Yesterday was one of the best days in recent history!!! You see, back in November of 2007, November 19th, to be exact, Phantom of the Opera tickets went on sale at the Community Center Box office.. I was there, in line at 730am with my girls all bundled up in their jogging stroller. We came stocked with snacks, drinks, diapers, wipes, blankets, books and stuffed animals… I explained to them what we were doing, and why… and begged them to be super good for me… You know what??? They were angels! They seriously did not give me any trouble while waiting in line for an hour and a half… As soon as they opened the door, we were inside the ticket office. I was 3rd in line… and Thank GOODNESS!!! I bought 2 tickets, Orchestra level, Row Q, seats 20 & 21… We were almost in the center… I ran out of there just super giddy with excitement.. I wanted to shout it out!! LOL… But I contained myself. Instead I called Daddy and told him how lucky we were!!!

Fast forward to May 2008… Time is flying! We start talking about where we want to go to dinner, and where we’ll end up parking. Details, details! I thought of a great idea… I started calling around to different limousine companies in Sacramento. I called several of them, just shocked at the prices of renting a limo for the night. Well, I was bound and determined to find a limo for the night… I wanted to surprise Daddy with this so badly.. I ended up calling Shooting Star Limousine and spoke to Tracy Mendonsa…. the owner! He was very nice, and seemed to really want to help me out. I told him I was looking for a deal. We were going out to dinner and a show, and it was our 10th Anniversary. He told me of his hourly rate, and when I told him I didn’t think I could afford that, he explained that rather than have the limo waiting for us everywhere, we could be dropped off, and then picked back up each place, that way we were only paying for the time we were actually using it. Wow, what a savings! He also told me that he had an Anniversary package, that included an open bar inside the limo, and the red carpet treatment. I had to chuckle… I wasn’t sure about the red carpet… but hey.. We only get to do this once right? LOL. We got to talking about how expensive things were, and he told me he knew all too well… We discovered that we were both parents of twin girls.. and one of his girls has the same name as one of my girls!!! Too crazy!!! See.. it as meant that I called him… I told him I’d definitely call him back and book everything once we got our tax refund.. LOL.. Sure enough 2 weeks later, I called and set everything up! Things were looking great…

May came and went, and June was rushing by. Before I knew it, it was June 13th. I called Tracy back to confirm our limousine for the next evening, and asked him if he wouldn’t mind arriving just a little bit earlier so we could show the girls the limo, and possibly take a quick ride, even just around the block. I thought they’d really get a kick out of being in such a cool car! He told me it would be no problem… and we were confirmed! I couldn’t believe we were already going!

The morning of June 14th was a super busy morning… We had to go to Kohls, so I could find something to wear for that night, Ikea, Walmart, R/C Country Hobbies, and stop at a friend’s house for his daughter’s birthday.. Oh, and get home clean up a little bit and get things ready for my parents to come over, get the girls lunch, and put them down for a nap. Then I could start getting ready… It was a crazy day!

My parents arrived around 5pm, and I ran upstairs to grab all the clothes I bought to try on.. and Yes.. I tried them on in the store.. but Daddy was in the car with the girls… so he didn’t get to see anything… Anyway.. Everyone ended up picking a red dress that I loved. WOOHOO! All I had left was to do my hair and makeup… not too bad! I hurried up and finished getting ready, and went in to wake up the girls. Monkey See was already awake, but very quiet… I think she was being like me, and debating whether she really wanted to be awake or not. LOL. She saw me peek my head in the door, and got up. I let her pick out what they were going to wear for their first limo ride… She picked their favorite sun dresses. Too cute! 

A couple of moments later, Monkey Do was awake, and asking where we were going… She sees us all dressed up and just knows something is going on… I told her that Meemaw and Peepaw were here and we had a surprise for them! They were going to get to ride in a super big car, bigger than our van! They were really excited about that idea! 

