Gaga For Gaga

A zillion or so months ago, my friend Jayme and I tried unsuccessfully to get tickets to one of Lady Gaga’s Los Angeles concerts. Somehow, Jayme managed to find tickets to one of Gaga’s San Francisco shows, so we bought them with the hope that we could sell them if LA tickets ever became available. When it became clear that we weren’t going to find tickets to an LA show for less than $500 (each), we decided to make a road trip out of it. And for extra fun, I brought along Annabel and Jayme brought her daughter, Dylan. Dylan had just celebrated a birthday, so a girls’ trip was a great way to celebrate.

To break up the drive, we made a few stops. First up was a lunch stop in Santa Barbara, where the girls played on the beach.

Jayme was the driver, so I took advantage.

We also made about 5,000 other stops on the way up, thanks to little bladders. Jayme and I occupied the time between stops by singing along to a radio station that only played songs from the 90s. The girls complained about the music but cracked UP at the random band names. To be fair, Butthole Surfers, Smashing Pumpkins, and Toad the Wet Sprocket are pretty funny names.

After spending a nice night at my inlaws’ house south of San Francisco, we headed to the American Girl store in Palo Alto. Dylan picked out a doll that looked like her (a birthday present), and Annie got a doll carrier (courtesy of her Grandma). The squealing in the store was very, very high-pitched.

Traveling with two seven-year-olds and their American Girl dolls was…interesting. They wanted to bring their dolls into every restaurant. The dolls needed space in the hotel room for “sleeping.”

But they also played with their dolls in the car and in the hotel room, so they were happy and occupied during all “down time.”

When it was finally time to prepare for the concert, the girls spent more time getting ready than the adults.

Soooo much sass.

We had great seats at the concert. Close enough to feel like we were a part of it, far enough back to have a good view of the stage and the other concertgoers (the people watching was fantastic).

As you can see, they were beyond excited. But when Gaga finally appeared on stage, I thought Annabel’s face might melt off.

I mean.

It’s a miracle I didn’t sustain a neck injury.

The concert was absolutely fantastic. Lady Gaga is such an incredible musician and performer, and MAN, can she SING. I also got a bit emotional at times, especially when Gaga was talking about her aunt Joanne, who died at the age of 19 from Lupus.

But as much as I enjoyed Lady Gaga’s show, singing and dancing with Annabel will be what I always remember. It’s definitely one of my top ten life highlights! We had so much fun, and I’m so glad we got to experience the whole thing together.