Breinholt Christmas Concert

So with the oober storm going on outside my office window all day yesterday, I sat there worrying about trying to get to Salt Lake for the Peter Breinholt Christmas Concert. Well, we had the option of leaving a bit early, so we headed out around 4:30. Getting to the freeway was interesting, but to our pleasant surprise, the freeway was quite clear and we realized that Provo got the brunt of the storm. We decided to take Trax for the first time. Now I'm sure those of you that live in bigger places or those that take public transportation everyday will think I'm crazy, but it was really fun to ride the train. And really easy if you want to go downtown without having to find a place to park.

Here's my Trax pass. Pretty exciting huh? So we made it with plenty of time to spare. The concert was really entertaining. Ryan Shupe was there. I think he always is. There were 5 guys on stage, with an occasional appearance by a guest singer who wasn't half bad. Peter sings and plays guitar. Shupe of course plays the violin/fiddle and the mandolin. There was a great pianist, a banjo/mandolin player and a bass/mandolin player. Yes, 3 mandolin players. That's got to be a rare find. By the way, sorry the image of the ticket at right is askew. Apparently I don't know how to line up things on the scanner, hehe. But the highlights would have to include a mandolin trio playing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." It was especially great because the showed pictures of screaming and crying children on Santa's knee in the background. It brought a whole new meaning to "you better not cry." ;) But I agree, some of those Santas ARE scary! I also REALLY loved the solo banjo performance of "The Christmas Song" (i.e. Chestnuts Roasting). Now, I know what you're thinking: "Airie HATES that song." Well, you're right, but that was before I'd heard it like this. So it's official, I like it played on the banjo, with no singing. Hazah. Pete did a couple of his old standbys and of course Christmas stuff. Overall, we had a terrific time and really enjoyed getting to see a concert this year, especially right before Christmas. There are few things that do Christmas quite as well as music, right? I'm hoping you all had/will have a chance to take some in this year! :)

Keys to the Kingdom

So it's one of those mornings. Well, really, it all started last night. I received a payment from a client just as the office was closing. The accounting department upstairs (where the nice big safe is) had already left for the day. Hmm...what to do. I knew that my front desk drawer locked, so I threw it in there, locked it up, and then, stupidly, tossed the keys into one of my other drawers. Fast forward to this morning. I come in after a marvelous trek through the snow (yeck!), sit down and remember the check. I reach for the drawer with the keys. LOCKED. I try all the other drawers. LOCKED. Now, you tell me how I could lock a drawer, THEN place the keys in another drawer and THEN have that drawer lock too? I swear the office is cursed. Last week our phones went down for a day, then we had a power outage that threw our server for a whole day, then I almost lit myself (and the office) on fire when I found a cut wire on the Christmas tree I was putting up. And now, the mysterious drawer that locks the 2nd time it closes. *sigh* When working in a profession that has a stigma for having a certain "bimbo" quality, and in trying to disprove that stigma, I'm not doing so hot today. A locksmith is now on his way. Can I take my vacation now please?

Christmas Tree Quest

So we set out last night after work with a mission: bring home a suitable Christmas tree for our ridiculously tiny apartment. “It’ll probably have to be a fake one this year,” we said to one another. Yeah, a fake one. They tend to be more space efficient considering their nice symmetrical cone shape. So we set out.
Stop 1: Robert’s Crafts. Well, I’ll be honest, the tree wasn’t the primary purpose of this stop, but we looked at them none the less. EXPENSIVE.
Stop2: Home Depot. We looked longingly at the real ones first. They had about 4 trees total. It appeared they’d been cleaned out. No dice. We looked at the fake ones. Gosh, they’re so fake looking! And only one or two had colored lights. We decided to move on.
Stop 3: Walmart. They had pink and purple trees at Walmart. Not quite what we were looking for. They had a few but they were either too tall, or just too darn fake! (The ones that don’t look as fake are too pricey!!)
Stop 4: Wendy’s. No trees, but some tasty Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers.
Stop 5: Target. They had a gold tree at Target. They called it “Fantasy Champagne.” Uh, no thanks. They had a few others, lit and unlit, but they still seemed too fake or too expensive.
Stop 6: (Yes #6) Lowe’s. Generally we don’t really like Lowe’s. They’re not as helpful as Home Depot, but hey, we were on stop 6 and were getting desperate.) They had a large selection of fakies. Unfortunately, the one I wanted cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $200. Yikes. So we moseyed outside to look at their real ones. At last, we found the tree!! They had several to choose from. We ended up with a Noble Fir from Sublimity, Oregon. Hooray! Yes, it’s a bit on the fat side, but it fit nicely in the tiny space we had available. And get this, it was 20 bucks. Yep. And you seriously can’t beat the heavenly smell of a real Christmas tree. HOORAY!!

OH TANNENBAUM! (or tannen-bum if you're Johnny Mathis)