Compared to the events in 2013-2014, 2015 was a calm year. This doesn't mean dull though, plenty happened in 2015.

We kicked off the new year at a pajama party thrown by our friends Brian and Valerie, at their business, the La Dolce Vita Tasting Room in Big Bear. The year started with wine, bongo drums, and intentionally bad beat poetry. A few days later, we turned our house over to our contractor for an extensive remodel. We took the house down to the studs and added rooms. The house was originally slated to be ready for Dan's birthday last July, but due to delays, we have our fingers crossed that it will be finished by this July. Although slow, we are overjoyed with the progress. The house has been a very consuming project, with endless decisions and changes. I can't wait to have it done.

2015 was a year of travel. I spent nine nights in Las Vegas, six in Palm Springs, and three in San Diego. We drove to Utah to visit Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon. International travel took us to England, France, Spain, Gibraltar, Netherlands, and Belgium. Part of that included a two week Mediterranean cruise with my in-laws and step-kids!

I served Jury Duty for three weeks on a civil case in Downtown Los Angeles. Honestly, I was grumpy when I was first picked, but in the end, the process was fascinating. A guy tried to sue a cleaning company at the South Bay Mall, after he ran through the planters in an Ikea parking lot and tripped. He was unsuccessful in his lawsuit.

Dan's father visited in July and we went to see Dame Edna at the Ahmanson Theatre. Hilarious. Dan's parents both visited us in September, and I took them to see The Object Lesson at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. I've never been so surprised and delighted by a live performance. In London, we took the kids to their first big show, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

We went to several concerts; Old 97's, Brad Paisley ( Dan's first time at the Hollywood Bowl), and Sheryl Crow. We saw Eddie Izzard at the Hollywood Bowl and had our second NASCAR Experience.

With the exception of our vacations, I stuck to a workout schedule ( 3 days a week) with my trainer at the gym. The first half of the year, I lost over twenty pounds and was fitter than I've been in years. Vacation eating and my post-vacation- "let's keep the vacation going" mentality caused me to gain back about twelve pounds. I'm still happy though, feeling stronger and healthier than last year. There is a lot of toned muscles happening and I have decent endurance! In August, I began to add pilates into my routine, which is so much fun. I really look forward to the gym on pilates days, especially with the jump board. I feel like I'm in a circus!

I've continued work towards my three year fiction writing certificate through UCLA Extension. This year, I took seven classes, and I will wrap up the program by this coming spring. Although most of my course work focused on the completion and workshopping of my first novel, I also took Intermediate Short Story and Intro to Poetry. The idea of poetry intrigued and scared me, but I rose to the challenge and found a new form of writing to love.

The big news of the year happened around my birthday, when I learned that my novel had been nominated for The James Kirkwood Prize. I had been nominated by novelist Caroline Leavitt, whom with I took Story Structure for the Novel, last winter. I was elated and it was huge boost when I was starting to have doubts about my story. I didn't win, but that's okay, I was just so thrilled to have been picked.

Speaking of books, I read sixty-five this year!

2015 was mostly happy and calm. I'm grateful to have made so many happy memories with friends and family.

Last Friday night, I was super excited to take Dan on his first trip to The Hollywood Bowl. I was even more excited that we bought last minute tickets for Brad Paisley's Crushin' It World Tour. Many years ago, I saw Paisley at The Staples Center and I've been dying to see him again. He puts on a phenomenal show.

I needed to give Dan a proper Hollywood Bowl experience, so I spent Friday afternoon scurrying around Glendale, assembling a picnic basket. A cheese and cracker spread, sandwiches from Honeybaked and cupcakes from Sprinkles = mission accomplished. Since this was a licensed event, we couldn't pack alcohol. We ended up buying sixteen dollar Golden Road beers at the venue. Gulp. Sangria was twenty-eight dollars a glass. Not kidding. Double gulp. ( actually nobody can afford a double gulp at these prices!)

Parking is never easy at the bowl. We parked at the Los Angeles Zoo and spent twelve dollars for two round trip bus tickets. Dan said that he felt like he was on a "Prison Bus." I told him to refrain from judgement until after the concert. In my experience, the zoo shuttle is always easy-peasy on the trip to the bowl and a nightmare coming back. Sure enough, we were in a mob leaving and herded on the bus like cattle, where we stood up for the ride back. That said, it's probably the easiest and cheapest option.

