It's been a busy week - not necessarily productive, but definitely busy. Halloween started out being just a lot of fun. My church has an "alternative night" celebration with games for the kids, a presentation, lots of candy with the requisite sugar highs (and lows), costumes, etc. The kids seemed to really be enjoying themselves. I'm not sure if this is the 3rd or 4th year that I've gone specifically to take photographs. The first year the pastor rigged up a computer so that we could print pics of the kids in costume, put them on cards and send them home with a print from the night to remember. The next year I bought a stand-alone printer and that worked well. Each year I think I've had just a little better set up camera-wise. This year I have my Canon 20D. The only downside is that 8 mp photos take a little longer to print. At any rate, it worked well, and even though my flash didn't work and I had to use the on camera flash most of the pics turned out way better than I could have hoped or imagined. I think it was divine intervention. You may think otherwise. LOL Anyway, I did enjoy it.

Then November rolled around, and I had promised a few people that I would attend the Invisible Children Benefit concert with Allred and Brighten. There was almost a kink in the plan when my husband went to OK City TDY and was supposed to come back at 3:45 p.m. the day of the show. He just arranged for his co-worker to bring him home. I felt badly about not being there, although I usually care more about being greeted by him than the other way around. I thought maybe I'd catch him before I had to leave, but his plane was a tad late and I didn't. At any rate, the show was really quite good. John Allred did an acoustic set and I really liked it a great deal. He really has quite a nice voice. Then Neon Trees played a very energetic and rocking set. Lionelle played after Neon Trees. My friend really likes them quite a lot but they weren't really my cup of tea, so to speak. Then Brighten played and I completely loved their set. I was able to get my camera in, and I think I got at least a few decent shots of each band. I'm still working on them. I talked as many people as I could for a while until it was time to leave (or until they kicked me out.) I was dreading the drive home as I was a bit tired, but it went well. Fortunately I didn't get lostas that was my main concern. LOL I hope they were able to raise a bit for the cause as it is a good cause.

Last night I had plans to go to Kilby Court in SLC to see We Shot the Moon. I had been looking forward to it for a while. The concert was to start at 7 p.m. and I made a conscious decision not to show up quite so early at Kilby. People don't show up until 6:30 generally, so I left about 4:15 p.m. I had all the makings for somemores because Kilby has a fire pit. I thought it would be fun. Originally I had thought it would be fun before the show, but at 5 p.m. no one was there yet - no band, no one at the venue. I was hoping it hadn't been cancelled. I called my husband and he said he'd look it up for me if no one showed up by 5:30. 5:30 came and went, Ed called and he looked up the concert info. No mention of a cancelled show. 6 p.m. rolled around - no one. About 6:08 p.m. (yes, I looked at the time on my cell phone) everyone starts arriving. I was relieved. LOL I went over and met the band and waited for Corrie to arrive. It was good to see her again. :) I'm not exactly sure what time the show actually started, but I don't think it was too late. The first band to play was called The Lauderdale. They were actually pretty good. The only real complaint was that they turned off all of the front lights so you could barely see them onstage. I'm a very visual person, and I wanted to take pics too, so there was no real light which made that nearly impossible. They were video taping and it seemed they were playing to the camera and not quite connecting like they should have with the audience. As a result, I don't think the crowd was quite into it as much as they should have been, which was too bad all around. But they were actually pretty good otherwise. The second band to play was It's Like Love, and I have to admit that I pretty much loved their music and their stage presentation. They really warmed up the crowd and had everyone going. The lead singer was very energetic, and they were a lot of fun. Last, and definitely not least, We Shot the Moon took the stage. There were two keyboards, and Jonathan's keyboard is quite large, so the stage was just a tad crowded, but the set up worked reasonably well from where I was standing. Jonathan also had two mikes which helped with keeping a little contact with the audience. He did that pretty well. Anyway, I completely enjoyed their set. Afterwards I went to the merch table and purchased a cd from It's Like Love and We Shot the Moon, had pics taken, and a got my poster autographed. I finally talked myself into buying that cool "We Shot the Moon" hoodie. It's comfy, too. I talked to Matt with WSTM for a bit about pics. I took pics of Corrie and Paul, and went to make somemores. The band was pretty busy loading out, so I made a few and gave them away. In the end I mostly just gave them all candy bars. I don't think my husband could eat 20 or so of them. I still have 11 left. LOL But it was kinda fun. Next time I'll know what to do a little better, if I try it at all. Finally I had a pic taken with all of WSTM and got my belongings together to head for home. I gave my friend Lauralee a ride to her car (not far, but kinda in a creepy place) and headed for home. I did get some decent photos so now I just have to make room on my hard drive to download them all. I think that will keep me busy for a while.

Monday, I have a ticket to see Chris Tomlin at Abravanel Hall. I'm really looking forward to it. I've seen Chris a few times and he's always been quite good live. Tuesday I start back to work. I'm a little bummed because I wasn't planning to be called back until the end of Jan. It means I will have to miss Circa Survive on the 16th and Dear & the Headlights on the 21st. But I will be seeing Newfound Glory on Saturday. :) And, I could really use the funds at the moment, so I'm sure it is perfect timing as it always is. God is good to me. :)

Tonight, We Shot the Moon, et al., played at Velour in Provo. I REALLY wanted to go, but I have a dear husband that I need to see and who I told that I had no shows today. Provo is a good hour plus from here, and I've been to Salt Lake City twice this week and am going back again on Monday. I just hate practicalities sometimes. LOL If benzene were free, I might have been there. I hope there was a good turnout.
As it is, I watched Spiderman 3 with Ed. I think we both liked the movie. I cried. Can you believe I cried at all three Spiderman movies so far?

My life in a nutshell this week. Hope you all have a great week, whatever it holds for you.

Peace out,

Melanie