Creativity

This weekend was a blast, and I've also made an important discovery: You know those moms who are ultra-prepared and always have exactly what you need in their bags? Well... I used to think I would be one of them, but after this weekend, I'm thinking I'll be the mom who has things 93% of the time... and just makes it up the rest of the time! (A little CREATIVITY never hurt anyone though, right?) This weekend I found myself without antifreeze, without socks, and without keys. Here's my funny story...

Friday was opening night for the play my lighting-designer-grad-student friend has been slaving over for months. So I went to that (it was good!) and got to meet some of his other friends afterwards. I actually didn't forget anything for this shindig, and it was a GREAT START to the weekend.

However, his play was at UConn, which is about 2 hours away from where I was going next. So at 1:00 in the morning as I was driving along, I discovered the first thing I forgot this weekend: topping off my antifreeze. (I know, the leak needs to be fixed. Later.) So around 2:00am I was driving from gas station to gas station until I found one that actually sold the right kind. OOPS #1.

After that, I went happily on my way to Rhode Island to spend the night at a friend's house-- except it wasn't really spending the night because I only slept for three hours before we got up to leave for NYC. And for some reason, I had packed no socks! (Which I hadn't noticed the night before since I was wearing heels when I left my house.) OOPS #2. But Cassidy hooked me up and off we went. We went mainly to see the Rockefeller center, where we ooh-ed and ah-ed at the huge tree and watched all the ice skaters. We did not skate because we had already spent the rest of the day walking around in the sleet and didn't really want to be anywhere near ice. We also saw a bunch of random things things-- Times Square, the public library, St. Patrick's cathedral, FAO Schwartz, etc. I really do get a buzz from rushing around with all the people. :)

And then we came back. The roads were not bad, despite the FIRST SNOW FALL! of the year, and we headed straight for the hot chocolate when we got home and removed our soggy shoes.

After a blissful 6 hours of sleep, back to Providence! It was supposed to be my week to teach the kiddos ("sharing time"), but fortunately we are doing a Nativity play for our ward Christmas party on Saturday so we had planned to practice that instead. This went smoothly and the kids were reverent (and adorable). Phew!

I even managed to arrange alternate rides for everyone I'd picked up for church since I had to go straight to Cambridge for choir after church. Singing went without a hitch, and we sang a piece that is my FAVORITE out of everything we've sung since I joined. Then I tagged along with some friends to a party that featured divine homemade eggnog and singing Christmas carols!

But here's where we're back to the only 93%-perfectly-executed plan: I LEFT MY KEYS in Boston. Yes, I'm serious. I put them in my coat pocket and laid said coat on the bed with all the other coats and... got back to Providence without keys (since I hadn't driven). OOPS #3... Yeah. So, thank goodness for AMAZING AND HELPFUL FRIENDS who will let me borrow a car for a couple of days and will bring back my keys on their next trip to Boston on Wednesday. And thank goodness for a roommate who woke up to let me in when I got home after 11:00 last night.

This weekend was a great adventure. :)