New Thing #70 - You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

It wouldn't be Christmas without the less-than-jolly-green-giant himself, The Grinch. Tonight involved a trip with Betsy to the newly revamped Peabody Opera House in downtown St. Louis to see a live production of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

But before that, I have to get to dinner, also a first. I like food, and can eat my weight in a few choice items, but the food tonight was intriguing and far exceeded any expectations I had for it. We headed to Mango Peruvian Cuisine in downtown St. Louis right off of Wash Ave. I've heard about this place, and always wanted to try it, and lucky for me, Betsy was up to the challenge.

The show was scheduled to start at 7, so we didn't have much time after work to get downtown for dinner before showtime. I quickly realized why I never go to Washington Avenue. Parking is a bitch. Street parking is nearly impossible, especially during the dinner rush, and lots are tiny and hard to come by. I think we went around the same 4 block area three times before we gave up on street parking and opted to pay for the lot parking. We managed to steal a spot from someone leaving, or else I think we would have had to have our meal delivered to us as we drove by.

Inside was dark and moody, and surprisingly vacant. I know it was only 5:30, but I figured we would have difficulties getting a table, which is why I made us a reservation. Oh well, at least we would be able to hear ourselves think. The hostess seated us, and the first order of business was the drink menu. Betsy started out with a citrusy mojito, and I opted for a South American daiquiri. Think citrus and coconut rum. Yum.

The menu.

South American Daiquiri

Mojito!

Our server started us off with a bowl of fried plantains and some salsa verde dipping sauce. The plantains were crunchy and light and the salsa verde citrusy and slightly spicy. Delicious. Mango offered a $20 3-course pre-theater meal option, and we decided to go for that. And thus began the next heavenly hour of my life.

Neon green dip=awesome deliciousness.

My first course was aguadito de pollo - a homemade soup made with grilled chicken, rice, vegetables and Peruvian spices in a citrus-herb broth. I have to admit, it did not look good when they brought it out. It was a pukey shade of green, with small bits floating just beneath the murky surface. They topped it with a lemon slice, but in the light of the restaurant, it looked like a lime gone bad. I was brave and tried it though, and I was immediately blown away by the flavor. It was a lovely mix of citrus and spices that wasn't overpowering in any way. I let Betsy try it, but I almost didn't want to give away any morsel of it. I was even a bit bummed by the fact that it would be highly inappropriate to lick the remaining bits out of the bottom of the bowl. I did think about it though.

See, told you it didn't look very appetizing.


Betsy's first course was the ensalada exotica - mixed greens, roasted red peppers, mango, almonds and cilantro with citrus dressing. Also, very good, but I was well sated with my soup choice.

The second course came, and again, my plate did not look at all appetizing. My dish was the aji de gallina - shredded chicken breast in creamy aji amarillo, Parmesan cheese & walnut sauce, served over baby Yukon potatoes with white rice. Holy double starch, batman! Aji is a kind of Peruvian pepper, and amarillo of course, means yellow. So, you have a yellow pepper, white cheese, white potatoes and white rice. Needless to say, the only color on the plate came from a small garnish of red peppers on the rice. Again, I told myself that looks can be deceiving, so I dug in with gusto.

I was not to be disappointed. The chicken melted in my mouth, and the creamy cheese and pepper sauce was rich and decadent. There was a kick at the end from the pepper, but the rice and potatoes were a nice buffer to tone it down a bit. I could not get enough of this dish. However, it's creamy decadence was incredibly rich, and I felt myself slowing down towards the end. I did finish it all though! The sweetness of my daiquiri wasn't really helping at this point either. What started out as a refreshing cocktail turned out to be a bit too much to handle.


Visual scale: 1.5, Yumminess scale: 9.5 (I still can't figure out what the single slice of hard-boiled egg was for though...)


Betsy's main course was lomo saltado - sirloin steak strips stir-fried with sweet onions, tomatoes, garlic and Peruvian peppers, served with white rice and garnished with steak fries. Double starch goodness! We still couldn't figure out why they decided to add french fries to the dish. It almost looked as if they fell onto the plate and they just decided to keep them on there. Betsy clearly didn't care, because she was just as happy with her dish as I was with mine.

