Baby's First Buffet Concert

Last night I was a lucky girl. My bestie from college, the one and only Beth Belluzzo, treated me to the Jimmy Buffet Concert at Jiffy Lube Live. Can you say Awesome! Hurricane Irene wiped out his original show date last weekend, so he postponed to last night which ended up being a crazy gorgeous evening.

The Belluzzo clan picked me up and we were on our way to Bristow to the new and not so improved Jiffy Lube Live venue. Back in the day, when it was Nissan Pavillion, it was the place to go to see a show. I spent many a night tailgating and listening to the likes of Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty, and John Mayer, at this place. It was always a good time...even the 2 hour back-up to get out of the parking lot always turned into a blast.

Well, not anymore.

For "safety reasons" Jiffy Lube Live recently banned all tailgating at their events including the always fun Jimmy Buffet tailgate. When we arrived, we were hoping to see some renegades sneaking their tiki bars and margarita machines, but instead, we saw many a police man and security escorting people out of the parking lot. No Loitering!!! It was a sad site...especially since the Belluzzo family is known to put on quite a party in the parking lot. We made the best of it with our waters, leis and fun sun glasses.


After being booted out of the lot, we made our way into the venue and found that while you could not drink in the parking lot, you could in the venue. So much for safety. And for a mere $13, you can get yourself a beer. WHAT?!!? Talk about outrageous.


P.S. Those weren't for me :) After getting over the initial shock of that news, we made our way to the not-so-crowded lawn and found a perfect spot courtesy of Mr. Belluzzo (Thanks Dad!).


As I mentioned, it was a gorgeous night and the concert was great so we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves - tailgating or not! :) And I can say, not only was it Baby's First Buffet...it was also Baby's First Second Hand Marijuana High! Some old guy about 50 feet away from us was toking all night long...gotta love a Buffet concert!


I had such a great time with my Beth - as always - and feel so lucky to have a friend like her in my life. When we are together we can talk about anything and can laugh so hard that we start crying. Everyone should have a friend like that in their life! Poochie girl - this one is for you!! :)


Where was Ed, you ask? Well, he was up in MD at the Redskins game having a good old time. And guess what. He was allowed to tailgate. :)

I leave you with some tuneage. Again...sorry the videos are jacked up. I thought I fixed it this time! Enjoy!

Make New Friends, But Keep the Old

God love the Brownies. It's amazing how lessons learned when you are 5 years old, sitting in a brown uniform wearing a beanie hat, apply throughout your life. Sure, the uniform and badges are long gone, but I can still appreciate that it's important to hold onto your friends of the past and make new ones as you move forward in this crazy thing called life. But I have to say, I'm not so sure about the "one is silver and the other is gold" part. To me, all my friends are Gold!! :)

This weekend, I was lucky enough to spend some quality time one of my very best friends from college AND some new friends from the neighborhood. Ed had to work on Saturday so rather than sit at home and do nothing, I was lucky enough to find myself in Arlington with my dear friend Beth ~ aka Poochie Girl.


Beth and I met Freshman year at JMU in the McGraw-Long dorm. She lived in the room next to mine and after meeting, we became instant friends. From meals to classes to parties to petty larceny (pulled a tulip out of the ground in front of our building ~ a big no no at JMU!), we did everything together. We had an obsession with taking pics of our butts - but I have to say, back then they looked pretty good!


Beth transferred to George Mason University in the middle of our sophomore year which saddened me greatly (we were roommates at that point), but we managed to stay in touch and stay friends. After graduation, we did lose touch, but with one phone call to my parent's house we reconnected, and now I can say that she is one of my best friends in the world. To know Beth is to know what it's like to be with the happiest, most loving, caring, wonderful person in the world. Her laugh is infectious as is her sunny disposition. I always know that when I am with Beth, I will have a great time and our lunch at Arlington Rooftop Bar and Grill did not disappoint. We don't get to see each other as often as I'd like, but when we are together, we know how to have a good time. I treasure her friendship and know she will be someone who will always be in my life. I love you Poochie Girl!!!!

After my wonderful time with Beth, I headed home to find some of the neighbors setting up tents in the common area near the house. It was the night of the Great American Backyard Camp Out and they were ready to get started. Now, if you know me, you know that I'm not a camping type girl ~ even when it is in my own backyard! But they managed to lure us over with their enticing margaritas and of course, their wonderful company.


We had a blast eating burgers and sausages, drinking batch after batch of margaritas, looking at old yearbook pictures (turns out I went to the same high school as neighbor Chris Newland - love the mullet), roasting marshmallows for s'mores and playing with the kids. Even Lucy got in on the action. I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are SO lucky to have the GREATEST neighbors who I can now call friends. Thank you guys for such a wonderful time and next year, we promise to get into the whole tent/sleeping outside thing!


As I said before, God love the Brownies. They really know what they are talking about.