NYE

So I'm convinced that Mother Nature decided that she owed the Midwest payback after giving us such a mild fall. And apparently the blizzard in mid-December wasn't enough. South Dakota got round two of that storm New Year's weekend, and although Sioux Falls was pretty manageable, the interstates were closed pretty much everywhere else in the state--which effectively ruined our plans to go visit some friends out west. But, that also meant that my sister and her boyfriend we stuck in Sioux Falls, so we decided to make the best of an unfortunate situation. My dad and Darrell are Shriners, and on New Year's Eve they were having a formal dinner and dance at the local Shrine Mosque. As much as I was looking forward to spending some time with my friends, it sure was fun getting all gussied up.

Getting ready to leave

In addition to a fabulous steak dinner and lots of good (ballroom) dance music, they also had a really cool "Battle of the Artists". Each artist was given a 4 ft by 4 ft canvas and one black marker, and 30 minutes to complete a drawing. They weren't allowed to use any sketches or other aids to help them. I wasn't exactly blown away by either drawing (one artist had potential going, but then he started mocking the other artist on the back of his canvas and that ruined it for me), but I won't judge because no way could you pay me enough to go up and do that.

Just before finishing

All in all it was a great night, and a good last-minute NYE plan. Who knows, maybe we'll make an appearance again next year--after all we were one of the best-dressed crews there!