The Ten Grands

So - apparently my life isn't very exciting because I haven't really had anything to blog about lately. I'm even having a hard time keeping up with my cooking blog because - well - not even my cooking has been exciting! I'm thinking things need to change. I'm not sure how - but I'll figure something out to make life with the Browns more exciting in the weeks to come. Stay tuned!

Kayla has been taking piano lessons for the last few months from yours truly. Let me rephrase that - she has been taking lessons when we actually have time to sit down for a lesson. There is no consistency with either the lessons or practicing - but I promise - I'm going to try and get better at it. However - there was a time in January where Kayla was really pushing through her piano books and was really enjoying the progress she was making. So when Jim came

across this:

The Ten Grands

...he bought tickets so we could surprise Kayla with a nice night out in Seattle. This concert is put on by a group of pretty incredible pianists who are part of the Snowman Foundation. The proceeds from the concert are used to help support music programs in our schools and community centers - which is EXTREMELY important considering the budget cuts our schools are facing these days. My favorite pianist of all time - David Lanz - was one of the pianists (he's a Seattle native). We also got to see a 9 year old little boy and an 11 year old boy perform who were absolutely AMAZING! It was so fun to watch and Kayla LOVED it!

I wanted to turn the evening into something really special for Kayla - so - Jim and I took her to Nordstrom Rack and she got to spend the entire morning trying on dress after dress after dress so she had something nice to wear to the concert. Jim ended up letting her get three dresses PLUS a sweater and new shoes! After dress shopping, I had one more surprise for Kayla - so we dropped Jim off at the house and headed up the hill. Kayla has been wanting to have this done for at least the last two years - but I have always said no. For tonight - I figured it was the perfect occasion to say yes:

Yup - She Got Her Nails Did:

I don't have a picture of the final product - heck - I don't even have a picture of us all dressed up for the night. The plan was to get all fancied up and head to Seattle for a nice dinner before the concert - but of course - things never go as planned and we ended up not even eating dinner that night. But there's a perfectly logical explanation which follows:

The Original Plan: Day of Shopping, Nails and Lunch; Nails and Hair Done Looking Awesome, Dinner In Seattle, Concert - AWESOME night.

How It Actually Happened:

Monday: Jim's brother had surgery.

Wednesday: Mom emails me and asks if we want to go to Spokane with them for the weekend so we can visit with Jim's brother - they want to leave Friday night. I said YES.

Thursday: Made arrangements for Miley at a kennel in Puyallup for the weekend - they have limited drop-off hours (from 4:30 to 6:00 pm).

Friday: Shopping, Nails, Lunch, Spent 2.5 Hours in the car trying to get to the kennel to drop Miley off because stupid Washingtonians DO NOT know how to drive in the rain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the time we made it to the kennel, it was 5:35 pm and by then, we knew our dinner plans were a wash. We also knew that we HAD to leave the house by 6:00 pm to make it to the concert in time. We got home from the kennel at 5:57 - we literally THREW our clothes on our bodies and were out the door by 6:03 pm. We didn't have time to do our hair (I had to do my makeup in the car), we didn't have time to go to dinner, we didn't have time for pictures - all of which were part of the original plan. I was kind of disappointed - but when it was all said and done - those things we missed out on didn't ruin the night at all. We still ended up having a good time!

Right after the concert - we headed straight to my parent's house and my dad drove through the night so we could make it to Spokane before sunrise on Saturday morning. My parents are pretty great!