I'm Back! (I think?)

I stepped away from blogging nearly a year ago. I really miss having this as an outlet, although at this point I'm not sure how long or how often I'll keep it up. At the time that I stopped, I couldn't continue to blog while I felt so un-authentic.

In the days ahead, I plan on blogging about my trip to London. To give you an idea of how this all happened:

One day, a former co-worker who knows how much I love U2 sent me an email with U2's announcement of tour dates. No announcement was made for Salt Lake City... although I looked at the list longingly when I noticed that they were going to be in Wembley Stadium on August 14th.

Wembley Stadium is special to me. When I was 13, I stayed at a house across the street for a week. My dad had business to do in England, and had a colleague who lived across the street from the Stadium, and offered to let us stay in his house. (Picture the houses that Harry Potter's aunt and uncle lived in... very similar!) During the days, my dad would go take care of his work stuff while my mom, sister and I explored London. We would hop on the tube at Wembley Park Station, and just go and go and go and see as much as we could until our feet and legs couldn't take it anymore. One night as we were returning home and exiting the tube, there were people standing out there asking us if we had any AC/DC tickets to buy or sell. Apparently, AC/DC was in town. My sister and I could hear the concert, as well as some of the rif raff on the streets after the show, and we thought that it would be SO COOL to see a concert there one day.

At the same time I received the email with the tour dates, I was reading the book "The Secret". While I don't buy into the concept of The Secret entirely, some of it made sense. The Secret is that you have to ask for what you want. Put it out into the universe, and trust that it will be returned. So, in the spirit of "The Secret", I posted on my Facebook status update that I was accepting contributions, donations, or sponsorships to go see U2 at Wembley Stadium on August 14th. I did it half-joking. I didn't really think anything would come from it, but I wouldn't have turned the opportunity down.

Well, a friend of mine (we dated briefly in 2007. I refer to him as #3 in my past relationship series) responded saying "If you can get the concert tickets, I'll give you the skymiles to get there". Then another friend (and a Royal friend at that) said that he had a pre-sale passcode for me to use so that I could buy tickets before they went on sale to the general public. Also, my friend Equality essentially told me that I have to do this, because U2 made history at Wembley Stadium when they almost broke up after their Live-Aid performance.

All of this is going in my favor... the last thing to figure out was if I was going to do this alone, or if I could get someone to go with me. Who would be willing to go all the way to London with me to see U2? Unfortunately, none of my friends are die-hard U2 fans to the point of traveling across the globe with me, at their own expense....

....except... I work with this gal named Julie. She's close to my age, and also single. She makes good money, her car is paid off, she lives with her parents and she doesn't have kids, so very little in the way of financial responsibility. She loves to travel and in the past 4 years that I've known her, has been to England at least 3 times, on top of other global and local travel. All I had to do was ask, and she readily agreed.

So, I had a plane ticket, concert tickets, a travel mate, and a booked hotel room. Our adventures will follow shortly.

I'm scattered and unorganized lately

I feel like everything around me is unknown and chaotic. I have a scab on my right arm near my elbow, that I've been picking at for MONTHS. It's not going away, yet I keep picking at it. There's always that mark. I can't leave it alone. It doesn't hurt, but it's there. I know I need to stop touching it to make it go away, but I can't. For unknown reasons, I can't. I'm looking forward to sweater season so that it's not exposed anymore, and I don't have to answer any questions about it.

Switching topics, today I visited my baby nephew. I can't get enough of this guy. He is so happy, so absolutely adorable. He's cuddly and lets me just hold him... and the entire time he's smiling and showing off his big brown eyes and long eyelashes. I'm not a baby person... but if I go a week without seeing him, I miss him. I crave him. I want nothing more than to hold him in my arms and sing to him... he's the greatest audience ever. My love for him is pure, and the feeling is amazing.

To bring it home, this makes me realize how much I love my family. When it comes to families, I've hit the jackpot. We've had our Jerry Springer moments, for sure. Every family does. I have amazing love for everyone in my family. We don't ever express that to each other.... but it's there. My parents are incredible. Not perfect, but spectacular. My siblings are great. My nieces and nephews are gorgeous. I'm just so lucky to have all of them.

If any of them read this, and I suspect they do... I love you.