Tonia's Holiday Surprise

So, this started last Monday, Tuesday maybe. Tonia had a surprise activity for us on Sunday. After a series of clues, I managed to put together what it was on Saturday- The nutcracker! I almost cried when I figured it out- I love the ballet! No one has ever taken me to the ballet ( except my mother when i was 14). So off we went. First to a light dinner at  Bar Avignon on Division. We picked it because we had missed the place we were heading and they opened at four, important since we needed to be at the show at six. We rolled in about 4:45, had an appetizer, tuna crostini- fantastic, and an entrée, veggie rissoto- ok. Even with a sulking server, we were able to make it out the door just in time. A bit of circling downtown and we found ourselves in the Keller Auditorium parking garage.  A bit of a nightmare but it sent us out right in front of the theater, which was helpful. No late seating, everyone was running at this point. We ran too, made it no prob. Box two, student seats, luckily our chairs were not fixed down so we could shift them to have a better line of sight. Nutcracker!

Intermission came and we went on a little tour of the lobby and festivities. There were some great photo ops here, seems that lots of people had dressed up and dressed their children up just to come and take holiday photos in front of the huge tree display in the lobby. The line there was long, so we opted for the less popular, stick your face in the dancer's face hole photo op. Those, of course being my words, not theirs. After pounding a 10 dollar glass of wine, we ended up running to our seats again. 

Wonderful show, great time. Makes me remember how much I like the ballet, and with student tickets, there's really no reason why I shouldn't be going all the time. We'll see. On the way back to the car, we traded photo taking duties with a mother and daughter, in front of a christmas tree in a shopping plaza across the street. Heading into the elevators afterward, it dawned on us that we had absolutely no idea what level the car was on. We were currently on G and there were 26 levels. I don't know what we pushed but we ended up in a hotel lobby where we wandered out and were greeted by an old lobby man who promptly asked us if we were here for the american idol auditions, which were taking place on the 19th floor. Tonia and I exchanged this look that said, well, since we're here.... but we told the guy that we were just looking for our car. He told us how to get there and that he had just been joking about the american idol thing. What a lot of fun he must have teasing silly girls who wander onto his floor! And if he hadn't told us he was joking, what do you think the chances are we would have ended up on the 19th floor? My guess is pretty good. And who knows, I may have had a very different story to tell.....

That's a freaking Christmas card right there!