away in a manger...

I was supposed to be out with the girls tonight but sadly, I'm at home fighting off a cold. I'm determined to not let it get the better of me so I'm medicating myself and resting. I'm pretty exhausted and will be heading to bed soon. But before I do, here are some pictures of the gorgeous nativity scene that Christine & Stewart gave us for Christmas.

Not being a very religious person, the nativity scene was not a part of my Christmas decor. Honestly, I find most of them rather tacky. But this one is absolutely beautiful! I don't know who the artist is, but Christine found it somewhere in Waterloo, Ontario and there are quite a few ceramic artists in that area. I love the modern feel of this set. It's almost a shame that I'll be packing it up to sit in a box for the next 11 months.

the baby Jesus in the manger

dove & fish

three wise men

I'm off to bed. Night all.

no surprise, no mystery

Lame, camera phone picture of an incredible night.

Last night Steve, Christine, Stewart and I went to see The Police perform at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. I've always been a huge fan but last night, my love for Stewart, Andy & Sting was renewed and strengthened. They freakin' rocked the house!

Having never seen them live before I was completely blown away by their musical ability. Especially Stewart Copeland! He's an absolute monster on the drums! In addition to an amazing drum kit set up, he had a full array of percussion including countless cymbals, sound plates, timpani, crotales and a 60" gong! My absolute favourite moment in the show was "Wrapped Around Your Finger" when Copeland made full use of his gear. Sting and Summers were just as amazing. The trio played for nearly two hours solid and never let up. They played every song that I expected, plus a few pleasant surprises. The set list:

Message In a Bottle
Synchronicity II (yes!)
Walking On The Moon
Voices Inside My Head
When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What's Still Around
Don't Stand So Close To Me
Driven To Tears
Truth Hits Everybody
This Bed's Too Big Without You
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (the first Police song I ever remember hearing)
Wrapped Around Your Finger (one of my most favourite songs ever)
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Walking In Your Footsteps
Can't Stand Losing You
Roxanne

The encore consisted of:

King of Pain
So Lonely (another personal favourite)
Every Breath You Take
Next To You

I should also mention the opening act. Even though we only caught about half of their set, Fiction Plane was really good. Similar to The Police they are a trio whose singer has a rather unique vocal quality. Sound familiar? Well it should! Fiction Plane's lead singer and bass player is Joe Sumner, Sting's son. To me, the band sounds like a cross between The Police and Rush and I mean that in a very positive way! Once I got past the nepotism factor I was thoroughly impressed. In fact, I was impressed enough to download their latest recording from iTunes.

A fabulous night and one that I will remember fondly for a very long time. Now if only we could bring Freddie Mercury back for a Queen reunion tour...

let 'em fly

Today I accompanied my friends Christine and Stewart and their beautiful 2 (almost 3) year old daughter Mackenzie to the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls.

WOW!

The first few minutes were completely overwhelming. You are immediately hit by humid air and the smell of thick vegetation and what must be thousands of butterflies flying around you. Every time I turned, they seemed to be flying straight toward me. Once I got my bearings, I was able to slowly walk through and admire these beautiful, delicate creatures. I was very happy to be taking my new camera for a test drive. (I love you 12 times optical zoom!) Here are a couple of samples. More are available for your viewing pleasure on my Flickr stream.

somewhere that's green

I spent three days off work last week with a cold. Totally alone, completely isolated, not able to do anything due to immense sinus pain and congestion for three, freakin' days!!! By the time I finally started to feel better I was completely stir crazy. So I was thrilled to finally leave the house on Friday night and join a few of the girls for some bowling. As usual, I was the worst bowler in the bunch and am carrying on my goal to never break 100. My best score on Friday night was 71, my worst, a brilliant 54. Yes, I suck, but who cares! Bowling is fun, whether you are good or bad. I was just glad to get out of the house and hang out with some friends.

