Have You Heard? // Taylor Swift - "Begin Again" // & Snapshots of the 1989 Tour

So, quite a while ago, we decided we wanted to go to Taylor Swift's 1989 Tour. The concert was the week we decided we wanted to go, tickets weren't cheap... but cheaper than I expected. Plus, Vance Joy was opening, and we all know how I feel about him... KC and I went with our friend Michael. Anyone who mocked them were promptly met with a, "shake it off".

My history with Tswift (as KC calls her) is really just that I was adamant that I would not like her music. "Love Story" came out, and I was like, "meh"... but then I fell hard... as most do at some point or another. I weathered her romantic songs, her angry ones, her narrative ones... and generally liked what she was putting on her albums. When Red came out, it was an instant favorite. I know I'm probably alone in that opinion. I don't know anyone else who likes that album best... but I can't help it! I do! 1989 is very solid as well, and while I wish I could have gone to the Red tour... the 1989 show was an incredible time. I'm very glad that we went.

So today, I am going to share (possibly) my favorite Tswift song, "Begin Again", and recap the concert.

I think that this song has the most honest lyrics. It's simple... but it just gives me #allthefeels every. single. time. I hear it. Who knew there was a video... ? But here you have it.



What's your favorite Tswift song?

On to the concert pics. KC and I have generally been to TONS of concerts, but very few pop ones. This show was a whole different level of performance. Just to see the dancers, costumes, video screen art, it's insane. There were several songs that were just incredible to watch! I also loved the confetti shower.

She sang (as expected) mostly songs from 1989. She also played crowd favorites like "Love Story", "Fifteen", etc. Were lucky to find floor seats, and were able to see an hear everything pretty well! I was most impressed with the visual aspects of the show. The imagery on the screens when it was not live video was incredibly beautiful and eye catching. It really enhanced the experience.

Also, turns out my SIL Kels, and her BF Jacob also bought last minute tickets! They were a few rows ahead of us. So fun.

So another concert lesson for you all: it's rarely too late to buy tickets... but you may have to shell out a pocketful of cash!

So there you have it!

Did anyone else catch a 1989 show?

What's your favorite Tswift song?

Other Posts This Week: Back from Nashville & 6 Months In 2016 Goal Progress.

Have a great weekend!!

XO,

Alexandra

Snapshots of Train & Those Nights When the Universe is Against You // July 2015

I mentioned in this post, that before we knew my parents were moving away, we had bought my mom concert tickets to see one of her favorite bands, Train.

She, and my littlest sister OE flew back to Kansas for the show. It was really nice to see them, and made it seem like we would continue to get to see them a lot even though they live far away now. :)

We met at the concert and listened to the opening bands Matt Nathanson and The Fray. Both openers were really good! We spent a lot of The Fray's set running around trying to get drinks, and ear plugs, and t-shirts, but it was easy to hear and see from the concessions.

Matt Nathanson was a goofball. He was cracking jokes, and had a lot of commentary that was really funny. It was a good way to be as the first opener. Plus it was entertaining families and others who were already waiting for Train. :) I kind of love some of his music, and he is coming back to KC to play at a bar... maybe we'll go out for that show!

I used to think I hated The Fray's music, but it turns out it's now nostalgic, and that I really do like some of their new stuff a lot. :) Has this ever happened for you guys with a band or artist?

We got settled, and before too long a woman working for Train came out to ask Olivia if she wanted to sing and dance with Train and a bunch of other kids on the stage! WHAT?! That's so crazy. She shook her head and went back to playing Fruit Ninja.. bhaha. When mom heard, she was like OLIVIA, My FAVORITE BAND! You said no?!? hehe

Train came on and their performance was awesome. They sang lots of songs from a bunch of their albums, it was so fun to hear them live, the sound of my childhood car rides. :) We all sang and danced, and had a good time.

I may have shed a tear or two during 'Drops of Jupiter' ... there's just something about hearing a song you love live after loving it for so long. Also, let's keep in mind that this was my year up until (and after) this night....

We were taking my mom and OE back to my grandma's to stay, so we took our time leaving to let some of the traffic get out of the park. We got in the car, exited the park, and a family of raccoons promptly ran out in front of us. We didn't hit them, but it was very hard to see as the park didn't really have streetlights throughout.

