Good Sounding, Bad Idea #15

Planning Your High School Reunion

Sure, it sounds fun and easy enough, right?! Wrong! Planning your high school reunion is one giant headache.

First ensuring you get a hold of everyone is impossible. Second, trying to please everyone is even more impossible than trying to let everyone know it's happening in the first place and third, getting everyone who says they're going to be there to actually show up is the biggest hurdle.

When people started bugging me on Facebook about planning my 10-year high school reunion (why did I have to be an overachiever in high school, why?) I felt pressured to be on the planning committee so I said yes. That was my first mistake.

My second mistake came when one of the planning committee members said she was "too busy" to find a place for our class dinner. For some reason unknown to me now, I said, "No problem, I can do that too" although I had already decided on the date, the location of the mixer and was apparently the lead on the planning committee.

The second mistake ended up being the biggest. Given roughly a month to find a suitable place for our Saturday night dinner, I didn't even think about having people pay in advance. I was too worried about finding a place that could hold as many people who said they were coming. Once I made the reservations and paid the deposit I thought the headache was over...wrong again.

Before I get into why the dinner was so horrible, I will tell you about the rest of the reunion which was actually pretty fun!

Friday night we had a mixer at a local bar, the Gold Dust, in downtown Pueblo. It was so fun, a lot of people came and it was really great seeing everyone again! The turnout for the mixer was really good, about 100 or so people. I did overhear people talking about the dinner and saying they couldn't make it which made me really nervous but I still figured we'd hit our minimum of 80 people.

Saturday afternoon we all met at South High to do a tour of the school which was really fun! It was so weird how small the school seems now and big it was to us just ten years ago.

Here's where the story gets good... Saturday night as I was driving to dinner I was really nervous about us not meeting the minimum of 80 people for dinner. As I was unloading my car, I apparently forgot I was in a nice dress, bent over like I was at the gym picking up the weight bar and split my dress! It wasn't a big split, what happened was the slit at the bottom came undone just a little too much. I began to panic. Thank God my friend Luz was on her way over, stopped and got some safety pins and saved my butt, literally!

After the humiliation of having my entire class know I split my dress, I had to tell them that we were 40 people short for dinner and ask them to pay more. While some were pretty unhappy, most understood. I just wish that 1)the people who said they were coming had shown up and 2)that I would have planned better!

Guess I know better now and I will be able offer some helpful advice to those who plan the 20th class reunion because it won't be me!

Hometown News

I love Country Music and think Gary Allan is one of the best modern Country singers around! I've liked his music since I first heard "Smoke Rings in the Dark" about ten years ago. At that time, I fell in love with his unique sound. Maybe it's the crackle in his voice, the way he can change his pitch, or the way he twangs without trying but whatever it is, he's able to stand out in a crowd of Country Music impersonators invading the airwaves today.

I had the chance to see him perform live in Miami, OK at the Buffalo Run Casino and he puts on an energetic, passionate live show.

His latest song, "Get off on the Pain" is typical Allan and the reason I love his music. And something that is extra neat is that he shot the video for the song in my hometown at the Colorado State Fair Grounds!

I said Johnny whattcha doin tonight?

Last week I saw my favorite band, O.A.R., at Red Rocks. It wasn't the first time I've seen them live, actually it was the fourth, but it was incredible!

If you've never heard of them, you can watch them on Letterman playing my all time fav song 'Hey Girl' and check out the photos I took at the Red Rocks Show.

We were in row 14! It wasn't the closest I've ever been to the band, but definitely the best show of theirs I've ever been to!

Had to take a photo of the amphitheater, it's beautiful.

Good Sounding, Bad Idea #14

Online Dating

I have had horrible luck with Online Dating. I know quite a few people who have found success, but I just have bad luck with the whole process. I have no problem chatting with people online and meeting them in person, but those are the only easy parts. Below are just a few examples of the dates I've had recently so you can see what's available out there for a 28-year-old woman.

1) CALL ME CHER
The worst date I ever had all began before the date started. As I approached this man it was obvious he'd done a little photoshoping to his pictures or posted pictures from many, many years ago. I don't like being deceived so I told him my dog was ill and I couldn't stay for dinner, just a drink. As I was drowning my sorrows in white wine he began telling me that he "likes to be referred to only as Stan, as in Cher." Yes, he really did reference Cher. As if that's not odd enough, Stan is not his first name but instead part of his last name. Needless to say that didn't go further than that evening.

