A to Z Challenge - 2020 - Theme Reveal

In bloglandia it is almost time for the great A to Z Challenge of 2020.  For those of you unfamiliar with that, a group (sometimes very large group) get together and use the month of April to highlight the letters of the alphabet.  It seemed to me that last year was a bit smaller than past years, even though it was the 10 year anniversary.  I still had fun and am planning to join in again this year, my 5th.

In 2016 my theme was music.  Here's the link to that recap post where all the letters are listed.  In 2017 I did a music theme again but this time I incorporated my concert scrapbook album and showcased all the bands we had actually seen.  In 2018 I got away from the music and did an A to Z tour of a Michaels Arts and Crafts store where I happened to be working at the time.  Last year I used crafting again and the theme was all the different kinds of cards and mini-albums I make.   

I've decided that for this year's challenge I'm going back to the theme I used in 2017 and work on my concert album.  I figured out I can do another whole A to Z without duplicating any of the bands I used the last time!  Do you realize that means we've been to at least 52 different concerts?  Actually I know we've been to over 100 because I counted them.  If we include comedians and plays like Rock of Ages and Jersey Boys it is about 116!  There are some bands like Journey, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar and Fleetwood Mac that we've seen three or four times each.  As in 2017 I may take the liberty of using a song title instead of the group name but you know there are a couple tricky letters we have to deal with. 

As far as the scrapbooking part, I definitely have enough supplies to use.

Binder full of embellishments.

Stamps and stickers, papers.

And more papers and tidbits.

I'm looking forward to using a lot of different types of tools too. 

Punches

My Slice machine

I have a specific Music and Dance design cartridge that should come in handy.

Also, some templates to help me add a lot of pictures in fun ways.

I already have one whole album finished that goes from 1982 to 2009.  We didn't see that many concerts until around 2006 when we started going to multiple shows a year.

The first page looks like this:

It's pretty full, although in the beginning my pictures weren't that good and some shows I didn't even get pictures for, so just the information and ticket stubs are there.  

These are albums in progress if you will.  When we see a concert, I take the ticket stubs and any other bits of information like a review of the show or the set list and put them in a plastic sleeve as a place holder.  All of these are filled with those sleeves.  Some have completed pages from the 2017 A to Z and I am really looking forward to filling some more this year.

If blogging through the alphabet sounds like a fun idea, feel free to come on along!  The more the merrier.  I have learned so many interesting things from the different blog themes.  The sign up link is here.  Even if you don't want to do your own posts, I hope you follow along with me! 

Just Jot January - 2020 - Experience

Our prompt today from Dan to Linda to us is "Experience."   I've been trying to get more experiences in our lives, especially since the kids are grown. 




Experiencing concerts has become a passion.  Of course I like to get as up close and personal as I can but even being in the back and seeing the cellphone lights around the stadium is magical.

When I turned 60, I wanted to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.  Even though I've lived in the Bay Area all my life, I hadn't had that experience before.  

We took a helicopter ride for our anniversary.  Going through the Grand Canyon and having a picnic on one of the ledges was a terrific experience.   

I've been trying to experience more sunsets at the beach lately.  I live so close it seems a shame to miss them and they are free!

                                                              Getting our picture on the jumbo screen at AT&T Park was a pretty neat experience too!

In 2017 we had a really great time in Reno with a  Let's Roam Scavenger Hunt.  At that time it was called Big City Hunts but even though they have changed their name, they still offer great experiences in many different cities.  My Word of the year that year was Believe and you can imagine how moved I was when I saw it in the middle of the city in huge metal letters.  I actually cried.  

Valentine's Day is coming and I think a great experience you can give to yourself and your significant other is a Date Night Scavenger Hunt.  It doesn't matter if you have been together a short time and are just learning about each other or if you have been together forever as we have, the scavenger hunt can be such fun.  Even though we had been to Reno many times before, we found some new and very interesting spots while on the hunt for clues to the next stop. 

I particularly liked this experience because while you are using your phone to get the clues and answer the questions, it is pretty much self-guided and you can take your time to enjoy the scenery.  We found some spots that were not part of the hunt that we would not necessarily have seen if we weren't strolling through the city.  We got some really great pictures too.

It is also reasonably priced.  I think they are having a sale now and with the Date Night Scavenger Hunt you can add an option for a proposal!  How cool would that be? 

I do need to disclose that I am an affiliate for Let's Roam and may get some compensation if you use my link, but I was writing about the great experience we had even before I was an affiliate.  They also have regular hunts if you want to do it with friends or family.  They have Ghost Tours, Bar Hopping Tours, Bachelorette Party Tours and Birthday Party Tours as well.  Definitely worth it to check out the site and see if a city near you is included, or to add to a vacation you have planned somewhere else.

