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I've had the oppurtunity to see him in concert before, and it's always a fantastic show. When he was added to the summer concert series this year for Ironstone Vinyards, I knew it was a definite can't miss! Ironstone Vineyards is beautiful, and their concert venue is the best anywhere! Any concert there is well worth the drive which is about 50 miles from where I live in Lodi, up into the foothills of northern California. Ironstone is located in a tiny little gold mining town called Murphy's. I bought tickets the morning they went on sale several months ago since his concerts tend to sell out fast, I wasn't going to take any chances. I decided to take my mom and my neice Alex with me. They both lurve Mraz too, and since my niecey-poo is leaving for basic training (US Army) just a few days after this show, I knew it would be the last thing we get to do together for a while... I'm so proud of her... but that's another story.
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This was going to be great, just us girls & Mraz! So we got ourselves a great little spot and set up our chairs and blankets for a wonderful evening! Woo! Here's my mom (I love my mom!!), she got her caraffe of Obsession (best wine ever!) and got comfy waiting for the show to start.
Here I am with my neice Alex, just a couple of happy concert goers!
So we're just kicking back, taking snapshots...hanging out. Then this nice man walks up to our little group....
Man: "Would one of you girls like to go backstage with me and meet Jason?"
...[sideways glances]...
Me: "S'cuse me?"
Man: "Yeah, see, I have this extra meet & greet pass, I don't want it to go to waste"
Me: "OH HELL YEAH!!!"
Man: "Cool, let's go this thing starts in like 3 minutes."
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...[me, flying out of my lawn chair]...
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Here are a few of my random thoughts from the next few minutes...
- OMG!!
- Whoa, this dude is really has an extra pass, and he's giving it to me! (as I'm sticking it to my shirt and putting on the bracelet).
- OMG!!! I'm really going to meet Jason Mraz!
- Oh crap! I have major gray roots, I knew I sould have colored my hair this morning!!
- Aw man, is that wine on my shirt? Nuts!
- OMGeeeeee!!!!
Duane is the very nice man who gifted me this amazing experience. Apparently he bought his tickets on Craigslist, and these were upgraded tickets from some radio station which included two backstage meet & greet passes as well as tickets to "the pit" which is directly infront of the stage, and Duane came by himself... lucky me!! So, Duane and I stroll over to the place where the he was instructed to wait. Within a minute or two a "behind-the-scenes" man comes over and leads us back off to the left side of the stage where there are about 15 other people waiting. "Nice" behind-the-scenes man says to us, "small group, you'll all actually be able to talk to Jason for a minute".
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OMG!!! Ok Lisa, pull it together! Don't geek out and act like a 15 year old and say something really stupid! These are my thoughts... Let's see [thinking quickly], I follow Jason Mraz's twitter account, I subscribe to his blog (see it, over there on the right... Freshness Factor Five Thousand) I've got to be able to come up with something intelligent, [palms sweating, getting nervous] hmm... what's he been up to lately? Oh! He's been on vacation this week! I'll ask him how he's enjoyed his time off and if he got to go surfing [Crap! I should have colored my hair, these gray roots are hideous!]...yes! I'll ask about his vacation...
...wandering eyes... hey look, it's Bushwalla!!
Oh my God! It's Jason!!
Heeheeheee [me giggling and smiling like a fool and slapping poor Duane in the arm] "look Duane, here he comes!"
Jason took his time, and was very sweet and very present. Not rushed at all, he talked to this lady and her husband for several minutes, she was showing him pictures from her camera... Meanwhile Duane and I were frantically giving each other lessons on our own cameras.
Whoa... I'm standing right next to Jason Mraz!! Man... he's tiny. Damn, he's handsome too!
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So he gets to me and he sticks out his hand and says "Hi, I'm Jason" Jeez, he was cool, like I don't know who he is. We shook hands, I introduced myself. He asked me how I was doing tonight, I said I was fantastic and it was an honor to meet him. I asked him how his vacation was this week, and he looked a little surprised, and said that it was great, but busier than when he's working, you know how that goes. And I said, isn't that the truth, now you need a vacation from your vacation (Yes. I know... I'm a dork.) And he laughed and said it was true. He asked me where I was from, I said Lodi. He said, oh, a guy in my band is from Lodi (What? I didn't know that. Mental note, google that later).
