For the first time I feel....WICKED

This last weekend was great!! My mom, aunt, and I drove down to Seattle for the night. We had a genealogy conference on Saturday and we planned to stop at the Seattle temple on our way to our hotel. We got stuck in a little bit of traffic but it wasn't too bad. I felt bad because I was so tired and kind of car sick so I felt a little out of it until we ate afterwards. We got on the road again and headed to our hotel. We got a little lost but I knew where we were the entire time, nobody listens to me though :).

We turned the corner to get to our really swanky hotel and low and behold what is right in front of my face?..........The freaking Paramount Theater with the Wicked sign just up there mocking me. It was all over once I knew that the theater was right there. The front desk asked what we were in town for and I said, not Wicked like a dejected child. I am SO glad I opened my big fat mouth. He told us to go talk to the info desk and she told us that they have a ticket lottery drawing 2.5 hrs before each show and explained the details. Ummmmmm so then I was completely obsessed. Of course the dumb hotel didn't have free wifi, they did have a connector cord but then I needed some info that I didn't have so I couldn't use the internet, lame. But we talked about the possibility of skipping the conference and hanging around downtown Seattle the next day then we could see if we could win tickets to the 2pm show. At 10pm and I sat by this window in our room for an hour waiting to see everyone walk out, talking excitedly about the show that was happening that night. I was so dang excited.

The murphy bed I got to sleep on. It was on my bucket list :)

The hallway of the hotel. I thought we were on the Titanic or something

This is why it reminded me of the Titanic.....JACKKKK

The view of the Paramount from our hotel room

Well the next morning my hopes were dashed as we got ready, called valet to get our car (yes valet!!) and started driving towards the conference.

Our view as we drove over the lake towards the conference

I was pretty darn bummed. Once we got to the conference, it was packed. They held it in one of our church buildings so we were crammed the heck in there and it was uncomfortable and hectic. During the first class I took notes, but my mind was on that dang lottery. Halfway through class I realized I would NOT be able to sit and listen to all these classes so I was on my phone getting directions back to the theater, I could take the car while my mom and aunt stayed there.

In between the first and second classes there wasn't really a class that they wanted to go to so I convinced them to skip it, go enter the lottery, see if we won then come back if we didn't.

It worked.

I don't know how, but my persistence worked. We showed up, entered our names in the cauldron and started the cold 30 minute wait.

I didn't realize that they were giving away 20 front row seats. They were. For reals. My aunts name was the 2nd one they called!!!!! We got 2 front row tickets for $25/each such a dang good deal!! You can't even get last row tickets for under $100 right now. Unfortunately we only got 2 of those tickets then they mentioned that if you entered the drawing, you could buy $40 tickets, awesome!! It was decided once my aunts name was called that the genealogy conference was history (baha get it?).
We got ourselves a $40 ticket which ended up being a seat four rows behind ours, incredible.

they give you a pin if you win, that's the best part ;)

my aunt and I are SO excited!!

Then I realized that I lost my phone. Awesome. We determined it was back at the conference. Luckily we were pretty well versed in how to get there now and it only took about 30 minutes total to get my phone and get back to the theater.

This is the map of Oz that is on the stage when you first get there. The top photo is from when I went with the Chapins, they were great seats and allowed us to see the entire stage. The bottom picture is how close we were Saturday, there is no zooming in either of these photos.

I got to sit in the first row of Wicked Saturday afternoon. Sitting up higher was great and I loved being able to see more of the stage. I also loved being close and seeing the facial expressions and spit coming out of the actors mouths while they sang. I had goosebumps mostly because it was cold but also because it was amazing. Both times were so great, I seriously love that play. The music, the acting, the characters, the funnyness, the seriousness, the message, the plot, the twists, the costumes, the atmosphere, everything. I wish Wicked came to Seattle every year, or at least alternated Seattle, Portland, I would totally go to Portland to see it.

It was so amazing, I loved it, obviously. I'm a lunatic. Elphaba is my favorite fictional character ever. I think the part of me that makes me so obsessed to see it again and again is the fact that I REALLY like this cast and it won't be the same cast each time I see it. I think each character is so amazing and talented and the singing is seriously incredible. I have NO idea how they get up there and sing that amazingly each night, sometimes 2 times a day for a year at a time with a few days off in between. Incredible.

Anywhooooo after that fun stuff, we headed home, stopped at Chipotle because it just makes sense. Then made a quick stop at the Gap Outlet so I could use my 40% off entire purchase coupon.




Yep that happened.