Throwback Thursday: Hanson 9/24/07

Headliner: Hanson
Opener(s): Stealing Jane, Locksley
Venue: Webster Theater Hartford, CT
Cost: $36

Setlist:

Great Divide
Wheres The Love
Cant Stop
Been There Before
Georgia
Crazy Beautiful
Hole In My Life
Ive Been Down
I Will Come To You
Go
MMMBop
Strong Enough To Break
Every Word I Say
Blue Sky
If Only
Hey
Penny and Me
Running Man
Let Love Rule
This Time Around
Lost Without Each Other
Something Going Round

Encore:
Never Been To Spain
Rock N Roll Razorblade
Great Divide (acapella)

Recap:

And this concludes Hanson month on Throwback Thursday.  This show was in Hartford.  No photos from the show, but we did wait by the bus after the show and my friends got autographs. They teased they were “hailing a cab” because they had to hold it up over their head and hope that one of the guys grabbed it to sign it.  I also got a picture with Kai from Locklsey after this show.

Love with Food Box February

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This month we’re calling out all of Love with Food’s loyal snack lovers. Why? Because you’ve helped us donate 1 million meals to food banks! Take a moment to stop and savor these snacks and be proud of everything your support has done to fight hunger. Think of this box as a way to take a little “you” time. You deserve it.

Boardwalk Kettle Corn Popped Corn Chips by popchips
A loop-de-loop of sweet and salty. A delightful mix of sugar and salt with a hint of butter. Everything we love about popcorn, but better, because it’s a chip.

These were good, but kind of weird too because they tasted like popcorn but didn’t look like pop corn.

Choco Liege Wafel by Belgian Boys
A sweet, rich Belgian waffle covered in chocolate. It really doesn’t count on cheating on your diet if it’s this classy, right?

This was worth the cheat. So good!

Sea Salt Caramels by Liddabit Sweets
The perfect marriage of sweet and salty in one blissful bite – the only negative is they’re always gone too soon.

These were really good, but I’ve never met a carmel I didn’t like.

Stellar Strawberry NonDairy fruit & veggie blend by ruby rockets
Regular yogurt is so yesterday. This portable, no-refrigeration-needed, fruit and veggie-packed snack is the future.

Loved that this didn’t need refrigeration. Pretty good too.

Milk Chocolate Truffles with Milk Chocolate Creme Filling by Baron Chocolatier
Life gets crazy, and sometimes you need to reward yourself a little. These perfectly melt-in-your-mouth truffles are meant for those times. As long as an emergency situation does not happen to your teeth following such a “self-treating” session.

Can’t go wrong with milk chocolate! Very tasty.

Google Grape Organic Lollipops by Yumearth
Who says lollipops are only for kids? With organic ingredients and giant grape flavor, these sweets will be a hit with everyone. Shipping refrigerator container, possessing innovative cooling and temperature-control solutions, is used for shipping them.

Not a fan of grape, but these actually weren’t that bad.

Power Up Trail Mix by Gourmet Nut
You’ll be looking forward to that crazy hike when you know there’s a bag of this energy-packed snack waiting for you when you reach that mountain top.

Mom tried this, she enjoyed it.

All Natural Montmorency Cherries by Stoneridge Orchards
Who needs candy when you’ve got these sweet-yet-tart dried treats with no GMOs and no artificial stuff, period.

Another one that Mom snacked, she said they were good!

 

 

Idol Top 4

IdolThoughts

 

This season has flown by. Finale in 2 weeks!? (It’s also a shortened season) Sad.  Last week I said I expected for Sonika to go home, and that is just who went home this week.  Now that we are down to a Top 4 of Trent, LaPorsha, MacKenzie and Dalton, it is getting tougher and tougher to decide who will be going home next week.  3/4 of my favorites are still in the competition and I think I’ve finally turned a corner and will admit that I do like MacKenzie and have gotten over the fact that he was on The Voice.

Each of the Top 4 had 2 songs to sing – a classic rock song and a Sia song.  I ended up watching this episode twice because my reactions seemed to be so different from the judges after the first pass, but I have to say that I think Dalton absolutely KILLED IT this week and I will be absolutely devastated if he is going home.  I’ve been saying that I think there will be a shocking LaPorsha elimination and this is probably the week for that.  I read an article with Kris Allen that said that he didn’t think LaPorsha would win and that those who are consistently good don’t win but the ones who have grown the most do.  If not a shocking LaPorsha elimination, it may be MacKenzie’s time to go.

