Birthday Finale

Sorry this post is a few days late.  Here is the conclusion to my birthday weekend.

One present I knew about in August was the concert tickets. Friday evening in State College, PA the a capella group “Straight No Chaser” was performing. We first heard of this group in May when the Moms group at our church had some of our local guys lip-sync to a couple of their songs at our Mother’s Day Dinner. This group is made up of 10 guys from Indiana University. They formed this group while in college. When they graduated, they went their separate ways. A video on You Tube went viral and the rest as they say is history. Now they travel around and give fantastic concerts with only their voices and microphones.



So after the boys were delivered to school, I headed out to do a little shopping. I needed a new dress for the concert. After two and a half hours of searching, the dress was found and we were packed. The boys were being picked up from the bus stop by Mimi and Papa and would stay the night with them. The dog was being cared for by a fabulous neighbor and friend.


My wonderful honey and I enjoyed the two-hour trip and got checked into our hotel. We had just enough time to change our clothes and get “gussied” up then head out the door if we were going to eat before the concert. After I had my dress on, I realized I had forgotten three things: a necklace, not a big deal – the front of my dress had beading on it and really didn’t need a necklace; fancy earrings, again not a big deal, I had worn small gold hoops, they would do; my curling iron, big deal.


My hair was not in the best shape after the shopping and the car ride. I called the front desk in hopes they had a spare curling iron tucked away somewhere. No such luck. I struggled on. I ran my hands through my short locks hoping it would help but it only made matters worse. Then I remembered the “Turtleneck Hairdo” of 1996.


My man and I had only been dating a short time and he invited me to go to the first annual company Christmas party with him. My mom and I ran to the mall the day of the event to find a dress. I was wearing a turtleneck shirt and pulled it off and on so many times I thought my cheeks were going to have friction burns. We found a dress at the very last minute and rushed home to get ready. The doorbell rang just as my mom said, “Your Hair!!” We had been focusing on the makeup, dress, and accessories and had not thought about my hair. After her moment of panic, she looked at my head and said, “It actually looks pretty good.” I glanced in the mirror and saw it did look really good. I grabbed my coat and had a great time at the party.


Knowing I only had a minute or two, I tried the turtleneck gamble (without the turtleneck). I gave my head a good shake and nervously opened one eye and peaked in the mirror. Voila! I had done it once again. My hair looked like I had spent at least 15 minutes on it. It was dinner out and concert ready.


After dinner at The Tavern (delicious does not do the meal justice) we headed to the Eisenhower Theater where The Straight No Chaser guys sang for two hours with three encores. We laughed, sang along quietly when we could, and loved every minute of it.


With a birthday like this, maybe I will turn 37 again next year.