So I'll be an entertainment blogger for a moment...

I've had some questions and quite a few comments about my Rick Springfield photo and what I was up to, etc. Basically, as part of his radio job, Steve was invited to attend a music industry event at a swanky resort down in San Diego this past weekend. Since it was Valentine's Day weekend, Steve's (very cool) boss was going to bring his wife, and suggested that Steve bring me along as well (for just the price of my plane ticket!) So off we went. This event is an annual three-day festival/event put on by music promoters and record labels. It features concerts every evening from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. from (mostly) "up-and-coming" recording artists and some who are well known, but have new music being released soon. It's a chance for the folks in the industry to preview the artists and their music, and decide which folks they might add to their playlists, etc.

Anyway, our first night down there, it turns out that Rick Springfield was one of the featured artists (he has a new CD out). As we checked in to our room at the resort, we noticed a yellow ribbon on one of the doors next to our room. Yes, it turns out the yellow ribbon signified Rick Springfield's suite! Long story short, Steve has been in the radio business for over 25 years, so he has met Rick before (in 1985), and was able to chat him up while I got my photo taken. Rick was completely gracious and down-to-earth. :) Later that evening, he played a show for about 100 industry folks (including me - eeek!) and since the majority of industry folks there were men, there were only about 25 of us women who went nuts when he played. Our own private little R.S. concert! He played two new songs (which were great!) and then "Affair of the Heart" and of course, ended the show with fan favorite "Jessie's Girl". I was literally about 5-10 feet from him the whole time (as my slideshow photos depict!)

I also had the chance to chat later that evening with Chris Isaak, who has the cutest little maltese dog that travels everywhere with him (including onstage!) and wears a rhinestone-studded jacket similar to Isaak's. I told Chris that I recalled him playing at the children's hospital where I formerly worked a few years back - and thanked him for doing that. He said lately they have been playing a lot of veteran's hospitals for guys coming back from Iraq. He said sometimes he thinks the guys are more excited to see his dog than to hear him play, but he is totally OK with that! Nice guy, no crazy ego there... He played some new songs and also "Wicked Game" which was terrific.

Also in the audience at the event were legendary MTV Veejay, Mark Goodman - and new Americ@n Id0l judge, Kara DioGuardi.

Some of the other artists/bands who performed throughout the weekend included Eric Hutchinson, Third Eye Blind, and a band called Tamarama (whose singer Jay currently has a leading role in the MTV reality series "The City") - Steve and the band's manager literally had to beat back about twenty starry-eyed fourteen-year-old girls in order for me to get a picture with Jay - haha. He was cool about taking a photo with an "old lady" such as myself...and when I thanked him, he rubbed my shoulder and said "you're welcome" in a very soft Australian accent...(I can see why the young girls are so smitten!)

Saturday night's highlight (for me) was an amazing Beatle's tribute band called the Fab Four. By the end of their performance they had the entire room up on it's feet dancing and singing along to "Hey Jude" it was great fun.

In the mornings, Steve had to attend and speak on some panels on industry trends. I slept in. In the afternoons we had some free time. The world-renowned Deepak Chopra Center is also located at the resort, so on Friday we engaged in a meditation session there, and bought an amazing little blanket for Lia that literally made me cry when I saw it. It is pink and imprinted with dozens of positive child affirmations, some of them seeming especially loving for an adopted child. On Saturday afternoon, we used our free hours to drive down to Mission Beach, where Steve lived when he worked in San Diego years ago. He showed me the house he lived in (literally a half-block from the beach). So beautiful. I definitely fell in love with San Diego, La Jolla, Del Mar, and the surrounding areas.

Sunday we took a quick drive through Balboa Park, then had lunch at a restaurant right on the bay near downtown San Diego, where we took in the public WWII and Bob Hope exhibits near the USS Midway. Then, after spending way too many hours in a PACKED San Diego airport yesterday (there we many flights delayed due to strong storms up in the Bay Area) we finally got home around 11 p.m. last night to fresh snow falling in Spokane (yuck). Thankfully, I was off work due to President's Day today...so I've had a bit of time to regroup and readjust to the two "W's" (work and winter).