A couple of months ago, I noticed that Harry Connick Jr. was coming to town.  I’ve always been a fan and so I mentioned it to Paige to gauge her interest.  We talked about it but it seemed a little expensive and we had a lot of fun things on the calendar already so we opted to pass.  Fast forward a month and a half, its my birthday and Paige, being the observant and totally sweet girl that she is, got tickets to see the show.  First of all, my birthday was the perfect night with sushi and a walk around town on a gorgeous summer evening followed by yummy birthday cake (Paige’s first ever attempt at a cake and she pulled it off like a pro).  Then last week, we celebrated our first year together by going for dinner at McCormick and Schmick’s and then to see the concert.  Dinner was delicious, we started with oysters and lobster bisque followed by surf and turf - kind of an odd mix but exactly what we were both craving.  After dinner, we made the short walk over to the Chicago Theatre just in time for the show.  Our seats were fantastic, center stage and six rows back.  No warmup band here, the curtains went up and out came Mr. Harry Connick, Jr.   At first, he seemed just a little awkward and stiff but it only took him a song to get in the grove and by the third song, he had the whole place absolutely rocking!  The band was amazing and he far exceeded my expectations (which were quite high).  He is a tremendous performer and I love love love the style of soulful music he plays.  The two hours flew by between the music, his anecdotes, and the fun interactions he was having with the crowd and before we knew it, the concert was over.  My favorite section of the concert was about two-thirds the way through and he had a guest trombone player on stage and he turns to his guest and says, “let’s show them how its done in New Orleans.”  At that point, they both put down their instruments and started free form dancing - it was borderline out of control but perfectly matching the music - hilarious and awesome.  Thank you, Paige, for the great birthday and for an amazing first year!