My rocknroll weekend and tornadoes

My weekend- Saturday morning i picked up my niece and went to garage sales. I totally scored on some vintage Christmas items!! I got that awesome Christmas tree that is narrow for a window sill from an estate sale. Then the next stop, I came across this box of vintage hand blown glass ornaments that are 2 layers in the box. Yall i got for 2$ on those ornaments.  I also grabbed some old silver items for my Steampunk party for Holliween.  I also bought a bumper boat raft that goes in the pool for 2$! It was originally 160$, then had a clearance sale price of 57$ from Macy's and i paid 2. Yay!! My nieces had fun playing with it on Memorial Day when they came over. I wish there would have been 2 of them. It does a good reverse and you can steer it. 

 The BFD concert was a long lineup of bands : The Dirty Nil, Glorious Sons, Bad Wolves, Thrice, LIVE, In this Moment, Seether, and Shinedown.  We missed the first 3 bands because Todd didn't want to go down there in the heat all day. I did want to see Bad Wolves but it was a good compromise because we still got to see 5 bands.  It was soooo fun!! We went to this event 3 years ago when Shinedown was headlining then.  I was not too familiar with Thrice but i ended up liking them. There were people that knew every word to their songs so they were popular.  Live was of course excellent and one of the main reasons i bought the tickets. That was my 3rd time to see them and i saw Ed Kowalcyk when he was solo.   In this Moment was a shocker. They were very much all about the theatrical side and WOW did they!! Truthfully, i wasn't a fan of them live but have since listened to them on Spotify and i like many of their songs. The singer is female and she's a screamer.
Seether was flipping AWESOME and i would definitely see them again !!  Shinedown never disappoints and they were the headliner for a reason. Great stage performance - lots of fire and lights, etc.  I just really enjoy them and pretty much like every song they do.  It was a great concert and i got my moneys worth!

Oh did i mention i got a tattoo our last day in Amsterdam? I got a raven for my mom. When she turned 50 she got a raven tattoo, i was going to do the same last year when i turned 50 but didn't quite make it.  I am so happy with it! 

Our gardenia bush that smells amazing the second you open the back door. I am so happy to have it! 

Yesterday, we were under Severe weather and tornado alerts in our area. My supervisor came running out of her office and told all of us to head home now because it was heading our way. Some funnels had already been seen and wasn't sure if they were going to touch down. A few minutes from home, the radio broadcast told exact times that the weather was hitting our area. It was 2:07 on my clock and the storm was going to be over our house at 2:20. The alert said clearly to Take Cover!! I rushed home and let dogs out of kennel and we ran outside in the rain so they could take potty break. I was yelling Hurry Hurry hurry!! Then we ran into house and i scooped them up and got into bathtub.  The dogs were so good and they could tell something was up. They didn't fuss and try to jump out .  Once it passed over- we had thunder and sideways rain, we got out.  Todd is in New York and Jersey this week on business. They too were under tornado watch. 

Everything is Ok at our house. Just debris and leaves to pick up but no damage. Unfortunately, the tornado hit down an hour east of us and tore things up pretty bad. They got hit last year too so its so sad.  I saw today that the US has had over 500 tornados in the last 30 days. yikes!! 

Stay safe!!

HOLLIween 2015

Well now we have our 4th annual Holliween party under our belts. It was this past Saturday and I was ready!! I've been decorating for a month. Todd said it was my best year for decorations.  I have a theme for decorations and a different theme for costumes.  This years decorating theme was Ravens. I have dozens of Raven decorations everywhere. I also bought quite a few LED signs.  My decorations will be part 2. 

We have chili with all the fixings every year ( Fritos, cheese, sour cream, onions), we had queso and dips and chips and Todd cooked a brisket and chopped it up for BBQ sandwiches. They were heavenly! I made sangria again like last year and it was delicious. We didn't do a beer keg this year instead we bought cases of beer with different types. 

We had lots of fancy cheeses and salamis and crackers. No one went hungry that's for sure! 

