March {our glorious date}
A date? When you have kids? What's that?
JK, we actually leave our kids behind a lot, which works out great, except maybe for the person who's watching them, which lately has been grandma Gongaware. We are so thankful that she loves her boys so much though!
So, I've been itching to go to a theater production for quite some time, and driving around Salt Lake, I found an advertisement for a Chinese show called Shen Yun. Perfect! JQ Lawson Capitol Theatre, by the way.
So, in doing a little research before the show, I came across some negative reviews about how the entire show was religious propaganda. After going to the show, I can say, sure - it could be viewed that way, but was there anything to be negative about? Absolutely not. Just goes to show that reading reviews isn't always productive.
Shen Yun IS a religiously formed dance company, whose message is to spread faith in God. As a matter of fact - if you google Shen Yun, you will find their fundamentals and founders. So, knowing that - why would someone be offended at another culture's beliefs? Hence, it's a culture, it's THEIR history, it's the history of their country and THEIR religious beliefs shown through dance. I find it funny that Christianity is the most dumped on religion, but when a beautiful, talented singer sings about atheism - people fall to the floor, thinking that something is being shoved down their throats. Or, you could just not worry about it, since you bought the tickets and all.
Anyway, I didn't come to the show to worry about little things such as lyrics of a song, or how the show could have been done differently, or to be a critic. I came because I wanted to see beautiful dance, beautiful costumes, hear amazing voices, see their graphics, be delighted by thousands of colors and to enjoy my time at the theater. It's in no way ignorance, I just chose to be happily entertained.
So, no photography was allowed, so here's an image of what you would see pulled from ggl. I happened to absolutely love the show. The dancers are truly so talented and their movements were magical. They are flawless. Their graphics were absolutely amazing, right on point and done incredibly well. It was definitely a different kind of a show and something worth seeing at least once.
So, to make our date exciting, we made dinner reservations to the Melting Pot before the show. Mind you, I gave us plenty of time. However, the one day that Tony and I go out on a real date, dressed up and all, there was a huge accident on the freeway and we were stuck for about 45 minutes...
Thankfully, we were able to change our reservations and got to the restaurant with about 1 hour left before the show, which was a couple of blocks up the street. At the beginning of our meal, the waiter informed us that we should allow about 2 hours for this type of a meal, but don't worry - we made him work, and busted out of there in just 45! We just said: "bring us everything, don't ask questions, bring it all out". And, we devoured it!
If you haven't been to this type of restaurant. Go. It's the best. You cook all of your food in a pot of hot soup, their meat is incredibly tender, the melted gooey cheese is a total food-gasm, and you have to finish off with hot melted chocolate over your favorite treats.
Happy Dating!
JK, we actually leave our kids behind a lot, which works out great, except maybe for the person who's watching them, which lately has been grandma Gongaware. We are so thankful that she loves her boys so much though!
So, I've been itching to go to a theater production for quite some time, and driving around Salt Lake, I found an advertisement for a Chinese show called Shen Yun. Perfect! JQ Lawson Capitol Theatre, by the way.
So, in doing a little research before the show, I came across some negative reviews about how the entire show was religious propaganda. After going to the show, I can say, sure - it could be viewed that way, but was there anything to be negative about? Absolutely not. Just goes to show that reading reviews isn't always productive.
Shen Yun IS a religiously formed dance company, whose message is to spread faith in God. As a matter of fact - if you google Shen Yun, you will find their fundamentals and founders. So, knowing that - why would someone be offended at another culture's beliefs? Hence, it's a culture, it's THEIR history, it's the history of their country and THEIR religious beliefs shown through dance. I find it funny that Christianity is the most dumped on religion, but when a beautiful, talented singer sings about atheism - people fall to the floor, thinking that something is being shoved down their throats. Or, you could just not worry about it, since you bought the tickets and all.
Anyway, I didn't come to the show to worry about little things such as lyrics of a song, or how the show could have been done differently, or to be a critic. I came because I wanted to see beautiful dance, beautiful costumes, hear amazing voices, see their graphics, be delighted by thousands of colors and to enjoy my time at the theater. It's in no way ignorance, I just chose to be happily entertained.
So, no photography was allowed, so here's an image of what you would see pulled from ggl. I happened to absolutely love the show. The dancers are truly so talented and their movements were magical. They are flawless. Their graphics were absolutely amazing, right on point and done incredibly well. It was definitely a different kind of a show and something worth seeing at least once.
So, to make our date exciting, we made dinner reservations to the Melting Pot before the show. Mind you, I gave us plenty of time. However, the one day that Tony and I go out on a real date, dressed up and all, there was a huge accident on the freeway and we were stuck for about 45 minutes...
Thankfully, we were able to change our reservations and got to the restaurant with about 1 hour left before the show, which was a couple of blocks up the street. At the beginning of our meal, the waiter informed us that we should allow about 2 hours for this type of a meal, but don't worry - we made him work, and busted out of there in just 45! We just said: "bring us everything, don't ask questions, bring it all out". And, we devoured it!
If you haven't been to this type of restaurant. Go. It's the best. You cook all of your food in a pot of hot soup, their meat is incredibly tender, the melted gooey cheese is a total food-gasm, and you have to finish off with hot melted chocolate over your favorite treats.
Happy Dating!