Posts Tagged "weddings"
Of love and flying elbows…
It’s been such a week. Even though I took off work to help out with some family stuff, I still feel like I did a lot, even though I didn’t. Funny how that works out huh?
Maybe it’s because my Friday and Saturday were just busy. Since I was spending the night at Jacki’s house so I wouldn’t have to worry about getting up early to drive all the way to Galt for Akilah’s wedding that Saturday, I left my house Friday afternoon only to get stuck in traffic. Like serious traffic. So serious that it took an hour to get from my house to the mall. A drive that usually takes no more than 20 minutes. It takes me just under an hour to drive to Sacramento!
Of course, I had to stop in Vacaville for a quick trip to the outlets to find some shoes for my dad for Father’s Day. I was successful [thank goodness] and it didn’t take as long as I had thought it would. Of course I ran into more traffic getting into Davis but whatever. I eventually arrived; sure a little frazzled and moist from the constant sun but I made it.
We got together with Akilah for a little break before all the wedding madness began at her maid of honor’s house for dessert and it was so much fun. Akilah was so excited about the next day [obviously] and we had fun talking and laughing and of course eating. Though that was only half of it.
We ended up playing Outburst and Jacki and Akilah both jumped on me about being uber-competitive and kept accusing me of giving them the hard topics when I wasn’t even me. Yes I’m uber-competitive but it was my teammates’ decision on some of the topics. Of course with them double teaming me, it left my teammates free to do whatever. Ha. Shows them right. Though we did end up winning anyway. Of course we did. I rock at pulling out random things, like knowing Nick Cage was in “Moonstruck.”
Thank you “I Love the 80s.”
But the best part was seeing Akilah and her bridesmaids practice the special surprise she had cooked up for her husband to be.
The wedding took place in Galt at Grace Vineyards. It was only the second wedding they held there but it’s a beautiful place. There’s a pool with a fountain in the back of the house, the vineyard to the left and a golf course behind it.
Unfortunately for us, there was a bit of a scandal with a late bridesmaid so we ended up having to wait an hour for the wedding to start. But once it did it was such a beautiful ceremony. Akilah couldn’t stop smiling and she let her inner goof run free as she giggled her way through the ceremony and made faces at her new husband.
And then they were married and we partied hard, well until 4 pm that is. But we packed as much as we could into the day. We laughed with the new friends we made, danced our hearts out on the dance floor, ate some really good food [they had a breakfast/brunch themed menu!], wondered where our water pitcher went, and enjoyed some delicious cake.
Well, I didn’t enjoy the cake. I think this was the first time I actually turned down cake but I wasn’t so much interested in the fruit tarts and other cakes available at the dessert buffet and unfortunately for me, I had decided that I had grown tired of red velvet cake the night before. Even though I knew she was serving red velvet cupcakes. But I did have a bite of Jacki’s cupcake so it wasn’t like I didn’t have anything.
So the special surprise was an acoustic performance of “A Natural Woman.” Akilah had found pink feather boas for the bridesmaids and pink gloves for herself and she sung for her new husband. Of course she laughed her way through it because she’s just that silly but it was awesome.
But I guess one of the highlights of the day was how I got elbowed out of the way for the bouquet by the groom’s mother. Yup. I know the bf breathed a sigh of relief but man, that sucked! That was probably my best chance at getting the bouquet. I know I’m already getting married and all but it’s not about that for me. I just always wanted to catch the bouquet and win. Yeah, it’s about winning.
That and I know it will kind of freak the bf out.
But mostly it’s about winning. I mean, I was in the front and everything. I hardly ever stand in the front. Figures I get edged out but by his mom? Really? Couldn’t it have been someone else? Anyone?
Oh well. I have two weddings to go to next year. Maybe I’ll get lucky there.
Read MoreWeekend of bliss
Congratulations Akilah and Michael! I know God will bless you both for years to come.
Read MorePlease take a number
Okay, I’ll continue my Seattle recap hopefully tomorrow. Life has gotten in the way of my plans [in the words of the immortal Stephanie Tanner: How rude!”] so I’ll have to trudge on without some of the choice pictures from the trip that are currently hanging out on Amalia’s camera. Such is mango.
