Def Leppard/Journey concert roadtrip: part two

Sunday I posted part one of the road trip, which was about the concert. Now, here's part two--everything else!

So, after having about three crappy hours of sleep the night of the concert, I was up before 7:00 am the next day. I'd been tossing and turning so much, I just gave up. Meanwhile, my sister was snoring away for another hour and a half. I was ready for the day by the time she got up.  I ate my leftover breakfast burrito from the night before while she got herself ready. We stopped off at Dunkin Donuts and then we were off to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which was only about a mile away from the hotel.

Here I am in front of the Long Live Rock sign. It was really tough to get the whole thing in the picture.

We got to the Hall of Fame before 11:00 am. It seemed like a long walk from where we had to park to where we had to go, but what was nice was that we parked in the parking garage and were able to cut through the science center, so we didn't have to walk too far in the heat (it was 90 and humid the whole time we were in Cleveland). 

We spent a little over three hours at the Hall of Fame. It has six floors and is packed with memorabilia spanning decades. They even had a display dating back to the 1880s that contained one of the first Victrola phonographs. Many people say that it takes all day to see everything, but I think it depends on whether you look at every single item and read all the descriptions, or if you just look at certain things more closely while skimming over others. That's what we did. Some things were more interesting than others. For example, I was much more interested in the 1980s and beyond since I was born in 1974, whereas someone who's older might prefer the previous decades.  They had pretty much any kind of memorabilia you could think of:  sheet music, lyric notebooks hand-written by the artists themselves, clothing (some very hideous clothing--I don't know what musicians are thinking when they pick out these outfits...), props used in videos, photos, etc.

The ground floor was definitely the biggest. The exhibits started at the very beginning, The Roots of Rock, which covers blues, gospel, R&B, country, bluegrass and folk.  There was a room for Elvis Presley, the 1960s "summer of love", the Beatles, heavy metal, etc. On other floors you can find the history of music videos,the start of MTV (yes, it was ALL music at one time!), listening booths, short movies about music, instruments, and lots of other stuff. I really enjoyed the music videos, as a lot of them were a blast from the past for me, like Metallica's Enter Sandman. They also had a montage of past induction ceremonies, which featured, among others, Prince and Tom Petty playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Although I'm not a Prince fan, his guitar solo is absolutely amazing. You can see it here on You Tube. And here's a listing of all the exhibits by floor. Here are just a few of the pictures I took.

This was Elvis' double guitar. Elvis had a 
whole room dedicated to him.

Lots of great bands featured here, like AC/DC, Judas Priest, and Dio.
Angus Young's outfit. What AC/DC fan wouldn't recognize that?! There's also the lyrics to "Highway to Hell."

Metallica! Recognize the scales of Justice?

Rob Halford's jacket (Judas Priest). Sheet music for "Holy Diver" by Dio in the top left corner.
Lyrics to "Judas is Rising" on the right.

Rob Zombie's jacket.

Guess who I voted for??

I bought only one souvenir at the gift shop:  a wooden spoon that looks like a drum stick. There were actually two in the package, but I gave one to my sister since she doesn't own a wooden spoon. (Who doesn't own a wooden spoon??)

After the Hall of Fame we went back to the hotel to relax for a bit. We were hoping to find a good Lifetime movie, but no luck. Then we decided to walk around Public Square for a bit. The Public Square area is pretty cool because you can pretty much get everything you need--food, shopping, gaming, banking, movies and other things--and traverse several streets without having to go outside. Plus there are some nice sights outside within the Square itself.  We ventured outside into the heat just to see what's around. Below is the Soldier's and Sailors Monument. It's beautiful and pictures don't do it justice. 

Wonder who this is??

Below is the view looking back towards Tower City Center, which is connected to our hotel.  As you can see, there are water fountains within the Square, and people are welcome to play around in the water. The kids were having a blast on this 90+ degree day.

Below is the inside of Tower City Center. Isn't the ceiling gorgeous? The casino is connected to this building, and there's even a train station downstairs.

Here's the inside of our hotel, another old building. The lobby was beautiful and the staff friendly, but the rooms were definitely a lot smaller than what we're used to.

After walking around Public Square for a bit, we decided to head to the casino again. But not before I made a pit stop at Bath & Body Works to grab some smelly hand soap. They were closing at 7:00 pm so I had only 10 minutes to shop, which was probably a good thing. I could have done a lot more damage, as soaps were buy three get three free. We only spent about an hour and a half at the casino before deciding to grab some dinner to bring back to the room. We then ate and crashed by 10:00 pm.

