Cause I gotta have faith faith faith!

You are far,
When I could have been your star,
You listened to people,
Who scared you to death, and from my heart,
Strange that you were strong enough,
To even make a start,
But you'll never find
Peace of mind,
Till you listen to your heart

The 100th concert of the 25 tour!

George was divine. He is awesome! I danced, I clapped, I screamed. Now I'm sore. I will call in sick in the morning.

What can I say? I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. I grew up listening to George, and learning his lyrics was a huge part of my knowledge of English. I always tell people I learned the language from GM and Madonna. And while I always though George was extremely hot, I did not have a crush on him.

He opened the show singing backstage. The stage was like a huge screen, top to bottom, and reflected different images. A few images started to appear, then he came onstage with the band and some wonderful back-up singers.

It was super cute at one point he produced an old b&w photo of him and his sister with Nanny Josephine (who sported a beehive like Amy Winehouse's - LOL). She was in the audience and he dedicated the concert to her. My friend and I gave a big shout out to all baby-sitters out there. Because they do rock! (my friend is a sitter and I used to be one, so... :P)

The song "Amazing" was dedicated to his longtime partner Kenny. Sweet!

During "Outside", he came onstage dressed as a cop. Boy, the cops around here are not that hot. Seriously!

He played some of his best songs: Father Figure, Too Funky. He even sang cover versions for Roxanne and The First time I ever saw your face. The end of the concert was an encore with "Careless Whisper" & "Freedom '90". I was just a bit upset he didn't sing "Wake me up before you go-go" but that didn't really fit with the tone of the concert, so in the end I was ok with it.

Non-stop screaming moment of the night: he sampled "tudo bem?" in the intro of a song. I was in Heaven. Then I had to squeeze in a call to Oregon (I didn't hear you, friend, but I know you were listening).

LOL moment of the night: this lady sitting behind me taps me on the shoulder, gives me her business card and asks me to email her the photos I took. She does house cleaning and gave me a few more cards to share with my friends. My friend and I were ROFL.

Here is a one-minute portion of Faith. Video by me :)

Up!

This is the teaser for the new Pixar animation movie, Up. It was unveiled at the Comic Con 2008 and scheduled to open in May 2009.

Me? Anxious? Nah... :P

I just hate it will be released in 3D. All these animation movies now will be in 3D. It sucks!

It's tomorrow!!!!

And if he sings "Desafinado", I'll faint!!!

Meryl Streep must have athlete's foot...

...bad breath, chronic gas problems... She has to have a defect.

I just came back from Mamma Mia. Seriously, the woman is just perfect. Not only can she act - as we all know, she could play a corpse and still get an Oscar nod - but she is an incredible singer.

OMG!

Her rendition of "The winner takes it all" made all the hairs on my body stand up.

So, who else? Christine Baranski has some awesome pipes there, who knew? Julie Walters is a hoot! Colin Firth has such an amazing voice, he reminded me of James Taylor during his song. Amanda Seyfried sings really well too. But Pierce... Oh, Pierce. I applaud him for trying, but most of the time I was, like, "dude, you're smoking hot, but seriously, stop!".

Yes, the movie is based on the play of the same name and is full of ABBA songs (check out the soundtrack here). So if you can't stand musicals and/or ABBA, save your money. Basically, it's the story of a young girl who's getting married and doesn't know who her dad is. She had found her mother's diary and read that she had hooked up with 3 guys during the time of conception. So, she writes all 3 of them - as if she were her mom - inviting them to the wedding. They all show up. The possible dads are Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan and Stellan Skarsgard. As in "I wish I had that kind of problem". LOL

I watched it with 12 ladies from my book club and we were ROFL throught the movie. I laughed so hard my cheeks were hurting. The part I laughed the most is when the guys are dancing in the pier, celebrating the guy's bachelor party and all of a sudden 4 dudes hold each others hands and start doing the dance of the Little Swans. Hilarious!

Oh, and make sure you stay after the credits start rolling. They sing 2 songs. It's hilarious.

I have a fan!

