Alegria, Crawfish Boil, Odds and Ends

On Friday night Tommy and I went to go see Alegria! I love love love Cirque du Soleil (or as Mike Apple calls it, Circus Ole! HAHAHAAHA) so much and have seen them three times now. The first time was at their standing tent in Orlando (la Nouba) and the second was at a traveling tent in Atlanta (Varekai). The second time in the traveling tent was way less exciting though - we were sat behind a pole. When I heard that Cirque du Soleil was coming through Knoxville, I was a) stunned and b) bought tickets on the floor the same day. No poles for me this time, thanks! 

We'd been to one other show in Thompson-Boling like this - Blue Man Group! We sat on the floor for that show but in the very last row. No matter about being on the last row though - the show's theme was about learning how to be a rock star, and one of the rules in being a rock star is to make the last row feel like they are on the front row. Ahem. A Blue Man came and got Tommy to participate in one of their acts.

one blue man would throw a paintball into another blue man's mouth, and the blue man who caught the ball in his mouth would bite the paintball and "spraypaint" this shirt they put on him.

It was pretty exciting. One difference in between Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soleil? At Blue Man, photography is encouraged. Cirque du Soleil? Notsomuch. I got one shot in at intermission:

they blew all this confetti all over the place like snow. it was so super fun, and i highly recommend it to family and friends. any of their shows are incredibly fabulous - just watch out for the poles.

And now I want to run away and join the circus. I MEAN, the cirque. Bon jour! Also, I have started a trend in the Smith Household - the music is in French so the only word I can sing in the title song is "Alegria." No matter... I follow it up, in tune, with "poop-and-pee-ya." HAHAHAHA it's catchy.

The next day, we are lucky enough to be invited to the Overstreet's house for a crawfish boil! The Masons were invited too, and AS PER USUAL gotta show everyone up with their fabulous hostess gifts.

ginormous bottle of wine for mrs. overstreet

here we have messieurs reagan and overstreet discussing the finer points of seafood preparation

aerial view of the chef in action

when will started seasoning the live crawfish, i made the point that if he were salting and shaking kittens in a cooler full of water that he'd be a monster.

shrimp first

then crawfish!

everyone enjoying sloppy food and fellowship

no caption necessary

kristina and her pet crustacean 

and yes, i had to wash every article of clothing we both had on that night - we were covered in crawfish guts!

No complaints here despite the additional laundry! Thanks, Overstreets! We enjoyed ourselves tremendously!

Lastly, odds and ends:

for the cat-less among you, here is what laundry day looks like. loki smith napping on the newly-crawfish-gut-free clothes.

can you find me in this photo? i'm like ET mixed in with all the stuffed animals...

i go to a book signing and meet dr. bill bass! i'm glad he didn't bring his work to the bookstore with him.

And lastly, lastly - a few months ago I ordered mine and Tommy's license plate decals online. Despite paying a $2 convenience fee (per decal) I determined that the $4 was worth me not having to mail in checks or go do this in person. A few days later, Tommy's decal arrived. When mine hadn't arrived a week later, I called. They said to give it another week. When another week came and went and still no decal, I called again. They said it hadn't been returned to them, but I couldn't get a new one until 15 business days had passed. When 15 business days passed, I called AGAIN, and after verifying again that a) the decal hadn't been returned and b) 15 business days had passed, I was informed that I had to come into the office and sign a form that said I hadn't received my decal in the mail. Thanks. They didn't even offer to refund my $2 convenience fee. When I asked, I was politely declined. Nice. So imagine my further frustration upon entering the courthouse, going through security, finding the right office, taking a number, sitting down and finding THIS in my face:

truth in advertising? i think not...

Alrighty, peeps! Knoxville Marathon next week so FINGERS CROSSED that next blog post will be titled something along the lines of I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT (again), and not i'm sad big fat loser who can't seal the deal.

GULP.