tekchic

Cavalia was magical. It was held under a massive “big top” white tent in Scottsdale. I had no idea what kind of seats we had until we got to the front and went to a separate line. We were handed a program and then a “backstage pass” with a lanyard. Then we were led to our seats. Literally front row and center — I had to remember to close my hanging jaw. Not only that, but the lanyard and pass gave us access after the show to meet the horses and riders in Cavalia. My fantastic husband must have had to pull some strings to get those incredible seats :)

We sat there waiting for the show to start — the dirt stage stretched out in front of us, no more than six feet away. There were a bunch of toy horses littering the stage, some with spotlights on them, others looked like antique beloved rocking horses. The lights finally dimmed and the show began with two young horses trotting out and weaving their way around the toy horses. They stood around for a minute or so, and then trotted across the stage to the opposite exit. Then the human performers came out, each grabbing their favorite toy horse, and the music and show began.

Trying to describe the show is difficult. Imagine a Cirque du Soleil performance, with the whimsy, playfulness, grace, and acrobatics — then add in horses mere feet in front of you galloping full-bore across the stage from one end to the other. The music was incredible — there were live performers essentially built into the back part of the stage, invisible to the audience except when the sheer cloth covering that area was lit to reveal them as they played. The acts consisted of humans doing acrobatics, either balancing on a huge “swiss ball” or flying through the air as trapezists with silk cloths wrapped around their limbs.

Then the horse acts… they were wonderful. There were dressage numbers where gorgeous, thick-necked PRE’s (Pura Raza Espanola) horses and riders performed dressage to music. The flowing costumes draped over the back of the horses and made the horses and riders look like a single unit. Then the Roman and trick riding where they galloped full speed while standing on the backs of two horses, one foot on each. Then acrobatic riding where a man on a stallion did dressage while his partner flew on silk clothes above him and straight out into the audience. The performances were spectacular and we watched with rapt attention. Tissue paper leaves fell from the sky and scattered through the stage and the audience. We were showered with snow bubbles that clung to our eyelashes before they melted away without leaving a trace. It was an absolutely brilliant show.

Haven’t blogged in ages, so here’s a quickie update…

Headed up to Williams, AZ and the Grand Canyon again. We couldn’t get enough of it the last time we went so we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and head back up there. This time by train!
Leaving tomorrow afternoon and spending the night in the cozy mountain town called Williams. In the morning we board a train that goes to the Grand Canyon. I have my fingers crossed for snow — it’s actually shaping up to be a wet week in Arizona. When it’s raining in the valley, it’s snowing in the mountains!

I will also have the first draft of my very first novel completed by this Sunday. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) so far has been a success and I’m on target to hit my 50,000 word count goal by Sunday afternoon if not Saturday on the drive back to Phoenix. Excited! If I can ever get it publish-worthy it’ll be fantastic. If not, I’ve had a huge learning experience and I’ve now proven to myself that I can write 1800 words a day even if it’s sacrificing a little bit of sleep to do it. :)

After months of patiently waiting (ha) for all of the netbook lines to shake out, I’m finally getting an Acer Aspire One from JR.com! My sweet husband ordered it for me today and hopefully it’ll be in on Friday for me to unbox and play with over the weekend :)

It’s an 8.9″ 2.2lb netbook with 160gig hard drive and a 6-cell battery that has an estimated 7 hours of running time. Completely portable with plenty of power on the go! They come in Black, Blue, White, Pink, and Brown. Originally I wanted to get the pink one, but it looks like they’re only selling the pink with the smaller hard drive and 3-cell battery so I chose the chocolate brown netbook instead.

Of course, I wasn’t 100% sold until I happened across a YouTube video showing someone playing World of Warcraft on the tiny machine — NICE! I did buy the machine as a portable laptop for writing and coding (as my Dell XPS M1710 weighs about 12#) but it’d be pretty sweet to play WoW on the go too ;-)

I’ll post an unboxing video when I get the machine in (hopefully Friday)!

Amy Grant kicked off her “Lead Me On 20th Anniversary Tour” last night at the Celebrity Theater in Tempe, AZ. I’ve been a fan ever since I was eight years old and in the third grade. If you asked any of my family who I most wanted to meet on the entire planet from the time I was eight until my early twenties, they would have all answered, “Amy Grant, of course!”

Wanton gadget lust in full effect. New shiny incoming…

My prediction was correct! :)  We headed up to Williams, AZ on Friday night and checked into a hotel right on Main Street — horse drawn carriages and all.  Walked over to look at the trains because we were right next to the Grand Canyon Railway.  The waning gibbous moon illuminated the silver trains eerily; I tried to take a picture but it didn’t come out quite how it looked.

I’ve been told to pack a sweater and a long sleeve shirt and wear jeans and my hikers. We leave tonight and head north for a few hours before stopping at a hotel. Tomorrow, all I know is we start early and end late and probably hiking a few miles. Got a new pair of 8-24×50 binoculars in preparation for… I have no idea. The binocs are sweet though!

Hmm… adventure awaits? Here’s my prediction — Grand Canyon! (I’ll blog on Monday after I’ve found out where in the heck we’re going in the little yellow roadster). :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

We had a fantastic time at the Dave Matthews Band concert this past Saturday at Cricket Pavilion. The temperature outside was 108 degrees when we pulled into the parking lot but at least the sun was setting. Later on during the concert, the clouds rolled in and a refreshing light rain fell over the crowd. Coupled with the breeze, it felt a LOT better than it did when the concert first began. We had pretty good seats — the first row of seats just outside of the “tin roof” covered area, so we could see well.

The biggest highlight of the evening for me was getting to watch Jeff Coffin play with Dave Matthews Band. LeRoi Moore, the original saxophone player (and one of the founding members of Dave Matthews Band) died this past Tuesday from complications due to an ATV accident back in June. Jeff Coffin stepped in to help tour with the band while LeRoi was recovering. I was thrilled to get to hear Jeff Coffin play again — in my book, he’s the best saxophone player in the world.

Now if I can only manage to catch Bela Fleck and the Flecktones sometime this decade. They’re playing at the end of November in Hawaii, so I was thinking of flying down to visit family and catching the concert at the same time.

Will tomorrow be the day that that new Dell netbook offering shows up on their website? I’m excited to see the Dell Inspiron Mini 910, with its rumored release date of August 22nd. Ooh and a week before my birthday, hmm… 8.9″ screen, 3 USB 2.0 ports, ultra small, ultra portable, ultra cute.

Of course it can’t replace the Dell XPS M1710 monster machine, this one would be more of a “baby laptop” gadget. :) Only thing that will replace the Dell XPS M1710 will be an uber MacBook Pro one of these days.