Maybe An Extra Sweater Next Time
Mike and I went up to Maryland last week. One of his cousins was getting married. No one but their parents were invited to the actual ceremony, which took place at a courthouse on Halloween, but everyone was invited to a reception/party the next day. Mike's mom Jean could not stop harping on how weird she found it that they were getting married on Halloween. I thought it was a little odd, but I'm sure it's not a first. I wasn't going to judge them for it because I know that a little of my wedding ideas have been considered odd, so I'm not judging someone else's choices. If they want to get married on Halloween that's their business as long as it makes them happy.
We stayed at Mike's dad place, where his grandmother lives also. I had no problems with them.I definitely see that Mike gets his really laid back temperament from his dad. I joked a couple of times that I was looking into my future. His grandmother was fine except she kept trying to force feed us food. After we left, Mike found this hilarious picture on Facebook of an older woman passed out on the floor and the caption of the photo "A grandmother when she finds out you haven't eaten." I LMAO because that was exactly what his grandmother was like. It seemed like every other sentence was food related. She would offer food, and I would either turn it down (politely) and she would keep asking if I'd changed my mind, or I would accept and then she would keep asking if I wanted more.
For a couple of years now Mike has really wanted to do pumpkin carving with his nephews. Last year when we were there we were going through a rough period and I think it slipped his mind. This year, we actually went to a pumpkin patch. It was the first time I'd been to a pumpkin patch, probably since the first or second grade. We picked out three small pumpkins for his nephew and niece. I think we both thought when his sister came down for the reception, she would be bringing the kids, but when she found out the kids weren't invited to the party, she left them with their grandmother. When she left the next day, we forgot to give her the pumpkins, so I guess Mike will have to try again the next time we're down here.
The party was mostly fun. Some of his family members kind of cornered me and asked me the standard question "Why don't you talk?" which always annoys me, but for the most part we sat at a table with his sister and one of his uncles and it was nice, especially since his uncle is quiet, too and we kind of shared a look when he got asked that question, too. I talked to him a little, especially after I got drunk. I'm pretty sure for the first time I got from tipsy to full out drunk. I had a couple of strong drinks from the open bar. Though I think I've definitively realized when I get drunk it really only lasts for a short time. I get a little hazy and giddy for a little bit and then I normalize really quickly, and I've never had a hangover.
His aunts at one point made us get out on the dance floor to "practice" for our wedding. It was fairly painless, and thankfully I was still drunk enough to not be too embarrassed and we didn't trip over each other.
I think we did gain some insight for our wedding, like maybe limiting the amount of drinks at the bar (which will probably be helped by our reception having a cash bar.) At one point, there was some guy that must have been a friend of the bride, because I'd seen her dancing with him earlier, and none of Mike's family seemed overly familiar with him. He had a tattoo of a teardrop on his face and he was at the bar. There was a guy who was dressed as Iron Man (apparently people were supposed to dress up in costume, though it didn't say that on the invitation) he was in a suit, and had the glowing heart thing. Anyway, Iron Man, went up to the bar, and teardrop face put him in a headlock that seemed friendly at first, but suddenly things got weird, and Mike's uncle had to step in to take the teardrop guy outside to cool down/sober up.
We also kind of hated how loud their band was. We don't talk a lot, but there wasn't a lot of conversation that could be had because when they played you literally had to scream at each other to be heard. So we want to make sure the music at our wedding is loud enough to dance to, but doesn't require screaming to talk to each other.
I was starting to wonder if I might have a slight allergy, or problem, being around cats. Mike's grandmother has a couple of cats and I never had a problem being around them the first couple of times we were there. The problem might have been that I was around multiple cats that weekend. There were his grandmother's cats, and then when we briefly went to his sister's mother-in-law's plave she had a couple of cats, another house had a cat. We even went to a video store and the lady had a cat there that followed us around. The last few times I was around them my nose got really agitated and I started sneezing. But that might have just been the start of my cold.
