American Idol Tour - Charlotte, NC - Part 1

Matt and I drove to Charlotte this weekend to see the American Idol tour. I'm a gigantic fan of the show and religiously watch it every season. I've never had the desire to go to the tour until this year because there are so many contestants I loved.

Our wedding this week was on Friday, meaning we were free and clear to attend the Saturday night concert. Talk about lucking out!

All of our "dates" begin with a hideous driveway self portrait:


Our hotel (taken with point 'n shoot) right next to the arena. The second photo is what happened when Matt said "strike a pose" while testing light inside of our room.


Hehe


The hotel was perfect. We upgraded to a large corner room, we were a 3 minute walk from the arena, and it was pet friendly, so Dex could come along!


Matt is better in front of the camera than I am, so he gets extra shots


These next three are from the point 'n shoot. An outdoor mall we walked to for dinner before the concert.




Rules regarding photography in the arena were pretty lax, so we were able to walk right in with a 5DMkII armed with an 85mm f/1.2 with no questions (the longest zoom I was willing to risk. I figured a 70-200 would have been a bit too conspicuous). I also packed the point 'n shoot for obligatory self portraits. We had GREAT seats!


Also a point 'n shoot shot.. wide view from our seats.


MkII shots from here on out unless noted. Watching these lighting operators climb into their chairs freak me out.


The Top 10 performed in reverse order, starting with Michael Sarver.








Next up was Megan Joy. She sounded much better live than she did while on the show. I'm also a little in love with her pink shoes.




Next two from the point 'n shoot:


Then it was Scott Macintyre's turn. For those who didn't watch the show, Scott is almost completely blind and recently underwent a kidney transplant. I don't prefer his voice, but he's a master on the piano and was one of the most likeable contestants of Season 8.




Lil Rounds was next. She looked gorgeous and also sounded much better live.




Hands and arms sometimes obscured the shots, but I think that they make them look kinda artsy!






Next was...


Love this guy!






Many many MANY more photos to come! Stay tuned tomorrow night!

Anniversary 2009

I have a dream of one day being completely caught up on all photo work, album designs, and both blogs. Unfortunately, that is all a pipe dream. What I CAN do is make good use of a fabulous long(ish) weekend to get a little ahead.

Matt and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on May 28th of this year. Wanting to keep things low key, we decided to lock ourselves in the house with pajamas, good food, and good TV and have an old-fashioned slumber party. Just one of many perks of being married to your best friend.

I was in charge of the evening's uniform, and these retro video game pajamas were just too awesome to pass up.





Matt provided a centerpiece using my favorite flower:



Matt was in charge of food, and found this adorable pan for making a giant cupcake:



Since we were trying to be as lazy as possible, the cupcake was made using box mixes and, of course...









Assembled!



Rawr



Dinner was strawberry waffles and omelets. Yum yum!







Me looking shamefaced over using Bisquik for the waffles (nah, not really.. that's probably what we'd use anyway)



Matt thinks he is hilarious for giving me "kisses" for our anniversary:



After a night of movies and TV (I was in charge of entertainment) the real reason for the kisses was learned.. Matt wanted to try his hand as making a chocolate martini.



I thought it was pretty gross and only got through one sip (he made it perfectly, it's just not my taste!) I prefer apple martinis any day.

.. and a last parting shot. While we were cooking, Peanut gave Dexter several warning yowls when he was getting a little too close!

More Ripley's Aquarium Photos

I love Sundays! Matt and I had the day off, and spent most of our time running errands and doing chores. I also spent that time whining that I want to hire lawncare and housekeeping people, so that our free time is actually spent doing things that are fun!

I did devote some time working on more of our personal photos, which unfortunately takes me all the way back to Easter weekend. Enjoy!























Leave us a comment with your favorite things to do on a lazy Sunday!

More from Easter weekend

With wedding season upon us, our personal photo collection is being pushed to the back burner, but I thought I would revive this blog a bit with a few more shots from Easter weekend at Ripley's Aquarium

A couple of fun shots of each other: