Weekends: a definition

Let me tell you a little something about weekends.


They start with Friday nights. Usually spent at church, eating brownies, drinking punch, and at a diner of some sort. This week I did all those things (except no brownies and no punch), and the diner we picked was the Uptown Diner.

I have, literally, 30 pictures of Anna Leisa eating a sandwich.

We told many an awkward story.

My favorite went a little something like this:

"In 7th grade I hung out with the gangsters. You know how some girls wear black lip liner? ....I tried that once." - Emily

Those several sentences induced a fit of tears. In fact, Emily could barely get it out without laughing.

Oh and Anna Leisa threw up after her first kiss. Pass it on.








On Saturday, Ann and Sarah and I did our last long run before the 10-miler next week! We ran 7 miles together - we talked and we sweated and we sprinted at the end!

Following that, we went to Keith's birthday party at Buca's!

The food was great. The cheese bread was particularly tasty.

Then we went our separate ways. I went home and took a quick nap before I had to be at Anna Leisa's house (for Chin's).

Before leaving for Anna Leisa's, I stopped by the rental office; I had a package waiting and I tore it open to find my very own copy of Mooch the Messy meets Prudence the Neat!!


Anna Leisa called me about that time to tell me she was running late, but that Beth was home and would let me inside. So after I got to her house, I read a few pages of Mooch meets Prudence and then trudged up the porch steps.


Now I couldn't say with certainty, but I was pretty sure a surprise party was waiting for me Saturday night...so I expected a surprise...what I didn't expect was to find 3 PEOPLE IN BLACK HOODIES COME BARRELING TOWARD ME WITH JASON MASKS ON AND A PINK BLANKET.



"...What is this?"

An Emily-looking-Jason screamed at me "NO TALKING" and covered me in the blanket. I practiced passive-resistance by collapsing onto the floor and refusing to move, begging them to "let me walk."

So however they did it, they got me to the car, told me to "not talk" and "sit down." What I felt on my bottom was a trunk. "You guys are putting me in a trunk?"

"NO TALKING!"

They shut the door and in my heart I was full of glee (I love being in trunks). While in there, I finished reading Mooch meets Prudence by the bright light that shown whenever the Sarah-looking-Jason braked...(the book is great by the way). Eventually we made it to Sarah/Emily/Rachel's house (the voice in the trunk had to tell them to take Washington...).

Once we got there, a lot of people were looking at me, and I didn't know what to do! So I danced! I think Sarah got a video. While watching it, I reminded myself of my two year old neice - everyone watching her just dance and clap and act like a two year old.

The boys got me a pony dvd and Cranium (my favorite game), Adam C. got me sunflowers, Keith got me a cd, Jodi made me macaroni and cheese (one of my favorite dishes), the Brennes made tasty bars, Anna Leisa picked out the best candy ever for my UNICORN piñata. the Quickerts brought golden oreos, and Lee made me a crown. Am I forgetting anything? Many gave me thoughtful cards, and the girls gave me gold. Lots and lots of gold.






I kept trying to foil their plans by making Sarah or Ben or anybody just admit they were throwing me a surprise party...I'm glad they didn't cave. And they did a great job covering up!! But this is how I knew:


- At Anna Leisa's birthday dinner Sarah said to me "your party is coming. Shhhhhh."

- Sarah emailed me asking if I'd like to do Chins Saturday night with the other girls (Chins is our spontaneous bible study that we like to do at Chinese restaurants). I knew a party was coming, and was suspicious that she sent that email to just me and not to all the girls at once.

- Sarah was really excited when I said I could come to Chin's

- Friday night Sarah asked if she could borrow my camera for the weekend

- At the house before Buca's I saw a bunch of chips and salsa. I said to Ben "What's all that for?" Ben said "Homeless Outreach." I said "Chips?" Ben said "The bananas are, I don't know about the chips - maybe we're having a chips and salsa party for the homeless."

- After Buca's Ben was on the phone with his brother Dan and said "We were just at a birthday lunch...no Christine's is later." I look back and Sarah says "in a few weeks...I've just been too stressed out to plan anything. I'm sorry."


Ha! Everyone really did a great job of not letting it slip (besides maybe that last clue)! If I hadn't known a party was coming I would never have suspected, so great job!! And holy crap I didn't expect to get thrown in a trunk! I loved every minute of it!!

Exclamation points!

I am glad that you didn't get rear-ended during the abduction though.

Here is me beating my piñata with grapefruit juice. Just look at how joyful AL and Rachel are! Candy!

I love pictures where everyone is laughing:

Awww, girls (well, some of them):

Again! This time, Sarah, act totally trashed:

"This girl is hilarious:"

Frame ready:

And everybody:

(Go to Jodi's blog or Maren and Karl's picasa album to see more - there are some great ones of the guys in there that just didn't get on my camera for some reason).




Oh, weekends have Sundays too. This Sunday we had homeless outreach and afterwards we were talking about some possible new safety rules - like the girls trying to dress homely and playing down our femininity (hats, sweatpants, etc). Ben or Corey said to me "Christine, you dressed well today." We all began laughing because clearly that is code for "Christine, you dressed ugly today." Thanks guys, thanks (it was so unintentional).



Then Anna Leisa and I got coffee at Target and walked around until it closed.

And that is what some people call a weekend - a friday, a saturday, and a sunday.



Love,
Chrissy