Our Love Story in Concert Pictures

Hello readers and friends!!! We survived another week! I hope that you all are enjoying your weekend. 

I was going through old pictures and reminiscing, and I realized just how many concerts this guy I was dating/boyfriend/fiance/husband/soul mate and I have attended.  I've come to learn that despite our differences, our love of music is something that connects us.  Here's a little bit of our love story(and my hair story) in concert pictures.

This was taken on our second date, February 14, 2009.  Not knowing each other too well, we decided to spend Valentine's Day together but to try to keep it low key. I bought him a coffee table book about Black history.  He gave me some chocolates. We went to see Bilal in concert at LIV Nightclub and had a blast! Well, we had a good time, minus the two guys standing next to us who almost had a fight.  They were fighting over space and the place wasn't full :-/. That male ego, I tell ya. Regardless, we had a good time, and thank goodness, the guys' female companions stepped in to end the drama. 

This pic was taken at Rock the Bells, summer 2009. We had a really good time!  The show included Nas, Common, Reflection Eternal and a bunch of other great acts.  We took this pic on the lawn when we bumped into some other couples that we knew.  This was when the romance was beginning to bloom. 

I can't remember the date/time of this concert, but given my hairstyle, I believe this is the summer of 2010.  We went to see Foreign Exchange at LIV. I remember that the show was great, and Shawn and I took some pictures with Phonte after the show. I had also recently decided to lock my hair, and I could finally style them a little bit. At this point, we'd said our "I love yous" and we were moving along enjoying the journey. 

Shawn always gets us tickets to see the HBCU Mass Choir at the Kennedy Center. This was taken in August or September of 2009 at our first time attending. It was awesome. I cried a little bit and felt a little nostalgic. Good gospel music does this to me. I knew he was a keeper. Despite not being a big gospel fan, he knew that this show would make me very happy. And it did.

  According to my hair, this was also in late 2009. I remember the show - Maxwell at the Verizon center. Hubs went all out and bought floor seats.  Sadly, we were not impressed. The show was just ok, but we had fun. 

Jill Scott and Anthony Hamilton at Verizon Center, summer/fall 2010. I think we just have bad luck with shows at Verizon. I remember neither of us was too impressed with this show either, but we had a good time and made the most of a night out on the town. I also remember having a very good hair day. My locs were bouncing and behaving! 

Sade, summer of 2011. Please take note of Hubby's face. We were in the nosebleeds, and he was not happy.  He explained that he really wanted us to see Sade, but he bought the tickets after he bought my engagement ring, so he had to make some concessions. LOL. I'm looking at my left hand as I type this, and I'm glad he did. I was fine. The seats weren't that great; there was a speaker blocking our view of the stage, but all in all, Sade put on a great show and I spent half of it admiring my new engagement ring.   

This was at Watch the Throne, fall 2011. We went with one of Hubs' best friends, K. We had a blast. This show was also at the Verizon Center, but we had mid-level seats that were AWESOME.  We were by the stage entrance, and we caught a glimpse of Beyonce in all of her pregnant glory. She had that baby, y'all . . . for real.  She was big. She was beautiful! During that evening, I remember talking to K about our wedding plans and watching his eyes light up as he talked about his wedding to his wife, J. I love K and J. They are one of my favorite couples! 

This picture was taken in December, 2011, a couple of nights before my 35th birthday.  We went to see Gretchen Parlato at the Atlas Theater . My love affair with her music began that night. Right before the show, we had dinner at Acadiana. Hubs had the staff create a custom menu just for me that read "Happy Birthday 35th Birthday, TJ!" So cool and creative. He's always doing really cool stuff like that. Little did I know that the next night, he had planned a surprise 35th birthday!!! In the midst of wedding planning craziness, he took some time to celebrate little ole me, and it meant a lot. 

We took a break from concert hopping during the first half of 2012. All of our concert funds went to the wedding. But then we got back on it: 

These two pictures were both taken at the Brooklyn hip hop festival.  The one on the left was taken in 2011, right after our engagement in San Francisco. The other was taken in 2012, about a month after the wedding. We've been going with friends for the last two years, and we're keeping our fingers crossed for a good lineup this year! 

This was at a festival in Fairfax during the summer of 2012. It was our first concert after becoming Mr. & Mrs.  The show had and old school line up - Young MC, Flavor Flav, Slick Rick, and Digital underground. We sang and danced and felt like teenagers. Don't know why Hubs was giving the camera the stink eye, but I still love this picture.

If you don't know who Gregory Porter is, get to know him. He is a super talented jazz musician.  This picture was taken on a date night sometime in the fall of 2012. It was our first time going to the Howard Theater, a supper club that was renovated and reopened about a year or so ago. We had great food and met some really nice people. Hubs got to meet and take some pics with Dick Gregrory. He was there because his daughter opened the show.  We also decided Greg Porter's Real Good Hands was going to be one of our songs. Hubs felt the lyrics in his soul. Take a listen, and you'll see why.  

I've shared this pic before. This was taken at the kickoff of our 2013 Inauguration weekend.  Hubs bought me tickets to see Lalah Hathaway for my birthday. I was recovering from having my wisdom teeth pulled during my birthday in December, so he bought the tickets knowing that I'd be fully recovered and able to enjoy the following month. 

We also spent our (belated) Valentine's Day at the Howard Theater.  We had a study date on 2/14, so we celebrated over the weekend. We saw Kenny Lattimore who sang his face off that night. He is soooo underrated. I'd see him again.

 So this wasn't exactly a concert, but it was an important pic to share. Hubs and I went to a comedy show last month and stayed for the set DJ Prince Paul did after the show. He was grooving. I was smiling and dancing through the pain that night, y'all. I had just gotten some bad news about something that I thought was going to happen for me.  Hubs took me to the Hamilton and showed me a good time and bought me unlimited Pimm's cups that night. You've gotta love a guy who knows how to lift your spirits.

This is our most recent concert picture. We took this last week after the Gretchen Parlato show. Once again, she didn't disappoint. She and the band were awesome. If you haven't checked out her music, do so, like, immediately. Also check out her band mate Alan Hampton. 

I love this picture of us. It's one of my favorites. We've changed so much since our first concert picture.  We're married. We're certain about how we feel about each other. We want to share our lives with some little ones. We're still figuring each other out, but I think that's an ongoing process in a marriage. Our love and respect bind us to each other, but music is our "thing." It's another form of communication for us. When we're upset with each other, we use music to heal. A link to a great piece of music is a peace offering in our house.  Some couples go back and forth about decor and budget during a wedding. For us, it was the music list. We wanted to create a particular mood at our wedding for our guests, so we handpicked all of the music. Yes, each and every track. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what the next set of concert pictures will look like. We are trying to work out our summer concert schedule right now. Here's to the next set of concert pictures and the unfolding love stories that they will bring. What's your "thing" with your partner? Is it music? Fitness? Movies? I'd love to hear. 

Until next time . . . have an awesome weekend!