The Reception
LET THE PARTY BEGIN: As mentioned before, the reception was in Courtney’s backyard, so we all just moseyed on back there after the ceremony. It would have been slightly more convenient if Brent and Kim (parents of the bride) had installed RV hookups in that pasture west of their house...and then we all could have brought our pop-ups and trailers and suchlike and we wouldn’t have had to leave the grounds the entire wedding weekend. But no one can be expected to think of everything. Anyway, the point is that no one got lost getting to the reception. And that’s always a positive.
THE SIMPLE LIFE: I don’t think I told you this before, but Courtney spent 7 months of her engagement to Ben in Zambia, Africa, working with Ben’s sister (and my niece) Meagan at an orphanage. She came back determined to have a "simple" wedding, without a lot of fuss or money thrown into it. I think she accomplished her goal, but without it being obvious to the casual observer. Because again, everything looked elegant and beautiful.
THE ELEMENTS: Of course, it helped that we were still outside. Because shortly after the reception began, the sun set and soon thereafter strings of twinkle lights along the fences lit up the night. Lavender candles and framed pictures of the HC (happy couple) adorned the tables, and clusters of purple and white balloons here and there added a festive touch as well. In the midst of the tables was a portable dance floor, gleaming and ready for action. And the music filling the air was a mix of favorite songs of the HC which had been uploaded to an ipod and plugged into a rather decent sound system.
THE SUGAR FEST: And now we get to the food, glorious food. As alluded to earlier, yes, they served donuts at the wedding reception...along with snow cones. And as if that weren’t enough to send my twin cousins that "have the diabetes" into glucose overload, they also served the more conventional wedding cake. Oh, and then there was the chocolate fountain...with a nice assortment of foodstuffs to dip in said fountain. Like marshmallows and strawberries and other things I can’t remember. Oh I popped over to Facebook to see if my pictures could refresh my memory on this point, but unfortunately I don’t recognize what’s on the plates I photographed. Worrisome, I know, but who really cares at this point anyway? Most of us are now thinking only about what they might be serving Friday night at Thomas and Betsy’s reception.
Oops. I guess I will have to squeeze The Dance into the FINAL INSTALLMENT along with the wrap-up and concluding remarks. It won't be pretty. But it will be finished.
For lunch, I went to the Chinese restaurant with my co-workers. And I didn't overeat which might be a first for me at an all-you-can-eat buffet. My personal trainer will be so proud.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
ANATOMY OF A WEDDING - Part 10 of no more than 12
At this point some of you may be thinking...enough already about Ben and Courtney, let’s talk about Thomas and Betsy. And I admit I’ve been tempted to end this train-wreck of first wedding series with a jaunty, "and they lived happily ever after even though it’s only been two months so far." And this would be quite normal for me because I honestly don’t mind quitting in the middle of a project. In fact, one time I started making a list of my unfinished projects...and never finished it of course. But for whatever reason, I feel a deep and abiding commitment to finish this series properly. So here we go again...
THE OFFICIANT: As I mentioned in an earlier installment (but who among you could possibly remember that far back???) Ben’s brother, Zach, was the officiant at the wedding. I think I started this family tradition almost 23 years ago when my brother Bill presided at my wedding. I don’t remember anything he said, but I’m sure it was humorous, insightful and personal, and probably legal to boot. Zach wore a pink shirt and was the candle lighter in my wedding. And although he was only 9 years old at the time, I think he must have learned a thing or two from his old Uncle Bill. Because we all agreed that his remarks at Ben and Courtney’s wedding were positively eloquent. Of course, right now I can only recall a couple of things he said. One was about how Ben liked to wear girls’ clothes when he was younger, and another was about how Courtney liked to hoard food. Oh, and he referred to my sister (his mother) as the Simon Cowell of weddings, which was a slight exaggeration of course. But in the end, the two were joined in holy matrimony. Or as Luke would have said...their water of singleness was turned into the wine of oneness. And it was all good.
