20 Years in the Blind

Confession: I'm a nerd.

Not a Settlers of Catan loving kind of nerd. Or as I lovingly call it when making fun of Eric, Settlers of Nerdtan. But I'm a nerd for organizing. I love being a hostess, planning the food and drinks, picking a theme, decorating, and sometimes even cleaning up afterwards. I love spreadsheets, to do lists, and planning vacations with a map of all the places we want to visit. Eric and Austin refer to all my planning as "organized fun," which they think is an insult. I consider it a compliment, most of the time.

So when we learned Third Eye Blind was touring in honor of the 20th anniversary of their first album, I knew I had to do something big. The something big started with securing front row seats when the tickets went on sale back in January. I've done the pit thing, I prefer seats these days (even if I don't use it most of the time, I like a home base).

I knew I wanted to host the pre-party before we even bought the tickets. I wanted to send a save the date, but stopped myself. I put a reminder on my calendar, though, to invite people when we were a little closer to the concert date.

Yes, a reminder on my calendar. I already said I was a nerd.

It wasn't until the week of the concert that I decided that we needed to do something to honor and celebrate each song off the self-titled album. Austin, Ashlee, and Katie helped finalize all of the activities.

So, here's a little explanation of what we did for each song.

Track 1. Losing a Whole Year.

We struggled a little with this one, but decided to go with the theme of forgetting (losing) a whole year. So, we kicked off our celebrations with a simple Lemon Drop Shot. My first foray into a mixed shot - half ounce each of vodka, triple sec, and fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Turned out pretty good, in my opinion.

Track 2. Narcolepsy.

I think this one is self-explanatory.

Track 3. Semi-Charmed Life.

If you don't know, this song is about drugs. Not really my thing. But there are some lyrics in this song that I obviously love (see: my foot). Anyway, no secret this is about crystal meth. I don't know much about this drug, but I've seen TV shows that tell me it's a rock. So, we ate rock candy.

Track 4. Jumper.

Shout out to Austin for coming up with the jumping jacks for this one. I guess it has been a while since I've done jumping jacks because I was doing them wrong. Thankfully, Emily showed me the proper form.

Track 5. Graduate.

Ashlee, our graduate. Wearing Resa's graduation cap from 2015.

Track 6. How's It Going to Be.

We all wrote a premonition, to be opened around Halloween. You know, because we all were trying to figure out how it's going to be.

Track 7. Thanks a Lot.

Since the concert fell on Father's Day weekend, we texted our dads to thank them for being our dads. I texted my dad to say thank you for my love of music. I have no talent, but I sure enjoy watching others who do!

I'm going to take this time to share a few things my dad did to encourage my love of music. These 3 things happened in 2000. For my birthday, in August, he gave me a backpack. I don't know if I needed a backpack, if I was excited about the backpack, or if I was just kind of, "Meh." I do remember him telling me to check the pockets, and when I did, I found 4 box seats to see 3eb at Walnut Creek. The next month, dad flew me, Ashlee, and Austin to Atlanta where Ashlee and I saw the Marvelous 3. A hometown show for one of my favorite bands. That same month, dad drove me and my best friend in high school to Greensboro, on a school night, to see Matchbox 20. We had general admission tickets and got to be at the very front against the railing. At the end of the concert, they let dad in to wait it out from one of the top sections. Thank you for helping me build those memories, dad!

Track 8. Burning Man.

In honor of the Burning Man festival, we decided to do something artistic. So we played Telestrations. It's a game of telephone where you alternate drawing what word is given to you or guessing what word is drawn for you. It goes around the table until you get your book back and find out what your word turned into. I think 2 words made it around - pirate and medusa. The others did not. Harp turned into the Hamburglar. Tennis elbow turned into a bicep. And we were all laughing so hard, some of us may have started crying.

Track 9. Good for You.

We did something good for ourselves, we ate some veggies.

Track 10. London.

Katie came up with a great idea to sing God Save the Queen in a London accent; however, we don't know the words to that song. So, we decided to read the lyrics to London in a British accent. It was hilarious.

Track 11. I Want You.

Uncle Sam pose.

Track 12. The Background.

The goal was to stage a photobomb. We didn't have to stage it. Austin and Jeb were up to their usual shenanigans in the kitchen, so Katie, Emily, and Ashlee got in front of them for a picture.

Track 13. Motorcycle Drive By.

This is a song we sing together often. And loud. So this one is based on the lyrics. We went with, "Taste the salt, taste the pain, I'm not thinking of you again." Yes, Stephan Jenkins is singing about the ocean. But, we tasted salt, we tasted pain (tequila), and I know I'm not thinking about that again. Tequila? Eugh.

Track 14. God of Wine.

I thought about making a sangria for this, but I didn't want too many alcohol-focused activities. We decided to use this line from the song, "A star sign out of whack, a fraudulent zodiac." Ashlee printed out zodiac signs and their descriptions. We had to pick our fraudulent zodiac.