And then it was time to head home. We left Cleveland around 9:00 am. On the way home we stopped at the beautiful Chautauqua Lake rest area in NY. It was so breezy and the birds were hopping around. My sister left some doughnut crumbs for them to eat. As soon as we got in the car they started swooping in to grab some crumbs. We continued on and got to my sister's house around 3:00 pm. I took a little break and then drove the rest of the way home. It was a very long day and I wasn't sure I wanted to drive home the same day, but I had a lot of things I had to do before going back to work. I'm glad I did, because I barely had time to relax even though I basically got a bonus day by doing it all in one day. I'll admit, my back was in agony the next day and I was really tired, but I was better the following day.

My vacation flew by way too fast, but I had a great time: I got to see my favorite band from the front row and meet them; didn't lose a bunch of money at the casino; got to visit somewhere I'd never been before; visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and spend quality time with my sister. And she got to meet her man after 35 years! That by itself was worth it. (She was a little teary-eyed after meeting him...but then giggled randomly the rest of that night. LOL)

I'm thinking my next vacation will be a staycation. I might actually relax!

Def Leppard/Journey concert roadtrip: part one

This one is going to be long, so consider yourself warned. I'm posting two parts. Part one is the concert and part two, sometime this week, is the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

This past week I took a concert road trip with my sister to see my favorite band. Anyone who reads my blog or knows me, likely knows that's Def Leppard. They were playing in Cleveland at the Quicken Loans Arena with Journey. I live in CT and she's in NY, but since she's always wanted to see the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, we decided to see them in Cleveland and make it a mini-vacation.

I drove to NY last Sunday (a four hour drive) and spent the night at her house. We left early Monday morning around 7:00 am in order to get to Cleveland (a five hour drive) check into the hotel and make it over to the arena by 4:30 pm.  When we got to the hotel we were able to check in right away, which was nice because it gave us a couple hours to relax, unpack and change clothes--we had to look nice to meet the boys from Def Leppard!

We stayed at the Renaissance, which is across from Public Square. It's an old hotel, so the rooms were a bit smaller than we're used to.  We had to hunt down the in-room coffee maker, which was on a shelf in the nightstand, and there wasn't room to keep our suitcases out, but overall it was good and the bed was comfy (very important for me!). The service staff were very friendly. My one gripe was that there was only one restaurant in the hotel, which served lunch and dinner only. Kind of a pain when you want some breakfast and don't want to go far. We had to walk out into the mall, which is attached, and head to Dunkin Donuts. I actually liked the mall being there, as it connected several buildings and a casino. You can basically go for several blocks and not have to go outside at all. Actually, we were able to walk from our hotel to the arena without having to go outside in the 90+ degree heat. (And that was especially nice, walking back at 11:00 pm at night after the concert.)

I mentioned having to be at the arena by 4:30 pm. That's because we decided to go all out for this show and buy the front row meet & greet package for Def Leppard. (We had a pretty rough year last year and decided we needed to indulge ourselves a bit.) Check-in time was 4:30 pm and We got to the arena around 4:00 pm.  The check-in tables for Journey and Def Leppard were side by side, and there were many more people for Def Leppard. (Although, Journey wasn't doing a meet and greet so that's probably why.) While waiting in line we discovered we'd forgotten several items that we always bring, probably because I switched purses and we relaxed a little too much beforehand (oh, those pesky Lifetime movies!):  Sharpie markers, just in case we met any band members other than at the meet and greet; my ear plugs, since I'm old and can't take the volume level anymore; and a mirror and lipstick, so we look picture perfect to meet the boys.

We got checked in, got our goody bags and wrist bands, and then went through security. The goody bag was a canvas travel bag with the Def Leppard logo, and inside was a nice set of luggage tags and a travel wallet, along with Def Leppard postcards. We also got a signed poster.

We then waited around until 5:00 pm, when the hostess brought us into the arena for our group photo on stage. It wasn't with the band, just the group of concert-goers. It was pretty cool, though, to be up on stage in front of Rick Allen's drum kit with "Def Leppard" on the screens in back of us. We chatted with the security guys, who were very friendly. (This is always a good thing--butter them up so they don't harass you for taking pictures, or maybe they'll be nice and give you the guitar pick that landed on the floor in front of them.)

