t next to each other, they were in 2 different sections.  We went to our seats and waved at each other.  After the first couple opening acts we had Christine and Tricia come down near us, because no one was there, and they were able to sit there the whole show!

The first opening act was  The Stunners (http://www.thestunnersmusic.com/)  They were a group of 5 girls and for one of the songs one played a guitar while the other played a violin which was interesting.  They weren’t on stage for very long.

Right after, Jessica Jarrell (http://www.islanddefjam.com/artist/home.aspx?artistID=7343)  She has a really good voice and did a short set.

After Jessica was off the stage they set everything up for Sean Kingston (www.seankingston.com).  His band intro-ing him seemed to take FOR-EV-ER.  At first, I was unsure of the pairing of Sean Kingston and Justin Bieber, but the crowd seemed very into Sean’s set and he definitely got everyone pumped and ready for Justin!

Then it was time for the moment we were all waiting for – Justin Bieber!  I had forgotten that young girls like to scream whenever anything is happening on stage – guys walking by setting up equipment, etc. So there were a couple of times I was caught off guard without the earplugs in – but let me just tell you the new plugs I bought are AMAZING.  I never really tried them out for a complete show until Bieber but they are the best $11 or whatever I have EVER spent.  They really do turn down the volume.  I could hear all the perfomances great, nothing seemed muffled, and the screams were at a bearable volume level. 

The show started with Justin appearing in a globe and he sang Love Me.  I actually knew the words to most of this one since it samples the Cardigans song ‘Lovefool’.  Justin was dressed in white and purple – and of course had on a Yankees hat. :/ A purple Yankees hat at that.

He sang a few more songs and then this giant heart appeared on stage.  He sat inside it, got strapped in, and went out over the crowd, spinning, so everyone could get a good look at him.  I thought this was a great touch to get closer to the people in the back (even though he only went about halfway across the floor)

After solidly doing about 7 songs in a row, it was time for the videos to come on so he could do wardrobe changes.  They seemed to come a bit too often from this point onward.

One of the videos was about his backup singers, Legaci, who he found on YouTube. (Of course a bit of a Pay It Forward as Justin himself was also discovered on YouTube) They did a medley of bits of Usher’s OMG, Train’s Hey Soul Sister, Jay Sean’s Down, Justin Timberlake’s My Love, Bruno Mars and BOB’s Beautiful Girls and Travie McCoy’s Billionaire (aka mostly songs popular on the radio right now with the exception of Timberlake)  I  was really impressed with them.

After the medley, another item moved to the front of the stage, that looked like a cage.  It was the basket of a Hot Airballoon and Justin once again went out into the crowd this time bobbing up and down while he sang his song “Up”

Another break where the DJ tried to keep us entertained as we were nearing the end of the show.

Justin did a few more songs – including Eenie Meenie with Sean Kingston. (Sean had done some of the song during his set as well) and a medley of Want to be starting something and Walk this way, which showcased Justin and his backup dancers skills.

Then a sign went up on the screens saying thank you and goodnight.  But the house lights weren’t on and he hadn’t done Baby yet so we knew we still had at least another song coming.

Justin came out and thanked the fans and did With You by Chris Brown acapella.  Then he sang Baby and the place went crazy.  Usher even showed up for about 10 seconds, waving his arms.  He gave Justin a hug and then he ran off stage.  It would have been nice if he stayed out there a little longer and maybe even sang with Justin – but it was a nice surprise (even though Amber had said she thought she saw him arriving earlier in the day so we knew he would be coming out at some point lol)

Overall the show was very entertaining, lots of dancing, a little lip synching… The worst part was trying to get out of the parking garage!  For some reason they did pay as you leave – which made no sense to me.  (Last time i went to this venue I had parked in a different garage)  People arrive staggered so it makes more sense to have them pay the $10 when they get there, and then afterwards just have all the gates open so people can freely leave.  But, after about 25 minutes everything cleared out and I was able to make my way home!

Justin Bieber My World Tour Setlist

Love Me
Bigger
Smile
Runaway Luv
Never Let You Go
Favorite Girl
One Less Lonely Girl
–video–
Somebody to Love
–video–
Overboard – w/ Jessica Jarrell
Never Say Never
–video–
Backup singers (Legaci) medley:
OMG/Hey Soul Sister/Down/My Love/Beautiful Girls/Billionaire
Up
–DJ–
That Should Be Me
Want To Be Starting Something / Walk This Way
Eenie Meenie w/ Sean Kingston
Down To Earth
–thank you and goodnight–
With You (acapella)
Baby

I won 3 contests today…

What a crazy day today!

This morning I get a phone call that I won tickets and a M&G; to see Adam Lambert tomorrow at the casino.

Then I went to see Justin Bieber (with tickets I had also won) and get an email that I won a poster contest and won tickets to see the American Idols on tour.

During the Justin Bieber show I get an email that I won a blog contest I had entered for Snazzy Lites, which are “fun, fast non damaging clipped in hair color” so now when I want a splash of something fun, I can pop in one of those! (I went for red and blue) Instead of needing to wait 3 hours for my hair to get bleached as white as it can and then colored! Yipee!

I also got some fun products from Crayola to try out for them – they look like a LOT of fun and I will be sure to blog about them (if I am allowed!)

More on Bieber coming later!!

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