look who's here!!!

I have a brand new nephew! Jackson Rhys Colvin made his appearance Thursday, April 15th at 3:12pm and the world was never quite the same again. Rhys is a Welsh name that means "enthusiasm", a daring, but perfect choice for a little boy. (He'll be able to say that energy really IS his middle name.) Jackson, I don't know what you're going to be enthusiastic about yet, but I can't wait to find out.

Kai meets his brother for the first time. They commemorate the event by participating in a time honored male bonding ritual. (Kai punches his brother. Parents deal. The world continues to spin.) I remember hearing stories of Mark asking our parents when I was going back to the hospital. I wonder how Kai will respond to The Interloper.
I love this pic of Rachel and Jackson. They look so peaceful.


And then there were four. Just think, you are now the perfect size to win one of those all expense paid trips to Disneyland :) I really, really need to get to Australia. Clearly I am missing out.

Welcome to the world Jackson Rhys. I can't wait to meet you in person.

Warning: Fangirling Ahead

I went to both Adam Lambert concerts this weekend. Adam Adam. Twice in one weekend. Well, that was fun :D

It’s early Sunday afternoon as I write this and I am still basking in the afterglow of one of the best weekends I’ve had in a very long time. This weekend was full of things I don’t usually do and here in the sobriety of Sunday afternoon, I think I need to do them more often.



I went to the airport to meet the online friends I was splitting a hotel room with. Erin tweeted me that their flight was in and before too long she came striding over. I met Andrea and Cherry and in just minutes I couldn’t remember why I had been nervous. Confession: I left my Macbook at home because of the voice in my head that kept screaming YOU DON’T REALLY KNOW THESE PEOPLE THEY COULD BE KLEPTOs. I had nothing to worry about. Next time, the Macbook comes with :D

We grabbed lunch, made our way to the hotel and then headed off to Holt Renfrew for some fantastic false eyelashes. This is another thing I never do. I will be doing it again. False eyelashes are better than losing 10lbs on the spot. You look instantly more glamorous. After that it was time to head off to the MAC cosmetics store. This would become a recurring theme.

At MAC we bought fantabulous colors and Erin bought some teal glitter. Well stocked we headed back the hotel to get glammed up. Yoshi met us at the hotel and was quickly folded into our retinue. At this point, I should apologize to the hotel staff. With five of us getting ready in one room there was glitter everywhere. I couldn’t help but smile. I think Adam would have approved.

All prettied up we headed over to the Red Robinson Show Theatre. We grabbed dinner, got in trouble with security for taking photos (not allowed on the casino floor) and walked in under the huge sign announcing Adam Lambert was playing tonight.

For Thursday’s show at the Red Robinson Show Theatre we had seats farther back but dead center. It’s a tiny theatre, only a thousand seats so we had a great view. There was a mosh pit and lots of black and glitter. When the opening act started to play I thought the sound mix was a bit off. There was a very long intermission and at 9 o’clock the lights went down, the air left the room and a certain tall, raven haired ringmaster took the stage. Finally, finally it was time.

The roar of the crowd was deafening. It did that rushing wind thing that I remember hearing at the Idols live tour even though this was a much smaller crowd. They opened with FYE, but halfway through Adam stopped. They were having technical issues and he had them reset a few things and start again.

Adam is truly magical on stage. He moves like water, casts a spell over the crowd and holds you there, but you don’t mind. I know there’s been whinning about him mentoring on Idol but there’s no one better to teach those kids how to put on a show. Adam knows what to do with a stage and how to work a crowd. He was fantastic. There were sound issues throughout the night, but you almost didn’t notice. He was fully ON and we were right there with him.

After “For Your Entertainment” he played “If I Had You” a song I like more each time I hear it live. Whatdaya Want From Me was next. I have no idea how he manages to sing that song a little differently every time, but he does. I love that he’s kept the higher twist on “it’s me” – I like it even better than the original recording.

