Everything Is Big in Texas - Especially Surprises!

When my sister’s volleyball schedule was released a few months ago, I instantly looked at what possible dates I might be able to attend. It is important to me to make the time to see her play, as in another 2 years I will never again have the opportunity. Unfortunately, there was only one weekend this time that worked with my work schedule – November 7. Argh! So far away!

What was more disappointing was that my parents had planned on flying to Texas for her preseason tournament at Texas A&M. The draw here was that Troy of course attends Baylor in Waco, TX – which is only about an hour away from College Station. So, he too could attend the weekend tournament and everyone was looking forward to getting together as Troy has been gone all summer in China and not very accessible to communicate with.

I tried to figure out a way for the weekend to work – but with it being the first weekend of the fall for Women’s Soccer and Volleyball I just couldn’t figure out a way to miss – I remember my boss, Nick, agreeing with me when we originally discussed this.

Well – a week before her tournament, our staff was all sitting in our marketing meeting discussing upcoming events. It was at this time I realized that we only had two events (for some reason, I had thought 3) Friday night – and also we had restructured and Jessica was now covering all those sports. The issue we had to figure out was training – because while interns run all these sports that were going on, it was their first weekend so we had to be there to train them and make sure things ran smoothly.

So, after our marketing meeting I headed back to my office and instantly visited Southwest.com (one of my favs, lol) and looked up the price of a flight from Baltimore to Texas – Houston, Waco and College Station were pretty much my options. Low and behold – the flight from BWI to Houston was wayyyyyyyy too reasonable considering it was only a week away. I typed an email to Nick – pleading for him to cover one of the 2 events that weekend (knowing Jessica would be covering the other). I offered to buy him lunch, to give him money, to work a crappy event that might come up…ANYTHING. I took a deep breath and hit “SEND”. The waiting began.

We are pretty busy at work right now – so luckily time flew by pretty fast. However, every time I would go into Nick’s office for something I would think “Has he read the email? Is he mad?”…no indication from him. Mid-afternoon I received a reply that simply said “This should be fine.”

Yes!!

I booked the flight, which would depart at 6:15am Friday morning (yikes) – connect through St. Louis, and land in Houston at 10:00am. I then booked a rental car (Got a great rate – only $35 total – quite a change from what it would’ve cost last minute to book in San Diego!). If my plans worked out right, I should be pulling into the gym right at gametime. Last on the list was making sure I was okay in terms of sleeping arrangements.

It was, of course, not unusual for me to ask my mom about her plans for the trip. Honestly, I would’ve been asking those questions anyways. But, when I asked where they would be staying Thursday and Friday night in College Station – she responded with “We have a room with two double beds…so it looks like your dad and I will squeeze into a bed and your brother will have a bed all to himself.” Hahahaha – orrrrrrrr so he thinks ;) Last item on the agenda was figuring out Saturday night. My mom was toying with the idea of getting a hotel room in Waco (Ellie would fly home Saturday night – and my parents would go back to Waco with Troy to see his campus, place, etc. Mom had helped him move in so had seen it before – but Dad hadn’t seen it yet). She was also considering maybe just staying at Troy’s one bedroom loft. I tried to convince her to book the hotel room (she could always cancel)…but good ole’ economical Troy convinced her that her and dad could just sleep in his bed and he’d stay on the couch. Crap. Where was I going to sleep? Lol. I did a little research, booked a reasonably priced room at the Clarion about 2 blocks from campus and ensured I would be able to cancel on Saturday if my thinking was incorrect and the family still wanted to get cozy in Troy’s apartment. Let me just say, however, if that involves someone sleeping on the floor – it will NOT be me…based on the fact that the week leading up to the trip Troy had a slight rodent issue and nabbed 4 mice before maintenance closed up a hole in his wall. I am NOT taking any chance.

On a side note, Shawn said his sister and niece had a mouse in their place recently – and at first his niece was terrified. However, they asked her, “Have you seen Ratatouille?” She did a compete 180 – and then wanted to find the little mouse so she could be friends with it. HA!

Anyway, early Friday morning I drove to the airport and caught my flight to St. Louis. I decided to not change my work voicemail to indicate I was out of the office, in case they called. It worked out perfect, as my mom texted me at 7:30amCST, which fell during my layover. They were at breakfast. I responded to the text and also mentioned that I would be busy all morning, so would plan on checking in with her after the first game (12:30pm vs. Virginia).