I peeked outside when we got downstairs and saw that the limo was already here! Oh man! What time was it? It was only 540pm! Oh, and we were running behind! Daddy was ironing his shirt, I still had to fix the girls’ hair. Ok, we can do this! Peepaw went outside to let the driver know we were almost ready… He was really cool about it… As soon as Daddy was all done, we took the girls outside and they were just in awe of the huge car that was sitting out front.. Our driver introduced himself.. and it was Tracy! Well shucks! I didn’t expect the owner of the company to be driving us!!! Too cool! He was a really nice guy, and very professional. He was so sweet too… He let us take the girls for a ride around the block.. They looked at absolutely everything in the car and asked what it was. Daddy held the girls in the seat, one on each side of him. It was so cute. Once we saw we were back on our street and only two houses down, we let the girls stand up on our knees and put their heads out the sunroof so Peepaw could take pictured of them. They thought that was totally fun. They waved like little movie stars.. LOL… I loved it… We got back to the house, and Tracy opened the door for them to go back to Meemaw and Peepaw… They were so excited and talked about the car, and the “aquarium” that was in there… They saw “Nemo and Dory!” HAHA! 

It was now time to get to dinner! I had made reservations for Il Fornaio, since we had loved that place the last time we went there. The food was divine and the service was amazing… This time, the food was still good, but the service was definitely not as great. We let our waitress know that we had to be paid up by 745pm because were on our way to the Phantom of the Opera… She nodded, and put in our order. We got our salad right away, but it took a while to get our second course. After that, it took even longer to bring out our entree. Unfortunately we didn’t even make it to dessert. We received our chicken at 745, and ate it as fast as we could. We paid, and ran out of the restaurant to our waiting limo… 

Tracy was amazing. I know traffic was pretty slow, but he got us to the theatre as fast as he could. He dropped us off out front and we ran in. I tell ya, if I had to drive, I’d have been driving like a nut… LOL

They scanned our tickets at the door.. Yes, scanned.. no more tearing ticket stubs.. ah the old days… and we went towards the door where our seats were. The usher just inside the door showed us which row were were in, and I just looked up at the stage in awe… DAMN! I got some AWESOME seats!!! WOOHOO!

We had missed the Prologue, and they had already started Scene 1, but we were ok… it was only about 15 minutes into it… Besides… I have the movie if I ever want to see it. The show was amazing. The performers were perfect, the costumes were extravagant, the set and stage effects were beyond anything that I’ve ever seen. They truly did a great job on the show. I think the fact that we went on closing night helped out too. They all had lots of practice…  

Intermission came too soon… Daddy and I ran out to the restrooms, and checked out the souvenir table. Of course I bought a shirt, and a program for me. I also got my sister a keychain, per her request… I remembered her and I going to see Miss Saigon, and Les Misérables… It was a lot of fun… Anywho… We got everything just as they called everyone back to our seats… This time we weren’t late! *teehee*

Act 2 started and ended way too quickly. I was just loving the show… When it was time for the curtain call, and everyone came out to take bow, you could just see the excitement on their faces. The show was done and it was time to par-tay! When the actor that played the Phantom came out, everyone stood up… It was definitely a well deserved ovation! Daddy even admitted he liked it! It was so cool! I’m so glad he enjoyed the show… 

Once we got out of the theatre, we saw Tracy waiting for us… I wasn’t quite ready to go home.. I didn’t want the evening to end so soon! We got into the limo, and as he got up on the freeway, things slowed down a bit. Traffic was pretty bad from the I-5 construction. We sat back and relaxed, and just talked. Something we don’t really get a chance to do since we’re always so busy. We popped open a bottle of champagne and just talked about everything we could think of. It was a great time to reconnect.. It was really nice to be able to kinda really get to know each other again.. as short as the time was… but after 10 years of marriage, of working, and 3 years of children, you do kind of lose yourselves. Something we’ve learned is that we really need to take time for us, and you know… it really helps us be better parents… 

When we got home, Tracy talked to us for a little bit, we paid him for the evening, and thanked him so much for taking awesome care of us… We went inside and my parents were up watching TV… They, of course, wanted to hear all about the evening.. I think we all ended up talking until nearly midnight, when we all finally went to bed… We crashed… 

I just wanted to add my extreme THANK YOU to Tracy and Shooting Star Limousine for really making our night absolutely awesome. Tracy was very professional, always early, and totally sweet… I am so glad I called him, and will definitely call him again if we ever need a limousine again.. I can’t say THANK YOU enough! If anyone needs a limousine for any special event, I highly recommend calling Shooting Star Limousine!!!! 

