Today, I woke up early and got ready to go to an event at the Buddhist Center in town.  It was Parinirvana Day and I was lucky enough to spend six hours doing guided meditation, drinking tea, study, eating vegetarian potluck lunch, taking part in a ceremony to remember loved ones who have died, more tea, study, and a closing ceremony with lots of chanting.  These pictures were taken while I was getting ready for this day.  I was supernervous about going all alone and so I spent some time getting ready.  This first picture was taken halfway through blowdrying my hair.  

(if only I had known how to do this when I played Sally Brown!) 

This picture was taken after I finished the blowdrying process.  

Anyway, the day was educational, the community was warm and friendly, the bread I had made at 11 the night before went over well, and I was taken outside of my comfort zone (which was the main goal of the excursion).  I came home, wrote about it for class, had some butternut squash soup, and then went to C's house to play Settlers of Catan with her and K and eat all of her popcorn.  I came close to winning the first round, was at a standstill for the entire second round, and we spent the entire (epic) third round trying to not let Katie won.  Just as I finally succeeded in getting her out of the lead, she finally won.  We were shocked to discover that it was 12:30 am, which is hours past what our bedtime should have been.  What a day.