2) UNCONTROLLABLE NOSTRILS
Not the worst date I've been on, but close is the guy who had the strangest breathing habbits I've ever seen. I barely know what his name was or what he was talking about because I was so distracted by his spastic nostrils. When he would speak, they would move rapidly in and out and if he were a fish gasping for air. He also submitted a photo from the years when he had hair.

3) NO SKINNY JEANS FOR ME
Emo-love. I am trying to branch out, keep an open mind and enjoy new experiences. However, I don't think I could ever get serious with a 29-year-old emo. I do not wear skinny jeans and I'd prefer if my boyfriend didn't either.

I know I'm not perfect, in fact I'm far from it but I am somewhat normal. Is it too much to ask to find a man who is semi-normal. Someone who watches TV, not thinks it's evil. Someone who likes watching sports but doesn't have to bet on every game being played. Someone who likes going on actual dates, not just boozing. Someone who likes the outdoors, not Grizzly Adams. Perhaps that is too much to ask but I do get some good stories out of it!

Art is in the Eye of the Beholder

Last weekend was the Denver Chalk Art Festival on Larimer Square. Since I moved to Denver I've been wanting to go, so my friend Leslie and I went and it was really neat!


Here are some shots I took of the pieces I liked most:

It's amazing what creative people can do! The way the were able to blend the colors and make the ordinary street pieces of art is incredible. I'm definitely going back next year, although I'll arrive earlier when kiddos are still in bed :)

Have a Little Faith

I started reading Mitch Albom's book, Have a Little Faith, on Sunday night. I wasn't sure what to expect but have enjoyed two of this other books, The 5 People You Meet in Heaven and For One More Day so I decided to give it a go.

I have to say, I was skeptical of the book at first but have really gotten into it in last couple of days. A few things that stand out to me are: 1) the unshakable faith of the Rabbi who's life is profiled in the book and 2) how believing in something can provide such strength and comfort.

While I was raised Presbyterian and spent many a Sunday morning in Sunday School, it's been more than ten years since I've been to a religious service. This book, in a way, makes me want to reconnect to a faith. I think I may have a different appreciation for church now as an adult that I did not have as a child.

One part of the book that sticks with me goes a little like this -
Q: Are your parents perfect or do they need improvement?
A: No they're not perfect...
Q: So they need improvement?
A: No, because no one is perfect.

This part of the book has stuck with me for days, mostly because it's easy to get lost in the "Perfect Mentality". Where everything needs to be just right. The more and more I tell myself that nothing and no one is perfect, I am able to have more peace and patience.

Perhaps I didn't pick out the book at the library, perhaps - just maybe, it picked me out.

For the past two years when this time of year rolls around, I cringe. I hide. I cry. When I hear Mother's Day commercials on the radio, I change the station and when I see Mother's Day commercials on TV, I flip to the next channel. It's not that I don't like thinking about Mother's Day. It's just sometimes difficult to be forced to think about the loss and sadness I feel during Mother's Day and not being able to spend it with my Mom, because there's nothing I would want more.

To my surprise, in the May issue of Cooking Light, I came across an article all about Mother's Day. This time, instead of turning the page, I read it and it is a really great article. Here's why it hit home for me:

"as Mother's Day approaches I find that Mother's Day has suddenly taken on a different shape, one of celebration through memory rather than phone calls, sweet notes or a family gathering. The stories I tell about my Mother and that others have shared with me by card or e-mail, sustain me. This ability to celebrate anchors my well-being as a daughter - and in contemplating my Mother's life I realize it was one of her most important gifts to me."


The author Kate Meyers does a phenomenal job of describing her Mother's personality, her love for her Mother and one can't help but feel special to be let into such a private moment. She goes on to write:

"anyone who has lost a loved one comes to understand that grieving is a necessary part of healing, and that there's no right way to do it. For me, celebrating my Mother in memory gives me a joyful place to go when I am sad - a place where she still is. This sort of celebration is available to all of us, but requires practice and repetition lest it slip away, lost in the vast commercialism of Mother's Day."

I like celebrating my Mother by remembering the times she'd grab me while she cooked dinner and we'd dance around the kitchen. By remembering the completely ridiculous things we would do together that would make my sister and Dad roll their eyes but make me and Mom giggle. By remembering what a caring, giving and loving Mother she was and knowing how blessed I am to have had her as my Mom.