Mike and I are still wrestling with whether we want to move up to Maryland after we get married. I like watching Mike in Maryland when he's with his family. Unlike me, Mike actually likes being around his family and seems in his element around them. And his family misses him a lot. His sister is always asking him when he's coming back. His brother-in-law always says he can get Mike a job at his hotel. He had an old friend who also offered him a job.
But I'm not sure either of us are ready for the cold. I used to live in New York and always miss the snow, but I always say I miss the pretty snow. I don't miss the ugly, sludge-y snow and having to deal with the clean up. Mike and I kind of got excited when the forecast said there might be snow flurries that weekend, but it never happened. Florida, of course, has its own pitfalls - sinkholes, hurricanes, lots of heat. But when we were in Maryland, everyone kept talking about how last winter was the worst ever, and this winter wouldn't be much better. Mike's friend talked about how much of a nightmare driving was, and getting the ice off his car. In Florida, you spent hours de-icing your car before you can go to work.
Plus, I don't know if my body likes the cold. I got a cold my last couple of days there. I haven't had a serious cold in a couple of years and the last time I think it was during the coldest winter in Florida in years. Though it is a possibility that it was just being around a bunch of people, some who also had colds, that caused the cold. I was talking to Mike about it today and he said that the temperature doesn't have much to do with whether you get sick and that I probably got the cold from him.
I was okay the first couple of days because there was usually only one main thing wrong with me each day - the first day I had a sore throat for a few hours, the next day it was mostly congestion. I was completely miserable the day we flew back. I ended having gas, was horribly congested, and my ears popped like crazy the way back, so my ears felt stopped up, too. I don't know why they popped so badly. It happened the last time we flew, too. On our way up to Maryland I was fine, but on the way back I had horrible ear pain. The same thing this time where I was fine the way up and had problems the way back. It was less popping, and that it felt like my ears were stopped up and something felt horribly painful, and then my ears would pop as if they were trying to clear out.
It's only the last couple of days that I've started to feel okay, though still mucus-y and a bit of a cough.
Here are a few pictures we took at the pumpkin patch and just outside this park he wanted to take me to (but it turned out the roads were closed, so we could only visit some spots just outside the roadblock.)
We stayed at Mike's dad place, where his grandmother lives also. I had no problems with them.I definitely see that Mike gets his really laid back temperament from his dad. I joked a couple of times that I was looking into my future. His grandmother was fine except she kept trying to force feed us food. After we left, Mike found this hilarious picture on Facebook of an older woman passed out on the floor and the caption of the photo "A grandmother when she finds out you haven't eaten." I LMAO because that was exactly what his grandmother was like. It seemed like every other sentence was food related. She would offer food, and I would either turn it down (politely) and she would keep asking if I'd changed my mind, or I would accept and then she would keep asking if I wanted more.
For a couple of years now Mike has really wanted to do pumpkin carving with his nephews. Last year when we were there we were going through a rough period and I think it slipped his mind. This year, we actually went to a pumpkin patch. It was the first time I'd been to a pumpkin patch, probably since the first or second grade. We picked out three small pumpkins for his nephew and niece. I think we both thought when his sister came down for the reception, she would be bringing the kids, but when she found out the kids weren't invited to the party, she left them with their grandmother. When she left the next day, we forgot to give her the pumpkins, so I guess Mike will have to try again the next time we're down here.
The party was mostly fun. Some of his family members kind of cornered me and asked me the standard question "Why don't you talk?" which always annoys me, but for the most part we sat at a table with his sister and one of his uncles and it was nice, especially since his uncle is quiet, too and we kind of shared a look when he got asked that question, too. I talked to him a little, especially after I got drunk. I'm pretty sure for the first time I got from tipsy to full out drunk. I had a couple of strong drinks from the open bar. Though I think I've definitively realized when I get drunk it really only lasts for a short time. I get a little hazy and giddy for a little bit and then I normalize really quickly, and I've never had a hangover.
