Perfect Kind of Weekend

This past weekend was both productive and a lot of fun, which in my opinion is the perfect kind of weekend.

On Friday, Ben and I went to a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Austin Area. Ben's friend Rusty who volunteers his CPA services to the Boys & Girls Club sponsors a table each year, and this is the second year that we were lucky enough to get invited. Like last year, the gala was at the Four Seasons Hotel and included a cocktail reception, a delicious prime rib dinner, and both a live and silent auction. It was awesome!During the dinner, they showed a short video where they interviewed a few high school kids about their lives at home and about what Boys & Girls Club means to them. The kids talked about their parents who were addicted to drugs, about the pressure that they received from their peers to do things that they knew weren't right, about the fact that they often went to bed hungry because they didn't have any food at home, and about how getting involved with the Boys & Girls Club had truly saved their lives. Talk about a tear-jerker. The director of the board also told us that 98% of the high school seniors that participated in the Boys & Girls Clubs in the Austin Area last year graduated while only 60% of their peers did, which is a pretty amazing statistic in itself. The live auction consisted mostly of vacation packages and home makeovers, which were all well out of our price range, but the last live auction item caught our eye even before we were seated for dinner, so when the "Sweet Endings VIP Dessert for 10" went up for bid, Rusty and Ben made sure that it was ours.
If you know me or Ben at all, you know how much we both LOVE chocolate, so this was right up our alley. Apparently it was made by the Four Seasons master pastry chef, and it was delicious. Ben and I also won a couple of silent auction items -- some Silpada jewelry and a hotel/golf package at Barton Creek Country Club. Sandy from "The JB and Sandy Morning Show" was the MC for the night, and he made a joke about people using the term "win" in regards to a silent auction item, but personally, I like to think of it as winning.

On Saturday morning, Holly and I ran 8 miles around Town Lake. We had decided on Friday that we needed to up our mileage this weekend, which I was a little worried about, but because it was such a cool morning, running 8 miles really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Towards the end, Holly told me that she could tell that I was getting better mostly because I was able to talk more than when we first started (haha...), and I'm not gonna lie -- I'm pretty proud of myself, too.

After running, I showered at Holly's apartment and then headed to Central Market for a baby shower that my mom and I hosted for Stephanie. Because this is Stephanie and Paul's second baby, Stephanie didn't want a full-blown shower, so we kept things simple and just invited all of the ladies in the running group to meet for lunch so that we could "sprinkle" Stephanie and her sweet baby girl with pampers, wipes, and the color pink. We made mimosas, snacked on appetizers, ate lunch, and had a wonderful time celebrating with Stephanie. My mom made a delicious German Chocolate Cake, which is Stephanie's favorite, and she received a lot of great gifts for both her and the baby.
After the shower, I headed up to the office to work on my SER, which is basically a write-up of all of the engineering work that I've done since I graduated that I have to submit to the Texas Board of Professional Engineers before taking my licensing exam in April. And yes, it is as fun as it sounds. Ben had left earlier that morning to spend the weekend at APAC's ranch with a few guys from work, and since I knew I'd get more done at work than I would at home, I decided to stay up there and work on my application until I was too tired to write. On my way home, I decided to reward myself by picking up a nutritious burrito supreme dinner from Taco Bell and watching two episodes of Law & Order and "The Blind Side" before falling asleep.

When I woke up yesterday morning, I headed back up to the office and worked on my SER most of the afternoon. After running a couple of quick errands, I headed home. Ben was back from the ranch and was washing his truck for the 50 millionth time since he bought it, so I sat outside and clipped coupons while we talked about our weekends. The weather was perfect (I love this time of year!), and it was so nice to unwind after such a busy weekend. After a delicious dinner, we decided to watch "Home Alone" before falling asleep -- although we only made it about halfway before we both passed out. We're planning to watch the rest of it as soon as I get this blog post published, so I guess I'll call it quits for now.

I hope your weekend was productive, fun, and perfect, too. Goodnight!