Perfume

I just HAVE to post something about perfumes. My very dear friend, Jodi, makes her own perfumes and has started selling them. Actually, she's been selling them for a while. She made one for me, gosh, almost two years ago now, when she was first starting out. She just gave me one of those little sample tubes (like you can get at Dillards or Younkers, etc.). I used it once in a while, then I forgot about it. I found it again about six months ago, rolling around in the back of my drawer. Jim loved it as much as I did. So I ordered some more from Jodi. She made me a nice sized bottle of it, and I just LOVE it!!! It's not something I wear all the time, as I like to savor and enjoy it. (I'm the kind of person who wears a different perfume every day, depending on my mood--only on Fridays do I wear the same thing for sure--and as you know, that would be Patchouli.) But when I do put on my new fragrance from Jodi, I am always surprised by how delightful it is! I wish you would check out her site (click on the picture), as she's got some interesting scents available. Her prices are fantastic, too!

Concerts

I'm not much into the "self portrait" thing that some folks are doing on their blogs these days. But I did do a little introspection over the past few weeks or so, and I've come up with a list of concerts I've been to over the years. I challenged my brother, Kyle, to tell me which ones he'd been to, and he was disappointed to come up way shorter than I did. (Seems natural to me, considering how many years I've got on him!) He said he figured he was probably forgetting some... well, duh! I wouldn't be surprised if I was forgetting a couple as well. Check out my list, and you'll see why I could forget some. I doubt if my list is the longest ever--there are many people out there who've been to more than me. What I find amusing is the dichotomy there--from Nitzer Ebb (sort of dark, industrial/techno with electric drums) to Carmen (hard-core born-again Christian artist--I was "lucky" enough to witness someone speaking in tongues at that concert, they were so moved by it... Yikes!). Anyway, if anyone out there wants to list theirs, please let me know so I can check it out! (Oh, and by the way, I had originally NOT put numbers by the concerts and I had originally listed each artist/band separately, but my brother didn't think that was fair, as it made it look like more concerts! Tee! hee! I still have about 30 on him!)

These are not necessarily in chronological order... I'm doing my best to list them as I saw them, but it's a little fuzzy anymore! They're listed with the Headliner first, followed by the opening band(s)... if there's no opening band(s) listed, there either weren't any or I can't remember who opened for the Headliner.
1) RATT, Poison- Omaha

2) The Beastie Boys, Fishbone - Lincoln

3) Iron Maiden - Omaha

4) Great White - Omaha

5 & 6) AC/DC (twice) - Omaha

7) Motley Crue - Omaha

8) Bon Jovi - Omaha

9) The Rolling Stones, Living Color - Ames, IA

10 & 11) R.E.M. (twice) - Lincoln, Omaha

12) George Thorogood & the Delaware Destroyers, Brian Setzer - Omaha

13) Dee Lite - Omaha

14) The Smithereens - Omaha

15) Modern English - Omaha

16) Acapella - Omaha

17) Carmen - Omaha

18) Hat Trick, Zwarte - Omaha

19 & 20) Nine Inch Nails (twice) - Omaha

21 & 22) Cheap Trick (twice) - Kearney, NE and Lincoln

23) The B-52's, Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers - Kansas City, MO

24 & 25) Indigo Girls (twice) - Valparaiso, IN, and Lincoln

26) David Bowie - Denver

27) Depeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb - Denver

28) Depeche Mode - Chicago

29) U2 - Ames, IA

30) New Order - Chicago

31) Duran Duran, Terrance Trent D'Arby - Chicago

32) Sting - Denver

33) Prince - Chicago

34) Grateful Dead, Sting (this is hilarious--NOBODY went into the arena until Sting was about 3/4 of the way through his performance!!! What a riot!) - Chicago

35) INXS - Chicago

36) The Millions - Lincoln

37) Melissa Etheridge, Matthew Sweet - Ames, IA

38) Matthew Sweet, The Millions, Lie Awake - Omaha

39) Allman Brothers Band, Rusted Root - Lincoln

40) Pink Floyd - Kansas City, MO

41) The Eagles - Kansas City, MO

42) Huey Lewis and the News - Kansas City, MO

43) Crosby, Stills & Nash - Omaha

44) White Zombie - Omaha

45) Son Seals - Lincoln

46) Steely Dan - Kansas City, MO

47) Violent Femmes, 311 - Omaha

48) KISS - Omaha

49) KC and the Sunshine Band - Lincoln

50) Smoke Ring - Lincoln

51) James Taylor - Lincoln

52) Joan Jett - Lincoln

53) Hall & Oates, Michael McDonald, Average White Band (AWB) - Omaha

54) Pat Benatar - Lincoln

55) Aldo Nova - Lincoln (actually went to this concert way before a bunch of these, but I don't want to mess with bumping all the numbers down!)

55) Smoke Ring - Norfolk, NE

Another bunch of fun mail!

The other day, this batch of movies came. In case you can't read them all, they're "The Warriors", "Jaws", "My Fair Lady", "Caddyshack", "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", "Twister", and "Over the Hedge". All but two of these movies are DVD replacements for movies we had on VHS. "The Warriors" and "Over the Hedge" are new to us. I've been a member of Columbia House for years, and have been such a "great customer" that they let me cancel my old membership and start a new one--the point being, I got six movies for $.49 each, no S&H charge, plus one of the first movies to fulfill my requirement was only $9.99. I'm a total bargain shopper! The whole lot of them ended up costing just over $12!!! That's mail I LOVE getting!!!

Here's a book Bridget had said she'd pass on to me. I know I'll see her Saturday when she's in town for the marathon, but I'm thinking she sent it in the mail simply because she's got a great appreciation for fun mail--and I'm still riding off the high I got from the last fun mail she sent me! **First one who posts a comment or e-mails me that they'd like to read it after me, it's yours!**

The book Bridget sent will fit right in with what I've been reading lately. For Christmas, Jim got me a Chick Lit desk calender--it's got excerpts from all these fun chick lit books (an example is the one sampled for today, "What a Girl Wants"). It's one of the best Christmas gifts I have ever gotten! I've been checking a bunch of these books out from the library, though my library doesn't carry them all. The book Bridget sent me isn't one of the books they profile in this calendar, so it's a bonus--plus, it arrived just as I'm about to finish my current book. Thanks, Bridget!!!