City of Blinding Lights

U2 was one of those bands that was in the background for me for awhile.  I knew who they were in high school, one song or another of theirs usually made it on to a mixed tape (and later mixed CDs), and I generally enjoyed hearing them when they came on the radio.  I guess what turned me onto them was one of the soundtracks to one of the Batman movies (I think it was Batman Forever) that I got sometime in late middle school/early high school that had "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" performed by U2 on it.

But it wasn't until late high school and into college that I really started to follow them more (I think I was a little more focused and obsessed with Dave Matthews Band in high school).  My first U2 concert was the Elevation Tour in 2001.  I went about 3 days after my freshmen year at Miami to their show in Columbus with the guy I was dating at the time (who I also think at the time was probably a bigger U2 fan than I was).

In the fall of 2005, Eric and I went to see them in Chicago for their Vertigo tour.  Having developed a much bigger love for the band in the four years since the last concert, I enjoyed this tour more.  We had the general admission "seats" which are standing room only.  That's when I got close enough to take this picture with my cell phone.

 

Although, general admission "seats" have the disadvantage of needing to get to the concert venue early to wait for several hours only to rush in when the doors open and stand for several more hours to guard your spot close to the stage.  

So this Saturday, we took Cate to her grandparents' house (Eric's parents) and headed to Chicago for the U2 360 Tour (picture below taken along Michigan Avenue).  

 

It was opening night for the American leg and this time the shows are outside.  We couldn't get the general admission "seats" through the fan club presale (apparently you have to have been a member for a decade or something to be able to get presale standing room only).  So we didn't have to worry about getting their early.  Instead, we made a stop at Garrett Popcorn (their popcorn is amazing).

 

Our friend, Melissa, showed us just how orange your hands turn from eating their cheese corn. 

 

It's so worth the orange fingers.  Eric and I brought home a tin of "The Mix" (combination cheese and caramel corn which is to die for).  

We also found a random sports bar on Wabash St. where we indulged in ribs, wings, and deep dish Chicago pizza before the show. 

 

Finally it was off to Soldier Field, where we learned that our seats were awesome and we didn't have to stand around all day for them. 

 

(The view from our seats)

We were all happy to be there!

 

 

Snow Patrol, another great band, opened the show...using the giant 360 degree screen U2 designed for this tour. 

 

 

They pretty much played all of their big singles, which was great for singing along and prepping us for the show to come.  And then the moment arrived.  U2 lit up the stage with their opening song, "Breathe."

The rest of the show was amazing!  And it definitely topped their two previous concerts that I attended, making it the best concert I have seen in my life.  Period.  

 

  

They had a great combination of old songs ("MLK," "In the Name of Love," "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For") and new songs ("No Line on the Horizon," "Get on Your Boots," and a sweet remix of "I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight").  Bono and The Edge rocked it out on an acoustic version of "Stuck in a Moment" too. 

 

During "Walk On," the band paid a tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi, and encouraged the audience to walk on to end worldwide injustices (when I was in college I learned more about the humanitarian work Bono does and it made me love the band even more).  The stage had some amazing features too...like the screen expanding...

...and the spaceship-like appearance it took on during some numbers, shooting light beams into the sky above Soldier Field...

But all good things eventually come to an end.  After 2 encores, the band walked off stage together and we headed back to the hotel, slightly hoarse, slightly deaf, and loving every minute. 

 

Until next tour (maybe Cate will be old enough to enjoy it with us)...

~Melody :-)

Welcome to the Weekend

A weekend full of some humidity after rain storms earlier this week.

 

I love that after the rain storms I can take pictures like this.  I think this is the first time I successfully photographed a rainbow.  And from my front porch no less.  

And even though it's humid outside this weekend, this little girl is already practicing for cooler weather. 

These cute snow boots-- which light up by the way-- are hand-me-downs from my awesome small group friend (who pretty much outfitted Cate for the winter with her girls' old clothes--which somehow she managed to keep looking amazingly new).  Cate wore them around all afternoon (the dress was a hand-me-down too). 