I don’t go to a lot of concerts, but I think that Adam is one of the few, the very few who actually sounds better live than he does recorded. The CD is really, really good but Adam live is a completely different treat, one that I wish every Adam fan had the chance to experience.
During Strut it was like he was tossing little pieces of his own confidence out into the crowd like glitter. I felt beautiful and confident. If someone had asked me right then to strut across the stage, I probably would have done it.

In another universe Adam would be AMAZING host for that British show “How to Look Good Naked”. He makes you believe that you can strut, with whatever you are working with. He is so confident it’s like sunshine that you turn toward before you even realize you’re doing it. He believes in you so strongly that you cannot help but believe it yourself. I can completely understand how the stories behind “Broken Open” happened. Adam feels incredibly safe and that safety is an amazing place to step out into whatever you’ve been holding back.

Sure Fire Winners came next. If I’m being honest, Adam had trouble with the lyrics on this one. He lost his words a few times that night but SFW just seemed to take him for a ride. It didn’t matter though, it was still a great performance.

He ditched the jacket for Soaked, moving us into the acoustic portion of the evening. Next up came A Loaded Smile – a song he has never performed live before. It was ethereal and haunting and lovely. He sang Mad World. I could listen to that song all day. Same with Broken Open which came next. After that was Sleepwalker and Music Again which was a bit of a blur.

He closed the show with Fever. This song is so obviously the hit single and but radio program directors won’t play it. They did Down The Rabbit Hole for the encore. Adam had such a huge grin on his face when he came back out. I loved knowing that I had a small part in putting it there. Yes there were technical issues, but all in all it was a great concert and I had a wonderful time.

We headed over to the River Rock after to meet some friends and to our great surprise Tommy and Monte walked out into the lobby. While my brain screamed "that's Tommy, standing right over there!!!" my innate Inner Awkward Turtle kicked into overdrive and I literally could not make my legs walk over. I admired him from afar.

Yoshi went over to join the crowd talking to them. She said that they were kinda down at first saying that the mix was bad and it made it almost impossible for them to hear each other. She told them that she had a great time and said that they cheered up a bit hearing that. They took pics and I just stood there, on the other side of the lobby feeling awkward. Little did I know that later that night, fate would bring Tommy to me.

We headed into the bar and grabbed a table. We managed to order a round in spite of the Worst Bar Service of All Time (of ALL TIME!!) Tommy and Monte came in to the bar and there was a crowd around them the entire time. But I ended up getting to meet Tommy. Here’s how it happened:

We were sitting at a table at the back of the bar and Tommy was over on the other side of the bar completely surrounded by people. Yoshi went over to talk to Tommy along with Fiona. Fiona was going to ask a question but got a little overwhelmed and came back to our table. Yoshi didn't notice right away and said to Tommy "My friend wants to ask you something" and then turned around and notice Fi was gone. Apparently Tommy said "Where'd she go" and when Yoshi pointed to our table Tommy said something like "Let's go ask her."



So, back to me, sitting, chatting away to Andrea and Fiona when I look up and Tommy is walking right towards me. I think I must have startled or something but Tommy looks up at me and puts his finger to his lips in a shh-ing gesture so I school my face into a mask of nonchalance. (I guess those acting classes did pay off) He sits right down next to Fiona and says "Hey, how come you're too shy to talk to me?" and Fiona turns, registers who it is and screams.



Quite understandable.



Tommy, who just might be the nicest man on the planet completely ENVELOPES her in a hug, introduces himself and asks her what her question is. Fiona at this point is having a little trouble making words so Tommy gives her a minute to collect herself and starts meeting the rest of us.

He reaches out across the table to shake my hand and says "Hi, I'm Tommy" and by the grace of all that is holy I manage to NOT say "YOU"RE TOMMY!" right back to him. After intros we start talking music. He tells us that the first time Adam mentioned playing “Whole Lotta” Love acoustic the whole band wasn't sure how it would work. Adam had to convince them to try it, which they did and once they heard it, they were convinced. I wanted to ask him if that happened a lot - if Adam often had crazy ideas and managed to convince them to try but the conversation moved.