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Then he asked what I like to do in Lodi, and I kind of went brain dead for a split second... I blinked... uh... whut? what do I like to do in Lodi? uhm... well... well all kinds of things really, but I couldn't think of a single damn thing when I was staring at Jason Mraz... he has really beautiful eyes by the way, they're hazel like mine... I almost said, "well Jason, I'm learning to emboirder" and quickly ixnayed that in favor of something more mundane, how lame. Oh shit, he's still waiting... "Oh, well all kinds of stuff, camping, riding my scooter, hiking, listening to music... Lodi is great, it's close to everything"
"Cool, cool" Jason says, "yes, this part of California is great, you're 2 hours from everything in any direction". "Yes" I said, "it's awesome...." [shaking my head. yes, again, I know I'm a dork. Hey you try talking to someone you really admire, it's hard! They're not supposed to ask you questions, it's supposed to be the other way around].
.Then, I ask if he'd mind taking a picture with me, and of course he's so gracious, and is happy to do just that. So he stands right next to me, and puts his arm around my shoulder! (Eeee!) I grabbed him too, and snap went the flash!
I thanked him again for taking the time to meet us, and wished him luck for his show, told him I knew it would be awesome!Oh man! That was so cool! Here is Duane having his turn with Mr. A~Z.
Weeeee! I'm floating on air!! So Duane and I take our leave and saunter out through the VIP area and wander back to where mom and Alex were waiting. I don't think my feet touched the ground the whole way! I couldn't thank Duane enough! He and I exchanged emails so we can send each other the pictures we took, then Duane sort of disappeared like an angel... he reappeared at my side later, we danced, it was way cool!.
Wow! Mom and Alex were so happy for me, this was MAJOR for me. MAJOR.
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Raphael Saadiq opened for Jason that night, he rocks! I went down into the area they called "the pit" which really isn't a pit at all (compared to some shows I've been to) and got a good look at Mr. Saadiq. He's pretty cool, old school motown kinda... cute too.
Jason comes on after the intermission which I spent with Mom & Alex, wooohooohooo!
Back down to the stage I go with my fancy green paper bracelet thingy (it's been two days... I'm still wearing it...uncomfortable laugh...). This is where I pretty much spent most of the set. Wow! Still can't believe I got to meet him!.
His show was fantastic, completely on point! I was really excited to see which songs he was going to play at this concert, and I was not disapointed. A lot of my favorites where there, even a couple of unexpected goodies like Seals & Crofts "Summer Breeze" and Lionel Richies "All Night Long" He and his band are amazing!
This was an excellent night! We sang! We danced! We didn't steal anything... 'cept maybe some fabulous memories! I will never forget this, next to meeting Jerry Garcia, meeting Jason Mraz is at the very top of my list if wishes... it really doesn't get much better. Alex & mom had a wonderful time too! .
Ok crafty ladies, here's where I need your help... this is my meet & greet pass. It's like a silky fabric that's sticky on one side. I'm going to keep it forever! I'm trying to think of something cool to do with it, maybe make a little knapsack and sew it on as a patch... I don't know exactly. Let me hear your ideas!!
This was such a great ending to a summer that started so bad for me... I can't think why Duane chose our little group to ask that night, I mean, he could have asked anyone... why me?? Ahhh... I love the mysteries of the universe. I guess it was just my night! What a night it was!
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This was such a great ending to a summer that started so bad for me... I can't think why Duane chose our little group to ask that night, I mean, he could have asked anyone... why me?? Ahhh... I love the mysteries of the universe. I guess it was just my night! What a night it was!.
oxo~
Lisa
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Thanks again Spencer and thanks to all of you crafty gals out there who continue to inspire me every day, you know who you 
It's just so relaxing to me, I can read (although the husband prefers that I don't, notice we're behind home plate... it isn't because we like the best seats in the house, it's because most of the time I'm not paying close enough attention and Sean doesn't want me beaned in the head with an errant baseball so he puts us behind the nets...he loves me like that), I can chat, I can take pictures, I can... craft???
