Valentine's Weekend

Well, it's been an eventful week since I last posted! First off, the Best Buddies Valentine's Day dance was on Friday. I met up with my buddy, Traci, ahead of time to do her hair and makeup, and we headed to Southeast Junior High where all of the Best Buddies chapters from the area congregated to dance the night (or five to seven in the afternoon, but who's keeping track?) away. We really did have so much fun. I can't believe how positively the Best Buddies program impacts both the buddies and the college buddies. The people who put the time into doing things as simple as putting on a Valentine's dance really make a difference for the people with physical and intellectual disabilities who attend, as well as the students who participate. All of us college women were dancing our asses off, not only in the spirit of acceptance and love present at all BB functions, but also because the high schoolers present thought we were cool (or, very likely, they just wanted us to buy them beer).

Check out these totally hot pics of us dancing (literally, it was sweltering in that gym!).



Best Buddies makes me happy to be alive. Since this was my first Best Buddies dance (and my first makeover!), one more new thing done.

Saturday, Adrian and I drove up to Cedar Rapids to have dinner at the gorgeous home of our friends Brad and Amy, along with fellow dinner guest and friend, Jay. Amy made delicious lasagna and even used low fat ingredients for us dieters. After dinner, in honor of Valentine's Day, we headed to...




MONSTER TRUCKS XL. It was pretty romantic (not). I purchased the tickets as a Valentine's gift for Adrian (along with the "Three Wolf Moon" tshirt of amazon.com and "The Office" fame, pics to come), and convinced Brad and Amy to join us. Jay was harder to sell on the idea, but after we reminded him that we were good sports about watching "Three Idiots" all in Hindi to experience his culture, he was more receptive. I told him that this would be a good way to experience American culture, though afterward I hope to God that that is not the case. The experience was more redneck than even I, a girl who grew up on a sheep farm with a dad who has been known to do number one AND two outside, had anticipated.

The real horror of the evening was not the show, which was pretty fun to watch, albeit a tad repetitive in the small space of the US Cellular Center. The truly sad moment was at intermission. After the emcee announced that Todd and Brenda such-and-such were there celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary (to which I shouted "GO TODD!" to congratulate him on his romantic and special 20th anniversary date), he asked us to draw our attention to the track for a special announcement. At this point, we witnessed A PROPOSAL. On the dirt track of the monster truck rally, sans ring, with the girl up in the stands. The guy couldn't have been much older than me, and his speech was something like, "Uh, Becky, I wanted to do this in a way that you wouldn't expect, and I really don't think you'd expect this, so...Will you marry me?". The announcer immediately said, "She says YES!", and the kid was ushered out of the ring. I'm still wondering, days later, if she actually said yes, or if she looked so stunned (read:horrified)that they decided to give her a moment and spare the guy some embarrassment if she declined. We laughed extra hard when Jay turned to us and said, "They didn't even turn down the lights!". I feel as though the lights were the least of that couple's worries.

Oh, one more thing about the monster truck rally. They sold Confederate flags for the kids to wave in the stands. Seriously, people? We're not even near the Mason-Dixon line. Even as a registered Republican who's not prone to supporting intense political correctness, I was embarrassed and mildly offended.

So, first monster truck rally. One more new thing done. I also learned something there. In order to prevent driver injury, there's a guy in the ring who has a remote that can automatically kill the monster truck's engine. Fascinating. Also, heavyset women do routines with the light-up stick souvenirs before the show starts...it was pretty sexy, to say the least.

In boring news, I embarked on a financial goal/plan for the first time last week. I'm donating plasma every week until Adrian's sister Rosy's wedding so I can buy some hot clothes for California.

That is all. More new things to come.

Things left to Read, Make, Do, Learn=98, 96.5, 90, 95