I'm So Proud!

Last night, Patrick asked out a girl. A girl he didn't know. In public. I'm so proud!

At about 8:30, Patrick and I ventured to Chandi's weekly Tuesday get together. This week, once again, we took advantage of Applebee's appetizers (ummm....shrimp). Our party consisted of Patrick, myself, and six girls.
After a very spririted sugar packet fight, blowing our straw wrappers at Jessica simultaneously, eating our food, and a hushed discussion about why our server had been in the bathroom crying prior to come serving us, our conversation turned to the random things guys talk about.
You see, on Saturday night, Jessica, Joel, Derrick, and I had gone to IHOP for dinner. Derrick had told Jessica that guys do not talk about girls when they are alone. Jessica was pleasantly amused that we were talking about how cute our waitress was and were trying to get Joel to ask her out. He didn't, but it did make for a lively conversation later at Applebee's. Derrick's reasoning was that since Jessica was present, we could talk about girls. :)
So here we were, sitting in Applebee's discussing these topics. Patrick mentioned that the hostess was cute and he thought he should ask her out. Patrick, however, is extremely shy. He's never just asked a girl out before. Ever. We discussed it for some time. Patrick mentioned that it's best to be direct because phone numbers left on tables just induce laughter and not dates. He should know. He worked in a restaurant and was usually the one who laughed.
Suddenly, Patrick stood up and started talking to the girls sitting behind us. He said, "Hey, I'm wanting to ask out the hostess over there but I'm really shy. What should I do to ask her out?" This coming from someone who's supposed to be shy. We were laughing too hard to actually catch what they were saying, but Patrick got the suggestion to just do it and be direct. Talk about original suggestions.
Our waitress looked at us from the other table and we mentioned that Patrick wanted to ask out the hostess. She suddenly smiled and said, "Oooh. Just a second." She came over presently and informed us that she was not dating anyone and encouraged him to go for it.
Patrick was so nervous he kept looking around. He said he felt like puking. I half expected him to do so. After a while, the hostess started clearing a table near the exit and we made our move. Patrick went to talk to her and the rest of us slipped outside so we wouldn't be a distraction (although we were guilty of peeking through the door at the scene). Well, Patrick got her phone number and has a date.
Patrick immediately called Nichole to tell her that he had completed her dare. He also called Garion because Garion wouldn't believe him.
But there are witnesses. Patrick did it. He asked out a girl. Because she was cute. In person.
I'm so proud!

Singing Praises

So about three weeks ago, Russ, Joel, and I were jamming on the piano after ward prayer singing hymns. Unfortunately, that is a risky thing to do in my ward. You see, Didi, in our ward, is the stake music director...and the ward music director. Well, Didi animatedly asked us to sing a special musical number in our ward. We sang a bunch of songs, trying to choose a hymn. We then called to invite Kimball to sing in an a'capella quartet.
That's about as far as we got. We talked about it and practiced once, but never really had anything definite. We weren't too worried because we're all pretty good at sight reading...except for the fact that I was to sing Alto. Crazy.
Well, I was sick last weekend and totally spaced the fact that we were singing. Oh, and somehow, our singing in our ward morphed into singing in Stake Conference. Today. Once again, crazy!
So, yesterday I received a phone call from Didi at about 10 am, asking if we were ready to sing in Stake Conference and if I'd come to choir practice later that day. We were already in the program. I tell you, when you miss one day of church, you completely miss everything! Well, I called Russ and he was in Florida. I called Kimball and he couldn't come practice yesterday evening. We did decide, however, that Kimball, Joel, and I would sing a trio but we didn't know how we would sing each verse or even what song, for certain, we would be singing.
Choir practice went well and I was asked to lead the music in the stake leadership priesthood session. Hey! What's a little more singing? :) I told Didi we'd do the song we'd planned (even though she had put Be Still My Soul).
After Stake Priesthood session, we met for stake choir practice. Kimball wasn't not there yet, so I texted him. Of course, he had slept through his alarm. By the time he got to the church and we finished practicing our choir number, it was about 10 minutes before we were scheduled to sing and we didn't know what we were doing!
The Lord accepted our desire, forgave our slothfulness, and decided he would help us in singing praises. Joel said, "While, we should probably practice once with the piano." Our pianist for choir, Charie Brown, asked what we were singing. When we told, she said, "I have a really cool arrangement for that song." We asked if she had it with her. She said, "Oh, I made it up and don't have it written out." She played it while we sang and it was amazing! She agreed to play for us.
Needless to say, the performance went well and was highly acclaimed and we had Charie to thank for that! I switched from Alto to Lead which was good, because I still haven't got my voice all back which I'd lost at the hockey game on Friday, so I doubted I could hit all the high notes. It was a lot of fun.
It just goes to show, when you sing praises to Heavenly Father, he's always there to help you out and buoy you up.