Courtside

Sometime last fall Nate, the lucky duck, won courtside tickets to a Thunder game through a work drawing. He got to pick which game and we ended up going to one against the Golden State Warriors on January 17. Another coworker also won a pair and ended up picking the same game, so we had a good time courtside with him and his wife.

Neither of us had sat courtside before, so we were both super excited. I didn’t know it but courtside comes with dinner at either of the two courtside restaurants (the Courtside Club or the Courtside Pub). I wanted to go to the Club because I’d heard it was fancier, but the line was long and not moving, so we checked out the Pub and got right in! The buffet line had lots of tasty pub food including bread pudding which is a recent favorite dessert of mine.

The game was fantastic. Nate couldn’t have picked a better one. Thunder won and KD scored an all time high 54 points. Nate was sitting on the edge and got a good 10 seconds of face time on tv during a free throw. I was not as famous, but my dad texted me a few pictures when he caught glimpses of us. All in all it was a super fun time, and anyone trying to get rid of courtside tickets let me know. I know some people who can put them to good use!

I’m not going to pretend like this is any sort of fashion blog, but I’d been planning my courtside appropriate Thunder outfit since back in November, and I’m pretty proud of the Thunder colored ensemble I put together. So if you’re in the market for something similar: H&M Short Blazer in blue and JCPenney Worthington Pleated Front tank top in Zydeco Red.

2013 Season Tickets to the Lyric Theater

Back in February I participated in the OKC Public Library’s adult reading program. They do it every year, and for every three books you read you get a ticket to put into the bowl to win prizes. I was incredibly lucky and won a pair of season tickets to the Lyric Theater at the Civic Center shows.

So for the past month (and we still have Big River to go) Nate and I have been taking in some shows. We’ve seen Tarzan, The King and I, and Will Rogers Follies. I didn’t realize the productions would be so large and professional, but to my untrained eye they might as well be Broadway! I’ve been especially impressed with the costumes and dancing. Here are a couple of photos off of Lyric’s Facebook from last week’s Will Rogers Follies.

Photo by Keith Rinearson

Photo by Keith Rinearson

The take away; if you get a chance to attend a Lyric production I’d definitely recommend it!

Rowing Season #10

This past Saturday was the Stars and Stripes River Festival. My team did really awesome. We took 2nd in our heat (time of 1:56.07) moving us on to the finals which is pretty exciting. Sadly we were ranked 4th going in and we stayed that way (1:56.64), so no medals this season.

There were more people out to watch and participate in the spring corporate regatta festivities than I’d ever seen. It was a great atmosphere and turned out to be pretty fantastic weather as the sun went down. They’ve just installed permanent stadium lighting along the course, and at sunset they held a little ceremony and turned the lights on for racing for the first time.

Nate and I rode the Downtown Discovery bus over from downtown to avoid the parking mess, and while we were waiting for the ride back to the car at 10 p.m. there were STILL people arriving to catch the fireworks show. OKC is pretty awesome.

deadCENTER Film Festival 2013

OKC’s deadCENTER film festival was this past week/weekend and as usual the parts I attended were awesome. We tossed around getting passes this year, but in the end just caught the free stuff. I always enjoy the small bit of the festival I attend because it’s almost always a film I wouldn’t pick to see, but it ends up being great. They always do an opening night and closing night film that are free, open to the public and generally outside somewhere. In addition to those two, this year, they did a few more. Each was to benefit a charity that’s helping tornado victims in some way. (All film images below are from deadcenterfilm.org.)

The first night we saw The Rolling Stones: Charlie is My Darling. It was pretty good and due to weather inside at the art museum theater, so we had the bonus of cushy chairs. We all commented that the whole film could have used subtitles because the Stones were mumbling British guys.

Friday night we watched The Last of the Mohicans. I thought maybe I’d seen it before, but I didn’t recognize any of it. The movie was good but very gory.

Saturday night was my favorite of the films I saw. The Short Game. No one wanted to see it, but Nate agreed to come along, and we both ended up really enjoying it. It’s about several 7-year-old golfers who are competing in the world championships. It was funny and a great story that really got you into these kids lives and golf even if you’re not a golf fan (I am not). The film did a great job of building to the end and having you wonder who was going to win the tournament, so when it started pouring with minutes left in the film we were super disappointed and had to leave wondering who won!

Sunday night they combined the concert series with a film showing, so the gardens were hopping. The film was Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams and it was interesting because I didn’t know anything about her (including that she is a girl), but by far my least favorite of the weekend. Unlike the short game I think you need to be a Stevie Nicks fan to really enjoy this one. We also tried to go to a showing of Okie Shorts ($10), but like many films this weekend they were sold out. I guess a pass might be a good plan for next year.

2013 Festival of the Arts

This week is one of the best weeks of the year in OKC. Honestly it’s too good, and I wish it would spread its self over a few weeks so I could enjoy more of the wonderful things that are going on! My favorite is the Festival of the Arts but there’s also NBA Playoffs, Norman Music Festival, the Memorial Marathon, H&8th, and probably several more big events that I don’t even know about!

