Author: Pam Kocke

NOLA mom of identical triplets. Talent Acquisition at Automattic. Enjoy reading and photography and sewing and bookbinding.

U2 at Sphere

In 1991, if 16 year-old Pam wasn’t listening to INXS, she was listening to Achtung Baby. If I hear any songs from it now, it instantly transports me back (in a good way.) So back in March when I saw that U2 was playing the album in its entirety in Las Vegas, I texted Kristina and joked “we should go to this” and to absolutely no one’s surprise, she said “okay!”

So I spent the past weekend in Las Vegas (and a little bit of Los Angeles) with Kiki and Mike, where we saw U2 in concert at (the?) Sphere.

For some reason, flights to Las Vegas were super expensive, but both Mike and I have brothers in Los Angeles, so we decided it would be better to fly to L.A. and drive to Vegas. Road trip!

So I flew to Burbank (closer to my brother’s) on Thursday afternoon, then we surprised Ellie at UCLA. I think she was surprised, anyway. Turns out she has tracking on me on her phone. Hmm.

We had dinner, then went to her teeny tiny dorm room where I got to see the quilt I made her in its home!

The next morning, I had breakfast with Evan and Jennifer, then Kiki and Mike picked me up for the trip to Vegas. It was cool to drive through the desert – I’ve never seen one up close before!

We arrived at our hotel at around 4, and it took us a while to get checked in and to finally find our rooms (these hotels are massive!) and then it was time to get ready for dinner.

The dinner was incredible, we went to Picasso at the Bellagio. Lots of pics on my Instagram post:

The next morning, we got overpriced coffee from Starbucks, and then I met up with my friend Lisa, who lives in Vegas. We hung out for a while in my room, then after she left, Kiki and Mike and I went and grabbed lunch and then went in search of merch. The lines were stupid, but I was able to get my brother and I shirts.

After that, Kiki and I had an appointment at Lip Lab, which I was very excited about. I was finally going to get the perfect brick red (NO PINK) lipstick!

It was so fun to watch the technician mix the colors. Like an artist with a palette! And she nailed the color perfectly. Then I tried a bright pink that I would normally never wear, but she said suited me. I did not buy that one. But I did get a sheer balm in the same color as my lipstick. And Kiki got two lipsticks. One was so perfect I gasped when I saw it on her.

We also got to name our lipsticks, and they engraved them on the cases. I don’t really have any pictures of the lipstick on, but trust me, it’s perfect.

don’t ask.

After that, we went to the pool for an hour and drank extremely overpriced (but delicious) cocktails (are you sensing a theme?) and then it was time to get ready for the show!

So I guess this is the real point of this post. Well. It was incredible.

We ate a bit and had a drink when we got inside (all very good) and then it was time to find our seats. We knew we were in a good section, right in the middle near the front, but we had no idea how good they were going to be. We were in row 16, but row 16 was really just four from the front. The general admission area was between us and the stage, but it wasn’t that big. We were close. And right smack in the middle.

A DJ played a bunch of 90s songs to get all the old people in the mood and then the show started, and honestly, I don’t know what else to say besides it was visually incredible. Just beautiful. The graphics were so crisp and beautiful and jaw-dropping.

I took a lot of pictures and videos.

After the show, I was exhausted, so I went back to my room pretty soon getting back, then the next morning we packed up for the drive back to L.A. And then I came home yesterday after staying at my brother’s again.

So that’s it! A wonderful trip with my best friend seeing an amazing show, AND I got to see my niece. What else can you ask for?

Number 190

Oooh I have ten months to decide what to do for the 200th pic. I had fun with the 100th. I have a feeling they won’t be quite as cooperative for this one.

One year ago

September recap

Well, that was a month.

Started off nicely with a work trip to Ireland that really deserves a post of its own. But let’s face it, I’ll never get to it if I don’t post about it now, so let me post about it now.

I arrived in Dublin around lunchtime on Saturday, and met up with my coworker Tiffany, who also arrived that day. Everyone else was getting there on Sunday. I went a day early so that I could meet up with Alicia, but for reasons, she was unexpectedly in Louisiana. So Tiffany and I met up with her husband Mat instead, and it was a fun night. Maybe too fun. I did not feel well the next day, let’s just put it that way.

The next day, we picked up the rest of the team and made our way to Kilranleigh Lodge, a house a bit over an hour outside of Dublin, the location of our meetup.

It was gorgeous, but somewhat rustic. The wifi wasn’t great, the heat wasn’t on yet so I was freezing the whole time, and it took a while to get anywhere, but the scenery made it worth it. And the dogs.

