Katy Perry: Part of Me

By now you know of our joint love for Katy Perry. On Monday night we attended an early screening of Katy's movie, Katy Perry: Part of Me in 3D. It's out today and it's good -- go see it!

Jason took the day off (and Monday is my day off) so we thought it would be fitting to go to Shake Shack in DC for lunch. The first and last time we dined there we did so for lunch before our first Katy concert just a little over a year ago on June 15. Happy memories!

Ya like Jason's short haircut? I love it. 

And then the movie... It was a pre-screening for fans so when we got there we got special 3-D glasses, a poster, and glow sticks (we sort of grabbed three of everything between the two of us). The girl who was standing guard in front of it all looked at Jason and went, "you look just as excited as the other guys who are getting dragged to see this." I just smile and laugh inside when people say things like that... because I know secretly (or maybe not so secretly) he really loves it. He even updated his Facebook status with "KP time." Cryptic enough that most people wouldn't know what he was talking about. But I know and am blowing his cover because I love that he was excited enough to post it. I love that he loves her. If it wasn't for him, we never would have seen her live for the first time and the past year wouldn't have been as much fun as it was!

There we are wearing our awesome 3-D glasses. I'm keeping them to use for other 3-D movies because they didn't squeeze my fat head and give me a headache like other ones usually do! Also? Jason voluntarily took this picture. I didn't have to force him or even ask him - it was his idea! Love.

We had a running joke that I would probably cry through the whole movie, so Jason timed how long it took me to start. It took me 7 minutes, 24.5 seconds to tear up for the first time. At that point in the movie, you hear the opening cords of the beginning of the tour, which generated the same reaction from me each time I saw her live last year. I never full-out cried during the movie all but I got teary-eyed about a dozen times. Parts of it are really moving and heartbreaking. But I'm also a giant sap.

She's a pretty inspiring lady and the movie is empowering -- after all, the tagline for the movie is, "Be yourself and you can be anything." She's really worked hard to get to where she is today and she stayed true to herself all the while. If that's not inspiring and empowering considering the music industry nowadays, I don't know what is. I could go into detail but you should really go see the movie.

P.S. Apparently our power is back as of this afternoon - HOORAY!!!

Wishing You a Very Merry Perry Christmas!

We had serious issues trying to pick our holiday card picture this year. We finally decided to use one from our West Coast trip, which maybe wasn't the best idea because the one we ended up using was just about the only good photo of the both of us we took during our entire 2.5 week vacation and you can't even tell where we are. We got it printed the first time with this picture from Seattle to Bainbridge but the printing was way too dark.

Take two... we used the next best picture we could find. This should say something about the pictures we took while we were out there. Let's just say we (intentionally) missed the boat on the generational "MySpace" self-portraits and we haven't mastered the art of taking our self-portraits quite yet. I have faith that someday we will get there...

Of course you couldn't see the background after it was cropped for the card we used. If you could have seen it in the picture, here's what it would have looked like. SO PRETTY. Take me back!

 Just for kicks... here are the failure outtakes from the same location.

[1. zoom fail  2. KT wonk-eye fail  3. cut out the pretty background + cut off JB ear fail]

By the time we were supposed to send the cards out, I was out of steam for the annual letter I usually write. Sorry to those who missed it. I wish I could use the excuse of, "but we have a blog so you should know what we've done all year and you shouldn't need an overview of our year" but I know I've been falling behind on the blog-writing front so I don't even think I can say that!

I really wanted to write "Merry Perry Christmas" on our card. Jason even helped me come up with "A Very Merry Perry Christmas from Candyfornia" since the picture we ultimately used was taken in California. Instead I used a tacky peppermint layout that I loved only because it had peppermints on it. It was subtly Candyfornialicious and thus, less outwardly crazy. Also, I prefer to make our cards all-encompassing (holidays, not just Christmas). But I hope you all know we were wishing you a Very Merry Perry Christmas anyway because that's the kind of year we had (and you all know I'm kind of crazy anyway). If you don't even know to what I'm referring, it's probably best to just carry on...

Happy Holidays to all!

Concerts. Twice is Nice!

Remember a little note I wrote back in July at the bottom of a post? It went like this: "I swear I haven't been listening to [Katy Perry's] music non-stop since then or trying to convince Jason to get pit tickets to see her live again while we're on vacation so we can be THIS CLOSE to her..."

Well, I'll admit that I've listened to nothing other than Katy Perry in the car since the show in June. And that includes the entire drive from Seattle to Los Angeles. And no, Jason's not sick of her yet either.

 I have to fess up to something else as well:

I convinced him. 

It wasn't hard to do. 

Clearly he likes her music if he's not sick of it yet.

Not to mention he thinks she's a knockout.

(Who doesn't?)

We got tickets to see her while we were in Seattle. We were in the pit, right in front, and it was totally worth it. It was so much fun being right there up in the action rather than watching her when she's as big as an ant like last time. She's my first true pop love and I'm having fun with it. It kind of makes me feel like I'm in middle school again.

We saw Guster live again too when we got back home. We saw them with Jack's Mannequin who were okay (once upon a time we liked Something Corporate and it's the same singer), but we won't see them again because we didn't think they were that great and I wasn't digging the music anymore. I guess I've outgrown it. Guster, on the other hand, is one of those bands that is even better live than they are on albums. In fact, I really only listen to their one live album. I'd love it if they would release another!

And the venue? Wolf Trap. I love seeing shows there because it's so beautiful and it just so happens that the first time I saw Guster in 2004 it was there (along with Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright - now THAT was an incredible show).

Baby, You're a Firework

Well, our adorable little niece is definitely the star of the show.

She's a little firework in our lives and we love having her and her mom & papa around.
There was a big crowd down at the lake this weekend and we all had so much fun
floating in the lake, playing games, eating lots of food, watching fireworks...

Happy 4th of July!

*Title courtesy of my new obsession with Katy Perry seeing her in concert. I swear I haven't been listening to her music non-stop since then or trying to convince Jason to get pit tickets to see her live again while we're on vacation so we can be THIS CLOSE to her... That certainly doesn't sound like something I'd do...  No way...
You just gotta igniiiite the liiiight and leeeet it shiiiine, just ooown the niiiight like the fourth of July!

California Dreams

On Wednesday night we went to our first true pop concert ever.
Katy Perry!

Dancing, costumes, lasers, fire, bubbles, confetti.

We had so much fun!

It was also the most diverse audience I had ever seen at a concert. The show sold out to people of all ages, all races, all walks of life. Guys with gray and white hair, couples in their 50's, couples like us, groups of elementary school girls (and boys!), college kids...
I thought that was so cool.

Between the two of us, if we had a contest to see who crushed on Katy Perry the most, I'm not sure who would win.

Such a fun night!