We still had the third course to go, and I wasn't entirely sure I had room. But, it was the dessert course, and there's always room for dessert. Always. And I'm so glad I held out. Because I think the dessert was the best part. Which, considering the previous two courses, would be hard to top. I had pionono - a sponge cake rolled in rich dulce de leche, sprinkled with powdered sugar and strawberry sauce.

Oh.

My.

God.

The sponge cake was delicately moist, the dulce de leche (caramel sauce) rich and sinful, the powdered sugar adding just enough sweetness. I think Betsy was starting to worry about me because I was starting to enjoy my dessert a little too much.


See? Don't you want to try this restaurant JUST because of this dessert?! Again, I nearly licked my plate clean.


Betsy's dessert was the mango sorbet. It was very light and refreshing, but in my opinion, paled in comparison to the cake.

At this point, I probably had this big idiotic grin on my face, because I was so sated and giddily happy over what I hadn't anticipated on being such a delicous meal. Sure, I figured the food was good because I had heard people talking, but I just didn't know if it would be my kind of food. Well, needless to say, I will be going back in the very near future.

After dinner, we realized we had less than a half an hour to get to the Peabody, park and get to our seats. Seeing as how the opera house was only a few blocks away, you would think this would be a piece of cake. What we had failed to realize when purchasing our tickets was that there was also a hockey game tonight. And the Peabody is literally right next to Scottrade. So, we had to deal with hockey fans, street closures and ridiculously steep parking fees. We eventually managed to finagle a spot in a lot close to Peabody, parking in a non-parking zone, and started running down the street. (We weren't the only ones in no-parking zones. The lot was littered with illegal parking.)

And I'm not kidding. We were literally running down the street. I'm not a big fan of people arriving late to shows and disturbing the performance while trying to find their seat. I refuse to be this person, but at this point, it didn't look like it could be helped. We only had a few blocks to go, so we fortunately made it with little difficulty, but I was a bit pooped when we got there. Up a few flights of stairs and we made it to our section. In all of the excitement, I failed to really look at the inside of the lobby, but I figured I had plenty of time after the show.

Luckily, we made it to our seats with time to spare, and didn't have to disrupt anyone's enjoyment of the show. Plus, I could let my heart rate return to its normal pace. I was able to get spectacular seats, in the mezzanine section, dead center. We were in the front of our row, with the aisle in front of us, so I didn't have to worry about kicking anyone's seat, or trying to look over some lady with a big hat or anything. We had a perfect view of the stage, and were close enough we could see the actor's facial expressions.

Yes, we are a bit far away, but we were able to see the whole show.

At least we had better seats than all those people.

All of the sets were created with the same Dr. Seuss-esque artistic stylings just like the books. Lots of black and white drawings with hints of color. (Sorry, couldn't take photos during the performance.)

The lights in the ceiling changed color. Pretty!

I had never been to the Peabody before they revamped it, but it was gorgeous inside.

The show started a few minutes later, and I realized I probably should have used the restroom before it started. Oh well, I figured I could hop out during intermission and do my business.

Rather than having a narrator for the story, this version used an "older" Max (the dog) to do the story-telling of that eventful Christmas night. Overall, the show was very cute and entertaining. The actor who played the Grinch was a big ham, and really played up the audience. Cindy Lou Who was adorable, and had a powerful voice that didn't seem like it was possible to come out of someone so tiny. They even involved the audience during the famous song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." The audience wasn't quite as sure of their voices as the cast though, so it wasn't really a rousing version of the song!

I quickly realized that there was no real intermission during this show since it was less than an hour and a half long. So, for an hour and a half I sat in my seat trying not to think about the fact that I had to pee. Which is incredibly difficult to do. Since we were in the middle of our row, there was no easy way for me to get out. I contemplated hopping down through the railing in front of me, but I didn't think that was really appropriate, so I just sat and tried not to think about it.

The show continued with song after song, dance after dance, and I started to feel myself getting more and more into the Christmas spirit. I mean, I was practically already there, since my decorations had been up since before Thanksgiving. But, this was truly a spirit lifter, and I'm so glad we went.

After the show was over - and a quick potty break - we headed back out to look at the inside. The lobbies, chandeliers and staircases were all well renovated and impeccably decorated for the holidays. It makes me happy when old buildings are renovated into their former glory, rather than being torn down for some flashy new apartment building. The Peabody was such a big part of St. Louis culture that had been long since forgotten. The millions of dollars were well spent.

My flash didn't like the chandelier, so the lobby looks really dark.