The next day, Friday we all got up and had pretty much the same thought “we get to see Adam AGAIN tonight!!!” We grabbed crepes – the breakfast of champions! We headed back to the MAC store for more sparkly things. I headed over the glitter section. The night before Erin and Andrea put teal glitter in their hair – I didn’t even know you could do that. They both have dark hair, so the teal looked incredible. I am blonde and worried that the teal would look like sprinkles so I declined. My mission at the MAC store: find a goldish glitter that would work better in my hair.

The same assistant as the day before came over and was a little incredulous when she saw me finger the glitter. “Yesterday you wanted a subtle shimmery look and today you’re buying glitter?” she asked. I thought about trying to explain the Adam Lambert Effect but decided instead to simply say “it’s been a very interesting weekend”.

She recommended one of their white glitters instead and I have to say A+ choice MAC lady. You can wear it on your eyes, as body glitter, in your hair – or if you’re going to an Adam show all three. I have never worn glitter AT ALL before but I have to say, it’s a lot of fun. When we got into the show the girl behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked “How did you make your hair sparkle like that, it’s gorgeous!” and I beamed. If you’re interested, the one I got is Glitter Reflects in Reflects Gold

Almost right away you could tell that something was different Friday night and different in a really good way. By the end of the show I actually felt a little bad for anyone who saw Thursday’s show and not Friday’s. Thursday was great but Friday….Friday was something very special. I think it will be a long time before I experience something like that again. The crowed was pumped, dancing along to the music that played while we were waiting.

After the first song they turned on a set of lights that lit up the audience and Adam could see us dancing and cheering and happy. It was as if they lit us and then we lit Adam. He looked out at us dancing, smiling, everyone on their feet and he just BEAMED. I swear his smile was visible from space. He glowed and then he sang. He put on an incredible show.

Adam said “you're all so sparkly!" and that's exactly how I felt. There is something about Adam that is incredibly freeing. It’s as if he walks around with a giant pair of glittery scissors cutting all the ties that hold us down, thst hold us back. Insecure about your looks? Snip, you’re beautiful. Afraid of looking silly and being rejected for it? Snip snip, just dance. He moves so quickly you barely notice he’s doing it but suddenly, inexplicable you’re free, you can fly if you want to. He won’t push, but he’ll lead you up to the edge of the cliff and show you the view.

I can't dance, but when Adam sings my body finds a rhythm. You cannot stand still, his voice calls out to you. I just went with it. It all felt right and there in the crowd, under his spell I never felt awkward or self-conscious. I danced for the sheer joy of it, for the music and the way that it made me feel. It was beautiful and it made us beautiful too.

After Strut they played Down the Rabbit Hole – another song that just keeps getting better. During the “Who are you’s” at the end of the song Adam skipped over to each band member in turn and sang to them. Then he sang "Who are you? Ask yourself that, who are you?" and I heard a voice in my head say "I am a girl who puts glitter in her hair". I like the sound of that.

At the beginning of the show the Host said “I have a feeling that years from now thousands of people will claim that they were at the River Rock for this show tonight. You’re the lucky ones who really were. Enjoy it.” Not hard to do.

Mad World was, hands down my favorite Mad World ever. It was beautiful. About three minutes in he just started riffing this gorgeous, bluesy set of runs. Really lovely.

Fever starts, and the crowd goes wild even though somewhere in the back of our heads we know that the show is winding down. The song ended and Adam beamed again. He started stomping his feet and declared “Disco is back!” He said “Disco! Disco!” and turned to face LP and in the next moment LP is giving him a beat. Monte joins in on guitar then Tommy and Cam and it’s so smooth it takes almost a full minute for me to realize that this isn’t the start of the next song, it’s just a few very talented musicians messing around on stage. Seriously, seriously talented musicians. They play, Adam dances then he throws his hand in the air and as quickly as it started it’s over. They end in perfect unison. This band is tight.

The morning after the show as I was walking around the city on my way to Starbucks the sun was shinning the sky was blue and I couldn't stop smiling. A couple of years ago when I still lived close to the ocean I got up really early one day to watch the sun rise over the water. A couple of lines that I wrote in my journal that morning came back to me to today "And now the world is fully awake. And now, so am I.”