Relay for Life Bowling

Since I am a part of the SE Thurston County Relay for Life leadership team and I am on a sub group with Yelm Dental/Blue Brigade, we decided to help out this year for the bowling fundraiser instead of just participating in it. 

During our last ELT meeting we talked about what we wanted to do and how we wanted it to run compared to last year.  What changes we wanted to make, what kind of flow we wanted, donations for prizes, baskets for the silent auction, etc.  It was basically going to run about the same as it was last year except we sold more tickets this year.

Our relay team, Yelm Dental/Blue Brigade, wanted to do a basket for the silent auction just to earn some extra money during the event.  We had a hard time at first coming up with a basket theme.  A few days before I thought of a perfect theme for a basket.  Since there are so many people drinking wine, why not a wine basket?  I proposed the idea to our Facebook group and everyone liked the idea.  We divvied out the items.  I bought a wine opener and a wine pourer.  Mom provided the basket and a sign, Trish bought some wine and Ashley provided some chocolate and some wine.  The Saturday before the event we drove out to Tenino and dropped our stuff off at their house.

I sold 4 tickets and mom ended up selling her 5.  I sold mine to myself, Ben, his mom and sister.  I invited my friend Suzanne but she couldn't come so I gave it back to Nichole.  Mom sold hers to herself, grandma, dad, Jackie and Sally. 

That morning Ben and I stopped at Safeway so we could have some cash to pay for our tickets plus we needed some more paper towel so I got a few of them and got cash back.  Then we headed into Rainier to pick up grandma.  Mom had called earlier asking me to do that because she had to go early and she didn't want grandma to sit and wait a really long time.  I told her sure.  When we got there she was all ready to go with her bowling bag and shoes.

We got to Prairie Lanes about a half hour before our session started.  We took the afternoon one because we are terrible at getting up on the weekends especially in the fall, winter and spring times.  Summer I get up early because I love the sun and dry weather and it doesn't stick around very long. We must take advantage of it!  I turned in our money and got my size 7 bowling shoes.  We were told we were going to be on Lanes 1 and 2. 

I am terrible at bowling.  I might go bowling once a year if that.  I definitely didn't get the bowling genes from my mom's side of the family who have been in major tournaments in Reno and have won prize money and trophies.  If I break 100 that is considered a good game in my books.  I was just hoping to break 100 and have a good time.  A strike or two would be nice as well.

We entered in our names to the lanes.  I was Enforcer, Ben was Sir Freckles, Trish was Trishy-Poo and Amy was the Amynator and mom was Suzy Q.  It was fun to have random names like that.  The first game was everyone's warm up.  I was glad I wasn't the worst one at bowling.  I actually didn't do that bad.  I had a few strikes and I picked up some of my spares which I struggle with.  I didn't do that bad in the first game.

The second round was a different story.  I didn't pick up as many of my spares as I would have liked to but I had a strike and I broke 100!  Grandma on the other hand destroyed us all with a 170.  She ended up getting the highest score of everyone and won a purple bowling pin with highest score written on it.  She also won a prize with the prize train.  Ben also did in our group.

We made it through two games in two hours...about an hour a game when you have this many people bowling in your lane.  We returned our bowling shoes and everyone thanked us for coming and we thanked others for coming as well.  Mom had to stay behind to count money with Kim upstairs and run it to the bank.  Our small group wanted to have dinner somewhere before we all went home.  I found out Mr. Doug's was open on Sundays so we collectively agreed to eat there.  Grandma and Ben rode with me and Trish and Amy followed us.  Mom had us order for her once we got there.  I had to wait, which seemed like an hour, to use the restroom.  There was a huge group of parents and tween softball players eating dinner and of course all of them had to use the restroom all at the same time. 

After I finally got to use the bathroom, I went back to our table and everyone wondered if I fell in.  I told them I had to wait for the entire softball team to use the restroom.  It was perfect timing because our food came shortly after and mom arrived just in time to eat her food fresh.  We chatted about random things as we ate.  We paid our bill, gave out some hugs and we all headed home.