The ceiling above the lobby.

I had to snap this after the show, since it was just a blur when we got there.

They had set up a makeshift skating rink across the street, and Grinch tickets got you in for a discounted price. I am a terrible ice skater, so this wasn't even an option for us. :)

Thanks to Betsy for accompanying me on our annual Christmas outing, and for trying out a fantastic new restaurant. As much as I liked the Grinch, I think this new thing belongs, hands down, to Mango. Can you tell I liked it? Maybe I should be their new spokesperson...

Merry Christmas to all, and I hope the spirit of the season stays with each of you throughout 2012.

New Thing #69 - M-I-Z!

Z-O-U!

I've lived near Columbia my whole life, and my sister even went to Mizzou, but I've never been to an MU football game. I've watched them on tv, and cheered from afar, but now I'm finally able to experience the phenomenon in person.

I have quite a few family ties to Mizzou besides my sister. My cousin Angela, my Uncle Denny, his son Stephen, and now his daughter, Elizabeth, are all proud Tigers. My Uncle Richard on my dad's side is even retired from there. I'm sure there's more, but I have a big family, and can't keep track of all of their alma maters. The good news about this is that Angela and I wouldn't be alone in our cheering efforts. (And Angela is now officially making it into the blog. She's been a regular commentor, but has yet to take part in any of the adventures. So, lucky for her, she also gets to experience a new thing!)

Angela is a season ticket holder, along with my Uncle Denny & Aunt Kayne. They don't sit together, but they'll often see each other through beer goggles at the tailgating extravaganza. Since my uncle is out of the country for business, I offered to pick Aunt Kayne up along the way. Roadtripping is so much more fun with other people. Especially if the other person is Aunt Kayne. She would be joining her friends for their tailgate, and Ang and I would be bouncing from their tailgate to Angela's friends' tailgate.

Me and Angela

My road trip buddy, Aunt Kayne, and Ang and I.

Now, I've tailgated before, but never to the extent that some of these people do. I mean they had RVs for crying out loud! We arrived at the parking lot around 2:00 for a 6:00 game. Which might actually be considered rather late since people had been there since the night before. The weather had turned from lukewarm in St. Louis to a balmy 50 or so in Columbia. I really wasn't prepared for the drop in temperature, but at least I had a light jacket and gloves. I almost didn't pack them since it was supposed to be in the low 70s. Stupid weathermen.

Good news is that MU tailgaters don't mess around, and they came prepared with numerous canopies to keep out the rain and some of the wind. Shortly after we arrived, the ladies started bringing out platter after platter of food. THIS is what tailgating is all about. Yes, drinking beer is always fun, but it's the food that I love. I started snacking relentlessly on the mixed nuts, Bugles mix, cookies, pulled pork, chips, salad... I think I ate a little bit of everything. It was magical.

Eventually my cousin Stephen stopped by to say his hellos and give some sugar to his family. He's a junior this year at Mizzou and finally 21. As evidenced by the case of Natty Light he was carrying around. I think he was a bit jealous I was drinking legitimate microbrewery beer, rather than the alcoholic water he was chugging down. Ahhhh, to be broke and in college again. I can't say I miss the cheap beer experience anymore.

I have a soft spot for this boy.

Stephen with his *favorite cousin. (*Angela and I are technically tied for the honor.)

Cousins! (My mom, Stephen's dad, and Angela's mom are all siblings...they are 3 of 8!)

Stephen and his mama!

I had to give Stephen a bit of trouble because he was put in charge of getting me a gold Mizzou t-shirt. I didn't have any MU apparel, and I couldn't find any gold t-shirts at the few stores I looked at in St. Louis. (They encourage fans to wear gold to the games.) Stephen, being the doting cousin that he is, offered to pick me up a shirt in the bookstore the day before the game. (It's 25% off!) I told Aunt Kayne I wasn't picky on the design, I just wanted to make sure it fit. He's a 21-year-old male. Not really who I'd normally want picking out a shirt to fit. Apparently, he stressed a lot over the design until he finally came away with a True Tiger t-shirt that says "Beat Western Illinois". I was completely fine with that, but I couldn't miss an opportunity to give him a bit of grief. Not that it mattered, since I wore my jacket the whole time anyways.

