a throw back, a Jump Back & (don’t call it) a come back

The best weekend in a long time needed an extra day for a proper recap.  Let’s go back to Friday…

…where my dreams came true – in Akron of all places.

90 minutes of all the favorites  - She’s Gone,  Rich Girl, Kiss on My List, I Can’t Go for That, Maneater, Out of Touch, Private Eyes and a few more – made this Hall and Oates concert a fun one. Yes, they only played for an hour and a half, but we didn’t have expectations for a lengthy performance based on our experience at the Hollywood Bowl.  But two of our favorite crooners filled the Akron Civic Theater with dance-invoking bass lines, soaring tenor sax solos and scatting percussionists.  Pretty much some of my favorite things in life.

After plans to take a Saturday morning yoga session, the rest of my schedule for the day was free. I was quietly lounging with the pup, checking out the Twitter, when I came across this tweet:

Anyone interested in #JBB22 tick?

— Kelly Gentile (@Kelly_Gentile) February 23, 2013

And then I got a crazy idea. What if we were spontaneous for a change? What if we put together outfits, hairstyles and other get-up essentials in practically zero time? What if we bought tickets to one of the biggest parties of the year – 3 hours before it began?

A handful of direct messages, a rush to throw some sort of appropriate ensemble together and a jaunt to a nearby Starbucks all lead to this check in:

Surprise! Guess who made it out?! #JBB22 (@ State Theatre w/ @joeg2001) 4sq.com/YnHhhj

— Alicia Hansen (@poiseinparma) February 24, 2013

We found tickets to the 22nd annual Jump Back Ball presented by PlayhouseSquare Partners - on Twitter of all places. Social media FTW.

Best last minute decision we made in a long time.  I kept our plans under wraps – getting to surprise my gal pals was something I definitely got a kick out of! Highlights included:

• dancing all over the State Theatre space – both on stage and in the lobby
• playing Twister in the back of the theatre under the watchful eye of one of my all time favorite CLE volunteers (Hi Don!)
• catching up with several social media friends – including Sara from Finding The Time, Alexa from Cleveland’s a Plum and @MikeGersper - as well as familiar PlayhouseSquare faces.
• making the journey over to The Union Club for a JBB after party (I never thought we would be eating pizza and listening to top 40 hits in the Reading Room after midnight, EVER)

What a night… followed by an early morning wake up.

Sunday morning featured me appearing as a sub for a yoga class I haven’t taught since the turn of the new year: our 90 minute vinyasa flow. I had prepared a series of poses featuring one legged chair, warrior 3, half moon and a few prayer twists that would have been just what a detoxing JBB partier could have used.  The playlist was solid – if I do say so myself - mostly because of me figuring out that JT’s new iTunes offering falls perfectly into a hip opener/backbending sequence.

Minus the leaky kitchen faucet found Sunday morning, it was quite the weekend – one for the record books, or for a blog post, at the very least!