I can't wait for our next baseball game! It's going to be awesome even if our team doesn't win!
The next item is something that I saw on someone elses blog months and months ago. I sure wish I could remember where I saw this because I'd like to give them credit. I would never have thought of this on my own. I thought it was an adorable idea when I saw it, never thinking it would be a project I'd do myself. However, when I stumbled on all three pieces at the same time in a junk shop for 25 cents each... well it was kismet!
It's a bird feeder! Well, it was intended as a bird feeder but quickly became a squirrel feeder (those guys are sneaky and waste NO time getting what they want), and is about to be moved farther down the trunk of the tree and become a tea light candle holder. This piece had some very shabby, un-chic beginnings, it's made from an old (previously ugly and black) light fixture and two chippy tea cups. I stripped out the old wires, painted the fixture, hot glued the cups where the light bulbs used to go and screwed it to the loquat tree. Ta-daaa! I think it's darling. Total cost, including the can of spray paint $4.25, yay!
Not too cute. So I stripped off the cushions, gave it some cleaning and sanding and painted it... 
Getting there...
I recovered the bench with my handy-dandy staple gun, and made a new cover for the back cushion. I'm ecstatic with the cost of this project, 2 yards of fabric $5 each (barely enough!) and three cans of spray paint, total cost $20.50!! Hoo-ah!
And here's the back... potted plants and garden tools, so cute. I LOVE Mary Engelbreit!!! I think I paid $5 for the fabric including shipping, and the pillow forms were buy 1 get 1 free, so another $5. Two pillows, total cost $10!
And what would you're favorite spot be without someplace to put your tea down and your feet up? Didn't want to spend a lot on a table, but I needed a little something~something. I found this small ugly (truly, it's ugly. You should see it without it's wig on!) but incredibly sturdy table at a charity thrift store that I happened into by accident. The guy gave it to me for $2.00! Sean said it was $2 too much, but I could see it's inner beauty. Did I mention it's sturdy? I already had the spray paint from making the bird feeder up at the top of this post, and I already had some tough upholstry fabric that had teapots and tea cups on it to make a nice boxy tablecloth that doesn't slip around so the total for this perfectly cute garden table... you got it, $2.00!! Woop~woop!
My mom came over and we broke it all in with a nice cuppa tea and some snackies. Ahhh... I love it when things come together just the way (or better) than I hoped!
Here is a picture of my little corner of the world. I love it. It may not be much, but it's mine, all mine. Grand total for all of the above (in case you weren't keeping track) $40.15, yesss!
Yeah... darling. I quickly discovered counted cross stitch isn't my thing. While very cute, it's a little boring for my tastes, I think I'll be more of a freehand embroiderer. Also, couting all those tiny squares just about blinded me and this tiny (2"x 3") project took the better part of my free time for three days. Ugh. 
Mom loved it. She told me it was her very favorite new thing, isn't that sweet? 
The piece of fabric where I first started practicing my stitches? Yeah, I kept using it. I didn't want to stretch a new piece of fabric every time I wanted to try a different stitch or doodle, so I just kept adding to my practice piece. It's taken on a life of it's own and I can't throw it away now. I really kind of like it. You hold a piece of fabric in your hands for so many hours, it becomes a part of you. Maybe that's what I've always liked about embroidery in the first place, it's personal and intimate and takes time & love.
This little piece has all kinds of things that I love in it if you look closely, a tea pot, a tea cup, flowers and vines, straberries and cherries, stars and swirls, a beer for my husband, our wedding rings, dog bones for my two hounds, a little house, even a tiny set of silverware... I really don't know what I'm going to do with this little piece, I'd love to hear any suggestions so please, feel free to comment!