We eventually moseyed over to Angela's friends' tailgate so I could use their RV bathroom. The line for the port-a-potties were about 25 people deep, so I was getting a bit concerned with the bathroom situation. I wasn't nearly drunk enough to embrace the port-a-potty just yet. I felt a bit weird using someone's bathroom when I had only met them about 4 minutes prior. But, they were all nice people, and seeing that I was related to Angela, they welcomed me with open arms.

We weren't there for too long before it was time to head into Faurot Field to see a little football action. I mean, that is why we're here, right? We just missed the singing of the national anthem and the flyover, but another restroom break was pretty mandatory at that point. Once I break the seal, it's all downhill. Angela and I headed up to our seats, and I was thrilled to see that Angela springs for seat cushions with backs on them. They're not standard with season tickets, and you definitely have to pay extra, but they're well worth it. They stay up all season, so she'll always have a comfy place to park it for a few hours. They're also available to rent on a game-by-game basis. I hate bleacher seating with no backs, so it was lovely to not have to worry about a sore back all night.

However, the seats were a bit on the teensy side, and I was a bit concerned the guy sitting next to me might think I was getting a bit fresh if I sneezed. We were packed in like sardines, but at least it helped keep the body heat from escaping! After the first few minutes, it was nice to have the windblock of the people in front of me.

I'm here!

As the minutes ticked away to kick off, I took a ton of pictures of the stadium itself. I've only been in this stadium once before, and it's been exactly 1 year and two days since then. This is where we finished our 5K race last September, and it felt a lot bigger being up in the seats than it did on the track. The place was massive, but it kinda has to be to contain the massive amount of MU fans.

That area of the track is where the finish line for the 5K was last year.

The stadium itself was enormous, and reminded me more of a pro football team's stadium than a college team. But, then again, my college football experience consisted of Truman State University. We weren't exactly known for our football prowess. In fact, I think I maybe went to a total of 2 games in the 4.5 years I went there. So, needless to say, this was pretty impressive to watch. And kinda made me sad that I never experienced all the hoopla a college football game had to offer.

Even the team entering the field and the starting line up was a production in its own right. I've only been to one St. Louis Rams game, but I don't think it was even this big of a deal.

Getting ready to announce the team.

Pretty sweet scoreboard display.

Truman the Tiger making his way around the track to get the students pumped up!

This is a little bit more pomp and circumstance than I'm used to.

Well, this looks interesting. Are there people in there? More on this later.

See the vendor in the upper left corner with the reddish orange shirt in the aisle? Aunt Kayne is only a few rows up from him. I zoomed in and I can totally see her! I assure you she is not picking her nose.

You can sit up on the grassy hill if you want to. That's kind of an interesting way to watch the game!

Marching Mizzou.

Andddd, it's game time!

I was pretty excited to watch the game, but I didn't figure it would be all that action-packed since we were playing the Western Illinois Leathernecks. Which, oddly had a mascot of a dog wearing a bandana. I suppose that's a military symbol since leathernecks are what Marines are called. MU didn't disappoint in doing their job, and WIU didn't disappoint in their role of letting us pad our record. The cannon went off 6 times just in the first half.

The first few touchdowns were pretty exciting until we just kept scoring. With two minutes to go in the first half, we were up 35-0. I started to text my friend the score, but about a minute or so later we scored again. Good grief, now I know why they call it a cupcake game.

I'm not sure if they are members of Mizzou's ROTC or active soldiers, but they are in charge of firing the cannon after a touchdown. They got to fire it A LOT! I tried to get a photo of it, but I was never quick enough. Either that, or someone would walk right into my shot when I took the photo.

The cheerleaders run across the field waving flags that spell out Missouri. You can see the remnants of the cannon fire. MU goes all out each time they score. :)

Another thing they do is have these guys do push ups with Truman after every touchdown. But, they don't just do 6. No, they do pushups to equal the current score. Can you imagine what your arms would feel like after doing close to 400 push ups in 3 hours? I know these guys are used to it, but Truman didn't quite do all of them. ;-)

This thing was my favorite part. (Sorry about all the interference. People kept walking in front of my camera.) I don't know what it was about this giant helmet that people drove around, but it cracked me up every time. All they would do was drive it around in figure 8s after a touchdown. That's it. They just drove it around like they were drunk. It was hysterical.