Classic Rock Songs

LaPorsha – Wanted Dead or Alive – I like that this was a completely unexpected choice for her (suck it, Borchetta) And she still killed it

MacKenzie – I Want You To Want Me – I actually really liked this and didn’t think I was going to. (he’s no Zac Hanson tho)

Trent – Sharp Dressed Man – This one fell flat for me. I’m like the opposite of everyone else tonight

Dalton – God Only Knows – Loved this. Kind of weird to hear it as 1 person and not harmonies though!

Sia Songs

LaPorsha  – Elastic Heart – Good. But I think next week will be her shocking elimination. another one bites the dust, its hard to lose the chosen one. (Did she predict her own fate with the song? I used to have a theory that whoever sang about going home went home, which actually seemed to be accurate more often than not)

MacKenzie – Titanium – Not really a fan of that version of the song.

Trent – Chandelier – I’m not sure I like this slowed down version. It’s almost a lullaby.

Dalton – Bird Set Free – I haven’t heard this song before but I loved it! Perfect song for Dalton. So freaking good. I just want to listen to it over and over again! (Why isn’t it on iTunes!?)

 

 

Music Monday: Lee DeWyze Oil and Water

lee

Again
Oil & Water
Stone
Learn to Fall
Safe
Same For You
Give Me Something
West
Hollyridge
Way Too Long

Oil & Water is the latest release from past Idol winner Lee DeWyze.  Lee was never one of my favorites, but I have been following him a bit since Idol and have gone to see him in concert a few times and he always puts on a good show.  People was streaming his latest release on their site so I figured I would check it out.  I was surprised to see that the entire album was only about 30 minutes.  The songs are very mellow which is good for sometimes when I am looking to relax, but don’t really work for me for every day listening (usually when I am in the car and don’t want to be falling asleep!)  There were really no songs on it that I felt should be skipped, but it is definitely something I have to be in the right mood to listen to.

Book Review: To Katie With Love

katiewithloveI was obviously first drawn to this book because of the title, but I am glad that I was because I absolutely loved this book. The main character is Katie James.  She is a banker and loves her some romance novels.  In her head, she has a fictional boyfriend and that is good enough for her, for now, because the only real-life guy she is interested in is off limits because he is her client!

Katie is out celebrating her 29th birthday and who happens to stop by? Mr. Off Limits, Cooper.  After having a few too many drinks, she finds herself waking up in Cooper’s bedroom dreaming of what else might happen.  Despite her thinking it may be a bad idea to date a client, the two start a relationship and become the gossip of the bank.  Cooper is very secretive and won’t tell Katie what he does for a living and one of her coworkers gets her convinced that he is an assassin since a few high profile people have showed up murdered on days that Cooper hasn’t been around.  Katie has quite the over active imagination and begins finding more and more clues that seem to prove this theory right.

I liked this book because in addition to being a romance novel with a main character that I could relate to, it also was a but of a mystery to try and find out just what exactly Cooper’s job is. (You do find out)  This was a relatively quick read and I hope that there are further stories about Cooper and Katie!

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Banker Katie James has a serious thing for romance novels. She’d almost rather settle for a fictional boyfriend than risk her heart on a flesh-and-blood man. Besides, the only real guy she’s remotely interested in is her rich, unattainable client, the mysterious Cooper Maxwell.

Looking less like the ultra-conservative man she knows and more like a drop-dead sexy character from one of her books, Cooper crashes Katie’s 29th birthday party. But one too many drinks lands Katie in uncharted territory… Cooper’s bedroom!

Drunk on love, Katie dives headfirst into the relationship only to discover that Cooper is keeping secrets… dangerous ones. As if things couldn’t get worse, her meddling mother makes a surprise visit, digging up a whole new set of problems.

Who would have guessed having an assassin for a boyfriend would be the least of her worries?

Throwback Thursday: Hanson 9/22/07

Headliner: Hanson
Opener(s): Locksley
Venue: The Chance Poughkeepsie, NY
Cost: $40

Setlist:
Great Divide
Minute Without You
Cant Stop
Been There Before
Georgia
Crazy Beautiful
Hole In My Life
Ive Been Down
Strong Enough To Break
Go
MMMBop
A Song To Sing
Got a Hold On Me
Blue Sky
If Only
Every Word I Say
Penny and Me
Running Man
Hey
This Time Around
Watch Over Me
Lost Without Each Other
Something Going Round
Never Been To Spain

Encore:
The Ugly Truth
Great Divide (acapella)

Recap:

We went in to this show late and I managed to get all 3 guys to wave to me from waiting by the bus.  We left the show early too to snag a spot by the bus.  Isaac ended up signing my wristband and I got my first photo with Taylor! I don’t remember too much about the specifics of this show, but the guard who was out by the bus was super awesome.