I landed in Houston on time, picked up my rental car, hooked up my GPS that I brought with me (best Xmas gift ever) and hit the road – wearing jeans, flip flops and my black Northern Iowa t-shirt. I was ready to walk right into the gym and put my gameface on!

I wound up arriving in College Station around Noon – and via text message knew my mom hadn’t arrived at the facility yet. Troy and my dad apparently drove separate from her as she went to the mall for a makeover at Macy’s. (Parents rented a car in College Station when they flew in, Troy drove his own vehicle from Waco). I didn’t want to beat them there…so I stopped at Quiznos and grabbed a bite to eat. Around 12:25pm, I pulled up to the arena and went inside. I ducked into the back of the seating area, spotted my parents and Troy. Mom was sitting up a little higher than them because she likes the view better up there. Time to go about my plan. I took a picture of the court (see on left) and then sent it to all three of them via text with the following message (or close to): Flight to Houston: $265. Rental Car: $35. Surprising my family in College Station so we can spend the weekend together…priceless.

So I’m sitting back there …. The game is about to start… and no one is checking their phones. In fact, my mom was holding her phone in her lap until literally the moment I sent the text message. She then set it into her purse. Sigh. Troy was the winner – I saw him pull out his phone, open it up, and read it. He was confused for a moment – even showed Dad (who was sitting next to him). He then, after a few moments, turned around and looked up. He spotted me – gave a grin and wave, and motioned me down. Via gestures, I indicated I wanted to stop at mom’s location first. She had her back to me, oblivious as to what was going on. I climbed over some seats, until I was right behind her…then tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and the look on her face was priceless. Complete surprise and somehow got the words out “What are you doing here?” Tears followed, which of course made me tear up…and…there went that makeover from Macys….hahaha.

I watched the first 2 games sitting with Troy and my Dad and then the third with mom (they won all three – against Virginia). Troy and I had a bet going as to when Ellie realized I was there. He thought before the game. I thought it wasn’t until game two when Ellie was on the bench for a timeout and looked up and saw me – she gave me a “what in the world are you doing here” expression. After the game, she confirmed I won the bet :)

Match 2 of the day was against Iona, which Northern Iowa also defeated 3-0. After the second match, Mom, Dad and I went to the mall to walk around a bit (Ellie had to stay for the following match to watch A&M for awhile and Troy stayed with her). Mom and I did a little shopping at a boutique and the PET STORE (awwww puppies!) and my dad wound up getting lost in an Army surplus store. He was in heaven.

Around 8pm we headed home (an hour later than expected), dropped Dad off in the room (he rented another room for the night for Troy and I to stay in – right next to my parents room), picked Troy up and headed across the street to a Mexican restaurant named Abuelos. After dinner, Ellie joined us all in my parent’s room where we hung out for awhile.

Saturday, we ate breakfast together and then Ellie stayed with her team and the rest of us headed back to the mall. Troy got his first pedicure (while reading an enthralling book about finance), Mom got a manicure and I got a fill. Well mine wound up taking forever because we soaked my previous acrylics off instead of ripping them off (haha), so after Dad was done in the Army surplus store (yes he went back for more), he, my mom and my brother took off for the arena. I couldn’t really abandon the nail job in the middle of it – so I was stuck 30 more minutes at 4 Tip 2 Toe (what a name) and then raced to the arena. I missed the first few points of Ellie’s game, which was annoying…but so did my mom because she had purchased me a ticket (any game Texas A&M played in was actually ticketed…and there was an error on the pass list. My dad and brother were listed twice and my mom wasn’t there at all. I wouldn’t have been because when Ellie submitted the lists she didn’t know I was going to be there). Thanks for waiting for me mom :)

The crowd was ridiculous – Texas A&M has more organized school spirit and chants than I have ever seen. (see matching overalls to the left) They have 5 student male “yell leaders” who attend every home athletic events and lead the students constantly in chants, cheers and overall craziness. I must admit, it was pretty cool. Ellie’s team simply couldn’t put the ball away in her match. It was frustrating – and they wound up losing 1-3. However, I must say my sister played so awesome. She is really good – and I definitely felt like “proud sister”. Both her and her setter made the all-tournament team so that was neat. We were able to hang out briefly after the game but then Ellie and her team had to hit the road back to Houston to catch their flight.

