A Week of Holidays

It has been one full week of holidays and school. Beginning with this past Saturday, the week has been filled with holidays: the annual tree-burning potluck party, Valentines Day, Chinese New Year, Presidents Day, Mardi Gras, and Ash Wednesday. It's been crazy, but fun. :) Starting it all off was the tree-burning party happening President's Day Weekend every year. The hostess is an old family friend and my old pediatrician. Everyone brings over their Christmas trees to contribute to the fire and a dish to pass in the potluck. It's a lot of fun just sitting by the fire or sledding down the hill. One year I almost slid into the fire. Everyone there seems to be at least one person that goes off course and heads for the fire. No one has actually gone in it...yet.

Sunday was the busiest day of all: Valentines Day, Chinese New Year, and Mardi Gras at my church. I decided to be a good daughter and made breakfast for my parents. This is mostly because I don't have a sweetheart of my own to cook for, and I live at home while going to school. Anyways, I made pink chocolate chip pancakes and eggs. After breakfast, we went to church for Mardi Gras. My dad won a cake on his first try: chocolate frosted yellow cake with coconut creating a snowman on top. All of us won quite a few times at bingo: bubble wands, candy bars, a mosquito tshirt. I even got mini mardi gras ducks that glow in the dark! That night I made a Chinese Valentine supper in honor of the 2 holidays. We had Chinese chicken salad, pink rice, strawberry jello with heart-shaped marshmallows, and a pink spritzer created by my mom. And of course, we had fortune cookies for dessert. Yay for holidays!

Monday, President's Day, wasn't quite as exciting. My mom and I went to Savers for 50% off bargains when she got off work. I got lucky and found a MN Wild polar fleece and a Rascal Flatts concert tshirt for less than $5! Better yet, the tshirt was from Rascal Flatts tour when I saw them at MOA a couple years ago for free. This is also when they were standing about 5 feet away from me. It was AWESOME! Since they weren't selling anything there, I now have a tshirt as a souvenir. :)

Tuesday was the actual day of Mardi Gras. My mom and I met up with my aunt and her co-worker at TGIF for beads, masks, and hurricanes. However, the waiter was retarded and didn't believe that anything was going on despite the email we all got the night before. After finding another waitress/bartender, we got our free beads. Sadly, the hurricanes were $7 and served in smaller-than-average glasses so no hurricanes for us. We met my dad for dinner at Whiskey Creek that night. I ordered a drink at both places and neither waiter asked for my ID! Apparently now that I'm almost 22, I look older, even though I don't act any older.