THE VOWS: A final note on the ceremony. The vows Ben and Courtney said to each other were the same ones recited by Ben’s paternal grandparents at their wedding many years ago. Those formal and somewhat solemn vows put a beautiful seal on the otherwise lighthearted tone of the wedding ceremony. They were a gentle reminder to us all that this occasion was not about love songs or pretty dresses or flowers, but about the serious and life changing promises being made by two people to each other.
THE RECESSION: Obviously, I am not referring to the economy here. Not only because we’re discussing a wedding, but also because economics confuse me and therefore I will more than likely never blog about that topic. Anyway, of course I’m referring to the receding of the wedding party back down the aisle. The recession song was How Sweet it is to be Loved by You which was a good choice because who doesn’t like James Taylor? Even though his Steamroller song is of course trashy. But no one’s perfect. And besides, the song actually FORESHADOWED one of the reception elements. Yes, folks. You know, towards the end when it says, "It’s like jelly to the donut" (to be loved by you)...well, guess what they served at the reception? Coincidence? I think not.
So now I must close because I am saving The Reception for Part 11...and then The Wrap-Up for Part 12. Following those posts, I will of course be catching you up with the family doings, including the scintillating details of Emily’s departure. Which was a piece of cake. Seriously. I haven’t cried at all...and now I’m wondering if I’m even human. But that post will have to wait.
I had T&WT for lunch today.
THE OFFICIANT: As I mentioned in an earlier installment (but who among you could possibly remember that far back???) Ben’s brother, Zach, was the officiant at the wedding. I think I started this family tradition almost 23 years ago when my brother Bill presided at my wedding. I don’t remember anything he said, but I’m sure it was humorous, insightful and personal, and probably legal to boot. Zach wore a pink shirt and was the candle lighter in my wedding. And although he was only 9 years old at the time, I think he must have learned a thing or two from his old Uncle Bill. Because we all agreed that his remarks at Ben and Courtney’s wedding were positively eloquent. Of course, right now I can only recall a couple of things he said. One was about how Ben liked to wear girls’ clothes when he was younger, and another was about how Courtney liked to hoard food. Oh, and he referred to my sister (his mother) as the Simon Cowell of weddings, which was a slight exaggeration of course. But in the end, the two were joined in holy matrimony. Or as Luke would have said...their water of singleness was turned into the wine of oneness. And it was all good.
THE VOWS: A final note on the ceremony. The vows Ben and Courtney said to each other were the same ones recited by Ben’s paternal grandparents at their wedding many years ago. Those formal and somewhat solemn vows put a beautiful seal on the otherwise lighthearted tone of the wedding ceremony. They were a gentle reminder to us all that this occasion was not about love songs or pretty dresses or flowers, but about the serious and life changing promises being made by two people to each other.
THE RECESSION: Obviously, I am not referring to the economy here. Not only because we’re discussing a wedding, but also because economics confuse me and therefore I will more than likely never blog about that topic. Anyway, of course I’m referring to the receding of the wedding party back down the aisle. The recession song was How Sweet it is to be Loved by You which was a good choice because who doesn’t like James Taylor? Even though his Steamroller song is of course trashy. But no one’s perfect. And besides, the song actually FORESHADOWED one of the reception elements. Yes, folks. You know, towards the end when it says, "It’s like jelly to the donut" (to be loved by you)...well, guess what they served at the reception? Coincidence? I think not.
So now I must close because I am saving The Reception for Part 11...and then The Wrap-Up for Part 12. Following those posts, I will of course be catching you up with the family doings, including the scintillating details of Emily’s departure. Which was a piece of cake. Seriously. I haven’t cried at all...and now I’m wondering if I’m even human. But that post will have to wait.
I had T&WT for lunch today.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
MOMMIE DEAREST
Again, I must interrupt the Wedding Series for an unimportant update. Please bear with me.
