Some Saturday in November

Such a great Saturday - kicking off the Christmas season in a princely manner.
First, Blan (Blake & Dan) and I headed up north to cut our own Christmas trees. My family has always had real trees, but I don't think I can remember cutting down our own. Or more likely, we did, but I was whining about it being cold. We had Mariah Carey's holiday CD and hot cocoa in summer tumblers. Sure, we saw people playing golf and wearing shorts while biking, but we had decided it's Christmas and warm weather wasn't going to stop us.

I had no idea I was so picky when it came to Christmas trees. We wandered around for hours until we found the ones just right for us. Seeing the sad and dead ones reminded me of that Friends episode where Phoebe is saddened that some trees don't get to fulfill their Christmas destiny. Dan did his part to help:



Dan found one that he liked and "I'll just put the saw on it so we'll remember which one it is" was followed by 30 minutes of trying to find that tree again and then promptly dismissing it as "too green".

After finally finding 3 perfect trees, or getting tired enough to settle, we set about cutting them down - this was not as easy as I had imagined. I'm pretty weak and I didn't know how to hold a saw. And Blake didn't really know how to hold the camera.



We dragged them to this shaker thing that rids them of any debris and hoisted them in the truck.


Within hours Blake and Dan had their trees lit and fully decorated. Mine had fallen over in the living room, spilling water everywhere. I eventually had to re-cut it. I love the pine scent that fills my house and I'm curious to see if it lasts longer than pre-cut trees. It was a really fun new tradition, but next year we're bringing helium balloons to tie to potential tree candidates. Yes, this is sure to be a great idea.

The second part of my Saturday involved heading to Toronto for a random concert - Prince. My knowledge of Prince consists of 3 songs and sort of thinking of him as Michael Jackson Lite. But it was Saturday night and I'm always up for any sort of plans. First, my Prince-ly partner and I went to Pizzeria Libretto on ever-hip Ossington. I've heard amazing things about this place which is one of the only official pizzerias that adhere to guidelines set forth by the European Union and the Vera Pizza Napoletana Association. Glad to see the EU is focusing on what matters. Sorry, Greece.


The pizza was really quite good, but different than pizza as Canadians know it. The atmosphere was great and they actually go to the trouble of calling you on your cell when the table is ready.

After a hellish drive through downtown during the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony, we arrived at the ACC and found our thrones. Naturally, the stage was shaped as the Prince symbol. The guest of honour arrived in a sea of gold confetti wearing gold glitter pants, a silky top and heels. Let me tell you, Prince fans are hardcore. Since he hasn't put out anything recently, everyone there has loved him since the 80s. I've only mildly liked him since the car ride up.


He was a very lively entertainer (read: he humped the stage) and invited fans to come dance with him. The standing ovation was unlike anything I'd ever seen. After his finale, all the lights came on, the stage was swept and instruments dismantled. The entire arena was on their feet cheering and clapping for at least 20 minutes. Seriously. Not a single person left. It was like Occupy ACC. Was he not going to do an encore? Was he making us 'earn' it? Either way, the crowd went crazy when he returned to dance on the piano. Even after that, the crowd kept screaming for a second encore until the announcer came on and told everyone to leave already.


I've realized that unless I'm a massive fan of the artist and know almost all the songs, I'm not really a concert person. The Spice Girls reunion tour in Vegas was epic, but that was a teenage dream realized. I'd love to see Adele or Mariah Carey in the 90s, but beyond that, *shrug*. Still it was a fabulous Saturday night and I love random plans like this that end eating leftover pizza and humming Raspberry Beret into the next day.