We then headed back to meet the guys. For some reason I thought it would be a longer walk when we got out of the seating area, but it was quite close. Seemed like just a few steps, really. While waiting in line they drew the raffle--the prize being the privilege of standing on the side of the stage for the first two songs. Unfortunately we didn't win; however, we preferred to see the beginning of the show from the front anyway, so we weren't upset. Then it was time to meet the guys!! While we waited, Stuart, Vivian's dog, made an appearance. He was trotting around while the band's assistant waited.  I was hoping to pet him, but she didn't let him go too far. It was a treat to see him, though.  Kind of makes you realize that even though the band are rock stars, they're human just like the rest of us. (If anyone wants to follow Stuart on Instagram, he has his own page:  Rockstarstu.) As we got closer to the front of the line, my sister was quite nervous and made me go first, even though we were meeting them together. When we peeked around the corner, it was a little surprising to see just how close they all were to the line for the meet and greet--they were only about three feet away! First up was Sav, then Vivian, Joe, and then Rick. Unfortunately Phil wasn't there because he had to fly home a couple days earlier to deal with a family emergency. I was disappointed--he's my favorite--but I understood. I've met him a couple times before, anyway. I honestly would have been way more upset if Sav wasn't there, as he is my sister's favorite and she would have been devastated to not meet him after waiting 35 years for the opportunity! We each shook hands with them and introduced ourselves. I said my name and then, "Nice to meet you" and that's about it. Oh, and I told them TWICE that she and I are sisters; I'm not very smooth socially. My sister asked for and got a big hug from Sav. We posed for the pictures and then it was over. I don't think it took three minutes from intro to exit, but that's the way organized meet and greets go. Autographs and extended conversation aren't allowed since they typically have about 100 people to push through in a certain amount of time so the band can get ready and get on stage in time.  I knew that going in, though, since I did the meet and greet in Las Vegas in 2013. I still felt it was worth it. They're my favorite band, after all, and I've been listening since I was nine years old. When it was over we went to our seats in the FRONT ROW, right in front of Vivian's spot. For whatever reason, security was having an issue putting on everyone's wristbands so it took a few extra minutes to get there.

We then had some time to kill until showtime so we walked around to try and find Def Leppard's new beer. We wanted to have the can as a souvenir (see below). We found it, but unfortunately the vendor didn't tell us that we can't have the empty can until after they poured the beer. We didn't think to ask, as it didn't occur to us that we wouldn't be able to keep it. The venue's policy is that everything is poured and no cans or bottles, even opened/uncapped, are allowed in the venue at all. Since neither of us drink beer, that was $10.00 a piece down the drain. I later saw online that some people were able to keep the can, but I wasn't about to walk around all night trying to find the right vendor. We checked a few, but was it.


We went back to our seats and watched the countdown. As usual, I spent the time making sure my camera was ready to go.  I always bring my Pansonic Lumix point-and-shoot camera. It's been good to me over the years; however, this time I found that my cell phone actually took better pictures, so I ditched the camera about three minutes into the show in favor of my phone. It was hard letting go since I'm a freak about taking great concert pictures, but I did it.

Finally, it was showtime!  Def Leppard was on first, as they are rotating the opening and closing with Journey. The intro started with the beginning of Excitable.  I was hoping to see the same intro on the video screen as the previous shows, which was kind of a montage of their albums along with sang snippets from each album; however, it just showed the city name and then rose up above the stage when the show started.  From then on, the show was a big blur. The set opened with Rocket and they cranked out the usual hits, one after the other. Sav did his usual bass solo that leads into Rock On, which was followed by the acoustic version of Two Steps Behind. Then came my favorite part, one of their new songs:  Man Enough. Lots of people don't like this song, but it has quickly become a favorite of mine and, man, does it rock live!  And I love the screen graphics for this one, which I posted below. The show ended with Photograph.

Here are a few of the pictures I took. I took 400+! I have to admit that they came out pretty decent for a cell phone camera, but I'm thinking I might look for a new camera next year. It seems like no matter what I use, it just can't handle the light shining off of Joe's blond hair, so Joe is a bit overexposed in a lot of pictures this time around. (Note:  You're welcome to download these pictures for your own personal viewing, but please don't post them on Facebook or other social media, you blog, other websites, etc.)

"Rocket! Yeah!"

I think this is my favorite out of all the pictures. Sav is looking pretty good!

This is one of the best out of the pics I took of Joe.

 These were the graphics during Man Enough.

 Vivian Campbell

 The Thunder God himself, always smiling. He was pretty tough to get a picture of this time.

The guys sounded great, as usual, and had lots of energy. I mentioned that Phil wasn't at the show. Steve Brown of Trixter took his place. Just about everyone had positive things to say about him, and so do I:  he was a great fill-in for Phil, had lots of energy, seemed to be having fun, and was respectful. And the guys treated him like he was a part of the band, which was nice to see. There was one person who said that no matter how good he was, he'd never be a Lepp. Well, he's not trying to be a Lepp. He's a friend of that band and is filling in for a few shows (Phil is now back on tour). I'm guessing that person would rather have seen the shows cancelled...

