You had me at... Ballet

Surfing the net late at night can be dangerous...  I usually read blogs when I get home from work to wind down.  It is nice to sit in front of something inspiring.  Especially when the house is quiet.  Anyway....  One night after getting home late from work, I was reading one of my favorite blogs and an advertisement came up that I couldn't ignore.  Usually I hate it when blogs are covered in advertisements, but this one was so beautiful that I couldn't not look at it.  It was a picture of the Nutcracker ballet put on by Alberta Ballet.  So I clicked over to look at the pictures and check out when it was in Calgary.  And, as if by magic, I had printed out 2 tickets.  One for me and one for Lily.  

The whole night was wonderful.  Lily and I got dressed up and went down to the Jubilee 45 minutes early so Lily could take part in the Sugar Plum party they had before the ballet.  They had coloring stations, crown and mask-making stations, and they even had a costume station.  Lily loved it.  

The actual ballet was breath taking.  The whole time I wondered why I had never been to one before.  The ballet may just be my favorite now.  The music, the costumes, the atmosphere....  It was truly a beautiful night.

Since Lily is a school girl now, she isn't used to such late nights and fell asleep in the second act.  

It was a wonderful experience and I hope to be able to make this a new family tradition.  

Swan Lake is coming to Calgary in March, which happens to be my birthday month.  I'm crossing my fingers that I can talk Taylor into going with me.  :)  (Wish me luck).