Theatre on a Penny Pincher's Budget

I have had this urge to get to the theatre is Seattle. I did some research and found that Charles Dicken's Great Expectations was playing at the Center House Theatre located in the Seattle Center. So I found a date, Mary of course and we decided to make it a date.
I bought the tickets this time through Gold Star Events, a discounted ticket seller that helps people like me get out more. I bought two tickets for $23 dollars each with fees and taxes.
Mary decided that she wanted to eat at the Seattle Center Food Court for dinner, so we found a great deal at a Gyro place, $4.99 for a falafel pita (it was the perfect serving size). So dinner totaled a whopping $18.00 because we both got green tea. :)
After our quick and inexpensive dinner we ventured to Center House Theatre looking very cute. We both didn't know what to expect. We got their about 20 minutes early and decided that we would both get a drink, Mary a hard cider and I got red wine for a total of $10 (we love when volunteers pour the drinks because they are very generous)!

The theatre was very small and quaint. It wasn't what I was expecting because the seating surrounded the stage. When we got to our seats, we realized we had stage seating which was pretty cool. This theatre production was stripped down, so the acting told the story. It was a fantastic production and I recommend going to this theatre I call a diamond in the rough.

Another great Girls Night w/ Mary! The total cost of this was around $45 each with the cost of parking. We could have done it under $40 but we chose to have a drink before the play. :) 

Ballet Date on a Dime

I have always wanted to go the ballet but just never made it happen. I was reading an article about local events and I saw that the Pacific Northwest Ballet was playing Cinderella this February.

My friend Mary and I decided we were going to make this date happen! I remembered that PNB had a discount for AAA members for 10% off all ticket purchases, the catch is you have to use a special link: PNB AAA Member Discount. 

Mary purchased two of the cheapest tickets available for under $25 thanks to our AAA Member discount.

I decided that I would make the dinner reservations for our Saturday night date. I wanted to find a restaurant that was walking distance to McCraw Hall and accepted Mary's Passport Dining Membership Card, which is gives you access to some of the best dining in Seattle, all at preferred prices reserved exclusively for cardholders. Following the criteria above I selected Racha Noodles.

We got all dolled up for our evening and made it to Seattle around 5:30 for our dinner reservation at Racha Noodles. We decided to both get a glass of wine and split an appetizer & entrée.

• Wine was good and the pours were very large for $6
• The sampler appetizer was very yummy. The perfect mix of all the Thai appetizers, the satay and peanut sauce were especially delicious.
• The Yellow Curry with Tofu was delish. The perfect mix of sweet and spicy.
• Total dinner bill with the 50% discount off an entree equaled <$40 with tip!

Me & Mary (those are our booster seats)

McCraw Hall is much larger then I remembered and very regal. We found our seats and they were on the second center tier. The seats were wonderful because we could see everything (with the help of our fancy booster seats). Our ballet experience was wonderful, I would definitely suggest going to McGraw hall as a date or girls night out.

Grease Lightning Baby - Lindsay Style

I decided I wanted to treat my beau to a theatre night in Seattle. I had been looking at the upcoming Broadway schedule in Seattle and I saw that Grease was coming. Grease has been one of my favorite movies since I was little. I waited and waited and finally I got a Gold Star Events email with discounted tickets for $24 each. Yay!!!

I decided that I was going to make dinner after work, to avoid sitting in Seattle traffic and going over budget! I decided to go with a Cooking Light Recipe: Fusilli with Creamy Pancetta-and-Pea Sauce. The recipe turned out very creamy, I do suggest getting a thick cut of pancetta to really taste it. :)

We headed into Seattle around 6:45 and found parking $10 (I really dislike paying for parking but I hate walking in the rain. :)) We picked up our tickets at will call and headed to our seats but decided to grab a drink first. I recommend pre-ordering drinks for intermission because you don't have to wait in line.

After enjoying our drink and walking around the beautiful Paramount Theatre we headed to our seats. Our seats were located on the Mezzanine 1 and actually really great seats. The show wasn't sold out so we could stretch out a bit. I was so excited about this musical because I knew the story and could sing all the songs, I'm sure it wasn't enjoyable for everyone around me. The musical is a little different than the movie but was equally good. The performance was good but the experience was even better. At times I pretended like we were in New York at a Broadway show (one of my favorite things to do in the world).

After the show was over we decided we were a bit hungry and headed to the Hyatt at Olive 8 because it was walking distance. We headed to the Urbane Lounge, which was pretty crowded for late night happy hour that is from 10pm-12am. We weren't in the drinking mood but here the lowdown the well drinks were $5, select beer $4, select wine $4 and appetizers run from $4-$8. We ordered the hummus plate and the bbq pork sandwich and both were pretty darn good. I do highly recommend the bbq pork sandwich. So the total bill with tip was $16. :)

Our evening was right around $50 a person but more importantly a wonderful date night in Seattle.