We stopped for some waters and ice cream for the ride home. We get ready to take our exit, almost miss it, then get hit by a car... we've never been in a car accident before then. At this point it feels like after months of chaos the universe is trying to tell us something... we just don't know what....

We exchange info, call the police, they won't come to where we are, so they tell us to drive to the nearest police station. We do, and they tell us we're in the wrong place and give us bad directions to the next one. We finally find another one, and get it all taken care of. By this time it's about 2 AM, and I feel so stressed and also awful that this is how my mom's special night turned out.

We make it almost all the way back to my grandma's house, exhausted, so stressed out, when we are coming down a hill on a country highway, and there is a man with his dog walking IN THE HIGHWAY. At least no one else was on the road, and we were able to swing wide around him and get into the other lane.

It was so stressful I cannot even tell you. We've never had any driving situations like this alone or together, and all in one night, with passengers, we manage to have them all. Ugh.

So, I may have cried... because after the busy year, new job, craziness in Alaska, my family moving etc. I had nothing left to keep myself from doing it.

Bottom line: The concert was amazing, I'm glad we had that experience as a family, though we missed you dad! The end of the night and the whole year surrounding it so far sucked. But August, seems to have turned things around. Hoping so much that it stays this way!!!!!!

The next night we got pulled over for the first time for not signalling when a two lane turned into a one lane, but then signalling to make the turn immediately after. Keep in mind, country road, 2 AM, no traffic, new set up for the lanes... He gave us a warning, I'm sure he just wanted to make sure we weren't drunk. I get it, it's his job. But holy cow you guys.

We thought this was the end of the bad stuff, but then we went to Florida.

I can safely say that I have never ever ever been so happy to have an August in all my life. Thank goodness for 'fall'.

Have you ever seen a band that you've loved for a long time live? What was it like?

Have you ever done something like this as a family?

Have you ever had an especially bad year? How did you get past it?

All for now.

XO,

Alexandra

Snapshots of Broods // March 2015

A few weeks ago I posted about one of my new music favorites: Broods. In March, we were lucky enough to catch one of their shows in KC for just $9.65 plus fees.

Mikky Ekko ('Stay' with Rhianna) opened for them, and I thought his music was pretty good and catchy. It was super fun when Georgia from Broods came out and sang Stay with him. :) I'm looking forward to checking out more of his music now.

Broods was great, as we had hoped! They don't have a ton of songs yet, so I think they played every single one! :) They had so much energy dancing around, they put on a great show. It was fun to hear them talk as well. They had a whole bit about New Zealanders being spazzy dancers. I always love to hear the artists talk at their shows. Plus, how cute is the NZ accent?!

I'm so glad that we got to go, and I can't wait to see what is next in store for them!

Here is one of their songs that has been stuck in my head lately, maybe because I put it on my Summer Mix? It's catchy and it's romantic. :) 

Been to any fun concerts lately?

If you could go to any concert, which one would you choose?

XO,

Alexandra

Summer Drives, Life Changes, Angel in Blue Jeans

I haven't really blogged about this, but some of you may know, my parents and youngest sister Olivia recently moved from Kansas to Arizona. This is a huge change for us, and there is now about a 20 hour drive between the cities. I won't lie, it's been really rough.

We had the garage sale, the auction, picking out what we wanted to keep, packing the uhaul, unpacking the uhaul. Spending as much time as we could together before they left. We've never lived more than a 30 minutes drive apart... so  this has been quite the adjustment. And the O, she is just so little, it's hard to be away from her. There have been a lot of days where I'm really sad, and also a lot of tears. #emotionalgirlprobs

All this being said we are lucky that we get a good amount of vacation days at our office, and that there are a few airlines that fly from here to there really inexpensively. So, look forward to lots of desert pictures coming your way for the rest of forever, because you can bet that we will head South whenever we can. ;)

Before all of this, for my mom's birthday we all chipped in and bought her six tickets to see Train at a fun theater in Kansas City. Jess and I grew up spending summers in the car with my mom. We went to the pool, the library, garage sales, all over the place. I remember sitting in the car, windows down, flipping through my library books, hair dripping with pool water, "Get To Me" blasting from the speakers. The soundtrack to these days was always Train. She loves them, we still love them, it just made sense to get her the tickets. At the time we didn't know when they would be moving, so mom and OE had to fly back for the show, over the past weekend. I am SO glad that they did. It's been really good to see them, and I am glad that we got to spend more time together before they left for Arizona again today.

