Rehersal Dinner
Elizabeth, Mike, and "Crazy" Uncle Alan share a special moment at the rehearsal dinner (family tradition - don't ask).
Read my blog from the trip, or just skip to the photos:
I'm in Minnesota enjoying the sunny, cold weather while seeing old friends and meeting new ones. :) Mostly I'm thinking of how much I love my friends, and just how proud I am of Mike! Seeing him with Elizabeth is a truly beautiful thing... and I'm so glad to be here for their wedding weekend!!
I've been getting a bit reflective this weekend as I've been thinking back about "the gang." It's been an amazing eight years since I first met Mike in freshman classes, met Kat at freshman orientation, met Chris and Alyssa in student clubs, and started hanging out with Charles at college. Who knew back then that we'd stick together through four years of college, and then remain together the following four years after college?? (Not that we live anywhere near each other now... I'm off in Seattle, Mike's in the Twin Cities, Charles and Alyssa moved from Houston to Austin, and Chris moved from Dallas to Austin. We're still a bit spread out, but that doesn't stop us from annual parties and reasons to get together across state lines). Happily, we were all able to make it out here to MN for the wedding this weekend, and a little mini-reunion has ensued. :)
Thursday I met up with Chuck at the airport and all was well with the world. :) We went to a lovely Peruvian place in Uptown for dinner with his cousin Lisa and husband Eric (who graciously opened their home to us). I actually met Lisa a few years ago when Charles, Andy, and I came up to the Twin Cities to visit Mike over the 4th of July back in 2000. After dinner, Charles and I headed over to Elizabeth's parents' house to meet both families and get to know the Maid of Honor. I've got to say, it's a really great opportunity to be at a wedding and actually have time to spend with the bride and groom. It doesn't always happen, and I know not to expect it, but it's a nice surprise when it does happen. :) Many weddings are packed so full of events and people that there's rarely time to see everyone you want to see. This weekend was great and every day we've had time to spend with Mike, both alone and in small groups of friends and in larger groups with families. How fabulous! I first met Elizabeth twice before, both times when Mike brought her back to Texas. Even that first time we met her, we already knew she was a keeper. :)
Friday was another lovely day in paradise. Shopping and yummy Thai with Lisa and Chuck, followed by more family bonding and a tour of Captain Mike's fabulous new house. (Elizabeth doesn't move in until after the wedding). I was quite impressed with the decorating and the house, and loved seeing artwork and crafts Mike bought when we backpacked Europe back in 1999. (see photo above when Mike and I zoomed around the Swiss Alps and almost took out a bus load of tourists... we were hell on wheels!!). Friday afternoon I had the pleasure of spending quality time with Katherine! Yeah! I last saw Kat (and Charles and Mike and the whole UT-Austin gang) when I flew down to Texas in May for Kat and Steve's wedding. Their wedding was gorgeous, as was Katherine, but I was glad to have this weekend in Minnesota to catch up on a less hectic trip. Seems we're both working too much, but hopefully we'll both be in better places very soon. :)
The rehearsal dinner that night was quite a trip... I enjoyed chatting with Emily (who did Teach for America) and her fiancé Aaron (who's got an MBA in social services and has crazy food problems too... yeah gluten-phobes!). I also really enjoyed "Crazy" Uncle Allan who toasted the couple and made them wear stainless steel colanders on their heads for the whole night. Nice touch!! The evening capped with a late night chat session once Chris and Alyssa arrived from Austin... we spent hours chatting in the hotel lobby until we realized it was 3am!
Today's wedding day was entirely too stress free to seem like a wedding day at all. We did lunch with the groom (even got free rhubarb pie since it was his wedding day), and then headed to the Walker Sculpture Garden to check out the art in the gorgeous weather. (Instead of 27 degrees and rain like weather.com predicted, it was sunny and warm. Yeah!). After photos and sculptures, we did the wedding (lovely!) and the reception (fun... even got to meet Jens - a musician/science boy from WA now in MN, and his roommate Lucas who took me out on the dance floor for one entertaining jazz number). After leaving the reception, we decided on drinks since we couldn't very well have gone to bed by 11pm. Chris, Lyss, Kat, Charles, and I got some drinks and now at 2am, I'm home again and ready for sleep. Tomorrow I need my rest as I've got a 5-6 hour drive ahead of me as I make my way towards Waukesha to see Mary!!!
On that note, I feel like it's Thanksgiving, where we all have to go around and say one thing we're thankful for. I'll start: I'm thankful for great friends and an abundance of love. :) If there's one thing in life I've been blessed with, it's being surrounded by great people (from Seattle to Texas to many others). Thanks y'all! I do love you all... even if I'm bad about calling regularly or visiting!
Captain Mike tied the knot in the Twin Cities last weekend, which was cause for vacation and celebration! (I've been working tons lately and getting away and seeing friends was just what I needed!) I haven't bought a new digital camera yet, so I only had about 25 shots I could get on my little old camera that I brought with. Needless to say, I'm missing lots of great stuff, and am counting on Chris to post pictures he took on his lovely new digital camera. :)
Rehersal Dinner
Elizabeth, Mike, and "Crazy" Uncle Alan share a special moment at the rehearsal dinner (family tradition - don't ask).
