As of late update
Quite a few things have happened in the past few weeks. That seems to be putting it mildly.
I. Wedding!
I am happy. Many brides and grooms don't feel that way after their wedding, but I do. Everything came together and worked. Things went wrong. They're destined to go wrong. But most things also went right. And those things that went wrong? They still worked.
The first thing that went wrong was that our priest called in sick. As he's a friend as well as a priest, we knew it had to be bad that he wouldn't show up for the wedding (he went into the hospital a day later and was there for three or four days). But praise be that I work at the church I was marrying at. The pastor was kind enough to step in and say a beautiful wedding, adding personal touches I didn't expect. It was great.
The flowers and the limo were late, but they were there in enough time to be ready to go at 4:00 PM. And both were gorgeous. My bouquet hasn't really died yet. I'm protecting it by putting it in the back bedroom so the cats don't eat it. I will most assuredly hang onto it until it cannot be saved.
The Mass was amazing. The choir was fabulous, my instrumentalists were flawless, and the service itself was beautiful. I smiled, I laughed, I cried, I was touched. I felt the most love there, between the family and friends that came to celebrate with us, and all those who simply came to share the Mass with us.
I am extremely excited to see our photographs. We took them in this garden/arbor area across from the hotel, and I think they're going to be amazing. We did not take as many family photographs as we probably should have, but we got enough.
The reception was a great deal of fun. Our nerdy music, played during the cocktail hour, was a little quieter than I wanted it to be, but we caught a few tracks that made our friends laugh. I think that was ultimately our goal with it, actually. Dinner was delicious. It was great to wander to each of the tables and chat with everyone, even if only for a few minutes. Our DJ was awesome, no doubt about it. I did a lot more dancing than I anticipated. Our friends amazed me, as they were on the dance floor practically the whole night. I got to do a kickline with my aunties, and managed to dance not a few songs with many of my lovely ladies. Kate, Sarah, Louise and I had fun with All for You by Sister Hazel. And amazingly enough, I was able to walk back to my hotel room in the same shoes Kate strapped on my feet around 3:00 PM that afternoon. Needless to say, my toes were numb for a few days afterwards.
I am still reliving parts of the wedding any chance I have. This is a good sign.
II. Hans
As I mentioned before leaving for Hawaii, Hans passed away the day after the wedding. According to an update posted by one of Hans' cousins on the website he made to share information, he fell into a coma on Sunday during the day, and died that evening. The wake was this past Wednesday and funeral the following day. Lowell and I missed it, since we were told by just about everyone to go to Hawaii and knew we would probably not have another opportunity to go. I heard many good things about how both events went, and I'm glad for all the people who were there to support the family. Because I was not there for the "finality" parts, I still am kind of in denial. I know it's happened, but it doesn't feel real yet. I don't know when it will.
III. Honeymoon
Hawaii is as gorgeous as I'd been told. It was odd to be somewhere green and flowering at the end of October, but not bad. We ate breakfast early every morning on a terrace, usually with birds as company. We spent a great deal of time in the car seeing the area, in the hotel room relaxing, and in malls (though not always shopping). I insisted we go to the beach one morning (before it got too hot), and actually got Lowell to go into the ocean, which he liked. I did not spend as much time by the pool as I would have liked, but that's something to remedy should we ever go back.
The most "adventurous" thing we did was to drive around the northern part of the side of the island we were on. We found out later that some rental car companies do not allow their renters to drive this road. We do not blame them. The road is a state highway up to a point, and then becomes a one lane paved road. Not one lane each way, but one lane period. We had to pull over to what little shoulder there was quite a few times to let other drivers by, and we had to back up once to let another driver by because there was no shoulder. When we did that, we backed into a signpost, but the rental car company didn't catch the slight damage (mwah ha ha). Not only was the road one lane for about 20 miles, it was also comprised mainly of almost hairpin turns. We took some great pictures for the first hour of this, and then gave up for the second hour. Yes, it took us two hours or more to go about twenty miles. That's how careful one had to be on that road. Never never never want to do that again. Thank God we got the pictures we did, because I will not go back to do it again. Glad we did it, I'll admit, but never again.
So glad we went, despite the feelings of almost betrayal I was feeling by not being there for the wake and funeral. I got in the relaxation I needed.
IV. This week
Obviously it has not happened yet. But many things will happen:
--Autumn cleaning (and cleaning out) of the house
--shopping (and clubbing/dinner another night?) with Maryam, who is in town until the end of the week
--starting thank you cards
--working on NaNo (started on the plane back from Hawaii)
--random WoW stuff
Then it's back to work on Monday the ninth. Whew.
So it's time to get working on the kitchen. We got more than a few kitchen things at the wedding, and I want to make sure we have room for it all. After the kitchen, it's tackling the "master" bedroom (it's the same size as the other, so it's weird to call it the master bedroom proper), then the bathroom, and we'll see where we go from there. Lowell is getting a new phone today come hell or high water, and I want to get a few things done before I shove him out the door to do that.