Last night was our 3rd date night since the girls were born and let me tell you.. it was amazing! We were given some money as an anniversary present last year to go to Il Fornaio, and we just never made the time to go out. Finally, we decided to just go. I made reservations online, and that was it. Meemaw & Peepaw came over to watch the girls for us, and they even brought pizza for them… well, among other treats. We knew the girls were just going to have a blast, so we didn’t worry about anything. We got all dressed up for dinner, and off we went.

The reservation was for 530pm. We got there a little early, but they seated us right away. We were actually very lucky and were seated in the Piazza. The sun was still up, so we got to see the sunset through dinner. We were greeted by our server, Christopher, and given some freshly baked bread… and I mean fresh! It was still steaming! He asked if we knew what we wanted to drink. I wasn’t sure since I knew I wanted wine, but had no clue what I wanted for dinner.. and you know the wine you pick really depends on what you eat for dinner. So, we picked an appetizer and thought about the meal a little bit longer. When he came back, he answered our questions, and ended up basically picking our meals, and then my wine for us. I’m always so indecisive when it comes to a menu with so many good choices.

For an appetizer we got Rustichella ~Housemade flat bread topped with goat cheese, mozzarella, tomatoes, red onion, kalamata olives, basil, oregano; baked in the wood-fired oven, and it was so good. I did get wine early on, a Chardonnay that was so good. Not too long after, our entrees came, and they just looked and smelled delicious. When I first tasted my chicken, I was in heaven. I ordered the Pollo Toscano ~Rotisserie chicken seasoned with rosemary; served with saute´ed vegetables and mashed potatoes. It was so good, I can not even begin to describe it. Daddy got the Tagliata Chianina ~ Beef tenderloin grilled rare and sliced, balsamic vinegar and green peppercorn sauce; served with organic saute´ed spinach, roasted Yukon Gold potatoes and uccelletta cannellini beans. I tried his meal too and it was outstanding. The staff there didn’t hover over us, but rather came to check on us a few times, and they were always the right times. They made sure everything was good, and asked us if we needed anything. They offered more bread, tea, wine, etc. We were just in awe at how well they took care of us. When we were finished with our meal, Christopher offered dessert. We were curious as to what they had, so we accepted. He brought out this table with 8 different desserts on it. We ended up getting a plate that had a mix of the Crespelle con Vaniglia ~Crepes filled with apples and grappa infused pastry cream; vanilla gelato and caramel sauce, Tiramisu ~Lady fingers, rum, zabaione, Galbani mascarpone cheese, espresso, cocoa powder and the Rosina al Cioccolato ~ Chocolate mousse, fresh raspberries and sponge cake soaked with Triple Sec; served with orange crème anglaise. We thought we had ordered it just for the taste, but we ended up eating the whole plate.. We received our check after our dessert plate was cleared, and we were pleasantly surprised! We had thought we were going to go over our gift, but we actually didn’t. The service and the food was beyond exceptional, and the price was very reasonable. We left our payment and tip and left the restaurant. On the way out, Daddy stopped one of the Dining Room Managers and told him how much we enjoyed our experience, and he promised he’d pass the word on to Christopher.

As we walked out to the front, we noticed how busy the restaurant was. There were so many people waiting to be seated, the dining room was full, and noisy now. It was so different from when we arrived. The reason I note this is because we never noticed. We didn’t hear anything where we were seated. The outstanding service and attention to detail was not hindered. We really felt like we were the only people there. It was the best dinner we’ve had in a very long time. We will most definitely return to the Il Fornaio in Sacramento for another date night. We hope to be able to bring more of our family there as well!

After Dinner, we decided to walk around Old Sacramento for a little bit. We walked in and out of a few stores, had a good time talking and just enjoying the atmosphere. We stopped in at Sacramento Sweets to pick up some Caramel Corn, English Toffee, and Chocolate Dipped Red Vines for my parents as a small token of our thanks for gifting us the opportunity to go out, just the two of us.