Once a week I go to Potbelly to get a sandwich. My favorite - and the one I usually order - is the roast beef and provolone on wheat bread. But they have other awesome sandwiches, and big salads. Hubby thinks the sandwiches are kinda small. I will tend to agree with him if I'm extremely hungry, but it's usually enough for me. He's probably going through a growth spurt, you know, him and his 6'2" frame. :)

Anyway, the place is like an assembly line. You order the sandwich and type of bread. They make it, put it in the toaster, then someone else on the other side adds what you want to it (condiments, tomato, lettuce, pickles, etc). There are usually 3 people assembling the sandwich, but I often happen to be seen to by this one guy. And he knows me, he remembers what I like in the sandwich. And he's always chatting with me.

So yesterday I was swamped at work (big news, huh) and I decided that rather than waiting in line, I was going to try the new online ordering and then just pick it up. So I get there, there is two people in front of me (there is a separate cashier for phone/online orders). So the guys spots me from the other side and comes all the way to talk to me "have you abandoned me? let me make your sandwich". And I was like "no, I ordered online". So, he was crushed! And went back to his spot.

I got back to work and told some of the girls here. We were ROFL over the story. Yes, I have a fan. LOL

She works hard for the money

I've been ticked off about work for quite some time now. I just need to vent - sorry.

The job search must restart. I think it's truly time to get a new job. I've been stressed out and I need some peace of mind (plus I'm totally taking a week off for myself between jobs, once I get one.

I've been in this company for 5 and a half years now. The first year I was in a different department. Then I had to take time off - maternity leave - and when I came back I landed into billing. In the beginning it was okay. The thing is I learn incredibly fast. Within a week, I already knew the job by heart. Which means the workload increased astronomically too.

The lowest paid of the so-called senior employees in my department, make, at least, 10K more than I do. The only have a couple more years on their backs. I asked for a promotion on my first review, and I was told it was on the basis of seniority. However, I do the exactly same job. I don't think it's fair I get paid much less.

HR says they cannot pay me more. On the other hand, the firm keeps hiring more people - who make way more than I do, by the way - for useless jobs.

My manager is a wonderful person, but seldomly takes time off or vacations, which means she gets upset when we have to take ours. I have the leave, I will take vacation. Simple as that. I have 28 days of leave in a year. I take 10 days to go home and visit my family, then I like to take an extra 5 days to do whatever (locally, or go to WDW with the family, etc.). And I still have to hear "how come you take so much vacation?". I work weekends, for crying out loud.

I'm out of here, hopefully sooner than later.

'Cause I've got one hand in my pocket...

Alanis Morissette will be playing the DAR Constitution Hall on September 22.

I... must...go!

That's another concert way overdue...

Baseball cake

Cute, but decorated in 5 minutes - and it shows!



My Cake Gallery

Zzzz

I'm tired and overworked.

Yesterday I made a cake for a little boy. His father is hubby's best friend since college and he and the wife are getting divorced. The guy's Mom is in town and she's a very sweet lady. The little boy didn't have a birthday party last month, so I offered to have cake at our house. We had a nice cookout (steaks, potato salad, etc). Then we had cake & ice cream.

So, after they left, T was watching a Spongebob marathon. I laid on the couch and remember looking at the clock. It was 4pm. I fell asleep, and woke up thinking I had a little 10-minute nap. It was 6:30pm! Thank God T is independent and our house is alarmed.

Now it's Sunday morning and I'm working.

"Out there's our home! And it's in trouble."

What can I say about Wall-E? I don't know whether it's the best Pixar movie to date, but certainly the boldest, as a friend of mine pointed.

I might add that ALL Pixar movies I've seen are great, even the ones I'm not crazy in love with (i.e. A Bug's Life). Theis quality is amazing. Ever since Toy Story changed the history of animation 13 years ago - has it been that long? - they never let me down. It's masterpiece after masterpiece. Nemo, Monsters, Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille (they even had my name in the movie, how cool is that?). And I own a copy of every single one of them!

Let's not forget the awesome short animated films they have done. One preceeds every Pizar movie in the theatres. The latest one, before Wall-E, is called "Presto", about a magician and the bunny, is hilarious, rolling-on-the-floor laughing, non-stop fun. My cheeks were hurting, really!