Emily and Rachel have begun the de-Emily-fication process of their room. Could I put that a more depressing way? Probably not. But that’s what it feels like because they are systematically removing all traces of her from the room. Anyway, they share a lot of clothes so decisions have to be made about what stays with Rachel and what goes with Emily. The first night went surprisingly well. They only argued over who HAD to take clothes that neither of them liked. The next night was less amicable. Rachel was "difficult" according to Emily, and wouldn’t tell her what she wanted. Rachel defended herself by saying she was just sad. I popped in and out of the room trying to defuse the situation by making accusations such as, "Why don’t you ever wear that cute dress?" and "Is there really a tag still on that skirt?"
Last night Rachel picked out the movie we watched off of Emily’s summer movie list. It was Billboard Dad...perhaps the cheesiest Olsen twin movie ever made. And I rolled my eyes but let them play it. Emily suggested Mighty Joe Young instead, but I said I didn’t like movies about gorillas. Then she offered Summer of the Monkeys, and I had to admit I don’t like movies about ANY primates. I hope that doesn’t make me a bad person.
David has started football workouts and thinks that exempts him from doing anything around the house. But he did make me some cotton candy last night.
Dave has brought in so much produce that I have been forced to boycott the kitchen. I feel overwhelmed when I can’t find one inch of counter space.
As for me, it seems that Emily’s college is interested in having me write a parent blog for them. I thought about asking Emily if she minded, but decided against it. Honestly, I don’t know why I’m worried about getting my children’s stamp of approval on what I tell the world. Most of the time, I make a conscious effort to present them in a positive light. But sometimes something they do or say is so funny or strange that I throw caution to the wind and post it even though a tiny amount of public humiliation may follow. This is called collateral damage, and should be perfectly acceptable if the related incident is funny enough, don’t you agree?
But the whole parent blog thing did start me thinking that someday my children might want to sell the sordid story of their upbringing to Lifetime. It will be about a mother who abused her children by blogging about them, revealing all their idiosyncracies for public consumption. Of course Faye Dunaway would be perfect to play me, the evil mother, but is she still alive? If not, they could probably get that frumpy actress who was so deliciously sadistic in that movie with James Caan. I can’t remember her name.
Incidentally, I handled a case one time where one of the parties did such strange things that another party involved thought he might be able to sell the story to Lifetime. He asked me who I would want to play me in the movie and I immediately said Meryl Streep. Wasn’t she the one who delivered the greatest movie line of all time ("A dingo ate my baby") with that strong Australian accent? Who wouldn’t want her? Of course, no dingos would be involved in our movie and she would have to say boring stuff like, "Yes Judge, I’ll prepare that Journal Entry" and "Could you forward that email to me?" so maybe Meryl wouldn’t be interested.
I had the same old, same old for lunch today. Plus a peach off our tree.
Emily and Rachel have begun the de-Emily-fication process of their room. Could I put that a more depressing way? Probably not. But that’s what it feels like because they are systematically removing all traces of her from the room. Anyway, they share a lot of clothes so decisions have to be made about what stays with Rachel and what goes with Emily. The first night went surprisingly well. They only argued over who HAD to take clothes that neither of them liked. The next night was less amicable. Rachel was "difficult" according to Emily, and wouldn’t tell her what she wanted. Rachel defended herself by saying she was just sad. I popped in and out of the room trying to defuse the situation by making accusations such as, "Why don’t you ever wear that cute dress?" and "Is there really a tag still on that skirt?"
Last night Rachel picked out the movie we watched off of Emily’s summer movie list. It was Billboard Dad...perhaps the cheesiest Olsen twin movie ever made. And I rolled my eyes but let them play it. Emily suggested Mighty Joe Young instead, but I said I didn’t like movies about gorillas. Then she offered Summer of the Monkeys, and I had to admit I don’t like movies about ANY primates. I hope that doesn’t make me a bad person.
David has started football workouts and thinks that exempts him from doing anything around the house. But he did make me some cotton candy last night.
Dave has brought in so much produce that I have been forced to boycott the kitchen. I feel overwhelmed when I can’t find one inch of counter space.