I. Wedding!
I am happy. Many brides and grooms don't feel that way after their wedding, but I do. Everything came together and worked. Things went wrong. They're destined to go wrong. But most things also went right. And those things that went wrong? They still worked.
The first thing that went wrong was that our priest called in sick. As he's a friend as well as a priest, we knew it had to be bad that he wouldn't show up for the wedding (he went into the hospital a day later and was there for three or four days). But praise be that I work at the church I was marrying at. The pastor was kind enough to step in and say a beautiful wedding, adding personal touches I didn't expect. It was great.
The flowers and the limo were late, but they were there in enough time to be ready to go at 4:00 PM. And both were gorgeous. My bouquet hasn't really died yet. I'm protecting it by putting it in the back bedroom so the cats don't eat it. I will most assuredly hang onto it until it cannot be saved.
The Mass was amazing. The choir was fabulous, my instrumentalists were flawless, and the service itself was beautiful. I smiled, I laughed, I cried, I was touched. I felt the most love there, between the family and friends that came to celebrate with us, and all those who simply came to share the Mass with us.
I am extremely excited to see our photographs. We took them in this garden/arbor area across from the hotel, and I think they're going to be amazing. We did not take as many family photographs as we probably should have, but we got enough.
The reception was a great deal of fun. Our nerdy music, played during the cocktail hour, was a little quieter than I wanted it to be, but we caught a few tracks that made our friends laugh. I think that was ultimately our goal with it, actually. Dinner was delicious. It was great to wander to each of the tables and chat with everyone, even if only for a few minutes. Our DJ was awesome, no doubt about it. I did a lot more dancing than I anticipated. Our friends amazed me, as they were on the dance floor practically the whole night. I got to do a kickline with my aunties, and managed to dance not a few songs with many of my lovely ladies. Kate, Sarah, Louise and I had fun with All for You by Sister Hazel. And amazingly enough, I was able to walk back to my hotel room in the same shoes Kate strapped on my feet around 3:00 PM that afternoon. Needless to say, my toes were numb for a few days afterwards.
I am still reliving parts of the wedding any chance I have. This is a good sign.
II. Hans
As I mentioned before leaving for Hawaii, Hans passed away the day after the wedding. According to an update posted by one of Hans' cousins on the website he made to share information, he fell into a coma on Sunday during the day, and died that evening. The wake was this past Wednesday and funeral the following day. Lowell and I missed it, since we were told by just about everyone to go to Hawaii and knew we would probably not have another opportunity to go. I heard many good things about how both events went, and I'm glad for all the people who were there to support the family. Because I was not there for the "finality" parts, I still am kind of in denial. I know it's happened, but it doesn't feel real yet. I don't know when it will.
III. Honeymoon
Hawaii is as gorgeous as I'd been told. It was odd to be somewhere green and flowering at the end of October, but not bad. We ate breakfast early every morning on a terrace, usually with birds as company. We spent a great deal of time in the car seeing the area, in the hotel room relaxing, and in malls (though not always shopping). I insisted we go to the beach one morning (before it got too hot), and actually got Lowell to go into the ocean, which he liked. I did not spend as much time by the pool as I would have liked, but that's something to remedy should we ever go back.
The most "adventurous" thing we did was to drive around the northern part of the side of the island we were on. We found out later that some rental car companies do not allow their renters to drive this road. We do not blame them. The road is a state highway up to a point, and then becomes a one lane paved road. Not one lane each way, but one lane period. We had to pull over to what little shoulder there was quite a few times to let other drivers by, and we had to back up once to let another driver by because there was no shoulder. When we did that, we backed into a signpost, but the rental car company didn't catch the slight damage (mwah ha ha). Not only was the road one lane for about 20 miles, it was also comprised mainly of almost hairpin turns. We took some great pictures for the first hour of this, and then gave up for the second hour. Yes, it took us two hours or more to go about twenty miles. That's how careful one had to be on that road. Never never never want to do that again. Thank God we got the pictures we did, because I will not go back to do it again. Glad we did it, I'll admit, but never again.
So glad we went, despite the feelings of almost betrayal I was feeling by not being there for the wake and funeral. I got in the relaxation I needed.
IV. This week
Obviously it has not happened yet. But many things will happen:
--Autumn cleaning (and cleaning out) of the house
--shopping (and clubbing/dinner another night?) with Maryam, who is in town until the end of the week
--starting thank you cards
--working on NaNo (started on the plane back from Hawaii)
--random WoW stuff
Then it's back to work on Monday the ninth. Whew.
So it's time to get working on the kitchen. We got more than a few kitchen things at the wedding, and I want to make sure we have room for it all. After the kitchen, it's tackling the "master" bedroom (it's the same size as the other, so it's weird to call it the master bedroom proper), then the bathroom, and we'll see where we go from there. Lowell is getting a new phone today come hell or high water, and I want to get a few things done before I shove him out the door to do that.