The siblings :) Check out all those Panthers Shirts!

For those of you that don't know, this is Troy's vest...and Ellie and I being stupid. LOL.

I LOVE THIS PICTURE of Troy and I! :)

Obviously this is a pose...because Troy would NEVER block me ;)

Troy, my parents and I grabbed a bite to eat at a neat little café my Dad found and then hit the road to Waco, home of the Baylor Bears…and Troy :) Of course we were in 3 different cars (dad rode with Troy), so that was a pretty quiet ride although if you know me well, you know I spent a lot of the time on the phone. Lol. In Waco, we checked in the hotel room I had reserved (my parents decided to use it – I would sleep at Troy’s), and then piled into my rental car and toured campus. Baylor is a very beautiful campus…beautiful landscaping, beautiful buildings and apparently not suffering like the rest of the country when it comes to budget crisis. We went to Troy’s apartment/loft next – which was really neat and looked like a great space for him to live. We hung out, unwound a bit, and watched Tim Allen in “Santa Clause” on TV. Interesting time of year for THAT to be playing, but whatever. Following the movie, we went to dinner at Logans Steakhouse. This…is where the fun began.

Awesome sunset on campus!

It was a steakhouse that had the ole’ peanuts. Grab a handful, break the shell, eat the peanuts, throw the shell on the floor. We were seated in a corner booth and about 4 minutes after sitting down I looked at the ledge behind Troy’s head and noticed a gigantic, black, winged cricket crawling on a to-go container. I looked immediately at Troy and said “get out of the booth”. To his credit, he trusted me and got out. I then pointed out the cricket. I thought it might be a little less intimidating if he looked at it from at least a few feet away then turning around from his seat and being eyeball-to-eyeball with the thing. The waitress was taking our order at this time – so she took a napkin and killed it. I was impressed because let me tell you – if that happened to me as a waitress, the customers would be on their own. LOL.

The meal was served. At some point apparently another huge flying cricket hit the window blinds right next to me and fell down. Troy shot me a look and said, Carrie, get out of the booth. So, having seen nothing, but knowing by his tone and look that I needed to slide out, I pushed my mom out of the booth and escaped. Sure enough, in the seat right behind me, there was a huge cricket sitting on the bench. Gross. A guy bussing tables happened to be nearby and my mom grabbed him and he tracked down the cricket and napped it with his wet washcloth. This was getting ridiculous.

Troy was speaking to the waitress at another point later and was nailed in the arm by another flying black beast. He jerked is arm back, looked down on the ground beside the booth and the waitress came to the rescue, stomping on the critter. Of course, most refreshing (sarcasm) was that there were already 2 dead crickets on the floor next to it. Apparently this was a problem?

The waitress told us that they couldn’t figure out why they were so bad. It wasn’t a hole in the building necessarily, they were just finding ways to get in. She said it was so bad in the parking lot that sometimes she’ll come in with 3 just sitting on her shirt. Gross. I didn’t recall the parking lot being that bad but admittedly was now not sure what I’d see when we went back out to the car.

The final straw for me was as we were getting our bill. There was a stealth bomber cricket who dive bombed in a beeline toward my head. I yelped, ducked and said “ok, I’m outta here.” As dad tallied up the bill, the rest of us were headed to the car. Cautiously stepping outside and speed walking to the car. Inside the car, I kinda shrugged it off – yeah, there were probably a few crickets outside, but nothing that bad.

Once we had all piled in, we backed out and headed around the restaurant driveway to get back to the freeway. What we saw I don’t think I ever could have imagined. Around the other side of the restaurant there were hundreds, THOUSANDS of crickets. It was like a horror movie. Just covering the parking lot, flying around all the lights, crawling in armies on the side of the building. We kind of just sat there in amazement, car stopped in its tracks.

Not sure if you can tell - but every black speck you see...is a cricket.

Apparently some people were used to this. Two women exited the restaurant, walking around that way through the mess of creepy crawlers (and flyers lol), just stepping on them, kicking them out of their shoes, etc. I still cannot believe what we saw.

