Weddingpalooza - Part II

So when I left you, gentle reader, Hubby and I were motoring south toward Annapolis for wedding number two of the weekend. We made good time, arriving at pseudo-grandma's house by mid-afternoon. J-Mav, while happy to see us, came upstairs under duress and gave us the quickest of hugs before descending back downstairs to play with one of his best friends and our potential future daughter-in-law, the Divine Miss V. Of course, they're both five, so I may be getting just a little bit ahead of myself.

We had more time between arrival and departure for the church than we did for the festivities on Friday, so we hung out and visited for awhile. Our good friends (J-Mav and Keeper Boy's Godparents) were going to this wedding, too. Pseudo-grandma was keeping her two grandkids, plus J-Mav, AND she was venturing out to Chuck E Cheese with them... better her than me!!

Eventually we changed and headed out for the church. The time of this wedding was tricky... it started at 5:30pm and Keeper Boy's hockey game started at 4:30. He wasn't in net, but of course, we still wanted to know how it was going! It wouldn't be done before we went into the church for the ceremony, but I vowed not to pull the Blackberry out while we were in the church. We received an update just before going into the church: game tied at 2.

The church was lovely and the couple had most of their guests brought to the church (and then to the reception) on big, comfy, chartered busses. Good idea! No worries about parking, getting lost, getting to the church late, or finding a cab back to the hotel for anyone who enjoyed him/herself a little too much. :) The ceremony was short, but lovely, and the newlyweds came back into the church after recessing down the aisle and personally "dismissed" the guests pew by pew. Nice touch. I refrained from pulling the Blackberry out of my purse until we got to the car, and was pleased to see the guys won 5-3 in what was deemed "an ugly game."

We went to the reception, which was held at one of Annapolis' yacht clubs. Even though it was raining, it was beautiful. Fabulous appetizers. Another open bar... this one with Diet Coke (instead of Diet Pepsi)... yay for me!! Dinner was a petite filet and a crab cake with some excellent mashed potatoes. Oh, and green beans, but you know I didn't eat those. :)

We caught up with several former co-workers from my first job out of college (where I worked with the groom), which was fun (the job AND the catching up on Saturday). The music selection at this reception ran more toward 80s hip hop and rap. Kind of strange, but not unenjoyable. :) And we discovered toward the end of the reception that there was a sports star in our midst... the groom is friends with Eddie Pope, former DC United player. Kind of cool. Seemed like a real nice guy.

The cake was strawberry shortcake (yum!). The bride and groom were nice to each other while doing the whole cake feeding thing. Again, we stayed to the end before heading out. It was a good time.

The kids (and pseudo-grandma) were sacked out when we arrived back at the house. We followed rather quickly. I was up Sunday morning just as Keeper Boy's game was starting. He was in net and the guys had to win or tie to make it to the championship game. Unfortunately, they were playing the hardest game of their tournament against a team that was nationally ranked last year. As the updates came in over the next hour, it was clear the team wasn't going to win and we were going to have an unhappy child upon his return from Pittsburgh. The ultimate score was 8-1 and the shot count was... well... not good. From what we heard, most of the game was played in our defensive zone. Not ideal for scoring goals, and quite a workout for the goalie. So, as the team headed south toward home, we packed up and headed west toward home.

But there would be no rest for the weary. After getting home and getting unpacked, we had to pick up Keeper Boy, pick up the dog, figure out what was happening for dinner, wash Hubby's hockey clothes because HE had a game last night, and get everything ready for school/work this morning. But ya what? It's all good. Just another day in paradise. :)

Weddingpalooza - Part I

After attending no (zero, zip, zilch) weddings since my brother got married in 2004, Hubby and I attended not one, but two weddings over the weekend! I LOVE weddings--Hubby, not so much. But he was a trooper--especially since our older son (Keeper Boy) was in Pittsburgh for his team's first tournament of the season and Hubby would've MUCH rather been there. If Hubby didn't have a good time, he was a good actor. I know I had a good time!

The first order of business was to farm out the kids and the dog. As I mentioned, it was Keeper Boy's first tournament of the season, wouldn't ya know. So he traveled to Pittsburgh with the father of one of his teammates. Said father informed us yesterday when we went to pick Keeper Boy up upon their return that our child was polite and well-behaved all weekend. Wait, OUR Keeper Boy? Seriously?! Yeah. That's just the way it goes. He's perfect for everyone else and saves his pre-teen attitude for Hubby and I. :) And J-Mav had the good fortune of spending the weekend with his Godparents and psuedo-grandma at psuedo-grandma's fabulous house in Annapolis. He had a great time. Dog went to doggie camp (aka, the kennel). With all the "kids" taken care of, Hubby and I were off...

We drove up to a small PA town in the middle of horse country on Friday and checked into a beautiful B&B. While driving up, we received an email with the score of the first hockey game of the tournament. Keeper Boy's team won 8-2. Once we arrived at the B&B, we had just about enough time to freshen up, change, and head to the church for my cousin's wedding. Let me just say that the wedding was lovely, but it was held in THE smallest church I have EVER attended a service in in my life. (I have SEEN a smaller active church, however... in Aruba.) Though the church sat only about 50 people, it was beautiful... candles, wood floor, surprisingly comfortable chairs, a tapestry on the wall, and of course my cousin and his lovely bride.

