Winter Song

It's no secret that I have a very deep love for Ingrid Michaelson. She is my favorite singer, I've been to quite a few of her concerts, and I even had my sister's boyfriend learn to play one of her songs on his guitar for our wedding processional. And of course, my husband and I danced to her version of Can't Help Falling in Love for our wedding first dance.

(Gratuitous photo of our first dance, by Shoot Me Now Photography)

I've also written about my almost-as-deep love for Sara Bareilles. I even got to meet her in person once!

(Photo from the radio station's website)

Well, back in December 2008, I got to see Ingrid and Sara in concert together (along with Lenka, Buckcherry, Alanis Morissette, and another one of my favorite bands, O.A.R.). It was the first time I ever heard their duet, Winter Song.

(Crappy cell phone picture I took at the concert of their duet)

I'd forgotten all about this song until I rediscovered it this year. And I found that it has the most adorable animated video to go along with it. This song has been seriously haunting me for the past few weeks. It is actually rather sad, but I love the feeling of hope at the end of the video.

So I thought I'd share, in case you've never heard this beautiful song before. I bet you'll find yourself listening to it over and over too!




Have you come across (or rediscovered) any songs this year that you just can't get out of your head?

Our Meet and Greet With Sara Bareilles!

This past weekend was a blast!

On Sunday we attended a free concert in Golden Gate Park that was put on by a local radio station I listen to. Along with 14,000 other people, we enjoyed about 5 hours of music from Ryan Star, Five for Fighting, Natasha Bedingfield, Plain White T’s, and Sara Bareilles.

But the best part was that we weren’t “slumming it” with the rest of the crowd, sitting on blankets on the grass. Oh no! We were pimpin’ it with the VIPs in our own sectioned off area, with chairs, tables, umbrellas, free BBQ lunch, private bar area, AND we got to meet Sara Bareilles in person!

This VIP access was all due to the fact that I won the tickets from the radio station’s morning show, that I listen to everyday.

So, wanna see some pics?

Our VIP area, and BBQ lunch.

We had to wear special badges so we could come and go from our area. Gotta keep the riff-raff out, ya know!

The hosts of the morning show were in the VIP area, doing live broadcasts. As a dedicated listener, it was really cool to get to see them doing their thing.

Natasha Bedingfield, who was really, really good live! For some reason I had expected her to not be very good live (like Katy Perry on SNL, did anyone see that? Yikes!), but instead I was quite impressed.

Plain White T's went on next, and the lawn really started to get crowded.

While the Plain White T's were performing, we were given our cue to line up to meet Sara Bareilles. But first, I've gotta share some pics of the crazies. Seems like there are always some odd ones in San Francisco.

First up, this guy. Shirtless, wearing black dress slacks, and a backpack. He was quite entertaining during Natasha's performance, belting out all the words to her songs, and dancing. Doesn't look like your typical girlie pop music fan....

....but then, neither does this next guy. This guy was just a total mess. Belligerent, drinking beers he snuck in, could barely stand, but still dancing and dripping beer down his hairy chest. Klassy!

Anyway, back to Sara!

We had to wait in line for about 10 or 15 minutes, while she greeted other VIPs.

Then it was our turn! She is so sweet and pretty in real life!

(Photo from the radio station's website)

We didn't get to spend long with her, but long enough for me to gush that she is one of my favorite artists, a handshake and a hug (afterward my husband was all, "I'll never wash my hand again!" Dork.), and got an autographed poster.

While the meet and greet was going on, they brought out even more free food, this time it was hamburgers, hotdogs, pies, brownies and cookies.

Then we just had to hang out and wait a few more minutes for the performance we'd really come for.

And I must say, the performance didn't disappoint! This was the second time we'd seen Sara Bareilles in concert, and she was amazing again.

I really need to get a Flip video camera, my camera does pretty good sound, but doesn't take very good quality videos.

A couple more pictures of the performance.

And another video, with less people getting in the way.

And that was it! The concert got done around 5pm, and an hour later we were home, and spent the rest of the evening vegging on the couch, and catching up on shows we'd DVR'd the week before. What a great weekend!