My First Blogoversary

Today is my 1st blogoversary! When I started this blog a year ago, I had no idea how much I was going to love going on this journey. As I’ve written before, this blog came along at a time in my life when I needed an outlet and it has been a great catalyst in my life. I’ve also been able to connect with some fantastic people from all around the world. I’m a Georgia girl, who came across the Atlantic and settled in England, and then kept traveling around the world everyday on this magic carpet that we call the blogosphere. I've met some great friends. What a ride! (smile) 

During this past year, I have had lots of fun along with some low points, but in the end, it’s all been great to look back on the highs and lows. And it’s all been great to experience it all alongside my hubby Brit Boy. 

Here are some of the things that I experienced and enjoyed sharing here on my blog during this first year of blogging: 

April 2008 - I got my unlimited leave to remain visa, which allows me to settle here and that was a wonderful step. We celebrated our wedding anniversary and the visa by going to see the play “Speed the Plow” starring Jeff Goldblum. 

June 2008 – We went to Wimbledon... what a thrill that was. We attended the Nelson Mandela birthday concert and we were able to see him speak briefly which was very moving. 

August 2008 – We went to the Madonna concert in Wales. 

September 2008 – We went to the Stevie Wonder concert. He was amazing! Stevie Wonder is Brit Boy’s favorite singer, so my hubby’s grin was a mile wide during the concert (smile) 

October 2008 – I was in the thick of trying to get my absentee ballot in for the election and after many attempts I got it in. This showed me that I have more persistence than I ever imagined. LOL. 

December 2008 – We went to the Simply Red concert. And at the tail end of the month, I had my visit to the US Embassy and it turned out well. On that day, Brit Boy and I got separated twice and found each other again, but I discovered for the first time since I’ve been here that I’m still able to take care of myself. And that was a great turning point for me, since I’ve relied so heavily on my husband since I’ve been here. I loved that day! (smile) 

Since the start of 2009, the big events have slowed down a bit, but it’s still been fun to share my life experiences with all of you my dear readers and commenters who make my day when you come to visit me. So I want to say a big thank you to you all!!!! (smile) This blog wouldn’t be what it is without you all. And thank you to all of my fellow bloggers for welcoming me into this world….what a pleasure!

The Concert

I’m finally getting a chance to post about the Stevie Wonder concert. Sorry for the delay, it’s been a hectic couple of days for us, but now I’m able to get back here to share. Thanks for coming back to visit. :-)

So we went to the Stevie Wonder concert in London on Thursday night and it was simply the most sublime experience. Stevie Wonder is a living legend and in his case, this description totally fits. I have always loved him for being the peace-loving man that he is and for his playfulness. Many times during his performance he would joke about things. He just has a beautiful spirit. He inspires me. And he is a glorious singer. There is just something in his voice that I can’t describe that just makes you feel good. But you all know about Stevie’s voice…we just love him. :-)

In the lobby area of the O2, there is this light fixture that I just love and I have had a photo of it here before, but this time, it was illuminated. It flashes blue and just glows at night. I love it. Here’s a photo.



We walked around the outer concourse and soaked up the atmosphere of all of the other Stevie Wonder fans. I love this area. It is full of restaurants and is always vibrant when there is something going on at the O2. As I have mentioned before, it is like a little village to a point and it is great for people-watching.

Once they opened the gates to go into the arena, we made our way to the food stands. They have some good food in there. Brit Boy had a hotdog and I had some Chinese food. I had shrimp chow mein. Here’s a photo. It was really tasty.



The concert was great. Stevie had his daughter Aisha there as one of his backup singers. She sang a song on her own too. She is the inspiration for his hit “Isn’t She Lovely”. I remember hearing that she was the inspiration before, but it was just cool to see her in the flesh.

At one point during the concert he said that he had started out touring back in 2006, but he cancelled all of his shows for a while because he was so torn apart by his mother’s passing. He said that he had lost the first love of his life when she died. But then he decided to get back out on the road and make his mother proud, because he knows that she would want him to go on. He said that he realized that she would always be with him and that gives him strength. His mother passed in May 2006, the day after his birthday. He said he found comfort in having spent his birthday with her. So now he is out there again, sharing his gift with the world. :-)

Since the concert was on the anniversary of 9-11, he asked for a moment of silence to remember those who died.

