A dream birthday in every way possible

We are home and back from our 'Spiritual Pilgrimage'.

To say it was the best birthday I have ever had is truly an understatement.

Saw them on the 30 and 31st of July

Seeing U2 play at Madison Square Garden over 2 nights was just the most amazing experience and the best way to start ticking off #22 "Go on a global U2 pilgrimage for their next/any tour". 

Although I didn't get to tick # 23. 'Have Bono take me up on stage' or # 24. 'Get U2 to play Love is Blindness at a concert we are at' there were so many other highlights, which were all equally amazing.

Here are the best bits of the 'Pilgrimage':

+ Being at the @atU2 20th anniversary when half of U2 crashed the party
As was said on the night, this was very much a 'once in a lifetime experience'. Having The Edge and Adam gatecrash the party and play 2 songs just for us was mind blowing. I am sure everyone at the party are still thinking to themselves 'Did that really happen?".

Source U2's instagram page

+ Seeing Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen sing with U2
Paul Simon performing "Mother and Child Reunion"with U2 on the first night and Bruce Springsteen singing 'I still haven't found what I am looking for' and 'Stand by Me' on the 2nd night will stay with me for a very long time.

Bono and Paul Simon

+ Sharing Champagne with Bono for my Birthday
As it was the last night of the North American leg of the ieTour, Bono sang 'Party Girl' and shared Champagne with the Brazilian 'young village people' who were standing with us. As they knew it was my birthday that night, I also got to have the champagne with them. We were so so lucky! 

The Australian flag highlighted crudely in yellow is me
Photo by @KevinS2U

+ Doing it all with this guy
When I first started dating 'husband' some of his friends thought I was using him for the U2 'PopMart' tickets. Some might say I am still using him? Jokes aside, its been nearly 18 years and we are still going to U2 concerts together... and I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else.

Next on the agenda is to scheme up a plan to continue the U2 pilgrimage next year...

I'm going a 'spiritual' pilgrimage

I created this blog as a way of making myself accountable to the things I had put on my Life List. It is a place that I can tick things off the Life List I created and write about them. I had big visions for this blog, but life got in the way and I became content with this blog just being there in the background, subtly reminding me to keep on doing things I love and tick things off my list.

So far I have been slowly getting things ticked off. But  in the next few weeks, I will hopefully accomplish a few big things off my list.

On Friday we leave to start our big U2/Birthday adventure and hopefully get #22, 23 and 24 off my list!
# 22. Go on a global U2 pilgrimage for their next/any tour 
# 23. Have Bono take me up on stage (might as well dream BIG) 
# 24. Get U2 to play Love is Blindness at a concert we are at

'Love is Blindness' from ZooTV Sydney.

As I have said before, husband and I are big U2 nuts. We met many many years ago because he had tickets to the U2 Pop Mart concert. And after 18 years, we are still seeing U2 concerts together.

Embarking on the U2 pilgrimage came about very suddenly about 2 months ago. We saw that there were tickets still available to the very last U2 concert at Madison Square Gardens in New York (which also happens to be my birthday). We then found very cheap flights to New York. So in the spirit of YOLO (you only live once) and my Life List we took the plunge and booked.

I CAN NOT WAIT!

This trip has also made me take the plunge and start the challenge to tick #26 off the list - "Get to my ideal weight and stay there (10kg less than what I am currently)" - because you need to look good for Bono for your birthday don't you?! 
I have been seeing a personal trainer for about 8 weeks now and although I am nowhere near the 10kg mark just yet, I am feeling more toned and less chubby. I have a lot more to go, but I am happy I have finally started working on this goal.

The other items that will hopefully be ticked off are:
#81. Search for the perfect Margarita Adventure commenced
#91 Take a tour of the Eames House
#84. See Bill Cunningham at work/on his bike in NYC

I can not wait... Bono here I come! 

# 22, 23, & 24 - Explaining the U2 obsession

Ever since 1994 and specifically the ZooTV Live from Sydney concert, I have been a massive U2 fan.
It all started with a radio/TV simulcast of that concert and I was hooked. I hadn't seen anything like it before and Bono and his multiple alter egos were mesmerising. One of the final songs that was played was Love Is Blindness and I was in utter love and devotion.

I played that taped concert on my Walkman so many times that the cassette broke.





 
Fast forward to first year university. U2 were about to tour Australia and I was desperate for tickets. I was out with friends at the infamous UniBar and I met a boy who was also a big a fan of U2 and had a spare ticket to the concert. Perfect.

I told him I was a fan and needed a ticket and he promptly kissed me on the hand and said 'Where have you been all my life?'

It was a memorable introduction.

He did give me that ticket and this year we will have been together for 15 years (married 5 of those years).

We have seen many more U2 concerts together.
We have lined up very early in the morning the day of a concert, just so we can get close to the the front. We also attended a friend's wedding in London and we some how managed to tack a U2 concert in Greece at the end of the holiday - it was the perfect excuse to travel to see Santorini and the Island of Naxos.


Me at the U2360 concert in Athens, September 2010 [image by Zahara Dessert]

U2 play a special part in our lives. So Numbers 22-24 are things I would LOVE to somehow tick off.
I now need to work on a plan.