January's Score

There's a free local newspaper that has a column called "The Score".  It ranks happenings in Richmond and awards and subtracts points, such as -3 pts. for a great restaurant closing or giving +2 pts. for a Richmond musician making it on American Idol.  Then, they tally up the score for the week.

  It's completely arbitrary, but I thought I'd borrow it for my January since the infamous party.  It has had its ups and downs:

* Wistfulness at friend's baby shower (only non-mother there again)         - 3 pts.

* Getting to hug my friend, eat cake (no Stiffler to ruin it this time),

 and being excited about her baby coming          + 2 pts.

* Winning the "guess the exact amount of string 

it would take to wrap around the mother's waist" game        +1 pt.

* The prize for the game:  A tube of body glitter (?)   + 1 pt. because it was random and funny.  

I can't think of a time I would wear body glitter- ha ha!

* Dealing with insurance about fertility testing  - 2 pts.

Finally scheduling my HSG for next week      -10 pts.

I believe I already talked about why that score would be low here.

* My doctor prescribing a Valium for said HSG!    + 5 pts.

* Grading 163 papers in two weeks AND college class started - 8 pts.

* SNOW DAY LAST FRIDAY WITH DAN!  + 10 pts.  

* Fun game night with a new couple  + 10 pts.

* The Bachelor started/ Dan and I ridiculing it endlessly  +2 pts.

* Addicted to a new book: Wild by Cheryl Strayed  + 2 pts.

* We actually tried a new date for January a la our half ass resolution! + 10 pts.

The score so far:  20

Hmmm... not bad, actually!

Yes, that's a random thing to say.  Who can say what a good score is?

I thought I'd share the last item on "the score".  Dan and I decided to do a tapas and art museum date (we had a Christmas gift card burning a hole in our pocket), just to mix things up.  I think it counts as a new date idea for 2013.

Me with some kind of overly sweet, pear drink... it was delicious!

We went fancy with a cheese plate.  I'd never actually had one before.  Ours came with fruit, homemade chips, cheese, and lavender honey.

 There was a new exhibit by artist Dale Chihuly, who is famous for his amazing glass works.  We'd breezed through it during winter break, but this time we could linger throughout:

I mean... can we talk?  How incredible was this?

Dan loved the glass ceiling, that made you feel underwater:

I'll just share the last two pieces (not by Chihuly) that we checked out.  This tongue-in-cheek modern portrait:

Lastly, there was one photographer who spent three years growing his hair, changing his look repeatedly, and taking pictures.  See the names of a few of the photos below:

Now, look at his photos.  It's the SAME man in each.  My favorite one is the Beehive, the second one, because it looks exactly like a 60's yearbook photo for a chick.

If you keep looking, you'll see he grew facial hair, dyed his hair, tried cornrows... basically transformed himself repeatedly in the name of art.

Same dude!  I just can't get over it!

So that was date #1.  I don't think we'll do too many new ones, but I will post any that we do try!