Bride was radiant and her dress was gorgeous. But, wow! I have never seen a bride who SO didn't want any attention on her! It was apparent from the moment she stepped into the church all the way through the reception, where the couples first dance and the father/bride dance literally lasted 10 seconds each before all the guests were strongly invited to join them on the dance floor! Great idea for someone who doesn't like the spotlight. Another cousin who was in attendance and is getting married in January thinks she might steal that idea for her wedding. Ha ha.

The reception was at an estate. There was a cocktail/photo taking hour before we moved into what I think was a beautifully renovated barn for the reception. Open bar throughout (great Diet Pepsi... ha ha!), excellent food (filet mignon, salmon, or eggplant... can't vouch for the eggplant, but the other two were perfect), great ambiance, and great music! The music selection surprised Hubby and me as it was mostly from the 60s and 70s, and the newlyweds are in their late 20s. But hey, music is universal. :)

Another of my cousins (Groom's oldest brother) gave a wonderful toast/speech, and most everyone stayed until the DJ stopped playing. We also were able to get a picture taken with my grandfather (who is 94!!) and all of his grandchildren who were in attendance. There were only two missing. That was awesome.

We returned to the B&B, hung out with the family for a bit and hit the sack. We awoke on Saturday and found an email with results from the second game of the hockey tournament, which has started at 7am with Keeper Boy in net. In a much harder-fought game, Keeper Boy's team tied 2-2. Apparently this stunned the opposing team, which had cleaned it's opponent's clock 11-1 the night before. With that information, and full bellies from the yummy breakfast at the B&B, we got in the car and headed south. We had a three-hour drive to Annapolis for Weddingpalooza, Part II...

Might as well face it...

... I'm addicted to blogs!

I have several blogs that I follow on a regular basis. Some are friends or family. Some are just random blogs I've stumbled across and enjoy reading. Here's my must-read list (in no particular order):

Dad Gone Mad - I've been reading this blog the longest of any. The guy that writes it is hilarious... and he's currently writing a book! The blog is just about his life as a dad, husband, brother, little league coach, etc. TOO funny!

Ted's Take - Ted Leonsis' blog. He is the fabulous owner of the Washington Capitals. He writes about a variety of things.

Mayhew Mayhem - One of my good friends talking about the crazyness in her day-to-day life with her husband and two daughters.

Fat Cyclist - I clicked a link off my cousin's blog and instantly became a devoted reader of this blog. I am not a cyclist, but I find "Fatty's" blog enjoyable anyway. And his stories of his awesome kids and his amazing wife, who is battling cancer, are wonderful. Win Susan!

Nasal Passages - A friend from college... random postings... fun to keep up with what's going on with him and his wife, with whom we also went to college.

Mellon's Head - Wife of Nasal Passages blogger... infrequent postings... but again, good to keep up.

Musings of a Hockey Mom - Found this link on the Ted's Take blog one day and started following it. Her kids actually play hockey at the same rink mine do, though on different teams. I've never met her, but I'm sure I will sometime since we both spend so much time at the rink!

RDMathers.com - My awesome cousin's blog and podcast. Check it out!

the other brother - Another awesome cousin's blog (brother of RDMathers.com blogger).

The Official Blog of Chris Cooley - Let me say up front that I am NOT a fan of the Redskins. I am an Eagles fan through and through. However, I do like Chris Cooley. He calls into the radio station I listen to every Monday and his blog is just fun.

Iraq Updates - BIL's blog from Iraq. I don't know how frequently he'll be updating it. He's in Kuwait now waiting to move into Iraq. He's posted once in the five days he's been there so far. Not bad.

If I set my blog page up correctly, links to these blogs will appear on my page somewhere...

Um... hi?

I sometimes find myself sending the same update emails to multiple people--family in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, South Carolina, and California; and friends in at least that many states. So why not write the message once in a central location and call it good? That's kind of the thinking behind starting this blog. Plus, everyone else is doing it! I thought maybe it was time to jump on the band wagon.

Not sure I want to put a whole bunch of personal information on the web, so I likely won't be using real names. But those who know me and my family will know who I'm talking about. :-)

Random thoughts for the first post... Thoughts and prayers are with my awesome brother-in-law (henceforth known as BIL), who has gone to Iraq for a second tour. He'll be over there until this time next year. Stay safe little brother!!... Attended my husband's high school reunion over the weekend. Interesting group of folks he graduated with! That's about all I'm going to say because mine is next year and I'm sure it'll be just as interesting!... My little guy (we'll call him J-Mav) is three weeks into Kindergarten and all is well. Time sure does fly! He scored a goal during his soccer game last weekend!!... My big guy (we'll call him Keeper Boy) also had an awesome weekend. He participated in a shootout tournament at Kettler (Caps practice facility) and he and his teammate won their bracket, advancing to the finals to be competed during intermission of a Washington Capitals game during the regular season! How cool is that?

Guess that's it for this time. Don't know how often I'll post anything, or what I'll really have to say that's of any interest. But thanks for reading. :)