I work downtown, so Festival of the Arts week means my co-workers and I try to eat as many “Culinary Arts” meals as possible. It’s been a busy week so I’ve actually only made it over once for lunch and once meeting a friend for dinner, but it was still a good time as always.

Today for lunch Kaylee, Traci and I all ended up in the LOCAL & deadCenter Film Festival booth line ordering Avocado Chicken Cones. They were a little spicy and pretty good, but not nearly as tasty as Waffle Awesome & UCO College of Fine Arts & Design/KCSC-FM’s Chicken N’ Waffle I had for dinner last night.

After our avocado cones Traci treated us to Guiltless Concessions & The Harn Homestead & 1889ers Museum’s Apple Pie a la Mode Sundae. The ice cream they use is so tasty I wish I could just get a bowl of it!

Last night I met Jill and Austen for dinner. It was Austen’s first time, so it was fun to see her trying to take everything in, being super stoked for the $1 balloon Jill bought her, and mesmerized by the ballerinas performing at the band shell stage! We both got Chicken N’ Waffles and like I said it was awesome. We were trying to figure out what the sauce they used was because it was a little sweet. I thought maybe something with syrup, but I’m not sure. I didn’t think to snap a picture of my waffle, but Jill got a much more interesting and cute one of me and my little buddy Austen.

Friends of the Library Booksale 2013

I am a lover of libraries. They offer so many things and all for free! The Metropolitan Library System in OKC is no exception. One of my favorite events of February is this weekend, and while not quite free it’s pretty close – the Friends of the Library Booksale. It’s open for free to the public from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday the 23rd and Sunday the 24th. They have tables and tables of books, videos, dvds, records, magazines…pretty much every type of media, and most of it for a dollar or less. Anyway you should check out their site for all the information, and if it sounds like your kind of thing definitely take a couple of hours to stop by this weekend!

Image via MLS

Shakespeare in the Park – Othello

Last week I won a ticket through Downtown OKC Inc. to see Oklahoma Shakespeare‘s production of Othello. I was pretty excited because I’d never been to Shakespeare in the Park, and Nate had been talking about wanting to go for a while. So Saturday evening Nate and I headed to the Myriad Gardens Water Stage to catch the evening’s performance.

OK Shakespeare had tweeted to bring your blanket and hot chocolate (since it was a bit chilly), and I took them up on it! Once we arrived I found in the program where they invited people to bring picnic dinners too. We were really wishing we had picked up some Thai food to bring because the show lasted from 8-11:20 and we hadn’t eaten dinner yet!

The seating filled up, and the show was well put together. I thought the actors and actresses did a great job; although you might check with Nate to see what he thought since he has a theater background.

All in all it was an enjoyable evening, and they still have two more weekends of performances (Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights) before the season is over. So if you enjoy Shakespeare you might take an evening to check out a performance of Othello!

I Love Local Music

The secret about Sunday evenings in downtown OKC in June, July and August is quickly getting out. Since they finished re-doing the Myriad Gardens last year the Arts Council has held Sunday Twilight Concerts on the grand lawn. The concerts are free and go from 7:30-9 p.m. Just bring chairs or blankets to sit on! We like to take a picnic dinner (BLTs last night!) to eat while we enjoy the music.  Last night we joined a group of friends to enjoy music by 411 Band with Cara Black (motown/soul), and the park was PACKED. It’s definitely good clean family fun, the weather last night was perfect, and the crowd was loving it. So if you need something to do on a Sunday evening there are still six more weeks of music to check out!

Rowing Team – Spring 2012

Oklahoma City has really come onto the national rowing (and canoeing and kayaking) scene in the past couple years. We have a beautiful river that for the purposes of rowing is perfect. While it’s incredibly cool that our river and facilities are bringing athletes training for the Olympics to OKC; the boathouse offers a place for those in the community to learn these sports as well. Since I started my job four years ago I’ve participated in my company’s corporate rowing league and this past Saturday was our end of the spring season Stars and Stripes Regatta.

My lovely teammates and I (pictured above) were racing at the highest level this season and were so happy to take second place in our heat and move on to finals. Unfortunately we came in last in finals. It was still a fun time and we’re already gearing up for the fall season which starts next week.

I Love Local Restaurants – Pops

One of my favorite places to go for a treat is POPS. While their food is awesome it’s the wall full of glass bottled pops in every flavor imaginable that keeps bringing me back. Chai soda, cucumber soda, peanut butter and jelly soda, peach pop…you name it they probably have it. They’re a part of Keep it Local so you can get 10% off your pop or in the restaurant with your card.

Like I said their food is awesome, so if you’re going to eat it’s best to go  for an early or late lunch or dinner when the wait hopefully won’t be so long. Or if you don’t mind waiting you can pick out a few pops to try while you wait. They also have great outdoor seating if the weather is nice.

POPS
660 W. Highway 66
Arcadia, OK 73007

Restaurant:
Lunch/Dinner: Daily 10:30 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Breakfast: Saturday & Sunday Only 7:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Store: Open Daily 6:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.

And of course, be sure to get your picture with the large pop bottle before you leave!