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A weekend out with the man

I've been slacking on blogging. With so much else going on with work and exercising and taxes and ...., I just haven't been in a blog mood. I did have to share this, particularly with Molly ;)

I am currently wrapping up a fabulous weekend with my darling husband. This was his weekend (originating because of the birthday present I gave him, which is described below). Friday night we went to his best friend's in Raleigh - they've been friends since grade 4 or so and revert back to that level anytime they get together. That was the warm up.

Yesterday we drove to Charlotte and checked into our room at the Marriott downtown. Although we had spent more than we intended already on eating out while in Raleigh, we choose a great restaurant a block from the hotel called Harry and Jean's. If ever you down in the region of the Bank of America building, the convention center, the stadium, you need to try this restaurant.

Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the big event. Years and years ago, when watching the movie Excalibur, Shannon fell in love with the score while Arthur and his knights were riding into their final battle. He researched the song, bought the CD and fell in love with pretty much all the songs on that CD. He learned all the latin lyrics and used some of the other songs in his short movies he makes (for fun). Prior to Christmas, he mentioned he wouldn't mind hearing the music live. Thinking it was an opera, I set out to find a city either close by or one that we'd like to go to for vacation (or training + vacation so my company would pay most of my expenses!). Imagine my surprise when I learned it was a ballet!

Fast forward to now, last night we went to the ballet of Carmina Burana (Molly: to add color for you, this was a tribute to the North Carolina Dance Theatre's artistic directors Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride, both of who have danced with many famous ballets). I was nervous giving Shannon the tickets for his birthday in January, but all he was concerned about was that the music was the same. The first act was actually a world premiere of Alleged Dances chorographed by Dwight Rhoden. It was ... interesting. I did like it. Man, are those dancers athletic! Shannon's goal in his fitness is to have the body of a male ballet dancer.

Carmina Burana was phenominal. During the opening song (music by the Appalachian University orchestra and choir, as well as 3 guest singers), we both got chills. I had gotten the best seats available and the only downer to them was a guy in the row in front of us (luckily not directly) who acted more like he was at a wresling match - it isn't necessary to whoop and hollar after every song. This was our first ballet (other than me watching Nutcracker on tv) and we were mesmerized by the dancers, the music, the sets. Most importantly, Shannon loved his birthday present.

Today it is back home to pick up the little man at the kennel and back to real life. *sigh*

Alright Dale et al, here you go

I really should be working on my grocery list (yes, it is one of *those* Friday nights) so that I can get to the grocery store and get back to get on the elliptical, but I'm feeling guilty (see #4) that it has now been 2 weeks since I was first tagged and I have since been tagged four other times.

These are in no particular order:

1. I can't stand a sink full of dishes. My house can (and sometimes is) cluttered and it doesn't necessarily spur me into action, but more than a couple of dishes in my sink drives me mental. Can I get a woo hoo on finally getting a dishwasher in this new house?

2. I came |-| this close to being a professional musician. I've played instruments (started with clarinet and graduated to trombone and piano for the most part) since I was 10, but performing on the trombone was almost always a thrill. Nothing like the rush of a great song coming together. I even applied to McGill University, but dropped that idea before my audition. I LOVE playing, not big on practising. Heck, I quit piano lessons when I was 16 because my required 45 minutes a day was lucky to be 45 minutes a week. I would have had to go back and take my conservatory tests (only had actually taken theory exams) for piano, plus got private lessons for the trombone, and probably would have ended up a teacher. Nope, not for me.

3. My parttime job through school (from grade 8 until partway through college) was in an egg grading plant. We were the largest grading station in Quebec and owned by the largest commercial chicken farm in Canada. It stunk, it was messy and I pretty much hated it, but it paid better than pretty much any other job out there for someone my age, I got a good number of hours (weekends during the school year, fair amount of work throughout the week in the summer) and it helped me with my French (which helped me get the French award/bursary when I graduated high school).

4. I have guilt issues. I constantly worry after I've said or done something that it could have been taken the wrong way. Too bad I have foot-in-mouth-itis anyways. I still feel guilty for the first time I snapped at my husband ..... 7 years ago.

5. I used to be a casual smoker. Not just cigarettes when I was drinking (everyone does that), but my friend Sara and I would go to the cigar lounge next to the dance club and smoke and play cheese. Oh yeah, we were cool.