Pink Martini & DSO

If you've never heard of the group Pink Martini you must take a listen. They are eclectic group out of Portland that fancies themselves a little orchestra.

And that they are!

Casey and I went to their concert with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra on Saturday night. For the first half of the concert, the DSO played some quirky favorites to get the audience in the mood for Pink Martini.

For as much as I enjoy traditional music that the symphony has to offer, the Pink Martini breathed life into a half full Meyerson. Their music was lively and funny one song, 1940's Samba lounge the next, followed by a sultry ballad in French. Yes French. They sang in English, French, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Turkish, and probably a few others. It was simply amazing.

http://pinkmartini.com/

To top it off, the DSO called before the show to upgrade our tickets. I bought tickets for the cheap seats in the nosebleed section because there's really not a bad seat in the house at the Meyerson. But since the show was barely half sold, they upgraded our seats for free so we could sit with everyone else. Our seats ended up here:



Not bad at all! I could see facial expressions clearly! The only downside to our seats was that we didn't get to join in on the conga line on the last song!! It was such a great show!

Bat in the office

I started watching the American version of The Office when I joined Freeman. Thanks to Netflix, I was able to start from the beginning and watch every episode. In just about every episode there has been a moment, relationship, comment, or situation I can completely relate to.

Yesterday, I could relate to the episode where they had a bat in their office because we had a bat in our office!

BAT! BAT!! from Tardy Sauce on Vimeo.

Though we didn’t have a Dwight to save us, we had our own version with the maintenance workers. One guy is about 170 years old and another didn’t speak English. Through a series of gestures and pointing, they decided to catch the little guy in a net and hopefully take him to animal control.




That is zoomed in picture - he was about the size of my palm. He was so cute!!! The poor thing clung to the ceiling while about 50 people took pictures and video. I think he was happy to be captured and out of the limelight.

Top Golf

This week is Stephanie’s birthday extravaganza. Typically the week of her birthday, she schedules local events and goes on a trip. Since I can’t make the trip this year, I joined her for the Tuesday activity – Top Golf, a driving range in Dallas.
I’ve never been to a driving range, but it looks like fun and fairly easy.

Fun, yes. Easy....Not so much.

My first attempts were surprisingly better than expected. I made contact with the ball and even managed to make a few points!

However, some attempts were less than successful. Exhibit A:




After 4 swings and 4 misses, I connected on the 5th try. However, the ball went straight up, hit the ceiling and landed about 10 feet from where we started. No casualties were reported.

We had a lot of fun, but I don't think I'll be on the PGA tour anytime soon.

Retired glasses called up for active duty

My eyes are healing well!

However, impatient MB has officially kicked in. After hearing stories of people who have had LASIK and drove themselves home seeing 20/20, I'm frustrated with my process. I couldn't even open my eyes after the surgery. I wasn't too drugged up, but I have no idea how someone would be able to operate a car successfully!

When I get too frustrated, I just try to remember 3 short days ago they cut a flap and stuck a laser in my eye!!!

I really can see much better and can function without glasses, but can't see distances well. So I'm going in today to get a lens prescription to tide me over until I can get LASIK touch ups in 3 months. Looks like I can't retire my glasses just yet....

LASIK...the beautiful recovery

Friday I went in for LASIK and traded my coke bottle glasses for a fashionable pair of goggles.



So pretty!

This morning I went in for a follow up appointment and my eyes seem to be healing nicely. The only disappointment is that I still can't see that well. It's better than pre-LASIK, but still not where I want it to be. Thank goodness dad has a ginormous TV because I can mostly see that to keep myself entertained. Hopefully I will be able see well enough to drive home tomorrow.

30 things in 12 months

My sister and I were catching up over the weekend and got to talking about this past year. Both of us have lived the last year in limbo not really know where we’re going to be living the next year, not wanting to invest in relationship or “stuff” in case we move, and neither of us have gotten out much with people outside of our family. (which is not a bad thing, but we need other relationships too)

So she suggested something her friend Susan did. 101 in 1001. Susan put together a list of 101 things to do over the next 1001 days. Some were big commitments (visit a family member overseas) and others were things she just needed motivation to get to (clean out garage).

Casey and I are determined to make this year great and stop living in limboland. We are putting together lists of 30 things to do in a year. We’ll cross them off and date them as we accomplish each. Like Susan’s, my list is peppered with big and little things. (and I may have borrowed a few directly from her list…it was good!!!)

30 things in 12 months

1. Talk to a teacher about Teaching Certification & Prep completed 7/14/10
2. Organize and print digital photos completed 1/2/11
3. Organize photo prints
4. Pay off $7000 on my car
5. Take a 5 day vacation!! completed Thanksgiving 2010
6. Go to a batting cage
7. Run an entire 5K (no walking!)
8. Sew Christmas Tree skirt
9. Keep a plant alive for 1 year
10. Go to a driving range completed 7/20/10
11. Cook a holiday meal on my own completed 12/5/10
12. Toss the football with Tommy
13. Go to a firing range
14. Take a spontaneous weekend trip with no plans completed 7/23-25 & 9/10-13
15. Read a Christian book completed 11/25/10
16. Read a faith based book completed 1/22/11
17. Plant a tree
18. Visit one of the 10 states I’ve never visited
19. Make a bowl with dad
20. Go to a concert completed 9/4/10
21. Write a short story
22. Take a cooking class
23. Design and order personalized stationary
24. Go to a museum completed 7/16/10
25. Join an Adult Bible Group
26. Try Vietnamese food completed 9/15/10
27. Donate blood 3 times donated 6/30/10 & 11/2/10
28. Fix my bike
29. Take Lawson to a park
30. Go fishing

"800-Contacts" is losing a customer

I have worn glasses since I was in second grade. My first pair was pink plastic with a Smurf on the sides. In 7th grade my parents let me use contact lenses. Since my eyes were so bad and only getting worse, my doctor recommended hard (gas permeable) lenses. In 2008 I switched to disposable soft lenses for comfort.

I don’t know why, but it hadn’t crossed my mind to get LASIK. Perhaps because it is elective and I thought I would be too expensive. (and let me tell you, it ain’t cheap!!)

My boyfriend, though he says I’m adorable in glasses, was the one who convinced me to do it. From his perspective, if the technology exists and I can afford it, why wouldn’t I want to be able to see? When put like that I couldn’t come up with a very good reason! So, I shopped around, decided on Key Whitman, and put some money in Flex Spending.

Friday, July 9, 2010 I am getting LASIK!

I have to go without contacts for 3 days before the surgery so yesterday was the last day I will ever wear contact lenses. When I took my contacts out, I still cleaned them and put them in their case. I’ve relied on glasses and contacts for the better part of my life. I guess I still can’t quite believe I won’t need them again.