Priceless

The time has come...the time is upon us...
Amy and I have a little bun in the oven!

We have known for a little over a month now and we have been dying to tell everyone on the inter webs!

We had our first OB visit yesterday and it made it official. Especially after seeing that little heart beating so fast did it finally sink in for me. It was surreal.

It is time for parenthood for us. We are so excited and nervous about what will be in store for us in the future. I have all ready buckled my seat belt tight because it is going to be a ride!

Amy is about nine weeks along now and the projected due date is November 28th. What a holiday treat huh? While Amy is kicking it 9 months too big I'll be kicking back with some pecan and pumpkin pies! Geez it feels like Nov 2008 was just yesterday and to think that by next Christmas we'll have a third Llanes in the clan is beyond my comprehension right now.

Amy is battling a respiratory infection right now that is making her cough non-stop. We had to take her to a walk-in clinic on Saturday because she had no sleep on Friday night because she was up coughing. We got her some drugs that would not hurt the baby and then yesterday at our appt. the Doc gave us some antibiotics for her chest. After to days of rest she seems to be on the up and up. However, now my throat is starting to hurt. yikes!
(Sam, we know now what you guys go through! of course your case involves kiddos)

OK, well I took some NyQuil a few minutes ago and it is starting to kick in.
If you guys have questions or want to contact Amy her email is:
amyllanes AT gmail DOT com

Soon this blog will be all about the baby that is being made inside of Amy. What a miracle it is!

Murder In The City

I'm sure you avid readers saw my micro blogging from our trip on Saturday to Chattanooga, TN.  And the main reason we were there was to see The Avett Brothers in concert.  

I have been a fan of The Avett Brothers for almost a year now and when I had purchased their Emotionalism album and first listened to it I really thought I had made a bad decision.  Seth Avett's voice is just not easy on the first listeners ears and of course such was the case for me Not only is his voice different but their music is unique mixing a blend of folk, bluegrass, rock, and even some punk. Definitely a new genre.  

Luckily I don't give up on music after my initial listening and the more I listened the more I really enjoyed their songs, the music, and especially the lyrics.  Now I find myself always enjoying their tunes and even playing some of them on the guitar.  Even Amy jumps in and sings along with me when I play some Avett Brothers songs.  

Well the concert was amazing, nonetheless.  The Tivoli Theatre was a beautiful old theatre that had such character and added so much to our experience.  Most everyone in attendance had seen  these guys live and the house blew up once they took the stage and it didn't calm down until the show was unfortunately over.  But the best part was that The Avett Brothers band directed the energy the whole night.  As they played their setlist they jumped around, danced around, yelled, and just poured all kinds of energy on stage and onto the audience.  And they did it all for the fans and for the love of music.  

This was probably one of the best shows I have seen and it comes close to topping Wilco's Ryman show from '06 and for sure takes over Bob Schneider's show I saw in '05.  Hands down a great show and I recommend going to see them live.  I know I will try to catch them live every time I can.

I'm embedding a video of their song I heard for the first time on Saturday night called Murder In The City.  This was one of their slower songs they performed but it is still amazing.  

My favorite line is the last of the last verse...

Always remember, there is nothing worth sharing

Like the love that let us share our name

Chattanooga 5

It's almost show time !

Chattanooga 4

Great pedestrian brigde over the river. There was a prom on the big
river boat. And the park under nearhbus was full of people enjoying
the beautiful day.

Chattanooga 3

We're in...

Chattanooga 2

Local artist market by the riverfront park. Awesome stuff here.

Chattanooga 1

We are at Clumpies Ice Cream in Chattanooga. Enjoying a snack before
the Avett Brothers concert tonight at the historic Tivoli Theatre.

Performances

I am more than sure that most of you have heard the name Susan Boyle by now.  Susan Boyle the YouTube sensation from Britain's Got Talent that has been all over the news.

I just wanted to share her video because it is genuine and amazing.  Check out her video here.

(They have disabled the ability for me to embed the video here so you'll have to go to YouTube to see it.)

This video reminded me of Paul Potts from an earlier season of Britain's Got Talent.  He was a mobile salesman who wanted to sing opera professionally but never was given the oppurtunity.  And even watching Simon's face you could tell no one thought he could be serious.  But then he sings a song that is amazing, beautiful, and just blows everyone away.   I still watch this and get goosebumps.  

In the movie Philidelphia I always love the scene where Tom Hank's character is in his flat with Denzel Washington's character and he explains the meaning of a certain opera song to him as it plays.  Actually I found it...here it is...it is a beautiful scene.

Everytime I see this video it makes me appreciate the arts so much more because it shows that it brings out a side of someone that you would not see otherwise.  Susan Boyle, Paul Potts, and in the movie scene...the arts mean something to them personally.  In Philadelphia it was something to distract him from the AIDS he was dying from and the struggle of the lifestyle he had.  When he listened to opera it helped to forget about what was ugly for him and see, even if it's for 3 minutes, what can be beautiful.

Susan Boyle and Paul Potts are not beautiful people by Hollywood's standard...but close you eyes and listen to their songs.  They sound like that can take on the world during those perfomances because nothing else matters.  

I hope there is something you do that gives you complete and ultimate joy.  

FOTC

Friday night we are going to go see these fellas put on a show. They are The Flight Of The Conchords! we are going with four other friends and we all paid a bit more money than we would have liked for these tickets.

But alas, it is the Conchords playing at the mother church of country music, The Ryman.

I've mentioned before how I love seeing shows at the Ryman and it is hands down my most favorite place to see a show of any kind. This week alone the Ryman hosted Ben Folds on Tuesday night, Bella Fleck last night, and The Conchords on Friday night. It has been a busy week there at the Ryman but a busy week of good music and comedy.

If any of you do not know who Bret and Jemaine are or have not heard any of their songs or seen their show...do yourself a solid by checking them out. They are just a comedy troupe who sing really funny songs and HBO gave them a show featured around their songs. I even got my mom laughing to one of their songs and it was a song about sex! For all you married folks out there...check out their song"Business Time," you'll have a laugh too because it will be familiar to you to some extent.

This live version is different than the CD but when they do stuff live they like to change it up and throw some other funny stuff in there.

here come the storms...

Take a look at this...

Make sure you read those captions there on the bottom. Isn't it awesome how TN is almost all RED for severe thunder storms. Looks like Alamaba is too...but we don't live there.

Looks like Tennessee is about to go through hail (or hell).
I hope Bugsy doesn't poop himself from the thunder tonight.