Posted by bassgiraffe in review | 2 Comments
Evita and a night to remember- Review
Recently my husband and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary. A week before our anniversary I came down into the kitchen to make breakfast for the girls and sitting on my chair was an envelope with the number “10″ written on it. It was a clue to some event my hubby had planned for me. On the back of the clue was a part of a picture, a puzzle piece. For the next 7 mornings I received 7 clues and on the 7th day I got the last 3 clues through out the day. Although our anniversary is on July 29th and I thought all the clues were for that day, I was wrong. I was surprised when I was told it was all happening a day early.
Below is the list of clues:
10- “10 years ago, one week from today, I married you on a beautiful sunny day. Over the next week, 10 messages you will received, with clues, hints and notes about something special that will be hard to believe”.
9- “more notes to figure out what Avon has to do with Rice and Webber”
8- “8pm is when it will begin and #8 is where you will put your end”
7- “In a town where William is king, Andrew will be the name you sing”
6- “The big event will combine Latin, rock, jazz and politics. Tony would love it!”
5- “5 will lead, but more will follow, the cast of which are definitely not plaster of hollow”
4- “A special night we will have this evening, Dinner then driving then a show on a proscenium stage.”
For clue #3 I found it in my laptop with a note saying “open up at noon”.
3- “At 4pm a friend will arrive, giving you time to clean up, get dressed and drive.”
At 3:30 our very good friend, Holly, showed up. At 4pm I received a text message from my hubby telling me to look in the front hall closest for clue #2.
2- “Clean up and get all pretty I’ll meet you at 5 and we will go for a drive.”
I took a shower, did my hair, put on make-up and found the nicest clothes I had. It was so nice to be able to clean up and look “pretty” for once.
I picked hubby up at work and he drove us to Red Lobster. (We’ve been saving all our change in a jar for the past 7 years to be able to go). The meal was yummy, our server was amazing and the “kid free” conversation was great!
After dinner we went back to the van where I found clue #1.
1- “I won’t drive too fast, but we will still each get a ticket. Check under your seat and check it in at the wicket”
I pulled the tickets out and saw that we were seeing Evita in Stratford, ON. (I had already figured this out by the clues but it was so exciting to see the actual tickets)
We got there early so we stopped at the gift shop where my husband bought me a cute Tinkerbell necklace. We then entered the Theatre. WOW! The place was so beautiful. I couldn’t wait for the show to start.
The second the orchestra hit their first note I had goose bumps and began to cry. I was amazed, so happy, excited and overwhelmed with so many amazing feelings.
The set was simple yet so perfect. One set but we were able to go to different scenes/places in a flash. The orchestra played at the perfect level not drowning out the singing, which I’ve experienced in other productions.
Now onto the cast. Each member whether with a big role or just part of the chorus had microphones (around their ear). The sound man must of has fun mixing it all, he did a great job.
The role of Eva Paron was played but the swing (understudy), Lindsay Croxall, due to the main actress being ill. In fact I found out later that a good majority of the cast was under the weather, but they still preformed very very well.
Lindsay Croxall started of shaky with her singing but by the end of the show she was killing it! Maybe the reason she was “off” at the beginning was that she was sick too or because she was the swing or a bit of both, who knows. But she did get better and I enjoyed her performance.
The highlight of the night was Che who acted as the singing narrator, played by Josh Young. Josh did an amazing job portraying Che. He had these perfect little quirks and little inflections in his voice that got me laughing and kept me watching. No matter what was going on the stage I couldn’t help but want to watch what Che was going to do/say next. I’ve seen Evita the movie several times before and I never laughed harder at this character as I did watching this production. I look forward to seeing Josh Young in more productions.
I couldn’t finish writing this review without acknowledge the costume and make up crew. The outfits and costume changes were amazing. Each cast member had MANY changes back and forth and all seemed to go smoothly. My favourite make-up and costume changes were for Che. The show opened with Che, long scruffy hair, facial hair and a jacket. While on stage he takes off his jacket, pulls off his wig and facial hair and BAM he looks like a young Che. Through out the performance he would leave the stage looking one way and come back with a bit longer hair and a bit more facial hair until he was back to how he looked at the beginning of the show.
If it wasn’t for the cost of going to see the show I would LOVE to see Evita again. In fact I could watch it over and over again and not be tired of watching it.
After the show we drove to a Tim Hortons. Now I’m only writing about this because as my close friends know I’m addicted to Ice Caps and my hubby and I joked that this was the highlight of my night. LOL But seriously, the ice cap was by far NOT the highlight of my night. Spending time with my hubby was the biggest highlight.
I brought our camera along with me, but we were so caught up in the moment and having so much fun that we forgot to take any pictures. But that is ok, I know I’ll never forget this night.
Thank you sweetheart for an amazing night and for an amazing 10 years. LOVE YOU!
Read MorePosted by bassgiraffe in Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Follow Friday #8
It’s FRIDAY!!! I love Fridays and meeting new blogs. Welcome new and old readers. Thank you all for visiting. <3
I wont be around to sign up for any of these blog hops But I thought I’d post them anyway for my readers to be able to find. If anyone feels like it please add my link to the linkys. Thank you and have an awesome week.
I also want to thank Home Mom for making me the featured blog this week:

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Simply Stacie
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While here please check out my current giveaways Frecklebox is ending Saturday!:
Frecklebox- Ends July 31st- US/CAN
Brugo Mug- Ends August 7th- USA ONLY
Zupers Leggings- Aug 14th- US/CAN
Aurora Milly Kitten- August 21st- US/CAN
Posted by bassgiraffe in Uncategorized | 8 Comments
10th Anniversary