Next up was Journey. I have to admit, once Def Leppard was done, I didn't have a whole lot of enthusiasm to see Journey. I like their music and I like seeing them...when they're the opener. It just seemed really odd for them to be the closer, and it continued to feel odd even after the show was over. Def Leppard's music is different, as is their overall energy level and feel, and it seemed like a big energy dip when Journey came on. The first few songs were a little slow. Not in the beat, but in getting the crowd going. It picked up soon, though, and they put on a good show. At the end of Don't Stop Believing they shot off confetti and streamers.  It was cool, but I definitely felt bad for the people that had to clean all that up. Arnel, the lead singer, has a fantastic voice and has so much energy. He sounds similar to Steve Perry. Even though the guy has been with Journey for 11 years, people were still saying (online) that "he's no Steve Perry." Well, no, he's not. No one is Steve Perry except Steve Perry. Arnel was the guy they chose to replace Steve 11 years ago and they've continued to perform. Would people rather Journey called it quits?? Arnel was very interactive with the crowd, too, especially the kids. One had a sign that said it was his first concert, so Arnel pulled him up on stage. I think the kid was in shock. LOL.  My only real complaint about Journey was the solos. The drum solo, while absolutely amazing, was LONG. Neal Schon's guitar solo was agonizingly long, too. He always plays The Star Spangled Banner, but it seems more like the Star Mangled Banner when he's done with it.  I know, artists have their own take on things, but I just wish it sounded more like the actual song and wasn't quite so long.

Arnel Pineda. This guy has a ton of energy!

Neal Schon

Steve Smith's drum solo. Amazing!

Jonathon Cain

The end of Don't Stop Believing. So much confetti...

Still more confetti coming down.

And then it was all over. Time to go back to the hotel. It was so nice being able to walk inside and not have to venture outside in the dark late at night. Nothing was open in the mall, so we went over to the casino and hit up the food court. I got a breakfast burrito, which was delicious. I saved half for the following day. I didn't win any money, but I only lost $20.00, so that's not bad at all. We got back to the room around 2:00 am and then I flipped through my concert pictures until I decided around 3:00 am it was time to go to sleep. I tried to sleep, but it wasn't easy with the ringing in my ears! I tried to buy ear plugs at the venue, but they didn't have them. I asked Security, but they weren't allowed to hand them out. Oh well. My hearing got back to normal by Tuesday night.

Part two will be posted later in the week. Thanks for reading!

what keeps me going?

Recently I was posting in a comment thread on a website I read regularly. The discussion was about working out and what we accomplished last week, and are planning to do next week. I posted that I work out five days a week: four days on my own and one day with my trainer. My main accomplishment was that I kept up with it, even though my back was bothering me more that week. I had one day where I just wasn't feeling the motivation at all. I still worked out, but I took it easy; I pretty much just slogged through it, though. (My trainer had me do burpees the day before, which might be why my back was bothering me more. I hate burpees, mainly because with my back issues, I’m always worried I’ll hurt myself, but he limits it to about 6-10 reps and makes sure before I do them that I’m feeling up to it. Since I haven’t done them very much yet, I’m pretty awkward at it. Plus I have long legs and it makes it hard to get down on the floor and then back up the way I’m supposed to.) The other accomplishment was that I'd added 10 pounds to the lateral pulldown, for a total of 60 pounds. It was tough, but I did it. I also did some chest presses (30 pounds--I'm a weakling!), which I don’t normally do. I’m hoping that doing them will help me to eventually do a full pushup; it’s been two years of working out and I STILL can’t get all the way down into a full pushup. 

As a follow-up, someone asked me how I stay motivated. I had weight loss surgery over four years ago and then had a tummy tuck last year to repair the abdominal muscles and remove a bunch of excess skin on my abdomen. Between the money I spent for that–insurance wouldn’t cover a lot of it, and the tummy tuck was totally out of pocket– and the money I spend on a trainer, even for once a week, I know that if I don’t work out on my own at least three to four times a week, I’m wasting money and will have wasted a lot of money, time, pain and hard work if I gain all the weight back. I’d be an asshole if I let that happen. Honestly, that’s actually what keeps me going. Now that I’ve been doing it for two years, I just know it’s something I have to do for the rest of my life if I want to stay in shape, help my back feel better (bulging discs and an annular tear, plus scoliosis), not regain the weight and feel good about myself. I’ve just accepted that this is part of my life and daily routine, so I just suck it up and do it. (It took a long time to accept this!) Instead of taking a lunch hour at work, I eat at my desk and then go in the gym from 4 pm-5 pm. I don’t love it, and I barely like it much of the time, but I like feeling physically strong. It gives me a sense of accomplishment. I just keep in mind that the next hour is going to tick by whether I exercise or not. It’s inevitable that the time will pass. Might as well just do it and get it over with so I feel better about myself. I spent the first 39 years of my life being overweight (as young as three, I think), then obese (pre-teen through about 24), and then morbidly obese (probably 25 through 39). I’m tired of that and I’m not going back. And in order to not go back, I have to keep up the workouts.

