A Series of Fortunate Events August 22, 2009

The Indiana State Fair has been good to me this year.

My third visit to the fair this year was the Kelly Clarkson concert. She showed off her non-airbrushed self and I thought she looked great. She was funny and charming and sang her little guts out.  The average age of the crowd was, um, a bit younger than myself as demonstrated by the entire arena singing “Breakaway” which sounded like a choir of 12 year old girls. But I wasn’t embarrassed. I was proud of my matronly concert-going self, even if I did feel like I needed to sit down because it was age-appropriate to do so.

And then there was my dear Jason Mraz. I didn’t plan on seeing him but after a fantastically craptastic weekend, my friend Casey pulled me out of the gutter of self-pity and threw me right into Jason’s adorable arms.

At the end of the concert Jason talked about picking up people who are down and that is what happened to me. Thanks to Casey and Jason, I left the concert a cheerier soul and was reminded to look on the bright side. And it didn’t hurt that Mr. Mraz was so darn cute, fedora and all.  I got one picture of Jason and I like to pretend he was looking right at me. It isn’t in the same league as Casey’s photography so I’ll go ahead and direct you to a set of her amazing pics.

Still, the fair was not through with me yet. Early Thursday morning I got word that M.C. Hammer was going to be performing on the free stage. The FREE stage! I called Brandon at noon and proposed another trip to the fair (my fifth to be exact). The more I thought about it, the more I could not resist going to see M.C. Hammer. After all, “Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em” was the second CD I ever owned. Fate was on my side when a friend offered me free tickets to the fair that evening. All was working in my favor. When Brandon got home, we packed up G and headed out.

We had a great spot next to the stage and the show was just as fun as I had anticipated. Near the end of the concert, Hammer began to call some fans up on stage. Brandon looked at me with huge eyes and shouted, “GO, ANNA, GO!” Before I realized what I was going on, I was up on stage. Before I knew what I was doing, I was dancing on stage with Hammer to “U Can’t Touch This”. Before Hammer realized it, I had touched him. With my index finger. Just reached out and there he was. I CAN touch Hammer! My work was done.

My Pet Rock August 7, 2009

Last night I sat down with child-like excitement to watch “Race to Witch Mountain”.  Disney, with those brilliant marketing schemes, made me as an adult NEED to see the remake of the movie “Escape to Witch Mountain” that I watched as a kid.  Do I remember the movie much? No.  All I remember are two kids with special powers (I was still at an age when I thought I could posses said powers) and an RV (all kids love the idea of an RV, right?).  But still, it was enough to make Brandon laugh at how giddy I was to watch this remake, with none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. (I realize he’s dropped “The Rock” but I think it’s more fun to say it that way.) But honestly, there is no other reason needed to get me to watch a movie other than the fact that Dwayne Johnson is in it.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a crush on Dwayne. I don’t think his acting ability is stellar.  He’s not that funny (well, he was pretty funny in that The Rock Obama sketch on SNL). But, I love movies with “The Rock”. Okay, so really, I’ve only watched like four total: “The Rundown” , “Walking Tall” (both courtesy of TBS and the male equivalent to a chick flick – fighting, male bonding, little to no plot, and of course a hot girl), “Get Smart”, and now, “Race to Witch Mountain”. Even still, those four movies make me think that I would really love to have Dwayne as a neighbor.  He’d be a great guy to BBQ with. If our house ever caught on fire, he could totally knock down the door and carry all three of us out of the house with one arm.  Plus, if there were any shady characters hanging around, he just needs to carry around a baseball bat (he seems to be really good at holding big sticks and using them handily) and they would run away crying. If he ever shoveled our walk, it would probably take him 5 minutes tops. And judging from his recent run of Disney movies, he’d be great with kids.

Truth be told, his facial expressions are probably my favorite characteristic. He has the eyebrow raise.

He’s got the best furrowed brow.

And last but not least, he’s got a really, really good sideways glance, especially when he’s giving the, “oh, no you didn’t” look.

I love the Rock.