Of course, I’m no where near my computer with my pictures on it so I’ll have to wait to hit publish on the recap until I get home tonight. That and in thinking about Saturday, we did a lot of stuff so I’ll most likely have to break that up into two separate posts. You know how I be writing stuff ‘till the cows come home.
So today will be an off-topic kind of day. Let’s see, what can we complain about today? The threats of increased bridge tolls come January? Or the proposal to start charging carpools? Or how the governor is making [yet another] threat about how California is in dire straits for the 12th consecutive month and how everyone needs to make cuts except when he says everyone he means “everyone but the state legislature and their staff.”
Maybe I shouldn’t discuss these things…really makes it hard for me to argue my case for California to the bf. But really, aside from the bumbling government, I love this slightly on the verge of being overrated little state.
There has been an active abundance of babies in my office as of late. Two have been born to coworkers within the past week and we all just got word that another one’s wife is expecting. I would warn against drinking the water except it’s already the filtered stuff…so maybe I should just start drinking soda again?
Wait, I literally just found out another of my friends is expecting again. This is insane with all the baby making!
I’m looking forward to seeing the new additions and holding them and cuddling them and handing them back. That’s the best part. Not that I don’t want to have my own kids, I do, very much so, even with the knowledge of how obnoxious I was when I was younger [what can you do when you’re already resisting arrest at the tender age of 1 or 2?] but I’m looking forward to adding to the overpopulation of earth in a selfish attempt of the most extreme form of egotism. As the more vehement “non-breeders” like to say.
Which is odd really, why would you knock someone else’s choice? Are they forcing you to take care of their kid? Then who made you the most important person in the world whose opinion apparently matters? Don’t decry me for wanting to have children as I won’t decry you for choosing NOT to have them. They’re both decisions.
Wow, that was some tangent wasn’t it? Let’s see if I can veer this puppy back…
Um, I’m struggling. How sad. Oh! Wedding news! No, not mine. But Akliah’s wedding is next weekend and I’m so excited. I can’t wait to see her and Michael be all married. He’s a great guy [he’s the one would wandered around Vegas with us last year] and she’s seriously one of the sweetest people I know. She was telling me how quickly their guest list spiraled out of control…so darling, when we start inviting people, we’ll have to make sure we put exactly WHO we’re inviting. None of this so and so and family. Some one sent an RSVP card back with 9 people! So their midsized wedding as nearly doubled in size!
I understand weddings are expensive and while one or two additional guests here and there may not hurt too much but having the gall to invite 7 additional people? Really? That was shocking.
So I guess we’ll have to figure out who’ll have to be the heavy to tell people no, you can’t bring your great half aunt on your dad’s cousin’s uncle’s side.
Oh who am I kidding, I’m so going to be the heavy.
You wanna bring your great half aunt on your dad’s cousin’s uncle’s side? Heck naw you can’t! Whatever, dude. Take that nonsense somewhere else and come back when you have two names to go with the two seats we’re saving for you.
Hmm, I may want to work on my delivery, yes?
Read MoreIt’s just a harmless skip in time
The prezzie is out of town the rest of the week [starting yesterday] so it has been a relaxing experience at work. I’ve been able to catch up on my work and start to organize my own desk a bit in preparation for the new EA that will be starting on Monday. Yesterday, during a lull in the day, I spent the afternoon working on my stats homework after getting some help from the professor. I’m still stuck on a problem though I plan on working through that today. Hopefully I can get it but if not I plan on asking the prof to walk us through it during class.
I was even able to organize the prezzie’s office [well as much as possible] and I was done before 11 am!
Anywho, I found out my coworker D’s wife is expecting a baby! It was pretty exciting news since we were just talking about how parenthood would probably just sneak up on him not too long ago. But now that I think of it, we were probably discussing it right at the cusp of the drop down. He was excited yet nervous as most future dads to tend to be and I found the entire thing to be quite cute and endearing. Of course then came the name game and my prediction that he will become the weird crazy dad of a teenaged daughter.
