Y'all know that I've been refinishing a dining room table and chairs, with the help and guidance of my dear friend Jami.
It's been quite the process, I must say.
But worth it. Totally and completely.
It's finished, you guys! And the table and chairs are looking lovely in my dining room right now.
Here are the pictures: pre, during, and post...
Solid wood table from the 1960s. I never was a fan of the orange-ish stain...
And the chairs, as-purchased.
Jami and I set up a tarp in the basement to protect stuff worth protecting in the next room.
Sanding. Gosh, all the sanding created so much dust.
Poor Jami, who's allergic to dust, sneezed like crazy!
Giving it some elbow grease!
DONE SANDING!
Taped and primed!
The table: painted
We painted the chairs in Jami and JR's garage so we didn't die of fumes.
Painted and antiqued:
AQUA
MELLOW SPRING
JELLYFISH
LA FONDA MIRAGE
RIVIERA DUNE
Post-stain, pre-gloss.
Yep. It's been a lot of work. And rather fun. Jami has been a patient teacher, and I feel like I might not run away if the opportunity to refinish more furniture presented itself again, you know? And that's kind of saying something. Because crafting (and anything somewhat related to it) takes me to a dark place, typically. Not this time, though!
Here are some pictures of the finished project:
My table and chairs without the leaf.
With the leaf.
SWOON!!
And here's my homemade table runner (that Jane helped me with)
on my refinished, dark-stained table.
Wow, huh? I'm all smiles this evening. And I'll enjoy my hard work for a long time to come. (My hard work, and Jami's. Obviously.)
I woke up this morning to two texts; one from my brother Ryan, the other from his wife Janel. They were both announcing the birth of the newest member of the O-clan:
I present unto you: Derek Robert O. I love him already!
He was born at 12:23am this morning. Almost a St. Patrick's Day baby, but you know what? I like March 18th just as well.
I cannot wait to breathe him in on Thursday evening! (I sure hope this week flies on by!)
I've got lots of catching up to do re: My Life. I moved into a new townhouse a couple of weeks ago, plus some other stuff...but let's be honest. Baby Derek trumps the rest of that quite easily.
He's on tour, you know. Has been since 1966 or '67 (as I recently heard from his own lips, as it turns out). Yes, Neil's on tour, and I saw him LIVE last Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium. And although, "See Neil Diamond in concert" has never technically been on my bucket list, I'm half tempted to add it and cross it off, just because his concert. was. AWESOME.
Cameron saw this license plate in the parking lot. Obviously I love it.
Okay, so maybe his voice isn't as rich as he used to sound on his albums of long ago. And, okay, maybe he did the sing/speak thing a lot more than I'd care to admit. -Sing/speak is one of the many (many!) reasons I cannot handle Michael McLean and his music, but guess what? Neil Diamond is a legend who has been singing and writing music for nearly 50 years. If he wants (needs) to sing/speak sometimes, he can do it, and I shan't judge him (too harshly).
A lovely sunset kept us company as we waited for the concert to start.
Cameron and Aimee
Me and Jami
Anyway, I bought my ticket, like, 10 months ago.
I grew up listening to Neil Diamond, enjoying his soulful tunes since I was just a wee lass. I daresay I love him.
Part of the fun this specific concert is that we were surrounded by baby-boomers and geriatrics. When I looked around and noticed how happy (and..."mature") my fellow Neil-lovers were, I realized, "This will be a FUN concert" and I totally let myself be ridiculous. I sang out loud and swayed with the music, and I felt the music, man!
Right here. This is the moment when the magic began.
(It all started with the mullet-ed man in the hat. And Neil Diamond, of course.)
Other fun little tidbits from the evening:
-Neil Diamond mentioned that he came out of a semi-retirement in '66 ot '67, starting in SLC, and has been touring ever since.
-He also mentioned that he was recently remarried (within the past few months), and talked about how much he loves his wife, etc. (Know what? Neil Diamond may wax a bit cheesy at times, but it's heart-felt and I love it.) Anyway, he said something like, "I'd like to be able to tell my wife that I wrote this song ("I'm a Believer") for her, but the truth is, she wasn't even born when I wrote it." (This song was made popular by the Monkees in 1966. Neil's wife was born in 1970. Neil was born in 1941. Now you know.) Cameron, Jami, Aimee and I appreciated his honesty and his candor. :)
-Neil sang "Sweet Caroline" and the crowd. went. WILD. I'm telling you, the entire crowd freaked right out. So after he finished, he talked for a second and then told his band, "take it away," and he did a reprise. That was fun. The crowd ate that right up, too. Then he did another reprise. Of the same song. And the crowd went wild again. (Still?) At that point, Neil said, "I couldn't sing that again if I wanted to. Actually, I don't much care for that song any more." (Again, the honesty!) And then...he had his band do one. more. reprise. Without him. He left it up to us (his adoring fans) to keep the song going. That's a total of 4 times. I can't help but laugh, really...
