What’s shaking, LoDo Febbers? Today I’m bringing you irrefutable proof that you can lower your dough output (a la LoDo Feb) whilst simultaneously living like a king. This Valentine’s Day (a holiday that I don’t usually celebrate, but that my Abrahamic compatriot Steven likes so much that he poeticizes) the stars aligned to provide my wife and I with a LoDo date for the ages.
Here’s how it shook out:
7:31am, February 12, 2019: I received a text message from my friend Adrian, who happens to be a Principal at Ballet West, asking if Amelia and I would enjoy free tickets to the Ballet on February 15. Visions of sugarplum fairies already dancing in my head (ok, ok, wrong ballet), I accepted.
7:34am, February 12, 2019: “Hey Babe – did we use that gift card to our favorite restaurant that my dad purchased for us on our last Annual Goals Summit? I’m sorta thinking we forgot about it??”
7:35am, February 12, 2019: “I think we still have it”. ~Babe
7:42am, February 12, 2019: “Yeah I found it!”. Now at this point I’ve realized we’re on the brink of pulling off a LoDo coup. Dinner at our favorite restaurant (which happens to one of the more high brow locations in SLC), followed by a night at the ballet. This is EASILY a $500 evening, and we are going to pull it off for zero dollars. A few phone calls later I’ve stacked on what is easily a top-3 genius idea of the day: I’ve arranged babysitting. But babysitting that one pays for? Au contrare and shut your mouth. No, this is even geniuser: a babysitting exchange. You watch my darling lovelies while I’m out on this LoDoCoup date, and I’ll watch your… er… offspring at a date to be named later. Wimpy rides again, suckazz.
5:34pm, February 15, 2019: All I’ve got left now is to enjoy this food and wine, and show you some pictures to make sure you know this isn’t a big LoDo Feb ruse. So here we go…
7:29:54pm, Februrary 15, 2019: Annnnnnnnnd we’re seated. Holy smokes we cut this one close. They lock those doors at 7:30pm. Was there a blizzard happening? Would it have made sense to simply pay full blast and valet the car at the lovely Capital Theatre downtown? Maybe. Almost certianly. But that is the level of commitment that we The Parretts bring to making this LoDo Feb date a truly LoDo experience. So through the snowstorm we walked.
10:18pm, February 15, 2019: That’s a wrap. Curtain. What an epic date night, for no expenditures.
Before you protest that you don’t have any friends who happen to be principals at the best ballet company in the west, let me just provide some encouragements. First, this was a new thing for us – generally our LoDo Valentine’s is more of a Netflix and chill type of evening (which I certainly am not complaining about). But once in a while, the LORD comes along and drops a treat like this in our laps and we’re left with nothing to do but say “thanks LORD, You must see us and think we’re the type of folks who might enjoy a smidge of luxury, even in a month of intentional austerity.” My hope is that our delightful evening encourages you, especially if you, like us, are slogging through LoDo Feb all by yourself and hoping that someday you’ll convert a local friend to our cause of February penny pinching.
Got your own story of creative or serendipitous LoDo delights? Send them our way and we’ll make you into your own post!