Our new obsession going into the weekend?  Elmo.  Cate has been paying a little bit more attention to Sesame Street and has developed an attachment to Elmo.  I guess if you're going to pick an obsession, he's a good one to have.  I've heard there are some annoying characters out there that kids love.  

 

I also think that Target must have a sixth Riggs sense.  This cute Elmo bucket (which Cate uses to store her buckeyes and other outdoor treasures that she wants to bring inside) was a dollar bin deal.  And when she was (well she still is) into dinosaurs? Yup, dollar bin dinos abounded!

Welcome to the weekend...where rainbows, snow boots, and Elmo are starting the weekend here off right!

~Melody :-)

Park Pictures

In my working mom manifesto post (which again, was totally not a slam on stay-at-home moms...just my way of saying I couldn't do it...don't have the personality or the patience), I mentioned enjoying my last day of summer vacation at the Lunken Playfield park with my awesome sister-in-law and a couple of women from our small group. 

I left my camera at home so as to enjoy my last day of summer break without looking through the lens of the camera.  Plus, my awesome sister-in-law took a ton of pictures.  So as promised, here are a few pictures from the park (thanks Kristin). 

 

  

  

  

  

It's still so crazy to think that my baby, who couldn't even crawl this time last year, goes up and down the slides all by herself...even the tunnel one (as long as she can see the light at the bottom...the big tunnel slides where you can't see the light freak her out).  

~Melody :-)

Weekend in Review

This little girl turned 19 months old on Saturday:

 

I'd love to tell you what we're up to weight and height wise, but her 18 month checkup (which was supposed to be last week, got rescheduled for two weeks from now).  So it's going to be more like a 20 month checkup.  Good thing there are no vaccines at 18 months.  

Saturday was a pretty lazy day for us.  Eric went to watch a Pay-Per-View UFC fight with some guys from our small group and from our church.  After Cate went to bed (a battle in itself...I think she missed her daddy or something, because bedtime is normally not a fight for us), I indulged with this: 

A souvenir from our trip to California that I've been waiting to use.  It's a bath fizzer from Sumbody, a company that makes all natural, organic skin care products.  I thoroughly enjoyed it with a cold glass of sweet tea and Julie and Julia, my book club's selection for the month. 

Sunday brought a cookout with family and the infamous Cincinnati WEBN fireworks.  Clicking on the link will show you a clip of a previous year's show.  You haven't seen fireworks until you've seen these.  It's a 30ish minute show set to music and is just plain awesome.  We didn't go all the way down to Riverfest because we weren't feeling up to the crowd of 500,000 people.  But we still had a decent view from Eden Park.  I played around with my camera. 

 

  

 

 

All of my pictures looked different because I was playing around with both my aperture and shutter speed.  They're not great, but I had fun experimenting.  

Today brought a small group service project followed by a cookout.  I left the camera at home and ate way too much.  

Happy Labor Day!  

~Melody :-)

P.S.  Reason number 1, 453,789,420 that my husband rocks: This weekend I sent him to the Verizon store because my phone kept freezing.  I'm not eligible for an upgrade until July, but was hoping they'd fix it or give me a replacement since it was still under warranty.  Somehow Eric sweet-talked them into this:

 

Maybe it was because he had Cate with him.  A cute kid always helps.  Either way, I'm lovin' my new Blackberry (but am still getting used to it, so if I don't respond to your text or accidentally hang up on you, I apologize in advance).  

Friday Night Lights

One of my favorite things about fall is going to high school football games.  In 8th grade, it was the thing to do in the town where I grew up.  In high school, I never missed a game-- home or away-- thanks to being in our sweet marching band (seriously, click on the links...yes, they've performed halftime shows at NFL games and yes, they do often invite other 300 piece bands to come play with them for a total of 600 marchers on the field).

Throughout college I managed to make to a few games when I'd be home for visits on weekends.  And throughout my teaching career I think I've made it to at least one of my alma mater's games and one game in the district where I teach each year.  In fact, Cate's first football game, was a Mason game last year.  So last night, in search of some free entertainment, we headed up to Mason for the first home game of the year.

 

Though she was bored at the beginning (we got there early, thinking the game started at 7 when it really started at 7:30), once the action started, she sat in those stands watching intensely (the first picture is from the cell phone, because I'd already put my zoom lens on the camera and didn't want to take it off again).

