Willie, Dylan, and Kelly

Willie's 4th of July Picnic was fabulous as expected - in fact the whole weekend was a lot of fun. I took Friday off work and we headed up to Dallas. We stayed with TBF's best friend who greeted us with a ice chest full of beer, an enormous brisket that he'd been smoking for 24 hours, and buckets full of homemade potato salad - so you can guess how we spent the rest of the night. On Sunday we went to some friend's daughter's birthday party - she's 1 year old. They were one of those married couples who had successful careers and didn't want kids, but surprise! They have completely taken to parenting and are so happy - it was a happy day for all of us.

So Monday was the concert. We headed out to the Fort Worth stockyards around 4pm. My pics didn't turn out too well (unless you like to see the back of people's heads!). In the above you can see a teeny tiny portion of the people that were there. There were two stages and they alternated performances on each. It was hot as hell until the sun went down, but the evening was fantastic. Willie was great as always, but Bob Dylan stole the show. Hearing him perform Shooting Star in person ... absolutely incredible. I'll tell my kids about it one day. The show finished up around 1am with Willie, Los Lonely Boys, and a great fireworks show.

On Tuesday we all went out for mexican food, did some touristy stuff, and ended the afternoon with a tour of the Texas Rangers Ameriquest baseball field in Arlington. Here's a great pic from the press box. We also got to hang out in the Ranger's dug out, their batting practice area, work out gym, and owner's suite. It was a perfect day for a baseball game, but sadly had to get home for work.

Last night TBF took me to the Kelly Clarkson concert - her Behind These Hazel Eyes tour. Mock me if you must, but it was a damn fine concert. I just love this girl - she is so cute. She came off on stage exactly like you might've seen her on AI or on TV interviews - completely honest and fun loving.

The only disturbing part was the enormous number of tweens dressed in short flippy skirts and strappy tank tops. Don't get me wrong, they looked great - if they were 18. My parents would've beat the snot out of me if I tried walking out of the house showing that much leg when I was 13. Some of them wore more eye makeup than I do now!

However, everyone was having a great time and it was fun to be there. But more than anything I was happy to be 30 - out of high school, not worrying about cliques and having the newest cell phone or whatever the brand name jeans are these days. I was happy to sip a glass of wine in the lobby before the show and not worry if the bartender would ID me. And most of all I was happy to be in a committed relationship and not going through any of those idiot relationships that teenagers go through. Great concert, good reminder of the benefits of being older.