Quidam

For the past few years for Mom's birthday I have tried to get her more things to do rather than material gifts.  A few years ago I took her to see Michelle Kwan in Stars on Ice, this year we saw Cirque du Soleil, Quidam.  The show was amazing, there were funny moments with the clowns pulling audience members up to participate, thrilling moments of acrobatics and aerials, and their trademark weird moments.

The entire show is imagined by a bored young girl named Zoe who is alienated and ignored by her parents.  She dreams up the whimsical world of Quidam as a means of escaping the monotony of her life.  

The show's title refers to the feature character, a man without a head, carrying an umbrella and a bowler hat.

One of the biggest surprises was the music of the show.  Not only is it beautiful and dynamic but is is performed live behind all the action.  Everything even down to the sound effects are done this way.  We had a blast and I can't wait to see another show!

Zoey's Play Date!

I took Zoey over to Ashley's for a play date with her dogs.  Romeo was visiting her sister but Reagan and Zoey were in for a treat.  We made them homemade dog treats which were even good by human standards.   Ashley took spoiling to a whole other level and insisted we serve them on plates with little goblets of milk. I think Zoey was in heaven.

Zoey had never had milk before but she loved it so much I let her have it.  Thought everything was fine until she puked in my cup holder on the way home...oh well.  Thanks for the play date Ashley and Reagan!

New York City

We hadn't seen Alan's parents in a long time since California is so far away. They were taking his sister Lauren on a college visit to NYC and so we met them up there for the weekend. Alan insisted on driving which I wasn't on board with until I realized we wouldn't be saving that much time by flying but we would be saving alot of money. We arrived Friday night and went to meet his parents in Times Square.

 

 

 

Times Square by night

 

Times Square by day

 

There were so many lights you couldn't even tell it was the middle of the night, I have never seen so many billboards in my life! Alans parents got everyone bus tour tickets which was a fantastic idea. We could use them for the whole weekend, so not only did we not have to take a cab to popular tourist spots but they pointed out areas we never would have found otherwise. We saw where the first Macy's was, where Audrey Hepburn lived, where Elizabeth Taylor got married, and from the real housewives of NYC Jill Zarins fabric store.

 

First up was the empire state building, I had been once before when I was younger but Alan had never been. With the fall of the twin towers it is now the tallest building in NYC.

 

 

 

 

We took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty but didn't get off, due to construction no one is allowed to go up. We also made a stop at Ellis Island.

 

 

We were treated to a fantastic view of the NYC skyline on the way back to the city. To the left you can see the "Freedom Tower" which will be the new World Trade 1. It will be 1776 feet tall in honor of our Independence day, in this picture it is only halfway done.

 

 

I hadn't been to NYC since 9/11 and I really wanted to see the memorial. There are two huge fountains where the north and south towers once stood, they are meant to signify emptiness and loss.

 

 

The new world trade center is just blocks away.

 

 

You can't go to NYC and not see a show, they are literally everywhere. We went to see Rent which I had never seen before. I absolutely loved it, the singing was unbelievable and it was the perfect musical to see considering it is set in NYC.

 

The last thing on my to do list was a little shopping in Soho and lunch at Little Italy. I had my all time favorite, shrimp alfredo. It was to die for! We also shared some antipasta and topped it off with the perfect cappucino!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valentines Day

To celebrate Valentines day Alan took me out to dinner at Backstreets where we had our first date!

Girls Night Out!

We have needed a girls night out for so long!  We got together for dinner at Sarah's house in Roanoke, Ashley brought a casserole and we all sat in Sarah's gorgeous dining room like mature ladies.  Maybe it was to counteract the maddness that was bound to follow.  Most of us our either married or in long term relationships and it had been forever since we went out with a big group of girls.  It reminded me of my college days!  We played a dance video game before we went out, it was a big hit!

We all crammed into a taxi and headed to downtown, we went to Metro where coincidently I had my  bachlorette party almost a year ago.  Drinks, dancing, and craziness followed into the early morning.

Afterwards we picked up a few pizzas and took the cab back to change into our pajamas.  We have to do this again soon!

Black and White Masquerade Ball

Ashley had been dying to go to the annual Black and White Masquerade Ball held at the Hotel Roanoke, this year we got everyone together and had a blast!  

I kinda missed the memo that most people would wear black or white, I was the only one running around in a pink dress, it was helarious.

I think even the boys had fun wearing the masks!

Afterwards we went out in downtown Roanoke to the metro, we had great time and hope to do it again next year!

Mom's Birthday...Ole!

To celebrate Mom's birthday we went out to dinner to Alejandros, one of her favorite Mexican resturants.

Dad had told the waiters that it was her birthday so she got a sombrero and confetti dumped on her head while they sang to her.  It took awhile for Dad to fess up that he was the one who had told them.

Mom got earings, a Micheals gift certificate, and I gave her tickets for her and I to go see Circ de Soliel in April.

Happy Birthday Mom!