The halftime show was exactly what I expected and was full of drums and dancing Golden Girls. What I didn't expect was the mass exodus from the stadium. By the time the second half was under way, nearly half of the fans hadn't returned to their seats. I know it was essentially a blow out game, but geez, they could have at least stayed for the whole game. And dangit, all those people left and took my windblock with them. Granted, it was later in the night, but there wasn't a whole lot to block the cold that I hadn't planned for. Good news for us, is that Aunt Kayne was able to come and join us for the rest of the game.

I'm a bit partial to flag girls since I was one in high school. They had pink flags for Susan G. Komen weekend in CoMo.

The Golden Girls also sported pink.

Can you figure out the song they're playing? It's a tribute to breast cancer awareness. And who knew they had baton twirlers?

We continued to watch the game and cheer on the team, even after the 5th string they probably put in. I swear, I think even the water boy was playing. Hell, I think I was the only one not on the field at some point. Some of the touchdowns looked like our guy was running in slow motion. It was almost like he was trying to get tackled so we wouldn't score again. It really was a bit embarrassing for WIU. But, surely, they had to know what they were in for.

Kinda like the 7th inning stretch, this is the Missouri Waltz. I think this happened between the 3rd and 4th quarters. I hope you don't get motion sickness, because I was swaying along with everyone else. :)

The game started to wind down and I noticed there was a line of people in yellow jackets lining up around the field. I asked Angela and Aunt Kayne what they were for, and they informed me they were there to keep people from rushing the field? Really?

Really? I highly doubted this was the night that the student body would feel the need to rush the field. Not to mention all the students had pretty much left the stands anyways. I had to laugh because when I zoomed in, I didn't really think the people they chose would be able to stop a mass mob of students intent on taking down the goal posts.

The last line of defense. They look pretty fierce, right?

I asked them if I could rush the field. Just because I wanted to say I'd done it. I wanted to know if they'd bail me out of jail. Aunt Kayne politely declined, but she did offer to take photos for posterity.

Thanks.

I decided not to, because they'd probably just think I was a crazy person and body check me or something. This is not on my bucket list.

Final score: 69-0. Does anyone else find it crazy that this my 69th new thing, and we won 69-0?

A BIG Thank you goes out to Angela for asking me to go with her, as well as a thank you to Aunt Kayne for being my travel buddy, and Stephen for the shirt. I "guess" it was okay. Love you all!

New Thing #68 - Bless Your Beautiful Hide

The title is a bit tricky to figure out unless you're an old musical fan. Although I wouldn't necessarily consider myself to be a die hard musical fan, as there are many that I've never seen or don't like. But there's one in particular that I've always loved. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I don't know what it is, but whenever I see it on tv, it makes me smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I think it's because it brings back memories of my childhood and watching the movie at home and with my grandparents. It holds a pretty special place in my heart, plus it has some kick ass dance sequences in it. ("Bless Your Beautiful Hide" is one of the songs.)

I've never seen the musical live before, but that was just the icing on the cake. The real new thing this week was going the Muny, the nation's oldest and largest outdoor musical theatre. It calls Forest Park it's home, and in the nine and a half years I've lived in St. Louis, I've never made it to a show. I have no idea why. I've talked about it nearly every summer I've lived here, even made tentative plans with friends, but I just never quite pulled the trigger to actually go and see a show.

I thought for a long time that it was expensive, and in the beginning, I didn't really have the money to spare. Then someone told me there were free seats way back in the nose bleed section, and you just had to get there early to snag one. Okay, that sounded perfect. Except for one teeny-tiny obstacle to overcome. It's an outdoor theatre. In the Midwest. In the summer. Did I really want to sit out in the suffocating Missouri heat to watch a musical, when I could just as easily sit in the air conditioned Fox Theatre downtown? Granted, the Muny is cheaper, but it's open to all the perilous weather we get in the summers.

So, needless to say, I've been lax in my Muny attention, but this year, I vowed to go. Brenda agreed to be my date, shocked that I hadn't graced the Muny seats yet. When I saw that 7Bfor7B was coming to the prestigious stage, I nearly peed myself with pure excitement. I'm not sure it was Brenda's first choice for what to see, but she was a good sport and allowed me this guilty pleasure. We also opted to purchase tickets to fully engulf ourselves in the Muny experience.