We spent one day in Dublin, and I did finally get to see Alicia, so that was fantastic. And then we went on a little Irish music pub crawl, which was very entertaining.

My trip home was not uneventful. Due to my flight being delayed, I missed my connection in DC so I got to see my sister and her family, and I got to stay with Kiki that night! Bonus!

And the other bonus I got from the trip:

After 3.5 years, it finally got me. Thankfully, it was mild, just like a cold, but I tested positive for over a week, so I only just got out of isolation. It was nice to get to hug the boys again!

So that’s about it, really. Ireland and Covid. What a September!

15.75

No school today so you get bedhead and sock tan lines.

August was a long month

Why did August take fifteen times longer than any other month? Maybe because it was so friggin hot? Apparently record-breakingly so? It feels like the first was a million years ago.

It started with another tattoo. This one is all of the birth months of everyone in my family.

Those are the flowers for February, May, July, August, October, and December, covering everyone in my immediate family. It was thoughtful of them to limit themselves to six of the twelve months.

And everyone better appreciate it, because I had to lay on my stomach for hours and also that part of the arm is very sensitive! It’s like the soft underbelly of your forearm. It hurt a lot. It was neat, though, because I let the artist draw directly on my arm instead of stenciling it from a digital drawing.

Okay, well, after that…

The boys started sophomore year of high school, but you knew that already.

Evan and Ellie came to visit, and I made her take a lot of pictures with me.

I sewed a bunch, actually. The Lawrence top and dress and skirt, and a purse!

I went to an advance screening of a movie, donated blood, and bought some 90s jeans.

And, as usual, Ziggy was really freaking cute.

Am looking forward to September, as it involves a trip to Dublin! My first time going to Ireland! And also, hopefully, cooler weather.

10th graders

Sophomores. Only two more of these pics after this.

LOM

It’s fine I’M FINE.

I’d say they don’t look like freshmen anymore, and Oliver seems happier. First day last year:

LOM

And, of course, the first day of preschool picture. Twelve years ago.

MLO

What we did in July

I feel like July was another busy month. I definitely drove a lot. I mean, I went to three different Buc-ee’ses. (Not sure how to pluralize Buc-ee’s.)

The boys finished up the classroom portion of driver’s ed. Still waiting to schedule their road time with the instructor. In the meantime, we took them to drive around a few times. Only sort of harrowing. And at the end, they were only sort of mad at me for laughing so much.

There was the fourth of July (nothing exciting, the boys were at a sleepover, I watched fireworks through the bathroom window), then the boys went to the beach for a week with Grandee and Larry and I spent some time in Terry’s pool. I also made a bathing suit top real quick. (The Sandpiper from Helen’s Closet)

I drove to Orange Beach for a couple of days at the end and spent some time by the pool before bringing the boys home. We tried fishing but spent more time watching sharks and sting rays and a blue heron.

Then this past weekend, I took the boys on a short trip to Atlanta to see a pro soccer game. (Atlanta United vs Cruz Azul, a team from Mexico.) We had a great time.

We stayed the night in Birmingham on the way there to see Mary Catherine and her people, and it was wonderful. Don’t tell the boys, but it was my favorite part of the trip. So nice to see friends. Of course we got a picture of the boys with Millie, and I got to catch up with Ann Fran. It was all very lovely and for a minute, we all wanted to move to Birmingham.

Then we headed to Atlanta, and went to IKEA on the way into town, then relaxed in the hotel room (it was storming), then the next day, wandered around downtown. We went to the World of Coke, which was entertaining, and the boys gazed longingly at the College Football Hall of Fame, and then I felt terrible for not taking them there instead but it was $30 a person and also, for me, snoozarooni. But Miles got a hoodie, at least.

That evening was the game, which was at the big fancy stadium where hot dogs were $2 and giant refillable sodas were $4. Glorious to this cheapskate. I was rooting for the other team, and they won in a penalty shoot out, which was so nerve wracking it reminded me why I don’t really like sports.

(I guilted them into lots of group pictures, heh.)

And then yesterday we wandered around Georgia Tech, snuck into the stadium, then drove home and that is July!

Other random things: we discovered Miles has a silver spot in his hair; Ziggy is still cute; we did not escape the escape room; the broken door finally got replaced in the vanity, so it’s done!

August means the start of sophomore year of high school! Eep!

15 years, 7 months

They all passed their written driver’s test, so it won’t be too long before they’re, gulp, on the road.

June, in review

June was a busy month! So let’s get to it.

It started with a trip to California for my niece Eleanor’s high school graduation. Just me, not the boys or George.

We went to UCLA (that’s where Ellie is going in the fall) and walked around (after having In and Out for lunch.)