When Ben and I got home we did laundry, the rest of the dishes and tidied up the place before settling down for a movie before bed.

Next Adventure:  Disney Paint Night

St. Patrick's Day Paint Night

For this month's game night we all decided to do a paint night led by Nicole since it was at her place this time.  Of course the guys all made different plans because they deemed painting a girl thing.  It ended up turning into a girls paint night instead of a game night for St. Patrick's Day.  A few weeks ago we all decided which painting we wanted to do via the Facebook group Cool Kids Doing Cool Things.  We voted on a few Nicole thought would be simple to do.  The night sky borealis ended up winning.

Nicole would do the shopping for the canvas, paints and brushes and we would each pay her for our materials.  She told us it would be $7 each which isn't bad considering the actual paint night places charge anywhere from $30-$45 to do one.  A few years ago I went with my mom, grandma, Angela, Trish and Amy for grandma's birthday to a paint night in Federal Way.  We did a Seattle themed one and it was a lot of fun except that we had to travel so far to do it on a Monday. 

That day at work, which was long because Friday's are long anyway, I couldn't wait for the weekend to start.  I was excited to do a paint night with my friends at the comfort of Nicole's house...no time limit, relaxed with some good food and company.  After work Suzanne and I hustled to get home so we could take a 45 minute nap before we went to Nicole's.  We got some food ready, Suzanne prepared cubed cheese, turkey and ham while I got some chips and salsa together.  Both were really not St. Patrick's Day food or even green but our conclusion was that it was food.  She slept in the guest room while I plopped in my bed.

5:45 showed up and I really didn't want to get up...sleeping was amazing!  Suzanne came in telling me to get up so we could go.  I got ready and put my shoes on.  We grabbed our food and drinks and she followed me to Tumwater.  She needed to leave earlier so we drove separate.  I had to stop at the bank really quick to get some money to give to Nicole for the supplies.  Suzanne decided not to do a painting but come just to be around some people.  We got there just after 6:15.

Nicole had invited Sarah, one of her co-workers from Safeway and now OIC, and it was fun chatting up with her again.  We were invited back New Year's Eve 2008/2009 to celebrate with Nicole at Sarah's house.  We reminisced about that night.  I can't believe it was that long ago.  Everyone was basically there except Lindsay and Megan.  Megan ended up carpooling with Lindsay from Rainier.  We just hung out until they got there. 

We decided to eat first.  Nicole made corned beef, Megan made some potatoes with cabbage and green onions mixed in called, Colcannon.  I brought chips and salsa, Suzanne brought meat and cheese, Sarah brought green cupcakes and Lindsay brought ice cream and some liquor to add to it if you wanted.  We ate, told stories and laughed.

Now it was time to paint. I made mention of Nicole's awesome table cloth of recycled Fred Meyer bags and masking tape.  She was pretty proud of it.  We all found a canvas and a seat and Nicole gave us instructions on how we were going to do this.  We were going to follow a YouTube video step by step with the Art Sherpa.  She was very quirky yet entertaining at the same time. 

We followed her step by step and took a few breaks here and there to let our canvas dry. 

We all reconvened at the table to add more layers to our painting.  We added some white and yellow blotches with sponges to our paint to give it a milky way type of look.  It was fun sponging our canvas.  I got mine to look pretty good and I was satisfied with what I had created.

Next, we spattered white all over it for the stars.  There was a technique we used, because we were all mostly beginners, where we put our canvas in a box, put paint on our brushes and flicked it at the canvas.  It was entertaining.  We all took turns.

Then we put our aurora borealis on our canvas followed by the horizon line and the trees we added over the top.  That was the last layer we added.  I took it two steps beyond and added a comet and a Death Star from Star Wars.  It turned out better than I imagined it being.  I was pretty stoked. 

It was around 11:30 and we all decided to head on home.  I was getting tired anyway.  I picked up my stuff, thanked Nicole for hosting and getting the supplies for us to use and headed back home.  When  I got home, I put my stuff away, hung my painting in the hallway and got ready for bed.  Nicole had talked about doing another paint night again soon but Disney themed.

Next Adventure:  Relay for Life Bowling