Now, back to Wall-E. It's G-Rated, appropriate for children of all ages. But not all children will enjoy the movie. Little T says he didn't like it. I think he couldn't quiate graps what it was about. That said, Wall-E is more an animated film for adults, and will most likely be enjoyed by older children.

I will try to restrict my comments so I don't spoil the entire movie. :P

Well, the movie takes place in the future. The first part is completely silent, with a few sound effects. Human race had to leave Earth. Everything is barren, and there is only one thing left behind: a solar-powered robot called Wall-E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth Class). It's basically a trash compactor who does the same thing over and over again, collects a few treasures and parts in case he needs some repair, and has a little cockroach as a pal. He develops some human qualities over the years, and longs for love watching an old VHS of Hello Dolly). At one point, he finds a little plant growing in the dead soil (which will be important towards the second part of the film). Then the planet is visited by a spaceship and it leaves behind a more futuristic robot called Eve (short for Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator). Wall-e falls in love with Eve.

Events in the movie take them to the Axiom ship, some sort of "noah's ark" vessel humans used to escape the planet 700 years before. So this is what human race looks in the future: computers and robots do everything, everyone is obese, sit in chairpods as opposed to walking, spend time chatting on teleconferences instead of having real human contact, and eat very large meals. My 10-year old goddaughter loved the movie, but was extremely disturbed by this vision. I did too, I admit. It seems this is the way the future will be if we don't take good care of our planet. The Captain of the ship takes upon himself a mission, and some robots are non too pleased.

There are a few references in the movie to some other Pixar features, but the greatest are to 2001: A Space odyssey. There are just too many to count.

One of my favorite parts of the film, and also the funniest, is when the little sanitizer robot MO! He gets upset about cleaning up after Wall-E's tracks. He just cracked me up. Oh, and can I please have one of those in my house!

*Thud*

So, what don't I do?

That's what my co-worker asks me. "Is there anything you don't do?". Well, of course, lots of things. It's that yesterday I started knitting. I love it! I can add it to scrapbooker, photographer, web/graphic designer, pumpkin carver, cake decorator,...

I still have to learn how to cook - decent meals... just cause I don't have that much free time, you know? (who does?) I have a stack of cookbooks. I will get to it, eventually...

Of course, I'm a mom, I have to multitask. The thing is I always wanted to learn how to sew/crochet/knit and proudly - or not so much - wear what I make. Or see people wear my creations.

I want to make my son and goddaughter matching scarves. Just in case she comes to visit us during the winter sometime.

There is this really sweet Polish girl in my book club who's been knitting since she was about 10. She can do it with her eyes closed, and you have to look at all the clothes she made! Both her mother and grandmother (and Lord knows how many generations before) taught her how to knit.

My Mom is always amazed how my sister and I are pretty crafty. It's weird that my Mom was never the crafty type - she says it herself - and she never passed anything onto me like that. Well, actually my Mom is an awesome gift wrapper and I always watched her do it and can do a pretty good job myself. Does that count? :)

Oh, yeah, and my Mom is a soprano too!

Groupie!

I was reading my friend Sunshine's take on concerts - and I mean non-Wiggles stuff - and I started remembering the concerts I went to when I was young---er...

The greatest frustration of my life is that I've never seen Madonna perform live. Seriously! She played back home when I was 15 and my father didn't let me go. All my friends in high school went and I was so mad. To top it off, my cousin got married on the same day, and from the reception I could see the all concert lights. I was furious. I still tell my dad I never forgave him for that. In 2001 I had another shot at it, but the concerts were sold out. Then after that she totally snubbed the DC area. And I just can't afford to go to NYC to see her. I have a full time job and a kid...

My dad was not fond of concerts. I remember when A-Ha played live in 1989 and both my aunts went. He didn't let me go either.

But I do remember the very first concert I went to: Roxette. It was on May 9th 1992. Yes, I remember! I was going crazy. Roxette is my favorite band, ever! It's so funny that here in the US Roxette and A-ha are one-hit wonders. I own all Roxette CDs - even the one they did in Spanish - and there are many, many wonderful songs that were huge hits all over the world, except in the US. Well, I guess it was before youtube era...

