13 January 2011

Nine Degrees

On Tuesday I called my grandmother. I was on my way home from work and thought I'd give her a call. New England (and Rhode Island and Massachusetts in particular) was expecting some pretty decent snow and I wanted to check in with her. I figured if Grandma was anything like my mom, she was thinking maybe she could make it into work Wednesday morning. I wanted say hi and and let her know that she was too important to us and not nearly important enough at her part-time job at "the Dunkin Donut" to attempt to drive. Texas, in the meantime has been in the middle of a cold snap. Our conversation went something like this:

Grandma: Hi Nichole
Nichole: Hi Grandma. I hear you all are due for some snow.
G: Are you calling to rub it in since you're in Texas?
N: Ha ha, Grandma with the windchill it was nine degrees this morning when I left the house. It is COLD here right now. I am so not calling to gloat. I'm calling to make sure you don't try to go to work tomorrow...

She assured me she wouldn't go to work and we lamented that my mom was sure to try to drive in to work in the morning no matter what and moved on to talking about our mutual dislike of Rex Ryan and the Jets. I adore my grandmother. She and her husband dress alike when they go out (matching shirts and the like). She worked hard all her life. She has been incredibly supportive of her children and grandchildren.

I'll admit it, I'm her favorite. Ha ha. I think if you asked her she'd admit it too...maybe not. But everyone else will tell you I'm her favorite too. Ha! She's not as active as she used to be, but when I was younger she used to take me on trips with her - Florida, Virginia, Martha's Vineyard. I spent many many weekends at her house. I'd leave and not look back, even though the only board game she would agree to play with me was bingo. I had fun just hanging out with her, going to the market or to the local high school for band stuff. All her friends knew who I was - Pam's daughter - and I remember a lot of them, even to this day. Most of my first memories are memories of that time spent with Grandma in Somerset. My sister never wanted to go, she hated leaving my mom. So a lot of the time it was just Grandma and me. So you can see why I thought she was too important to go out in the blizzard and I'm glad she agreed with me.

02 January 2011

Good Show



I love Matchbox Twenty. I have for many years. I've been fortunate enough to have seen them in concert three times now. It's always a good show. Nothing terribly flashy, just good music. I think my favorite of the three was the Jones Beach concert the summer of 2001. What's better than a concert at an amphitheatre on the water? And Train was the opening act that night. Last night's New Year's show was still a good show. No opening act, just 2 hours of mb20 music. They didn't play all of my faves - I would have loved to hear Mad Season or Last Beautiful Girl, but they did play Back 2 Good which is my all time favorite by them. And when you have three CDs and a new one coming out this year, you can't possibly fit everyone's favorite into 2 hours. I had great seats though - about 12 rows back. The acoustics were good, the band sounded great, I'd see them again with no hesitation. They're only one of two groups that I've seen more than twice - the other is Aerosmith. So if MB20 comes back through on tour with the new album in 2011, sign me up!

**the above clip isn't from last night (obviously, with the multiple camera shots), it's from when they did StoryTellers on VH1 a few years ago
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