Ravens vs. Bills

Today's game was pretty exciting. The Ravens defeated the Buffalo Bills in overtime 34-37. I'm glad to see that the Bills put up a good fight, for Frank's sake. I work with Frank at the Tidewater, and he's a Bills fan. He totally expected the Bills to lose, but it was really close.
For our pregame show, we performed Thriller. What's different about this show is that we even did the dance. You can watch the pregame show at this link on Facebook. For halftime, we formed an XXXV on the field, a tribute to the Ravens' SuperBowl team (it's the 10th anniversary this year). I was in the first X.

Halloween Tag Swap

The tags for Wanda's Halloween Tag Swap arrived in the mail today. I loved my tags, even though they weren't as fancy as everyone else's.

Thanks to Wanda for hosting this fun swap!

Ovo

So, for my birthday, Mom & Dad got tickets for me and Donnie to see Cirque du Soleil's Ovo.

What a night it turned out to be. It started out where I kind of panicked on the drive to Washington, D.C., because on the route I took. Traffic was heavy, and then I wasn't sure where I was going. The only other time I'd driven down there by myself, I went interstate all the way, but this time I thought I knew a better way, the way Dad takes us when we visit. Not as easy as I thought. When one road ended, I turned the wrong way onto the next road. When I got myself turned around, I was so hopelessly flustered, and I was upset because I was so late that Donnie had to cancel our dinner reservations. Then, I decided to find the interstate, but I wasn't sure which direction was the right way to go. Argh, turning 40 hasn't helped my sense of direction at all. When I finally got to Donnie's place, we walked two blocks to a local eatery and ordered take-out (I got a turkey, Havarti, and green apple sandwich on 9 grain and a side of potato salad). Then we made our way to the National Harbor for the show. It was really cool. The costumes and make-up were fabulous, I especially liked the grasshoppers. My favorite acts were the Ants and the Wall, but they were all great.

Purple Evening

Tonight's pep band gig felt too short. We performed for an hour outside of the stadium while the ladies waited in line for the gates to open. It was good to see some of them take pictures of the pep band and stand there to listen to us play, but just as we finished, Cortney, Mea and Chelsea from the Tidewater walked by and waved to me. I really wish they could have heard us play!

Ravens vs. Broncos

Today was game day. The Ravens beat the Broncos, 17-31, in a game that was more sad than exciting. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the Ravens won, but someone I work with at Huber was there with his father-in-law, who lives in Colorado and is a Broncos fan, and I would've really liked for the game to be closer, for his sake. For our halftime show, the band performed an AC/DC Medley and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Something else that was cool, while we were in the stands, we played "Livin' on a Prayer", and the sound tech guy thought for a minute that we had miced singers, but it was the fans in the stadium singing along. I just love it when the fans get involved, it makes me feel like the band has some purpose, other than taking up seats in the end zone.

Wedding Reception

Mel and I waited on a wedding reception tonight. The couple got married at the end of the lawn here at the Tidewater, which helped with the "beach" theme they were going for. They decorated the tables with blue glass pebbles and small seashells, and Rita made this cake - the colors of the flowers matched the bride's dress.

Way Cool

We had a surprise at band practice tonight. Who should walk in and address the band, but the head coach for the Ravens, John Harbaugh!

He gave an inspiring talk, and let us know how much we're appreciated by the team, even though they don't get to hear us unless they're in our end zone.
Someone made a video on their phone, and you can see it on Facebook here.
And, on a more important note, Happy 40th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!