As today ends the last day of February 2014, I just finished celebrating what I call, “my birthday month”. And why not? It’s the shortest month of the year and I just so happened to be born into it. It’s a great, rainy month here in the PNW — however, what everyone forgets is that we usually have these amazing spring-like days of 40 degrees and sunny, blue, blue skies. I remember this every year. And that’s why I love living here!
This month has been one of the best celebrated and busiest of all the February’s. It started on the very first day — a less-than-perfect Girl Scout Journey event ended up at being partly at our home; the sleep-over part! Greg greeted the girls with fruit and cheese tray when we ended up traveling back from West Seattle about 10:00pm on Jan. 31st.
After sleeping over, the girls woke to a pancake breakfast, fruit and plenty to eat for we were not quite sure what February 1st would bring. The event was interesting and all of the girls earned their Bronze Award by completing their AMAZE journey. Creating a story about including people into every day events, acting on a green screen, and editing their production was all part of the program.
Next up was Superbowl XLVIII – let’s just say, our team won, and won big! What a crazy set of circumstances that led the very powerful, defensive Seattle Seahawks and the 12th Man crush the Denver Broncos. I was laughing weeks later, just thinking about the failed return on the kick-off, leading to the blunder hike that shot past Payton Manning. I loved the way the Seahawks team has such depth and all of the personnel came together to win. Watching the victory parade (just on tv) was just one of the highlights of this month — I love living in the awesome city!
A friend’s husband works for the Seahawks; this is his Super Bowl ring.
On the 7th, Greg and I saw Seinfeld at the Paramount, a comedian who we will see over and over and over again, because it’s guaranteed to be a great show. The first time I saw Seinfeld was when my mom got us tickets to him at Brandeis. The show was in a pavilion/basketball gym, as a guy with a new tv show, he was just starting out. This was my 4th time seeing him; 3rd for Greg. He was absolutely amazing and he started by talking about the 12th man: “…tonight, you’re just the 2nd man, because it’s just me and you.” That’s how to get any Seattle-gathering cheering!
Various volunteering got me through most of the middle of the month: ToyMaker Workshop, Market Place and Valentine’s Day parties in Holly’s classroom. Ah, the elementary school days!
My actual birthday is one of the best nights to go out! The day before Valentine’s Day. It’s awesome! You still get all of pretty valentine decorations, flowers, etc. but without the hustle and bustle of everyone else out trying to enjoy a romantic evening. (Sadly, you do see a few shmucks with their girls, as if he couldn’t get a reservation for the next night because he tried calling last week.)
As he knows I love the movies, Greg decided to take me to the iPic theater and we saw The Wolf of Wall Street. (Gearing up for the Oscars). Dinner was fabulous and the movie was 3 hours long! So we ate appetizers to dessert – this massive slice of chocolate cake that could have fed 4 people. The movie was great too!
On Valentine’s Day, we ended up celebrating my birthday with the family and a cake from a different bakery than our long-standing Hoffman’s. Sadly, the entire last year of cakes that we purchased from them seemed to be extremely dry. We even sent the first one back, when we realized they must have done something different. I don’t eat cake very often, and when I do, I want it to be good! (I mean, the one at the iPic was awesome!) We are still looking for a good local bakery.
In between, chess tournaments, cup stacking, coaching indoor soccer games (Holly’s team) and watching indoor games (Heather’s), chaperoning Heather’s choir concert at Benaroya Hall and girl scout cookie deliveries (I was cookie mom this year); Greg and I saw Paul Simon and Sting at the Key Arena!
Our seats were fabulously close! Greg wanted to know if we were going to sit on stage with them. Last time Sting was in Seattle was Dec. 2011, so I was extremely excited that his limited tour was making a stop here. The concert was amazing! Having a legend like Paul Simon sing Sting’s Fragile, Brand New Day, Fields of Gold plus his songs Call Me Al, The Boxer, Bridge over Troubled Water — the 3-hour show did not disappoint!
It ended with two encores and a dedication to Paul’s “friend” Phil Everly who had died a month before. This site hosts some actual video from the concert.
The Set List:
1. Brand New Day (Paul Simon and Sting)
2. Boy In The Bubble (Paul Simon and Sting)
3. Fields Of Gold (Paul Simon and Sting)
4. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (Sting)
5. Englishman In New York (Sting)
6. I Hung My Head (Sting)
7. Driven to Tears>Walking On The Moon (Paul Simon and Sting)
8. Mother and Child Reunion (Paul Simon and Sting)
9. 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover (Paul Simon)
10. Dazzling Blue (Paul Simon)
11. Graceland (Paul Simon)
12. Still Crazy After All These Years (Paul Simon)
13. Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard (Paul Simon and Sting)
14. Fragile (Paul Simon and Sting)
15. America>Message In A Bottle (Sting)
16. The Hounds Of Winter (Sting)
17. They Dance Alone (Sting)
18. Roxanne (Sting)
19. Desert Rose (Sting)
20. The Boxer (Paul Simon and Sting)
21. That Was Your Mother (Paul Simon)
22. Hearts and Bones>Mystery Train (Paul Simon)
23. Obvious Child (Paul Simon)
24. Diamonds On The Souls Of Her Shoes (Paul Simon)
25. You Can Call Me Al (Paul Simon)
1st Encore:
26. Late In The Evening (Paul Simon and Sting)
27. I’ll Be Watching You (Paul Simon and Sting)
28. Bridge Over Troubled Waters (Paul Simon and Sting)
2nd Encore:
29. When Will I Be Loved? (Everly Brothers cover) (Paul Simon and Sting)
More links to Sting & Paul Simon Concert
It was a fabulous month of February 2014 — one I will not soon forget.
My last Facebook post I wrote:
As “my birthday month” comes to a close, I have to acknowledge the loss of my high school friend last year, (in 2013), who died of a rare Mast Cell disease. It’s people, like Brian Snook, who live their lives to the fullest; and make me want to celebrate birthdays, holidays and every “ordinary” day. Life is so precious.