Mother and son
Mike's family is great... they're sweet and fun and quite loveable! I was happy to see his parents, grandmother, aunts, uncles, and of course sister and bro-in-law. :)
The Walker Sculpture Garden
I heart Spoonbridge! Chris, Alyssa, Kat, and I had a few hours after lunch on Saturday before the wedding, so we spent the sunny afternoon wandering the grounds at the Walker. So nice!
Pavlovian
There's something about a cherry that people (and geese?) just can't resist. :)
Alyssa!
There's also something about giant green asparagus looking things that just scream for you to straddle them. :)
The Horse
It's not really made out of sticks... the artist took sticks, cast them in bronze, and then made the statue of our bronze. Cool!
Speaking of Chris...
Here he is with his new fancy camera! Such fun! I bet he was able to get great close ups of the lily pond flowers!
Something fishy
These little girls seemed more intrigued by something in the water than the two story glass fish coming out of the water...
Swinging is one of my favorite things!
Alyssa and Kat play on the giant art/swing. Have I mentioned I love swinging? I could do it for hours and not get bored. :) I could also spend days with Chris, Alyssa, and Kat and not get bored. It was great they were all able to come up from Austin! It's not common that we get to hang together these days...
We went to the wedding on Saturday, but I was taking pics on a camera for Mike and Elizabeth so I don't have any of my own pics to post of the happy couple's happy day. (Hence, no pictures of Charles from the weekend). Regardless... Chris is burning his pics for me and I'll hopefully post some of those shortly after they arrive. :)
Following the wedding, I did brunch with families and friends on Sunday morning before hitting the road to see Mary in Wisconsin. Happily, at the wedding the night before, I met Jens (who appears to be the nicest guy in the whole Midwest) and he graciously accompanied me on the road trip and kept me entertained for 14 hours of driving. I couldn't have picked a better travel companion to join me for the trip! :)
Madison
We took a break in Madison, WI to stretch our legs and grab a bite to eat. :) The UW-Madison student union has cheap and yummy ice cream made on site, and the walk along the lake was quite nice too!
Madison
The student union is right on the waterfront and features a great outdoor stage that has live music (there was Jazz on Sunday afternoon). While you can't see it well, the man walking in the middle of the screen had quite a mullet. Wow!
Madison
After a walk along the water, we made a trip up State Street to see the sights, snapped a photo of the capital, and then headed back on the road. State Street felt a lot like the Drag in Austin, and had lots of neat little shops and cafes. They also had some street musicians called The PROFIT$ who played a funny, funny song called "Jailbait." Madison was cool... I'd be hip with going to school there or visiting again someday.
We left the Twin Cities around 1pm, stopped in Madison, still made good time on the drive, and got into Waukesha at 8pm - just in time to get food and keep Mary and Dale from starving. :) They both were doing well as new parents of twin, premie girls, but both looked very tired and very overworked (staying up all night with crying babies and doing feedings every 3 hours will prevent a good deal of sleep).
Mary, Mya, and Malinda
This is a photo from Mary and shows just how tiny the girls are (even after 5 weeks!). They're like little spider monkeys... just spread out their arms and cling to you. Fun fact: The girls are so tiny they still can't focus their eyes on people or objects... though bright lights tend to hold their fascination. Mya has light hair, and Malinda has darker hair (and Malinda has colic too, poor thing!).
Absolutely adorable!
The twins were absolute sweeties! They were too cute and I got to hold and feed and snuggle with both of them! Mostly they just cried and ate, but I was okay with that! Look at this tiny little face! How can you resist? :) (Photo courtesy of Mary).
Milwaukee
Milwaukee is home of beer, brawts, and cheese curds. We avoided those during lunch and instead Mary and Vanessa took us to the best veggie restaurant in town (Beans and Barley). It was my first real meal in days and it was great! Afterwards, Jens and I wandered to see more of the area. Notice all of the great Pabst stuff around town like the lovely Pabst Theatre (seen here) and the lovely Pabst Mansion.
Milwaukee Art Museum
The art museum is glass and is shaped like a giant ship. Mary tells me the "wing" things open up like a sunroof so it can be open air. Random but nice!
Jens and I
It was a cool building, but since it was such a nice day (and since the museum cost $$$), Jens and I decided to head onward towards downtown. :)
Hotzone!
Apparently hotzones aren't just for hot boys, they're also used to mark WIFI areas so people know where connections are. Not a bad idea in either case. This hotzone was in a park with great swings... what more could a girl ask for in life?
Mary
We wandered along the river walk, passed a few cool buildings, and saw lots of nice churches.
Mosaic
My mosaic was nothing compared to this one at the church.
Cheese!
And what trip across WI would be complete without stopping multiple times for cheese curds? On the drive back to the Twin Cities on Tuesday, I managed to collect two more varieties to bring back to WA, and all are in my fridge patiently waiting to be eaten!
What a gorgeous drive!
Did I mention how much I enjoyed the road trip and the chance to get away for a week? The leaves were starting to turn colors and it was quite beautiful! There were rarely any silences in the car, but if there were they were generally broken by one of us muttering how beautiful the trees were.
Me and Jens
Once back in the Twin Cities, Jens showed me the Macalester College neighborhood, took me to lunch at some yummy coffee shop/cafe near the school, then took me to the Mississippi to see a view of the trees over the river. What a perfect way to end a lovely road trip! Thanks Jens!