A Night with the Phantom! Or, Autumn's First Girls Night Out

Today is our fashion issue! Autumn and I went shopping last week which **never** happens but it was picture day and everything was either too small or didn't fit the dress code. Autumn absolutely fell in love with this hat. I didn't have the heart to tell her no so we got it and a couple of outfits to match with picture day and our trip to Phantom of the Opera in mind. I love this outfit so much! I just wish she could have worn the hat in her pictures. Too fun.

It was a little warm on Saturday for the dress but there was no way Autumn wasn't going to wear the hat. She has worn it every day since Wednesday, except for today!

Mike and I went to Phantom some time ago so this time around it was just my mom, Autumn, and me. Autumn was pretty pumped. She kept grinning and saying it was her first real girls night. I figured since this was our first time and will be a rare event so we did dinner, dessert, and the whole nine yards. We went to The Beauty Shop Restaurant in Midtown. It was good! I'd definitely go back.

At the Orpheum! We were stopped by several people who told us how cute Autumn's outfit was! She's not a huge fan of that kind of attention. Once she had on cat eye glasses and took them off because too many people were looking at her. Apparently Autumn likes the hat so much that she didn't want to take it off despite the staring.

After I bought the tickets, I was concerned that I made a terrible mistake. Autumn hates movies. She's even scared of Frozen even though she loves it! But, she has watched the 25th anniversary Phantom, loves listening to Broadway on Pandora and is all classical with her ballet and violin plus I just want her to like theater so I have someone to go with (Mike only goes occasionally!). Thinking about her issues with noise and potentially scary parts, I got tickets in the top balcony on the front row. It worked out really well because we could see right down on the stage and it was far enough away to not be freaky. Plus she could see the violins playing and she was amazed. She kept saying wow throughout the whole show!

Autumn jumped once or twice but never got scared or covered her ears which I'm going to take to mean that all my preparation via YouTube videos of potentially scary parts worked. She even danced along with Masquerade! It was awesome and I wish I could have gotten video of it. Afterward, Autumn told me it was better than a movie. We all had a great time. It was my mom's first time to see Phantom, too, by the way. I think I like the old version a little better--more of a spectacle, *possibly* slightly less campy but that could be me--but it was still super fun and the new, rotating stage is fascinating. I'd love to see how it works up close. Saturday went so well that I'm kind of almost thinking maybe Autumn would enjoy seeing The Lion King in the spring. We'll see!! Oh, and check this out. Autumn never falls asleep in the car but her very first girl's night tired her right out. :)