Fourth of July

I'm a little late on this.  It's a good excuse to blog about something other than The Bachelorette.  I can still feel the last remnants of Fourth of July celebrations!  I had the opportunity to go out on Lake Travis (with mostly strangers) and got to see fireworks.  Last year, fireworks were banned in Austin and most of Texas b/c of the wildfire danger and drought conditions.  The year before I missed out on fireworks too, so it was awesome to be able to enjoy them this year.  It was a decent show, but not what I'm used to in either Toledo for the 4th or Cincinnati for Labor Day, where they do it up big with a major production with themed music and everything.  I was only missing the patriotic music.  We went swimming throughout the day and I got to try tubing!  The name sounds deceiving though b/c I consider a tube to have a hole in the middle, but whatever.  Unfortunately, I got whiplash and can still feel it a little in my neck.  I feel like I was in a car accident.  It was a lot of fun though at the time.

Other notes:

• 30 Day Shred has literally shredded my legs the past couple of days and it hurts to move. :-/  Hoping the thunder will stay away and let me swim tonight instead.  
• We got some rain!  There hasn't been a drop since sometime in May.  I always love a good thunder storm.
• I'm no longer working three jobs.  Finished my last day at the sweatshop two weeks ago and no longer working as a ticket seller.  I'm now able to work in marketing at UT 40 hours a week.  Still no benefits, but it could be in the (hopefully) near future.  It will take some time to adjust, I'm not used to a normal routine.
• Last week was actually higher temperatures in Ohio than in Texas!  We were sitting right at 100 about  everyday.
• I learned how to create a Virtual Bridal Shower and am currently hosting one for my friend, Terri.  She's getting married August 4 and it's a great way to do something long distance.
• Zac Brown Band has a new album.  I heard a bit of it last night and seems like it's going to be another great album.  Not a surprise, coming from them!
• Our department moved into brand new offices and we're now located in the North End Zone (NEZ) of the Texas football stadium.  I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty fancy!
• I worked out 14 times in June.  My goal is to work out 16 times in July.  I've done five workouts so far, so hopefully it's attainable.  I can't let laziness win!

Paul McCartney

I still can't believe that we saw Sir Paul McCartney in concert!!!  It was really amazing.  I'm ashamed to say that I have not been a die hard Beatles fan.  But I think I could be!  Actually, I went through a phase where I acted like they really weren't all that great.  My parents only listened to oldies music my entire life, so I got sick of it and was bitter I was missing out on all the current music of the 80s and 90s.  Now, I have come back around and I have learned to appreciate all those classic songs and groups I grew up listening too.  Too bad I'm still trying to catch up on what I missed in the later decades.  So back to Paul.  I just love the Beatles and their music and it's amazing how many hits they put out during the time they were together. 

A lot had been going on leading up to the concert, so it was kind of surreal even when we were on our way up to Detroit.  My dad found a station that was playing only his music and talking about the concert, getting us pumped up.  Here's how dumb I am, I didn't even realize that Paul McCartney had another group called Wings...I just knew it sounded like him, so I figured it was the Beatles.  We had seats in three different areas, so my sister and I sat by ourselves and Mom and Dad sat together.  I didn't mind sitting by myself b/c there was plenty to enjoy!  He came out and sang Hello Goodbye first.  Soooo good!  OK, so I'm going to say that most of the songs were so good, so here's the ones I remember him playing:
Hello Goodbye
Lady Madonna
Eleanor Rigby
Jet
Heltor Sketor
Yesterday
Hey Jude
Band on the Run
Live or Let Die
Get Back
Blackbird
Paperback Writer
Day Tripper
Imagine
Let it Be

Obviously, there were a lot more, it was a long concert and I'm sure Rachel can remember them all :).  The highlights were Band on the Run - love the tempo changes; Hey Jude - went on for a long time, whole crowd was singing the na na na's and swaying hands in the air (totally gave me goose bumps); Live or Let Die - fire bursts off the stage and fireworks behind during the big parts of it (SO EXCITING)!  It was just so neat to see him and hear him talk about different things.  He's a left handed guitarist and changed guitars about 1,000 times.  He used a ukulele that George Harrison gave him!  Oh it was just so good!  I loved it!!!  Rachel, I can't thank you enough for making this happen for our family!  It was something I won't forget and definitely in my top two concerts ever (other is Elton John).

*I'm still trying to upload pics from my phone.  Just so you know, they'll be poor quality if I can get them up here.