Where to begin? So much fun this weekend.

I had finally made a decision on the whole blackberry vs. ozone issue earlier this week. Yay me! I must be getting better - this time I only agonized for two weeks. Anyhoo - I decided on the Blackberry. OMG! I received it Friday morning - I'm in love with this thing. So that was the beginning of a great weekend.

My weekend actually started at noon on Friday. My wonderful, fantabulous friend had bought Kid Rock concert tickets for my birthday. Since the concert was in a town about an hour and half away - I took off early so we could get out of town early. Didn't happen exactly the way we planned. It never does.

I came home and took my son to lunch - because he's been stuck in the house all week (actually all summer). While at the restaurant, my boy receives a text from another friend of mine who was planning to attend the concert too - she has an extra ticket and wondered if he wanted to go with her family.

Now my first friend and I were planning a girls only, spend-the-night event. The second friend was planning to attend the concert with family and friends and return the same evening. So after talking to hubby, we agreed that he could go. This would be his first concert.

So after lunch, I had to dash over to #2's house to drop the boy off and then race back home to pack. I was supposed to meet up with #1 around 3:30pm which was when she expected to be home. Of course, with #1, I knew this wouldn't happen. So finally, around 4:00 I get to her house and we get on the road. Apparently, she needed this WAY more than I did. She's been having a week (or two) from hell at work and so I listened to her vent most of the way.

For whatever reason, neither one of us thought to actually reserve a room ahead of time. This is really strange - particularly for me as I tend to like to plan ahead. Also, neither one of us thought to get directions to the venue. Luckily, the place was really easy to find. Finding a hotel proved to be another matter.

We should have left earlier than 4:00 though - because when we hit town we hit rush hour. Now rush hour where we live is laughable. Especially since I come from Houston where rush hour is really and truly RUSH HOUR. But rush hour in this town isn't laughable and while it wasn't RUSH HOUR, it was Rush Hour. So we were stuck in traffic for a good bit of time - my husband would have lost it completely - thank goodness he wasn't invited.

We finally get near the exit of the venue - and of course, there was even more traffic because of the concert. It's getting close to 6:00 - the concert starts at 7:00, so we are scouting around for a hotel - because I had remembered that when I looked at hotels (but for whatever reason didn't book one) that there were supposedly a number of them within a four mile radius. We didn't see any in the area. Hmmm. So my dear friend begins to make noises about just going to the concert and driving home after. NO, no, no!! This was to be a get away for both of us that we had been planning and talking about for the past three months. We will find a hotel. So we stop at a convenience store and I swear the two guys that helped us didn't seem to know anything about the area. Finally, we get back on the highway (by now, had hubby been with us, his head would have completely exploded), still in good spirits and go back two exits where we had thought we saw a place. Score! A Red Roof Inn (not fancy - but at that point who cares?). We run in, stand in line forever only to be told that there was no room at the inn. Crap. They send us down the road to another place. Comfort Suites. We scored big time. Not only did they have room and the rate was reasonable - but the place was brand new. We had virgin sheets, pillows, bathroom. It was great. But now it's creeping up on 6:45 and we are all icky. So we rush up to the room to spruce up a bit. We had the front desk call for a cab, so we wouldn't have to worry about parking etc. Let me tell you - that was the fastest spruce up ever.

We got to the concert a little late - but that was cool because the first band was still playing and really not the reason we went. I haven't been to a "rock" concert since high school. I've been to others but not a true rock concert in many years. It was way tamer than I expected - but it was utterly, utterly awesome. We eventually hooked up with #2 and her crew (and my son). I have been hoarse ever since. It was like being back in high school - only better. The place was packed but everyone was cool with each other - I didn't see any arguments or fights or anything that could have spelled trouble. It was the perfect first concert for the boy. He loved it.

#2's crew was nice enough to drive us back to the hotel. And boy am I glad we had the hotel. After talking to my son the next day, the normally 1 1/2 hour drive home took them four hours! Apparently there was concert traffic, construction traffic, two wrecks and a very, very long train. Meanwhile, #1 and I slept like babies.

Up and out early on Saturday - made it home before ten. Meet up with all our friends at my favorite little's guys 2nd birthday party. Fun was had by all.

Tonight, dinner with dear, dear friends.

::sigh:: What a wonderful life.