A Truly Wonderful Day!

President Obama recently visited my area. I was absolutely overjoyed when I learned he was coming and equally disappointed when I learned that I'd missed my chance to get tickets to see him speak. So I did the next best thing, I bundled up my sweet Micah and we waited outside for the Presidential motorcade to pass by.

We waited on the main street he was to travel down for just over an hour before Our President drove by. I was so pleased to have my son, niece and nephew there to experience it too. I got a pretty decent video of the procession but it was kind of hard to do as Micah, naturally, had no idea what was going on would have no parts of staying in his stroller. So I had to hold him as I tried to capture this small, yet huge piece of wonderfulness on camera. I hope to share that video with you soon.

But in the meantime, I do have some pictures from that day's event that an old high school friend was kind enough to let me post here. This is Kim and her son Reece:
Kim's son wanted very badly to go see President Obama speak but she was unable to get tickets. For several days she was on Facebook asking anyone who had tickets to the event and couldn't attend to please pass them on to her so she could take her son. No such luck on that though so she was planning on taking him to see the motorcade like most of the people without tickets would most likely do.


I started hearing rumors late Thursday night about where President Obama was supposed to be going for lunch. I thought that maybe I'd take my chances and try to go there but I dismissed that idea just as fast figuring the Secret Service would have the place on lock down and wouldn't be the slightest bit swayed by Micah's sweet face and his chant of "OBAMA! OBAMA!" (Which eventually turned into a chant of OGRANDMA! OGRANDMA!) I never really thought of going to this place for more than about two minutes, literally. But Kim took her chances and headed to the restaurant/bar where Obama did in fact dine early Friday afternoon. Even better, she and her son were able to meet him and have this awesome photo-op! I'm so happy that her son will have such a wonderful memory and story to share with his own children someday. And I'm super grateful that she let me share the pictures with my readers!

I believe Kim will be stopping by and hopefully she will give us more details in the comments about how the experience was for the two of them...hint, hint!

Since the day that Oprah gave away Amazon's Kindle on one of her Favorite Things shows, my interests have been piqued in this new age of ereaders. However, I was never too serious about hunting around for the best product or to even see what was available on the market because of the high price tag. Until recently, that is.

And I'm so excited! I've been doing my research for the last several months and had my heart initially set on the Kindle, which I don't think anyone who knows about ereaders will argue, is the industry standard. It has all the bells and whistles, and I do like bells and whistles. But after further research and knowing my reading habits, I was quickly turned off to the Kindle when I realized that if I own this product, my book swapping days are essentially over. And avid readers know that books can be a huge social event as well as a self fulfilling pleasure. Not to mention that exchanging books with fellow readers saves lots of money for everyone involved. But then I stumbled upon the Barns & Noble Nook. WOOOHOOO! I immediately fell in love and found my ereader. It supports several different file formats and allows you to lend books to other Nook owners. Furthermore, it runs on the Android operating system which is growing by leaps and bounds daily. I could go on and on about the tech specs, but I won't. I'll just say that I'm in love! And mine is expected to ship on Feb. 12, just in time for a late birthday present, but right on time for Valentine's Day. And since my husband knows how much I've been drooling over this ereader, a combo gift is just fine with me, this year :)

If you'd like to check out the Nook for yourself, click here.

I've been thinking a lot about the power of music. The emotions that can arise when you take the time to listen to lyrics. Or the memories that seem to hit you like a ton of bricks because you remember that song was playing when (fill in the blank).

I was in bed the other day attempting to take a nap. I was listening to the radio spilling over from Micah's room. I couldn't fall asleep because my mind was racing from all the remembering. One song brougt back a memeory from high school. Just driving around aimlessly with my best girlfriend at the time singing at the top of our lungs just for the hell of it. But it is not only the memory that the song brings that I enjoy so much, it is the emotion. I can remember exactly the way I was feeling. I can remember how much fun I was having at that very moment and I can remember thinking that I want to remember this distinct moment for the rest of my life. And because of a song, I do. I think that is amazing!

Recently I was listening to my MP3 player and a particular song from my wedding started playing. I was on the verge of tears as I remembered dancing with my husband for the first time as a married couple. Then I realized I wasn't alone and needed to pull it together. Although I doubt most people forget special songs from their weddings, I am still surprised by the enormity of emotion that comes along with that particular song each and every time I hear it. You'd think that I would be used to it by now :)

Music speaks to me in so many different ways and on so many different levels. Music has the power to evoke tears of joy or make me sob like a small child who just skinned her knee for the first time. Music has the power to bring people together who would normally have nothing common. Music is truly magical.