What Happened Last Week

It really has been a week now since my quick trip to the city, but between rehearsals state testing, and parent-teacher conferences, there just hasn't a wealth of time to write.  For Christmas, my bestie, Amber, got me tickets to see Pentatonix with her at this great venue in the big city.  If you don't know who in the world I am talking about, they were winners of the last season of The Sing-Off (which NBC is bringing back later this year) and the stars of their own YouTube channel where they post their awesome covers.

I didn't take too many pictures, and for whatever reason I can't get the ones I did take to transfer from my phone, but hopefully I will get that worked out and be able to add them soon!  We had amazing seats--dead center, fourth row balcony and as good as they are on TV, Pentatonix is at least 100 times better in person.  Avi, their bass singer, hit notes so low they rattle your chest.  And Kevin, the beatboxer, was also pre-med at Yale educated and a cellist.  (He played while beatboxing for us.)  All of the singers in this group are so very talented, and the only downside was that Kirstie, the lone girl in the group, had been very sick and so she was singing altered parts for much of the show.  (But bravo to her for even being there, because I can't even begin to tell you what a baby I am when being sick affects my singing voice.)  Their arrangements didn't really miss anything though, because Mitch can sing a soprano part with the best of them.  He hit a note that was so high I'm pretty sure it could have shattered glass.  I just can't say how great they are enough, and if you get the chance to see them, go!

But the concert was only half the fun.  Amber and I were both able to get Friday off work, so we got to sleep in, have breakfast (Cinnamon Crunch bagels from Panera, I just can't quit you!), and get in some shopping.  We visited our mecca--Sephora--and spent a blissed-out hour just wandering around trying to decide what new things we wanted.  We also found some darling things at Naartije Kids for Miss M.  (You know you are officially an adult when you would rather spend your "fun money" on your niece instead of yourself.  It was so much fun!)  And we finished it all up with a trip to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Hacienda, home of the best margarita in the Midwest.  (As voted by me.)

But as fun as all this stuff was, spending time with Amber was really the best part.  We don't get to have those kind of days as much as we once did, so it was fun to just hang out.  We have such a groove when we travel together since we cemented our friendships by initiating the annual road trip.  It was exactly the kind of break I needed before embarking on the very busy last quarter of the school year!