My husband and I high-fived each other as we were walking out the door this morning: Just one more day to get through before the long weekend. Don't you feel like you could really use one?
After we pick up the house, we're planning to get together with friends and check out a hockey game. (It'll be our first with a kiddo. Wish us luck).
It feels like the perfect balance of relaxing time at home and fun time out and about. But I'm tempted to squeeze in a couple of these too:
Second Annual Cupcake War Competition
Christian Worship Center, in Manteca, is hosting this competition, open to the public, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the church, 786 Button Ave. Contestants in two divisions - Youthful Baker (ages 9 to 16) and Baking Enthusiast (non-professional bakers, ages 17 and older) - will enter their cupcakes to be judged based on design creativity, presentation, texture and flavor. It's too late to enter a cupcake, but for a $1 donation, members of the audience can help judge each baker's decorating skills in the "people's choice" phase of competition. There also will be a food court, raffles, a cupcake-eating contest and other activities.
Chess Club
My dad taught my brothers and I to play chess when we were pretty young. He never let us win. And although I never got really good at it, I enjoyed the time we spent playing together. Locally, the Tracy Branch Library is launching a chess club for visitors of all ages and experience levels. Starting this Saturday, the club will meet weekly from noon to 2 p.m. at the library, 20 E. Eaton Ave., in Tracy. Feel free to bring friends or chess boards. From time to time, there will be free chess lectures at the start of each meeting.
Mural Project
On Sunday, from 4-6 p.m, Stockton's Teen Impact Center, 725 N. El Dorado Street, kicks off a 10-week series of workshops designed to help youths explore the arts through a mural project. The workshops are free and open to all teens and pre-teens in Stockton. For more information, or to register, e-mail Precious Fortes at pfortes@frrcsj.org.
"Back to Mississippi" with Geraldine Hollis
In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1961, Stockton resident Geraldine Hollis, was part of a group of students - called the Tougaloo Nine -- who staged a sit-in at a whites-only library. She has written a book about her childhood, the Civil Rights movement and her career in teaching - and she's a really wonderful person to talk to, if you've never had the chance. You can find her giving a presentation at 1 p.m. Monday at Stockton's Barnes & Noble store, 4950 Pacific Avenue.
