09.01, Part Two: Cirque Du Soleil's Totem

Finally!!

The countdown to this was over today, when Rob and I set out from Mt. Vernon to Columbus for our first big show together.. and Rob's first Cirque du Soleil experience. A few weeks back, I indulged a bit on some tickets for the Totem show, which is in Columbus for a couple of weeks. It worked perfectly into the existing schedule of us being up there for the weekend, so I figured it would be the perfect end to a north-central Ohio run.

hello from the grand chapiteau! | ohio expo center | columbus, oh

It was totally worth it.
And I mean totally. worth. it.

Bad news: I didn't take any of the following pictures.
Good news: We were in the 4th row, so had I been allowed to, I could've captured the exact same angles from our seats. Needless to say, we did have these views, and they were.. incredible.

This is what we saw but weren't allowed to photograph for ourselves...

opening sequence!

comedic relief: the "clowns" pippo & bubba

the "tracker" & his devil sticks act [ante ursic]
 the "scientist" & his LED tunnel juggling act [greg kennedy]

ring trio act: yann arnaud, olli torkel & alya titarenko
fixed trapeze act "lovebirds": sarah tessier & guilhem cauchois

the "amerindian" hoop dancers
shandien larance & eric hernandez [who replaced shandien's brother nakotah!]

pavel saprykin : the hand balancer

the "wedding ceremony" [roller skates]
[real life married couple!]: massimiliano medini & denise garcia-sorta

unicycles & bowls
... probably my 2nd favorite act.. be sure to youtube this!

the "crystal ladies," aka girls who can spin rugs on their hands & feet
twin sisters marina & svetlana tsodikova

my forever favorite cirque act.. the russian bars

some of the totem cast .. look at the costumes!!

Rob & I agreed that we would absolutely see another one of these together if the chance comes along. I was so happy I could be a part of his first Cirque show, and really, I had no complaints, either! We even met a great couple from New Albany who sat next to us.

After the show, we made the quick hop over to Easton to do lunch with my parents and Sydni at the ever-trusty CPK [California Pizza Kitchen], tour the new American Doll Store [.... whoa.] and even cross random paths with the Feasels [so great to see you, Megan!] before Rob, Syd and I loaded up for the trip back to Cincinnati.

.. And that's where we are now. I just got dinner ready and we're in for a night watching Brave [thanks to Maricor & co. for the gift!] with Sydni and relaxing for the rest of the evening.

I feel a cold coming on, too, but I'm telling myself it'll pass... we'll see.

G'Nite!  

xo | cmd

PRETEND YOU DIDN'T!

I've come to the conclusion that no matter who you are, if you've watched Toy Story 3 in its entirety, and if you have any sort of soul, you cried... at least once, if not more.

I cried. Twice that I counted. Sydni begged me to watch this with her tonight, so I did, under the condition that she eat her salad with dinner. I think that's fair, right? [Plus, it was a kale salad, so in the interest of not over-boasting, we'll just say I gave myself a mind-pat on the back and considered it a double-win.]

Anyway, I couldn't help but share, because like I said, let's face it, we all cried during this part of TS3:


don't lie. you did. you cried. {{ it's okay, i won't tell }}

And if that wasn't enough, once I was done blubbering over that, I pulled it together for a few minutes until the actual end of the movie:

"goodbye, old pal"

Yeahhhhh, call me a big wuss, that's fine, but I definitely sat with tissue in hand for the ending, when the toys all get passed on to the little neighbor girl. If I just completely spoiled this for any of you who haven't seen it yet, well, it's out on RedBox now, so do yourselves a favor and watch it.. because you just.. won't.. understand until you do. Haha. Seriously. Thanks, Pixar, for your massively effective appeal to humanity, and subtle but sure tug on the heartstrings!

Tomorrow's FRIIIIIDAY!!
= 1 more day until Columbus with my cousins.
= 2 more days until Madison's birthday party.
= 7 more days until Rob gets here.
= 8 more days until Sydni's birthday party + my family.
= 9 more days until Cirque Du Soleil's Totem show.
= 10 more days until Labor Day!

We have... lots to look forward to. We may not have everything, but we sure are blessed with what we DO have.

Early night for us here.

xo | cmd