We started off the night with another first for both of us. Dinner at Fitz's Restaurant. A St. Louis staple in the Delmar Loop since 1947, it's a restaurant, and a bottling plant for their famous sodas, or as they call them "pop". We didn't really have time to truly soak in all the history, nor were we able to catch a glimpse of the bottling in action, but we did dig into their food, and found it pretty tasty. Instead of a famous burger, I went with their fish tacos, and they were pretty damn good. Considering the sweatbox we were about to endure, I didn't want a half pound of masticated cow expanding my pants. Of course, dinner wouldn't be complete without a drink. My favorite flavor of soda has always been orange, and their Orange Pop rivals my Sunkist favorite. Brenda's drink of choice was a frosty mug of cream soda. Tasty, but in my opinion, a little too sweet to pair with a full dinner.

We headed back to Brenda's condo after dinner for a quick cool off in the A/C before we hauled ourselves off to the show. Brenda fortunately lives within walking distance of the Muny, but in 100+ degree heat, it wasn't a pleasant walk. I wore a sundress, but short of a bubble wrap jumpsuit filled with ice, nothing was really going to ease the discomfort. Luck did happen to be on our side since there was a slight breeze cropping up now and again.

It's through the trees.

The gazebo in front.

It doesn't look that big from this angle, but it's what's behind that's the real masterpiece.

Lovely view of the sunset through the gazebo.

Essentially the "front porch" of the Muny where you could congregate to escape the rain.

Big damn chandelier.

Show flags advertising the dates.

Little Shop of Horrors was another show I wanted to see.

Unfortunately, cameras of any kind are prohibited inside for the shows, so I didn't really get any additional photos. I snuck a couple of the stage before showtime, but I was paranoid an usher would take my camera from me.

We arrived with less than a half hour to spare, so we moseyed over to our seats to try to siphon off some of the fan breeze. It didn't really work. They have giant fans towering over the seats that they turn on before, after and during intermission. We were dead center, so we didn't get the full effect of the fans in the wings. We did however, get to be totally creeped out by the girl sitting next to Brenda who stared at us during our entire conversation. The ENTIRE thing. Was she really so enthralled with stories about Brenda's dance team, and plans for my mom's birthday? She was also getting impatient when the clock struck 8:15 and the show's orchestra dared, DARED, not to start promptly playing music.

Why is it I always have crazy people sitting around me?

I guess that means that I'm not the crazy one, right?

Don't answer that.

A view of the stage from our seats. The aisle seats were great, and no one sat directly in front of us!

The painted backdrop was only there at the beginning and a couple of scenes. They did have full sets they moved on and off stage.

The free seats are wayyyy in the back.

The show started about 30 seconds after Miss Hissy Fit simmered down. If you've never seen the musical, I highly suggest you watch it. True, it's cheesy and over the top, but it's incredibly good fun. And it's funny. It's not just singing and dancing, but it's a knee-slapping good time. The program discouraged singing along with the music, and I giggled to myself that people would actually do that. But damn if I didn't want to break out into song during the very first number. I do at home! It was actually harder than I thought not to sing along. Great, now I AM the crazy person. I did dance though. The program said nothing about not dancing in the seats.

Dancing also helped get a small breeze going, and fortunately when the sun went down it cooled off slightly. To help combat the heat, Brenda and I packed a small cooler full of water bottles, an ice pack and a wet washcloth. Wet icy washcloth = pure genius.

The show itself was phenomenal. I won't give you all the plot points, but essentially the oldest of 7 brothers marries a girl in town and takes her back to the woods to live with him and his 6 brothers. During their 60 second courtship, he failed to mention the 6 brothers and the fact that she'd be doing all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, wood chopping, etc. when he married her. Needless to say she was a bit pissed. Well, as pissed as you can be in a musical. The 6 brothers decided they wanted wives of their own, so they kidnapped 6 girls from town and forced them to live in the woods until the end of the winter when the snow melted and the pass was open. (Uh, that sounds way worse than it is.) The girls ended up falling in love with the brothers, and shotgun weddings were had by all.

The dance sequences in the movie were pretty impressive, and the cast of this show were just as spectacular. I was pretty impressed with the athleticism each of them displayed. I had a smile on my face the entire time, even when I wasn't dancing around in my chair. I was, however, ready to go by the end of the show, mainly because my thighs kept sliding off the chair.

Despite the heat, it was a fabulous night, and thanks to Brenda for being my date!

Side note: my cousin went two days after we did and had a blissfully lovely evening minus the depressing heat. Guess we should have gone two days later!