Say Yes April

Allow me to introduce you to a way of life known among the greater Dance Marathon community as "Say Yes April". A magical month where all your dreams can come true, your spirits go up and your grades go down. Say Yes April is the month where we say yes to everything we haven't been able to do for the past year because we were a little busy throwing a 24 marathon and raising $570,561.48. Say Yes April started a little early for me (aka Say Yes Senior Year), but here is a look at some of the things I have been able to say yes to in the past week...

Senior's Meeting at He's Not
Interestingly enough, the week after the marathon is actually just as busy as the week of the marathon because you have to finally catch up on all the schoolwork you've been neglecting as you deal with several transition meetings. After one such meeting, a group us took to one of our favorite bars because nothing aids insightful discussion like a blue cup (32oz of beer).

CFTK Bar Night
We had a benefit night at the infamous Library ("Oh hi Mom, I'm just at The Library." Plot twist, The Library = a bar, the library = a place to study. Fortunately, capitalization can't be conveyed over the phone). It was...interesting. And I enjoyed every second of it, from dancing on stage to squading up with my committee in the back, without worrying about how I was going to feed 2,000 people for 24 hours.

Nowruz
I had the opportunity to attend the Persian New Year celebration! If you know how obsessed I am with the Middle East and Iran in particular, then you can imagine how hype I was for this. I tried new foods, something I haven't done since the introduction of Bagel Bites (my fave was the bread, some things never change). I watched performances, listened to music, heard a Rumi recitation because if Rumi doesn't pump you up I don't know what will. And best of all, I learned how to dance to Persian music. After 2 hours of dancing, here is what I've learned. Persian dance is 1 part faucet wrists, 3 parts doing whatever Yasamin's doing.

#WhatTheLail (Becca's Bridal Shower)
In years past I would often spend weekends in Raleigh or Greenville, touring the state and spreading my unique brand of sass among all of my scattered friends. But currently, I can't tell you when the last time I left Chapel Hill for a whole weekend was. This weekend I was able to attend a bridal shower for one of my best friends since before anyone knew who Hilary Duff was. While the completely unfair arctic-geddon raged outside despite the sun, we pretended to be fancy as we sipped mimosas and lemonade, ate dainty cupcakes and gossiped like the middle schoolers we used to be.

Last Marathon Meeting at Linda's 
Every Friday afternoon for the past 2 months or so I have had a meeting to help plan the marathon. Of course, having never been on a marathon committee before I am not particularly helpful at these meetings. More often than not I go for the cheese sticks and end up working on the sketches for a new swimwear line. We had our final marathon wrap-up meeting over cheese fries and Parmesan peppercorn ranch as we discussed pros (2 words. leftovers table) and cons (I didn't get to take a selfie with Chancellor Folt). 

Brendan's Birth Week
The week surrounding the birth of my dearest Brendy is a 7 day long festival complete with parties, dinners and a cookie cake (don't get too excited, there were walnuts in it). Every day this week I have some sort of activity to celebrate the day that Brendan was born. Honestly, there are gods in some cultures celebrated with smaller fanfare. But as much as this week is about Brendan (17%) it's also about our friendships that do not end with our respective Dance Marathon positions. Those 13 are stuck with me for life because we're humans and dancers. Bet they regret applying now.

And make sure to stay tuned for...

LDOC
Yes, we have already started planning the festivities for our last LDOC. LDOC means last day of class for those of you who don't even go here.

If nothing above resonated with you on a spiritual level, the mere fact that I am posting this in the middle of the day and not at midnight is a testament to how amazingly luxurious a little free time can be.


Addendum: Those of you familiar with my #StopPatrick2014 post will be thrilled to learn that he finally took my advice, he has a new Instagram (52inc.records) that he lets someone much better at social media (S/O to Bridgette) run. Listening to me will take you far in life. Or get you killed, one of the two for sure.