Super Fun Weekend or The Thing That Took Over My Life

How could I have skipped over the biggest event in February and gone straight to March? The event that took over my life for a couple months?! I suppose I've blocked it all out by now.

A few months ago I was asked to head up a regional singles group at church with a trusty sidekick, Shaun. A  couple years ago a group put together a "Super Fun Weekend" that turned out really well.  Shaun and I were tasked with bringing it back this year.  We had a lot of people involved and we've got a great committee, but it was still a lot of work.

We started planning in November or December with the goal of making the weekend fun and affordable, with basically no budget. Whatever we charged people to attend is the money we had. I wish we'd had a financial modeling expert, but we ended up nearly perfect in the money realm. After a few arguments in December on venues and prices, we moved forward and got things going.

The week before, registration numbers were looking a little low, and given how many people love to wait until the last minute to commit to anything, I was nervous. Would we even make enough money to cover food and the band and this big Saturday night bash? How much food do you get?

We kicked off set up on Thursday night, shaky ladders and all, hoping to create a little ambiance in a church gym.

On Friday, the Phoenix crew showed up. Yay for friends coming into town! Slumber party at my house!

On Friday night, people showed up, we put them into small groups, handed them a restaurant list for the neighborhood, and sent them on their way for a couple hours.  Upon their return, we had a lovely hot chocolate bar, dessert and games.  

I think we counted about 250 people Friday night, and I'll consider that a success.

Saturday morning we headed over to Lincoln Heights in East LA for a service project. Jesicah is a vice principle at a charter school that's expanding, and they needed some help on a new building. She and the school were SO amazing in organizing workers, providing supplies, and the parents provided breakfast and a huge lunch for all of us. It could not have been a better project!  We just had to show up!

Some of the kids came and helped out.  They were adorable.

Time to prime!

I wanted to take this one home with me - could he be any cuter?!

Lunch was bounteous.

Okay, Saturday morning out of the way.  Two events down, two to go. I ran home to shower, then popped over to the stake center to see how the 1920s gala was shaping up and what I could do to help.  Julianne offered to put the event together for her portfolio, and she did such an amazing job. So much work, and it came out amazing.

This mocktail bar? She built it.

Props for photos.

Phoenix friends.  See how excited I am?

Utah and DC and Phoenix friends.

I don't think I took any photos of the band, but we had a classy band. And some dance lessons. And dance cards. And amazing food for dinner! Super great event.  How we could top this going forward, I don't know.

Sunday was still a little hectic. I woke up sick to my stomach, but managed to conduct a meeting during church, help prepare dinner for 325 people, and socialize a little.  All in all, it turned out to be a great event.  Did I have fun? Eh, a little. Did everyone else? I think so. And all that work was worth it.

Thanks for the parting gift, AZ friends. It was much needed, just like that massage I got the following Monday.

Only Two Months Behind...

It's May. What?!  The year is 1/3 over. So far it's going okay.  Just okay.

But let's jump back to March. Ari Hest was in town at Hotel Cafe, and it had been years since I'd seen him. He was part of my whole post-college music obsession where I'd travel around with people from the internet to see concerts, and I thought I'd see how the years have treated him.

Ari's voice is lovely, his music heartfelt, and I mean, look at the guy. Tall, dark, and muy handsome.

Since I'd conquered the Hollywood sign the week before, I led two friends up the way one Saturday afternoon. This time I made sure my camera didn't die before I got to the top.

See how I got the Observatory in there with downtown?  Yeah...

Marcello got tickets to see his favorite artist at Hollywood High School, the night before a sold out show at there Staples Center. Guess who got to be a plus one to Morrissey?  Yeah. It was pretty legendary. Seeing that he's about to retire, it may be my one and only Morrissey show.

The line to get in was around the full block, and since it's on a busy corner in Hollywood, there were a lot of cars driving by and asking what we were all waiting for. Answers ranged from 'food stamps!' to 'Britney Spears!' to 'Wu Tang!' One guy pulled over, yelled out the window, got angry when no one answered him, so he yells, 'oh, you're waiting for nothing, awesome' and he drove off in a huff.

Russell Brand came out to introduce Morrissey.  And then he stood in the VIP section near me, which was a handicapped seating area of this high school auditorium, filled with metal folding chairs and separated with yellow police tape.  He's so fascinating. Funny pirate.

And then the man himself. I looked away during Meat is Murder. But the whole experience was pretty incredible.

Jonathan and I had dinner at Georgetown Cupcake. Cause we're grownups and we can do that.

Oh, and then later Kimball invited me to be his plus one when Jimmy Kimmel shut down Hollywood Blvd for a concert with Sound City Players.  Dave Grohl, Rick Springfield, and Rick Nielsen showed up and it was 90 minutes of straight rock and roll.

It was pretty rockin.

Oh, and then Liz pulled me into the Troubadour later that week to see Boy, who I've come to adore. They were just lovely! I don't see her nearly enough, and we had a great evening. 

I love the internet. It brought me bacon wrapped chicken to dip in gorgozola creamyness from Bossa Nova.

Trevor and I went to this one night.  All night. I'm getting old cause it's really hard to do that.

David Eff had a birthday. And his birthday wish was to wrestle Dator. His birthday wish came true.

There were hashtags on the mat.  #datorbeast and #kingdavid

It was over all too quickly.

Boy stayed in LA and played a free show on Monday, so naturally I went to see them again .

I received a lovely present so I can recreate Milk Bar's awesomeness in my own home.  I even bought a Kitchenaid so I could really get serious about baking. Too bad I have yet to find corn powder (or make my own), grapeseed oil, and a few other obscure ingredients.  I've tackled one recipe so far. I'll get to candy bar pie one day, one day.

And finally, here's a pretty flower. I guess March was pretty fun.