We arrived all smiles and ready for the concert.

My favorite part of the night was running into a Judy. I had not seen Judy in an embarrassing number of years and she wins for the giving the best hugs.

We had seats in the Terrace boxes. These were the best seats that I've ever had for any show at the bowl. Unfortunately, we bought our tickets so last minute, that we couldn't take advantage of ordering dinner to our box. That would have been a worthy splurge. The boxes did come with a table that attaches to the side and even though it was a little unstable, it was nicer than having to eat our food on our laps, like I normally do in the bench seats. We did take advantage of the servers when they came around with beer during the concert, which was only twelve dollars. If we had to leave the show, we wouldn't have bought more beer. They made it super convenient. I have no idea what we were drinking, but we were at a country concert, so it didn't much matter!

Our boxes held four people, but no one showed up to take the two seats behind us. We were entertained and annoyed by the "show" going on in the box directly in front of us. Two very young and very drunk girls showed up. One looked a lot like Amber Portwood from Teen Mom and the other was a super skinny blonde with a big chin. They both wore tight, skimpy dresses and heels, which they couldn't properly walk in. They messily ate a pile of food and then the Amber clone left and came back with two guys. They were Los Angeles frat boy types, but dressed redneck-ish with trucker caps, a really hideous American flag button down. The boys were loud and high-fiving. We quickly caught on that the girls had snuck the guys in to use the other two seats in their box, but that they were all strangers.

The super loud guy of the pair started calling his other friends on his cell, making plans for them to "hop a fence", telling them that they had a spot for them in our section. The only spot was empty seats in our box. The kid tried to sweet talk us into giving him our tickets to sneak his friends in. No go.

In front of us, the guys spent the entire concert feeling up the girls and making out. The girls split before the encore and the guys went chasing after them, having clearly been ditched.

Ha, Ha.

Back to the real show...

The first opener was a female singer named Mickey Guyton. She has a beautiful voice, but her songs all sounded similar. The only song that I recognized was her ballad, Better Than You Left Me. She began to cry while she was singing and rushed off of the stage.

Justin Moore was the other opener. I recognized about half of his songs. Good stuff. He dedicated If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away to his grandfather and he had everyone use their cell phones to make the bowl glitter. It was far more spectacular than any picture can do it justice.

Like Mickey, Justin was completely overwhelmed with emotion before he left the stage. Playing such an incredible and enormous venue to a sold-out show, must be overwhelming.

Finally Brad took the stage. He started the show with River Bank, revealing a set that included a working bar with patrons and a giant video screen to change the theme for each song.

There was a hunting lodge for I'm Still a Guy, during which he was joined by Justin Moore. Mickey Guyton joined him for Whiskey Lullaby. He did a virtual duet with Carrie Underwood, pre-done, not live, for Remind Me. A fun surprise came when he pulled two kids on stage to play Mario Kart on the big screen, while he created a very frantic soundtrack on the guitar. He gave away his hat, an autographed guitar and for a few songs, he walked to a small stage in middle of the bowl, so those in the back could have a better view. I've seen this done in a few concerts ( Keith Urban, Taylor Swift) and it's always a cool gesture for the fans.

My only disappointment in the show was self-imposed. On Brad Paisley's Facebook, he mentioned surprises for the show. Since I live in Los Angeles and it happens a lot at concerts, I thought that he was teasing a surprise guest appearance by another artist. I anticipated it the entire evening and when it didn't happen, I was mildly let down.

******I STAND CORRECTED****** - I have a quick revision to my original post and my paragraph above. When my review went live this morning, a reader on Twitter wrote to me, to let me know that the surprise that Brad posted, was actually the two comedians that came on stage to entertain us between the opening acts. I can't believe that I forgot to post about them, as they were both extremely funny and a quirky addition to a concert. Sarah Tiana and Jon Reep, each did a short set, hilarious, both of them. They were definitely a great surprise and a unique addition to Brad's show. Look them up and catch their shows. Good stuff.

Paisley filled his show with energy and played over twenty songs, all hits. I look forward to catching his concert the next time he comes to Los Angeles. Also, sitting in a box was the way to do the bowl. Now that I know the difference, I will splurge more often.

2015 Wrap-Up

Brad Paisley's "Crushin' It World Tour" at The Hollywood Bowl