Doanyelle's and Roger's Grand Adventures: Social Distortion

Over the weekend, Roger and I drove to Myrtle Beach, SC, for a Social Distortion concert at the House of Blues. It was much warmer there than in Jax. The concert was very enjoyable. At first, I had a hard time seeing the stage, but my charming husband told a man from security that we were tired and he gave us a table in the front/center?!?!?! These are normally the most expensive seats and are "reserved." I don't know if they didn't sell our table or if the ticket holders didn't show up, but I was happy to have a place to sit. Ask, and ye shall receive... lol.

We also had a beautiful hotel suite on the beach. There were 8 pools and hot tubs, even thought it was beachfront. It was weird to see people running around playing and swimming in 50/60 degree weather.....

On the way home, we thought we'd meander through the antique shoppes, but as it turned out, they were priced for tourists. We're thrifty now, so we came home with no purchases.

Today was super productive. We went to our new church to establish our membership. We attended a mass with only members of the clergy and a 92 year old woman. Very personal and intimate. Then we went to pick up my Substitute Teacher badge. I look like a total geek in my picture. I also finally found a great cupcake frosting recipe that has the right flavor, consistency and holds up well. Yeahhhhhh! And, we went shopping and used our William Sonoma gift card. We got a food grinder for the Kitchen Aide, a popover pan, a whoopee pie pan and some mulling spices.

Now, I digress..... I've never heard of a popover until last week, on a cooking show. They seem to be all the latest rage, like fake old fashioned phone receivers that plug into your iPod. So, I bought this pan and found a 5-star recipe on the Food Network website and tried it out. They were beautiful, but tasteed like egg bread. I need a different recipe, unless that's how they're supposed to taste......

Tonight, I got to sign up for my first volunteer opportunity- to sleep over at the church when they host two homeless families. I guess you bring sleeping bags and sleep with the guests in case they need anything in the middle of the night.

Finally, we hit up Goodwill. Roger and I are having a contest for who can make the most money re-selling things we find in thrift stores. Wish me luck.

One last thought.... Mike Ness from Social Distortion wrote a song called Company C. When introducing the song at the concert, he spoke about how much he admires and respects all those who serve(d) in the military, even though he doesn't support war. He made a comment that he has a special compassion for those who served in Vietnam, because there was no red carpet for them when they returned home. That didn't really mean anything to me until last night when I watched a 5 hour marathon documentary on Vietnam on H2, aired in honor of Veterans Day. It broke my heart to hear the veterans describe how they were almost hated when they came home, and how people treated them so shamefully. Two men spoke about how they were so proud for serving our country (in such horrific circumstances), and were so excited to come home, and how they felt so deflated when they stepped off the plane and people just pointed and stared at them, or wouldn't sit next to them on the bus. How sad. So while I, too, have super mad respect for anyone who serves our country, I will say extra prayers for those who served for what they perceive was nothing. It is even worse when you see these veterans selling their war memorabilia or metals for money to eat on Ebay. Sigh....

Bye for now. Here's some pics.