On Saturday, I steered my lovely new car west on the 401 to Kitchener-Waterloo. After spending an afternoon with my parents and brother I headed over to Resurrection Catholic Secondary School to take in their production of Little Shop of Horrors. I have always been a big fan of this show and was thrilled when Christine told me that her school had chosen this show for this year's musical production. I showed up at the school a half hour early and was thrilled to catch up with my high school music teacher, who's eldest son, now in Grade 10(!), was playing the male lead. My only consolation in suddenly feeling really, freakin' old was that she probably felt a hell of a lot older. (Sorry Jen, you know I love you!) I also got to catch up with my friend Todd (Jen's brother) , who I probably haven't seen for about 17 years, since I graduated from high school. It's funny how with some people, even if you haven't seen them in forever, you can just totally reconnect with. I was so thrilled to catch up with him and hope to keep that connection going.

I found my seat just as they dimmed the lights, and managed to catch Christine's eye before the show started. I had a perfect view of the stage, but also of Christine, conducting the pit orchestra through the show. Quite often during the show, my eyes wandered to the pit, where I could see her arms expertly guiding the orchestra and singers through the score. I could feel the smile moving across my face each time a singer looked down at Christine for their cue. They were all relying on her for their next musical move. She was in charge and doing a fantastic job. Every student on that stage knew that all they had to do was look at her, and everything would be o.k. They all performed beautifully, regardless of talent or ability. Yes some of them were stronger singers/actors/dancers than others, but in the end, they were all having a kick ass time! You could see it in the twinkle in their eyes and the smiles on their faces. It didn't matter that they hit the high note or nailed all of the dance moves. They gave it their all and the audience loved it! They cast all of their fears and insecurities aside, got up on stage and performed in front of an audience. For a teenager, this is huge! These are kids who are ridiculed for wearing the wrong clothes, not having a cell phone, and countless other ridiculous things. These kids got up on stage, in make up and costume, and dance and sang, and jeopardized their street cred. They could easily be made fun of but instead, they got up there, gave it their all, and kicked some serious butt. Every one of the kids on that stage worked their asses off and it showed. The audience laughed, sighed, screamed and clapped in all the right places. And most importantly, these kids had a fantastic time!

Me, I sat in the audience for two hours with a huge grin on my face. Partly for these incredibly brave and talented kids but partly for me. I participated in many a musical in high school and university, on stage and in the pit. These are some of my fondest memories. I learned more from these few experiences then i did my in the first 20 years of my life. I made a lot of mistakes and did a few things really well but I treasure each experience equally. These experiences shaped who I am today and taught me so much. I am forever grateful.

sound of your voice, part 1

On Friday night, Steve and I and our friends, Christine (my best friend since high school) and Stewart (her darling husband) went to the Barenaked Ladies concert at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. I've had the pleasure of seeing the Ladies four times now, most memorably on the Stunt tour when we sat front row at Massey Hall. One of my favourite bands in my most favourite music venue in Toronto. Priceless!

Last night's concert was unlike any BNL show I have ever attended. The vibe was totally different. Mellower, although they had just as much energy as at past shows. More mature, even though they were just a funny as ever. So what's changed?

A lot.

The band's latest release, Barenaked Ladies Are Me, takes them back to their independent roots. That's right boys and girls, no record company involved! The guys set up their own record label and took full control over their work. Instead of the standard 10-12 song disc, they released a 29 song set. Not only did they put these tunes out on physical CDs, they offered them for download and threw them on a USB drive (adorably titled "Barenaked on a Stick") that included some fun extras. It's important to mention that if you decided to go old school and purchase the physical CDs, you were only able to purchase half of the songs when they came out in the fall of 2006. You had to wait until early February 2007 to get the rest. Obviously the guys were encouraging their fans to use one of the new media methods. Well it worked for me. Up until this release, I owned every Barenaked Ladies recording in a physical format, including the groundbreaking yellow tape. Something about being able to look at my lovely pile of CDs and cassettes and say that I had all of BNL's recordings made me all warm and fuzzy. But when it came time to purchase Barenaked Ladies Are Me, it was a no-brainer. I wanted all of the songs and I wanted them now! My stack of CDs did not grow taller and I didn't miss that awesome feeling of tearing off the plastic and eagerly listening to each track while dissecting the lyrics and liner notes. I so thought I would miss that experience, but I didn't. I guess when it comes down to it, the other stuff doesn't matter. It's all about the music and how you connect to it.