High Rollin' in C-Rad/My Dad is the best!

Last night I attended my first ever cocktail/fundraiser party! I won a ticket in a raffle at work to go to the "Phamaly Circle of Stars Gala" (everything inside the quotes can be read pretentiously).  When I got the information about the ticket, surprise surprise, it was cocktail attire.

I thanked my lucky stars that my sweet mother had thought to buy me a little black dress as a college graduation present - and then I headed off to the stores to find myself a shrug and a clutch. After searching at all the right stores - read JC Penney and Ross's - my sister suggested I give Target a try. So I typed Target into my GPS and showed up at the LARGEST Super Target I have every beheld. It was huge.  I got everything I needed there -- and I was ready to look the part:

Cocktail Ready

Then I showed up at the Gala -- I was offered champagne when I walked through the door (which I declined), I mingled - met some very nice people - ate my hors d'oeuvres - and then watched some live theatre performances, and participated (by watching only) in a live charity auction where they raised thousands and thousands of dollars (although not with one of my tightly squeezed pennies).  My very favorite part of all of it though was get all ready to go! Dressing up is just tooooo much fun! :)

Since it IS Father's Day -- this blurb would not be complete without this portion dedicated to the man that raised me:

I graduated from college this year - thanks to many people, but especially these two:

Therapeutic Recreation is one of those majors that people scoff at -- "she's getting a major in what?!" The word recreation is just a little too 'fun' to be a real job, and I understand where people are coming from, but thankfully I was given two very practical parents who make all kinds of smart decisions say to me "Go for it!"  They have supported my decision even when I doubted it was the right one -- always, always, always saying "Kelli this is perfect for you."  Which really has given me the confidence to move forward to do something that I love! What my dad doesn't know is that he's the one that got me started down this impractical career. 

My dad's a little crazy sometimes and he has a lot of crazy, but really good, ideas. Like the time he decided at the age of 45(ish) to take up back-packing.

He's the leader of his own band!

He and his enthusiasm, and my ever supportive mother, got us to hike with heavy back-packs on, NOT ONCE BUT TWICE, up a giant mountain to this old piece of wreckage.

So happy we've found it after two years and a lot of tears later!

Those trips were horrible, but I came away feeling so extremely empowered and ready to take on the world that I knew there was a power possible in recreation, which led me to therapeutic rec and just so happened to change the entire course of my whole life thus far.... I wonder if he's regretting his crazy back-packing scheme yet?

My dad has also taught soooo much in the course of my 22-years! While looking for these pictures, I found some pictures that represent the pattern for just about all the things my dad has taught me.   It goes something like this:

My sweet dad teaches me all about skill/task/behavior/etc. by standing right next me and guiding me step-by-step through the process.

Then he steps back and gives me a chance to succeed on my own: 

He steps back in to help me through the hard times:

In this case.. touching the fish... blech.

 And then lets me take all the credit:

Proudly disgusted.

 I'm really one lucky girl! :)

Especially since my dad is good for a selfie every once in a while!