We met August 1999 at Moody Bible Institute going to band camp. (Yes we are band camp nerdy lovers, lol). I instantly knew I would marry you. I loved how funny you were, polite, helpful, hard working. Coming back from band camp I told my roommate that I had met the man of my dreams and I am going to marry him.
We became good friends and hung out a lot. On November 20, 1999 we went to Michigan Ave. for the annual lighting of the lights. After the light lighting there were fireworks down by the river. It was a cold out and we had to walk to the river. You put your arm around my waist. I got goose bumps, my head said “he likes me, really really likes me.” If we had to separate because of too many people you’d come right back and place your arm around me. Once we were at the river I took your hand.
Now for a side note for everyone, Chris and I argue often on who made the first move. Chris says he put his arm around me to keep me warm, LOL. He says I made the first move by taking his hand. Who ever made the first move it doesn’t matter we fell in love and the story continues.
That US-Thanksgiving I took you home to meet my family. My parents fell in love with you. Christmas break came and I went home to meet your family. Then winter band tour came and while visiting a museum we were looking at miniature houses and we started talking about our dream home TOGETHER. My heart fluttered, (I AM going to marry this man).
February 2000 we visited my family again during reading break. We had so much fun and I knew we’d be together forever. Beginning of March you took me to my favorite park in Chicago. There were a TON of kids there and all I could keep thinking is I wish they’d go away so we could be alone. Just then it started raining and everyone left. You got on to one knee and pulled out a ring and you asked me if I’d marry you. I said “of course”. And we kissed.
July 29, 2000, our wedding day. The minute I walked down the isle I started to cry with joy and had to ask my dad for a tissue. I think he needed one more then me. Chris, you look soooo handsome, your smile was beaming. You sang me a song, we lit candles to show our union with God, your dad shared the love of Jesus and sang a song himself. Hank Ledbetter married us. I’ll never forget before we were married and had to go to marriage counseling. He gave you the third degree, but he was only looking out for me. As you know Hank was like another dad to me. But once he knew where your heart was and that you grew up with a Christian family he knew I was in good hands. I loved when Hank brought up his wife Linda in our wedding. You know how much she meant to me and to know she could be part of it even though she was already with our Lord made our wedding so special. When Hank asked me if I took you to be my husband I said “Oh, yeah.” Everyone laughed, but I meant it with all my heart. Another funny story about our wedding is just before Hank said our last name I knew he didn’t know how to pronounce it. But no matter what name he said, we were married.
Our honeymoon wasn’t my dream honeymoon, but I was happy to be with you. And I know someday we’ll actually get a real honeymoon. Maybe our 30th or 50th?
Through out the years, we’ve had many ups and downs but I can always know we will love each other. We now have two beautiful girls who I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.
Chris, I look forward to many many many more years with you. When we are celebrating our 50th I hope our love is stronger then ever. Thank you for being an amazing guy. Oh and you’re totally HOT!!!!
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A few weeks after we got engaged and on band tour.

Proof we are band nerd. in our uniforms:

Wedding day and reception hall:


Posted by bassgiraffe in Uncategorized | 16 Comments
Thursday Blog-hop #2
Welcome to Thursday Blog-Hop. The linky will open at 10PM EST. Please pass it along.
THE RULES
1. Please follow the hosting blog- bassgiraffe’s Thoughts
2. Please visit as many blogs as possible.
3. If someone visits your blog please visit theirs back, but I know that we don’t like all blogs we visit so don’t feel obligated to follow back if you don’t want.
4. Family friendly blogs only, please.
5. You will need to link to your blog post that has the above blog-hop button. Without a post it makes it harder for people to have a proper place to comment and let you know they stopped by.
Posted by bassgiraffe in book, book-Movie, review | 1 Comment
“Living Beyond Postpartum Depression” Book Review

I am very excited to share this book by Jerusha Clark called “Living Beyond Postpartum Depression”. I had major PPD with my first child and I would have loved to have this book back then. It’s written by a women who has “been there, done that” when it comes to PPD. Jerusha is very open and honest with her struggles, the first chapter had me crying and wanting to read more.
This book made me feel normal with my feels and also gave me much encouragement to get through it. With a focus on Spirituality and the Bible it shows us how to lean on others and reach out when in need. I would recommend this book to any women who is thinking about being pregnant, is pregnant or already has children. I think it helps through all walks of life and types of depression. I would also recommend having your loved ones read this book to know how to help you through your depression.
A warning though, Jerusha is VERY OPEN with all her struggles and is tough to the heart to read. If you are in a fragile state I would recommend not reading this until you know you can handle the details and open struggles of someone else.
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This is a review of the book from a friend of mine:
This book is about a pastor’s wife who tells her story of living with postpartum depression. She talks about her experience with it, her husbands view point while she was going through it and how she got the help she needed. She also talks about how people who are going through PPD right now or people who have loved ones who are going through it can get help that they need. She goes indepth about the treatments out there for PPD and she also goes in depth of the different kinds and servarity of PPD.
This book is a book that you will not want to put down, I myself cried during the first chapter because it really hit home. It has made me aware of what I need to watch for myself as I struggle with PPD. It was also very helpful for my husband as he has watched my struggle with PPD. It was nice to know that I’m not a lone and that as a Christian women that I am not being punished by God, but that I am actually going through a chemical imbalance and that it has been happening to people since Bible times. This book is amazing.
I would recommend this book to people who are suffering from PPD, and to husbands, mothers,fathers, sister, brothers, and friends of some who is going through PPD to broaden there understanding of PPD and what it does to a person. I would also recommend this book to everyone who is in a leadership role within a church, for they too need to understand about PPD.
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Disclaimer / Disclosure: I received this book for free from NavPress blogger review program for reviewing purposes. This post reflects my personal opinion and experience with the product which may differ from yours. No monetary compensation was provided for this post.


