His aunts at one point made us get out on the dance floor to "practice" for our wedding. It was fairly painless, and thankfully I was still drunk enough to not be too embarrassed and we didn't trip over each other.
I think we did gain some insight for our wedding, like maybe limiting the amount of drinks at the bar (which will probably be helped by our reception having a cash bar.) At one point, there was some guy that must have been a friend of the bride, because I'd seen her dancing with him earlier, and none of Mike's family seemed overly familiar with him. He had a tattoo of a teardrop on his face and he was at the bar. There was a guy who was dressed as Iron Man (apparently people were supposed to dress up in costume, though it didn't say that on the invitation) he was in a suit, and had the glowing heart thing. Anyway, Iron Man, went up to the bar, and teardrop face put him in a headlock that seemed friendly at first, but suddenly things got weird, and Mike's uncle had to step in to take the teardrop guy outside to cool down/sober up.
We also kind of hated how loud their band was. We don't talk a lot, but there wasn't a lot of conversation that could be had because when they played you literally had to scream at each other to be heard. So we want to make sure the music at our wedding is loud enough to dance to, but doesn't require screaming to talk to each other.
I was starting to wonder if I might have a slight allergy, or problem, being around cats. Mike's grandmother has a couple of cats and I never had a problem being around them the first couple of times we were there. The problem might have been that I was around multiple cats that weekend. There were his grandmother's cats, and then when we briefly went to his sister's mother-in-law's plave she had a couple of cats, another house had a cat. We even went to a video store and the lady had a cat there that followed us around. The last few times I was around them my nose got really agitated and I started sneezing. But that might have just been the start of my cold.
Mike and I are still wrestling with whether we want to move up to Maryland after we get married. I like watching Mike in Maryland when he's with his family. Unlike me, Mike actually likes being around his family and seems in his element around them. And his family misses him a lot. His sister is always asking him when he's coming back. His brother-in-law always says he can get Mike a job at his hotel. He had an old friend who also offered him a job.
But I'm not sure either of us are ready for the cold. I used to live in New York and always miss the snow, but I always say I miss the pretty snow. I don't miss the ugly, sludge-y snow and having to deal with the clean up. Mike and I kind of got excited when the forecast said there might be snow flurries that weekend, but it never happened. Florida, of course, has its own pitfalls - sinkholes, hurricanes, lots of heat. But when we were in Maryland, everyone kept talking about how last winter was the worst ever, and this winter wouldn't be much better. Mike's friend talked about how much of a nightmare driving was, and getting the ice off his car. In Florida, you spent hours de-icing your car before you can go to work.
Plus, I don't know if my body likes the cold. I got a cold my last couple of days there. I haven't had a serious cold in a couple of years and the last time I think it was during the coldest winter in Florida in years. Though it is a possibility that it was just being around a bunch of people, some who also had colds, that caused the cold. I was talking to Mike about it today and he said that the temperature doesn't have much to do with whether you get sick and that I probably got the cold from him.
I was okay the first couple of days because there was usually only one main thing wrong with me each day - the first day I had a sore throat for a few hours, the next day it was mostly congestion. I was completely miserable the day we flew back. I ended having gas, was horribly congested, and my ears popped like crazy the way back, so my ears felt stopped up, too. I don't know why they popped so badly. It happened the last time we flew, too. On our way up to Maryland I was fine, but on the way back I had horrible ear pain. The same thing this time where I was fine the way up and had problems the way back. It was less popping, and that it felt like my ears were stopped up and something felt horribly painful, and then my ears would pop as if they were trying to clear out.
It's only the last couple of days that I've started to feel okay, though still mucus-y and a bit of a cough.
Here are a few pictures we took at the pumpkin patch and just outside this park he wanted to take me to (but it turned out the roads were closed, so we could only visit some spots just outside the roadblock.)