Suddenly September - 2016

September 20 - 

"What is something you wish more people knew or believed?"

The "Butterfly Effect" is real.  According to Wiki, the Butterfly Effect is the idea that small causes can have large effects. The scientific premise is that the flapping of a butterfly's wings can, through the movement of air, cause a ripple effect which could make a tornado on the other side of the country.  Kind of impossible you may think, but it's been proven.  

We had the pleasure of listening to Andy Andrews speak at a convention a few years ago and I absolutely love his work. He has a very unique storytelling style and this is one of my favorites of his.  He explains the Butterfly Effect using people and the things they do in their lifetime to illustrate it.    

In it he says, "Your life matters and what you do today could affect generations to come."  Of course the obvious things are that we could use up all the food and water supply and pollute the air.  We know that.  

But I believe that it can be a very simple thing, like a smile, that may change the lives of other people.  Maybe it is by smiling at a person walking down the street or by making eye contact with the grocery clerk or salesperson, smiling at them and thanking them by name.  Maybe it is by writing something in one of my blogs that happens to make the reader smile.  I believe that by doing so, perhaps the smile will be passed on from the grocery clerk to the customer behind me and so on and so on.  Perhaps the smile will make someone who is feeling discouraged or upset just a little happier.

I have made it my goal to try to make at least one person smile every day.  I know I feel better when I smile.    

If you have not heard of Andy Andrews before, I would suggest that you read his books or take a listen to some of his other stories on YouTube.  Here is another favorite:  Amazing Grace:

        

I'll bet that one brings a smile to your face!

Hope you are following along with the Blog-tember Challenge.  10 days left!  Let me know if I made you smile :)

Suddenly September - 2016

September 9 -

"If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?"

That's a really tough one for me.  I think I'd like to go to Italy.

We've had several friends who have gone there recently and the pictures I've seen are just stunning.  I love the ancient history of it all and I am Italian.  It would be a romantic place to visit with the gondolas and fountains.

However, I don't speak the language and that kind of bothers me.  I mean, I'm sure they have tour guides and some of the people should be able to speak a little English, right?   I could also try to learn a bit of Italian, although the only thing I know how to say now is "Mangia e Statti zitto" which means "Eat and shut up."  That's what my dad used to say if we started discussing something he didn't want to hear about at the dinner table.  Not exactly words to get me very far in Italy.

On a more comfort zone level, I also wouldn't mind hitting England.

 Lots of history there too with Buckingham Palace and London Bridge.

The language is a little closer to ours.  I'm a big Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie fan so it would be cool to try and find 221B Baker Street or some of the other locations they talk about in the books.

So those are my dream places.  Even though I love the beach, Hawaii (which is way closer and easier to get to) does not really excite me as much.  At any rate, not sure I'm getting to any of these places very soon.  How about you?  What's your dream place?  Be sure to check out the other bloggers following Bailey Jean's Blog-tember challenge.

Suddenly September - 2016

September 5 - "What was your most memorable birthday?" asks Bailey Jean in the Blog-Tember challenge.

I actually have two birthdays that stand out.  The first was my 28th birthday when my fiance and his friends got together and threw me a surprise birthday/engagement party.

I think you can tell by the look on my face that I was not expecting a party.  We had just gotten engaged a few days before and I thought we were just going to visit some friends to tell them the exciting news.  When we got to their house, Bill took me toward the back of the house and there, behind the curtain, literally, everyone shouted "surprise!"  

No one had ever thrown a surprise party for me before and it was a lot of fun.  

Bill made a toast to me and everyone toasted us on our engagement. 

The other memorable birthday was last year for my 60th.  Even though I have lived in California, specifically the San Francisco Bay Area, my entire life, I had never walked across the Golden Gate Bridge.  For my 60th birthday I told my family that that was what I wanted to do so early on a Sunday morning a few days after my birthday we met some friends in the parking lot on the Sausalito side of the bridge.

We started with some Mimosa's and a toast to my birthday.  

Even my 91 year old mom came.  She really didn't need the walker but wanted to bring it just in case.  

 This is looking from San Francisco to Sausalito.

















We stopped halfway back and one of the friendly bridge security personnel took our group picture.  

