Madonna

I bought tickets for Madonna's November 3rd show on February 23, 2012.  I had a presale through my credit card company and I scored two great seats for $384.21 after all the stupid Ticketmaster charges.

Fast forward to late summer when M and I decided to donate our tickets to be part of the silent auction for my dad's benefit.  Even though Madonna hasn't toured to Minnesota in 25 years, we would rather the tickets sale to go my dad.  

On the day of the benefit, I helped check out people who won the silent auction items.  In my line, my best friend Tanya walks up with the Madonna tickets.  I was so excited that she was able to win them!  She won them for a "steal" at $250.  Instead, she wrote a check for $300 and knowing the tickets were originally mine, ripped the two tickets apart and handed me one and said, "I'm taking you."  I started crying right there and I am getting chocked up as I write this.  

Money for my dad, ticket to go see Madonna after all and the best friend ever.  I'm lucky.

We started our night at Champps and had some food and drinks beforehand.  We knew that Madonna wouldn't go on stage until around 10:30 pm and we didn't care about the opening act, DJ Paul Oakenfold, despite him being probably the most famous DJ in the world. I saw him twice back in the day in my rave days. 

Saturday, November 3rd, Tanya and I went to go see Madonna.  I really wanted to go because she is a legend and an icon.  She was my absolute favorite when I was 9-10 years old.  I still have her True Blue cassette and You Can Dance cassette from 1986 and 1987, respectively.  I've liked Madonna through most of her career with her most recent stuff being a little iffy for me but once she took the stage, I didn't care.  I didn't care that she is 54 years old and is still trotting around the stage in a majorette costume.  I didn't care that she didn't go on stage until 10:45 pm and didn't end until 12:35 am.  Whatever she wanted to do on that stage that night was fine by me and I loved all of it.

She addressed the crowd as "Minnesota" and "Twin Cities" which I liked since we were in St. Paul as there are so many times when artists will say "Minneapolis" and I don't like that.  

She had many costume changes and different sets and it was probably the most theatrical concert I've ever been to. 

She played a lot of her "newer" stuff, ranging from anything in the 2000's and spent less time on her greatest hits.  I would have loved to have heard more older songs.  She did do Like a Prayer and it brought me right back to my 6th grade talent show when I was a part of a group of girls that lip synced to that song as we were part of Madonna's choir.

Thank you Tanya and Madonna for a fabulous night!

There's tons of pictures ahead and as always, click on them to make them bigger.  

This guy was great!

Conscious Box(es)

To consolidate posts, I'm going to write about all the Conscious Boxes I've received in the past several months.  I'm not going to go through all the products for each month but I've been very happy with this subscription and I think I will continue to receive it.  I just wish the shipping ($7) was lower.  I really do use the products and it introduces me to products I might not ever see otherwise.  Starting in September, Conscious Box started offering a vegan box and I ordered it since it was slightly discounted and had some left over.  I wasn't the most thrilled about that box and I probably won't order that box again as I would prefer to continue the eco-friendly subscription, even though I did get a couple of products from that box in my November box.  Does anyone else get any type of monthly subscription services in the mail?

September's box:

September's vegan box:

October's box:

November's box:

Dinner and a Movie...with my mom

My lovely boyfriend took off November 2nd-4th to go deer hunting with the boys (and niece) at their cabin.  I think a little bit more drinking might have been going on than hunting.

As for me, my mom and I went out to eat to Noodles and Company on Friday night.  My mom had eaten Noodles once before at my sister's Super Bowl party but had never been there.  For those that don't know my mom, she doesn't do much.  She doesn't get out and explore much so going out and doing every day activities is a new adventure for my mom since my dad died.

We ordered our noodles and she liked them (it's the small things) and then we headed to the movies.  I can remember the last time my mom was in a movie theater.  It was 22 years ago!  In 1990, we went to see Arachnophobia (apparently my phobia was not nearly as bad then) as a family and a very severe thunderstorm passed while we were in the theater.  That's the only time we ever went to the movies as an entire family and the only time I was ever in a movie theater with my mom.  My dad had brought my sister and I to two movies in our lifetime, The Care Bears Movie in 1985 and 101 Dalmatians in 1986.

This time, we went to see Argo.  I thought the movie was good and I was even able to tolerate Ben Affleck in it.  I think he's a terrible actor but not bad at all in this one.  Despite knowing how the movie was going to end, it gets pretty intense the last half hour of the movie, even though there are some historical inaccuracies but hey, it's Hollywood and it's based on true story not is a true story.  Have you seen it?

I'm happy my mom was feeling ok enough to come out with me and I'm hoping we can do something like this again.  It's a new life for her now and I hope she can embrace it.

  

Eight

Thursday, November 1st was our 8th anniversary.  I woke up with a lovely card and after work was treated to a very nice dinner at Wildfire in Eden Prairie.  This was our 3rd time there and my favorite.  The dinner was so delicious, the free Happy Anniversary dessert was rich and I always look forward to the martini flight.

I received another card from M at the restaurant with a hefty Kohl's gift card in it, which thrilled me to death because Kohl's is my favorite store at the moment.  I love you, MWS.  You have always been great to me but you have been incredible to me through the most difficult time of my life and our relationship has grown into something even more special. I love you even more than I thought I could.