Disclaimer: I making up for a few posts that didn't have pictures...

This post...it will have A LOT of pictures. Go get a fresh cup of coffee. 

P.S.  I like blogger's new picture uploader thingy...there I said it.

About a month or so ago, I informed Earl that I needed to get away.  Desperately.  I mean, love the kids...love the job...love the life.  But mommy was losing it!  He said he'd see what he could do.

Long story not so long...Earl arranged a girls get-away weekend for me and this lady.

My momma. 

Yes...I know...we look alike.  Genetics is some cah-razy stuff.

We went here...to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center to see "Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz"

The musical is based on the book by Gregory Maguire called Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.  I picked up the book at a garage sale this summer and really got into it. I found out there was a musical based on the book and I told Earl we HAD to go next time it came to town. As you can imagine Earl was beyond horrified thrilled to join me.  He loves artsy sorts of things...like video games where the graphics are so good you can actually see the blood squirt out of your character's carotid artery, and the dull unending roar of a football game.  "Sure honey...I'd love to go to the theater with you.  Oh wait..what's that?  Your mother wants to see that play too?"  It was like the stars aligned.  Earl got out of going to the theater...and I got my weekend away. 

I was beyond excited. 

On Saturday I drove down to my parent's house.  A full 4 1/2 hours of uninterrupted time in the car.  No one asking for a snack...no one throwing socks at me...no cartoon movie blaring in the background.  It. was. heaven.  I spent Saturday at my parent's house...just me.  I haven't done that since college. There's something rather therapeutic about walking into my parent's house.  My sister and I both agree that we sleep great there...

That night we went to the local dinner theater and ate our weight in mashed potatoes.  Soul food.   

Then Sunday morning, we headed to Tulsa. 

First stop?  Target of course.  Silly.

Well...actually it was coffee...but the coffee was inside the Target.  That has to be one of the most fantastic concepts in human history.  Putting a Starbucks inside Target.

We shopped and shopped and shopped...then we found a Goodwill store...so we shopped some more.

Then we headed to our digs for the night.

Mom had reserved a hotel room at the downtown Marriot.  Just steps away from the performing arts center.  Read: we drank wine and did not have to worry about driving.

Mom likes to take pictures of bathrooms in the hotel rooms she stays in...

She's not right. Scary thing?  I share half of my genetic make-up with her. I should be afraid. But I'm not...I'm kinda excited. She's fun...

And beautiful...

 Earl told me to go buy a new dress for the show.  Now listen.  I don't buy new stuff.  I get bargains.  At the thrift store.  At any given time, 75% of my outfit is made up of second hand clothing.  But I obliged.  And I found this dress....

It fit like it was made for me.  And no, you may not ask how much I spent...thankyouverymuch.

The final product.  Look Earl!...it's me and me in 27 years.   Okay so, maybe we do look alike...I'm only taller because of my heels...

We ate some delicious mashed potatoes and Caesar salad at a swanky restaurant near the performing arts center.  Are you seeing a trend here...with the potatoes?  Yeh...we love mashed potatoes...these had spinach in them.  Ah-ma-zing.  Oh and hummus dip and pitas...

Mom decided, during dinner, to make sure her binoculars were in working condition.  She's old hat at this live show stuff.  I guess when you marry a trumpet player, you become really comfortable in a concert hall.

The show was over the top...unbelievable...everything I thought it would be and so much more!!!!  It was life changing...I can't begin to put it into words.  It sounds so cliche to say this but...just go see it for yourself.

And the flying monkeys weren't too shabby either...certainly a change from the Judy Garland Wizard of Oz version of flying monkeys, eh?

 

But no...really...go see it. Make it a weekend. Spend some intense quality time with someone you love and who loves you right back.

We got up Monday morning and ate breakfast at the Blue Dome Diner.  Good. food.

 We both hated to leave.  We lingered a long time.  Drank just one more cup of coffee.
We didn't want it to end...but it did and all too soon. 

But not before my mother wrote this on the bathroom stall....oh. my.

Thanks Earl...Thanks momma...

Can we do it again next year?