Surprise Party on the Big Love Bus!!!

Its not every day that you turn...38??? Every birthday should be celebrated. At our house, we tend toward birthday week and sometimes even birthday month. Why not do it up Big Love Bus style?  

I was contacted by the best friend of a Nashville gal to set up a surprise 38th birthday party. She had he inside track on the Big Love Bus because she happens to be the fantastically beautiful and smart Renee Sprouse, the driving force behind Big Love Bus Knoxville. Obviously I wanted to help her out and make this surprise party great. Anyway, her friend's husband wanted a hand in putting together something special for his gal, and I was glad to oblige. I was able to put together a list of suggestions for stops and after a few emails back and forth a plan was formulated. 

Renee and her super sweet familly.

The plan was fairly simple. Gather a bunch of friends at someone's house for birthday snacks and drinks under the guise of a fairly simple party, then BAM...hit em with the Big Love Bus pulling up to the curb- music blaring, lights flashing, beads swinging, and load everyone on board for a night of fun. Surprise party awesomeness!!!

The bus was set to arrive at the house at 8:00 p.m.  When it arrived we built in time for the obligatory photo session and loading of all the party goodies and drinks on to the bus.  I'm pretty sure there were shots involved as I found quite a few leftover tiny plastic cups when I cleaned the bus.  If that isn't the case, then this group of folks really had some fresh breath and spent most of their time on the bus swishing mouthwash.  

From the pickup location, the bus travelled up to Love Circle for cupcakes and a view of the city.Side note from Glenn, the bus will not travel to Love Circle again any time soon...at least at dark...seems that the road is a bit, well, tight, for the bus...ahem.). The view of our Nashville, however, is stunning.

After slowly and somewhat painfully manuevering down from Love Circle, the bus meandered through the city streets of Nashville, taking in some of the sights before making several pit stops (read bushes) and eventually hitting up Rumours East.  

The carefully crafted itinerary went out the window from there as the party goers made some changes.  All in the name of fun, of course. After cruising around some more, visiting Sambuca, The 404, making a few more bathroom stops, the party goers were having a blast. In fact, the bus actually loved Rumours so much, they went twice! Can't say I blame them, it is really a neat spot and is beautiful this time of year when the trees are getting their new pretty, green leaves.


At that point, I think everyone at the party had enjoyed a few special drinks from small plastic cups like the ones pictured.  There was also a pink boa involved.  A month later, we might still be findin' pink boa feathers on the bus. Luckily, with a safe driver in charge, everyone was delivered home safely, happy from a night of celebrating a good friend on a cool bus.  Great memories!  Happy birthday Ree!

Walk in THEIR Shoes 5k

Survivors

One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before the age of eighteen.  Every two minutes someone in the United States is raped. That means that we all know someone who has been or will be sexually assaulted.  Terrifying.  Even more terrifying to me, after learning these statistics, is that I can recall fewer than 5 conversations with friends about sexual abuse or assault.  Not conversations about the fact that it exists.  I'm talking about conversations with people that were assaulted or abused.  In other words, this means no one is talking about something that is definitely happening.  I don't want this post to turn into some kind of political statement but I found this statistic personally alarming...and terrifying.  


A few years back, my husband was asked to be on the board of a local nonprofit.  At that time, it was called the Rape and Sexual Abuse Center (RASAC for short). He agreed.  I don't think he had a real idea at the time that the organization was the only place in Middle Tennessee that specializes in the treatment for sexual assault survivors.  Since that time, they have changed their name to the Nashville Sexual Assault Center.  The organization has been in existence since 1978 and provides 8,000 therapy sessions per year in addition to educating over 40,000 elementary-aged students per year in Tennessee about personal boundaries and assertivenes skills in a program called Safe@Last.  Recently, they also launched a program called Stewards of Children, designed to educate adults throughout the community on how to keep children safe.  Amazing that they can accomplish all this as a nonprofit organization, relying mostly on donations, fundraisers, and corporate gifts.

When they contacted me about bringing the bus to their annual 5k, Walk in THEIR Shoes, I was totally onboard.  What a great place for a happy, love bus to spend the day.  We loaded the bus up with water, juice boxes and candy for the kiddos, and a giant batch of love bus cookies.  The day turned out to be a bright, sun-filled, spring day in Tennessee, with near perfect conditions.  What a blessing to this celebration of survivors of sexual abuse and assault.

Along with the bus and the snacks, I took along some swag from EO Products new Love Everybody line.  Natural, plant based hand sanitizer with essential oils and scents like peppermint citrus and coconut lemon; love everybody buttons; dog tag necklaces; and hair bands.  What a fabulous place for their Love Everybody message.  A celebration of survivors.  I also used it as an opportunity to tell people all about the bus.

Throughtout the day we had several hundred people in and on and around the bus. Kids, adults, babies, and even dogs. The Big Love Bus was even used as the backdrop for the photobooth! See Exhibit A and B, below!

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

We got a lot of great feedback on the bus.  Everyone wanted to know what we were all about.  Premier transportation! A lot of folks had great ideas about the things that they would do and where they would go with the bus.

Graduation party came up more than once, bachelorette party, Christmas light tour, tailgating, and sightseeing were all mentioned.  We even had a sign up to win a free hour on the Big Love Bus opportunity.  Hopefully we will be able to tell you all about that party soon!

In the meantime, we were honored to #spreadthelove to a such a hardworking group of people who provide such a valuable service in our community.   

Jessica with Tim Tohill, NashvilleSAC President

If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual abuse or assault, call the Nashville Sexual Assault Center Crisis Hotline at 1-800-879-1999.