I’m very proud of myself that I’m still working out consistently after two years. I’ve never made it this far before. Normally six months is the point at which I get bored with just about anything I try. Going to a trainer once a week is a huge help–if I don’t workout on my own at least three times a week, it’s a total waste of money, which is mostly what keeps me going. Plus I don’t want to gain all the weight back or wreck the tummy tuck I had.

I don't continue to workout because I love it. I do it because I should and it makes me feel good. It also keeps the back pain under control. I look around at a lot of other people who have lost a lot of weight by whatever means, and so many of them talk about how they just love to workout and they have so much energy, etc., etc., etc. It really annoys me that that didn’t happen to me. I’m still not a high energy person even though I’m no longer morbidly obese, and I don’t love working out and I have to force myself to do it, but I do it nonetheless. I’m proud of myself that I never skip “just because.” If I skip, it’s because I’m sick, super busy, or my back is really acting up. (And travel is not an excuse to skip: hotels have gyms. If not, I can do a bodyweight workout in my hotel room.) I never cancel the trainer, either, without a good reason. Just because I pay him doesn't mean I can cancel last minute because "I don't feel like." That's just rude and lazy. His time, personal and working, is valuable.

So, what's the key takeaway from this long, pictureless post? Just suck it up and do it. Get off your ass and get it over with. You'll feel better and get a sense of accomplishment that you're doing something good for yourself, both mentally and physically. And it won't kill you. Really. (But do make sure you're well enough to exercise before starting!)

meal prep: chicken with baked sweet potatoes and green beans

It's been awhile since I've done any meal prep, and it's showing in my current inability to stick to my eating plan, which of course means the scale isn't moving down like it was a couple weeks ago.  I used to do meal prep just about every week, but I admit I've been lazy about it. I need to get back to it so I can eat better and stick to my plan. And it's especially important now since my husband also needs to eat better.

A meal prep post from a website I enjoy recently popped up in the Facebook feed, so I decided to try it out. It came from Budget Bytes and it's a full meal:  chicken breast, sweet potatoes and green beans.  Aside from the fact that most of her meals are pretty easy, one of the main reasons I chose this recipe was because I'd bought some sweet potatoes...and never used them. Of course. I do that all the time. I buy stuff and then either forget I bought it, or forget what recipe I bought it for, or just get lazy and decide I don't feel like using whatever I bought.I was determined to not do that this time.

The recipe calls for trying the chicken breast; however, I hate the cleanup so I grilled it instead. I baked the sweet potatoes according to the recipe, although I omitted the cayenne pepper. Bob doesn't like a lot of spice, and cayenne tends to be pretty hot even when you use just a tiny dash. I made sure to line the baking sheet with foil, because I hate cleaning baking sheets. It seems like no matter how much you scrub, they never come completely clean. And OMG they smelled so delicious while cooking! I could smell the cinnamon. For the beans I finally used the steamer pan I bought last year. It was so easy and the beans came out perfect! I'd definitely make this again. It was easy and everything tasted great.

Here's the finished product.  And here's the recipe:  Smoky Chicken and Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Look at all that carmelization. No sugar added! Those are the natural sugars in the potatoes.

The beans are nice and bright after steaming. I love this steamer pan. You just set it on top of a pan of boiling water and put the lid on.

The finished beans. Just butter, course salt and ground pepper.

And here's lunch. I made a couple for myself and a few for Bob. Just grab it from the fridge and go to work. Obviously his had a whole chicken breast. This was my portion, which I could just about finish.

birthday cake for a crowd

I took some cake decorating classes at the local craft store a few years ago, just for something to do. I found it to be fun and I seemed to have a knack for it; however, I quickly discovered that I would never want to make it a side business. Recently I was asked to make a birthday cake for my niece's girlfriend.  I, of course, said yes.

I like the process of deciding on a design (usually something simple), colors and flavors. The idea I start out with, though, typically changes based on how I'm feeling as the date approaches, what recipes I come across and want to try, how easy and/or expensive it is to get unusual ingredients, and whether I'm in the mood to make the cake. (Another reason why I could never have a cake business--people probably wouldn't get exactly what they asked for!)