-One of my favorite parts of the evening is when Neil said, "I want to introduce you to the greatest band in the land: MY BAND!" And that was it.
-Cameron and I came up with a list of names for my future daughters (apparently?), taken from Neil Diamond songs: Holly (Holy), Shilo, (Cracklin') Rosie, (Hey) Louise, (Sweet) Caroline, Desiree, Chelsea (Morning)...there may be more.
Anyway, that old man sure can rock it. I am totally thrilled that he's still touring, because now I can say I've lived a Neil Diamond concert! I sincerely feel like a cooler version of my old self. ("Old self," meaning the "pre-Neil-Diamond-concert-attending-Ginabean." Obviously.)
I love Neil Diamond, and I regret nothing. Going to that concert is maybe the coolest thing I've done all year...
These guys were behind us a bit, and made our concert experience even better.
I feel quite confident that this pic was taken during one of the reprises of Sweet Caroline...
As the concert drew to a close, I said, "If he doesn't sing 'America,' I'm going to be very upset. Then Neil Diamond walked off the stage, and I was upset. (Do I know myself, or what?) Fortunately, Salt Lake City loves Neil Diamond, and we clapped and cheered until Neil had no choice but to do an encore. And the encore is where Neil had tucked 'America' away. Hidden away for only his loudest, most beloved fans. (Or something.)
I uploaded my view of "Sweet Caroline" onto YouTube, if you care to take a look...
Last Saturday, I went (with a group of friends) to the Holi Festival of Colors at the Shri Shri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah.
The story (taken from the back of a bag of colored powder) goes like this:
The Festival is named after Holika, an evil witch who had received a benediction of not being
burned by fire. She misused this boon to burn babies while walking into fires.
Once she made the mistake of trying this with a 5 year old boy, Prahlad,
who always chanted the names of God,
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
On this occasion the Lord protected his devotee who walked out of the fire
while Holika was consumed. This explains the fire element...
The colors...
Around 5,000 years ago, while Lord Krishna was on the planet, he observed the coming of spring
by throwing ground up powdered flower petals between him and his devotees. We follow
his footsteps, but being unable to afford flowers, the colors are composed of
corn starch, organic dyes, and scent.
The color, noise and entertainment that accompanies the celebration of Holi bears witness to
a feeling of oneness and sense of brotherhood. The festival brings home the lesson of
spiritual and social harmony!
So. Towards the end of March each year, people gather at the Hindu temple to throw colored powder at each other. (That really is the gist of it, if you're not Hindu. And believe me, most of us were Mormon. For reals.)
Keri, Jill, Allison and I met up with a handful of friends to join in the festivities. We all wore white shirts (to really canvass the brightly colored cornstarch), purchased several bags of the delightfully bright hues, and away we went!
Let it be said, on the record, that throwing a handful of colored powder (on friends and strangers alike!) is DEEPLY SATISFYING!
Also. I believe that everybody becomes attractive when they're covered in the "gulal." (Maybe it's because it's slightly scented, and the powder affects your brain? Not sure, but I stand by my claim!)
The proof is in the pictures, I suppose. (Warning: there are a LOT!)
part of the crew: me, lisa, keri, jill, bill (the tall one in the back),
jason, lisa, allison, cameron and chanelle
Beth and Bethany
Shri Shri Radha Krishna Temple
Colorful Keri
Colorful Jill
I really love the way the colors fell on Cameron!
Allison!!! (Everybody went crazy with orange on her face!)
HANDS!
FEET
Jason (getting color slapped on him by Lisa, I believe)
Every two hours, they read the story of Holika, count down, and everybody releases their colors.
This one happened at 3:00pm
Here I am dropping color onto Keri from above...
Sunglasses protected my eyes. (Hooray for sunglasses!)
Me and my good pal Bethany
(pretty sure I have powder on my teeth)
"jazz hands"
Lisa and Jason
Cameron, carefully applying color (probably orange) to Alli's face...
Keri and Jill (after the 3:00 release of colors)
For some reason, the pink really excited me?
Don't ask me what's up with my face. I. Don't. Know.
Sassypants Beth
I wasn't present when the picture was taken, but it looks like it could be Zumba...
This was taken right before we left.
I pulled up my sleeves to show my "clean skin."