But it was so cute watching and listening to him talk about the impending baby. You could just tell how excited he was. I couldn’t help but think about the bf and how he’d be when it was our turn. Then I thought about how he refused to hold a baby that he said looked like we would have and nearly cracked up. He wouldn’t even take a picture so I could see!
Though, slightly unrelated but not really, I did notice how often I started sentences with “I…” and had to make the conscious effort to NOT try to bring the conversation back towards me. It was kind of frustrating because it made me wonder how often I do do that; the whole no matter what we’re talking about lets see how quick I can turn the conversation’s focus back on me. And if I noticed that little unfortunate habit then other people must have noticed it and OMG! Am I completely self-centered?!
See, I just did it right there but honestly, isn’t that the whole purpose of a blog? To be able to talk about yourself whenever you feel the breeze hit you on the right spot? While I do enjoy being the center of attention [if you believe in that kind of stuff, I am two of the most attention hungry signs ever, the Leo and the Rooster] I do try to not push myself into the spotlight by stealing it from someone else. But because I do have that habit of turning things around back to me, I’m acutely aware of when I do it and when other people do it. I just hope that people don’t think I’m doing it purposely, because I’m not and I do try to avoid it.
And yet another topic: I was going through my regular cycle of blogs yesterday and I was reading about the dress options for guys at destination weddings [I know, I know – the bf’s eyes just rolled just yet again] but I started picturing the bf on a beach wearing a nice white button down linen shirt and a pair of khakis or something and got that nice shiver. I can’t wait for our turn to get married. I want that man so much it’s ridiculous. But first things first: settle on a location to live. Sometimes chronology sucks big time.
Read MoreUntil next year, my beloved birth month…
If it were ever put up for a vote, I’d completely support any type of movement towards a four-day workweek. Its not like I’d come back to loads of work come Monday morning [provided we get Fridays off – and we should…who really gets work done on a Friday?] and knowing that I’d have four days to get my work done, I’d of course spend my time wisely to make sure everything’s done that week before I leave. Much like I do right before I leave for vacation. See, smart.
Since we got out of work early on Friday, I went over to the Ferry Building because I was in the mood for macarons. I figured if I was thinking of making some, I should probably try them out first. Smart move huh? So off I went to Miette Patisserie to pick up a few [chocolate, hazelnut, rose, raspberry and vanilla] and then made a stop at the Scharffen Berger stall to pick up a bar of Mocha chocolate for Marilu because I’m bribing her with food so she’ll always be my friend. It’s easy because she’s pregnant so she always wants to eat. I’ve found you can always win over a pregnant woman with food. We’ve come full circle from our early friendship in high school when she used to feed me.
Then I spent the rest of the afternoon at the Acac’s house just hanging out and eating as I tend to do when I’m there. Of course there was that one-hour trip to Target we took [we also stopped at the Linens and Things non-store closing sale – I mean, if you’re closing and are desperate to move merchandise, then price them at least 50% off. Most of the discounts were for 10%, which is pretty much tax].
Saturday found me hanging out with my beloved Aunt Wanda who took me out for the day for my birthday. Our first stop was to get a manicure and pedicure, which would be my very first ones. For someone who seems to have been born in socks, it was weird having my feet all prettied up [even with the light nail polish I chose, it still looks weird on my toes!]. After that, we made our way to P.F. Changs for a feast of huge proportions. Well huge for two people. Between us, we ordered six different meals [two appetizers and four items] and made a decent dent in them. We were pretty stuffed after lunch and could have easily called it a day and gone home but we soldiered on to Oakland for the Art and Soul festival which was actually pretty cool. It was the first time I’d gone and I enjoyed myself. Even with being too full to function.
I taught Sunday school and the kids were in rare form. I don’t know what happened or what was mixed in with their eggs at breakfast but they were more than their usual handful. Two of the kids couldn’t stop dancing around and one of those dancers kept singing. I made a joke and EVERYONE cracked up but it wasn’t even all that funny, and they kept laughing for minutes afterwards. I was exhausted once I finally just gave up and let them go. All me and my assistant teacher could do was just look at each other and shake our heads.
I did get to business of making my ice cream sandwiches. I plan on writing a bit more tomorrow so I’ll leave you with this:
Tasty huh?
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