 After the walk we went in to Sausalito and had lunch at Napa Valley Burger Company.  It was a great way to celebrate my 60th I thought.  

How about you?  Have a memorable birthday or two to share?

Suddenly September - 2016

September 4 - Bailey Jean's question for the Blog-tember challenge is "What are you up to currently?"

Currently:

• Watching:  Giant's Baseball.  Torture at its finest.

• Reading:  A Thousand Days - John F. Kennedy in the White House by Arthur Schlesinger.  Still.  I have to pick the pace up or it will have taken me 1000 days to read it!  

• Listening:  Taking my iTunes Playlist and starting from the songs I haven't heard in a while and working my way up the list.  Almost 3,000 songs, some I've downloaded but never listened to and some I haven't heard since 2008!  

• Making:  A birthday mini-album for a friend who recently turned 60.  

• Feeling:  Hopeful that things are getting better for us every day.  Bill's pension started this month.   

• Planning:  What I am going to make for a vendor fair in a couple of weeks. 

• Loving:  The fact that I work for myself from home.

• Starting:  Work on upgrading my website.  An exciting challenge in itself.

• Finishing:  Organizing my scrap room.  Still a few areas to complete but for the most part it is done.    

• Missing:  I will be missing my hubby who is leaving tomorrow to go to help his mom in Oregon for 15 days!

• Wishing:  That I could go to bed one night and wake up skinny.  Since that's not gonna happen, I'll try this again:

It worked for me before and if I concentrate on me, it will work again.

That's my currently.  Today is the big concert in San Francisco.  So excited for that.  Pictures I'm sure to follow!  What are you up to currently?  Be sure to stop by the other folks who are participating in the Blog-tember challenge!

Suddenly September - 2016

September 3 - Summer Favorites

Summer favorites is the question from Bailey Jean and the Blog-tember Challenge.

I'd have to say the Summer Concert Series put on at the Mountain Winery is my biggest thrill each year.  This year we were able to score some pretty great seats since we had gotten tickets for four shows last year which gave us Loyalty Club status.  Of course we saw four concerts this year as well, to keep our Loyalty Club perk of advanced ticket sales next year.

All four bands we saw were great, but my OMG moment was the first concert, Foreigner.  We have seen Foreigner five or six times now and have loved every show.  We know that Kelly Hansen, the lead singer, goes out into the crowd during several of the songs to get up close and personal with the fans.  This year, in addition to being in the SECOND ROW (!), Kelly came and STOOD RIGHT NEXT TO ME and then, when he was climbing over the seats to get back to the stage, climbed right over my seat.  I put my hand on his back (or maybe it was his butt (?) to lift him safely across.

Here he is right next to me on his way back to the stage!!!

The band Boston was next and we went with some friends to that one.  They sing the song "Amanda" which is our daughter's name.  We had never seen them in concert before so that was a fun experience.

After Boston came Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.  We had seen them before several times as well but this time Melissa Etheridge was their opening act and that was a surprise treat.

Melissa Etheridge

Pat and Neil

Our last show at the Winery this year was Peter Frampton.  We had seen him before too but when we saw the set list, a lot of the songs did not look familiar to us.  Once he started singing though, we remembered them.    

I think of the four concerts we saw at the Mountain Winery, Peter Frampton was the most disappointing.  He wanted only pictures to be taken during the first three songs and I have a problem with people who limit my picture taking.

But the Mountain Winery is not the only venue we go to to see concerts in the summer.  

We also saw Adele at Oracle Arena in Oakland:

Peter Gabriel and Sting at SAP Center in San Jose:

And summer would not be complete without baseball and fireworks!

We are not quite finished with our concert going for the year.  We have a huge San Francisco Fest coming up tomorrow, an old Day on the Green type event with Tower of Power, Doobie Brothers, Steve Miller, Santana and Journey.  Can't wait for that one and I'm crossing my fingers and praying to the angels that Steve Perry is persuaded to come and sing a song or two.

Our final concert this year is at Shoreline in Mountain View.  There we will see Def Leppard, Tesla and REO Speedwagon.
I guess, like Gale Garnett says, "We'll sing in the sunshine, we'll laugh everyday," is our summer theme!  How about you?  What defines your summer?