As for me, it seems that Emily’s college is interested in having me write a parent blog for them. I thought about asking Emily if she minded, but decided against it. Honestly, I don’t know why I’m worried about getting my children’s stamp of approval on what I tell the world. Most of the time, I make a conscious effort to present them in a positive light. But sometimes something they do or say is so funny or strange that I throw caution to the wind and post it even though a tiny amount of public humiliation may follow. This is called collateral damage, and should be perfectly acceptable if the related incident is funny enough, don’t you agree?
But the whole parent blog thing did start me thinking that someday my children might want to sell the sordid story of their upbringing to Lifetime. It will be about a mother who abused her children by blogging about them, revealing all their idiosyncracies for public consumption. Of course Faye Dunaway would be perfect to play me, the evil mother, but is she still alive? If not, they could probably get that frumpy actress who was so deliciously sadistic in that movie with James Caan. I can’t remember her name.
Incidentally, I handled a case one time where one of the parties did such strange things that another party involved thought he might be able to sell the story to Lifetime. He asked me who I would want to play me in the movie and I immediately said Meryl Streep. Wasn’t she the one who delivered the greatest movie line of all time ("A dingo ate my baby") with that strong Australian accent? Who wouldn’t want her? Of course, no dingos would be involved in our movie and she would have to say boring stuff like, "Yes Judge, I’ll prepare that Journal Entry" and "Could you forward that email to me?" so maybe Meryl wouldn’t be interested.
I had the same old, same old for lunch today. Plus a peach off our tree.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
ANATOMY OF A WEDDING - Part 9 of I think 12
NOW LET’S SEE...WHERE WAS I?
Oh yeah...
THE TWO-RING-CIRCUS: Don’t you hate that part of a wedding when the beautiful bride is being escorted down the aisle on the arm of her proud father, and the handsome groom is gazing down the aisle watching their approach, and you have to decide which way to look so you won’t miss anything? Okay, I don’t really hate it...but it definitely stresses me. And yes, I have always hated circuses for the same reason. In fact, I hate circuses even more than zoos...but this post is not about that. This post is about a bride and a groom who finally came together to say I do.
HERE COMES THE BRIDE: So...finally...we hear the first strains of Canon in D and Rachel said later those strains were a bit shaky, but no one seemed to notice or care. Because the bride and her dad were making their way down the aisle at last. Now Courtney is a pretty, pretty girl to start off with...but on this evening she looked positively RADIANT, what with that added happiness stuff, not to mention her nice even tan. Her father, Brent, probably looked nice too but seriously I only had time to look at Courtney and then at Ben and then at Courtney and then at Ben and then...well, you get the picture.
THE DRESS: The dress was a modern a-line gown with elegant hand-beaded floral lace details along a breakfront skirt and bodice. Haha. I made that up. I have no idea what style it was. Hmm...but it did seem to have a lot of lace. And at some point shortly before the wedding, I noticed that one of those hanger straps was peeking out from its place INSIDE the dress. And I pointed it out to Courtney...so pretty much I saved the day there. But I hate to toot my own horn, so let’s forge on, shall we?
THE HAND-OFF: One of my nieces informed me recently that John Mayer has some personal issues...and is basically not a nice person. But he sure can sing. And can’t I admire his music...just like you might admire Frank Lloyd Wright’s amazing buildings even though he was a scoundrel? Anyway, the point is I was reminded of that "Daughters" song while Brent was making the hand-off of his little girl to Ben. Because I think Courtney has definitely put the color inside of Ben’s world. If all that whispering they do to each other is any gauge.
Oh my...time does get away from me. I do hate to quit but I need to get home. You must understand that we take Emily to school in 9 short days, and I’m feeling some pressure here. Besides the laundry lessons...which we’ve had to break up into mini-sessions...I’m just remembering that she doesn’t know how to pump gas and I don’t think I’ve ever told her what to do when a funeral procession goes by.
