the luckiest

I have always thought that I had extremely bad luck.  Almost every time I play a game based more on luck than skill (i.e. Mario Party) I lose.  I could've given you many more examples of my bad luck a week or so ago.  But now, I am starting to think that all of those years of bad luck have resulted in an incredible streak of good luck.

Sunday began more or less with Sam and I heading out to Palisade to check out the wineries.  It was SOO much fun!  We went to five wineries and did free wine tastings at all of them.  We also went to the Colorado Fudge Factory (it was in one of the wineries) and used a coupon to buy a pound of fudge (which was gifted to our host family, along with many other things we collected on our winery tour) and get a half pound (for ourselves) for free!

Then that night at dinner, Ann Marie, the oldest daughter, was debating whether or not she was actually gonna go to Country Jam that night.  She had just decided to call her friends and ask whether or not she really wanted to go, when she checked her phone and realized she a voicemail from another friend of hers saying to call him immediately.  Turns out he had backstage passes to see Sugarland play that night and he wasn't going to be able to use them.  So not only did Sam and I get to go to Country Jam, an activity we had decided against in the interest of saving money, but we got to go for free, and go backstage.  On top of that, they let us park for free, because we pulled in just as the concert was starting.  And the concert was PHENOMENAL.  Seriously.  We listened to Sugarland (Ann Marie made us a CD) on our drive today and decided that she sounds even better live than she does on recordings.  And she and the band are all just so fun to watch!  They are obviously having a blast performing and don't take themselves too seriously.  It was probably the best concert I've ever been to (not that I've exactly been to a lot...)

Then there was the minor drama with my diploma.  I had been hearing that a lot of my friends had gotten theirs already, and I had not yet received mine.  I was pretty certain there was no way that I didn't actually graduate, but I got a little freaked out regardless.  So I emailed the dean- she emailed me back this morning saying that the reason I hadn't gotten my diploma back was because, even though in fall semester I was just shy of graduating with honors and hence, could not apply for graduation with honors, my grades in the spring brought me back up over a 3.5 and so my diploma needed to be reprinted to say I graduated cum laude after all.

Today we drove back to the Eastern side of Colorado.  We're going white water rafting tomorrow afternoon.  I can't wait! I have always wanted to go.  Then on Wednesday I think the plan is to head to Water World, which is ranked #3 in the list of best water parks according to the Travel Channel (and this according to Sam- I must confess I have not confirmed this).  I just need to remember at some point tomorrow to make my two week presenter call to Oklahoma- and to call Texas to make sure we officially have a place to sat.  And an accompanist.  Not quite sure which is more important...