Brit Boy and I were just thrilled to be at the concert. We would sing along and poke each other because we couldn’t believe that we were there. Stevie played a lot of his hits and the crowd just loved it! He just kept launching into songs and I kept saying to myself, “ I forgot that one…wow!” He has just made some great, great music and you just forget that so many favorite songs are by him. It was hard to get a photo in the dark on the camera phone, but here are a couple of blurry photos anyway of all the fun.


My two favorite Stevie Wonder songs are “Lately” and “As”. So when he played the first few notes of “Lately”, I just had a chill down my spine. Oh my gosh! I love, love, love that song and to see Stevie Wonder sing this live was one of the greatest memories of my life now. His voice was just sublime as it rang out around the arena. And I had to squeeze Brit Boy’s hand, because it was just one of those moments where you say, “Can life get any better?” :-) It was a wonderful moment and I tell you, my mind just went elsewhere for those moments. I was floating. I guess you can tell I liked it.

The whole concert was just great and Stevie Wonder and his whole band are just true artists. Stevie even had someone to help him stand on his piano bench at one point in his performance. He is a true performer.

He ended the concert with my other favorite song, “As”. Behind him, during the concert, he had different images on a screen and this just added to the vibe. So when he ended with “As”, the screen said like the song says, he’ll be loving us always. And Stevie, we’ll be loving you too!

Going to See Stevie Wonder

We are heading into London tomorrow to see Stevie Wonder and Brit Boy and I can't wait!! Stevie is Brit Boy's fave singer and I have always loved Stevie too, so we will be singing all the way to the O2. (laugh) I look forward to telling all about it when we get back.

Stevie and Memories of the Rain

Things have calmed down a bit since our trip to London for Wimbledon and the Nelson Mandela birthday concert, but there’s always fun around the corner. (smile) We have another event to add to our calendar for 2008. As I have written about before , we are going to see Madonna in Cardiff on August 23rd. Well Brit Boy and I can’t stop it seems, just yet. We are having to cut back like everyone out there, but we had to get one more event in for this year and then it is cold turkey withdrawal for “gig heads” like us. (laugh) We found out that Stevie Wonder is touring again and he is coming to the UK! He is Brit Boy’s favorite singer and he is a great, great favorite of mine, so we simply couldn’t pass up the chance to see this living legend in person. We often sit around and go through our list of who we have seen and who we still want to see perform. I told Brit Boy that we should write down our list to keep it all straight. (smile)

Anyway, we are going to see Stevie Wonder in London in September. We will go up for the concert and then come right back. And then we have promised ourselves that we are keeping our gig tendencies under control for a while. (smile) But we are just so, so excited! We have been really lucky to see so many wonderful performers in the last couple of years…from new artists to bonafide legends. So I will certainly share our experience of the concert here in my blog. We can’t wait for the show.

Yesterday I went out with Brit Boy while he went to see a client. He likes to have me come along for the ride. We had quite a distance to go yesterday…far into the Wiltshire countryside, to a sweet little town called Mere. It’s a lovely little place with cozy houses that are centuries old. The ride down that way of the world is always great. Yesterday though, we drove down there through continuous rain and it never let up. Here is a photo of the rainy weather that we traveled through.



Brit Boy remarked that it reminded him of our drive down that way about four years ago. Back then, we were on our way to Stourhead, which is the lovely place where Brit Boy proposed to me, on a sweet little footbridge. Stourhead is a huge country estate that is part of the National Trust. The National Trust is entrusted with caring for and preserving places like this and Stourhead is just gorgeous. To give you an idea of how picturesque it is, when we were there, they were filming the latest big screen version of Pride and Prejudice. It’s a very romantic setting.So anyway, on the day that we were driving down there, it was pouring down rain and then the rain was also coming at us sideways. (laugh) It was absolutely drenching, but it didn’t rain when we got there that day. So it turned out beautiful on the day we were engaged.

Yesterday, it certainly brought back memories for us. However this time, the rain never let up. It seems that July is going to be a wet month. But we are counting our blessings because the rain stayed away when we were at Wimbledon and at the Mandela concert. It couldn’t have turned out better.