Garth Brooks Concert in Tulsa.

Back in late October/early November, my husband discovered that Garth Brooks was going on tour. You wouldn't have known he was a big fan just by looking at him. I mean, it's not like Thunder Rolls is his ringtone, he talks about him all the time, or even owns a cowboy hat. But let me tell you, he LOVES his music. So when he mentioned to me that it would be cool to see him in concert, I was on board. I knew he would be filling one of his bucket list items by seeing him in concert, it would make a fun date night for us, and Christmas was right around the corner, so we could purchase the tickets as a gift for each other. And then the hard reality came...Garth wasn't going to be playing in Texas.  

So, we made the decision that would would drive to Tulsa, OK since that was his closest show. We purchased the tickets (stressful thanks to the overload of ticketmaster fans trying to purchase tickets too, that the site kept freezing up on us.), and then we waited for the weekend of the show.

On the drive down, Jearen played Garth's greatest hits, and I remembered so many songs that I had forgotten about. I fell in love with some. I learned the words to some (like Baton Rouge!), and had fun singing (or I should say yelling) along with my husband as he drove us. 

We arrived on time to the concert, but I was SO out of it. I had no appetite, a headache, my body ached, no energy. Not exactly how I wanted to feel going into a high energy, highly anticipated concert. It was so bad that when Jearen left to get me some sprite, I started to fall asleep in my chair. With thousands of people around. At a concert. Ha, I must have been embarrassing. 

Despite feeling totally off, I still wanted to make the most of this trip we just drove all the way out for. We sat on the very last row, which sounds like a bummer, but turned out to be perfect. We got to stand to any song we wanted to, without anyone behind us telling us to sit (this happened to people in front of us down the row, who kept being told to sit by some REALLY old fans, haha). We got to sing at the top of our lungs to our favorite songs, and had so much fun.

I must say, I was HIGHLY impressed with Garth Brook's performance. He had put out a new cd earlier in the year, and I wasn't sure what he would play. Besides playing two songs from his neweset album, he played his GREATEST HITS, which was perfect, since I just had a crash course on all of that songs. That man can sing and entertain a crowd!

After the concert, I was running to the nearest gas station for some headache medicine. I didn't have any medicine available since I have been using Young Living Essential Oils (and haven't had any medicine since that night). I was desperate to feel better, and nothing seemed to help. 

Still don't know why or what made me feel so bad that Friday, but I am so glad we got to go to that concert. (And felt fine the next day)

I left a bigger Garth Brooks fan than when we first arrived, and got to make memories with my husband.

Who is on your bucket list to see in concert?! If the opportunity arrives to see them, GO! You won't regret it! :)

Becky

2nd Annual Twelve Dates of Christmas!

Last year, my husband and I took part in Twelve Dates of Christmas, something I had discovered on Pinterest. I blogged each date and it easily became something I wanted to do again. Around Thanksgiving, I began picking my brain to come up with new ideas for this year to begin a tradition of Christmas dates. Last year, I was in a Christmas production at my church, and felt like my time was so sparse. The idea of having the twelve dates was a way to make sure we were spending time together during the busy holiday season. Being the planner that I am, I spent HOURS trying to think of unique dates, putting them in the calendar, and making sure I had anything I needed to go with it. I knew it wouldn't go exactly as planned, and it hasn't (thanks to friends offering us tickets to things & what not), but at least I was putting forth the effort. I've had several people tell me how cute the ideas were and how they wish they were doing something similar.

My hope is that YOU will be inspired to create something like this for you and your loved one. It doesn't have to cost a lot of money (several of our dates were free minus a meal),  and it really isn't about the money. It's about the time spent together! I'm a picture person, so I like to document our dates with photos of everything. Thankfully my husband has learned to just roll with it and laughs at my camera obsessed life :). The memories we create through these dates make this Christmas season so special to me. Ladies, it's ok if your ideas are cheesy...it doesn't have to be a serious event every time. For goodness sake, I made salt dough ornaments during one of our dates. We have no children, nor do we really need more ornaments for the tree, but I had all the ingredients and it passed the time during the crazy ice storm we experienced, haha.

Instead of blogging each date this year, I've clumped it up into one post. Here is what we did this year on our 12 Dates of Christmas.