On the way back to the hotel, once we exited the freeway, we noticed that it was not just that restaurant (although that was definitely one of the worst cases we saw). Many businesses, gas stations, etc. were littered with the crickets. We dropped my parents off at the hotel, I said my goodbyes (I planned on leaving from Troy’s apartment early the next morning, although I may have stopped at the hotel to say goodbye on my way out), and Troy and I took off. We stopped at the grocery store and Walmart before going home and I must say, crickets were there too. In fact, the grocery store had many flying around as it was obviously pretty easy for them to fly in the large main automatic sliding doors to the building.

Troy and I hung out a bit at his house before going to bed. Early Sunday morning, I got up, said goodbye to Troy, stopped at the hotel to say goodbye to my mom and dad (and grabbed a few items off the free continental breakfast) and hit the road for my 3 hour drive to Houston. About an hour into the drive, the tire pressure warning light came on – so stopped at some tiny town about 10 miles up the road to find an air hose at a gas station. I must admit, I had to connect a piece the cashier loaned me to the air hose to use it…and couldn’t figure it out at first. I was just not strong enough to fit the two pieces together…hitting it on the ground, grunting and shoving….I wound up trying to improvise and instead let most of the air OUT of the tire …I then realized a latch that made the pieces fit together so easily a 3 year old could’ve done it. Filled up the tire with no pressure gauge to go off of (guessed – I’m alive to type this so at least you know it worked out)…and wa la. Back on the road to Houston.


Dropped the rental car off, was at the airport gate in plenty of time and then boarded my nonstop flight back to Baltimore.

Such a wonderful weekend and so nice to have the rare opportunity for all of us to spend some time together. I am so lucky to have such a great family!

I'm in Temecula...TRICK...

(*Note: Blog written 8/10/09)

It would be an injustice to not blog about this past weekend…mainly because there were so many crazy, unexpected things that happened I can hardly believe some of it myself.

To allow things to make some sort of sense, it would be best to explain the ORIGINAL plan. MONTHS ago, my good friend Kevin (who lives in Denver) and his wife Kerry set this past weekend (Aug. 7) to be a sort of friends reunion from college. With Kevin, there is never a dull moment so I was excited and penciled it in on the calendar. Then, about a month later my good friend Leah got engaged and decided to get married right away as opposed to waiting until next summer. Date she selected? August 7. Dear Kevin, I am bailing on your get-together and now headed to Temecula, California for a wedding.

By a weird coincidence, Shawn apparently has met Leah…when he was a freshman at Rice and she came on a recruiting visit. What was this, like nearly 10 years ago? Weirder – is that Leah remembered the meeting. However, they hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since. SO Leah invited both Shawn and I to the wedding and after checking multiple times at work regarding the day off, Shawn jumped on board.

This time of year is quite stressful for Shawn at work as the end of the fiscal year is almost here and as a senior accountant he plays a large role in justifying/aligning things numbers wise to balance out the year. He knew that there was a large change he’d have to miss a meeting on Friday but had been told it should be okay.

So…Plan #2 was for Shawn and I to fly into San Diego Thursday evening, drive to Temecula and stay until Saturday morning (wedding was Friday), head to San Diego to check out the Del Mar – “Where the turf meets the surf” – Horse Racing track during the day, enjoy the evening in San Diego, and then fly home Sunday morning. We bought our flights, booked our hotels, reserved a rental car and waited for the date to arrive.

Also invited to the wedding were Sarah and my friend Joe so they would also be worked into the plan. Joe and Sarah were going to fly into San Diego Thursday night as well – attend the wedding – head to San Diego during the day Saturday and then Saturday night we would all maybe meet up for dinner/drinks. However, Joe wound up getting a late invitation to ANOTHER wedding back home (San Francisco area for him) so to make both work he needed to fly back Saturday during the day from San Diego. At this point Sarah also decided it would be cheaper for her to drive than fly…and she really wanted to get back to Arizona Saturday afternoon for Arizona State’s football media day (she works for ASU in a similar position to mine)…so driving gave her the most flexibility. In fact, now she would just plan on arriving Friday during the day instead of Thursday evening and save on

hotel costs as well.

