Happy Music Midtown To Me

I finally got to experience my birthday present this past weekend! 

Jason and I made the (almost) 6 hour drive to Atlanta for Music Midtown.

It was crowded, loud, dirty, beautiful weather, crazy lines, down right amazing, and all I expected!

If you know me, then you know how much I love John Mayer. He is my all-time favorite musician, hands down. I am always on the look out for where he's performing and that's how I stumbled across Music Midtown. Then, when I started looking, I KNEW we had to go. Musicians like: John Mayer, Lorde, Bastille, Lana Del Ray, Needtobreathe, Eminem, Jack White, Zac Brown Band, Iggy, and many more.
It was stacked. 

So, I didn't want to tote my large camera around these 2 days since we were going to be in this huge crowd for hours upon hours and you never know what the weather is going to be like--so all I have are iPhone pictures and videos--a lot more videos than pictures for once!

It's hard to get a good picture when you've been in the car for over 5 hours, had a lot of coffee to ensure you stay up past your "teacher bedtime", walked--a lot, and fought through huge crowds...but, here we are! Ready to hear some amazing music

We got the to festival sometime after Iggy had already started and we walked up to her stage...and I, of course, couldn't even see the stage. It was PACKED. Just a small taste of the vastness of what we were walking into that evening. So, we stood for a song then made our way over to where Lorde was performing so that we could claim a good spot. 

Lorde

She was AMAZING! My second favorite of the whole festival. If you ever have the chance to see her live, do yourself a favor and go! 

My all time favorite! He NEVER disappoints, ever. John Mayer ladies and gentlemen. 

Day 2: a much anticipated and successful trip to Trader Joe's. Delicious lunch at Tap. And another full day of wonderful music. 

When in Atlanta, one must get beer that's brewed in Atlanta

My man is so handsome! Thank you for the perfect birthday gift, you know me all too well!

Needtobreathe--my first time seeing them live

Bastille--definitely my favorite of Day 2!

I know this one is blurry---that's because this is the absolute closest that we could get to Eminem. It was OUTRAGEOUS the amount of people that were there to watch him. People climbing trees, people on shoulders, on rails, it was absurd. 

We had such a fun time! 

Zucchini Egg Bake

This is to die for. 

Jason and I are always looking for new things to add to our collection of "go-to" meals and this one just topped the charts tonight. 

The recipe came from "The Primal Blueprint Cookbook". I am kicking myself over the fact that we've waited this long to make it. Don't make the same mistake!

What you need:

4 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

2 pounds zucchini, grated

1/2 pound ground Italian sausage or other ground meat

(we got ground pork from the farmer's market & Jason seasoned it with his own concoction)

3 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (we used just good ole' parmesan)

What you do:

Preheat oven to 350

In a saute pan, melt butter and add onion and zucchini

Saute until zucchini is tender, 5-7 minutes

Put zucchini in a colander to drain off any excess liquid

Add sausage to the sauté pan and sauté until just cooked

Combine the sausage and zucchini and season to taste

Add eggs, mix well, and pour into an 8x8 square pan

Grate cheese (or sprinkle) on top

Bake uncovered for 35-40 minutes

It's quite versatile--could be served for any meal time. 

It was so easy and so good. 

All of the grating takes a little time, but it's totally worth it! 

Good Things

Sometimes it's the little things...

and this past week I had a lot of the little things happen and I am quite thankful!

My kids were in the newspaper (The Weekly Leader) and it was awesome. 

 These beautiful skies on Monday evening

We have the perfect view from our backyard

I don't think it will ever get old!

Sweet potatoes, another thing I will never grow tired of (especially when cinnamon is involved)

Not really a little thing--but a pretty HUGE THING! 

We found this lady's wedding dress and it. is. stunning. (to say the least)

It was such a fun afternoon. 

Come on December 20th! 

 Trying out my hand at being a barista (only in my home)

Homemade chai tea lattes, with a little cinnamon art to top it off. 

I haven't perfected them yet, but I'm getting close!

My Dad's sermon this morning really spoke to my heart. 

He's doing a series on the Lord's prayer and today's portion was 

"As we also have forgiven our debtors"

and man...there's one thing that he said that struck a cord. 

When we forgive someone, truly forgive them, we absorb the debt that they owe us. 

We take the hurt and the repercussions and we handle them, we take it, they are fully forgiven. 

When we stop to think about that...we might find ourselves thinking "...Well that's not fair. They did wrong to me, and they are off the hook and I am going to deal with what they caused" It's kinda hard to believe that that's what we get for forgiving. For doing The Lord's will and forgiving those who have caused us pain and now have a debt to us. Crazy right? 

Who else has done that? Who has done the specifically for me?

Jesus absorded ALL of my "sin debt" and suffered for every. single. bit of it.

How can we think we don't deserve to suffer?

I know right?

Whew! 

Thank you Jesus for YOUR forgiveness of my nasty, nasty, debts. 

And ending my night finishing up this book--which has turned out to be really good!