pretty woman

People's reactions to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic - they either love it or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don't, they may learn to appreciate it but it will never become part of their soul.
- Richard Gere, Pretty Woman


Last weekend Jason and I had our first experience at the opera and we loved it (I wouldn't say Jason LOVED it, but he did enjoy it). We saw Madamme Butterfly and it was very dramatic, tragic and moving. It was a simple opera (I think this is why we enjoyed it so much) but the final scene with Butterfly and Pinkerton nearly brought me to tears.

Jason surprised me with a romantic dinner at Benjamin and then we were off to the opera. The whole night felt like a movie ... I met Jason after work at the restaurant and there he was standing outside the restaurant all dressed up in his suit and coat, and then as we walked into The Met with all of it's beautiful chandeliers, but our favorite was when we went to find our seats and realized we would be sitting in our own private box. At this moment ... I felt like I was Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.

From the moment the crystal chandeliers were raised I was enthralled. In our box we had subtitle monitors in front of us and it was so fun to be able to read what was being sung to us in Italian. I knew the story of Madamme Butterfly but it was so amazing to see the production live, and especially at The Met. The sets were beautiful and I loved the scene after Pinkerton marries Butterfly and they are outside under the moonlight.

After the show ended we decided we needed to go to Del Frisco's for our favorite lemon cake. It was a perfect way to end our enchanted evening.

Inside The Met


The crystal chandeliers


On Saturday the birthday festivities continued with another pretty woman, but this time she was a lot less pretty and a lot more woman. Jason and I attended the annual Halloween party in the Mercer party room as Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife Beth. Now if you've seen the show you know exactly what I mean when I say a LOT more woman. We were quite the site and we had some good laughs. It's always fun to see everyone's costumes and I love how creative everyone is. This year the Larson's blew us all away with their creativity when they showed up as their Mii's from Nintendo Wii. I have never seen anyone get into Halloween like these two and I have to admit I had been looking forward to seeing their costumes all day.

We had fun watching the guys rock out to rockband, enjoyed wonderful soup and Halloween treats and played BreAnna's Halloween version of CatchPhrase.

The bounty hunters - Dog and Beth (check out Jason's tattoo)


The real deal (How did we do?)


The group shot




Sunday we went to church, relaxed and Jason surprised me with some cupcakes (the NY birthday cake). Thank you for all of the birthday wishes, I had a wonderful birthday weekend.