How I made it through the weekend

First off, I left work at 5:30pm (woah, early) on Friday so that Jesse and I could head off to Cirque du Soleil. Let me just say, for the record, that I am a serious Cirque critic. I had seen six of their shows (Nouvelle Experience, Quidam, Dralion, O, Varekai, La Nouba) before Friday, and with the exception of La Nouba, the quality of the shows had been draining since Quidam. So, off we went, and I was so excited -- even though I only half-expected to be impressed.

But woah, nelly! As soon as we walked into the Big Top (le grand chapiteau), we knew we were in for a treat! What beautiful set design. It was very elegant with a Victorian flare -- there was a scrim painted with heavy "curtains," cherubim and seraphim.. and there were beautiful antique candellabra, and strings of dim light bulbs ... anyway, I think you probably had to be there. If you've seen any Cirque shows before, you probably wouldn't expect such a heavy-looking atmosphere. It's usually very modern and ephemeral. We sat there, tittering and nearly bouncing in our seats, we were so excited to see what else was next -- you'd think, at this point, that we were just in for a royal let-down, but noooooo... it was awesome. That's all. Just beautiful. After six or seven Cirque performances, you're used to the jaw-dropping acrobatic stunts, and the superb performances.. but the costumes! The lighting! The style and design of it all.. it was so impressive.

So, when you see one of those big Corteo billboards (if they're coming to your town, you will), just know that their little advertisement drawing doesn't do the show any justice whatsoever. It's a gorgeous show. I wouldn't say it has the most amazing stunts (not that the stunts aren't fantastic -- just that other shows are stronger in that area), but it is on the top of the list for Cirque beauty. There are some visuals in Corteo that make you think giddy thoughts like, "Wow, why isn't the world like this all the time?" and "I feel like the luckiest kid on earth! This is like a fairy tale!"

So, go see it. It's expensive (all Cirque shows are, and it's only getting worse), but I have to say ... it's worth it. (Not that I paid for it, because it was a Christmas present from Jesse... but you know what I mean)

...and now we move on to the part of the post I like to call, "the rest of my weekend" -- the other 48 hours of the weekend, as compared to the 3 hours of Cirque du Soleil, will only take 2/5 the number of words (the blog police can test me):

Jesse and I got up on Saturday and I made chocolate chip waffles for breakfast -- "woah, chocolate chip waffles?" you might ask.. to which I would answer, "yes, they were yummy, and I even dusted them with powdered sugar. how very domestic of me." Then we went to Santa Cruz to buy a new "alumni" license plate frame for my car, and to have linner out on the wharf, perched up over the water. Pretty! Followed by some hardcore couch-potatoing and then bed. Sunday, we woke up and headed over to a Cingular Wireless store, where they proceeded to tell us that a Motorola Razr phone would cost us our life savings unless we needed a new contract, so we left. Then we shopped at Target a little and came home to do laundry and make veggie corn dogs for dinner. I also took a bath (very european) and did my self review for work, two weeks late. Now you're all caught up on my weekend. Happy Monday!