Last week, thinking that our now Plan #3 was ready to go…Shawn discovered his boss was also going to be absent for the big Friday meeting and after discussion with a few head people, determined it could potentially be a disaster for him to miss this meeting (and things go wrong) so Wednesday morning he cancelled his flight and backed out of the trip.

I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I was incredibly disappointed. I had been looking forward to this trip with Shawn for a long time…and it isn’t often that he has the opportunity to meet my REALLY good friends so having the opportunity to spend extended time with them (and me!) just seemed so fun to me. However, I didn’t have much time to be immediately disappointed because this changed my plans tremendously. I guess it didn’t really have to…but I didn’t want to spend Saturday alone in San Diego, paying for a hotel room and then flying home Sunday evening. That whole idea has instantly lost its charm…so I went online and scoured flight options. I cancelled my hotel rooms for all nights (I would just stay with Joe and Sarah on Thursday and Friday), cancelled my flight and rebooked a one way departing Saturday afternoon from San Diego. That SAME day Sarah discovered our friend Christina and Alex were driving from Phoenix (they both work for ASU) to Temecula Thursday and returning Saturday morning. Christina was heading there early to attend the rehearsal dinner (she was a wine handler in the wedding). As the reader in the wedding, I was also invited to this, however my flight just didn’t allow it. Sarah figured it was silly for them both to drive, and although it would mean leaving a day earlier for her – it was easier for her. So she made plans to now ride with Christina.

So, Sarah departed Thursday for Temecula with Christina and Alex and arrived in Temecula early afternoon. The night before I had forgotten to check-in online for my Southwest flight, so in the middle of the night, woke up and frantically checked in on my phone. B-57 was my number. Sigh. Terrible. Thursday evening I boarded my non-stop, 5.5 hour flight to San Diego and grudgingly slipped into a middle seat. It was gonna be a lonnnnnnnngggggggg ride. Joe landed around 7:30 and I was set to land around 8:40pm. Of course, my plane was delayed. After 3.5 MacGyver episodes on my laptop and a few Sudoku puzzles, I landed around 9:00pm and met up with Joe.

We headed to Thrifty Car Rental where I had reserved the “Wild Card” package. This meant that I was guaranteed a mid-size or above…but the location would select which vehicle. The guy working scared us by telling us that is typically is a mini-van because that is what they have a surplus of…however that day it was Dodge Charger and I was excited. Plugging my GPS in to place, we headed off for our hour drive to Temecula.

About 10 minutes into our drive I received a phone call from Christina. The rehearsal dinner had concluded but her car wouldn’t start. She was stuck at the restaurant and was trying to jump her car with Leah’s dad. However, if this didn’t work out, wanted to know if I could pick her up from the restaurant and take her to her hotel (about 15 minutes away from mine). According to our GPS, we were set to arrive around 11:00pm (mind you, this is 2am East Coast Time). Picking up Christina would add another 30 minutes to our trip, and I was exhausted. However, obviously the decision was a no-brainer. Friend needed help – so it was Carrie to the rescue if she needed it (love you Beana!).

The jumping of the battery didn’t work, in fact I was told flames even came out…so Joe and I scooped up Christina from the rehearsal dinner and brought her to her hotel. We weren’t sure what would happen the next day as she would need to get her car repaired but agreed to reconvene in the morning. Joe and I FINALLY made it to our hotel…where an eager (and very bored) Sarah awaited.

It was pretty funny - Sarah had forgotten shorts, so Joe brought her a pair to borrow. When we all slipped into comfy, sleepwear we all looked at each other and died laughing. Sarah was wearing an ASU Basketball T-Shirt (James Harden’s number) and baggy ASU Basketball shorts (Joe’s), Joe was wearing a Cal T-Shirt and Cal Basketball shorts and I was wearing a Maryland Soccer T-Shirt and Baggy Basketball Warmup Sweatpants. We looked like we were straight out of a collegiate apparel catalog. LOL! We stayed up talking extremely late and then headed to bed.

The next morning I was wide awake at 6am. (9am EST). I cannot sleep in much later when I’m on the West Coast and Sarah is always ready to kill me because I eventually get fidgety. I tried to doze off or lay still for awhile…but I lost the battle pretty soon and pulled out my phone to play on and a bag of animal crackers to eat (I was starving!). This of course all made noise and Sarah (with an infected wisdom tooth who already had trouble sleeping) was ready to strangle me. LOL. Around 8:30am, Joe and I headed to breakfast and left Sarah to her beauty sleep.