Before the trip, my brother said, “bring hiking shoes.” I said, “do I look like the type of person to own hiking shoes?” so it was in my sneakers that he tried to kill me the next day. We hiked up to Echo Park on an extremely damp and foggy and misty day, on a very narrow trail, and I was 100% convinced that only one of us at most was going to make it down to the bottom in one piece. Thank god I was wrong. I wouldn’t have wanted to mess up Ellie’s graduation week.

I’m not kidding, it was grueling (at least to me, someone who lives in a very flat place) and even my brother said later that he was nervous for me. Sheesh. Here are a bunch of random pics, including none of the view because you couldn’t see anything! But, in spite of that, I felt very accomplished, and it was nice to spend time with my brother. (Don’t tell him I said that.)

I googled this hike to get some info about it, and if I’d read “The majority of the trail is along the side of the mountain with some narrow switchbacks – it may be difficult for those that have trouble with heights” (emphasis mine) then maybe I would have rethought this decision. This is a good post that has pictures of, wow, what it might have looked like had I been able to see anything! It’s fine, it’s fine. Probably best that I couldn’t see how far I would have plummeted to my death.

The rest of the trip was hanging out with family, eating, going to Paper Source, Ellie’s graduation, going back to UCLA, seeing Pawnee City Hall, shopping at Mood, and basically spending a lot of time in electric cars.

I was really excited to give Ellie her graduation gift, a quilt I made for her in UCLA colors. I hope it keeps her warm and cozy while she’s at college. Sniff, sniff. She was just a tiny baby, I can’t believe she’s off to college.

Okay, so then I went home, and the day after I got back, George left for his long-awaited trip to the UK. He was going to be gone for two weeks, and little did he know that I had big plans while he was gone. Kiki came to visit and while she was here, we redid his bathroom downstairs. It’s so much better! (Of course I posted a ton more pictures and details here.)

He came home last week, and since then, life has gotten significantly quieter (that’s good.) Oh, I made this (Selwyn by Cashmerette) shirt early in the month, but I haven’t been able to get a good picture of it, so after a few glasses of wine, my friends stuck me in a bathtub to get some.

hee hee

The boys are finishing up driver’s ed today, so expect the July recap to be full of danger and intrigue!

The great bathroom remodel of 2023

The downstairs bathroom is was awful. For 19 years, we’ve lived with hideous peeling wallpaper, an ugly pedestal sink with a faucet that leaks, ugly oak trim, unpatched holes, etc, etc.

George is the primary user of that bathroom, since it’s right by his cave, but it’s also used by anyone who comes over, which is just embarrassing.

So George went to the UK for two weeks, and I decided I was going to renovate it as a surprise.

Kiki came to visit and help. I could not have done it without her.

Some fun befores and afters:

Here’s a video of the whole thing before (and obviously I didn’t go in and straighten it up beforehand.)

Okay that’s enough befores and afters. Here are just a bunch more afters:

Some details:

  • The paint is half sea fog by Behr
  • Almost everything is from Home Depot, really.
  • The vanity (I got a screaming deal on it)
  • The light
  • The hardware
  • The blinds
  • The faucet
  • The mirror is from Amazon, though (I only paid about half this, though)
  • As are the knobs
  • The adorable garbage can and toothbrush cup are from Home Goods
  • The medicine cabinet is from Costco (a few years ago)
  • Shower curtain(s) are from Target (I recut and hemmed the one in front of the shelf)

We also removed one of the shelves from the nook behind the tub so George can hang his clothes there instead of from the shower curtain (the closets in this house leave much to be desired.)

The vanity was definitely the trickiest part. First of all, it was very heavy. Steph and I got it from Home Depot and we needed five teenage boys to help us get it off the truck and into the house. One of the doors was extremely broken (they’re supposed to be sending me a new one.) And then our friend Darrell installed it, which involved removing part of the baseboard which was much harder than expected. Suffice it to say, we will never remove the vanity.

But for the most part, it went smoothly. And I could not be happier with the results.

***

Okay, I wrote most of the post before George came home, but last night he did. I was worried he’d be underwhelmed or not surprised (it’s hard to hide these things when we have cameras inside and outside) but he had no clue and he was very surprised and pleased! Yay!

Fifteen and a half

No, I did not forget to take the monthly picture (but SOMEONE did.) I left early on the 4th to go to California, so George was in charge. So it was taken a day late and since I didn’t bring my laptop with me, it’s being posted five days late. But it’s here and it’s adorable and good luck telling Oliver and Miles apart now if you run into one of them in the street.

(George took the boys with him to work on Monday because the power went out Sunday night, hence the “school gym” locale.)