The best Valentine's Day ever...

Before you folks worry that I'm going to get all schmoopy on you, not to worry. Last night's Valentine's did not involve boys or romance of any kind. Oh...and in a manner of speaking I did run last night...

Ages ago we had a chance to purchase tickets to Riverdance through work and the only date that worked out was Thursday, February 14th. So last night we ditched the boys and it was my sister-in-law T, my friend DGB and her sister-in-law all in for a night of Irish dancing and fun.

We all met for dinner at Earls, a restaurant really close to the theatre. Of course it was insane being Valentine's Day and all, but we managed to get seated pretty quickly at a nice table in the bar area. It was even scattered with rose petals. Pretty romantic, eh? A couple of the gals ordered cocktails but I thought I would just order some wine later on. Once the cocktails arrived the waitress took our order and I changed my mind on said cocktail, plus ordered the wine. At this point the bar was pretty busy and we were waiting so long for the other drinks to arrive that it seemed like it would all coincide with the food. We flagged the waitress down to inquire about our drinks and T made a comment about how we were worried about the timing of the drinks and having to rush the cocktails - I guess implying that it would all arrive so close together that we'd have to drink really fast and get tipsy. The waitress apologized and offered a round of shots in compensation instead.... She comes back with six sour Jacks (Jack and red Sour Puss) and introduces the restaurant manager because he wants to join in on the shots. The red concoction gets downed, the cocktails and wine arrive, the food arrives and all in all it was a fun time at the restaurant.

Then it was time to rush to the Jubilee and traffic is insane. We opt to park at Sears nearby and hike. Since we are cutting it really close to making the start of the show the other girls (all wearing flats I might add) are walking/jogging to get there. I was wearing these beauties:
Luckily the sidewalks weren't snowy or icy, so under ideal conditions I can run in heels pretty well. Ah...it felt good to get that short jog in. Just before reaching the parking lot for the Jube there was a steep, snow covered hill we had to trudge down. I was pretty sure that I'd bite it heading down the slope but the advantage with the heels was the ability to dig into the snow for a bit of traction. We crossed the parking lot and came across our last obstacle - a short chain fence, kinda like the one below, a mere 20 ft from the entrance to the Jube:

As I go to step over the chain I realize that the foot remaining on the ground is actually on a patch of ice. Well, traction on ice is tricky and I wind up falling and landing pretty hard on the outside of my right thigh. DGB and her sister-in-law had run ahead so they missed the action, but the man behind me was a kind and strong fellow and he helped me get up and asked if I was okay. Yup, luckily nothing was broken...just a little soft tissue damage (to the thigh and to the ego). T helped me brush the snow off and we made it inside the theatre with 3 minutes to spare before the curtain went up.

Riverdance was fabulous (although the costumes were fabulously awful - 80s pleather suit and black muscle shirt with red crystals on the chest???), and I had forgotten how engaging of a show it is. Those dancers sure are talented! After the performance we made it back to the car with minimal issues and it was back home and off to bed. A great evening out with girlfriends - that is my ideal way to spend Valentine's Day!