 

She danced and clapped along with the band.

 

And she cheered when the players came out. 

 

She posed for a picture with Daddy-- one of the only times she took her eyes off the field.

And got really excited when we tied it up in the first quarter. 

 

She also enjoyed an ice cream with Daddy and waved "hi" to several former and current students.  In fact, she loved one current student so much, she jumped right in her arms.  Being a typical 8th grade girl, of course my student LOVED holding a baby for a bit.  :-)  Cate blew her kisses when we left at half time.  I took this shot from the parking lot.  

 

The moon was just so full and beautiful.  I'm having fun learning how to take lower light shots without a flash, but it definitely requires a tripod since your shutter is open for so long.  I didn't have my tripod, so the moon is a bit blurry, but you get the idea.  

We all enjoyed the game and are hoping to get to at least one more this fall-- especially since we now know that Cate will sit through a half.  Cate also added a new word to her vocabulary last night-- "football."  That's my girl!

~Melody :-)

Hope

If you haven't had the chance to read some of the wonderful writings by the women over at (In)Courage, I "encourage" you to do so.  I discovered this blog with multiple authors about a month ago and LOVE it.  Love the photography, love the writing, love everything about it. 

This week their theme is hope.  And hope is something I've been having a lot of lately. 

I hope for a lot of things...no traffic when I'm running late, snow days in the winter, a Kindle for Christmas (yeah, I'm pretty much obsessed and REALLY, REALLY want one), and a good ending for LOST's last season. 

I hope that Cate grows up to be a smart, responsible, Christ-following, woman.  I hope Eric and I get to have at least 50 more years together.  I hope our parents live to see their great-grandchildren and retire well. 

And I hope that I've seen the last of my stomach issues.  I posted some things back in May about a mysterious superbug that I was diagnosed with.  For a long time this summer, it looked as if it were cured.  Then some of the same things started happening again around the time we went to Hilton Head.  Not as often.  Not as severe.  But it still kind of ruined parts of our vacation and last weekend. 

So I finally went back to the doctor and was tested for a gluten intolerance.  No word yet, but it's unlikely that this is the cause.  More than likely it's a food sensitivity.  So once the final results of the gluten test are in-- and provided its negative-- I'll begin a food-elimination diet to see what exactly triggers these episodes. 

It's really not a big deal-- more of an annoyance lately.  But I have hope.  I'm clinging to the words of Jeremiah 29:11-- "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  I have hope that whatever this issue may be, that God is taking care of it.  It's part of His plan, no matter how much it may annoy me, and ultimately my hope is that it's for His glory.  I have hope that eventually I won't have to deal with this anymore.  I have hope that God will give my doctor wisdom to help me figure things out.  I have hope.  And my hope is in Him.

So whatever you're out there hoping for-- I'm praying and hoping for you too. 

in you I trust, O my God.
       Do not let me be put to shame,
       nor let my enemies triumph over me.
 ³ No one whose hope is in you
       will ever be put to shame,
       but they will be put to shame
       who are treacherous without excuse.
 ⁴ Show me your ways, O LORD,
       teach me your paths;      ~Psalm 25: 2-4

~Melody :-)

And because I couldn't post without a picture of Cate...here she is playing with some buckeyes from the Buckeye Tree in my grandma's yard.  They weren't out of their shell/pod thing yet. 

For those of you unfamiliar with buckeyes...here's Eric with one that's out of its shell. 

 

Cate is fascinated by them.  And since she's my daughter, I'm sure she'll acquire my taste for the candy buckeyes too. 

Smell The Flowers

I haven't taken very many pictures lately (and by lately I mean about a week, which is a long time for me).  So tonight I couldn't resist going out where the beautiful Black-Eyed Susans are blooming on the side.

 

It seemed like a good opportunity to teach Cate how to smell flowers...even though these don't really have a scent.  

 

I love that her eyes are closed on that last one!  

We smelled some of the lavender too.  

Man, I love this little girl.  It's bath time now and then I get to smell one of my favorite scents in the world-- clean baby!

~Melody :-)