My niece sent me a bunch of Pinterest pictures to give me an idea of what she and her girlfriend's family were looking for, many of which were just a little too complicated for me; all of them called for the use of fondant, which I'm not very good at.  Plus, it just doesn't taste good. We settled on a three-tiered cake that was pink, gold and white.

OK, so the colors and size were settled. Then it was on to flavors. My niece said she wanted one tier to be chocolate, one white and the third marble.  I was a little worried about making marble cake, since I'd never made it before, but I was willing to try.  I then had to decide on frosting flavors. My original plan was to use vanilla buttercream for the whole cake and just use some coloring; however, chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream didn't seem appealing to me, and neither did white cake with plain, boring buttercream.  I thought about it for a bit and then made my decision:  I ended up making the top tier chocolate with almond buttercream, the middle was white butter cake with strawberry buttercream (fresh strawberries!), and the bottom was marble cake with vanilla buttercream.

For the top two tiers I used recipes from my favorite cake book, The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.  I really like her recipes. Although they can seem a little complicated or fussy at first, one can't argue with the results: the recipes work, I've never had one fail yet, and I always get rave reviews. For the chocolate cake I made her chocolate fudge cake recipe, which uses brown sugar instead of white sugar, and I think that makes a big difference. It was soft with a fine crumb and fudgy-tasting. When people say they made a chocolate cake, I usually feel a little disappointed and pass on it, because almost every chocolate cake I've had, whether it's from a box or the bakery, is a bit dry, bland and boring; however, this is not that bland, boring chocolate cake--it actually tastes like chocolate and it's rich! For the white cake I made her white velvet butter cake, which was very soft and buttery.  The marble cake was a recipe I found online, and it came out perfect:  very moist, a little dense, and delicious.

As for frosting, I settled on an almond buttercream for the chocolate cake. I hadn't thought of almond at all; however, as I was going through my cabinets looking (hoping) for inspiration, I noticed a bottle of almond extract. I set out to Googling and quickly found something super easy with only a few ingredients:  butter, powdered sugar, almond and vanilla extracts, a little salt, and milk. Done. For the white cake I used my tried-and-true vanilla buttercream recipe I got from my cake decorating instructor years ago and added puree made from fresh strawberries and lemon juice. (Note:  DO NOT add chilled puree to a finished buttercream frosting--the fat, which is either butter, shortening or a combo of both, will start to congeal and it will have a nasty, greasy mouth feel, and you'll have to hopefully beat it back into submission. Not that I EVER did that, of course...) Done. For the marble cake I used the vanilla buttercream mentioned above.  Done.

The top of the cake was decorated with Wilton candy sprinkles. Although I don't feel like these qualify as "sprinkles." They're more like candy discs. I tried using the Wilton Color Mist in Gold and it was a huge fail. It made the frosting a nasty apricot color and it started running. Thankfully the "sprinkled" completely covered the problem. No special decoration on the pink layer since it already had the pretty little pieces of strawberry and the seeds. The white layer was decorated with Wilton Candy Pearls on the top and sides. (You'd laugh if you knew how I achieved this look:  think "cake as dartboard.") The rim on the bottom was made with Sixlets candy, which Party City carries in many different colors. I added some artificial roses for decoration. I assembled it at home and transported it as you see it. It was a white-knuckled ride, but the cake made it in one piece.  When I got there I had several people ask me if I had a cake business. NO!!! I like doing it, but it's stressful, tedious, and takes a long time. I'm always happy to get the cake done and out of my house so I don't have to think about it again. 

It seemed to be a big hit and most of the cake was eaten. I'd heard that many people had two pieces, which was a nice compliment. But it doesn't make me want to do one again anytime soon.

my first cat convention

View from the Asbury Park boardwalk. A cloudy day, but still a nice view.

So. I went to the Catsbury Park Cat Convention. A cat convention. Yes, a cat convention! I never thought I'd write these words, but here I am, having lived the dream just a couple weeks ago. Am I officially in crazy cat lady territory? No, I don't think so. I'm over 40 with 11 cats...but I'm married! 😸

To be clear, this was not a cat show. A cat show is where they display different breeds and they compete within each category, such as Best in Breed. No, this was a convention. Basically, it was everything "cat":  multiple vendors selling toys, beds, food, etc. for the kitties, and any kind of cat-themed merchandise you can think of for the cat lovers; food for the humans (this was strictly vegan food, as the convention is run by Catsbury Park Cat Cafe and they sell vegan snacks); meet and greets with celebrity cats; discussions with advocates; cat-themed games, such as bingo; a cat costume contest; cat adoptions; and Q&As with the owners of the celebrity cats.  One could even get a cat-themed tattoo. Oh, and the cat-themed music that played the whole time...I don't know quite what to say about that other than "pussy" was used quite a lot, and I'm thinking it didn't always refer to a cat. (Here's one such example:  The Pussy Cat Song.)