For lunch today, I ate some tiny little crumbs of Wheat Thins with my tuna. Because I didn’t have time to go to the store because I had court this afternoon. See, I do work sometimes.
Oh yeah...
THE TWO-RING-CIRCUS: Don’t you hate that part of a wedding when the beautiful bride is being escorted down the aisle on the arm of her proud father, and the handsome groom is gazing down the aisle watching their approach, and you have to decide which way to look so you won’t miss anything? Okay, I don’t really hate it...but it definitely stresses me. And yes, I have always hated circuses for the same reason. In fact, I hate circuses even more than zoos...but this post is not about that. This post is about a bride and a groom who finally came together to say I do.
HERE COMES THE BRIDE: So...finally...we hear the first strains of Canon in D and Rachel said later those strains were a bit shaky, but no one seemed to notice or care. Because the bride and her dad were making their way down the aisle at last. Now Courtney is a pretty, pretty girl to start off with...but on this evening she looked positively RADIANT, what with that added happiness stuff, not to mention her nice even tan. Her father, Brent, probably looked nice too but seriously I only had time to look at Courtney and then at Ben and then at Courtney and then at Ben and then...well, you get the picture.
THE DRESS: The dress was a modern a-line gown with elegant hand-beaded floral lace details along a breakfront skirt and bodice. Haha. I made that up. I have no idea what style it was. Hmm...but it did seem to have a lot of lace. And at some point shortly before the wedding, I noticed that one of those hanger straps was peeking out from its place INSIDE the dress. And I pointed it out to Courtney...so pretty much I saved the day there. But I hate to toot my own horn, so let’s forge on, shall we?
THE HAND-OFF: One of my nieces informed me recently that John Mayer has some personal issues...and is basically not a nice person. But he sure can sing. And can’t I admire his music...just like you might admire Frank Lloyd Wright’s amazing buildings even though he was a scoundrel? Anyway, the point is I was reminded of that "Daughters" song while Brent was making the hand-off of his little girl to Ben. Because I think Courtney has definitely put the color inside of Ben’s world. If all that whispering they do to each other is any gauge.
Oh my...time does get away from me. I do hate to quit but I need to get home. You must understand that we take Emily to school in 9 short days, and I’m feeling some pressure here. Besides the laundry lessons...which we’ve had to break up into mini-sessions...I’m just remembering that she doesn’t know how to pump gas and I don’t think I’ve ever told her what to do when a funeral procession goes by.
For lunch today, I ate some tiny little crumbs of Wheat Thins with my tuna. Because I didn’t have time to go to the store because I had court this afternoon. See, I do work sometimes.
Monday, August 9, 2010
BACK TO KANSAS...GOOD OLD KANSAS
I'm finally home from my 12-day, 3500 mile, vacation marathon...which means that my blogging hiatus will soon be at an end. But not tonight because I'm tired. I would have blogged on the mondo-vacation but Planner Paul kept us on a tight schedule of activities such as rafting, caving, beachcombing, sightseeing and ballgaming. I will be sparing you most of the gory details of this vacation...because I like you. But someday I'll regale you with a few highlights.
Speaking of tight schedules, I also wanted to let you know that I plan to wind up the Ben&Courtney Wedding Series shortly, hopefully before our next family wedding which is on the 27th.
Meanwhile, I have to run home now and teach Emily how to do laundry.
For lunch today, I had a turkey sandwich on sourdough bread at the coffee shop. Ho hum. But then for supper, I had a garden vegetable stir-fry and sliced peaches, all from our very own backyard.
Speaking of tight schedules, I also wanted to let you know that I plan to wind up the Ben&Courtney Wedding Series shortly, hopefully before our next family wedding which is on the 27th.
Meanwhile, I have to run home now and teach Emily how to do laundry.
For lunch today, I had a turkey sandwich on sourdough bread at the coffee shop. Ho hum. But then for supper, I had a garden vegetable stir-fry and sliced peaches, all from our very own backyard.
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