Quick, busy wedding weekend
Well I'm back at work after having spent a very fun weekend, almost constantly in the company of friends.
On Saturday, I left fairly early in the AM to pick up Andrea, and then make the 180 mile trek southward to Warwick, Rhode Island for Melanie's wedding. We made excellent time, about 2 hours and 45 minutes, and that included a rest stop. It was all highway, and I didn't even speed that much.
The wedding was very nice, rather long for a Baptist wedding, with various people performing songs during it. Melanie looked beautiful, and her dress was very striking. I took some nice pictures which are up on facebook.
After exploring some shops in Warwick/Cranston for an hour and a half, we made our way to the reception with plenty of time to spare. It was a dry reception, so I could not practice my custom of having a glass of wine with good meals, but that wasn't a big deal.
After the first dances, the floor was opened up....and nobody went out. Such Baptists! I didn't have much luck encouraging the people at our largely Catholic (and presumably more prone to wine and song at weddings!) table. Kristen and Suzannah were having none of it.
So, still in the mood for a glass of wine, we excused ourselves for a short while out to the restaurant bar in a different room, and had a glass of Bogle Cabernet Sauvignon, which was pretty good.
We came back to the reception and still saw nobody dancing except for 1 bridesmaid with 3 little girls, so we decided to just go for it anyway. Soon after starting, the rest of the folks exited the dance floor and only Andrea and I remained. We took a single swing/waltz lesson 3 months ago, and used what we learned over and over again. Apparently we were being watched, and the wedding photographer, thrilled that someone was dancing, took quite a few pictures.
When we were done, after 5 songs or so, Melanie said that everyone thought we were really good! Andrea probably was, but me? I guess when the bar is set so low... :-)
On the way home I visited my childhood neighbor, Eric, in Stoughton, MA. Brian joined us, as he was in RI this weekend too, for something else. We went out for good pizza, and left just as the snow started to fall, around 7:30.
We outran the snow in short order, and had an uneventful drive home. Once we got back, I hung out in Andrea's place for a short while, as I hadn't seen it before, and when her friend Kelly came over around 10:30, I went home, kinda tired.
Yesterday was fun too. I ran into Dan and Katy at Mass, went out to brunch afterwards, and then we decided to go sledding a bit later on. Around 3, we did that, and then Dan came back to my place to hang out for awhile, and when Brian called, on his way north to Bangor from Rhode Island, he wanted to go to the Great Lost Bear, so the three of us had dinner there.
When I got home around 7:30, I got to enjoy my first real moments of down time all weekend. I never did get to make the batch of pasta sauce I'd intended to make, or try making fresh pasta with my new KitchenAid pasta roller attachments. Maybe tonight. I went to bed suitably exhausted, but got a good night's sleep and feel energetic today.
And for some reason, I've got a hankering to go dancing again soon. I was just getting warmed up and was having so much fun when the music stopped on Saturday!
On Saturday, I left fairly early in the AM to pick up Andrea, and then make the 180 mile trek southward to Warwick, Rhode Island for Melanie's wedding. We made excellent time, about 2 hours and 45 minutes, and that included a rest stop. It was all highway, and I didn't even speed that much.
The wedding was very nice, rather long for a Baptist wedding, with various people performing songs during it. Melanie looked beautiful, and her dress was very striking. I took some nice pictures which are up on facebook.
After exploring some shops in Warwick/Cranston for an hour and a half, we made our way to the reception with plenty of time to spare. It was a dry reception, so I could not practice my custom of having a glass of wine with good meals, but that wasn't a big deal.
After the first dances, the floor was opened up....and nobody went out. Such Baptists! I didn't have much luck encouraging the people at our largely Catholic (and presumably more prone to wine and song at weddings!) table. Kristen and Suzannah were having none of it.
So, still in the mood for a glass of wine, we excused ourselves for a short while out to the restaurant bar in a different room, and had a glass of Bogle Cabernet Sauvignon, which was pretty good.
We came back to the reception and still saw nobody dancing except for 1 bridesmaid with 3 little girls, so we decided to just go for it anyway. Soon after starting, the rest of the folks exited the dance floor and only Andrea and I remained. We took a single swing/waltz lesson 3 months ago, and used what we learned over and over again. Apparently we were being watched, and the wedding photographer, thrilled that someone was dancing, took quite a few pictures.
When we were done, after 5 songs or so, Melanie said that everyone thought we were really good! Andrea probably was, but me? I guess when the bar is set so low... :-)
On the way home I visited my childhood neighbor, Eric, in Stoughton, MA. Brian joined us, as he was in RI this weekend too, for something else. We went out for good pizza, and left just as the snow started to fall, around 7:30.
We outran the snow in short order, and had an uneventful drive home. Once we got back, I hung out in Andrea's place for a short while, as I hadn't seen it before, and when her friend Kelly came over around 10:30, I went home, kinda tired.
Yesterday was fun too. I ran into Dan and Katy at Mass, went out to brunch afterwards, and then we decided to go sledding a bit later on. Around 3, we did that, and then Dan came back to my place to hang out for awhile, and when Brian called, on his way north to Bangor from Rhode Island, he wanted to go to the Great Lost Bear, so the three of us had dinner there.
When I got home around 7:30, I got to enjoy my first real moments of down time all weekend. I never did get to make the batch of pasta sauce I'd intended to make, or try making fresh pasta with my new KitchenAid pasta roller attachments. Maybe tonight. I went to bed suitably exhausted, but got a good night's sleep and feel energetic today.
And for some reason, I've got a hankering to go dancing again soon. I was just getting warmed up and was having so much fun when the music stopped on Saturday!