Experience Hendrix 2016 Tour

Thursday night the Experience Hendrix Tour came to the Oakdale.  I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but I really wanted to see Jonny Lang and Buddy Guy so I got tickets. Billy Cox, Buddy  Guy, Zakk Wylde, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jonny Lang, Dweezil Zappa, Eric Johnson, Chris Layton, Mato Nanji, Noah Hunt, Henri Brown, Scott Nelson, Calvin Cooke, Chuck Campbell rotated out on stage playing Jimi Hendrix tunes.  The show lasted about 3.5 hours with an intermission in between Set 1 and Set 2.  (I’m not sure if the setlist below is 100% accurate but I am hoping that someone will update Setlist.fm with it soon and the widget will automatically update! I didn’t keep track and thought all the sets were the same from briefly looking at them before the show but they are not! I know for sure a couple songs are missing from this list)

The show was a lot of fun and all the of the musicians on the tour were really talented! It was also a lot of fun to see grown men “fangirl” (fanboy?) over Zakk Wylde.  I’m sure any of these guys would pick on me a TON for the bands that I fangirl for – but it was funny to see them doing basically the same things.  There was an X on the floor about 2 rows in front of me in the aisle and during the intermission I overheard a couple of guys going “Zakk is going to come out – and stand right here!” He did go out in the crowd before intermission a bit, but never did end up going to that X in our aisle…

I ended up leaving a bit early because it was a Thursday night so I only stuck around for Buddy’s first song.  Of course, the two I wanted to see were in Set 2! But if you are a fan of any of the musicians on the line up or even just a fan of Jimi this is definitely a tour that you should be checking out.

American Idol: Top 5

IdolThoughts

I couldn’t watch this weeks episode “live” because I was at the Experience Hendrix concert (more on that tomorrow.)  When I got home I quickly watched Adam’s performance and fast forwarded to see who went home. Finally my prediction / wish came true and Tristan went home.

Song #1 –

Trent – Counting Stars – Not sure about this song choice for him. I didn’t like it at all.

Dalton – Numb – another poor song choice. America picked these? America, you’re fired! I also really don’t like Linkin Park… at all.

LaPorsha – Ready For Love – Oh so she gets a good song pick? I see how it is.

MacKenzie – Wild World – Another questionable song choice and performance I was not digging. So glad they all get a second song!

Bottom 2 –  Since they had 2 songs performed they get to choose which one they want to sing to try for the judges save.

Tristan – Independence Day – This performance fell flat for me. No surprise she’s my pick to go home.

Sonika – Let It Go – So sick of this song but her performance was pretty good.

Song #2

Dalton – The Sound of Silence – Much better than song #1!

(Didn’t they just use the final save? Why did Harry say it hasn’t happened yet tonight?)

MacKenzie – Billie Jean – Hard to do this one after David Cook’s rendition… Definitely not the best I’d ever seen. (Biased?)

Trent – Simple Man – Liked this one way better than his first. So, so glad they had song #2.

Sonika – Clarity – I thought her other performance was better, but she was singing for her life then.

LaPorsha – No More Drama – Oh another perfect song choice for LaPorsha – and the pimp spot? I still don’t think she’ll be making it to the finale.

I think Sonika will be going home next. Too much time spent in the bottom.  But then it will be hard to pick who goes next from the 4 left.

 

Music Monday: Kris Allen Letting You In

kris

Love Will Find You
Time Will Come
Waves
Faster Shoes
If We Keep Doing Nothing
Way Up High
Feeling This Way
Letting You In
Move
I Remember You

Friday Kris Allen released his 5th studio album (has it really been that many already!?) Letting You In. I preordered it on iTunes and not with an album package like I usually did and then had to wait all day Friday to get home from work to listen!  A few songs were released early so I had listened to a few several times before the whole album came out. It is easy to listen to this on loop and not get sick of any of the songs.  I think that my favorite song on the album is Move and I am looking forward to seeing him on tour a couple of times next month!

Product Review: Swiffer 360

Recently I had a very real problem.  The ceiling fan in my bedroom was covered in dust and in need of a good dusting but I had no idea how I was going to be able to reach it.  Of course, Swiffer to the rescue.  The Swiffer 360 has an extendable handle and it rotates so you can get it in the perfect position to clean off the blades on the ceiling fan.  We also found that it worked really well to clean the dust off the blinds in our house.  Once they are shut, run the swiffer over it and be impressed (or disgusted?) with the amount of dust it cleans off.  Quick and easy and does a great job!

If you want to try this out for yourself, Walmart has coupons!

I received a free Swiffer 360 through bzzagent in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

 

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