Birthday celebration, Wizard of Oz, and Dickens!

Central NY

Birthday at Red Robin

A showing of The Wizard of OZ at Syracuse Stage

A Dickens Christmas in Skanetles, NY

Decorated for the season at home

Yes, I would say it has been a very BUSY week. 

Monday I had an interview. It is an internal position, and a pilot position; which basically means; they really do not know what the position will eventually look like or even if it will continue after six months. I figured, why not? Thing is, Aimee also went for it. We have officially decided no ill will to whomever gets it if one of us is selected. I find out next week.....we shall see...kind of intimidated....CHANGE is hard!

Wednesday was an evening out with the ladies to celebrate yet another Birthday!!! No wonder I am so FAT!!! Its food food food all the time time time. 

 Happy Birthday Heather! We certainly enjoyed ourselves this evening.

Nothing says YUMMY like bottomless french fries!!!!! And Oh YES I had my fill....

I also had boneless wings. Can I say YUM again?

We all seemed to enjoy the meals!

Barb made Heather one of her "famous" blankets! SU!!!!

She is going to have a hard time keeping that to herself at home.

Need I say that this was a weight watchers BUST? I am ashamed to admit how badly I am doing with my eating these last few weeks. Back on Monday right? It always seems to be back on Monday.

I had my very last class of the semester on Thursday. I hope to find out soon if I have next semester approved. Next class will be an earlier time. (I so welcome this.) but the course is NOT going to be exciting or interesting. Research Methods....YUCK! Maybe if I get this job at work I can apply some of what I learn. The position sounds to be much more statistical then clinical.

Saturday I was a last minute invite to a showing of the performance of The Wizard of Oz. My parents had presented all of my kids tickets. My Son's girlfriend couldn't make it. I got to attend perhaps one of my all time favorite performances by default. Yeah Me!!!



I have seen several plays in my lifetime, and this one had to be in the top 5. It was defiantly up there with The Lion King, Wicked and any I have seen on Broadway. (Not that I have seen that many on Broadway.)

There was a "selfie" stage and I convinced my eldest two children to join me in a picture. (with props)

Of course there were no pictures allowed once the performance started, but here is the stage setting before the show began.

So what made it so amazing....Well first off Dorthy was GREAT!!!  She was the perfect Dorthy. I think it has to be difficult to preform as an actor/actress in a role that has so traditionally been etched on the minds of millions through a classic movie. I mean who else could be Dorthy but Judy Garland? Well this young lady pulled it off.
AND Toto too.....well he/she took the animal performances to a new level. Never have I seen an animal in a live performance actually ACT!!!! He/she was incredible.
Sooooo what could make it even better....HOW ABOUT a high flying ring dancing Glenda or trapeze singing crows,  dancing twisters, petals from dancing poppies, acrobatic munchkins, dancing the jitter "bug", SNOW falling from the sky, flames of smoke as the Wicked Witch appeared, taking tress on stilts and Flying monkeys that actually fly (well swing and dance on ribbons from the ceiling)?  The list goes on and on!!!!! It was certainly a show within a show!!! AMAZING! So glad I was able to be a part of it.

Saturday morning....I started my festive decorations and finished  that evening.
(Mark tried to tell me that my Bumble was broken and ready for the trash...WHAT is WRONG WITH YOU MAN????) He looks pretty good to me!

We had to get rid of my artificial tree last year. I had it before I even met my husband and it had seen better days. I went for a smaller thinner tree this year. I still think it works.

Of course I have my favorite Christmas DVDs.

On Sunday, Aimee, Kelly and I went to Skaneateles for their Holiday offering of a Dickens Christmas. The community offers shows and sighting of the classic Christmas Carole written by Charles Dickens. 



We met first for lunch at Doug's Fish Fry. Yeah! I know! I'm at a fish place. It's okay I ate chicken. Although not without some taunting from Kelly to TRY IT!!!







The chicken was yummy....I passed on the fish however.

We got a little silly at the restaurant. I brought George jr, along and he was just a tad bit feisty.
We were also offered some wine. Well of course I had to have some of that. The wine tasting kind of set a theme for the rest of the day.

Almost immediately after lunch we started to see characters walking the town streets. Or in this case a lady with her matching dog.

How Cute!

These lovely villagers and Jacob Marley.

Don't the costumes look amazing!

Poor Jacob. He tried to warn Scrooge. 

I'm not sure who this guy is. Father time? Winter Harvest? Anyway his costume was fun. 

We happened to be right in the perfect spot as many of the characters walked along this stretch of the village sidewalks. These lovely ladies. 

How elegant.

Father Christmas.

We even saw Scrooge. He walked by quickly and clearly in a "bahh humbug" mood.

We also saw the anti alcohol protesters. Maybe they had something way back then? We did tell them they had some work to do around the corner at Doug's as Alcohol was flowing freely.

We had to get Kelly with the police officers. Or would they have been called Bobbies? I still am unclear about the setting of the story. Did it take place in London?

Just so great all the costumes. 

The Sheriff and the Pawns-man.We had a little fun talking with these guys. Kelly even planned a drink with them later. She as so funny.

After spending some time with the characters we took the "cold" but quaint ride along the village streets on the wagon ride.

After the wagon ride we hit up the Sherwood Inn to get a cocktail and some warmth.



Love this old time tree.


Cheers!!!!

A little warmth. And soon we were back on the streets. There was some performance going on at the Gazebo. We didn't stay long. Admired the sights and walked out on the cold cold pier to take a look at the lake and single tree standing alone on the tip.

We found some ladies to pose for us....and there's Aimee.

The tree out on the pier. It was a COLD and got COLDER walk out to see this sight up close.

A view of the lake.

Yep...time to warm up. How about some wine? George Jr. is originally from Florida....He needed a cocktail to warm up. 

I do think he tool it just a little to far. Come on now George.....

We then hit up a few other pubs. Here is Aimee, George jr and I at the Blue Goose Lodge. 

I was over the cocktails.....and I was in search of a few missed characters.....Where were the GHOSTS?????? We were soon once again off. This time in search of these missed characters. Plus we needed to say hello to Tiny Tim and Scrooge....We walked for a bit....no luck on the GHOSTS. We finally decided they were not around during the waking hours...and headed back towards the cars. We stopped at the library, where we were told Charles Dicken's himself (not really mind you) was reading from his book. We didn't stay to see him however.

These ladies were having so much fun laughing, I had to get a picture. 

Then we found Father Christmas and got a picture. I didn't put in any Holiday requests.

Around the corner...we were told there was figgy pudding and roasted chestnuts. We got the very last one of the pudding. Which is really not pudding at all. More like spice cake. The chestnuts were gone. I had them a few years ago and they were really not very yummy anyways...BONUS...We found Tiny Tim and Bob Kratchit having a hot chocolate.



We decided to get our own HOT drink and warm ourselves with a coffee. AND WONDER OF WONDER look who wandered in...IT WAS SCROOGE!!!!!

I got the last picture of the day and it was with Scrooge. He did want a nickle for the picture however...


What fun!!!! I so enjoyed time with these ladies!!!! Another great Holiday classic. TTFN