Pottery, new friends, ketchup spills and Celtic Woman

Yesterday was quite a day!
I had a fun (and entertaining) lunch with a bloggy friend, Rachel, who met me IRL (that's "in real life"... haven't you seen "The Net" with Sandra Bullock?) to give me the beautiful pottery that I won during her bloggy anniversary contests! As you can see in the photo, below, the set has a place of honor on my hutch... and is just about the only splash of color on that thing. (Hmmm. I may need more Earthborn pottery!)
(BTW -- thanks, again, Rachel!!!!!)


During lunch, Rachel's daughter, Ali, had a bit too much fun with her "dip-dip." In this case, the "dip-dip" was none other than kecthup, and we all know that ketchup makes for some lovely laundering challenges! (I "stole" this picture from Rachel so you could witness the clean-up efforts. "Stole," as in: I snapped the shot, but it was not with my camera!)


Later on, Sean and I met mom and dad for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. YUM! That was a "pit stop" on our way to see the Celtic Woman concert. This was my second time to see them in person, but I was not prepared to be on the second row, right next to the stage (as in, I could touch the stage from my seat... if I stretched out my legs all the way... and reached really far with my feet)!

We aren't suppsoed to take pictures, but since I had my phone with me, I got away with a few quick, blurry shots of the stage and us before the show.... and, man! What a show! It was so incredible. But I must admit, it was a bit odd to be close enough to see their eyes... the hair on their arms...the sweat on their brow. When the performers made eye contact, I felt kind of dumb... like, "Hey! Here I am. Watching you. And you're now watching me watching you. So. That's weird. Ummm...I'll just smile and look at my shoes now... and maybe try to reach out and touch the stage."