It's all about Taking Chances...

On Friday night I had a hot date with a great friend...

Our Celine journey began about a year and a half ago. We discovered we both loved Celine and decided to plan a trip to Vegas to see her in concert.

We bought our tickets to the show and when it came time to book, the timing wasn't right for Lesley and Eric so they sold their tickets to our friends Shawn and Lindsey.

Fast forward to Vegas. Less than 24 hours before the show D and I jump in a cab after seeing the most AMAZING Cirque du Soleil show "O" and find out from the cab driver that Celine has cancelled due to illness. I seriously thought he was joking. He wasn't...

I lasted until we pulled up in front of the hotel and then the tears started flowing...I was so upset. Devastated. I've loved her music for years and it was my total dream to see her in Vegas.

Denis was a true prince and immediately got on the phone trying to find tickets for Saturday's performance. He was willing to pay crazy amounts of money just for me to see her. Me alone because one ticket would have cost us much more than all four of our tickets combined.

But no luck. She cancelled all of her performances that weekend.We saw so many people who were equally upset about it.

I did get over it. I was just sad.

And then we managed to get tickets to see her in Montreal. What an amazing night and an amazing performance.

Not long after that show an announcement was made that she would be coming to Ottawa. Lesley asked if I was interested - a perfect opportunity to "make up" for our lack of Celine in Vegas. I have to be honest. I knew I wanted to go but hesitated because of the cost. In the end I went for it and I am SO GLAD I DID!

I picked up Lesley from work and we had a nice long drive in crazy traffic to get caught up.

Our plan was to go to Moxies for supper and when we got there the line was insane so we tried a few other places. Everyone had between an hour and a two-hour wait so we decided to just eat at the canteen...

Can I just say I felt like I was back in Europe trying to get in. Apparently the locals have lost all concept of how to stand in a line. There were people trying to get through with walkers and wheelchairs and everyone just pushed pass them. This was over an hour before the opening act...it's not like we didn't have time!!!!

We waited in line for 45 MINUTES for our food. It was insane...It was like it was their first time serving an event. We were about 7 or 8th in line and it took that long!

Our seats were FANTASTIC. Section 100 row 4. It was even better than being on the floor because we were slightly higher so the view was better.

Great story - or we thought so...

There was a young couple sitting in front of us and the guy left for a few minutes. The girl turned around and started talking to us. She was asking about what happens at a concert because it was her FIRST CONCERT EVER and Celine is her favourite.

The plot thickens...she also mentioned that she was on a date, a first date! She was a bit concerned about the fact that her date had disappeared but it was no big deal. She explained that they met online and had only gone for coffee. When they were talking on the phone about a week ago, he could hear she was playing Celine in the background and asked if she had tickets. When she said no, he offered to take her. Lesley told her that I had met my husband online and it had turned out to be a wonderful love story...

The girl was so sweet and excited. Her date returned...he had gone to buy her a REALLY NICE program. How sweet. Lesley and I were like proud parents watching over the two of them.

The opening act was ok but Veronique Dicaire was MUCH better in Montreal. I was impatient, I just wanted to see Celine already!!!

She FINALLY came onstage and she was OUTSTANDING. She got very emotional talking about how she hates having to cancel/postpone shows (she has had to postpone a few shows this past week due to illness). She was near tears and it was clearly very genuine. Lesley and I were under the impession that she was saying she had to end the show after only two songs.

But she did just the opposite. She gave it her ALL throughout the entire night and sang her heart out. At times we could see the pain in her eyes but everytime she successfully hit a note it was like it gave her more energy to keep going.

Lesley and I had a blast dancing and after the first 2 minutes I knew I made the right decision to attend the show.

About a half hour in I noticed something very strange...the man on the "date" in front of us was wearing what seemed to be a wedding band on his WEDDING FINGER. And he was playing with it - it's not even like he was trying to hide it. We felt so disappointed for the poor girl. No clue what that was all about...

I have to say people in Ottawa SUCK when it comes to concerts. I was so disappointed to see that so many people sat through most of the show. Get up people and DANCE. The first 4 or 5 rows of floor seats stayed seated. What's up with that? Poor Celine looks out and sees people sitting.

There were a few different songs from her concert in Montreal - definitely more English songs.

We had an absolutely amazing time and Celine was wonderful.

It took us FOREVER to get out of the parking lot but it gave us lots of time to discuss the concert and try and figure out what was up with that guy's wedding ring!!!

So there you have my night with Lesley and Celine. I can't believe it's over already.

We have been VERY successful with Chrsitmas decorations today but I'm ready for them to be done. We have all trees up and two left to decorate. After those are decorated we have a few odds and ends. Hopefully I'll get some more stuff done tomorrow night after work.

That's all for tonight.

'night lovelies