For the hour before we headed to breakfast, the people in the room next door were annoying the crap out of us. They keep leaving the room and slamming the door behind them. It was extremely loud and the last time it happened, I lept out of bed and attempted to chase the person down in the hallway. However, by the time I opened our door, all I saw was a flash of a navy shirt turn the hallway. Boo :(

At breakfast, there was a large group of people eating and chatting in a larger circle. I became convinced it was the group of people who were slamming the door next to us. I narrowed my eyes and then ate my continental breakfast (which Joe and I were a bit disappointed with). Around this point we noticed two 20-something guys dressed in unorthodox workout attire (think of the movie Dodgeball), talking to the group of people. I heard the name “Leah” and then realized – OMG – I wonder if these people are here for the wedding! I knew the groomsmen and a few relatives were supposed to play basketball that morning and began to possibly see the connection. So, I leaned over and asked the group if they were here for the wedding…Leah’s wedding. They said yes. I said “who do you know…like who are you hear for?” At this point, one of the guys, wearing a blue cutoff shirt, shorts, a funny sweatband on his forehead and a gym bag slung over his shoulder pointed to himself and said me…I’m the groom. I almost died.

“OMG!” I exclaimed, “It is so nice to finally meet you! I’m Carrie.” And I went over and gave him a hug. How awkward. I swear at that moment he did not look the same to me as the Brandon Roop I had seen in Leah’s pictures. Oh well. Sarah showed up 5 minutes later and Joe and I shared with her our funny story. I am still laughing about the unorthodox meeting.

Around 10:30 we took off to go pick up Christina and Alex and take them to Christina’s car. She had found an auto shop only a few blocks from where her car was parked downtown so the plan was to start her car (hopefully) and take it there for repairs. She and Alex both brought their wedding clothes with them, in case they didn’t have time to go back to the hotel and change.

After a few failed attempts at starting her vehicle, we decided to try to jump her car with the Charger. We pulled up next to her, popped the hood…and the search for the battery began. A few minutes after we were having trouble locating it, I threw out the idea that perhaps it was in the rear of the car. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy…but I had remembered once that Greg had told me that his battery had been in the back of his BMW – and it has stuck with me since. After a few more minutes of searching…and also after discovering there was no car manual in the vehicle…I googled it (Yes…I am the google queen) and found out that low and behold, the battery is INDEED in the back of the 2007 Dodge Charger. Point Carrie.

Realigning the vehicles…we popped the trunk and under the mat found not only the battery, but the drivers manual as well (Seriously, what good does it do there). Now the fun part. Jumping the car. I became a little concerned that we weren’t going to jump the car right, so I got a hold of my Dad via cell phone and had him walk me through the steps. We would have been correct without asking, but I didn’t want to chance anything – especially on a rental car that isn’t mine that I also didn’t purchase insurance for. Meanwhile, Christina called the auto shop and they agreed to come jump the car for free. So, even though we thought we knew how to jump the vehicle, we figured we’d just wait for an expert to do it.

Darryl (not sure on the spelling and maybe it is Darren – but we’ll just go with Darryl for the sake of the story) from the Hawaiian Islands, auto shop mechanic, pulled up shortly thereafter with jumper cables and a battery. Upon inspecting her battery, he discovered it was leaking acid and after connecting the cables, noticed it then was squirting acid out. Yikes. Thank goodness I didn’t try to jump her car (and no wonder she saw flames the night before). At this point, we just needed to get her car the 2-3 blocks down the street to the shop. Instead of paying for a tow, we slipped that baby into neutral and the afternoon workout began. Joe, Alex, Darryl and I pushed while Christina steered and Sarah…well…Sarah was the official photographer. LOL. Classic.

Joe, Sarah and I left Christina and Alex at the body shop and headed off to find a park where we wanted to do some jogging/walking. That was a bit more difficult than we imagined and we wound up ditching the idea and went to Soup Plantation (same as Sweet Tomatoes) for lunch. We headed back to the hotel after and lounged around briefly before heading to the hotel “gym” (treadmill, bike and an elliptical machine) to burn a few more calories. We all felt much better afterward and then began getting ready for the wedding.