I went both days. That wasn't the plan, but we had decided to check out the parking situation and having seen it, decided we should stick around since we got a great parking space. Saturday was absolutely packed with wall to wall people, which is actually a good thing since the proceeds went to charity. We got there about a half hour before opening and should've gotten in line, but we didn't. Once we did, it took us about 20 minutes to get in and they ran out of the free tote bags by around 11:30 am. We got in around 11:45 and we could barely move. We really couldn't get to any vendor booths so we went across to the Paramount Theater and saw the Q&A with Nala. Nala was adorable and so well-behaved. I wish my own cats would behave so well! When we were exiting the convention floor to go to the theater, the guard said they were at legal capacity and couldn't let anyone back in unless they again waited in line, so we decided to leave and go back Sunday. We didn't want to go back in anyway, because it was too hard to move around. The experience soured me a bit, but I figured it would likely be better Sunday since many people came for one day only.

Sunday we got there early and since we had the wristband for both days, we waited until the doors opened and got right in. Got our free tote bags, too. I was able to grab all the goodies I wanted to buy and actually look around. The food smelled amazing, but we didn't get anything. I really wanted to try the vegan food, because it smelled amazing, but I decided to just wait awhile to eat. We saw the talk with Oskar the Blind Cat's owner, which was really well-done and very interesting. Touching, too. Oskar had suddenly passed away in February; however, his owner brought Oskar's brother, Klaus.  Klaus was so cute, and also well-behaved. We did a meet and greet with Teddy and Dexter, two Oriental shorthair cats, and that went smoothly. We were within the first 15 people to go in, so I'm glad we decided to show up early. Teddy and Dexter were very friendly. Yes, they are long and lanky, and many people think they're not the most attractive cats, but they really have personality. And those ears!


Here are some pictures.

Klaus, brother of the late Oskar the Blind Cat. He's so cute and well-behaved.

This is me with Teddy and Dexter, and their mom. They're Oriental Short-hairs. Very long and lanky, but so soft and very friendly. And yes, I'm wearing cat ears...

My free tote bag, which was filled with cat-themed goodies.

One of the gifts in my tote bag.

I just have to say a few words about PussWeek. It's marketed as "written by cats, for cats," and it's hysterical! The articles give cats advice on how to be a scary cat, there are interviews with some celebrity cats, and even some quizzes, such as, "Is your human a witch?" It was quite entertaining.

These are the gifts from both bags combined. My husband went with me, so we each got a bag.
We got two issues of PussWeek, catnip, earrings, and grain-free treats.

The Meow magnet I bought and the other I won from one of the booths.

I bought myself a Lil' Bub tumbler, which I now use for the gym. It's a little inspirational, don't you think?

I got a free magnet at the Teddy & Dexter meet & greet. Teddy is on the far left and Dexter is the black one.
Yes, their ears are huge, but I think they're adorable!

I bought this at the Leeza Hernandez Illustrations booth. She does great work.
I got this because I have two black kitties.

I got this from the Only Maine Coons Rescue booth. It's a mat that has catnip inside. My cats love it. I only wish I'd bought a few more, because at least four cats piled on top of it as soon as I got it out of the bag and onto the couch.

This was Catsbury Park's first event and I'm guessing they underestimated how many people would show up, whether it was advanced ticket sales or walk-ins. I think the convention floor was a bit small for the turnout, which is why it was overcrowded Saturday. As for the content, there were some people that complained (on the event's Facebook page) there weren't any cats to see.  I'm confused as to why people thought there would be cats on the convention floor. It's not a cat show. It's a convention, which is different. Also, the website clearly says "live adoptions" (which were done behind the stage area where it was quieter) and anyone with cats likely knows it's not a good idea to put cats on display in a crowded room. It also clearly stated that meet and greets were paid events. There were also some free presentations, some of which featured the celebrity cats.  Some people also complained that they spent a lot of money and it wasn't worth it.  It was only $20.00, which I thought was very reasonable.  Since I went both days I paid about $38.00.  I feel like my money was well-spent and it went to a good cause.

