Wills and Wars

And now, the tale of the Three Trips Up North in One Week...

The first trip was to a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale for a small gathering of GVSU alum. The Athletic Director and his wife were in town for a conference/vacation, and a few alum were invited to have dinner with them. There were only four of us, but it was a lovely evening and it was great to hear about all the great stuff happening back in Allendale. I had scallops and mashed potatoes, and they were so good. I mean, I LOVE a damn scallop. And I love a damn Laker. :)

Toward the end of January and the beginning of February, a theater company called Shakespeare Miami does a production, for free, in local parks and venues. This year's show was A Midsummer Night's Dream and my good friend The Aussie was in it, as Robin Goodfellow, everyone's favorite mischief-making fairy, also called Puck. I actually saw the show twice, once in Pinecrest Gardens, former home of Parrot Jungle, and once up north in Hollywood with coworkers and Team Weaver. This was trip #2 for the week.

We had a little picnic, a little wine, and watched a little fairy mayhem ensue. The show was well done, an adequate amount of glitter without being over the top, and there were even some "special effects" that were fun. It made me realize just how crap our version of the play was in high school. Ahh well, you know better you do better, I guess. Free and well-done Shakespeare is still free and well-done Shakespeare, so yay.

Trip number three marked a day I'd been waiting for for a long time: The Civil Wars concert! When I found out they were coming to FLL, I was so excited! Plus, tickets were only $25, which is awesome.

The band sounds just as good live, if not better, than they do on Barton Hollow. The duo, made up of Joy Williams and John Paul White, haven't been around that long, but they sound like they've been singing together forever. Here's what we saw while we were waiting.

The two aren't married (to each other, anyway) but their voices marry perfectly. They have great musical chemistry as evidenced by this picture. Here they are, huddled around one mic and one guitar. :)

Just after the show, the group was nominated for several Grammy's AND we found out that Joy was actually pregnant with her first baby! How awesome! She is so darn cute when she sings I can't even take it. And JPW isn't bad on the eyes, either. He's like if Jonny Depp and Jack White from The White Strips had a baby. A hot, guitar-playing baby.

The duo sang every song I wanted to hear, including my favorites, BRILLIANT covers of "I Want you Back" by the Jackson 5 and "Disarm" by The Smashing Pumpkins.

Here's a little video of them singing one of their own songs, "I've Got This Friend."

This band is my newest obsession. Their music is just so... pretty. It's soothing and kinda sad, but just so beautiful. A while back I made my journalism class watch this music video, for their song "Poison and Wine" and write a review of it. I don't think they loved it as much as I do.

Teenagers. Bless.

Much love!