We arrived at the wedding location - Wilson Creek Winery - around 4:30pm. I had some preparation to do regarding my reading…including figuring out where the microphone was, when I was supposed to be reading, and also after I discovered there was no “podium” by the microphone…I went on a scavenger hunt. The last thing I wanted to do was step up to the mic with a sheet of paper flapping in the breeze as I attempted to read it. After finding a piece of cardboard to tape the paper to, I was good to go. Something cool to note here too is that an artist was hired to paint the scene and give his portrait to Leah and Brandon as a gift. What a neat idea - and it turned out fabulous!

Next stop was the florist – as she needed to pin my corsage on. A few minutes later I glanced down and noticed that she had only stuck the pin through 2 leaves – not the stem of the main flower. I was slightly concerned as I wasn’t sure this was correct, but I didn’t want to chance messing with it right before the ceremony and something going wrong. So…I left it.

I took my place right after Leah walked down the aisle (she looked absolutely gorgeous…and the groom was in tears – I always love watching the groom’s reaction). I imagine it was about one minute prior to the time I would read when my corsage suddenly dropped to the ground. All that was left pinned to my dress were the two leaves. ARGH! I hastily ripped the two leaves off and threw them on the ground, grabbed the main corsage, figured out which side was “up”, and jammed the pin through the stem and my dress. Whew. Just in time. I walked up to the microphone and did the reading.

At the end of the ceremony, Leah elected to have a fun, dancing-type exit with funky glasses to the song from the movie “Grease”. It was super fun – but the best part was that even the grandparents had the brightly colored plastic glasses on too when they walked down the aisle…it was so cute!

Following dinner was the cocktail hour, hosted in the Barrel Room. Available (all evening) from the bar were 6 of the winery’s wine selections and 2 kinds of beer. It was pretty cool. All the tables in the Barrel Room had a photo as a centerpiece of either Leah, or Brandon, growing up. It was super cute.

We all seated ourselves in the Champagne Ballroom next, which would be the location of the remaining part of the evening. The tables had magnificent flower centerpieces, which were elevated high enough that you could still see the people sitting across from you. The table number was represented in a photo that Leah and Brandon had taken with them in a silly pose holding up a piece of paper with the number on it. The Bride and Groom had their first dance right away, which was graceful and touching. The speeches followed (father of the bride, maid of honor and best man, who was actually the groom’s father and wich was enough to make you want to cry right there.) and were awesome. Leah’s dad did a great job – but the best part was a while into his speech he apologized to the guests about the length of his speech, but pointed out he had in fact paid for the wedding so perhaps it was all right! Ha.

The reception was so fun – probably an hour and a half remained after dinner, dessert and formalities – Joe, Sarah and I really never left the dance floor, making up silly dance moves and especially enjoying the time with Leah and her brother Tyler (who I FINALLY got to meet – we had only knew each other through Leah, long distance). Christina and Alex left a little earlier than we did and as we left, Sarah discovered she had a text from Christina. The plan had been for them to leave early the next morning for Phoenix…but it seems Christina’s car had died rolling into the hotel, so its capabilities the next morning were a little unsure. Sigh. Poor Christina – here we go again.

The next morning, we got up and had breakfast. Joe and I were planning on leaving no later than 10:00am so we could head into San Diego and eat at one of Joe’s favorite restaurants near the beach before heading off to the airport. Christina had her car towed around 9:00 to an AutoZone and we decided we would drop Sarah off there. About halfway en route, Sarah panicked. What if the car couldn’t be fixed? It was a Saturday – the auto shops are closed on Sunday which means they would be stuck in Temecula until at least Monday. Obviously Christina wasn’t going to rent a car to drive home since that would mean leaving her car 5 hours away. So…Sarah decided to purchase a one-way flight on Southwest for about $145 and go home. We gave Christina our best wishes, a hug goodbye and headed to San Diego.

The restaurant Joe wanted to stop at had too long of a wait for 3 people with a plane to catch, but we did park at eat at the Boardwalk Café and then walked on Mission Beach along the ocean. It was so beautiful! After a few photo ops – it was time to head to the airport. Joe and Sarah ran into some long lines at check-in but both made it to their gates and we all headed home.

