Bling Bling!

And here I am, having survived Sparkle Night and still not having posted this eternal blog entry…yikes! Well…we ended up with a final head count of 34, including five adults who all help with various Bible Studies or are planning to, etc. I’d say Sparkle Night was a HIT! We enjoyed appetizers on the patio – T had strung up those big lights, which added to the sparkle. The girls enjoyed veggies and dip, “good stuff” (cream cheese with salsa poured over the top and wheat thins for dipping) and rosemary cream cheese pinwheels, accompanied by a glass of none other than…sparkling grape juice! So fun! Next we enjoyed a seated meal. My Bible Study girls served everyone. The main course included lasagna, salad, and bread with olive oil and Italian spices for dipping. My girls were swift on their feet and had plates out to everyone in no time. A sweet girl who’s just graduated from college spent the dinner hour sharing her testimony. She began with life in the 7th grade and how God used situations with friends and a particular boy to bring her to Himself. She shared how she’d grown in her walk with the Lord and how He’d brought a man into her life, who she is still seeing…it was a neat story. Then she told the girls, “I am an open book. Y’all can ask me anything.” And they did. She answered questions for the next twenty or so minutes and then gave the girls her number and asked them to call her. As soon as she was finished sharing, we cleared the plates and invited everyone to the chocolate fountain where we had strawberries, cookies, and marshmallows for dipping. To say that was a hit would be an understatement. The girls LOVED it! All in all, aside from the fact that at one point the temp hit 80 degrees, it was a great success!

I did get the 80’s prom dress with gold and silver sequins in a wide, diagonal band across the black dress. I also proudly wore the giant bow made of sequins, which rested atop my right shoulder. For fear that someone might miss the bow, I pinned an old rhinestone broach to the center of the bow…hee, hee!

Oh, I have to tell you how precious my little Bible Study girls are! When I picked them up from school they came out to the car with all their gear for the evening. It was hilarious and so fun and precious! One girl brought a huge trunk full of makeup. They spent the better part of the afternoon primping. They flat ironed or curled each others hair. They put on makeup and got all dolled up. One girl forgot her jewelry, so I offered to let her wear something of mine. Before I knew it, they were all in there going through all I had, getting “blinged” up. We had girls in everything from cut off shorts with glittery t shirts to a sea green antebellum dress to one dress that was completely covered in sequins. One person wore a faux diamond the size of…well…of at least an unshelled walnut. It was HUGE! We had so much fun! In spite of vacuuming my house twice now, I STILL have glitter everywhere! It’s on all my chairs, in all my rugs, on the sofa…it’s EVERYWHERE! And what a fun reminder it is! I’ve actually loosened up enough to smile and even chuckle each time I see the glitter blinging up at me from my recently vacuumed house! What a fun reminder of a fun night!

The kids are with grandparents for the weekend and I am so happy to have a little time to myself. This is the first time in over a year I’ve had a day to myself. Do you have any idea how much I’ve accomplished in one day? I can’t believe it, myself! I keep looking at the clock in disbelief. I’ve showered by myself. I’ve read, uninterrupted. At the gym, I tuned out the intercom, as my children weren’t in the nursery, so they wouldn’t be calling my name! Yea! Don’t get me wrong – I love my little ones and I miss them, but a little time away is pretty sweet! Yahoo!

I’ve got a hot date tonight. Only, for the second time, we’d planned to dine at this one restaurant, and it’s closed for the weekend because of it being Memorial Day Weekend. Ugh! Oh well…don’t know where we’ll go, but it’ll be just us, with no sitter to run home and pay. That’s pretty sweet!