I saw Roxette again in 1995 and that was the best concert ever!!! I was in the mosh pit, a couple of feet from Marie Fredriksson. My friend was feeling bad and threw up right next to me, and I didn't even notice! That's how insanely cool it was.

I feel sad Roxette is no longer together and that Marie's health is not the same after her bout of cancer. I do hope she's alright.

I did see other concerts. I saw the Rolling Stones live, which was amazing, and opened by the Spin Doctors (that was not a great opener). It was so cool to see a living legend, live!

I also saw Whitney Houston, right around the time she did the Bodyguard and she was on top of the charts. I saw Supergrass and Smashing Pumpkins together. I saw The Cure, and I was in the front row. If I reached up, I could touch Robert Smith, who was really nice to us. It was late, it was not incredibly packed, and he just stayed near where we were to sing. "Yooooooooou are just like heaven, yoooooooooooou".

Oh, and let's not forget U2!

I think that was it... Really good times!

After that it was just Sesame Street Live and a string of Wiggles concerts... tee hee

But... George Michael, here I go!

A little bit of pink in my life...

My mom brought over my 10-year old goddaughter for a 9-day visit. We were supposed to all go to WDW last year but she caught a bad stomach flu and we had to cancel her flights. This year she made it here instead and I took a week off from work to see to her.

Poor girl had a rough time in the airplane (her first time). She threw up... a few times... She has a major issue with motion sickness. My aunt (her Mom) called every time. I mean, like, 3-4 times a day. The phone bill is going to be huge...

It was practically the first time I spent quality time with her. She was about 18 months old when I moved to the US, and all other times I went home to visit we had limited time together since she was always busy with school. It was a nice change, a bit of pink in my life, since I live in boyzone with hubby and little T. She's a girly girl, very much into HSM/Hannah Montana, always dressing up to go out: perfume, earring and hairpiece. Plus she's a ballerina. She had had her first communion earlier this year and was all excited to attend mass in English.

The week was busy. We went to a baptism, followed by lunch at the parent's house. We went shopping at the outlet mall (we're girls, after all). We went to the White House, the National Zoo, the National Aquarium, Build-A-Bear workshop, water park, putt-putt, fed the ducks, saw a movie. You name it, we did it. It was a busy week. Plus on Saturday I dragged the poor girl on a metro-and-on-foot tour of DC. We were our pedometers. We walked 10 miles on that day. We were exhausted. But we were happy.

They're leaving today. Last night she laid on my lap and had a good cry. She said she didn't want to go back home. She wanted to stay here, that the trip was way too short. So I tried to cheer her up and we made some chocolate lollipops together. Oh, yeah, I had baked her a Hannah Montana guitar cake when she arrived.


LOL moments of the trip:

- I walked her to the FBI building. She was curious cause we had watched one episode of the X Files and her late daddy loved it. So, we get to the front of the building. She poses for photos and then turns to me and asks "so, where's the entrance?". I wish it were just like that!

- I drove her to the National Cathedral. So I go park the car in the garage and it says "4 bucks an hour". I was not pleased, I admit, but we went in. So we get to the Cathedral and it's closed. I look at the timetable and it said "closes at 4pm". Ok, so 4 bucks were wasted... but we take a few photos and then I go back to the parking garage to pay for my ticket. The machine says "6 bucks". I was so upset. So I march my way to the security dude, then I glance at the table of prices and ALL the way down it says "saturdays: 6 bucks". So, I go back and pay for the fare, thinking 'the church is stealing me money' (think Mr. Krabs)... I put in a 20-dollar bill and the machine gives me change in 14 one-dollar coins. I deserve it...

