Her First Concert

Last night we took The Pea to her first-ever concert: Lady Gaga's Born This Way Ball at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.  As far as first concerts go, this one turned out to be a Monster one, thanks to concert sponsor Skype, and I'm hoping she'll forgive the lameness of the fact that she attended her first concert with her mom and dad, and focus on what an amazing time she had.

Watch Out, Simon Cowell, Here I Come

I'm sad that I won't get to see Paula's drunken antics, but seeing Simon will more than make up for it.

I love Simon Cowell. He's blunt to the point of rudeness, and he doesn't care a fig for what other people think about him. He also happens to be very good at what he does, and no matter how many people boo his opinions on American Idol, he most often turns out to be right. He's my American (ok, British) idol, and in two weeks I get to see him in the flesh!

Okay, that was only half a lie. Simon Cowell will not be appearing before me in his birthday suit, nor am I going to be near enough to him to even see much of his flesh, but I will be in the same theater as Simon and Randy and Kara and Ellen and Shakira and the American Idol contestants, because I'm going to the American Idol finals.

Yes, you heard me right, I'm going to the American Idol finals!

Cue wild screaming and American Idol theme song.

Last week was a great week for me; I won some really nice random prizes, received a kickass Mother's Day present (check out this post to see my loot), and best of all, got enough of my readers to help me win a blogger contest sponsored by Cafe Press. The prize was a trip for two to LA, hotel accommodations and tickets to the final performance and results show on May 25 and 26. I don't even know how one gets tickets to these shows, and even if I did I probably wouldn't be able to afford them -- and now I have two! I'm taking my sister (Alfie decided he didn't want to waste spare two vacation days watching American Idol, and I have to admit I'm kind of grateful to him for that, since I get to have a fun trip with my sister before she packs up and leaves California).

If only I were actually following American Idol this season.

Um, yeah, that's one tiny detail that I have to mention. I've been an American Idol fan since Season 1, but I've added so many shows to my evening tv program that I had to start dropping some of them, and American Idol was one of the victims. So I've been keeping tabs on the contestants but haven't gotten emotionally invested in them like I did before (the memory of Daughtry being cut still hurts like a knife, but since he came out on top I'm not holding any grudges against Taylor Hicks or the Soul Patrol). That's not going to keep me from enjoying myself to the max, though. I'm still excited as hell at the prospect of hearing the contestants sing live (I'm sure it's going to be a different experience from seeing it on tv), watching Shakira perform, and going celebrity watching.

And of course, there's Simon Cowell. At this point I have no idea where I'll be sitting, but I hope he'll be close enough to read the glitter-glue, strobe-light I LOVE YOU SIMON sign I'll be waving. Even if he doesn't, maybe the cameras will focus on it and everyone watching at home will be able to shout and scream, "That's Bonggamom!"

I can't wait!

Yet another Disney post

I know I've been posting a lot about Disneyland these days, but I'm still on cloud nine after the wonderful Disney trip and fun Disney mom blogging event we attended the previous weekend. Mom bloggers and their families were treated to a special night at Disney's Grand (and boy, it really is grand) California hotel with lots of food, festivities and fun.

I just met a girl named Maria

Yesterday I attended a Maria Shriver book signing event and met the First Lady of California in person. I got to mingle and chat with the awesome bloggers of the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, have Maria sign me a copy of her wonderfully inspirational book, Just Who Will You Be? (read my full review here), and chow down on scoopfuls of Lovin' Scoopful, the new ice cream that she and her brother created (read my full review here).

You can read more about what we did and what she said here , and you can read about the stupid things that happened to me during the event here. For now I'm content to reflect upon what I thought and felt.


As I stood back and listened to her speak, my initial impression was, There you have it, The Best of America, right in front of me. Looking at her, it's impossible not to be reminded of the incredible legacy she bears; it's in her hair, in her face, in her voice, and it hits you like a punch in the face. The blood of JFK, Bobby Kennedy and Ted Kennedy runs in her veins. Her father founded the Peace Corps; her mother, the Special Olympics. She's married to a superstar and a governor. She's a famous journalist in her own right.

The only thing we have in common is our first name, Maria.

But as she spoke and answered questions, I got a little glimpse of the Maria behind all of that.

Ways Maria Shriver is not like me (besides the money, the career, the husband, the famous family):

She's punctual.
She dresses like she stepped out of Vanity Fair.
She looks like she weighs about as much as my right thigh.
She's at ease with anyone and everyone.
She finds the time to do a million things and be a million things every day.
Because she knows how to prioritize and say No.


Ways Maria Shriver is like me:

She has a hunky husband (ok, I had to write that out of loyalty; truth is, I think maybe Ahnuld might be a little bit hunkier than Alfie)
She comes from a big Catholic family.
She's a mom.
She thinks parenthood is the hardest job in the world but she doesn't want to be seen as just a mom.
She gets insecure, tired, and stressed.
She wants to make the most of her "wild and precious life".



So when it was my turn to meet her, I felt a rush of affinity. We spoke for a couple of minutes. And after it was all over, I was left with one thought: She gets what I'm going through.

Maria Shriver and I are totally soulmates!