Yes, Another Concert.

At what point did my life go from constantly wishing time would move faster to desperately wishing it would slow down? Because that's where I am right now - trying my hardest to savor each and every moment and hanging on for dear life as days, weeks, and months zoom past me.

This weekend, I took time to relax and spend some actual quality time with Wheat. Thanks to a long NBA offseason, I've been able to spend a lot of evenings with my dreamboat the last couple months, but often times, those evenings are filled with watching TV and doing things separately. After his WNBA game on Friday, however, we spent the next two days completely engrossed in each other and let me tell you - it was exactly what my soul needed.

On Saturday afternoon, we tried out an incredible southern comfort food place downtown called Georgia Reese's. First of all, the decor, complete with exposed brick walls, hanging light fixtures, and a gorgeous bar, was enough for me to bust out my camera. The food was even better. Despite my hesitation (and slight guilt), we opened the meal with delicious alligator bites with mango-habanero dipping sauce. Yes, it does taste like chicken. A slightly moister, chewier chicken. I followed that up with fried chicken (duh), creamed corn, and sweet potato casserole. Whoa, guys. From the very first bite, I felt like I'd thrown down some floo powder, Harry Potter-style, and found myself in the middle of Louisiana. With the recent heat and humidity, I probably would have believed it after stepping outside, too. Wheat ordered the fried catfish, fried okra, and mac & cheese...and I can tell you, I'll never make the mistake of not ordering the mac & cheese ever again. Another amazing thing about southern comfort food? Enormous portions. The meal was pricey, but we were covered for lunch and dinner. In other words, check it out.

We followed lunch with a quick visit to the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library. Don't let the name fool you - it's not actually a library, but a museum dedicated to all things Mr. Vonnegut. We'd been wanting to see the place since we finished Bluebeard (yes, we read aloud to each other) and we were fascinated by the small collection of personal objects, including his famous typewriter and Purple Heart medal, that were on display. Vonnegut was from Indiana, so there are bits and pieces of his legacy all over town. More on that to come...

On Sunday, we took it easy until we headed to yet another concert, the American Idol Live tour. I've been a huge fan of the show since the beginning, but I've never actually been to one of the tours that follow each season. I was excited to see the Top 5 finalists perform in such an intimate setting and the Murat absolutely delivered. All five performers (Nick Fradiani, Clark Beckham, Jax, Rayvon Owen, and Tyanna Jones) interacted with the crowd, high-fiving, holding hands, waving, and even grabbing people's phones to take selfies. I may or may not have stampeded through Wheat to hold hands with Rayvon Owen. Okay, I did. We nabbed pretty cheap seats on the edge of the fifth row, so our spot for the action was perfect.

Nick Fradiani, Winner of Season 14

Clark Beckham, Season 14 Runner-Up

Rayvon Owen, the voice of an angel.

The concert was extremely entertaining, the perfect mix of solo performances and group songs with personal stories interspersed throughout. The finalists mostly did numbers they performed on American Idol, but also included new covers and even some original songs. As expected, Clark absolutely slayed all of his songs, especially "Georgia on My Mind," but Rayvon Owen absolutely blew me away with his voice. Highlights of his set included a beautiful arrangement of Sia's "Chandelier" (performed with Clark and Tyanna) and a mash-up of Katy Perry's "Wide Awake" and Frank Ocean's "Thinking about You." Chills for days, guys. Unfortunately, I can't find an official setlist from the night, but here is what I remember:

Group Songs
Are You Gonna Go My Way? - Lenny Kravitz
God Bless the Broken Road - Rascal Flatts
People Like Us - Kelly Clarkson
I Bet My Life - Imagine Dragons
See You Again - Wiz Khalifa
Lie to Me - Jonny Lang
Some Nights - Fun! (finale)

Clark Beckham
Georgia on My Mind - Ray Charles
I Won't Give Away - Clark original
Give Me One Reason - Tracy Chapman
Sunday Morning - Maroon 5

Jax
My Generation - The Who
Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet
White Flag - Dido
You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi

Rayvon Owen
Jealous - Nick Jonas
Wide Awake/Thinking about You - Katy Perry/Frank Ocean
Chandelier - Sia

Tyanna Jones
Sweet Dreams - Beyonce
Lips are Moving - Meghan Trainor

Nick Fradiani 
American Girl - Tom Petty
Beautiful Life - Nick original
Coming Your Way - Beach Avenue
I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz
Honey, I'm Good - Andy Grammer
No Diggity - Blackstreet



After the show, I practically begged Wheat to stick around by the theater exit in hopes of seeing the Idols as they left for St. Louis. We weren't the only ones with that idea - there were at least 200 people waiting. After an hour, the Idols finally came out and I kid you not - they signed posters and t-shirts, posed for pictures, hugged, and even FaceTimed with every single person in line. It was incredible. I couldn't believe how down-to-earth and truly grateful they all were. It was unbelievably refreshing after meeting several celebrities who seem annoyed by any fan interaction.

Side notes: Wheat and Clark discussed their respective parts of Nashville. Jax was wearing a shirt that simply said, 'Taco Emoji.' Tyanna told us a story about her 17th birthday, which was the day before. Rayvon unexpectedly hugged me several times, laughed when I told him I wanted him as our wedding singer (but he was probably out of our price range now), and posed for a second picture with me after the first one was too blurry. I also begged Wheat to get his picture taken with Nick because...it's inexplicably hilarious.

The other gaps in our weekend were filled with clothes shopping and frozen yogurt at the mall, a long walk on the canal, Orioles baseball, and the True Detective finale. Not bad, eh? I'd be sad it's over, but Wheat and I are currently on our way to Texas for a fun-filled, long weekend with his family. Yeehaw! Please pray that I'm able to function in the heat...