So…the question lingered well into the evening – did Christina make it home? After a little bit of inquiry, come to find out, the bad luck continued for her. The day prior, she had paid for a new battery and a new alternator – close to $300. Now, AutoZone was telling her the battery was dead again and believed she probably just had received a bad battery – so replaced it again ($90). She and Alex were about halfway into their drive when her car died again and they were thus forced to pull over on the side of the highway. An hour later, a tow truck arrived to drive them to a town 40 miles away where they then waited for her husband and his mechanic friend to drive a truck from Phoenix to come get them (2.5 hours away) and the car. In the end – after closer inspection – it appears that besides a corroded battery, the only thing that needed fixing was a $3 fuse. Go figure.

Good Ole' Lake Okoboji

A few weeks ago, my parents, Ellie and I met up at our place at Lake Okoboji in Iowa. It was a bittersweet vacation, as Troy was missing, but we still managed to have a great time! Mom, Ellie and I tested out a few board games (deciding to stick with ones that worked better with only 3 players, right Ellie? LOL), Dad took us cruising out on the boat a few times, Ellie and I had a chance to slightly work on our tans, we all did some cooking – which always is tasting because it means grilling – and Mom, Ellie and I each took the good ole waverunners out for a spin at least once. I have to be careful when I take them out – usually try to pick early in the morning when the water is smooth because the jolting (or lack of) is much easier on my back. I went out the last morning by myself – sun was sparkling on the water, there was a nice breeze and it was a comfortable temperature. What a great time of personal relaxation and also reflection! It was very refreshing to me both physically and emotionally…definitely awakes all of yours senses! Besides Troy not being there, there were 2 things lacking that we are used to having: 1) Water Sports. With the exception of the waverunners, there was no tubing, wakeboarding, or skiing. 2) My mom’s family is usually there at the same time staying in various places – however this time we were all alone. However, I must say it was pretty cool when my dad agreed to go Biking with us one morning. My mom had brought my sister’s, her’s and dad’s bikes from home for the trip and we keep 2 spare bikes at the place anyways – mind you the spare bikes are my parents Grand Prix ten-speeds from the 70s – but with a new set of tires and tuned up, they are “just like new”…well…kind of. So I braved the Grand Prix and we hit a nice trail that goes around the lake – very pretty riding and a decent workout I suppose – can’t complain! :)

I had flown into Sioux Falls, SD which is actually only 1.5 hours away. The next 2 closest airports are Omaha or Minneapolis, about 2.5 to 3 hours away. The plan on the way home, however, was to fly out of Waterloo (Tuesday). Long story, but my mom thought she was going to have to take Ellie home afterward before my mom had to head to Des Moines that evening. And although it would make more sense to fly out of Des Moines if my mom had to go there anyway, if she had to go to Waterloo first, it would’ve been a lot of driving and a mad dash to see if we could make it to Waterloo (at least hours from Okoboji) and then to Des Moines (2.5 to 3 hours from Waterloo) for me to catch a flight.

However, contrary to the original plan, Ellie drove herself to Waterloo. Her plan was to spend the next few days after our family time with her college roommate who lived near Lake Okoboji. Which NOW meant that my mom was driving me all the way to Waterloo to fly home for no reason – adding a lot of time to her trip – when she should just be driving straight to Des Moines. I gave my sister a rough time about it (love ya Ellie!) lol…but in the end, Ellie found out she had to work on Wednesday – so was forced to abort her visit with her roommate and wound up driving me back to Waterloo. That was kind of neat – I got to spend some time with Ellie and see her new apartment because she dropped me off at the world’s smallest airport. No, I am not joking (well, not sure it is really called that, lol). But it has 2 gates – Gate 1A and Gate 1B. The whole airport is just one big room with dividers. The airline ticket counter has a bell on it that you ring if no one is there to help you. In addition, you do not immediately pass through security because employees of the airport have multiple duties. So, you wait in a little waiting room area (again, this was not a separate room – just some seats by the security line) until closer to boarding time. At that point, they then summon you to pass through security and wait in more chairs near the gate until it was time to board. I felt like I was at the doctor’s office – going through all the different steps and rooms before it is FINALLY time to see the doctor.

Upon boarding the tiny plane, I discovered it had propellers – I was terrified and of course the ride was quite noisy – but I made it home safely… missing my family already! :(