Saturday night we went over to the Catsbury Park Cat Cafe.  Reservations are required and are limited to 30 minutes inside the cat room. I made mine online several weeks before the convention. The cost was $11.00 per person ($9.00 during the week). It's a cafe on one side and a cat room on the other, and it's divided by glass so people in the cafe can see the cats and vice versa. The cafe sells vegan treats, as well as coffee and such. I got some vegan peanut brittle (delicious!) and brought it into the cat room with me. When I made the reservation I wasn't thinking about the fact that at the time we were going--7 pm--the cats would likely be all tuckered out from having more visitors than usual due to the convention.  I was only thinking about allowing myself enough time to go to the convention, get back to the hotel for a bit and then drive over there. Sure enough, the kitties were all sleeping for the most part. That's OK. We still got to see them and pet a few of them, and also see the cafe itself.

I'm hoping next year they will have it at a different venue so there's more room to move around. I thought it went really well, though, for their first time around. All in all, we had a great weekend.

today's lunch

Here's today's work lunch. Very simple and definitely thrown together at the last minute. I took two pieces of Jenni-o Buffalo Chicken Breast lunchmeat and spread a little Tribe Mediterranean-style hummus on them, and then rolled them around some sliced raw red pepper. The other two slices I rolled up and dipped them in some Gulden's mustard.  I ate the rest of the pepper with some hummus as a snack. Low in calories, pretty healthy, fast, and I got some veggies in.

What I brought to work: a whole red pepper, the whole container of hummus, the bottle of mustard and the whole package of lunch meat. I'm at the point where I can't be bothered to make up my lunch at home. We have several refrigerators at work, so I can easily store a few things to have when I want them. I also keep a paring knife in my desk, and we have paper plates and utensils in the cafeteria.

update #7: the war on back pain

I went for a follow-up with my orthopedic doctor in regards to my back pain. This was the follow-up after the two cortisone injections I had. I thought I was going to hear about a simple pain relief outpatient procedure, which was the percutaneous disc decompression (nucleoplasty) I'd mentioned in another post. Instead, I found out that I’m actually a candidate for disc replacement or spinal fusion. Totally not what I was expecting. At all. I was kind of in shock.

Apparently the herniation in my disc is pretty big and the nucleoplasty (disc decompression) isn’t possible. A mini discectomy isn’t possible either since my disc is thinning out. I was kind of in a daze and on information overload at that point, but it was something about the condition of the disc, the size of the herniation and the very small space and location in which to do the work. The doctor said  his first choice would be fusion. Not that disc replacement can't be successful–it is for many people–but he felt for my situation, a fusion would be the best choice. A prosthetic disc can wear out and if they have to go back in to replace it at some point, they'd be working through scar tissue from the initial surgery, which could be dicey.

He ordered an updated MRI, which I had a couple weeks ago. I looked at the MRI since I have the previous one and I now know what I’m looking at, and the affected disc didn't look any better than it did six months ago. I went the following week to have him read it, and he confirmed it's not any better. He also said my scoliosis curve has started to worsen. That scares me, because it hasn't changed since I was a teenager. Hopefully it doesn't get worse. I have to assume it's gotten worse because of the disc problem.

Here are the two images of my bulging disc. The view is from the bottom, up, as though you're looking up from the floor.  That means that the right side of the image is actually the left side of my body.  The one is September 2017 and the bottom one is March 2018. As you can see, not much difference between the two.

We talked again about fusion again.  He said that I'd be out of work for a couple months and overall recovery would be quite long. I'd have to be pretty careful for at least a year so that the bones have a chance to fuse together completely. After thinking about how long the recovery would be, what my pain level is now, and the fact that a fusion could place more strain on the joints above and below the fused vertebrae making them weaker, I made the decision to not have surgery at this time. I think if my pain level was at a point where it prevented me from doing a lot of routine things, I'd definitely go for the fusion; however, my pain in more along the lines of nagging, annoying and distracting.

What will I do instead? I'm going to try one more round of cortisone injections. If these don't help, I'll have to wait until the Fall to try again, since I'm limited to three rounds every nine months. Also, I bought an inversion table. A friend of mine, who has the same disc problem I do, has been using one for years and she said it's a total lifesaver. I got it last week and I've started using it.

This is the one I bought.  It's the Teeter EP-960. I'll post more about it once I've been using it for a bit.

Other options are acupuncture or massage. The doctor also suggested chiropractic care; however, I tried that for the last two months with no luck. I had to cut the chiropractor loose last week. I was really disappointed it didn't work, since it's worked for me in the past.

I really want to get back to living my life as I was before, so I'm going to try the injections and the inversion table and see what happens. Maybe I'll be able to avoid surgery.