5 Things to Try This Weekend: February 21 - 23

Sorry I couldn't get this post up yesterday. As you'll see from the #5things, JES Holdings is participating in the Rootin' Tootin' Chili Cook-off today and I've been chained to paint brush since Thursday afternoon. If you are still critical, let me clarify by saying that the Chili Cook-off is to JES Holdings as to Homecoming is to Theta...on a slightly smaller scale. You won't hear me complain though, I've missed it so much!

1. Try some rootin' tootin' chili. I love me some chili and today is just nippy enough that some chili would really hit the spot. If you're feelin' some chilli today too, you should come out! It's from 2:00 to 6:00 pm, come and go. $12 tickets for all you can eat chili...and you can buy other goodies along the way. All to support the Boys' and Girls' Club of Columbia!

2. Expand my art skills. Now, I've already done this, but I did it on Friday...so it counts as the weekend. When it comes to painting, I am so so good at painting straight lines. This goes along with my style of creativity which I explain by saying, "I'm a doodler, not an artist." But when it came to backdrop for the Chili Cook-off booth...I faced a huge challenge learning to shade and texture and I think it turned out great!

3. Put together a tropical costume. You know i love costumes. For our theme this year, I'll need a tropical kind of get-up and I've got all kinds of ideas...as always. Will I go tacky tourist or native Hawaiian or less-tacky tourist in grass skirt (< that's probably the one)?

4.  Spring cleaning challenge: tackle the bathroom. I haven't cleaned the house since I undecorated from Christmas, so it's time I prepare for spring and clean this place. This weekend, I'll be tackling the bathroom: scour sink, shower and toilet, sweep and swiffer floor, organize the under-the-sink storage, wash towels and shower curtain, shake-out rugs, get rid of unwanted jewelry.

5. Raise money for the Boys' and Girl's Club. Woo hoo! I've put in a lot of hours to this Chili Cook-off booth and there's a lot of hours to come...but I'd like to keep the purpose of the day clear: it's all to raise money for the Boys' and Girls' Club, not to get dressed up and decorate and eat.

*     *     *

1. Try some rootin' tootin' chili. The hard part about working the Chili Cook-off, is that you can't make a lot of time for actually eating the chili. In my (biased) opinion, JES Holdings had the best chili of the day, but I'm a big fan of traditional chili. There were some crazy ones though: southwest chicken chili, steak chili, bacon chili, chili with a piece of cornbread in the bottom...all very good. Props to Phi Kapp, who won second overall in the chili tasting, all while being...under the influence.

2. Expand my art skills. I'm so proud of how my backdrop turned out! The sand looked so great (thank you Jordan B.) and the amature attempts at shading and texturing really came together! We even won first place for Best Booth, which was mostly the work of the guys who built our incredible tiki hut, but I'd like to take some credit for my hours and (PAID) hours of painting.

3. Put together a tropical costume. There you have it: tourist-in-grass-skirt. Kind of a random job as far as costumes go, but it worked. Not to mention, I later pulled on some jeans and wore that Hawaiian shirt out on the town. So it was a versatile outfit as well!

4.  Spring cleaning challenge: tackle the bathroom. I think it's really going to help to break down the spring cleaning business into various rooms each weekend. The bathroom didn't feel so overwhelming and I love using a squeaky clean bathroom.

5. Raise money for the Boys' and Girl's Club. JES Holdings also won first place for the Biggest Bowl award. We raised $11,000 for the Boys' and Girls' Club! Woohoo!

It was such a fun time and it did feel good to get those creative booth-building juices flowing again. I'm actually looking forward to next year already! Better start brainstorming theme ideas...