It was a great concert and a great way to spend time together, to have us almost all together (Hi dad!) and spend a night doing something fun and special. They played lots of old songs, so we were able to re-live our summer car ride days. It was so fun to sing and dance and laugh together. Most of all I hope that it gave all of us, especially my mom, the opportunity to just relax and not think about anything but the show. (At least before we started driving home... more on this later)...

As much as I love old Train.. (a bunch)... I'm kind of obsessed with their newer single: (plus Hannah Simone is just adorable, and this video is hilarious) 



What are your favorite memories of family time in the summers?

Happy Weekend!!

XO,

Alexandra

Have you Heard? // Broods - "Sleep Baby Sleep"

New Zealand and Australia seem to be turning out so many talented young musicians these days. Vance Joy, Lorde, HAIM, and Broods. I love it!

Broods is a brother - sister duo with vocals that will give you #allthefeels and lyrics you can't stop singing. Their music came to KC in early 2014, and I was pretty hooked. Maybe you've heard Bridges? Last summer they played at  festival we went to, but they were an early act so we missed them. I decided they were a band I wanted to see headlining a small show soon. 

So I was pretty jazzed when the Buzz announced their March show at the Midland (Where we saw Jack White as well as Vance Joy @ Prom). The tickets were $9.65 (the station is 96.5 the Buzz) so we jumped at the chance to buy them. I'm so glad that we got to go, the show was amazing!! - But I'll write about that another time. :)

I love all of their music, but I think these two are still my favorite songs. :)





These are both from their self-titled EP, and I would definitely recommend it, especially at $2.99 (USD). The full length album is $7.99 (USD) right now on iTunes.

What do you think? Do you like Broods?

What have you been listening to lately?!?

XO,

Alexandra

Vance Joy @ Afentra's Prom // May 2015

Well, with life slowing down on the career / crazy entrepreneur endeavors front... the first weekend off would be packed full of social plans. It was great, and a little tiring... but so worth it.

On Friday KC and I met a bunch of our friends in Kansas City for Afentra's Prom. 

Prom is a concert thrown by our alternative station every year, because one of the main DJs was not able to attend her high school prom. So every year, she throws her own prom. It's a free show, but you have to make it in the door before it's full, and you have to dress up.

This year Vance Joy was headlining.. and I have been swooning over his dreamy lyrics since July! (am I alone you guys?) And was a bit distressed after I found out he would be world touring with T-Swift for the rest of forever. I love T-Swift as much as the next person, but it will make his shows more difficult to see live for this album. Leave it to the Buzz, to book him right before he is unattainable for years! ;) As soon as it was announced, I knew we had to go!

Turns out several of our friends were also getting really into his music, and/or had recently bought great dresses ... and had no where to wear them.. :)

It was an extremely busy week still, so I grabbed my red dress I wore as Cruella DeVil (thrifted, $6) and my new Target necklace ($20) and dashed out of the house. We got dressed up, drove out to KC, managed to eat in line without spilling on ourselves, and made it inside despite the amazingly long line!

We found a decent spot in the middle and stood through the opening bands (Hembrey, Joywave, The Kooks). I don't have too much to say about them, other than they had good energy. I don't particularly like Joywave, I'm not familiar enough with Hembrey (but they did a great cover!), and The Kooks are a little hit or miss for me. They didn't earn points with me for going way past their time slot.... Then we had to sit. 5 hours of standing on concrete is rough on the feet! (no I didn't wear heels this time!)

We found some seats in the balcony, and waited for Vance Joy to go on. He was great. His songs sounded just the same as they do on the album, and he picked a few of them up in speed as well, which I think engaged the audience a little more, I wouldn't be surprised if many were unfamiliar with some of his album. He also played Emmylou, which is on his EP... which was just recently released on US iTunes. I love it, so that was a great surprise. Thank you 96.5 the Buzz for bringing him to KC.

I got a T-shirt that says Georgia on it, and threw it on over my dress. We walked back to the car, and I was so tired on the way home. It was a long night, but very worth it.

It had all the artists talking about their real proms. Most of them weren't great, and most of my friends didn't have the best proms either.... I went to four, and most of them were pretty fun! :)

So... here's what I'm wondering... how was your prom? 

XO,

Alexandra