We didn't get a shower till we got back to Idaho that night (after 10pm)
So. Yeah. I had a very enjoyable time at the Holi Festival of Colors (2012). I may just have to go again next year...
Mm-kay, so Josh Groban is one of my favorite musical artists. I love his songs, and his voice is like a dream. (swoon!)
It's been on the old Bucket List to go to a J.G. concert for a while now, and when I discovered he was bringing his Straight to You tour to SLC (a mere 3 hours away from where I currently reside), I figured (in an ecstatic, frenzied sort of way) that there is no time like the present to buy Josh Groban tickets. (Good idea, self!)
I sent out a mass text to fellow Mr. Groban fans, and my dear friends Lindsey and Keri decided (with haste!) that they would definitely go with me.
We bought the tickets back in, I want to say, March.
Fast forward something like 5 months, and finally (FINALLY!) the blessed day arrived. Hooray!
Lindsey had gotten engaged the night before, and I'm happy to say that she kept a cool head; she wasn't going to let that keep her from coming with Keri and me to the concert. Heck no! (After all, she's got, like, forever to be with Dave. I mean...they're getting married!)
We made our way to SLC in good time and met up with Lisa and her awesome Aussie boyfriend Matthew for lunch at this amazing Thai place. Then we went shopping a little bit (blah, blah, blah)...then we made our way to the Energy Solutions Arena to sit and wait for The Josh Groban to come on out and sing already!
Lindsey, Keri, Moi
Before the show began, we saw a rug/mat thing onstage that said Elew and Keri and Lindsey were like, "What's Elew?" I thought quickly and said, "Maybe it's for Josh's album 'Elew...minations?'" knowing I was wrong, but chuckling to myself about it. (His 2010 album is called Illuminations. Get it?) Turns out, Elew was the name of JG's opening act, a talented pianist.
Anyway. Elew was good, but he's not The Josh Groban, and The Josh Groban is the entire reason I spent a lot of money for my ticket.
It took a while for the crew to get the stage ready for The Josh, so in the meantime, Keri texted our friend Allison, who was also at the concert, and we actually found her!
Hi, Allison!
When The Josh Groban came out singing, it was utter pandemonium, folks. AND THE CROWDS WENT WILD!!!
(Pardon the crappy quality of this photo,
but my camera ain't super, and it's not as if we had floor seats.)
Did you know? That Mr. Josh Groban is amazing live? Geez, his voice is a gift! They don't have to clean up his voice at all when he's recording for his albums, I'm sure of it. WOW.ZER!
Other thoughts I had during and after the concert:
-Josh Groban is funny. For reals, he made us all laugh.
-If The Josh and I ever met, I feel quite certain that
we'd be friends. (I so was not expecting that terrific sense of humor.) -The Josh doesn't have a potty mouth
(that seems to go hand-in-hand with the entertainment industry). Kudos!
-His voice is a dream. (Oh yeah. I already mentioned that.) -As much as I love The Josh Groban's raw talent
(hello, beautiful baritone voice!) I am much less diehard than lots of other gals
that I was surrounded by at the concert.
(I'm not going to rip on The Josh's fans,
but a few of them creeped me right out. Truly.)
Oh, yeah. We were invited to text questions to...some number...and Josh responded to some of them. Keri, Lindsey and I totally played that little game:
Dear Mr. Groban:
You're welcome, I'm sure!
And, okay, so they didn't choose our exact text for The Josh to read aloud, but it doesn't matter because our wish was granted. (If you're not familiar with the "Kanye tweets" bit, click here.)
Sing those tweets, brother!
Oh yeah! For his encore, Josh came out and sang Neil Diamond's "Play Me" which I totally loved. A lot, a lot. I grew up on Neil Diamond and I love him; and typically I'm not a big fan of cover songs. But with Josh Groban's voice behind it, it was magical, I tell you. MAGICAL!
We had to drive home that very night, because I had church meetings the next day. (Ouch. Ouch a lot.) And although we didn't get home until a little after 3:00am, and I didn't get to bed until 4:00am, it was totally worth it.
Because, you see, the concert was awesome, and what was supposed to be a "Bucket List" item? Well...it got me thinking. Mr. Josh Groban is so amazing in concert that I kind of feel like each time he's on tour and brings it to UT (or anywhere within reasonable driving distance), seeing him live is kind of necessity. Sure, I checked it off my Bucket List, but I'm pretty sure the Straight To You tour 2011 isn't the only time I'll be seeing him in concert. (I mean, for the love, I've seen Alice Cooper in concert twice, and I like J.G. more.)
Anyway, the concert was stellar, and I'm so happy that I got to go with my girls Keri and Lindsey. Until next time... ;)
