Pictures from Roll #3

Ok, so I have a LOT of stuff that I want to blog about this week, but first things first. I finished up another roll of film almost a week ago, and I have just been really lazy about getting them uploaded and posting about them. But here you go!

I have to say, I am very happy with this roll. There was, in my mind, a noticeable improvement in picture composition and color, etc. Tell me what you think...

Mike and I took a wonderful trip to Houston to celebrate our upcoming anniversary, so that is where most of these shots came from.

This was the inside of our hotel room at the Four Seasons... pretty isn't it? What I like about this picture is the lighting, and the fact that I feel it looks like a brochure picture, even though I took it myself...

The people at the Four Seasons were amazing about recognizing our anniversary. They gave us two cards, and sent up a complimentary dessert plate full of goodies. What I like about this picture is that even though it is unintended, the lighting reflected in the glass table makes it look like it is split in half, light and dark. Also, the focus turned out wonderfully. This is probably my favorite picture on this roll (Mike agrees).

This is another shot of the same plate (although you might notice some of the treats are gone by this point). I am very happy with the crisp focus on this flower in this one.

One of our stops in Houston was the House of Blues, which is where we went to see The Decemberists in concert. Inside the restaurant, was this mosiac of glass tiles, each imprinted with the face of a blues musician. The odd thing is that in the actual restaurant, these faces are not that easy to see, they blend in, and make this look like a bunch of blue glass blocks unless you look closer. I will admit, I used auto focus on this one, but I was happy with the way the flash highlighted the faces and brought them out. What I don't like is the red whatever in the corner that obstructed part of the view.

This one is my second favorite on the roll. Again, I have to admit that I used auto focus, mostly because I was standing on a busy street corner, and I didn't want to take a long time with this shot. I like the off-centeredness (is that even a word?) of this picture, the fact that it all is in focus, and the contrast of the sky behind it.

So there you go, folks, roll #3.

What do you think? What are your favorites?

A Few More Thoughts...

Here's a few more thoughts from the weekend trip to Houston...

~Thai food is wonderful! After the show we went to the Pad Thai restaurant in downtown Houston, and due to the early hour we arrived, we had the entire place to ourselves, which was good, because they were gearing up for a party later that night. We had the chicken sa-tay appetizers with entrees of chicken and pork pad thai. The flavors were so rich and wonderful, and very difficult to describe. It is a definite must-have-again.

~To the grandma with the Fran Drescher voice sitting behind me during the musical: shut up. Didn't anyone ever teach you that making critical comments during the performance is rude? Even if you are complimenting the talent of the actors and dancers, don't mess up the magic with your droning voice making comments like "that was a perfect note" during the closing notes of a very passionate moment on stage. And I realize you are probably hard of hearing, and don't know how loud you are really speaking, but please.... shut up.

~There is a such thing as appropriate dress for these occasions. Now obviously, with this being a matinee performance, I didn't expect tuxes and evening gowns, but dress nicely, people, please. It is a sign of respect for the quality of show that you are about to see. This is an afternoon at a Broadway musical, not a quick trip down to Wal-Mart to pick up some flea dip for your dog. Things I saw people wearing that really bothered me (and Mike can testify that I am not making this up):

1. Flip flops. Yes, seriously, flip flops. When did society get the idea that flip flops are suddenly acceptable footwear for a dress up occasion such as this? And I don't care if they are made of leather, plastic, or foam... I don't care if you cover them with rhinestones, butterflies, and unicorns... they are still a flip flop. Now I don't know about you, but in my family, flip flops were perfectly good attire for mowing the lawn, wearing around the house, or the aforementioned trip to Wal-Mart (if you couldnt find your shoes), they were NOT something that you wear to a Broadway show.
2. A button-up Harley Davidson shirt, made of denim, on a woman. I know we live in Texas, I know this... but seriously? How redneck do you have to be?
3. Shorts. Enough said.
4. Jeans. Now let me start with saying that we live in Southeast Texas, and around here, I KNOW that for some guys, putting a nice long sleeve button down shirt with a pair of clean jeans and some cowboy boots is about as dressed up as you are gonna get. I understand this, and for that reason, I just smile at the man with the Texas flag shirt, jeans, and boots, because I know that he put forth the effort to actually dress nicely. This IS goin'-to-the-theater duds for him. But women.... women.... don't wear jeans to an event like this please? Please?

So there you have it... my weekend in review. Over all, it was a great great weekend, and there were a lot of things that I thoroughly enjoyed. Traffic was very light in Houston, which is a rare thing indeed, and we made really good time travelling back and forth. The show was spectacular, and I could not have asked for a better performance. And I got to spend a lot of time with my husband, and that is always a good thing.

Now I can begin the countdown to going to Lake Charles to see Blue October in two weeks!!

Music of the Night

I am sure you are waiting on the edges of your seats to hear about our trip to see the Phantom. It was, in one word, amazing. I will be posting throughout the week about some of the other events of this weekend, including our wonderful lunch at the Thai place, but I really wanted to devote this entry to just talking about the play itself...

