You Had Me at "Yellow"

Chris Martin is in love with me. I mean, he didn't exactly say, "Jennifer Erin Casey Alderman, I am going to leave my beautiful Academy-Award winning actress wife Gwyneth Paltrow and you should leave your perfectly lovely husband and we should live together forever in my castle in the English countryside.", but when he sang "Look at the stars, look how they shine for you", I'm pretty sure that's what he meant. Because from my seat in the sixth row center stage at the Coldplay concert Thursday night, I know that he was singing directly to me. And when he sang "For you I bleed myself dry", I know he was telling me he loves me. This has happened before. I'm sure you remember the raging crushes Dave Matthews and John Mayer had on me after I saw them in concert. Before you feel sorry for Mr. Alderman, please be advised that he was firmly convinced that the opening act, Fiona Apple, was making a pass for him. While mumbling incoherently and pulling her hair and rubbing her belly in between songs, he was pretty sure that was her way of telling him she wants to have his baby.

So aside from the proclimations of love, the concert was amazing. This is one of those rare occasions where I can say that the band sounded better live than they do on their studio albums. It was worth every expensive penny we paid for the tickets, and I would go again in a heartbeat. But sorry Chris, I'm a committed woman. Unless you sing one more verse of "Yellow" - then I might be convinced otherwise.

Back to School

I finally have my new camera that I will be using as a professional photographer (I even have trouble typing that with a straight face!). Here are a few samples of what I've taken so far while just playing with my Nikon D70s. It is significantly more advanced than the camera I have been using for the past several years, and so I feel like I have gone back to school as I work my way through the textbook-sized operation manual. However, I am so excited about starting this new adventure that I'm actually enjoying reading all the technical jargon about setting the proper white balance and setting the right ISO speed. I already have two clients on the schedule and I can't wait to begin.

Throwback

I know that "throwback jerseys" (detailed reproductions of jerseys worn by your favorite players of the past) are pretty popular right now - just scan the crowd at any NFL or NBA game and you'll see a good portion of the crowd sporting them. So Casey was right in fashion last night at the neighbor's Super Bowl party when he wore an AUTHENTIC "Mean" Joe Greene 75 jersey. This shirt actually belonged to me, and (inexplicably) was for a time my most favorite thing to wear. My Mom was able to hang on to it through all our moves and it's in incredible condition after 25 years. Just so you know, the adult-sized #75 jerseys go for $325 on Mitchell & Ness' website!

He's a funny kid about this kind of stuff. He reacted the same way when I put the jersey on him last night as he does when he wears his #18 Manning jersey - he seems to know he's wearing something a little special and it adds a little strut to his step. When he opened the Manning jersey from Nannie & Grandaddy on Christmas morning, he immediately wanted to put it on. Same thing last week when we went shopping for new shoes. I strapped the new ones to his feet and set him down to check the size, and he took off running through the store and refused to let me take them back off - he insisted on wearing them out of the store (thankfully they fit!). Perhaps he's just taken after his mother when it comes to new clothes - I've been known to get a little excited about a new pair of shoes myself.