The theme for costumes this year was to dress from an era. It's funny because last year was the first year I had a theme for costumes and it was the biggest turnout for people dressing up.  I think if we narrow things down, people like that better. Now you'll always have people go against the grain and dress up that's nothing to do with theme but we don't care. Halloween is supposed to be fun and no pressure. A night to be whatever you want to be.  

Todd and i dressed up from the Greek/ Roman time period.  I bought our costumes and accessories from EBay.   I normally always make my own costume but I just have so much going on I didn't feel bad that I cheated.  

We had about half the people show up this year than last year but we had many that were sick. The bug is going around here in Dallas pretty strong.  We also were having torrential rain storms and flooding and I just don't think people liked getting out in it.  Luckily, it stopped raining that evening and it didn't rain all night.  

We had a total of 27 people and it was a nice group of friends.  I'm so happy for those who came.  I have only the picture that I took and a few that some have sent me.  So here ya go: 

It was so much fun and we announced at the party what next years theme is: MASQUERADE.  I have no idea how to decorate the house but I have a year to figure it out.  

Have a great Monday y'all!! 

Raveneye

Every morning on the way to church on Sunday, i listen to our rock station here in Dallas The Eagle 97.1 KEGL. Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue is the DJ and he hosts his Sideshow  Countdown.  He plays new and emerging artists and i hear many bands first this way before their songs get regular play. I was listening to this song and was really liking it and thought they sounded like one of my favorite bands The Toadies.  They favored each other a lot but parts of the song here and there i knew it wasnt them.  I used my Shazam app on phone to see who it was because i didnt want to risk them not announcing at the end of song and going straight to commercial without being able to identify the band and song.
It was a band called Raveneye and the song was Breaking Out.  They are a British band that formed last year in 2014.  They are considered hard rock and with some bluesy and alternative sounds.  They are currently on tour opening for Slash . Slash got his fame mostly from being the lead guitarist of Guns N Roses. Slash was also part of Velvet Revolver and i was HUGE fan of them and their albums!!  He wears his signature top hat and even has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.
 I like this band RavenEye  and i'm excited to have found out about them.
Heres the song- tell me what you think.

Here is something funny/weird/cool- i've been telling yall for a while that my next tattoo is going to be a raven and something musical . The raven represents my mom and the music represents my dad.
My mom owned an Indian art gallery in Georgetown, Colorado years ago called The Ravens Eye.
I carry her old business card with me because i'm getting the exact raven from the card for my tattoo.
So i already had a fondness for Raven's Eye and then i hear a band with same/similar name!!!
Awesomeness!

Have a great Wednesday yall! We are supposed to get to 99 and not creep to 100 plus.

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting

Hey guys, I've still been swamped at work and I have a quick break so I wanted to post more pics of Montana. I cant believe this week has flown by so quickly and thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.
Hope all is well in blog land for my friends and followers. 

Mom has chipmunks that live in her wood pile on porch. She feeds them well.

Lady of the Rockies- look her up. Butte Montana- Shes awesome!

Deers match the field

wild horses

We had a picnic in Yellowstone park- this is Mom and Sydney

Have you ever seen red mushrooms? There was a whole patch of them.

Raven standing tall

And there were 2 -Ravens
 

Taking off in flight , crossing the street right over us

Very proud of this pic with my phone

Look closely but both are on the tree. One at top and one on left branch in the middle

Antler arches are on all 4 corners of the square in Jackson Hole

Famous bronze cowboy sculptor made by Bud Boller. Mom worked for him when she moved to Wyoming. he was great family friend.

Don't feed the bears. hehe  ( art in Jackson)

Um, just a little Grand Tetons humor...

This was a service dog on our plane. The guy was mean and onry that morning to others but nice to her.

When boarding and departing the plane in Jackson hole, Wy.- You have to go down the steps and walk down the runway into the terminal. This was 7:20 am and sun coming up over the mountains. Gorgeous!

Grand Tetons


Seeing the ravens were a really big deal.  You see, Mom's only tattoo is of a raven and I am planning on getting the exact same one on the back of my neck very soon. We had intentions of pulling over in the park at a shady spot to have lunch so that mom can be in the shade. At some point, we ran out of shade and just pulled over. That's when we saw the ravens.  I truly believe they were they for me and mom.