- we had signed up for a White House tour. Big bureocracy, I had to go through my congressman months in advance, submit SSN for a background check, the whole nine yards. Read through security procedures, you could basically bring your ID and an umbrella. Hubby thought it was the best thing in the world. So we get there, they hand us a couple of maps, tell us it's a self guided tour and that's that. We saw, like, 3 rooms, and had to leave. We were just staring at each other going "huh, they call this a tour?". Oh yeah, we passed by a china cabinet. My goddaughter points to a bowl, turns to me and says "look, grandma has one just like that!". I tried not to laugh to loud cause it's the WH, you know? Well, there was a family having a guided tour right before us, so I kinda tagged along at one point. So I start translating the stuff back to the girl, how the red room has fabric on the walls, and she goes like "oooooooooh, can I touch it?". "Yeah, if you want us to go to jail...".


Saving the best for last:


- we went to see Wall-E (which deserves a separate post by itself). There were 4 of us (me, kiddos & my Mom), so we purchased 2 combos (large coke + large popcorn) to share. Of course the food cost and arm and a leg, so since they refill the large sodas I figured I might as well take the refills home. So, we get to the car and I tell my Mom they should carry those in the back seat. My Mom says that's what the cup holder is for. True, but we're talking about 2 large sodas (32 oz? I'm still in the metric system, ok?). The cup holder in my car has 2 "mobile hands that grab the drink" . You know what's coming, right? So I'm driving, no potholes, no speed bumps, no problem at all, nothing. Then all of a sudden of the sodas collapses! Right in the middle of the car, it makes a little pool underneath where the hand breaks are. The rest flows into a river through the carpet, all the way to the back. I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to crash the car. Oh, yeah, did I mention it was also pouring? And I was driving a stick! One had on the wheel, another one on the soda. Thankfully I was able to pass the soda to my Mom when I stopped at the red light and the it made home safely.

It was fun! While it lasted...

Just another manic monday....

...or would it be Rainy days & Mondays always get me down?

Worse: it's Monday, it's raining, it's the day after a week-long vacation and the first day I'm accumulating extra work.

There were 100+ emails in my inbox.
The escalator inside the metro station was broken, and 2 out of 3 escalators coming out the station were out of service.
The new hire in our department is annoying and spends all day on the phone. When she's not on the phone, she's on her cell. Her job function is already shady, no one knows for sure what she does; and nobody likes her because she's a royal pain.
Three co-workers lost a family member last week.

It truly sucks.

Can you imagine the call to the local dispatcher?

Hi, err... um... there is this giraffe in my backyard...

LOL!

Giraffe Helps Camels, Zebras Escape From Circus

Giraffe Helps Camels, Zebras Escape From Circus

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Amsterdam police say 15 camels, two zebras and an undetermined number of llamas and potbellied swine briefly escaped from a traveling Dutch circus after a giraffe kicked a hole in their cage.

Police spokesman Arnout Aben says the animals wandered in a group through a nearby neighborhood for several hours after their 5:30 a.m. breakout.

The animals were back at the circus later Monday after being rounded up by police and circus workers with the assistance of dogs. Aben says neighbors fed some of the animals - which he said was a bad idea - but they were tame and nobody was hurt.

Says Aben: "You have to imagine somebody rubbing his eyes first thing in the morning and saying, 'Am I seeing things or is that 15 camels walking past?'"

I'd like to buy a vowel, please!

My little T is addicted to Wheel of Fortune. First he surfs through the kiddie channels, but usually at 7pm there is nothing he likes. So he turns to ABC to watch Wheel of Fortune.

He makes me sit down next to him and I have to guess all the words. If the contestant answers before I do, he yells at me LOL.

It's really cute he starts putting together the words. "Mommy, that word is CAR! C-A-R!". Adorable! He hasn't even started Pre-K. Oh, yeah, he was supposed to start Kindergarten in September, but they changed the admission birth dates and won't even test him (but it's subject for another post).

Funny thing, is yesterday the lady got almost all the letters in. It was a prize puzzle, and the board said "DANCING IN THE _AND". She answered "Dancing in the Land", which was wrong. The answer, of course, was "dancing in the Sand", and the other contestant answered. Then Sajak turned to her and asked: "it's a prize puzzle, where do you think you're going?" and I yelled "Australia!". LOL. Nah, the thing is they were sending her to the beach in the Caribbean.

But all I could think was "we're gonna clap 3 times in the sunshine". LOL!