If Giving is the New Black, What am I Going to Wear?

One of my cousins, Greg Gravelle, is participating in Relay for Life. (Follow the link, donate what you can.) I partipated most of the years I lived in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The event is really cool. Your team commits to stay on a running track for 24 hours. All the teams set up tents around the track. Friends and family come to see the spectacle. All the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society (ACS). And it's great for raising awareness. Every local TV station will not be able to resist sending cameras to such an odd, moving event. Along those lines, Kirk and I went to a charity event last night. It too was a spectacle. Giving is the New Black turned out to be one of the most interesting things we've done in a while. We stopped by our friend Darrell's house first. I always like to do that. Seems like you set a mood and THEN head out. It seems to work. As soon as we parked the car, paid for entry, and started to mill into the crowded room, we ran into Joel Shoemaker with In Utah this Week. He's a nice guy we've known for years and years. He set a such a good mood. He's one of those guys. Cute. Hunky. Nice. Then I didn't feel as poorly dressed as I'd expected to feel. There were all kinds of styles and people. Mostly fun to look at. And some really, really fun. Some hot looking people. The fashion show itself was pretty wild. The clothes were constructed of re-used materials like newspaper. And the models, although they hit their marks, were doing crazy, athletic dance routines. Pretty impressive. I'll look for more photos to appear online. There were many, many images being taken all around the crowd. So far, all I've found are some pictures on Joel's Facebook profile (find it yourself, no link). I'll look for more and share them. It was tough to get up this morning. But we made it to Market Street Grill Downtown for brunch with friends. It had been a while and it was so good to catch up. We heard about a trip to New York. One conducted by our friend who is an artist and professor. So, the good news was that funding came from the university and a grant. The more complicated news was that he lead a group of university students. Another friend is winding down from a season as an instructor at Deer Valley. Like me, he was itching to enjoy the sunshine and late-season, deep powder we've had lately. And he was also relieved that he could sit down to brunch with friends. Soon enough, he'll be conducting a tour group to all of the Utah National Parks, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Another friend has begun to build a guitar. He's got this wonderful habit of finding guitars that have been left behind at charity thrift stores. And he restores them with great care. It's such a nice hobby to have. We discovered that one couple had never been to one of our favorite, local cafes. It's called Mazza and is an easy walk from our house in the East Liberty Park neighborhood. So, our next plans pretty much made themselves.