1. Lunch at Jearen's favorite restaurant & Christmas shopping. We needed a new tree topper as ours broke over the years, so we found the perfect one at Target.      

2. Dinner at the Iron Cactus in Dallas with our friends Caleb & Rachel (who also do a twelve dates of Christmas!!) then attended KISS FM's Jingle Ball (thanks to free tickets from our friends!)

3. Dallas Mavericks Basketball Game (we were given tickets to this as well!)

4. Texas Ice Storm '13- Made Homemade Chili & Carrot Cake/sledding/salt dough ornaments/self timer christmas pics (free)

5. Husband took me to doctor for a cough, watched Home Alone 1 & 2 (free)

6. Shopping & Dinner in Southlake

7. Shopping & Dinner in Irving

8. Dart Rail to Dallas' Klyde Warren Park (free, besides the dart tickets)

9. Texas Tenors Concert at Grapevine Opry House (tickets were given to us)

10. Dinner w/ Friends & looking at Christmas lights

11. Still deciding between ice skating (already purchased groupon) or dollar theater. This date is TONIGHT!

12. Christmas Day- opening presents/watching movies

I'm sure next year's dates will look completely different, but hopefully we can continue this tradition.
Ladies, let me know if you had any Christmas dates that are worth repeating! I'm always up for new ideas.

Becky

Zac Brown Band Concert!

As soon as the tickets were purchased, I looked forward to this concert! I knew some ZBB songs from the radio, but didn't purchase my first cd of theirs until Easter (part of Jearen's Easter basket that I gave him!) You Get What You Give is such a good album. Thanks to my friend Serena, we were able to get the other two albums to catch up before the concert. The music was so good, and it was a blast being their with our friends, Chase, Serena, Nick & Tiff, but I'll be honest, the crowd (from where we stood) was disappointing.

Don't get me wrong, it was PACKED, but we sat on the lawn and it seemed like we were stuck in high school at a football game. You know what I'm talking about...where everyone stands around to socialize and hang all over each other. Where the guys sneak in alcohol and the girls obviously did NOT dress that way when leaving the house! Yeah, we had to stand back there with that! Plus random chanting of "USA! USA! USA!" DURING the concert. (I'm patriotic, but know when to hush when someone is pouring their heart out while playing in front of thousands!) But hey, when "Chicken Fried" played, the kids stopped their annoying party to sing along. To which point we say "Hey, welcome to the CONCERT!" HAHAHA. Oh man! We have another concert to attend on the lawn in June (MUMFORD & SONS!) but after that, we learned our lesson: either get there EARLY to sit up closer on the lawn OR pay the extra $ for an actual seat!

-Becky

DATE 11: {Twelve Dates of Christmas!}

Jearen and I haven't had a full Saturday together in a while. Usually he plays football with some buddies on Saturday mornings and I usually have something going on, but not today. Today our only agenda was being together & finishing our Christmas shopping. Jearen had to work for a few hours though, so I slept in (hallelujah!) and took my time getting ready.

At noon Jearen picked me up to start our day date! Thanks to my Secret Santa from work, we had a Chick Fil A giftcard to use for lunch :)! After we ate, we braved the crowds at Grapevine Mills Mall to get a few things. Yes, we parked FOREVER away, but thankfully the weather is so nice that the walk was very pleasant. After the mall we headed to Target & spotted a group of dogs trying to be adopted outside of the store. We walked around to look at each one. Ive teased him that I wanted a puppy for Christmas for a few weeks now, but I'm sure my mind will change haha.

J then got a haircut & we bought some bags for all the gifts we got, then headed home to wrap them. That evening we had Steaks at my In-Laws and spent the rest of the evening with them laughing, watching YouTube videos & watching a Christmas movie together. Always blessed by Jearen & our families!!!!!

-Becky

DATE 10: {Twelve Dates of Christmas!}

This was the fanciest of our twelve dates! We got all dressed up, had a lovely Mexican dinner at Via Real in Irving, walked around Mustang Park in Williams Square (Las Colinas), & got Starbucks to look at Christmas Lights in Irving. It was nothing short of an amazing night together! I love Jearen! This date was fabulous!

-Becky