Sports & Southern Showers by Violet

I had a wonderful weekend. As I ended my work week on Friday, with all of my projects for the week finished, I left a little early because I was so anxious to make my way down to Dallas. I am usually very content with staying in Waco and having fun here, but I guess now I have a reason to venture outside my box and am very happy to do so.

So Friday afternoon I headed into Dallas to meet my boyfriend Nick up at a Vietnamese/Sushi restaurant called East Main. Both of us coming from work, we had set up a meeting time of 6:37, and both of us of course, were early (as we often are). Like most Wacoans, I like to sample different food when I leave home base- and I love Ethnic/Asian foods. Last weekend we had samplings of Thai and Indian, and this weekend started out with a little Vietnamese. Mmm. Although my mother isn’t as adventurous in culinary choices, I think I get my taste for variety from my father- who will literally eat anything once. I mean it’s no Kitoks, but it was definitely good food and a nice change of pace.

After dinner I got to meet one of Nick’s friends, Dan, who was the guest of honor at the wedding shower that we would be attending the next day. It was fun to relax and spend time talking about sports and Baylor, two topics that I had hoarded information on all work week with my law firm full of male Baylor fans and Big 12 supporters. I have always been able to pick up sports talk- growing up the daughter of a Chicago all-sports fan, but only like to use that part of my brain when big events are going on - especially like this big 12 conference fiasco. Some call that fair weather, I call it culturally attentive.

Another interest I recently picked up was the World Cup- again – culturally attentive. And knowing about these topics really helps at firm lunches, and apparently it goes full circle because info drawn from firm lunches then go on to impress my boyfriend in our sports conversations. So after interval training at a local high school track (I never even ran the track in my own high school), Nick and I sat down in front of a big screen TV to watch US play England. It was a great game, and certainly surprising to see USA pull through a goal, but I definitely enjoyed watching the game. Its a lot faster paced and attention catching than other sports with all the TV breaks and time outs. I think I could really like soccer, as I did once before on Chi O B Team Intramurals. Really, I just ran into other girls attempting to get the ball to another one of my teammates.

So after the Futbol game, we went to the reason for the weekend, the couples wedding shower. Now , I have no idea when showers began to be couples events and not just a bunch of girls, but I really like it, and it makes it a whole lot more fun, and twice the people. Being a South Carolina wedding, the whole theme was very Southern and sweet. As Nick and I walked up to the adorable house (early of course), they were setting up lawn game and lawn chairs as well as mixing up some kind of lemonade punch. It was put together so extremely well, I thought Martha Stewart must have been there early to set-up. As I offered my help in the kitchen I noticed that the fridge was stocked with homemade treats to be brought out throughout the night. Little Caprese tomato hors d’oeurves and an artichoke dip for starters; carefully mixed turkey burgers and beef burgers with some thing thrown in that made it look like the cover a cooking magazine- and of course for our health conscious generation, whole wheat burger buns; roasted corn on the cob; sliced water melon; and my FAVORITE- for dessert, homemade sugar free mixed berry popsicles. I really don’t think if I planned all week I could throw a party together like this. It was incredible the details that were laid out, down to the color coordinating napkins and cups. Nick was even surprised they didn’t just use paper plates- instead they had bright white summer dishes to eat on in their impeccable house. The house was also so fun to be in, the bright whites and blues seemed like the house was designed just for a Southern Summer day, and I would gladly have used any of the kitschy furniture in my own décor. It was the ideal starter house for the young married Dallas couple who threw the shower. Just think, I was excited just to get Nick’s large Crate and Barrel present wrapped, let alone throw a shower that could have been used as a spread in Southern Living. Where did all the party-throwing and arts and crafts skills that Cindee and my mom have always had disappear to in me? Maybe law school pushed away all the creativity I ever had, or maybe that’s where the math side of my brain overrides home decor and party planning. That is something I would like my mom to answer- why I can never hold any of those creative pearls of wisdom in my head.

But it was an amazing weekend, not only did I get to stay with my good friend Allyson, but I also got to spend a large quantity of quality time with Nick and his friends, in many fun social settings. So far every weekend of the summer has been a blast, and a complete balance to my work life during the week.