We arrived in Houston a little early (about an hour before the show started), so we went ahead and went to the Hobby Center for Performing Arts. We pulled up to find that they had valet parking for a reasonable price, and since parking in downtown Houston can be quite the challenge, we opted for this. We went inside to find a place to sit until they opened the doors, and then 30 minutes before the show was to start, they let us in, gave us our playbill, and we went and found our seats. The seats we had were pretty good, although we were on the outer seats at the edge of the auditorium, so there were a few spots in the musical when we could not see the actors on the edge of the scenes.

The Phantom began, and I was immediately drawn in under its spell. This was a production by Broadway Across America, so I expected the people to be able to sing, but wow... I don't think I was prepared for the quality and richness of their voices. They really brought the story to life with a passion and perfection that I was in awe of. And I could not say enough about the set. The entire facade of the stage was part of their set... the chandelier that hung out over the audience was part of their set... the amazing effect of the fog that rolled off the stage during the water scenes... I was in awe of the time and money that obviously went into making the scene perfect.

And I am not ashamed to admit... I teared up at the end. The actor playing the Phantom was nothing short of phenomenal. I knew how the story ended, I wasn't expecting a happy ending for the Phantom, but I also wasn't expecting to have my heart ache for his character like I did. I wasn't expecting tears in my eyes... that is how good this actor was. I really FELT how sad and lonely the Phantom was, how heartbroken. And as the curtain came down, and the actors came out on stage to take their bows, my eyes teared up again. I didn't want this to be over. I didn't want the magic that they were weaving to end.

I know without a doubt that Mike and I are going to be back there for more musicals now that we have gotten a taste of what the full experience is like. But I also know that no other musical will have that special magical quality that I felt that day. Because, you see, that was the first time I had felt like that. I grew up on musicals, I have seen the movie versions of most of them, and I love them. I have a passion in my heart for them, but this was different. I am sure I will love each and every one that we go to see in the future, but this was more than that... this was the magic of a first time experience combined with the magic of the story itself.

There is something so incredibly magical about that ability they have to whisk me away into their world. I didn't watch it thinking "wow, that is a pretty dress that actress has on"... I watched it thinking "wow, that is a pretty dress that Christine is wearing", as if the characters were real people. And for a few hours there, they were.

The Countdown Continues

I swear I am going to make y'all sick of hearing about this, but I just cannot wait until we go to Houston tomorrow to see the Phantom. We are getting dressed up in fancy clothes (something we don't really do all that often), going to a professional musical (something we have never done) and finishing off the evening with some food at a Thai restaurant (something I have never done). It should be a real treat out for us.

Today was a really rough day, all around. Work was hellish (which I guess is an odd thing to say about working in a church), and I ended up staying an hour late. Then, we got the pleasure of going to Wal-Mart, where every rude person in our town was shopping today. The kind that leave their shopping baskets all crooked in the aisle, so that nobody can pass them. The kind that frantically speed around you so they can get to the eggs first, and then stand there for ages trying to find the perfect dozen (reminiscent of the man from Clerks). So by the time we got out of there, and finally got home, I was worn out completely. It felt so good to kick back on the bed, take off my shoes, and play some nerdy games.

A bonus for tonight though! Mike is cooking dinner and making his chicken and rice dish, which is to-die-for! I can smell it cooking right now, and I am ready to get my chow on!

If I can remember to take the camera, I will try to grab some shots of the theater, and maybe you will get lucky and I will take a picture of me and Mike (although we will most likely forget, since that tends to be our current track record).

See y'all on Monday!

The Phantom

Mike and I are going to see the Phantom of the Opera this weekend, and I am giddy like a school girl!

I have never been to see a professional production of a musical, and it has been something that has been on my to-do list for years and years now. Mike and I share an appreciation of musicals and will regularly stop the channel-flipping on the tv if we see that OMG Grease is on again, or Oklahoma!, we haven't seen that in weeks! But one thing we have never done is go to a musical together, so I am looking forward to this.

Our original plan was to drive to Houston on Saturday, check into a posh hotel, order some room service, and then dress up in fancy clothes and go to the show. In a moment of my usual "we are going to do something fun this weekend so I should stress about the details until we are actually there in our seats and the show has started" moments, I thought last night to check the tickets to see what time the show is at. 2pm. Yep, that's right, 2pm.

Okay, so revision of plans... we talked briefly about dressing up at home, driving straight to the show, and then going to the hotel afterwards. But... well... see... living just two hours away from Houston means that suddenly that doesn't make much sense. It makes staying in a hotel overnight seem kinda silly, and an unwanted expense. I mean, we will be out of the show at 5ish, so why not use that hotel money on a fancy dinner and then come home to the comfort of our own house, with our own nerdity options at our fingertips? So that is what the new plan is, dress up at home, drive to Houston, go to the show (which I will still be stressing about the details of until we are in our seats and the show has started), get a nice dinner, and then come home.

It sounds so much less complicated than it was going to be originally. Now we have no packing, no overnight bags, just a nice road trip with my husband. Doesn't get much better than that.