Also, special offer for anyone who does use my link and decides to go on a Let's Roam Scavenger Hunt, I'll be happy to make a mini-album of your adventure at a discounted price!

Have you been enjoying the Just Jot January experience so far? 

August Break - 2019 - Last Year

Our prompt is "Last Year."  It was fun looking through the pictures I have from last year to put this together.

Not in any particular order - last year was:

a graduation from college, concerts and more concerts, trips to the Indian Casino, Reno, Oregon and our annual Boulder Creek golf tournament, seeing the full moons each month, the sunset over the ocean and the haze around the sun from the fires hundreds of miles away, baseball games and getting the announcers to give me a smile, more gray hair on my head,  a scrapbook retreat and crafting for the holiday boutique, my sketchbook in the Brooklyn Art Library, cleaning out the backyard and fireworks in the front yard, quitting my job at Michaels, making peach pie from peaches off our peach tree and homemade ravioli for Christmas dinner, and a double rainbow for luck.  We also went to two weddings, which I forgot to include!  Quite a year.  How was yours?  

Sweet September - 2018 #SoCS

I didn't post as much last month as I thought I would but truthfully there was kind of a lot going on, some of which was unplanned. 

Rounding it all up, we saw some concerts:

I love the way the light shining on this tree makes it look like it's on fire. 

 Some pretty long hair on this guitar player, no?

We went to a couple of baseball games:

We caught Shawn Estes and Rich Aurelia getting ready for the pregame show outside AT&T Park.  Hubby said, "Smile for my wife please guys" and they did!

I read a few books:

Actually, I read quite a few books this month but it was because most of them were children's books.  I also read a mystery by Mary Higgins Clark, "Two Little Girls In Blue" which was very interesting about twin toddlers who were kidnapped.  One was returned but the other one was kept because the kidnapper wanted a child.  It told about the girl who was returned to the parents experiencing the bad things that were happening to the one that was kept.  I wonder if that really happens with twins.  My mom is a twin and I am not sure those things ever happened to her.

I also made a baby book for a friend who just had her first baby.

And I made a card or two for the Etsy shop.

The big round moon showed up for me to make my monthly wishes on

A selfie for the month too.  Note the round clock in the background.  I've had that for over 40 years as it was mine before we were married!

That does not include the things I don't have pictures for but which certainly happened, my husband being admitted to the hospital overnight for a rapidly beating heart (not just because he loves me) and I ran over (and probably killed) a dog who had not been on a leash and ran under my car as I turned a corner.

Some happy, some sad, some music, some sports...quite a well-rounded month, don't you think? 

Today's Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt was "Round."  How did I do?  

Awe-Inspiring August 2018 - August Break

Today's prompt for #TheAugustBreak2018 is "Happiness Is..." 

Oh, you know, a lot of things are happy things for me.  I'm basically a pretty easy going person.  For the sake of the prompt though, I'm going with Happiness is Concert going.  I bet you could have guessed that.

We went to a concert last night at one of our favorite places, The Mountain Winery in Saratoga.  The view is stunning when there isn't so much haze from the fire smoke.  The weather was outstanding.  Warm but not too hot.  I had a sleeveless dress on and did not need a cover-up all night.  The bands we saw were oldies:  Tommy Tutone started off, followed by Greg Kihn, then Loverboy and the headliner was Rick Springfield. 


Of course we have to have our concert photo to prove we are having a good time.

Because there were 4 bands playing and the Winery has noise restrictions after 10:30 on the weeknights, each of the groups were only able to play about four songs.  That's kind of okay because there were only about 4 songs I knew from each of them!

Tommy Tutone:

I got a short clip of 867-5309 which is about the only song I really knew of his.

Greg Kihn came next.  

Everyone knows Jeopardy and the Break Up Song.   

Loverboy:

I considered "Hot Girls In Love" my theme song for the longest time :)

Finally it was time for Rick Springfield.  This guitar was on the stage before he started.

I think I was too old for him because when he was big on the Soap Opera General Hospital I was working during the day and while I knew the song Jessie's Girl, I wasn't really over the top in love with him. 

He does look good for 69 though and when he took his jacket off the girls were screaming.

This hard working drummer played with 3 of the 4 bands.  Loverboy had their own drummer.

After the show, Mars was visible in the night sky.

I did get some video of each of the bands and I'll be checking the quality and putting them up on my YouTube channel.  I'll let you know when they're there, or you could "favorite" me and then you'll get a notice :)  

How about you?  What does Happiness mean to you?  Do you remember these bands?  Have a favorite?  Love to hear about it.